what's NOT new?

Seriously...if you ask me what's new with us lately, that is how I would respond. When it rains, it pours...I'm starting to learn what that really means. After spending over 2 years in Africa, I've {tried} to get get adjusted to the extremely slow pace of life...It's hard for me--see, I'm a planner at heart. I absolutely love to have a schedule, to know what's going on a week from Thursday and to write it all in my cute little planner and stick that cute little planner in the fabulous purse that my husband just bought me (if he reads this, he will get on to me because I haven't gotten it out of the shopping bag yet...I can't help it...It's a disease). Anyway, we are trying our best to learn that here in Tanzania nothing goes as planned. We have been in our new house for 2 months now and where is Zoe still sleeping? Our bathroom in her pack and play...Ugh, it sort of makes me cringe just thinking about how much time it takes to get stuff done around here. Her room has been "being worked on" for 2 months now...we are waiting on the last piece of the puzzle--her air conditioner to be put in (correctly). It's always "tomorrow.." or "later.."  But I digress...

All of the sudden, things have been happening non-stop. It's exciting and exhausting and scary! It's something I'm just not used to on this side of the world. We had such a nice, relaxing, slow Christmas and then BOOM! It's been non-stop since...On New Years Day, we left to go to a meeting in Nairobi. A two-day drive with a sick baby and when we arrived we decided it wasn't just a little cold. She started throwing up, could not hold anything down and refused to drink or eat. So we took her to the doctor (and believe me, I was thanking the Lord that we were in Nairobi with a great pediatrician)! He advised that we check her into the hopital because she was beginning to get dehydrated and they wanted to run some tests because she now had a rash.  We took her right away and they took her blood to run tests, hooked up an IV to her little hand, and she just layed so still in my arms...she didn't even have the strength to keep her eyes open. I won't go into too much detail, because it makes me sad to think about. But the Lord gave us grace through the night..Zoe slept well (although me and Nate didn't since we were sharing a twin bed!) and in the morning she was feeling much better. The doctor said it was a bad virus and she would be back to normal soon. Ahhh, praise God for that!

After that, we had a great meeting and after doing some shopping and eating at KFC (yes, that is right...Nairobi now has a KFC...and it was good!) Oh, and Planet Yoghurt! I know I've mentioned this a million times...but i.love.nairobi. We made our two-day trek back to Dar and tried to continue getting our new house in order. But...no rest for the weary. This Wednesday, our Hands On volunteers arrive. Two guys and two girls from the States are coming for about 4 months to help us with our ministry here. SO EXCITED about this. So we have been tirelessly shopping, setting up and cleaning their apartments, and planning what this semester is going to look like for our team of 7 (8 including Zoe!)

Let's see...what else? Oh, Chester (our Ridgeback) is a daddy! A proud daddy at that--10 puppies! Molly (his wife) went into labor Saturday night around 10:30 pm (wonderful timing since Nate was preaching at church the next morning). She had 6 puppies by 1:45 am and had calmed down a bit and was letting them nurse...we thought that was it, so we went to bed. Only to wake up to find 4 more! They are real precious though and Molly is a good mom. We introduced Chester to the pups today. Nate had him on a leash and let him get close, he was just smelling around and watching them squirm...well, I guess he got a little too close and Molly gave a little growl and showed her teeth and he backed off rather quickly!! So he likes to be near them and lays on the back porch with them, but he knows better than to get too close. It was pretty cool watching them be born. She knew exactly what to do...made sure she licked all the yucky stuff off so they could breathe, licked them to get their blood pumping, chewed off the umbilical cord (i know, gross). But it reminded me just how amazing our God is... every aspect of His creation perfectly planned. Zoe loves to watch Molly with the pups and wants to get down and play with them...I can't imagine 10 puppies and Zoe running around the yard in about 8 weeks...wreaking havoc...aye aye aye

Oh....and speaking of Zoe. My precious little girl is about to be 1! Ahhh...it's almost unbelievable that an entire year has gone by. Her birthday is Thursday. And her birthday party is Saturday...I think if I wasn't so crazy busy, I might get depressed that the extent of the party will be mexican(ish) food, cake, and party plates (which cost more than I care to share with you...I had to convince Nate to get them). I think about what her first birthday might look like in America...family, friends, gifts, one of Vanessa's extravagant cakes, balloons, ice sculptures (ok, just kidding about that). I could drive myself into some serious jealousy looking at pictures on facebook or ideas on pinterest that just aren't gonna happen in Tanzania. But I look around and remind myself how incredibly blessed we are...I mean look at this sweet little girl...yeah, who needs an ice sculpture?

Did I mention she is starting to walk? She isn't quite there yet. She takes one or two steps by herself, then plops down...maybe because she is scared, but personally I think it because she can crawl herself across the room in no time flat and she is way too busy and active to take the time to slowly and carefully walk. I'm not pushing her...I know once she starts walking for real, I'll never catch up!