the countdown has begun...

That is the countdown to our Stateside Assignment!! We are at less than 6 months now. Since we got our four volunteers in January, we have been going-going-going absolutely non-stop. And since they left almost 2 weeks ago, we have had a chance to reflect back, look ahead, and catch our breath. It's weird and exciting that we will be spending our first Thanksgiving and Christmas in 3 years at HOME! We are looking forward to family, friends, our church home, shopping, cold weather, Chick-Fil-A, Olive Garden, Taco Bell (well, I could go on and on with places to eat so I better stop there). We have soooo much to look forward to. We have both made resolutions to get in shape so that we can eat-eat-eat when we get home. Nate is lifting his weights and I am back on my Jillian Michaels workout! (I'll be honest and say my motivation partly came when I asked the guy at the market for a head of lettuce--a big one--and he responded "big, like you.") Rude.

I know my blog posts have been few and far between, but one of my resolutions is to get back to posting more regularly! (Yes, I know I have said that before) But I'm going to try really hard this time! The students take their finals next week and go home for break until October, so I will have more time to stick to my goals. For now, I will leave you with a few recent pictures of Zoe...these have also been few and far between. Let's just say she has not been in the best of moods for the past several weeks. She had 6 teeth all coming in at the same time (staggered at different stages of growth for the past few weeks) and a cold to boot! Thankfully, we are all healthy and happy again!

(this was one of the bad days...)

(this was a better day...showing off her new teeth)

way behind...

It's been waaay too long, I know! But Nate is out of town and Zoe is asleep so I figured I better update now while I've got some time. We have been staying pretty busy here lately and it will be more of the same for about another month until our volunteers leave, the students begin finals, and we get a minute to breathe!

Nate has been preaching quite a bit. He had the privilege to preach on Easter Sunday and did a FANTASTIC job. All the glory to God! He is still teaching his classes on campus--basketball and ultimate frisbee and those are going well. He is beginning a new ministry next week based on the Secret Church model of David Platt, which he is super excited about. He is beginning a new bible study with bible study leaders to pour into them and disciple them. And on top of all that, he is preaching the next two weeks at church and doing a series on relationships. He's a busy guy...

I had the opportunity to teach a bible study last week on marriage with some of the students. It was so much fun and I learned so much just in preparation. God's desires for marriage and families has become one of my passions lately as the Lord molds me into the wife and mother He wants me to be...so teaching on marriage came at the perfect time!

We had the opportunity to go to the children's hospital on the Saturday before Easter to do a little party for the kiddos. They are so sweet and we had a great time singing songs, coloring, snacking, making crafts, and talking about the Easter story. We also visited last Saturday because we received a VERY special package from my BFF Jenny Graves and her church. They made mission dolls and shipped them all the way to us. The children at the hospital (most suffering with cancer) absolutely LOVED them. The little girls tied the dolls to their backs like they see their mothers do all the time. So precious! So, so thankful for Jenny and her church family. They put smiles on these precious faces!

Zoe is growing more and more. She is getting to be such a big girl. Her favorite thing is playing video games with her daddy! She is talking more and more...she calls herself a "good girl" and she loves asking for "crackers."

riding in style

She's got expensive taste and she's already working on her daddy...

never met a stranger...

We made a trip to Orca this weekend. That is our closest thing to Walmart here in Dar, although there is a store called Game that is now owned by Walmart...but trust me it's nothing like it!! Anyway, we are walking the aisles and Zoe is having a grand time now that she can actually walk. Well, she walks up to this little girl and just takes her hand and walks away with her family. I did the typical mom thing to get her back and said "Ok, bye bye Zoe!" and waved and started to walk the other way. She just waved back and kept right on going with the other family.

It seems to be pretty typical these days. We went to a different church this morning which by the grace of God has a nursery (usually I fight and struggle with Zoe on my lap through our church services!) Anyway, we dropped her off no problem. We come back after the service to pick her up and the lady walks her over to the door; we reach our arms out to take her and she turns back to the lady and clings to her!! I have to pry her from this lady who is no doubt loving the fact that Zoe prefers her over her own mother and father. I guess I should just be happy that she likes to be around other people and is wonderful at making new friends!

date night

We had a MUCH needed date night this week. It was just dinner, but it long overdue time with my best friend! The wonderful Placke family took Zoe for us and she had a great time hanging out and eating pancakes. When we came to pick her up she was sitting and watching Discovery Channel, learning about alligators and sharks and she smelled like syrup...

my valetines...

I'm a tad late on this post, but I couldn't let it go without writing just a wee bit about our Valentine's day festivities. I had planned a special get-a-way for me and Nate, but it got pushed back just a little, which didn't really bother us at all. After all, it's just an arbitrary day to remember the ones you love! (On a side note...I don't get people that boycott Valentine's Day...yes, you should show love every day, but what's wrong with putting a day aside so it doesn't get lost in the busy-ness of life??) Nate brought home 2 bouquets...one for me and one for Zoe!

Anyhow, so Nate took his two valentines out for a fancy dinner on the 14th. Zoe was an angel (which is not always the case, believe it or not) and she sat and enjoyed dinner with us--all the while showing all the people at surrounding tables all her new tricks (waving, blowing kisses, etc.) Never a dull moment with that child!

And then this past Thursday, we finally got our night away! Ever since we first moved to Tanzania and saw a movie at was was then THE movie theater in Dar...we were enamored by the advertisements for "The Colosseum" that played before the movie started. It's this fancy-shmancy hotel with a state of the art gym and a nice pool, and plush rooms (with a/c!). So, we splurged and stayed the night. Our sweet friend Webber stayed at our house with Zoe so we could have the night away. It was fabulous...we layed by the pool and read, Nate got to watch football (soccer, that is) on the nice flat screen at the foot of the bed, we played games, had an amazing dinner, and ate ice cream in bed while we watched some awkward dumb show on MTV...(btw, when did MTV cease to be cool and start playing dumb crap all.the.time?!) Anyway, we had a wonderful time and thank you, Webber for hanging with Zoe all night!

Zoe is 1 !!!

I know, I know...I'm a bit late on this post (and everything else that has been going on). Things are a bit crazy. But first things first...my baby girl has turned ONE year old. Our 4 Hands-On Volunteers got here the day before Zoe's birthday. So, to celebrate we took her to a restaurant here in Dar where they sang "Happy Birthday" to her. It sort of freaked her out..I posted the video on Facebook. But she was happy because she got to spend her birthday with four new friends (who are fantastic, by the way). She had such a fun-filled day, that she sort of had a melt down just about the time we were going to give her the birthday cupcake. Sooo...we decided to wait until her party, because she wouldn't have been too impressed at that point.
So that Saturday, we invited our friends over to the house for Mexican food and birthday cake! Yum! Nathan's mom had sent some decorations for the top of Zoe's cake (pictures below). So we had a grand time and Zoe loved being the center of attention (as always). But we sure missed all our family and friends back home and we are excited that we will be home for Zoe's second birthday to celebrate with them! Thankfully we got to skype with both my parents and Nate's parents for them to wish Zoe a happy birthday!

Now that Zoe is 1...she is no longer drinking formula! She has switched to whole milk and seems to be doing fine! She is taking steps (I think 5 is the most I've seen) but would much rather crawl to where she is going. She has started talking like crazy...not many actual words, but she babbles to herself all day long and she certainly seems to know what she is talking about! She is eating everything now...she loves her snacks, and is always quite interested in what Mommy and Daddy are eating and drinking!