Dirty Little Tails

Living at Malamulo has brought a whole new meaning to “from dust we came”. I feel more connected to the earth than any other time in my life. Not only does the dirt literally stick on my children's noses, ears, mouths, arms, legs and tails, but I also feel like I have a thin (sometimes thick) layer of dirt on my skin at the end of each day. The first few weeks I found myself devising ways to keep my children's clothes clean, to limit the dirt intake and to create something for entertainment that didn't involve digging in the red earth. Eventually I gave myself a break and decided that I would just find the best way to clean the dirt at the end of each day. Now I can smile when I see rolls of mud caked on the skin of my babies. Of course, our kitchen renovation/demolition didn't help this dirt problem. But opening up the kitchen to the living/dining room has made a tremendous difference already. We are waiting on more cabinetry quotes as the quote we were relying on is 3 times higher than expected!

Every morning I start a load of washing to clean 4-8 changes of clothes from the previous day, linens and cloth diapers. My machine does everything except SPIN the water out of the clothes, and the drainage happens through a pipe into my toilet. Now that the rainy season has begun our cage window bars double for security as well as a clothes horse. Some days the light tries extra hard to peek through behind Huddy's diaper pants, inserts and plastic liners!

Our kitchen renovation began with a big bang! Benson found great joy in borrowing the workmen's hammers and pounding on the bricks.

In Africa, creativity is king. Our gardeners have come up with the Malawian sprinkler. It is a used dish soap bottle that they poke holes in and prop up with rocks. Works well!

Benson bought a baby hoe from Makwasa market and has started his and Daddy's vege patch in our garden. They have instructed Duncan not to dig, weed or water their garden bed. Benson watches how Ryan uses his hoe and then he emphatically throws his hoe into the dirt, mimicking Daddy's style.. Today they planted carrots and onions in part of their patch. While digging the bed to make it ready for planting Benson stated, “Daddy, this is HARD work!”, and when Huddy and Mommy came out to watch he stated, “Keep back Huddy, this is not work for babies”. So Hudson and I played around in the strawberries, and he found the watering can very amusing.

Hudson has begun communicating with sign language. He signs 'more', 'all done', 'milk' and has started with 'please'. Usually these come in handy with eating time, but he has been using 'more' in many different contexts. When Marquelle Woods finished playing the piano, Huddy turned around and looked at her and enthusiastically signed with great force “MORE”...so she played another tune. Hudson has also fallen in love with his new crocs from Nai Nai and Aunty Amy. They arrived in a suitcase with Dr Hart and he has barely taken his eyes off them. He brings me one every morning and I put it on his foot and ask him to go seek out the second croc. He rummages around and finds it and runs it to me. He is now sleeping through the night and we are praising God for the extra rest!

Benson seems so grown up. He asks for the door to be closed when he is going #2 on the potty. At breakfast one morning I told Benson that Aunty Amy is potty training Grace and Faith. I asked him what really motivated him to get potty trained, “Was it the Skittles reward or not wearing any clothes,” Benson pondered a moment then responded, “not wearing any clothes – AND GOD!” Benson has taken to ordering his favorite dishes, “Today Mommy, we will have creamed eggs and peas....can we have creamed eggs and peas Mommy?” He also has developed an opinion on what he wears and exclaims, “It matches!” when pairing shorts with his shirts, or often when Daddy helps him, “This does NOT match Daddy.” This has Ryan baffled because really it does go, but if it's different than what I usually pair together so “doesn't match”. He has begun to 'speak for Huddy'. He watches Hudson eating his tomatoes and announces, “Huddy LIKES it!” or when Hudson throws his corn flake on the floor Benson is quick to inform us, “Huddy does NOT like it!”

Ryan's TEP (work permit) came through this month. Ryan's work is very challenging and he is enjoying taking it all in. Some days he comes home and states, “today I was an OB/GYN,” (taking out a 10.4kg uterine tumor) or “today I was a Urologist,” (with multiple prostate cases) or on rare and very exciting occasions, “today I was a GENERAL SURGEON and I loved it!” I suppose the scariest thing is when the Doctor becomes the patient. Ryan has suffered through 3 severe Kidney stone attacks this month, one of which landed him in the hospital. These are the first stones he has ever had. I tried to sleep that night, but the worry of being here in Africa, with my sick surgeon husband was very heavy on my mind. Dr Shank treated him well and the next morning he was recovering. That very morning I got up early with the boys and raced to the hospital to skype with Ryan's parents to let them know what was going on. When my email popped up I also discovered that several important boxes had been 'left behind' from our container load (like Huddy's crib mattress and our main computer!) I just lost it, Sick hubby, and stuff to worry about that I could not control at all. Suddenly I realized how isolated we really are. It was a miserable day, and one filled with tears and fear. While Ryan is feeling better after the stones passed, he doesn't know if there are more stones.

Benson loves our mulberry tree with is very sparsely producing berries. One day, I decided to scale the tree in search of a ripe berry for my mulberry loving 3 yr old. Just as I got my fingers around one plump berry I felt the branch I was clinging to crisply snap and I plummeted down to the ground and landed flush on my back. Benson looked worried but when he saw I would make it, he burst out laughing (I guess I did look pretty funny when my long missionary skirt flew up over my head), and he said, “I fall down too Mommy!” as he collapsed to the ground.

Our weekend away at Cape Maclear, Lake Malawi began with a solemn reminder of the prevalence of crime in Africa when someone reached in an open window of the Landcruiser and stole Wes' iphone while we were all standing just feet away! Despite this set back we enjoyed a weekend at a beautiful vacation spot, we snorkeled, we swam in the pool, and we just enjoyed being together. The strangest thing occurred one night when a bat landed on Huddy's tent and scratched and fluffed around for several minutes before I woke up to realize that something other than my child was ruffling the tent siding. I was amused on the way home at the African “Toys R Us” carved sign under which was displayed grass cars, wooden boats, and various african toys for sale.

Chrislyn Lutz and I cooked for a water board function last week and then everyone was cooking again just days later for our American Thanksgiving celebration at the Woods' home in Blantyre. I rummaged through the sweet potato pile at Bvumbwe market and found several orange sweet potatoes in amongst all the local white ones. I also made a cranberry apple/pear crisp (thanks to Nicole's donated cranberries). The kids had fun together and thoroughly enjoyed their kid craft time with Aunty Jacquie.

Friday morning after thanksgiving someone brought a baby monkey to our home. Ryan fell in love and wanted to keep him. I was not so sure. The kids loved him too, but I didn't like the idea of having to care for something else! Ryan decided he wanted to keep him, so we said we would take him. Benson called him 'Bready' and I have since thought the name very appropriate, especially when you divide it up...B – READY! Sometimes the monkey is a little feisty especially when he is scared. We have also been plucking lava from under his skin, and I'm hoping we are about done with the maggots. It really grosses me out! He spent the weekend with the Brown family while we headed into Blantyre to stay at the Woods home.

Sabbath the Woods family and ours drove 2 cars to Majete game park just an hour outside of Blantyre. We piled into the hospital Prado to view the animals in the park. There were lots of babies running around. Baby wart hogs, baby hippos, baby impala. Just a few kilometers after leaving Majete, the Prado broke down. I said to Ryan, “It feels like the wheel has fallen off!” Sure enough as we jumped out of the vehicle we saw that our chasis was now sitting on the front left tyre, completely disconnected from the Landcruiser. Oh man! I couldn't believe it, I began to think “Why did this happen to us? Why Why Why?” Then Susan Woods came over and proclaimed this as a 'miracle from God'. She explained, “this could have happened on the decent into the Shire Valley and you would have gone over the edge of the mountain” or “this could have happened at greater speeds, traveling between Malamulo and Blantyre” and then “see how God has protected you by allowing this accident to occur on a straight, unpopulated road where no one has lost their life!” I knew it then, that God had His almighty hand over us, saving us from what could have ended with tragedy.

Sometimes it is hard to give thanks and praise to God when things don't go as planned or hoped for. This month we have certainly faced some challenges and many things that don't always present themselves as miracles from God, or situations where it is hard to believe God is caring for us, but soon enough He reveals Himself and the comfort that He provides to strengthen us is enough. We do serve a most excellent Maker, who loves all His children. And now we thank Him for keeping our family in His loving care. When Benson says Grace he often includes, “thank you God for loving us, and for my Mommy, Daddy and Hudson.”