Chez nous... (at our house)

Looking into our house today could be a bit overwhelming for some! (at times me included! ) But just so that you can know what our day is like I'll share a bit. We have toys strewn everywhere, and the girls are dressed up in various things: Kira and Elayna in hula outfits, complete with grass skirts. Elayna's is even topped with a bonnet that would do Laura Ingalls proud! Not sure how Laura would have felt about the bikini top accompanying it though...




In the midst of the chaos Silas happily jumps in his johnny jump up. He hops forward a few times until he reaches the end of the spring, lets himself swing back, and starts over. And over. And over. And over.









He has a new favorite person- our house helper Emilie! When she arrives each day he greets her with a big smile, waves, and now even gives her five. Yesterday while he was napping I left him with Emilie and took the girls to our neighbor's for play group. Emilie called to say he was awake, and when we got back home he was enjoying a ride on Emilie's back African style!

Oreo is loving the season with all the baby lizards hatching and coming out of the sand. She hunts them, catches them, and plays with them like a cat. Emilie calls her a "chat-chien" or "cat-dog." She still has way too much energy, and scares away the guy coming to read the electric meter. If only that meant we didn't have to pay that bill...

Kevin is gone on a flight. It's raining a bit, and near dark, so I'm hoping to get a text message soon that he has arrived back at the airport.

While he's been gone, the kids and I have been busy. Kira and I made carrot/zucchini muffins while the others napped. This has been a two week process believe it or not! You can't buy whole wheat flour here, but you can buy the wheat. So a couple of weeks ago Emilie went to the market for me. She bought a couple of kilos of wheat, and brought it home. The next step was about three hours of sorting out all the little tiny stones from the wheat. Once that was through, it had to be washed and spread on the tablecloth to dry for a couple of days. Once it was dry, it was put into a container to wait. After watching for awhile, I found some decent carrots, and the first good zucchini of the season a couple of days ago. So today Emilie and I tackled the project of peeling and grating (with my kitchen aid) 22 cups of the veggies. Before making the muffins, the flour also needed to be milled. You can go to local mills to have things ground, but if something exciting like hot peppers have been ground before your flour it can give your flour an exciting taste! We opted to use mill at home! Following that whole process we made a huge recipe of muffins and loaves. Now the freezer will have some yummy treats for awhile.

That gives you an idea of today. The biggest things I accomplished were a couple of games of Angelina Ballerina Uno and carrot muffins! But we've had a good day.

This month is the muslim fast of Ramadan. It's a sad thing to see so many people giving up eating and drinking during the day in hopes of earning Allah's favor. We often see people at prayer near the mosques and along the streets. But this month it's multiplied. It's hard enough when it's someone we don't know. But it made me so sad to see the friendly guard at the rec center stopping to do his prayers along the road. He always greets us with a big smile, and chats as he inspects our vehicle and opens the gate for us to enter the rec center. But until Ramadan I had never seen him stopping to pray at work. Pray for us to have opportunities to share, especially this month. Pray that we will find those who are hungry, not just from fasting but hungry for the Lord.