We live in a beautiful country. And I have a very talented husband with an eye for beauty.
Category: Other Page 143 of 181
Dar es Salaam sometimes reminds me of an adolescent boy. You know, when he starts growing so fast that he doesn’t know what to do with all his arms and legs, and his mind hasn’t caught up to his body yet?
Well, that’s our city. I can’t believe how much construction is going on. How many cars are being imported. How rent prices are skyrocketing. But private business is growing so fast that government infrastructure can’t keep up. I used to think that traffic was atrocious. Well, now it’s, umm…really atrocious. I used to be able to leave the house any time after 8:15 am to avoid hitting traffic if I wanted to go to town (about 10 miles away). Now I have to wait until 9:00 am, and yet there still seems to be sections where there is always traffic, no matter what time of day it is. I’m not talking about freeway commute traffic–because there are no freeways. When I had to be at the embassy at 8:00 am for Josiah’s interview 3 weeks ago, we left at 6:30 in the morning. To go 10 miles.
But what is worse these days is the electricity. Tanzania hasn’t gotten enough rain, and since most of the power is hydro-electric, that’s bad news. Couple that with a lot of mismanagement and corruption and “suddenly” the country doesn’t have enough power. This happened in 2006, when the power rationing got so bad that the entire city was without electricity from 7 am to 7 pm, every day. Two weeks ago, it started again. First it was twice a week for our area–Wednesdays from 6 pm to 11 pm and Sundays from 9 am to 6 pm.
Then, Friday afternoon, it went off exactly at 4 pm and came on at 11 pm. Uh oh. Bad news. When it goes on and off so exactly like that, we know it’s a cut and not just a little problem some where.
Thankfully, we didn’t have Youth Group this Friday since it was HOPAC’s break. But…uh, what exactly are we going to do with 40 teenagers on Friday nights with no electricity?
So, we hem and hah and sigh and try hard not to complain. Do everything without complaining or arguing. And we decided that we need to bite the bullet and buy a generator. Except that unfortunately, everyone else in the city has the same idea, so they are a little hard to come by right now. Oops.
When I get over being extremely irritated, I really end up just being sad for Tanzania. Obviously losing power for hours every other day (which could soon become every day) isn’t exactly good for the economy. This is an amazing country with incredible potential. It just can’t seem to get up on its feet.
A lot of us adoptive families have been networking with each other about these visa issues.
So yesterday morning, when I found out that a family had actually been granted a tourist visa, I just about fell to pieces. With frustration. Infuriation. Why? Because this family was a missionary family, just like us. Not much difference between our situations. There is no logical reason why they would be granted a visa when we were not.
When I got this news, we happened to be on our way to the embassy. We were putting in our application for Grace’s U.S. passport, since she has been a citizen since April. So while we were there we decided to once again bring up the issue of Josiah’s tourist visa.
We talked for a while with the a consular officer–a different one that the person who denied us three weeks ago. Hmmm. Got the distinct impression that maybe, just maybe, this all would have been different if I had interviewed with her that day, instead of the other guy.
But the great news is, that she also told us that once we submit the I-600 application (for Josiah’s citizenship), we could re-apply for a tourist visa and would have a much greater chance of having it granted. Great, great news. Why? Because we thought we would have to wait for that application to be accepted and approved before we could go to the States. And that could take many weeks.
Our I-600 will probably be ready to submit in about a week. Hopefully. I will then immediately make another appointment for a tourist visa interview. And maybe, we’ll get it.
Yesterday I contacted our travel agent and told him to get us reservations for November 15th. Not buying yet, though. We’ll wait this time to buy tickets until we have that visa.
So. Yesterday I was bombarded by conflicting emotions: intense frustration that maybe things could have been different, and intense hope that maybe we won’t have to wait that long after all. And as we all know, “maybe things could have been different” doesn’t really work with God’s sovereignty.
Not quite ready to rejoice about this yet–I’m still too cautious after all the disappointment. But hope….yes, there is hope.
This week is HOPAC’s mid-term break. So we went to the beach for a few days. We stayed one night at a beach hotel, and then visited some good friends at the beach house where they were staying. We immediately fell in love with this incredible beach house and decided we need to make our own trip there as soon as possible!
It’s the most amazing house…you can’t see from the picture, but the entire back of the house opens up to join the porch….all looking out to the ocean.
But even more incredible is the beach it is on…probably the most uniquely beautiful beach I have ever laid eyes on.
Waves crashing on the reef, creating huge geysers and hundreds of little water falls….
…filling small pools with warm water, perfect for the kids to play in.
Just fabulous!
Grace and her very best friend Caleb.
My lil’ skinny boy…but he’s getting taller!
…that is, last Friday night at Youth Group.
The coolest part is that we get to have this much fun and call it our job.
Adorable nerds.
Nerd games: Tangrams, Rubix Cube, Scrabble.
Jedi Fights
Nerd Dance-Off
Secret Nerd Handshakes
The cutest nerds of all.
When Grace found out that we were all dressing up, she insisted on being a princess. Later that night she came to me almost in tears and said, “Mommy, one of the boys said I’m not a nerd!” Hmm…doubt that will break her heart 10 years from now.
