Category: Other Page 174 of 181

Christmas in Tanzania

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On January 5, 2008

In Other

These pictures are out of order…this happened BEFORE we went to the States…but you get the idea.


We took our youth group kids to a nearby village the week before Christmas. The head janitor at HOPAC, a wonderful Tanzanian named William, is planting a church in this village, and we came to play and bring gifts to the kids. It was a great experience for our kids and theirs.

We brought nail polish to do up the girls’ nails (and some of the boys who didn’t want to be left out!). Then, of course, they had to do OUR nails too! And to think I didn’t pay anything for this manicure.

Our kids and their kids.

My discipleship group came over for cookie decorating. Oh, and of course, they got to eat the ones that “accidentally” broke.

Jenai (Irish), Jessi (Swiss), Hannah (Korean), Andrea (Dutch), and Michelle (Australian–a short-term missionary). Each of these girls is an MK.


The “rain” and the “sun” in the elementary Christmas production. These little people were WAY too cute.

Christmas in San Dimas

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On January 5, 2008

In Other

Six fun days with the Medina clan! Grandma and Grace.

Grace and cousin Maddie…Grandma knows how to find the coolest presents! This one, however, did not make it on the plane with us….!

Hooray for more presents! Really, though, her favorite part was just tearing off the paper.

By the way, Grace is talking more and more every day now. After spending two weeks in the States, she learned two very important words: “Elmo” and “Dora.” Should I be proud….or should I call it corruption???

Christmas in San Jose

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On December 28, 2007

In Other

We are still in CA, so more to come later…but here’s a few pictures from our very fun, jam-packed 6 days in San Jose.

First experience with mittens and a scarf (from Grandma Medina)!

Grace and her favorite Aunt Kimmie

Grace and her Babu




With Bibi at Happy Hollow



The Coutts’ at Christmas in the Park

My Sweet Girl

Cool Uncle Paul

My grandmother and her traditional 35 types of cookies!

Scary Santa

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On December 14, 2007

In Other

Our grocery store displays a 5 foot tall, mechanical singing and moving Santa. (The meager Christmas decorations that are seen here do not exactly fall into the “classy” category).

A couple of weeks ago, Grace saw it for the first time and started screaming in absolute terror. Thankfully, we were leaving the store when she saw it and we got her out of there quick!

Earlier this week, Grace and I went shopping again. We walked in the store, she saw the Santa about 30 feet away, and she screamed and started running out of the store. So I picked her up and kept assuring her, “We’ll stay away from the Santa. But the Santa’s not scary.”

As we walked through the store, she kept looking over her shoulder for the Santa, and kept assuring herself, “Santa not scary….Santa not scary.” We passed by it quickly as we left and I told her that we were going “bye bye” from the Santa and that everything was okay now.

I still think the whole experience was fairly traumatic for her because for the past two days, she has been telling me out of the blue, “Santa not scary….bye bye Santa.”

Not sure how she’ll react when she sees Santas everywhere in the States! Hopefully they at least won’t be mechanical.

Only in Africa

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On December 11, 2007

In Other

On Friday we noticed that water was no longer coming to our house. This is not an immediate problem, because we have large water storage tanks at this house that collect water when it comes in from the city (because water tends to be irregular). The water in our tanks can last us a couple of weeks.

However, we found out today that the water company has shut off the water for the entire area, because too many people have not paid their water bill!

Water is the only utility in this city that is not pre-paid. You don’t get a bill in the mail either. Periodically you just have to drive to the water company and ask to pay your bill. (My bill is PAID, thank you very much). And since they can’t just turn off an individual’s water, they turned off everyone’s water.

So who knows how long the water will be off. The problem is that since there is no accountability for paying for your water bill, a renter will move on without paying their year’s worth of water. So that means that the next renter is supposed to pay for the past renter’s water bill too….which is why no one pays for water.

So what will we do in a week or so when we run out of water? Hire a “water truck” to come to our house and fill our tanks with water again. It’s more expensive that way…but…what can you do?

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