…”Quick, get all the chocolate out of the suitcases and put it in the fridge!”
Why?
Within two hours of arriving in Tanzania, my twelve bags of chocolate chips had already begun melting.
So do you believe me when I say it’s hot here? 🙂
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.
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???
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!
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.
