Merry Christmas from Tanzania!!!
This is why he needs a brother.
Tag: Josiah Page 3 of 13
Zawadi and family joined us for this photoshoot, so I thought I’d add a couple of them in here for those of you who have followed her story.
Game face. And no, it’s never quiet around here.
Lily and friends during Pamoja Week (kind of like Spirit Week)
Grace joined the swim team….this is at her first Gala!
Kindergarteners are always excellent at walking in line
Grace in her Term 1 assembly
(This is one of my favorite parts of HOPAC….each class takes a turn each term to put on an assembly. By the time they get to fifth grade, none of the kids have stage fright and all are completely comfortable performing!)
Josiah’s first grade class
Little Miss Kindergarten
Josiah’s first grade assembly
Lily’s kindergarten assembly
Grace’s field trip to test out their hand-made boats
Josiah’s field trip to the tide pools
“Piggy”
bottle caps
On Saturday night, I held my boy close.
I’m glad that you’re seven, I said. But do you promise that when you get big you won’t stop cuddling with me?
I’ve made him promise it for years. But this year, I’m guessing it really will be the last. He used to come out every morning and say, Mommy, I haven’t gotten my cuddles today. He doesn’t say that anymore. And even though he’s only 40 pounds and I can still pick him up, now he doesn’t need me to.
So I hold onto these moments of him being little, even while celebrating seven healthy and (mostly) joy-filled years with my little stinker.
He is energy in motion, every day. I think he cartwheels more than he walks. He has a crazy sense of humor and he constantly tries to jump out and scare me. He is small, but lightning fast, very strong, and obsessed with all sports. And bottle caps, which represent whichever sports team he happens to currently be obsessed with.
On Saturday, we celebrated with a soccer party. Which pretty much sums up Josiah.
celebrating Sunday with our Reach Global team (our surrogate family)
and these two….these two are inseparable. and incorrigible.
So this is how you know that your child’s uniform shirts were not manufactured in or for America:
Doesn’t even bother with “Tumble Dry Low.”
Lily’s kindergarten teacher is Tanzanian.
Josiah’s first grade teacher is American.
Grace’s third grade teacher is British.
And she is totally back in her element.
And I am in my happy place.
It was strange being “just a parent” on the first day of school, after 10 years of ministry there. My responsibilities included getting a good breakfast into my kids, making sure they didn’t forget their water bottles, and meeting new parents. My name is no longer on a box in the staff room, I had no photo-copies to make, and Gil was not speaking on the first-day assembly, like he did for 8 years. I came home to a quiet house and had a Swahili lesson and then went to a meeting with our new partners in ministry. It felt weird.
But I can’t tell you how grateful I am that we still get to be a part of Haven of Peace Academy, that my kids get to attend here and learn from all of these amazing people. The very existence of this school enhances our new ministry in every way.
And if you haven’t watched this video yet, please do! Not only does it give a great picture of HOPAC, it also features Mark (our new co-worker) and our new ministry training Tanzanian church leaders. (And it’s only four minutes long!)
