Christmas Morning

We had a truly special Christmas season this year with so many neat memories. As the kids grow we are finding it so neat to watch them begin to get some picture of the magnifitude of what we are celbrating--God with us! And as they have more experience and frame of reference to draw from they seem to be beginning to make connections between some of the fun and traditions and celebrations we associate with the Christmas season. I know they probably won't remember most of it. They probably won't remember making Christmas cards and picking out lollypops for the kids at a friend's orphanage...or the Christmas pagent that they absolutely refused to participate in but were thoroughly delighted to watch from a hard bench...They will likely forget the fun crafts they did at Christmas party with some other missionary kids...or the day that they helped us take some food to a widow in the church and how she pulled them into her arms and blessed them in a language they couldn't understand...or that they spent Christmas eve spent sipping cool mango smoothies and singing Christmas carols with their Daddy. They probably WON'T remember what each of the Advent candles represent next time around... But I think that they will have impressions...impressions about the joy of the season and about generosity and sacrifice and that this event that we celebrate--the birth of Jesus--is a pretty powerful and wonderful thing.

Of course it doesn't help that we don't have pictures for any of that. (smile)

We did, however, have a lot of fun taking pictures of the kids getting their own abundant blessings on Christmas morning...

Wesley doesn't wear clothes very often during this season...a diaper is about all she can tolerate with the heat. But of course we had to dress her up in her pretty Christmas dress for Christmas morning!

"Smile for the camera, swettie, cuz my grumpy baby is going back to bed!"

The boys were shocked and delighted to find that those funny little things we hung in the window actually had GIFTS in them on Christmas morning!

We had received several packages from family and friends in the States that the boys were super excited to open.

And after breakfast and a good nap, Wesley was ready to open HER gifts.

Wesley got her first baby doll for Christmas. She was a bit suspicious at first (seeing as how it was pretty life-like compared to the stuffed animals of her brothers that she was familiar with). After looking at it for a few moments, she grabbed it...and promtly took the "bottle" out of it's mouth for herself!! I'm guessing those nurturing insticts come later?

matapa

Ana, the girl who recently came to work for us, has turned out to be one of the neatest "surprise" blessings! She's so fun to be around and a hard worker...and so great with the kids. She made matapa the other day--a traditional Mozambican dish made out of pounded peanuts, manioc leaves, and coconut milk.


Sifting the peanuts.


Pounding peanuts and then matapa leaves.



Snitching peanuts.

Grating coconut to make coconut milk.


Washed matapa leaves ready to pound.

Child's Birthday Party: A Potential Landmine of Social Blunders

The kids were invited to a friend's birthday party the other Saturday. It was quite the ordeal for our three little kids ages four and under (not to mention their mommy and daddy). You may remember from a previous experience we posted that birthday parties in Mozambique are very different than in America. But like in America, the birthday parties can vary quite a bit depending on the individual's culture and values and what a "party" means to them. It was a privilege to share in celebrating our friend "Prescott's" birthday...and once again it was quite the experience!

The invitation said the party was at 3:00pm.

We arrived just after 4:00 pm (taking our cue from the last party!) and were still one of the first families to arrive. The party was held in the (small) apartment of the family and children and adults mingled and sat chair to chair in the living room and veranda (a few meter's square). A variety of loud music was playing from the stereo system when we arrived, and apparently in our honor, was turned up even louder when we entered the house.

By about 5:00pm the kids were soaked in sweat and getting restless from just sitting. (Incidentally, children don't typically play structured games at a Mozambican party--they just run around and entertain themselves). My attempts to correct any of my own boys' roudiness was promptly condemned by the surrounding adults with the typical Mozambican expression of "e crianca"--literally,"he's just a child" and with the meaning/implication "don't be so hard on him" and "let him do what he wants".

We finally gave the kids freedom to just run around the hallways of the apartment building with some of the other kids--it was much cooler out there than in the house even though it was a bit more difficult to keep track of them. I was pretty...um...bored...myself, to be honoest. And every time I offered to help with something I was given a shocked expression and told that no, I needed to just sit!

By about 6:00pm Stefan disappeared with Wesley and I found him a while later outside the apartment trying to get some fresh air. :). Soon after that the kids all sat down--filling the veranda, the living area, and the hallway--to await the food.

Finally I was allowed to help! We spent about 45 minutes serving food to all the kids--a banquet of typical Mozambican food--grilled chicken, fried potatoes, rice, xima, matapa, baked fish, cabbage salad, lettuce salad, potato salad and lots of fried batter-type apetizers. When the kids were finished eating, most of them were shooed out into the hallway while the adults finally all rushed to the food--and I mean literally rushed! An orderly line and taking turns at the food plate is not so much valued here. One lady offered to hold Wesley for me so I could get some food and I could tell she was getting frustrated that I wasn't forcing my way in there and that I was allowing others to push me out of the way.

At that point (around 7:00pm) there was still no end in sight. So after Stefan and I politely juggled a plate of food around the swarms of people while trying to keep track of our kids, I tried to figure out a way to politely excuse ourselves. You can sort of imagine at what point of melt-down our kids were in after spending three hours in a hot, packed, house with loud music! And there was not a single space in the house--bathroom included--that didn't seem to have bodies filling every square foot. So feeding Wesley, who was quite hungry, with any sort of peace and privacy was not an option. However, telling our hostess "the truth" wasn't going to translate accross the chasm of our two cultures. Leaving a party because your kids are tired, hot, and overstimulated just would not make sense to most Mozambicans. And the need to feed a baby with privacy and/or quiet is also just not understood.

Eventually I just thanked the hostess and told her we had to leave (no reasons given!) and she insisted that we could not leave without staying for the cutting of the cake. Seriously. That was not just a polite invitation to stay longer, it was a big huge hint to the apparently ignorant foreigner who had the audacity to suggest they leave before singing to the birthday boy! And who should appear on the scene at just that time? Prescott! The two-year old birthday boy who had just woken up after sleeping through the first four hours of his birthday party! So we stayed. And we sang. And ate some cake. And then wearily packed into the car and drove home around 7:30. We said lots of things on the way home like, "Wasn't that fun!" and "That was so nice that Prescott invited you to his birthday." I think we (Stefan and I) were mostly trying to brainwash ourselves.

Whew! Who knew attending a friend's birthday party could be such an ordeal and provide so many opportunities to commit huge social blunders?

Beautifully Expressive

(It seems forever since I've managed a post...have lots of material FOR a post...and yet no post. However, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to share a picture of Wesley that a friend recently took. )

Our little girl is nothing if not expressive! At seven months, despite being unable to talk, she somehow manages to remarkably and actively convey what she is feeling, wanting, and sometimes even thinking. She is opinionated, quirky, delightful...and the boys and I agree: absolutely beautiful.

And thanks, Grandma, for the advice to never shy from telling her so!

Mozambican Meal

The other day some ladies came over to our house to work with me to prepare a Mozambican dinner in honor of a new family that had arrived. It was a lot of fun to work with them (and a little bit of a stretch for me to turn over my kitchen to prepare food in the traditional way) and a really neat time of getting to know these ladies better.

On the menu of this very Mozambican meal was: grilled chicken seasoned in salt and garlic; oven-roasted fish with garlic, chicken bullion and lemon; a rice salad; "arroz novo com coco" (freshly harvested and pounded rice cooked in coconut milk); a lettuce salad and cabbage salad; "xima" (traditional African staple made from cooked white cornmeal); and "matapa" (made from greens, pounded peanuts, and coconut milk).

This meal took about 5 hours to prepare with the three of us working--and much of it had already been done up ahead (such as pounding the peanuts and rice). I had decided in advance to do my best to "let go" of my Western ideas about cooking and cleaning (and yes, even food poisoning) so that I could really learn from these ladies and enjoy our time together. I got down on the floor with them to grate the coconut, cut up the vegetables, and pound the garlic. I looked the other way when the same knife and board that were used to cut up the chicken were again used to make the salad (without being washed with soap or bleach!). And, well, some of the other things are best left unmentioned... The point is: the meal was delicious. No one got sick. And more importantly I had a really neat time growing in friendhip with these women and learning from them.

Dona Vera, recently widowed and without any children of her own, came over early to get a start on the meat. She was incredibly gracious with my own little ones running around and constantly pulling me away from the preparations.

Paula, a girl my own age, came over a bit later since she had to prepare an entire meal up ahead of time for her five children that she left at home. I asked her to teach me how to grate the coconut in the traditional Mozambican manner since we had to use three for the meal.

Cohen and Christian hung out drinking coconut water and snitching pieces of coconut for snack as they watched their Mommy learn a new skill. As for Paula--she laughed most of the time. And finally shook her head and took back the job saying that we would be here forever if she didn't finish up. Just for good measure, she mentioned out loud that her own (8 year old) daughter already knew how to grate a coconut.

I'm thinking Cohen and Christian like it better when I prepare food on the ground anyway. This way they don't have to hear my constant reminders to get their feet off the counter and stop messing.

Mts. Nairuco

This past weekend we got together with some of our team members who also live in Nampula. We went to a place called 'Montes Nairuco' that is about a half hour away from the city. It is a beautiful place that has camping options and little shelters with nearby grills. It was SO great to get away from the city for a bit and it was particularly nice to enjoy the outdoors on a cool day (as we are in the middle of our 'winter' here in Mozambique).




Christian decided that one of the guys was going to be his new friend.

He pretty much spent the afternoon with him. The poor guy didn't have much choice. Christian is quite loyal if he recieves any sort of positive affirmation.

Cohen and his friend spent much of the afternoon "fishing". I say "fishing" (in quotes) because all the bigger kids had the real fishing poles with fishing line and hooks, leaving Cohen and his friend a makeshift stick with a string and a wight on it.

However, they had a GREAT time pulling up all sorts of scum and plants and trash from the pond and exulted triumphantly over each and every catch.

pink and brown

All right. Here's a Wesley Grace closeup especially for the grandmas.

far from home

In June Wesley and I left our boys back here in Mozambique and traveled to the States to be at my "little brother's" wedding. It was more special than I could even have hoped--to be with my family celebrating together, especially since it will probably be a very long time before we see them all again. We had some great professional photography at the wedding, and already many different friends and family have shared some pictures of our time together...but here are just a few images that reflect some of my favorite moments...

Jason married a darling childhood friend--Krystina Royer--a girl I also knew growing up in Brazil. It is pretty neat when you grow up not only loving your siblings, but really liking them too. And what a reflection on their character when they choose pretty great people to add to our family and spend their lives with!

Wesley Grace met her great-grandparents, Robert and Dolores Schuring, and spent some time on Great Grandma's lap one evening as we all sat around and ate pizza on the lawn of the Bible School that her Great Grandpa and Great Grandma, and Grandma and Grandpa once attended years ago...(Yes, "eating pizza" is also a part of the special memories seeing as how we've been living in Mozambique the last three years :)

This is where Wesley spent most of her time in the States--in the arms of grandma. It is so special to watch your mom love your children...

...and your dad play with them. Not only is that relationship so special, but for me, it also was a small reflection of many of my own happy memories growing up. (My parents are headed back to Brazil to work and I don't know when I will next see them, so it was such a special gift for them to be able to meet my daughter.)

Before and after the wedding, my brothers and sisters and friends and parents all spent hours playing games and sports...just dragging our sweet little kids along to cuddle up and nap in the fun.

Being at the wedding was amazing. The truth is, though, three weeks of traveling alone internationally with an infant...away from my husband and two little boys...was pretty crazy. But we made it through multiple international airports, delayed flights, cancelled flights, lost baggage, items stolen from baggage and missing our boys.

As for said boys, I think they did pretty well here on their own. It's a pretty good guess that I don't want to know most of what went on (and whether or not my frantic last minute reminders--such as to eat some fruit and vegetables and bathe regularly--were followed). Skype conversations during the three weeks I was gone from Nampula included such topics as: what items I should buy to replace what the rat chewed up, step-by-step instructions on how to make pancake syrup for Saturday morning, and clarifying to my two-year-old that I was NOT playing hide and seek with him and that I would, indeed, eventually be returning home.

It was so great to be with family far from home. And it is pretty great to be with my own little family here again too.

The road back to Nampula

Two weeks ago we made the trip from South Africa back up to Nampula where we live. There is one main road running up from southern to northern Mozambique, and while there are stretches of freshly poured black top, there are also some areas with unbelievably large potholes and gullies in the road that are often several feet deep. There are also some stretches that are just regular dirt/mud roads. Navigating these roads is, of course, challenging in and of itself and terribly hard on the vehicles (e.g flat tires, bent rims, and broken tire rods are quite common on a trip). The other danger is that many people walk along the roads in seemingly unpopulated areas--and with ten foot tall grass on either side of the "highway", it can often feel like a person appears on the road out of nowhere! Probably one of the most dangerous aspects of the trip, however, is avoiding the oncoming semi-trucks. They literally run smaller vehicles off the road in their own attempt to keep to the best part of the highway and avoid the potholes. Friends of ours only about a half a day behind us on the trip north were in a terrible accident due to this very reason.

On our trip up from South Africa this past month, we were blessed with a safe and uneventful trip...Nevertheless, it was still a long, tiring, and stressful journey as we tried to keep two little boys entertained in their car seats and a newborn fed and changed and back in her carseat for three straight days. Obviously, there are no rest stops for the children to get out and run around, no bathrooms, and no McDonalds to make the trip a bit more bearable. No matter how hard you try to find a private place along the road for any necessary stops, Cohen still had to figure out how to "do his business" with a half a dozen people crowding around him to see the novelty.

One of the places we stopped for the night was on the coast and we enjoyed just taking a walk on the beach after beeing cooped up and strapped in for so many hours.

Down the beach a ways from where we were walking, some fishermen were bringing in their catch and we got to watch them hauling their nets in and sorting through the various fish and other ocean creatures they had caught.

The women relatives of the fishermen sorted through the days' catch, throwing various types of fish, lobsters, and squid into piles.

Little children with bowls and pots also crowded around to beg the smaller fish that would not be able to be sold.

We really enjoyed being on the coast again even if for only a few hours!

Kruger National Park (April 17)

Of course we couldn't allow Stefan's parents to come all the way to Africa and not visit a game park! So last week we all piled into the car and made a day trip to the internationally renowned Kruger National Park! It was so much fun for adults and children alike, but it was particularly fun to see what interested the boys.

We saw so many different animals including...

wart hogs

baboons

vervet monkeys

hippos

crocodiles

giraffes

rhinosourus

elephants

buffalo

and others...

After seeing one animal, we typically asked the boys, "What do you want to see next?" and without fail, in a few minutes we would come accross that particular animal! At one point, Cohen informed us he'd like to see a lion...Well, we didn't want him to be too dissapointed so we explained to him that it wasn't likely since they would all be hiding and sleeping during the day...but not 30 minutes later we actually saw a pride of lions resting near a large swamp in the shade of some trees!

As we came to the last few hours of our time in the park, Cohen and Christian said they wanted to see a zebra--one of the last animals we still had not come across. However, the boys fell asleep and we continued to make our way toward the park entrance, actually not seeing many animals at that point. No sooner did Cohen wake up, then we came accross some zebra!

Graskop (April 13)

We spent one day in the area around Graskop (a town about an hour north of here). We were originally going up to see Blyde River Canyon and the beautiful lookouts which surround it...however, it turned into quite a cold and foggy day without visibility. So we spent some time in Graskop (once again at a pancake house!) and enjoyed just being together.

At one of our stops, Stefan and Cohen kept warm as they waited for us to look through some of the artifacts.

The boys sort of got tired of "smiling for the camera" and began to make faces toward the end of the day.

Melissa, we are still all scratching our heads at your choice of the chicken liver and piri-piri pancake! ?? Only in Africa!

Wesley was completely unimpressed with the splendor around her. But pretty much everyone was impressed with her! Everywhere we stopped, people were completely taken with her. (In most of the local African traditions, it really is not cutomary to take the baby out from the house until he or she is older--one lady in church the other day was telling me in her culture they don't usually take the kids out until they are at least 3 months old--so it is quite a sight to see a newborn being hauled all around!)

The serious family photo didn't quite turn out.