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Photos of Our House

2010-01-16T01:42:00.000-08:00

We are uploading photos of our house so that family members can see it, and also so that some prospective renters can have a look at it!

This is the most amazing house for Nampula. The size of it, the amenities (like tile floor and two bathrooms with bathtubs), and the high ceilings and big yard are things that make us really love it. We feel so incredibly blessed to be living in a house like this because most missionaries here have something much smaller, with cement floors and no bathtubs. Why God saw fit to bless us with this place at such a low price we don't know, but we appreciate it a great deal.

You can see that we chose to paint the inside in bright colors. Outside, most things are brown, rusty, dull colors and the brightness of the house is a balm to my soul.

Isn't the child model in these photos gorgeous? He is a nice accessory to our home and can always be heard humming, singing, or chatting to himself. I think he must have musical talent, because he makes up little songs frequently.

The photos are of the front of the house, our large garage (where we can also hang laundry in out of the rain), the dependencia (small shed to store things), chicken house, enormous yard, children's play house, work veranda, screened veranda where we eat all of our meals, kitchen, hallway in center of house, office, guest room, master bedroom, children's bedroom, and main bathroom.

Christmas part two

2010-01-01T06:36:00.000-08:00

Here are a few more of the things Toby and Ben got for Christmas. I post them here because it is the easiest way for the givers to see these photos - emailing photos does not always work from Moz! At the bottom are the boys outside the movie theater in Blantyre, where we took them to see Kung Fu Panda. We've seen it lots of times on our little DVD player, but we all agreed that it was totally worth it to watch it on the big screen! It was Ben's first movie, and he was climbing up and down on various chairs during much of it. Luckily there were very few people in the theater, so he didn't bother anyone. We had popcorn and candy and enjoyed the whole movie experience. Toby and I haven't been to a movie in almost 3 years, so it was truly exciting for us.

Early Christmas

2009-12-05T03:05:00.000-08:00

Some family members sent gifts out to us, and we decided to open part of those before we leave for vacation, and the rest when we return. We'll use money sent to us by others to buy gifts at the "nice store" in Malawi, so we'll have Christmas surprises several times! They boys got lots of books, and you can see what they spent their afternoon doing. Scuba Bob also made a reappearance . . . you can see our tree behind him. Yes, it is a fake tree but we are very lucky to have that here. With all the cheesy colored lights, it is a glory to behold and we love looking at it! - C

Bye to Johannes

2009-12-05T01:57:00.000-08:00

Here are some silly photos of Toby with his little Norwegian friend, Johannes. He is going away while we are on vacation, and likely won't return before we leave for the USA, and perhaps will leave Moz before we come back, so it was a sad goodbye! He came over and spent the night and Toby and him had a lot of fun. They are in 2nd grade together at school.

Our Dogs

2009-11-08T06:01:00.000-08:00

I know people would probably like to see how big the "puppies" are getting, so here are photos of Nibbles, Bella and Tintin, in that order. Nibbles is looking pretty old these days, and has started losing some of her hair. She is still very sweet, but moving slower lately. Meanwhile, Bella and Tintin love each other very much, though we recently realized that the older dogs are eating some of Tintin's food. We wondered why he wasn't growing very well! Here's a lovely photo of a "kiss". Ick. Bella is about 14 months old now, and Tintin is probably 7 1/2 months old. Maybe we'll be having some puppies next year.

Scuba Spiderman

2009-10-13T21:09:00.001-07:00

More Kite Flying in Nacala

2009-08-27T07:47:00.001-07:00

Here's more kite flying, at another beach, with some different kids. The white kid is also not our Ben, but another MK. These kids enjoyed helping us get the kites flying, and they kept crashing because the wind was so crazy that day. So, we needed a lot of help. They enjoyed it when I took their photos, though I tried to be discreet in case an adult came along and got upset at me.

Kite flying in Nacala

2009-08-27T07:26:00.000-07:00

Here's Toby and Ben with their kites on "our" beach - the place we usually stay in Nacala. You can see Ben's kite behind him, up in the sky - pretty high up!

Cold Weather

2009-08-07T05:13:00.000-07:00

It's been chilly the last month, off and on. Here, the boys are huddled on top of the basin of clean laundry, wrapped in blankets. Probably was about 72 F. Crazy, I know! -C

Chocas Mar

2009-08-07T04:14:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from our night at the beach Sunday. We usually don't go to this beach, since there isn't much snorkeling and we don't have friends there. And the cost is really too high to stay more than one night. So, we usually go to Nacala where we have friends and there is a super cheap house to stay in where we can cook and be right next to the beach. But THIS beach, Chocas, is SO beautiful and peaceful. To get there, we drive on cement/tar roads for about 75 miles and then turn south for about 20 miles, then east for about 20 miles on a very bumpy and sandy dirt road. That takes about 45 minutes. We go through some villages along the way, with a few cement buildings and there is even a cafe that we pass. Once we reach the coast, there are quite a few holiday homes there, though the town itself has pretty much nothing but some huts. We drive another 3 miles south down the coast on a very bumpy and sandy dirt track (4x4 required) and turn into the complex, where there are 6 rustic houses. They really are very nice by our standards, but any of you would call them rustic. They have straw roofs, very nicely done, and the one we stayed in, with another family, has two bedrooms and then a loft with 3 mattresses. I should have taken a photo. Anyway, the beach is across the "street" (dirt path) and over the bluffs. It is enormous, as you can see. And deserted. There was one other little group of Germans that we saw a couple of times, and fishermen in their dugout canoes going by or trying to sell us shells. So peaceful and quiet. We love it there. We had a great time with the Beutlers and their 5 and 2 year old boys. It was a little chilly, which is why the boys have long sleeves. Probably not less than 75F, though. :-) -C

The Snugli

2009-07-29T06:32:00.000-07:00

Toby likes to put on these velour pants after his bath, to keep him warm. He decided last night that they are even warmer when pulled ALL the way up!

Ben's Cone Fashion Show

2009-07-05T23:56:00.000-07:00

Ben decided to take his clothes off at the 4th of July party and he was modeling with some cones. It was chilly at the party, so he was quite the focus of attention, walking around half-naked like that. He entertained quite a few people, though, as usual.

Toby's Shiner

2009-06-24T01:10:00.000-07:00

Toby is sleeping in this first one, so that's why he looks like that! Well, hitting the ground also is why he looks like that. This is 3 hours after impact.
Day Two is below.

Day four

At the bottom is at about Day 10

Ladies Luncheon

2009-06-06T01:35:00.001-07:00

Portrait Photos 2009

2009-06-05T05:56:00.000-07:00

June 4 2009

2009-06-04T22:38:00.000-07:00