HOME.

^^^ We have enjoyed having our Willow girl and her mama at home with us for the last six month. And I'm just not quite sure what we are supposed to do without her.

^^^And these two. so perfect. cheers to my girls.

Growing up, Halloween was a big night for us. Picture the late 90's and a million kids running around in killer (handmade, thanks mama.) costumes. We had so much fun that we continued dressing up and yes. we even went trick or treating, well into high school. Unfortunately, college put an end to our annual candy induced comas.

This was my first Halloween at home in several years, and the trick or treating and the secret identities have been officially reclaimed by the little goblins that are slowly consuming our attention.  We are all grown up now and relegated to experiencing the magic of pretend through our little bitties’ eyes.

Using every inch of the skills I have acquired in my seven years of art school. my parents are SO proud.  I threw together a pretty awesome Evil Queen costume for my sister to match her little Snow White. im still waiting on my ribbon.  

^^^ She made a pretty hot Evil Queen.

^^^Snow White & The Evil Queen

^^^ Our little bitties were a little slow figuring out exactly why people kept putting candy in the magic, plastic, jack-o-lanterns, but they very wisely kept these concerns to themselves as they pulled out each piece given to them and tried to eat it as quickly as possible. 

^^^ Snow White and Minnie Mouse going door to door. 

Happy Belated Halloween Everyone. Enjoy your candy comas. 

This is one of my dearest childhood friends. Two years ago I was a bridesmaid in her wedding and this fall we had a wonderful time documenting her incredible baby bump.  We are in the baby era. And a rather pink one it is turning out to be. So please enjoy this happy little family while I wait patiently, or not so patiently, to add another sweet bundle to my collection of wonderful, adorable, perfect, baby girls!

Home again.

^^^we arrived home safe and sound last tuesday. 

africa was an incredible adventure but home is always home.

Coming full circle. 

About ten years ago, my family met a man named Obey. Obey was from Tanzania and was attending a bible college in Birmingham. One sunday he wandered into the church I was baptized in as a child and where my extended family still attends. This church adopted and ordained Obey. When he returned to Tanzania they helped to support his ministry. Through Obey, my family began to learn about Tanzania and eventually, through him, we were connected to Martin and Charles in Kisii, Kenya. Unfortunately, Obey died from Typhoid about five years ago. Kenny and Thaddeus, along with continued support from America, have continued Obey's work and the church he started in Dar es Salaam. 

Before our trip this year, one of our Sweetwater board members ran into a man in a hardware store. Being the friendly fellow that he is, it wasn't long before he discovered that the man's wife, a doctor in Birmingham, was working with a group in Dar es Salaam. When the man went home and told his wife about Sweetwater's work, she became very interested and requested that we install a chlorine generator at the main church in Dar.  Arriving in Dar we met Joel and Hilda, who lived in Birmingham for almost fifteen years until they returned home to run the ministry in Dar es Salaam. 

On our last work day in Dar, Phoebe and I sat with Joel as he relayed to us his testimony and his goals for his organization. He explained to us that the people in the villages often are in need of physical help. They are hungry and poor and their goal was to minister not only to the spiritual needs but the physical needs of the Tanzanian people. His enthusiasm and love for his work was wonderful to experience and when he finished I began the story of Obey. I told him that as a little girl, I had heard this man speak on this exact thing. Obey gave a sermon that I will never forget. He said that he walked into that small church in Birmingham, Alabama and he was homesick and tired and hungry and at the end of the sermon the people greeted him, warmly, and invited him to lunch. Obey always said that this was what he fell in love with first. That we need to attend first to peoples physical needs and then their spiritual needs. 

At the end of my story Joel looked up and said, "I know this man, he was my friend!"

^^^ Us with Joel and Hilda along with Kenny and Thaddeus.

        In Dar es Salaam, we installed a chlorine generator at an Assembly of God church in the city. A ministry started in Birmingham, Alabama is working out of this church to minister to the villages outside of the city. Like Sweetwater, they are a young organization, not associated specifically with any one particular denomination. Working out of Dar, their goals are to address the physical and then the spiritual needs in the Tanzanian villages. Through a doctor in Birmingham, we made contact with Joel and Hilda Rugano, a local Tanzanian couple who lived in Birmingham for almost fifteen years and have now returned to Dar to start the Vision of Ministries Foundation. Their goal is to use this initial chlorine generator as a demonstration area, and then to send people out into the villages to install more. We spent our last week in Dar working on the chlorine generator for this ministry. In addition to the physical installation, we spent extra time allowing the group to learn how it works and to actually do the installation themselves. We enjoyed our time spent with this group; they are energetic about their work and very much welcomed us into their family.  

^^^ The plumber crawling out of the water tank. 

^^^ Installing the water tanks onto the concrete pad. They built the pad completely by hand, mixing the concrete by hand, and had the entire thing completed over night. 

^^^ Daddy going through the generator manual and taking inventory of the supplies.

 ^^^ The Chlorine Generator, built by the Water Step Organization.

 ^^^ Final installation

 ^^^ Testing the chlorine 

^^^ Phoebe and I also spent some time giving demonstrations on how to dilute bleach into a mother solution of chlorine to use to kill bacteria in water. A chlorine mother solution continues to be the easiest, surest, cheapest way for people to clean their water. 

 ^^^ The chlorine generator was successfully installed and everyone tried the clean african water!

^^^Sunset over Dar. View from the Roof.

In Dar es Salaam, we have had a few slow days, while we waited for a local church to do the prep work for a chlorine generator, that we hope to put in at the end of the week. To fill the time, we took a day and went to a local market place. It was like the original World Market only cheaper and more authentic. In Africa, outside of an actual mall, they haggle over everything. EVERYTHING. This market was no exception and because we are mzungus the prices started extra high. What they didn't know, however, is that we knew all of this and were prepared. I'm afraid we left quite a few African salesman a little disappointed. Although, it can be somewhat of an overwhelming experience, since they yell at you constantly throwing out prices before you even walk into the booth. I began looking through stacks of canvases in one shop and after that everywhere I walked by they would pull me into their shops showing me every painting they had and desperately trying to figure out what I was looking for. While I haggled over paintings, Phoebe led a determined expedition to find turkish pants. Kenny, our driver, seemed very impressed with our bargaining skills. 

^^^ Phoebe shopping for the just the right pair of pants.

Phoebe and I stopped to look at earrings in one booth and the men working, or hanging around, started asking us questions. 

"Where are you from?"

"America."

"OH!"

"What part?"
"What's your name?"
"Are you Married?"

"no." I answered.

"Why not?"
"I dont understand"
"Not yet?" They all laughed, looking confused (or at least pretending to be)

Behind me Phoebe replied with a smirk, "If you ever meet an American man, then you will understand."

They roared and we left.  

^^^ Kenny, our faithful and attentive driver/handler. 

I spent at least twenty minutes haggling with some poor man over these three painting. I laughed and shook my head with the first price he threw out and he looked like he was going to have a stroke at mine. Eventually I landed on a price I liked but he wouldn't go lower, so I started to leave telling him I would have to think about it. He called me back in a panic wanted to know how much I would pay right then and not leave. He shook his head no at the price I suggested and set a price in the middle, I walked out to "ask daddy" and returned with the amount I wanted to pay, after a few more min he shook his head and rolled my paintings for me in newspaper. 

 

^^^ I finished The Old man and the Sea on the plane over to Tanzania, finding this piece felt a little bit like fate.

^^^ wooden and bone earrings

^^^ Phoebe's spoils: Turkish pants.

On our way out of the market we passed a shop with a great, slightly worn brown and blue leather bag hanging inside. Phoebe asked the woman sitting near by how much for the bag. They haggled for a minute and Phoebe walked away, without it. Quickly the woman called her back and agreed to Phoebe's price. She then opened the purse and started pulling all of her personal items out! Phoebe literally bought the bag off the woman's shoulder.