Weekend thoughts

After being here for so many months, I think it's safe to say we are finally feeling like life is normal here. This weekend was a good one, in the sense that we didn't sit around talking about how nice it would be if we had ........ (fill in the blank) . I think the pace of life here has finally caught up to us and we have joyfully accepted it. When I speak of the pace of life, I mean how slow, slow, slow it is. As Americans, I think we've always felt like there had to be something to do, somewhere to go , etc . Michelle and I are bums as it is, but here, we feel right at home because no one does anthing, except be with family. Saturday night was great. We visited friends in a village (Oodi), which is a total change from Gabs.. No paved roads, quiet, a real african village. The sunset was unbelievable. Across the street from the home was a group of women, huddled in a circle singing..They sang for a good hour and a half, it was beautiful. Behind the home was a group of girls playing jump rope and soccer, occassionally peering through the gate to see what we were up to. I saw my first snake, it was dead in a pot. The cousin had killed it. When I asked what type it was, the boy said.. `"The kind that if it bites you on the leg, it will kill you.... This is a small one, there is a big fat one here too, we can't find it just yet." We proceeded to play soccer and ride bikes through the yard for the next 3 hours. Maura played in the sand box in the back of the house. Good parenting? When in Africa, do as they do.

Sunday, we cleaned a bit, cut hair and sat around the baby pool, hangin', In the evening, a family from the states who has been here for 7 years came over and had dinner. Both of them are doctors and their children are around the same ages as ~Kate and Jacob. They helped reinforce all the reason we dragged our kids here in the first place. The kids had a blast and swam in the pool as we sat around and watched them.

I fell asleep on the couch watching an old Jay Leno show. What a bum. All in all a great weekend. Weekends hae been tough here, but I think we've found a comfort level with it and don't whine about how much we miss home. It was good. Don't get me wrong, we miss home, but a sense of normalcy has been found. We hope that you can visit.