1/2 year + 34 years

Look who's half a year old already! This precious bundle isn't quite sitting up on her own yet, but she loves to roll over, to make all sorts of noises, to interact with her doting sister and brothers and others, and to chew on things with her three (soon-to-be four!) cute little teeth. "Frieda Joyce" is named after her Grandmothers and her name also means "Peace" and "Joy." She is a content, joyful little girl, so I think her name is just perfect for her.

For my 34th birthday, on the 27th, I asked to take a family trip to Berberati. Lois and Frieda had never been there, and I hadn't been there in almost four years, so I was greatly looking forward to seeing many friends I said "see you later" to at the end of 2012.

Marie-Helene, Tychique and Jacobin braved the dirt roads along with the six of us, and we had fun travelling together (almost five hours round trip, so it was a long day, though a good one!) Our source of travel amusement was the four boys goofing off nonstop in the back seat of the car; I love how they manage to communicate very effectively in what we have dubbed "Sanglais," a very interesting combination of Sango + Anglais (French word for "English").

Once we got to Berberati and waited out a couple hours of torrential downpour at some friends' homes (typical rainy season), Marie-Helene tied Freida on her back for our walk through the neighborhood to say hi to other old friends.

 The first time I looked at the below photo, I noticed how hard the two girls in the background were laughing; the second time I looked at the photo, I noticed who was making them laugh! Do you see?

Marie-Helene's parents have gone through some challenging times of sickness over the past few years, so it was a joy to see them in good health. The girls were happy to meet them, too.

We spent some time at Rachel's house--she was a special friend when we lived in Berberati, so it was great to see her and to see how her kids have grown. She prepared us a delicious meal!

We visited my former Gbaya teacher, Marianne, at her home...

 I finally got to meet my adorable namesake, Ruth, who up to now I had only seen in photographs; she is two years and two months old now:

The boys had fun playing with other kids and their toys...

An added bonus to the trip was that Adam was able to meet with the Gbaya-French/French-Gbaya dictionary revision team. Adam has been doing his part of the dictionary work (data entry) in Gamboula, while these guys have been doing their part (revision) in Berberati. It was good for them all to meet up in person and talk through some important issues, including the Gbaya orthography (spelling system). 

winter clothes in the tropics

Marie-Helene returned from a trip to Berberati, bearing with her the sweetest gifts from her daughter Princicia--crocheted outfits for Lois and Frieda! For each of them, there was a hat, a pair of socks, a onesie-type outfit and a sweater. Too adorable!

Of course they were sweating like crazy within moments of donning the full ensembles; I am sure it didn't help that they were wearing all that warm stuff on top of their clothes (long-sleeved jammies in Frieda's case!), and that it was probably 90+ degrees Fahrenheit in the sun. But they were cute anyways:

Gamboula, two months in...

There comes a time in a missionary's blogging experience, when she must blog--not because she particularly has a topic worthy of blogging about, and not even because she really feels particularly like blogging today--but because now is the first time in two months that the internet connection is actually good enough to get online and write a blog post. And for me, that time is tonight.

The two months we've been back in the Central African Republic may be characterized in part by diminished internet connectivity, but they've definitely also been characterized by a dramatic increase in connectivity as far as real-life relationship with those we've only been able to work with sporadically or remotely for the past several years. So all in all, it's been a good two months.

But how can I really summarize two months in a blog post? I'd rather post more often about the small things that make the day-to-day meaningful. I do love to take pictures, so if the connection allows, I'll upload a few images to give a glimpse into our day-to-day life since we've been back.

When we moved to Berberati four years ago and I first met missionaries doing agricultural work, I realized that in another life, I could have been a scientist/biologist/agricultural expert/something like that, and would have loved it. Kind of fun how we discover new passions and interests as life goes along. Anyways, now we live right outside the gates of the "Garden of Eden," where our friend Roy (and many others) have planted an unbelievable variety of tropical fruit trees. Eden is the most relaxing and beautiful place to walk...there are always trees of various types with fruit ready to eat: so many fruits I've never seen before! (To read more about the agricultural mission, check out Danforths' blog).

Pictured below are a couple of the fruits that were in season when we got here. The first, mangosteen, is probably the most delicious tropical fruit I've ever eaten: small, white, sweet sections, with usually one of the sections containing a seed:

And rambutan...mmmm....

Let me introduce you to a couple special friends who we've reconnected with from Berberati days. Jacobin and Tychique are brothers who are staying at our house for a while. Their Grandma is kind of like our Central African Mom and our kids' Central African Grandma, and she lives really close by, so the boys also spend a lot of time at her place hanging out with other relatives who come and go.

 They are super sweet boys, just like they look:

And Lois gets to have two extra big brothers to watch out for her, lucky girl. Except that of course this means she is never able to fully realize her two-year-old ambitions of running away from home to go visit "Ata" or other friends--amongst the four boys, one is sure to catch her and bring her home before she gets very far outside the gate!

 The boys, when not in school, have as much fun as you can imagine. Sure, there are a few welts from stick or light-saber fighting, some spills from riding two-to-a-bike, various accidental and purposeful clonks on the head...but the four of them are good buds. I especially love listening to how they are teaching each other Sango and English.

Jacobin & John:

Tychique & Sam:

This is Marie-Helene, Jacobin and Tychique's Grandma (or in Sango, "Ata") who is also special to us and our kids (look at Frieda Joyce's smile, while Lois looks like she's trying to get loose from being tied on Ata's back!)

Here is Lois with another "Ata," Fridoline, who watches her while we do school in the mornings. Fridoline is incredible at teaching Lois Sango (she had Lois counting to ten in Sango within a few days), and now my 2-year-old is even starting to teach me new words. Her bug vocabulary is quite impressive, and is evidence of the great variety of insects that live around our house:

Here is Lois standing beside the "ice cream bean" tree beside which our baby James was buried in 2012. It has grown during the years we were gone...

From the pictures you might not guess it, but...we actually spend most mornings doing school for hours! Memory time (some through songs), history, science and other reading-together takes up a good chunk of the morning and is a favorite part of school for both boys. Piano lessons are a continuing adventure, and I am enjoying starting to hear actual songs coming from the living room when the boys go to the keyboard to practice. We also do the usual reading, writing and arithmetic every day. I have to say, I think I was as apprehensive about starting this home-school year as I was last year...but just like last year, now that the school year is in full swing, I am having a great time this year. I learn so much, and I love seeing the kids learn new things.

Since we will be moving again next March, I planned an ambitious 28-week school year for our time here in Gamboula (we'll continue our core subjects as we travel, but the schedule will be more streamlined then). I can hardly believe that this week already marks the end of our first "quarter" of the school year. The days fly by!

In closing, here are the kids (minus Frieda Joyce) in a house they built behind our house--complete with mud brick walls! Watching them build it took me back to the excitement of building forts as a kid (and made my smile remembering how I promised I'd never let those forts go to ruin, even if I had to rebuild them when coming home from college breaks)...

I guess that's it for now...until the next decent internet connection descends upon our house...(somehow the photo I had wanted to share of Adam with one of his work partners Dominique didn't load...but after such a long post, work & ministry stuff probably belongs in a separate post anyhow).