TWO!

We didn't know what to expect celebrating Felicity's birthday in Africa...but I guess we should have known it would be super fun no matter what because we love this girl more than words can say:

She squealed with delight as we covered her with balloons and she kicked them out. Over and Over...

Family Breakfast was a real treat: baguette french toast with Grandma Val's jam (limited supply, people...only for special occasions or really bad days):

We opened Grandma Kathy's card with glow sticks, and Fliss even wore her Minnie Mouse costume from Grandma and Grandpa J to school. Fliss' friend, "Hife" brought her a mini cake and two roses for TWO years...

After nap time we decorated her cake with Ms...

We prepared some of her favorite foods to share...

 A chalk board pic attempt was made, but we quickly gave up:

And then the guests started to arrive...

We sang, opened presents, and cut the cake: 

And just when we thought the party was about to end more guests arrived...

This is when Dan coined some of our friends, "The Feed the 5,000 Crew" because we ran out of drinks and food, but they saved the day by running to a hanoot for drinks and serving pizzas from the "make your own pizza station". We have really nice friends:

Bellies were full, children jumped on couches, and a good time was had by all:

 Especially this one who slept so hard the next day that I was actually able to take a sleeping picture. Doesn't she look bigger already?

But still our baby girl. always.

Mr. Taxi Man

Part of our life here is taking a taxi to language school. After two weeks, we've come to this conclusion:

Taxi drivers are a lot like a box of chocolates. Ya never know whatcha gonna get!

Our first week of school we went extra early with two of our classmates for our first go at commuting by taxi. There seem to be very few, if any, guidelines here for driving so we were all surprised (but somehow not too surprised) when the taxi driver said he could not take all four of us because of the police. OK, so our friends exited the taxi, and we were off...
Dan sat in the front trying out his Arabic, and our seemingly scrupulous taxi man began to let loose his sanguine side. Before I knew it, the car started swerving and jerking. All the while the taxi man was looking at Dan, smiling, and talking to him. It took me a few seconds to register the fact that he was purposely swerving...not only swerving but pretending to hit people and other cars! Each time he swerved toward another, he busted up laughing. He even leaned in to give Dan several high fives. We sort of laughed nervously, but I'm sure our eyes were as big as saucers...
Needless to say, we survived. To his credit, the people and cars here do seem accustomed to having to dodge one another, and Mr. Taxi man took us straight to school with time to spare. Perhaps best of all, he somehow managed to make our first day of Arabic class seem a bit less intimidating.

Here we are happy to be alive for our ride home :)

Yummo

How is it that no matter where we are in the world we always end up friends with Asians who have visiting mothers and mother-in-laws who know how to make the best food in the world?...Here are a few photos from our first team dinner. So grateful for the yummy food and our family here... 

Don't worry mom and mom-in-love...you don't have to cook if you visit! And just in case you were wondering, we aren't always match-matchy...just making a promo video for our English classes that started this week.

One Week Down

It's hard to believe that our first week in this new land is coming to an end. Honestly time has been a bit of a blur since we left our Chicago home in June. We've enjoyed a full summer with dear friends and family...soaking every last bit of them up to have pieces to hold onto for the next four years.

A great deal has happened between our last post and now that it's difficult to know where to start...so I'll just go from here:

We left KC the evening of September 5th and arrived here around 12.30 a.m. September 7th. Felicity did marvelously on the planes even though she only slept a grand total of six hours! At a little less than half way she said, "Mommy, all done. All done." When I responded, "All done with what?" She gave me her serious look and said, "a-pane, a-pane" (airplane, airplane). Boy was she in for a shock! She also loved the landings. Every time she would say, "again, again".

Since our arrival here we have been busy learning where to get groceries, how to use our appliances, finding furniture for our house, and unpacking...well, sort of unpacking. There are no closets in our house and very few cabinets. We are supposed to be getting some tomorrow but for now we live in a house of piles. When we arrived, our team had gotten us a bed, a pack and play for Felicity and all of our major appliances. We are ever so grateful!

We've also had the opportunity to start some informal language learning and training at the Family Place (more on these things later). The time is flying, and most of the time I still feel like it's all a dream. I have no organization going with my pictures yet, but here are a few random ones for now...

Every piece of furniture has to be carried up three flights of stairs! We are grateful for our friends...

 My first go at laundry...This is right outside our front door, and what this picture doesn't show is the rainstorm that happened overnight which toppled over everything. Oops. Lesson learned!

 Training at the Family Place. You can see how attentive Dan is :)

Our first dinner out as a family. We were so proud to order our own food, and it was delicious!

There is so much more to say, but for now I have floors to clean before the furniture arrives tomorrow...well, maybe tomorrow...

New Name

So...after much deliberation, we have agreed on a new name for the blog. This comes after Dan's assertion that he would not be willing to write on a blog named Messy, Beautiful, Grateful. Though he agrees that life is certainly all of the above, he likens writing on a blog with such a name to me writing on a blog with a title containing words like sweaty, smelly, hairy, etc. etc. He makes a good point, but when asked to post about the name change he insisted that he is merely a guest writer. Hmmm....maybe he will start writing when we get to Africa...
At any rate we spent a good deal of time over coffee trying to think of a new name.  It's a good thing this is a blog and not a baby ;) We came up with a super long list of names that seemed too cheesy, trying to be too cool and/or deep, too predictable, too confusing, too girly, too blah, etc., etc. A few days later the name came to Dan while in the shower (TMI)...one of his favorite places to sing...Thank you U2 for your inspiration... He shouted it out over the curtain, and it immediately seemed like a perfect fit. From henceforth, our blog shall be called....

Walk On

In a nutshell Walk On captures our desire to continue pressing forward in the work of God's Kingdom while embracing the joys and trials along the way. It also relays our desire to continue walking with YOU, whoever and wherever you may be. We know that many surprises, challenges, and exciting opportunities await us all as we continue on this journey called life. It is our desire to share in it with you that we might be mutually encouraged with every step. Let us walk on together, come what may, all for the glory of the ONE who grants us each step...

And love is not the easy thing 
The only baggage that you can bring...
And love is not the easy thing...
The only baggage you can bring 
Is all that you can't leave behind 

And if the darkness is to keep us apart 
And if the daylight feels like it's a long way off 
And if your glass heart should crack 
And for a second you turn back 
Oh no, be strong

Walk on, walk on 
What you got they can't steal it 
No they can't even feel it 
Walk on, walk on...
Stay safe tonight 

You're packing a suitcase for a place none of us has been 
A place that has to be believed to be seen 
You could have flown away 
A singing bird in an open cage 
Who will only fly, only fly for freedom 

Walk on, walk on 
What you've got they can't deny it 
Can't sell it, or buy it 
Walk on, walk on 
Stay safe tonight 

And I know it aches 
And your heart it breaks
And you can only take so much 
Walk on, walk on

Home... hard to know what it is if you've never had one 
Home... I can't say where it is but I know I'm going home 
That's where the heart is

and I know it aches 
How your heart it breaks 
And you can only take so much 
Walk on, walk on

Leave it behind 
You got to leave it behind 
All that you fashion 
All that you make 
All that you build 
All that you break 
All that you measure 
All that you feel 
All this you can leave behind 
All that you reason
All that you sense 
All that you speak
All you dress-up 
All that you scheme...

-Walk On: U2
Link to the U2 video

Our Standing Flibbertigibbet

flib·ber·ti·gib·bet

  [flib-er-tee-jib-it]  Show IPA

noun

1.

a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.

2.

Archaic. a gossip.

Of course we are referring to the first part of the first definition: a chattering person...

Behold, our standing flibbertigibbet:

Stuff

One of the questions we get asked most about moving to Africa is, "So, what are you going to do with all of your STUFF?" Frankly it's a question we're asking ourselves a lot these days.
It's a bit overwhelming to think that in the next six months we have the task of going through our stuff and putting it into one of three categories:

• Worthy to go into one of our 6, fifty pound bags to North Africa
• Meaningful enough to store in one of the four bins we will keep at our parents for 4 years
• It was fun while it lasted. See ya!: Goodwill, friends, family, BC...Happy Birthday to YOU!

Aside from the stuff you think of when you think of getting rid of stuff, there's the huge bucket of cds to be downloaded and disposed, non-digital pictures to be scanned (and make albums?), sentimental things like notes, old dance and bridesmaid dresses, cards, journals, etc. It's amazing to me that even as a family that has been intentional about not accumulating we have a ginormous amount of STUFF!

Dan has us on a tight schedule (lucky me ;)) with different rooms of the house slotted to be purged, packed and painted each month. January is almost over, but we have a long way to go in emptying our bedroom...we're talking closets and under the bed people!!! On a successful note, we have officially packed our first items: ornaments, nativity and Advent calendar...a whopping 9.4 pounds of stuff! At this point I'm not sure if that seems like a lot or a little as I think of narrowing our stuff down to 300 pounds...what I do know is that this daily weighing myself with stuff might actually motivate me to lose the extra stuff I still have from pregnancy...

It's surreal to think that the next time we see these things, God willing, we will be an ocean away. Until then, we press on loosening the chains of our stuff and experiencing a bit of freedom with each item that makes its way out so we can let God's beloved of Africa in...