Catch Up!

Hello from TZ! Well, it's mid-May, halfway through our 3rd (and final) school term of the year, and it's been 3 months since our last blog post (sorry). So, it's a catch-up post of mostly pictures and some snippets of info.

FAMILY VISITS!

Chris' parents (Rollie and Sandi) visited for over 3 weeks. We LOVED showing them around HOPAC and Dar - and you can only imagine how excited the kids were to have Nana and Papa here! Uncle Jonny came for a couple weeks too - super special.

Bet you can imagine the tears of joy from our side when we got to see and finally hug Nana and Papa!!!

Family dinner!

Sandi read to Laura's kindergarten class while she was here

And they got to encounter a good ol' power outage (8+ hours)

Wesley with Nana and Papa after his Grade 1 assembly

Uncle Jonny doing the mile run with Wes and his buddies

Out and about with Uncle Jonny - we adored having him!

On safari!!

Service Emphasis Week (SEW)

Service Emphasis Week is when the whole school, grades K-12, get involved with service projects in the community!

Chris helped lead a group of Grade 11-12 guys who taught a football camp for boys from neighborhood schools

Laura's kindergarten class helped host a neighborhood preschool 

Connection with a new friend

We loved getting connected with a new friend...our good friend in IL connected us with Emma who was coming to Dar for 8 weeks for research work. We adored having Miss Emma!

Anna loved her Miss Emma, who Anna will quickly tell you is a nurse! :)

Swahili lessons continue

Ahh, Swahili lessons. Have to say learning a language is not one of my gifts, and I know I don't study enough, but it's been helpful and fun and mind-stretching. Here's a picture of my two dear friends (Mandy on left and Allison on right) who I've been studying with, along with our very patient teacher Eli. 

Grade 1 and 2 Basketball after-school activity

Chris is doing an amazing job leading a basketball FASA (fun after school activity) on Tuesdays for Grade 1 & 2 kids (he probably has around 20-25 each week). The kids LOVE it and seem to really have a blast doing the drills and games he's teaching them. And, the girls and I sit and watch while eating a frozen juice (or Laura is off catching grasshoppers, more likely).

Ahh, rainy season. So it does exist.

We started to wonder about this rainy season that everyone has been talking about. At first we heard it'll be end of February/beginning of March - but nothing. Then we heard late March. Nothing. Then April. Again, nothing. And now it's finally here. I'm not a fan of the huge rains, which equates to very muddy roads and extra mosquitos, but we are all enjoying the cooler weather!!

Waiting at the stoplight by school

This is the view on our dirt road - we had to find another way around for a few mornings until this dried up more

Wish this picture did justice for this crazy downpour

We're looking forward to sharing more with you as we wrap up our third and final term of the school year. Lots to do in the next 5 weeks!
Much love,
Lindstroms