Flashback: December '09

Credits: Blythe Evans' "Mocha Berry Winter" Kit.
We tried a new tradition of a Jesse Tree. A very cool way to keep the real meaning of Christmas at the center.

Credits: Charlie's Digiscraps' "Gingerbread Lane" Kit.
Middle Sojourner turned 7 and had a gingerbread birthday party (yet another challenge with the resourses around here) with all of her friends from school. They sure do grow up fast!

Credits: M. Neaves' "Gold Foil Alpha" & C. Heins' "RAK Scaps Dec '06 Mega Kit."
Our kids and the kids of our co-workers put on a nativity for all of our co-workers. The little Sojourners did a great job. Ms. Sojourner played Mary, Middle Sojourner played an angel, and Little Sojourner was a sheperd (with the smallest sheep ever).

Credits: Farrah's Designer Scraps' "Christmas Express" Kit at Groovy Scraps.
We started a new Chrstmas Eve tradtion of opening one present.

Credits: Farrah's Designer Scraps' "Christmas Express" Kit at Groovy Scraps.
We had a fun, but different, Christmas morning at home. Mr. Sojourner got a tea set. In this culture that is a manly thing, but it sure sounds funny to us.

Credits: Farrah's Designer Scraps' "Christmas Express" Kit at Groovy Scraps.
I made my first pies from scratch.

Credits: Blythe Evans' "Classic Grundge 2" Kit.
African ingenuity rubbed off on Mr. Sojourner.

Flashback: November '09

The girls' school had "Character Day" and Ms. Sojourner chose to be Nancy Drew and Middle Sojourner chose to be Fancy Nancy. This also proved to be a task without a walmart, target, or craft store nearby!


We went to a village and saw the harvest. (This is millet.)

The girls enjoyed playing with the village kids.

We grew to appreciate African ingenuity and packing abilities.

We celebrated our first Thanksgiving overseas.

Flashback: October '09

Our crate arrived. It was like Christmas! After seeing what was available in our country and the prices of everything...we sure wished we had crated more!

Ms. Sojourner turned 9; boy am I starting to feel old. Next year we'll be in double digits?!

We got another care package; people are so great to us!

The girls' school had a "Fall Festival" and instead of carving pumpkins we carved watermelons. The girls were on "Team USA South" (they go to an English School with a variety of nationalities present, Ms. Sojourner was the only American in her class) andcan you guess what they decided to carve?

Each family had a booth and this was ours: a bean bag throw. I learned how hard stuff like this is without a Walmart, Target, or Craft Store nearby (or anywhere in country, or anywhere on continent).

We learned to make our own laundry soap.

And our own syrup.

Little Sojourner took a "music class" at the girls' school and she still talks about it...9 months later.

Can you tell care packages are super exciting to us?

Flashback: September '09

Middle Sojourner thrived in school despite her selective mutism. (Though she was still non-verbal.) She enjoyed playing silent parts in several plays.

We got more care packages.

Flashback: August '09

After our two months stay in Senegal we moved to another African country where we continued French study and continued on in our adventure...

We moved into a new house.

We found a great restaurant with American style food and milkshakes.

My girls made friends with our neighborhood kids despite the huge language barrier.

Our courtyard was regularly full of kids.

My girls started school (away from home) for the first time ever. It was a huge adjustment for us all, but they did well.

We found an awesome tailor.

He made us some awesome African outfits.

I fell in love with African fabrics.

Going to the dentist was a whole new experience.

We got care packages.

We got our first dog ever and the girls fell in love with him.

We had an adventure getting furniture made with our little amount of language.

Little Sojourner got a funky fungus.

Flashback: July '09

We learned to dodge sotramas and/or bush taxis. (Public transportation.)

We tried new foods.

We met new friends.

We tried to get used to beggers.

There are lots of them.

We went to a small reserve and saw lots of animals: giraffes, zebras, ostrich, crocodiles, black rhinos (pictures here), etc.

We saw lots of baobob trees.

We...

enjoyed...

our last month...

near a beach...

for about three years.

We visited Goree Island.

We saw the "door of no return."

We visited the house of slaves.

It was a beautiful island with lots of history and tons of neat artistic stuff to see and buy.

Canons.

This is where I fell in love with beaded jewelry. (Previously I had one pair of studed earings that I wore everyday, and never a necklace.)