A climbin' the hill

A few days ago, Luke, Carey, Jake and I decided to climb a different hill that's near our house.  I think it was only about 3 miles round trip, but this hill was steeper, and the brush was thicker!

We came to this ravine here - isn't it pretty?

"So I don't see any way out of here...where should we go? ...Yeah, I guess you're right, we'll go up!"

 Once we got out of the ravine we found the road again

 It started to get steep right here

 We're soaking up all the green we can before things turn completely brown

Me and....half of Luke's face.  It's hard to get both of our faces in it since he's so tall!

 There was no path at all, or even any areas that weren't a complete jungle of thorns, so we just went through it!  I still have part of one in my leg that I need to dig out......

 We finally reached the top! Here's Jake in his awesomeness.

 Luke and Carey admiring the view

 I wish you could see exactly how enormous this rock is!

 Luke in his awesomeness

Yeah, I'm the oddball in this group!

Luke, me, Jake.  (Just to clarify, Carey is just a friend and coworker, no relation)

I zoomed all the way in onto the "little" hill that we climbed before

 Here it is again...our house is at the base of it.  Annnd, the sun was really bright.  I felt like laying on top of the rock and soaking up some sun like a lizard.

Didn't take many pictures coming down because we were too intent on not falling and dying\being careful not to get our eyes poked out by branches and thorns.

 

We got back sweaty (and stinky. You're welcome you guys) and a bit tired, but it was so much fun!  As an added bit of entertainment I got to sit on the couch that evening and pick ticks off myself, heh heh.  "Begone bloodsuckers!"  Okay that was gross, and I kindof made it up.  I only found one on my leg as we were hiking, muahaha.

Running Route

I've been wanting to take some pictures of the scenery, and of where we go running, but when we're actually doing a more serious run, I never want to tote along my camera, so Luke and I took a bike ride, and I was able to finally get a few to show you!

 A nice downhill towards the beginning of our route...and it turns into a nice uphill when we're almost home on the way back.

 I actually love this uphill!  It's not super long, so I like to try and power up it.

 A while after the hill, there's a nice straightaway.

 A nice downhill

 The seemingly huge uphill that used to seem to take forever to run up!  It's not so bad now though, thankfully!

 

  Then I didn't take any more pictures until we were headed back to the house.  Isn't the scenery pretty?  It's the rainy season right now, so things and green and lovely!

As a side note, make sure to check out Cookie Monster, since it's just been updated!  And as a "not so side" side note, you really should go look at Luke's blog, because he has some really great posts!

Iringa

Here are just a few pictures that I hope you'll enjoy!

 Driving down to Iringa.  I think Panya wanted to be the figurehead...

This is how Don and Axe spent their time.

This is how Panya spent her time.

Or this...(what a cutie!)

Since there was no AC, we had all the windows rolled down the entire trip.  It was a liiiittle windy! 

 This is our backyard.  Note the handy little spigot in the middle there...

 The front yard!  Isn't it pretty up there?  The scenery is definitely different than in the North.  

Heh heh.  We have two mango trees, and the dogs snack on the fallen fruit all day long.  Panya has a fat little mango belly!

Going running with deh boys! 

We made it

Thank you all so much for the prayers - we've made it safely down to Iringa, and have been getting everything sorted out.

I hardly know what day it is right now, everything seems pretty jumbled up, but let's see if I can give you a bit of what's happened!

A truck came last Tuesday afternoon, and we were able to get everything loaded up, and the truck locked.  We had sleeping bags out still, so we slept at our house that night and got up early Wednesday morning and started driving!   

Mom and Dad were in the Land Cruiser pulling the trailer that had our suitcases and sleeping bags, etc. in it, and the boys and I were in the Wagon with the dogs.  Don and Axe were in the very back and they did great, except for getting really hot.  They made it through the trip without dying - yes!  I was in the middle seat with the ice chest and Panya.  She was really good too, just went back and forth between laying down and looking out my window.  She liked to growl at giraffes and impala we passed!

We got to Iringa at probably around 10pm, and slept at an inn.

The next morning we got to our house, and started getting everything unpacked!  Since then, we've pretty much been doing the same things - unpack, carry boxes, unpack, take apart empty boxes...ask other family members "Do you want this?" every few minutes.  Heh heh.

We worshiped with the brethren here on Sunday; the building is about 20 minutes from our house.  Mwakalonge preached a good sermon, and the people were friendly.  

Hopefully we'll get internet up at the house in a few days.  It'll be nice when things get settled in enough to get back into a regular schedule.

Has anyone made any goals for the New Year?  I've written down a few general guidelines for myself.  They're not resolutions, since I've been doing them anyway, but New Year's is a convenient time to look at goals, etc. you have.

Here are a few of mine:

 - Daily Bible study and prayer time

 - Drink at least a couple of glasses of water a day 
(I usually drink a litre or two a day, but this is just so if I don't drink that much in a day, I at least get something!)

 - Exercise 3 times a week\train to run a 10K
(Hopefully more, but this is so I don't set myself up for disaster, haha) 

So there we have it, hope you all are having a great week!

 ~

 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.

Philippians 4:4
 

 

Don't look at me like that!

Look at that face!  {And this is nothing compared to when she wrinkles her forehead and looks all worried.} I can't resist it!

Now that I have that off my chest...

Dad and Jacob left for Nairobi at about 3am this morning,  so Jake can get some dental work done.  Hopefully they'll be back either tonight or tomorrow morning.

I'd like to thank Mum for sharing the link for my last post on facebook!  Since you all enjoyed it so much, I thought I'd give you a couple more quotes from when we did pilates next.

TV: "Make sure you engage your abdominals for this segment..."

Us: "This sure is a good neck exercise!"

...

TV: "...Now, rest with your head face-down on the mat..."

Me: "*bonk* I can't - that squishes my nose!"

I feel like I should inform you that we do spend some time working out when we work out.  

I need to come up with a halloween costume.  We're having the Gees over for a party, and everyone has to dress up!  Bwahaha, we'll see what everyone comes up with. 

 ~

Don't forget to go check out Cookie Monster for some new recipes!

Hi triceps, long time no see

Furlough was not kind to my muscles.  Not kind at all.  So a few days ago I said, "Mom, let's do pilates!".  It was going to be easy- like before, right?  We got the mats out, and ready-set-go!  It burned.  Apparently, after a couple months of almost no real physical activity, you lose some muscle.  *Arrrgh, my triceps!* 

As I'm in a heap on my mat, I contemplate my situation.  Surely someone will walk by and help me up sooner or later.  That, or I'll just lay here on my mat collecting dust until I'm no more.  Feebly, I call for help.  "Help."  Whew, that was exhausting.  "Heeeeeelp!" 

With my arms feeling like jelly, and not even being able to lift my arm up to reach my water bottle, I make the comment, "Well, this makes me appreciate the shape we were in last time we did this!"

To top it all off, a savage beast takes advantage of my helpless state, and attacks my stomach.  

Me: "Panya, bleh, get offa me! *Tries to ward off her attack with a useless arm*

Panya: "Raaaawr!"

Me: "Heeelp, I'm being attacked!...Giant pink tongue, aaargh! Fiend!  Flea-bitten mongrel!  Back, back I say!"

How I survived is anybody's guess.  As well as I how I got up.  

The next day I think, "Hmm, that wasn't so bad, let's do it again!" 

(This account has been dramatized for blogging purposes.)

Oh the things we will do, you and I!

Time for an update!  Things have been going really well over here.  We're in California staying with Mom's parents right now, and it's been really nice to spend time with them.  The boys and I spent the night at Uncle Jared and Aunt Sandy's with Nicholas and Matthew a few nights ago, and last night I spent the night at Jason and Jill's with the girls.  It was fun!  They're all really sweet. :)

Mum's been working on her lessons for a ladies' day she's doing here Saturday, and I've been working on a little talk I'm going to give about our work and my perspective on it.  I'm really excited to hearing Mom's lesson!

The boys and I have been trying to go running every day.  I really like to run!  If I had a good place to run at home, I'd get a training schedule to build up my endurance.  It's amazing how fatty all the foods are here - it's easy to forget!  Anyway, traveling around in the car, and sitting most of the time doesn't do too much to make you feel great.


Last week we went to San Francisco to visit a couple congregations that support us, then on Monday we walked around the city.  It was really nice to have a family day!

Next week we'll go up to Angel's Camp and spend a week or so with Dad's side of the family, so that should be fun.


I've talked to Julia a couple times, and she and Lee are doing really well.  They've been getting settled in, and she's been doing all sorts of wifey things. :)


Hope everyone is having a great week!


{Remember to take a look at Cookie Monster for new recipes, and feel free to leave a comment!}

 **Edit**

I just thought it would be really cool to mention that I've been getting hits from Brazil, and today from France! {I really want to visit France one day...}
~
Obrigado
&

Merci bien!
~

Oh no...I have to think up a title for this...

         

Today we went to Merarani for worship.  We'd never been there before, and it was really nice to visit!  It was a bumpy ride, but thankfully not all that long.  Only about an hour of feeling like a rag doll in a dishwasher, hehe!  It's always nice to visit places that are out of the way.  They were renting a building to meet in...the same as alot of them around here - concrete walls with a tin roof.  It only had very few windows, and some were covered in tin.  It was really nice weather outside, but inside there was no breeze at all, and I could feel the heat from the tin roof baking my face.  All of us were squished together on a bench, and it was stifling.  I entertained the thought of what might happen if I fainted and fell off the bench, but since I've never fainted before, that wasn't very likely. {hehehe}

***

Wedding plans for Lee and Julia seem to be going great! Everything's going to be bee-yoo-tiful! :) {*happy sigh*}

***

Work on The List has been coming along just fine.  I baked some chicken yesterday, and it turned out really nicely.  It was a nice change to have it baked.  Sometime soon I want to have a ravioli making day...get a bunch of filling and dough together, and make them up and stick them in the freezer.

***

Mom and I have been drinking almost two liters of water a day, and doing pilates every morning.  It's been really nice!  If I'm not busy when the boys go running I'll go with them. 

                                                 ***

 Tomorrow's Monday.  Oh, Mondays used to be my least favorite day of the week because it was the start of the school week.  We all had a favorite line from Jake that went - "You know what's good about Mondays?  *pause* Nothing!! Hahahaha!!!"  Of course that's not true, Mondays are great, but it gave us good laughs anyway!

***

Happy week, everyone! 

***