Merry Christmas

Today was our first Christmas in Africa as a family. I wouldn’t say it was the most normal Christmas we have celebrated in the past, but it was definitely fun. Taylor started the morning off by riding into our room on her new red motorcycle and telling us she wanted to open presents. After opening presents, a nice brea kfast, reading the Christmas story, and swimming in Taylor’s baby pool , we headed to the Cumberland Hotel for a nice Luncheon and were able to swim in their pool. The Cumberland Hotel is one of the few places to go out to eat and it’s so nice as it has a playground and a pool. It was nearly 100 degrees outside, so the pool felt very nice. We also were able to purchase a turkey at the grocery store a couple of weeks ago (this is a rare find for sure) and we had our very own Christmas dinner with all the fixings this evening.

We want to remember though that today is not about presents, but the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are here in Botswana to tell those who have not heard about Jesus. We’ve already started to form relationships and share the good news, so today please keep in prayer these specific folks…Tsepho (he also goes by Razor), Catherine, and Masego.

Ladies Christmas Tea

On December 22, one of the journey-girls, Keely, hosted all of the missionary ladies to her house for a wintery Christmas tea. We did secret santa and ate until we couldn’t eat anymore. What a great group of ladies that I have the opportunity to serve on the mission field with here in Botswana!

Later that day, we were invited over to the Blankenship’s home to see their 3 week old Great Dane puppies. They were so cute and Taylor really enjoyed petting them.

Wintery Weather

So we hear that the East Coast is getting hit pretty hard with snow. We just wanted to remind you in about 6 months that you can be swimming just like Taylor was yesterday. Stay warm...hot weather is on it's way :)

Warthog!

Well, I have taken a warthog. I have been looking for one and I found the big boy. Before we saw this boar, I passed on 18 good sized pigs because they did not have any teeth whatsoever. We were patient and finally  got what I was looking for.

This was a HUGE boar, weighing in at 150 pounds, with his teeth/tusks being 9 inches long! It was one of the largest warthogs ever taken from our hunting ground, he was worth the wait.

Potty trained…Hallelujah!!!

I am happy to announce that Taylor is FINALLY potty trained. Some things that seem so simple and natural really aren’t, but we are so glad she has finally learned to go in the potty. We are so proud of her! A missionary family here let us borrow their potty chair they used with their girls. She loves to do her “happy dance” when she goes potty…gotta love these days! Thanks to aunt Margie and uncle Larry, she now has some pretty Dora panties to wear.

Christmas Packages

We recently received two Christmas packages…one from Amanda’s parents and one from Brent’s family. One of the biggest highlights for us truly is getting a package from home! We enjoyed opening every single thing and took our time going through it all. We received some pretty cool things. Below are a few of those things, thanks to our families for thinking of us and sending those packages our way. We love you guys!

Taylor’s new baby

This is a Hallmark book, “The night before Christmas” and Mamaw and Papaw were able to record themselves reading the book to Taylor. This is her face when she heard their voice. She loves it!

One of Taylor’s favorite things to do is to read. She got some books “O little town of Bethlehem”, “Jesus loves me” and “The story of Christmas” We’ve only read them about 50 times in 24 hours :)

A great gift, a donation to Taylor’s 529 college fund from Grammy and Grandad. Thanks a bunch!

Cool finger crayons!

We also got a cool DVD from Brent’s side of the family each greeting us and reading some of Taylor’s books to her. She loves seeing her family!

$2 Christmas

This year we had just decided not to really do too much for Christmas as all of our Christmas stuff is in our crate which still has not arrived and most likely will not arrive for another 3-4 months. But to our surprise, one of the other missionaries here had an extra tree that they  brought over for us to borrow, so we have been having fun decorating. We bought some Christmas ball ornaments for $2 and we’ve made the rest of our decorations. Below is some pictures of our fun getting ready for Christmas. It’s a little hard to get into the season when it is 90 degrees outside, but we are trying.

We would like to start some of our own Christmas traditions, so if you know of some fun easy things to make or do then we would love to hear from you. (bltast@hotmail.com)

Taylor hanging the Christmas ball ornaments (the tree is just a little taller than she is)

Above and below: Taylor making some ornaments for our tree.

We also made some sugar cookies…I think Taylor ate more of the dough than we actually baked.

Rainbows

With it being so hot here recently, we have had several storms in the evenings. It has produced some pretty magnificent rainbows and colors in the sky. Below are two of our most recent rainbows. Little things remind us every day of God’s promises!

Mokolodi Nature Reserve

We have a game park right outside of Gaborone that you can do self-drives through. Recently we’ve enjoyed taking a drive through the reserve and packing a picnic to enjoy the scenery. Below are some pretty cool animals that we have seen recently.

 ELEPHANT

KUDU (these are about 750 pounds and as big as a vehicle)

DUNG BEETLE (I know this is gross, but it’s really cool how they roll poo)

GIRAFFE

Yep, Amanda risked her life to get a picture with the giraffe…ok they weren’t that close and she is pretty fast

ZEBRA

We got to a pretty high point and found this cool overlook. Taylor was laughing at her daddy who would set the timer on the camera and run as fast as he could to get in the picture. Fun times!

Heart of a Servant

Taylor has really been enjoying Africa and she is coming into her own. One of the greatest joys that we have been able to see is her servants heart. She loves serving others! Today we went to church and she had a small ziplock bag full of goldfish, her favorite, sent from the States. She however went to the chairs behind her and asked the 4 boys if they wanted any. When they said yes, she was so happy and gave them one each and then one for her self and she continued to do this, one for you, one for you, and one for me! Next she went and got paper and crayons and gave them to the boys, just loving every minute of serving them. She opens so many doors, we are so blessed!

Any time we have company to our house-our language helper, friends, or her nanny-the first thing that she does is ask if they want anything. She comes and says, "do you want..." and she tries to remember everything that we have to eat/drink like bananas, milk, kool-aid, yogurt, and so on and so on. She loves to serve and it's amazing when she discovers something that they want, she runs into the kitchen and tells mom and then she will serve them. She is such a blessing!