Following a month and a half of home-stay with Margaret's family during dry season, I moved back home to the team compound. And here's a little snipet on some of the joys to be found therein.
Every special occasion is the right occasion to truly party it up in S. Sudan. And there have been many special occasions of late: first Caleb's birthday, then Karen's, then Michael's, Heidi's, and mine. And (in my humble opinion) our team does one of the finest jobs cooking up themes - not to mention killer meals and scrumptious desserts - for each event, as well as all the fun and activities that one could dream up to accompany them.
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| Caleb, Melissa, Heidi, me, and Liana |
So was the case with Caleb (our intern's) birthday. Theme: mud. Michael and the kids made a special mud pit for the occasion and we had a brilliant line-up of mud war races and wrestling. Heidi's birthday was celebrated with a laid-back bonfire - complete with mouth-watering sausage, biscuits, and marshmallows all toasted over the flames.
I had an Earth Day Birthday - in commemoration of all things I love so dearly: soil, seeds, life, growth, and food, glorious food! We paid tribute to the day, this thirty-third year of my life, and our hopes for the fruitfulness and growth of my ministry and South Sudan's agricultural flourishing by planting a flamboyant tree next to my house.
Holding hands, we prayed around the little seedling, and Michael even surprised us with a song, fit perfectly for the occasion. And then, it was a water extravaganza: capture the flag (or water, in this case), homemade slip and slide, and a degeneration (of course) into another full-fledged mud and water war.
And I must say, besides the fashioning of raucous fun and scrumptious food, this team cranks out the most amazing presents I have seen. Liana has begun a blog, in attempts to share the remarkable craftiness of folks on our team. Check it out and congratulate her at:
Blankets, Bushrats, and Beyond. This year I got a bush rat for my birthday. ?? What? Yeah, well, Liana has also documented that here:
Xavier, my ever-so-handsome (and helpful) bush rat. It's pretty amazing, not gonna lie!
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| Tiny tree twisted out of electrical wires |
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| Commemorative plaque: 'It was hard, but I did it.' |
Following a month and a half of home-stay with Margaret's family during dry season, I moved back home to the team compound. And here's a little snipet on some of the joys to be found therein.
So was the case with Caleb (our intern's) birthday. Theme: mud. Michael and the kids made a special mud pit for the occasion and we had a brilliant line-up of mud war races and wrestling. Heidi's birthday was celebrated with a laid-back bonfire - complete with mouth-watering sausage, biscuits, and marshmallows all toasted over the flames. 
I had an Earth Day Birthday - in commemoration of all things I love so dearly: soil, seeds, life, growth, and food, glorious food! We paid tribute to the day, this thirty-third year of my life, and our hopes for the fruitfulness and growth of my ministry and South Sudan's agricultural flourishing by planting a flamboyant tree next to my house. 
Holding hands, we prayed around the little seedling, and Michael even surprised us with a song, fit perfectly for the occasion. And then, it was a water extravaganza: capture the flag (or water, in this case), homemade slip and slide, and a degeneration (of course) into another full-fledged mud and water war.
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