Our last few days in the States were filled with all kinds of good fun!
There was mud volleyball at Pine Bluffs Trail Days...
A trip to PBHS for some science equipment for Orkeeswa...
Fun times in Denver at the zoo and Water World with the Heinert's for Mary and Baxter's birthdays...
Some time on a lake in Georgia with friends...
A party with some of our favorite people...
A few days in Ohio visiting sister LauraBelle that included some good 'Amish-ing' as Laura calls it (or 'Amish encounters of the first kind' as Seth calls it), a visit to Smuckers (who has all the things we love to eat!), some nature adventures, a trips to Lehman's, visiting The Ohio State University, yummy pizza, a friendly church and of course a couple visits to the infamous Guerne Heights Drive In ice cream store that serves crunchy sprinkles!
After all that fun and 7 hours in the car, we got to spend a day in DC complete with tasty burgers at Tune Inn (check them out in September on Diners, Dives and Drive-ins!), lots of monuments and walking and a failed attempt at the metro.
All in all a great way to spend our last few days in the USA!
I was missing our DZ kids on Sunday, so I took a look through the notes they wrote for us during VBS. They are so sweet! Lots of the kids wrote notes of thanks for helping at church and encouragement for our trip. But, some of them are just plain funny. Here are some of my favorites:
Seth & Lisa, I know what you're going to do today! Good luck.
Sincerely, R.
P.S. You guys better have fun. Or else you wasted a bunch of time, which you won't be able to be at the end of VBS. I'll be driving to Colorado to get on a plane to California!
Dar Seht and Lesu, have a god tim.
I hope you find a kungroo.
From A.
I bet all the peaple in africa really like you.
Dear Ben and Lessa,
Have fun on your trip.
Hey guys GL (good luck) and HF (have fun) but most important REMEMBER ME.
from: E.
P.S. be safe 2 but rember me!
Dear Seth and Lisa,
I hope you have a fun time in Africa. Send me some of the pictures.
Love, J.
P.S. Don't forget Chadder.
P.P.S. Chadder misses you.
P.P.P.S. If you get a picture of a rhino I will be amazed.
Front:
Back: Thak you
We love our DZ kids and can't wait to share stories of our experience with them!
Well, we are new to both blogging and to the adventure we're about to take on. For those that don't know, we are moving to Tanzania, Africa in August to volunteer at Orkeeswa Secondary School. We'll be there for about 18 months and will live in a village in a rural area of northern Tanzania. The school is in Lashaine Village and our house (with the other volunteers) is in nearby Monduli. We've been to Tanzania once before for a 2-week Habitat for Humanity trip and fell in love with the country and the people.Everyone asks us if we are ready for the move, and we're not sure! Seems like getting ready for an 18-month stint overseas is a bit different than anything we've ever planned for before. But here are a few things we've done so far to get ready....- Gotten 6 shots each to keep us healthy (we hope!), plus a few pills.
- Booked one-way tickets to Kilimanjaro International Airport. Yikes!
- (Still trying to...) convince our families this is a good idea and that we aren't changing our minds.
- LOTS of praying
- Attempting our best to get an 80-year-old house ready for renters.
- Signed up for a three-week course in Arusha, Tanzania to learn Swahili. (Apparently what we've learned from the Swahili words in 'The Lion King' isn't really sufficient to get by).
There's still lots to do before next week when we leave Lincoln, but we're sure it will all come together. The next few weeks are sure to be busy... between saying good-bye to our friends in Lincoln and at Horizons, spending a couple weeks in Wyoming and boarding a one-way plane to Africa, it seems the adventure has already started! We'll be sure to post stories and pictures along the way in hopes of sharing this experience with you all!
