The Next Chapter...

Sorry I haven't blogged in about two weeks--things have been crazy around here as usual! Enjoy the pictures of the kids below!!

These are just pictures of us all goofing around. In the top left corner, Samson, Mwita and I found a few corn stalks that fell over, and with these children and their imagination, we wound up pretending to be soldiers/warriors and the corn stalks were our weapons. Below that picture is of Tina and the kids-- she had painted all the girls' nails and the boys were so jealous, they wanted to join in the fun and begged tina to paint their toes as well. It was actually pretty cute! Both center pictures are of Lucky-- on top, Tina and him were wrestling, and Lucky grabbed Tina's leg and wouldn't let go... Tina was hopping around on one leg for about 5 minutes... soooo funny. Below, in the picture of Lucky and me, he was trying to be an "intellectual professor" after he found these random glasses, and proceeded to wear them very low on him nose like bifocals. 

Now for 4th of July pictures!

Tina and I dressed in red, white, and blue and put our USA tattoos on our face and walked down to Tuleeni super early that morning. We put tattoos on all the kids and then went inside where we made over 100 water balloons! We set up these "do it yourself" games that I found on Pintrest, both were amazing. First, we decided to do a sort of bean bag toss...but instead of bean bags, we used the water balloons. We picked team captains and made two different teams. Then we set up 5 different baskets/bowls on the ground, each with different point values, and drew a "stand here" line where the kids would toss the balloon from. In order for the points to count, the balloon had to stay inside the bucket and couldn't bounce out. After we played this game, we played a catch and throw game with the water balloons-- we cut 2 liter water bottles in half and just used the top part of them-- if your turn the top half upside down and hold it like an ice cream cone, it creates like a little bucket, and the kids tossed the water balloons back and forth catching them in the water bottle and tossing them by ONLY using the water bottle. The edges of the little water bottle catcher things were rigid, so the balloons often popped when the kids caught them, and then splashed water all over their faces! The LOVED the games. 

Here are our puppies!!! On the top left, Tina and me are holding two puppies that live at Tuleeni-- they are brother and sister. I am holding Simba and Tina is holding Nala. They are about 10 weeks old. On the top right, Tina and I are holding OUR puppies-- Bella is with Tina and Pendo with me. Lucky named Bella way back in January when she was first born. He wanted to name her Cinderella but I told him that was a really long name for a dog, and he picked Bella instead. She is about 8 months old. Tina and I took her to get all her shots and vaccines and now she lived with me and Pendo inside my new house :) Her and Pendo play AMAZINGLY together, which you can see in the picture on the bottom right. On the bottom left, Pendo is standing with my third dog, which used to be Edward's dog, which he named Edward. Everyone calls him Edwardi, and he is HUGE, but is such a love! He, Pendo, and Bella play all day long together, chasing chickens through the corn fields, and running in circles around my kitchen table. I love having three mutts :) Rescue dogs are the best!

Here are more pictures of us playing with the kids. Many African kids make extra money by doing acrobatic performances at dinners or events for tourists-- Tuleeni has their own little acrobatic group, and Tina and I thought it would be great if we taught them how to stunt so they could do it in their little shows!!! Tina single based Tumaini and then Tumaini and Godi held Awazi up in a prep. Tina and I also tried to do a liberty with Tumaini but he couldn't exactly figure out how to keep his leg bent up by his knee. The other kids were coloring and making friendship bracelets, while we stunted. Above the stunting pictures, Lucky and I are riding a bike through the bumpy streets of Rau-- I was peddling and Lucky was sitting on the actually bike in front of me, screaming every time we hit a little bump or swerved even the tiniest bit! He hopped off the bike as we approached the orphanage and looked at me and said "Thank you Madam, I will take it from here." Tina and I laugh at eveyrthing that this kid says... his vocabulary is rather extensive for a 12 year old and his witty comments are hilarious. On Saturday, Yusta and Mariam went back to school-- they go to an incredible Secondary boarding school called Kiraeni in Rombo, about an hour or so way from the orphanage. Tina has become a partial sponsor for Mariam, which is so exciting!! The four of us got to take a nice picture before they left! We will miss you girls so much!

On Saturday night, Edward and Adam took Tina and I to this BEAUTIFUL bed and breakfast/hotel resort about 30 minutes outside of Moshi called TPC. There is a nice bar and restaurant right next to a golf course, and on a clear day, you can see Kilimanjaro perfectly. The sunset that night was gorgeous, and the pink clouds reflected a light color of pink on the snow on the mountain, which was so pretty, but you cannot see it in the picture! We had drinks and appetizers at TPC and then headed back into town to have dinner. The four of us have had so much fun hanging out over the past month while Tina has been in town. 

Here are pictures from Tina's last few days with us in Tanzania. The kids already miss her like crazy.. and so do I. Having her here was a dream come true, and I am so glad that I was able to share my world here with her. I think she really enjoyed her time here and was able to get a pretty good idea of why I love this place so much. We hope to have her back as soon as possible but are wishing her the best of luck with grad school! We are missing you always dada Tina!

NOW FOR THE BEST PICTURE YET!! MY AMAZING CHILDREN BLEED ORANGE LIKE TINA AND ME!!!

HOOKEM BABY!!!

XOXOX LOVE ALWAYS, 

NEEMA