This Week

 Well, what a week this has been. Full hours language study, crazy home life with 2 small kids, running out of water slowly - needing rain!! - On and on and on it goes. We do our best to have fun with things, and teach our kids what's most important (as well as remind ourselves as well). Here are two gems from this past week.

This photo is from this past week when i went to cut rubber with a friend (to learn the process, as well as learn all language surrounding this part of their lives here). This was taken at 5:45am. Here is my friend, crossing the river in her pajamas, loaded up with supplies for the day (machete, rubber tree cutters x2, a change of clothes, and a small bottle of water), with a smile on her face waving me on. She was saying, "Oh, come on! Let's go! We've got a lot of work to do. Roll up those pants of yours and get over here!" She's used to me stopping to take photos of things i want to learn - and she's "onto me" when i want to stop and sneak a candid photo of her (which is what i was trying to do here). 

I love this photo for a few reasons. It catches her catching me. It shows how her hand is waving so quickly that it's just a blur in the photo. And it will remind me of the long, sweaty morning i spent with her in the jungle working her rubber trees, the army ant bites i got that day, and all the hours she's willing to drag me all over the place here so that i can learn her language.

I'm so thankful for people like her, who are becoming friends.

And here we have a hilariously common occurrance. "Ok. You wait here, bud. Dad's gonna be right back. You sit here with no pants on. On my bike seat. Holding the handlebars. No...i have no idea why your mother doesn't like to let me take you out. Just quit asking all these questions and wait here."

What's really going on here: Just back from a bath at the river - or on their way to their bath at the river, Dad stops to either buy smokes or bath soap. And Jr. gets to cool his heels (or fry his bum) while waiting.