Saturday, January 7, 2017

Early Morning Rafting


At about 7:30, after a quick sip of tea or coffee and small bites of biscotti, we headed out to the fish ponds on our farm land. I walked with Bubbly, our black lab. The kids rode their bicycles and Geoff rode a motorbike with the bamboo raft strapped on. Once there we tightened the sisal around the bamboo poles. The sun was not too hot yet and the birds were abundant. It was a great morning activity! Nearby villagers drawing water from the pond were pretty curious as to what we were doing. The watchman observed us for awhile and then asked that we have a photo together. 

Just a little work on tightening the sisal before we set it afloat.
These red-footed birds are called, "Jesus birds," by the locals for their apparent ability to walk on water. They actually walk on slightly submerged lily pads, but are still fascinating to watch.



Taking a pause to pose with the inquisitive watchman.
Whoops! Perhaps our physics were a bit off! 
A very wet Kevin already begins to plan his next bigger, longer and more effective raft!
It is a nice vehicle for floating shoes.

Leaving the wet raft behind as a curiosity for the villagers. 


On our way home up through the livestock pasture.


That was our Saturday morning. The rest of the day shaped up to be quite restful. Our planned lunch with fellow staff was cancelled as the wife delivered her second child in the morning. Geoff is readying himself this morning to preach and we are together enjoying a quiet, albeit already hot morning. Blessings to you all!

Friday, January 6, 2017

Friday Afternoon (The last before we start school again)

Happy New Year from the Britton clan! We have enjoyed this first week of 2017 by welcoming back the staff who were away over the holidays. It has been HOT HOT HOT!!!
This was the reading in the shade a little while ago. In the sunshine it shot up to a reading of 110 in less than a minute
Crystal says it's too hot to mew. 

Acacia and her good friend opted to stay out of the sun for awhile and instead cleaned up the kitchen. After this, however, they walked over to the basketball and played for a bit! 

Afternoon jackfruit has been a staple for the past two weeks. These two know how to properly indulge--place the "slaughtered" jackfruit on a freshly harvested banana leaf and enjoy in the SHADE!!! Kevin keeps the local bike close for quick trips around New Hope for more adventure, usually picking up younger kids (or sometimes older) and giving them a ride around the site.




Bubbly's favorite snack is jackfruit so she made sure to descend on the abandoned jackfruit remnants as soon as Kevin and Acacia vacated the site. 

Not too much later I found the boys hiding away inside the nice, cool house, playing games  on their tablets.

Geoff spent the day in town at a planning and organization meeting for the Investment Year staff, while I visited with my dear friend Vicki and then spent the afternoon in the Banda finishing up the preparation for starting our school's final term on Monday. 

Tomorrow in the early morning we are going over to the fish ponds as a family to test drive Kevin and Toby's bamboo raft. They made it this week from the discarded pieces of Bamboo we rid ourselves of after thinning our bamboo "forest."

In the afternoon we will take lunch to another staff family who is soon to deliver their second child. And the rest of the day Geoff will finish preparing for preaching on Sunday. The kids and I will brave the heat with bicycle rides, walks, possibly a much-needed water fight, JACKFRUIT-YUM, and lots of water. 

Next Wednesday we begin our annual Envisioning meetings. Geoff is also one of the speakers for that.

Bless you for caring about us and the life we enjoy here!