Village Boy

 

Hello world! It's nice to be online again, and I'm praying I can post this message before our connection flakes out... needless to say, the technology is here but the infrastructure leaves much to be desired. While we're on the topic of technology, please be praying for us to solve the seem to be never ending repairs on our "house technology": our refrigerator, oven, shower heater, etc. We've had lots of legumes in the last month... Abe hasn't complained but I'll look forward to more meat in our diet again. (Editor's note: don't miss the river o drool descending from Abe's mouth. Two new teeth followed!)

 

We've taken a couple trips to the village, staying with our host family. It is fasting month, so for various reasons, we haven't stayed for extended visits. This last visit was a special time, with deep conversations in the evenings with various siblings in our host family, and lots of time for Abe to play with his cousins. Daniel, pictured here, is only six months but weighs more than Abe (about 10 kg now). What a tank!

 

Abe is in this cute stage where he is enamored by anything resembling a creature. His favorite moment in his meal is when he gets to the bottom of the bowl and can see the little cartoon doggie staring up at him. On the compound where we are living, there are roosters, dogs, chickens, and of course our house pets... ants, flying termites, geckos, and the occasional cocroche. This kitty kat abides at our host home in the village, and it's amazingly docile. Abe loved stroking its back and scratching its ears.

 

A couple weeks ago, we took a few day trip to a neighboring country to pick up our work visas. (Two years granted! Yippee!) We got a chance to take an afternoon tour in a "water taxi" to visit the water villages (literally cities on stilts, complete with fire stations and schools) and even find some Proboscis monkeys in a mongrove swamp nearby. Abe, the exhausted traveller, slept through most of the journey. Too much excitement even for little Mr. globetrotter.