AngolaDiaries's Xanga

Our Godson and some Flowers

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:23:51 GMT

I was out taking advantage of the lovely sunset glow the other night, playing with my macro lens on the new flowers I planted, when our neighbor Clint came over with Joss, our godson. I quickly started snapping away at him and we got some great pictures! Enjoy :)

his laugh is the best and comes so easily!

chillin' like a villian...

yummy...

with his big brother Caleb

Our Home

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 05:29:57 GMT

Here are a few photos of our cute wee little home - it is definitely "wee" but it's perfectly lovely and cozy now that we are living here together and it is all decorated.

LIVING ROOM & KITCHEN

from the front door walking in. The ceiling lamp we bought in Cairo last Christmas!

an action shot of us in the kitchen (thanks Rene!)

fresh flowers from Craig the other day!

and even more flowers from Craig to make our home look extra lovely... :)

OUR BEDROOM

the view walking into the room - the windows look out to the front porch

the desk and bedside tables we got on the roadside from a wicker guy

FRONT & PORCH DETAILS

the front of our little unit, #14A

the finished product of the mosaic table we made before the wedding, which is now our dinner table and my "desk"

in fact, this was our dinner setup last night at sunset - SO NICE!!

MY WORKSPACES

I'm either just like this on the chaise lounge...

OR....

out on the porch like this in the summer!

From August to Now...a little catchup

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:30:42 GMT

Gosh, I've been delinquent on here! Despite trying to keep a very chill approach before the wedding, our lives got quite a bit more hectic than we ever planned. So, here will be a little picture entry to bring you up to date.

In August, Craig's sister and her husband ventured over to South Africa for a little post law-school treat so we got them to ourselves for a whole week! Amongst the many activities we did, we went to Kruger National Park where we saw the Big 5 in 24 hours (highly rare!), babysat at the orphanage and lots of other sightseeing.

We came upon this sight (in the wild, mind you!) so we had to get in on the action...

...so here we are seeing what we could see...

which was THIS lounging leopard after dragging his kill up a tree. Moments from now two huge hyenias attack the leopard hoping for his kill but to no avail...the leopard was too fast. Leopards are very hard to see in the wild which made for the huge traffic jam and people sitting atop their cars.

this was at the Three Rondovals at sunset

same place, different angle...

at the Lion Park just down the road from our house. Sweet lion cubs!

During their visit we were also surprised with a party from our dear friends here, kinda like an engagement party. Fun! Here we are with some of our gifts...

Those events more or less led us to the wedding, which was a dream in every way! I will only post a very few photos here from friends while we wait for the "real" ones from our stunning photographer. :) But in short, the wedding was gorgeous and incredibly meaningful with so many of our friends and family celebrating with us.

And...the honeymoon highlights from the Maldive islands just south of India!!

first arriving on the island...WOW!

our overwater lagoon suite - perfectly situated on the end of the pier!

our view over the infinity pool every day....ahhhh

Now we are home and settling in together while just loving married life! :) I'll do another post with some photos of our home and some projects we've done together.

Unexpectedness

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:24:38 GMT

Things have been going at such a fast pace lately that I've hardly had time to stop and think, much less post blogs! But let me take a moment while I'm chomping on my veggie tray lunch to say a few things.

I am in the process of dealing with the unexpected in a mature way. Things at Craig's work have been beyond intense and their biggest program is in a mess and he's been named the Interim Country Director for Mozambique! This is a HUGE deal and boost of confidence as there are 250 employees and it's a $25 million dollar a year project. That said, he is being sent up there the last three weeks before we get married, which means we won't be together. And I'm so sad about that. We've been doing all this advance planning for our wedding (and it's a darn good thing we did too) so in my mind we could have the last two months before we get married just to take it easy and coast along peacefully. Well, I don't know WHAT dream world I was living in, but those dreams are far away from reality! :( In fact, they couldn't be more opposite of what I wanted and would hope for: to spend quality time with my fiance before we get married. Now I'll have to settle for email chatting like we did when we first started dating and I was in Angola and he in South Africa. Anyone of faith reading this can start praying now. :)

And that's just my perspective on it all. Craig is really more in need of prayer than I am. The pressure and the stress is unimaginable and my heart goes out to him.

His sister and brother in law are also arriving next week for a week with us here! We are so excited! She just finished the bar exam on Wednesday so this will be a nice time for a vacation for them.

Work is going well for me. I was in Zimbabwe last week for the launch of a fantastic partnership to get medicines into the public hospitals. I love my trips to Zim. I also love being home and I'm happy that I will get to be here for the next few weeks. :) Granted, I'm not looking forward to being alone those few weeks. I think I might try and stay with a few different friends to try and distract me from boredom and loneliness.

Oh, and how can I end without a picture of my neice!? I think this is SUCH an adorable photo of my sister's baby girl. I can't wait to meet her at my wedding finally! Olivia says she's a tiny baby and even one of the newborn outfits I sent her is too big and she is already a month old.

2 Month Recap :)

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:42:51 GMT

Hey hey! Geepers it's been a while since I've blogged! I am trying to stay away from all this technology business after work hours, which means very few posts and a mind dedicated to things other than my next blog. :) That said, I do like to keep in touch and I'm not sure if anyone even still reads this but here's a wee update.

I was on that 2 week "all over Africa" trip that I already posted about back in May, then I was home for a week where I shot a friend's wedding, hosted a guest from the US for a few days, went on safari, and I came down with strep throat right after those events. It was the only week Craig and I had together that month and I was sick :(

I then jetted off to the US to continue working while doing a ton of wedding finalization and prep in Norfolk. I got to see Alli too and meet her precious little McKenzie! It's a blurry picture but her smile is just tooo sweet! Diane and Marci were with me to the end on wedding planning and it was priceless to have them there. My dress is beautiful!!

From there I went to San Jose, CA for a work conference where I met my colleagues for the first time! It was a fantastic, hectic, busy, exhausting trip! I stopped my last day in DC for a brief overnight where some of my bridesmaids threw me a bridal shower with my DC friends. It was beautiful and so sweet and I was overwhelmingly blessed with generous gifts! :)

Craig and I had been apart for the greater part of 2 months so it was disappointing news when I heard he would be in Sudan when I got back home. I took the opportunity to sleep for a few days as I was still feeling sick from the strep. We loved finally seeing each other again and have been enjoying each other's company a lot the past few weeks. :) In taking some down time, we've also kept up our social calendar with a friend's 30th birthday party, had another friend in from the US for a few days, babysat a 10 day old orphan for a weekend, had a karyoke night that was pure fun and craziness, went to a July 4th party hosted by some dear SA friends, oh and we went to the Confederation Cup Finals game with USA and Brazil! So, we are having fun and enjoying life.

(before the Confed Cup game)

(a pre-ceremony performance)

(the CUTE little guy we babysat for the weekend!!)

Oh, in all of this, my sweet and totally cute neice Priestly June Beiler was born on June 26th! She is so stinkin' cute and I am longing to meet her at the wedding! 2 more months...:)

We are starting to build our home and prep things for when Craig moves in to my unit (it's bigger than his) so we got a dresser and bedside tables. I'm also starting lots of creative projects to figure out how to maximize our tiny space for both of us. I'm getting creative with space saving storage ideas. And this weekend we are going to mosaic the patio table we got that will serve as our dinning room table...only it has to be outside because there isn't room inside. hehe. Craig is going to help me stain that and get the plan going for the design. Fun stuff!

Wedding plans are good and going strong. We just have little bitty things to take care of now like writing our vows and finalizing seating charts for the reception. We also have some fun things we are looking forward to in the months ahead. Here's a brief rundown:
-Craig heads off to Mozambique for a week near the end of July
-I head up to Zimbabwe for a few days that same week
-Craig's sister and brother in law come for a week in August!
-our SA bachlor and bachlorette parties
-and I know there are other things I'm missing too...

Some of Uganda

Tue, 19 May 2009 17:12:40 GMT

This trip in Uganda has been beautiful. It's the closest to the equator I've ever been! I think we are just 40 miles from it and apparently there is a line on one road marking the equator and they have a toilet on each side of the line. One toilet flushes and the water rotates one way, in the other toilet the water rotates the opposite direction - amazing!

We've visited two different program partners, both of them doing amazing work. One of the days we were taken to a remote island where they built a school and do feeding. This island is about a 20-30 minute boat ride from Kampala. It has no electricity, is tropical as can be and has about 6,000 people that live on it - most in GREAT need. They have to take a boat to the main land to get petrol for the handful of motorcycles that help transport people around the island and as is typical with every African country I've visited, even the poorest of the poor have their cell phones! haha. They are so cheap now though - about $10 and all incoming calls are free so while airtime costs a lot, most of them just receive calls. That said, they have to go to the main land to charge their phones!

This island was the most like "Lost" that I've ever seen - no noises except birds and people, green and lush like you can't believe and just breathtaking. The ride there was gorgeous too! Although that very gorgeousness is the problem. A plant called "water hyacinth" has infiltrated the lake causing excessive growth of other plants on top of it and it has clogged up all of the fisherman's shallow fishing areas and has virtually left the island jobless.

So, here are a few photos! For once I got a few of me too! hehe :)

We took off from Gaba Port on market day so it was busy!

Entering the path into the overgrown area before the island.

so serene and peaceful!

ridin' along...

our welcome when we landed on the island

the boda-boda ride several miles inland to the school

Then we ate bugs called Nsenene prepared by our hosts back on the mainland and I really had to overcome my mental blocks on it! It was tasty but the head was just too crunchy and the antennea's too pokey!

Here the are before being cooked (minus their wings and legs, plucked by the person selling them)

And a few post-cooking...awwww

about to try my first one. Trust me the smile is a concerned one, not an excited one ha!

Feeling the crunch and pokes - ick!

In Between Flights

Sat, 16 May 2009 10:14:17 GMT

Hey everyone! I am on a layover in Johannesburg right now and thought I'd stop in for another hello :) It's a busy travel day from 6am-10pm flying first from Blantyre to Lilongwe, Malawi then to Joburg then on to Kampala, Uganda. Travels are fantastic! Malawi was so gorgeous and our last day in the remote area of Bangula was just heart-wrenching. I've personally never seen so many disabled and desperate people in one spot and apparently this area is highly neglected by the Malawian government. It was such a blessing to see the feeding program we support for these people though! And we stayed with beautiful missionaries from the US whom God has gifted with grace to live there.

We rode on lots of small and fun charter planes all over the country and now I'm wanting to do a "where I've been" type application!

This little girl is 6 years old and actually her legs are all shriveled up - the plastic chair she's on is the makeshift seat on her wheelchair pushed by her mother....

This woman pulls herself with her hands while her son carries their food protion on his head

Gotta get on the plane now!

A Little Bit of Kruger

Wed, 13 May 2009 08:35:14 GMT

So the first few days of the trip was fantastic! We stayed at the Kwa Madwala private game lodge and then at the Grand Kruger Lodge outside Kruger National Park in South Africa. The game sightings were only so-so but it was still a good time had by all! And I love my bosses - they are a true gift indeed! Now I am at the airport heading off to Mzuzu, Malawi then on to Blantyre, Malawi the next day. I hope to get some great pictures and stories on these stops and possibly see Lake Malawi as one program stop is near it!

Here are a few pics from the safari - more to follow :)

Everything I love...

Tue, 05 May 2009 13:15:51 GMT

...is killin' me! (know that country song?)

That's what I felt today at the grocery store. :/ I've cut out sugar and most processed foods from my diet in the last two weeks. I have felt tons better, seen my energy return, and my breakouts have nearly stopped. But doggone it if it isn't HARD to resist the sugar urges!! Every aisle I turned down had something else I loved in it that I couldn't purchase...gummies, chocolate, chips, red meat, muffins...you get the point. And I LONGED for it...it took SO much will power to keep pushing my cart.

I won't be sugarless for the rest of my life, I'm just taking a strong stance against my desires run amuck to show them who is boss and to get my body back to health and from there live a truly balanced life. And what's sad is that I really like healthy food! But it gets old kinda quickly when it's the only option. :( I need to find some tasty recipes so I won't go through the grocery store mournfully singing "everything I love is killin' me" haha!

In other news - my Zimbabwe trip was fantastic last month! Met amazing people, saw gorgeous countryside and I even got to visit the house Craig lived in as a wee lad!

Now I am off on Saturday for 2 weeks to Kruger National Park here in SA, Mozambique, Malawi, Uganda, Sudan and Kenya!! Wowsa! I'm stoked though because I'll be meeting the bosses for the first time and it'll be a really focused trip, starting off with game drives and team building at Kruger.

I have a wedding to shoot the day after I return and we also have Craig's friend (and now my friend too!) from the US who is moving to Mozambique for a few months who will stay with us on her several day layover. We'll be taking her to Pilanesburg which is a game park only an hour or so away.

At any rate, I'll be super duper busy and thus very out of pocket communication-wise but that's your little update for now! Golly, if I have a chance I'll post pictures this week of the Zimbabwe highlights! Otherwise those will come later - when I have time.

love to all who read this! Here's a special shout out to Pop, Kae and Gdad! Love you guys!

Here's a photo Craig got when we watched this little guy from the orphanage overnight. He was such a bundle of cuteness! We watched the clouds, sang songs, ate food, colored, ate more food, watched a kid's video and put him down to sleep. Sweet times...

Heading to Zimbabwe

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 04:01:38 GMT

I'm off to Zimbabwe for a week today. I've been excited and looking forward to visiting the country of my fiance's birth, meeting people that have known him since he was a wee little boy and actually feeling the energy of this tumultuous country right now...a country that has some of the kindest and most peaceful people I've ever met, with one of the most corrupt and selfish leaders of our day. It'll be my first time there.

I have barely had time to think about it this week. It's been so busy and the past two days have been non-stop invitation finalization and I haven't even had a chance to get excited or think in detail about it. But it is 7am now and we leave around noon for the airport and I have yet to pack so I best get to that.

It's going to be a busy and full week ahead from breakfast to dinner meetings every day and all day in between visiting projects for two different NGO's my organization supports, in addition to catching up with various people from Craig's life after all the work is done and doing a drive-by viewing of the house he grew up in.

So, off I go! I can't wait to capture new photos and hear some serious life stories.

Love to all. Say a prayer of safety for me!