a few pictures for you...

This is the part that Mom loves-- the pictures :) There are only a few, but now you all can catch a glimpse at my incredible life at Alabanza.

Here are me and Dawn at the airport. I had not slept for 27 hours at this point (which explains the excessive sleeping on the planes...).

This is my house, located on the back of the base. You walk in the door to a large main room which has 3 beds in it currently. There is a room immediately to the left that houses someone's belongings, but she does not currently live with us. Our room is in the back on the left, and I'll post pictures of the room as soon as we make it look a bit more "homey." In the front right is the bathroom and shower, and the back right is open from the main room with a kitchen, which is actually just cabinets and a sink.

It is winter now, which is why everything is brown, but spring began on the first of September, and that means the "rainy season." I'll keep you posted on that ;-)

Here is our store so far. We thought we would be using a part of the barn, so we were quite surprised when we arrived and they were constructing this building. The bottom floor will be the coffee shop and the upstairs is the gift shop. There are two girls already in charge of the coffee shop, but they are excited I work at Starbucks ;-)

There will be an upstairs deck, and eventually (long-term) a deck around the pool for seating. Dawn and I get to help build the deck-- yay! The opening celebration is planned for the 15th, and is supposed to be quite an event.

There are several adopted children here at Alabanza-- the cutest kids you've ever seen! Louiza, who is a single South African only slightly older than me, recently became a mother to Vely after hearing from God. The story is really incredible, as are all of the stories of how the children came to live here. Vely comes from a home where there are 35 children. Here is Louiza with Vely, and Alfie, Namdamiso, and Vely.

The sunsets here are breathtaking. I have seen every sunset since arriving here. The pictures don't do them justice, and I'm sure they will get even more incredible when the clouds come in for the rainy season. Here are a few of them...

Yesterday morning before our 8am prayer time, Dawn and I went to ask Albert if he would help us navigate the Auto Trader magizine to find a car. He laughed and replied, "Your car is right there!" He was selling his car, it was in our price range, very reliable, and thoroughly tacky-- I'm elated! Community is a funny thing... but more on that later. Here are Albert and Dawn giving the car a thumbs up :)

Since Dawn and I are staff at Alabanza, we take on all kinds of tasks for which we are ill-trained. We've deemed ourselved "professional amatuers." Today's task: grout work. I think it went well...?

Smile! We LOVE Africa!!!