Regina

Regina with Baby Thabon on Her Back

I just received this email from the Hills. Please pray...

"Regina passed away this week - the first in what we are hoping is not an epidemic of meningitis. There have been two more meningitis deaths since hers, and reports of others who are sick."

Regina's family compound was just up the hill from ours last year in Napep. She was a special young friend, a side-kick, a pleasant shadow to our daily lives. Her heart was soft. She loved to nurture - to mother. She was loved and will be dearly missed...

Please pray for the disease not to spread.

Two Little Girls - Pia and Regina

Mom and Dad's African Adventure Part I: Sudan

This Christmas, I received a very special gift. I was given the opportunity to share my life here in Africa with my parents. It was an experience that I will never forget.

Thank you Mom and Dad for stepping out of your comfort zone, for taking the time and traveling so far to see the people that I love here in Sudan.

I love you!

I head back to Sudan tomorrow. And although I could have written volumes about our African adventure, time is not on my side. So, for now, I will share these pictures and maybe add some stories later. Enjoy!

Dad and Mom - Africa Bound!

Flying Into Nagishot, Sudan

Tianne, Elly and I have imagined meeting a plane carrying our family members on our little Didinga airstrip for over two years.
What fun it was to have this fantasy actually come true!!!

The 2010 school year commenced while Mom and Dad were in Nagishot.
P3 with the Davey's

Laundry

Though I doubt Mom is ready to move to Sudan,
she couldn't deny the beauty of these Didinga Hills.

Mom with my good friend Joyce and her two sweeties - Janie and Katie

Aaaahhh, it was so nice to have a man around.
Dad fixed my bed and the outhouse door.
If he would have had the time, he would have reconstructed our whole house.

My parents sat in on a few of our classes.
Practicing for our Christmas pageant
(thank God for Lojure - singing is not a strength for me)

Our Didinga Kitchen

Thanksgiving Day
Making stuffing, fresh garden cooked carrots and pecan pie with mom.

Tianne killed and cooked the chicken, but Dad had the honor of carving it.
It was yummy!

Elly's pumpkin pie
(last January she brought canned pumpkin from the States just for Thanksgiving pie)
and the pecan pie Mom and I baked.

Celebrating Thanksgiving in Didinga with my Mom and Dad!!!
So special!

Mom, Dad, Tianne, Elly and I

Thanksgiving Dinner

Our Table

Our View

Heading to Napep
Mom and Dad were real troopers.
Though they were really jet-legged,
they hiked the ten miles to Napep in 90+ degree temperatures without complaining.

In the forest, on the way to Napep.

With Napep Friends

Dad LOVED sharing his video camera with everyone.

Dad with the men at the work party.

Sharing a Common Hobby

Nakong, Mom and Nakenya

Me with my Didinga Mom, Pia and her youngest son, Abona

Didinga Momma Grinding Corn

What a Gift - My Two Families

Mom and Dad meet my Didinga Grandma

Trying out a Didinga bow

We left Napep at 4 am so that we could make it home to Nagishot for Sunday's church service.
Most of the ten mile hike was done that morning in the dark.

Sunrise in Didinga
My Mom and Dad ROCK!!!

Mom and Dad's African Adventure Part II: Zanzibar, Tanzania

"SMILE UR IN ZANZIBAR!"
So, we did!

Mom buying fabric in the open market.
We LOVE an open market!

You may not believe this, but it's true.
One afternoon Mom, Dad and I got massages!
Dad practically insisted that Mom and I also get a pedicure.
So, we did!

Bliss!!!

Mom's birthday dinner at my favorite Zanzibar restaurant,
the Red Flame Tree.
The jumbo shrimp are well, jumbo.

A daladala - Zanzibar's form of public transportation.
I love packing into the back of these open air trucks.
Mom and Dad were a little less impressed with the two hour cramped drive.

The Birthday Girl Combs the Beach

So Many Shells!

The boat ride back from our snorkeling trip to Chumbe Island.

Also, Beaut-i-ful!!!

Chumbe Island Lighthouse

Chumbe Island

Few things scare me, but heights most certainly do.
I could just imagine myself tripping and falling through the less than adequate railing
as I walked down the lighthouse's 250+ stairs.
I was sweating like a pig
and so tense that my legs were sore for almost a week afterward.

Much happier on the top of the Chumbe Island Lighthouse.

Catching the boat to Chumbe Island.
Check out Dad's shoes. His sandles were in the lost luggage...

Barefoot, Beach Dinner

The water on this beach was at least 90 degrees -
like a hot bath.

Spice Tour Lunch

Mom and I on the Spice Tour
We saw nutmeg, cinnamon, pepper and clove trees,
plus the source of lots of other tropical treats.

Zanzibar Market

Mom and Dad bartering for fabric and island spices.

Old Slave Chambers
Zanzibar used to be a major slave trading post.

Mom's Shells

One Hot Momma!

Stone Town - Zanzibar

This is why I LOVE sunscreen.
An almost sunscreen free swim in Zanzibar is never a good idea.
Sorry Dad.

These girls were collecting seaweed, sea cucumbers and other sea treasures.

Two in Orange

Breakfast
Fruit, omelets, fresh bread, real butter, fresh squeezed juice and chai.

We spent two nights in a little seaside town on the east side of the island.
Mom and I spent her birthday morning walking the beach, searching for shells and watching the local women and children collect seaweed.

Aaaahhh, yes...

Chumbe Island

Enjoying the view from the top of Chumbe Island's lighthouse.

Mom and Dad tasting a new and obviously tasty tropical fruit on the Spice Tour.

Spice Tour
Jak Fruit - a cross between a banana and a pineapple - not my favorite.