Our House and Some Firsts

This is our living room.

This is our kitchen.

This is Faith's room.

We have a pretty courtyard out front - I will try to take pictures of that tomorrow. We are slowly but surely adjusting to life here. I will have to admit it has been harder than I thought it would be. But everyday we are getting used to things and making a system for things. In order to wash dishes, we are cleaning with non-filtered water, but rinse with filtered bleach water that is warm with water that has been warming in the sun. I hand-washed a load of laundry and hung them out on the line. That was a first for me - but instead of running down the road, it is easier to do it here. Our showers aren't working, so we had to bathe in a bucket in the shower. Another first! I made homemade bread and homemade pita chips. Ron drove around the city with thousands of mopeds zipping all around him - he did great - even at night. They have potholes the size of small cars that you must avoid even if someone is driving in the other lane - to drive is like playing a video game! I have not been brave enough to try yet - on top of all that you have to watch - it is a stick shift!

I went to a huge market today. I bought cloth so that the tailor can make Faith and I some skirts. The markets are very interesting and I hope to be able to take some pictures one of these days. There are hundreds of merchants - selling many of the same things, but all wanting you to come inside. At the outdoor market - it had more food items - they had everything imaginable for sale - with and without flies. It was definitely *different.*

We are going to be able to meet our neighbors tomorrow with the assistance of our language helper. We are looking forward to that. Some of the kids came over today - it was good to meet them. Some of them speak French, so it will be good for the kids to be able to practice and learn from them. They were excited to meet the Tubabu's (white people). We have been given new names: Ron is Yacouba, I am Djeneba, Zach is Djakaridia, Luke is Luca, and Faith is Djiguiya. Our family name is Coulibaly. It is funny to see faces light up when we share our African names, compared to the confusion when we introduce ourselves with our actual names.

All kinds of first.....God is growing us day by day to be more dependent on Him. We are also learning to be more dependent on each other. We can't do this alone.....thanks for being on our journey with us through your prayers for us. We pray that we are a blessing and bring God glory. Love you!