Such is life.

I waited to do laundry until today.

I put one load in the washer, blow a fuse when my hair dryer, straightener, and hot water kettle are plugged in at the same time. Chandler "resets" the fuse (not at all), and we leave for church thinking our power is out. We figure out at lunch that Chandler pushed the wrong button to reset the fuse. Get home and actually reset the fuse. Finish one load of laundry. It begins to rain, as it is the rainy season here in Madagascar. It rains well into the evening. Can't hang clothes on the line, of course! and dryer machines are practically, but not completely, obsolete in Africa. Clothes are laid out all over the living room to dry.

Today is the day I ALMOST finished one load of laundry.

The First Thanksgiving.

Can't lie: I have been dreading the holidays. Can't lie about this either: Initially, when all of this "moving to Africa" stuff seemed more theoretical than realistic, I was pretty excited about celebrating holidays as a small family in a foreign country. Then, theory became reality and since the day we left the States, I stopped being excited about holidays.

But this is the truth of all truths: we have an amazing team here on the island who helped make Thanksgiving wonderful and eased the sting of being so far from family.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our First Thanksgiving in Madagascar

Me and Suzie!

Beautiful Antsirabe

Princess.

Of course there was football; we're still American.

So sweet!

Bath Time

In Africa, you just never know what kind of bath you'll get.
Sometimes it's quite luxurious...

Sometimes it's a straight up shower. This is our shower at home, no bath tub, and this is Waverly's first shower experience. Guess she better get used to it!

Sometimes it's in a bucket-tub with lukewarm water...

She's even bathed in the wide open with cold water from a small bucket. What a trooper.