Solar Cooking

We are the proud new owners of a solar oven!  

And we have really enjoyed putting it to use since purchasing it last week.  So far we've made rice, tortilla soup, roasted eggplants for babaganoush (dip), roasted garlic, roasted zucchini and tomatoes which we then used to make a yummy quiche (also cooked in the solar oven), hard-boiled eggs (no water required), lentil stew, granola and even a trial of banana chips...and that's only after 4 days use!!

Honestly, it's amazing what one can do by harnessing the sun's rays.  And here there is definitely one thing we've not shortage of this time of year -- SunShine!

What makes this even sweeter is that our oven is locally made by Tchadians at Promosol, the center for the promotion of solar energy founded and run here in Tchad.  Check out the link above for more info regarding this neat project.

Promosol solar box cookers
(ours looks just like this)

We've yet to take a picture of our oven in action, but we do have a few pics from tonight's solar cooked meal:

Zucchini & Tomato Quiche

Banana chips
(we borrowed drying racks from an electric food dehydrator)

"Hard-boiled" eggs & roasted eggplant

Soon we will try baking bread and other yummy goodies...will keep you posted on our solar cooking adventures.

What? The sun cooked that?

Enjoying dolphin earrings
a gift from a sweet friend in France

Soaking up the sun...
DDG&S

Road Trip South

We are EXCITED to report that our vehicle made it safely to Tchad!!  Thanks to ALL who contributed prayers, finances, encouragement and counsel.  And what better way to celebrate a new vehicle than to take a ROAD TRIP...

Last week we loaded up and headed south along with our area director and wife for a whirlwind tour of southern Tchad:

Hitting the dusty trail
(actually this is the MAIN highway for part of the trip)

Roadside houses in a village

The rains have ended and harvest time has begun.  The fields were full of hardworking men, women, boys & girls...

Harvesting rice

Letting the crop dry in the field

Cleaning, drying grain

Storing grain

More stored grain

All these photos were snapped through the car window as we passed through various villages -- the scene generally the same in each village with mud brick huts lining the road and villagers busy with their harvest.

But fields and huts weren't the only interesting sights...

Common to see vehicle with heavy loads zoom by...

or herds of cattle, sheep and goats mozey-ing along...

and the occasional group of ducks...

or pigs savoring the last of the mud holes...

which at times were literally in the middle of the road!

And again, we are VERY thankful for a reliable, durable, powerful 4WD vehicle!!

Our little travelers were troopers and stayed content (for the most part)...

looking at books...

napping...

peek-a-booing...

napping some more...

looking at toys...

stretching his legs...
yep, he is standing all on his own!!
(for about 4 seconds)

Picnicking under some mango trees

G is becoming quite the climber

During the course of our 6 day journey, we covered 1200 KMs, overnighted in 3 different towns, visited 5 different stations, and toured a hospital and a nursing school!!  We were very glad to have wonderful tour guides and generous hosts (don't have pics of all of them) who housed, fed and watered us along the way.

Here are a few final pics for you to enjoy...

picking lemons

playing on a "playground" from the former TEAM boarding school

snuggles before bed

G saw some new African critters
(this is a type of millipede)

One evening we went alongside the river to watch the sunset...

God's beautiful creation...
how refreshing

Sweet lil G

 What a wonderful, refreshing road trip it was!

Well, we aren't wandering through pumpkin patches or watching the leaves change colors, but we are thankful for October all the same!  The rains are subsiding and, although the humidity is temporarily rising, we hear cooler, drier weather is coming our way...

At the start of each day our calendar often seems deceivingly empty and by the end of the day we marvel at just how much needed to be done that we weren't aware of!  We're able to exercise our medical brain by providing counsel to fellow workers; we challenge our brains' language centers with arabic lessons; we practice hospitality and enjoy visits with old & new friends; we let creative juices flow as we improvise recipes and strive to put balanced meals on the table...

And often we think about sharing the highlights here on our blog or about writing some thoughtful summarization of a cultural moment or taking pictures...BUT somehow those things are left undone with good intentions of tomorrow.

Today, well, at least some musings have been shared.  And now some photos:

Big Boy
10 months and counting...

Lego building break
for 1st taste of FROZEN banana

NOT a fan!
Brrrr....that's COLD!

Lil' helper
thankfully they were clean diapers : )

Homemade fresh-squeezed LEMON ice cream = YUM!
No churn required : )

Hoping to share more glimpses soon...

DDG&S

Tchad

Nope, it's not a typo.  "Tchad" is the official French spelling of the country we are learning to call home.  We can hardly believe a month has passed since we landed in the African Sahel!

What have we been doing?

We gave ourselves a week to settle a bit -- unpacking, organizing, orienting -- the usual post-move stuff.  And then, well, we dove in head first...

Sunset
(Actually looking over at Cameroon)

Not literally...

G is finishing her 3rd week at her new (still in French) school and has enjoyed every minute!  We are thankful for the new friends she has made, and we are happy that she can spend her mornings in a French-speaking environment.  She's also really enjoyed getting to know other English-speaking kiddos who live nearby and to her delight many afternoons are spent playing with them.

1st day in 4K

Courtyard of G's school

School playground

S has really taken off...literally...he's improved his crawling speed although still mostly using "army-style," he's pulling up and trying to cruise along furniture/table/etc, he's discovered cabinet doors and to his delight the contents within...

G enjoys the more advanced "play" that S can join in now.  Get the two of them together with a couple empty Nido (powdered milk) tins and wooden spoons and you have quite the show!!

And the adults?  Well, we have become children again.  At least it feels that way for 3 hours a day while we learn Chadian Arabic -- our latest linguistic adventure!  We are VERY thankful for A, our talented and patient language tutor; she is truly an answer to prayer.

Enjoying a little "green" space
(NOT the normal sight here...this is taken on the river bank)

We appreciate your continued prayers for us.

DDG&S

Bon voyage!

We are off!!  Prayers appreciated.  Next update from Tchad...
DDG&S

Preparing to say "Au Revoir"...for now

Now that our official French coursework is complete, we have entered into a transition phase.  What does that mean?  A LOT of sorting, pruning, packing, repacking, ordering, gifting, and cleaning balanced around enjoying our last weeks in France.  

As you may have noticed, blogging has taken a bit of a backseat...but we thought we would share some recent happenings:

Last week G was able to participate in McDo's (yep that's French for McDonalds) "Kids Sport" Day.  Apparently McDo is sponsoring a touring "Kids Sport" festival that travels to cities across France.  Kids receive a free t-shirt (G was thrilled that her's was pink!), a sport journal and a "Pass'sport."  There were various stations set-up (hand-ball, judo, break-dancing, biking...) for the kids to visit, participate in a 15-20 minute hands-on lesson/practice and then get a stamp in their "pass'sport"!  Actually a great way to get kids excited to be ACTIVE!!

Judo

Learning moves with her good friend S

Break-dancing

Proud of her Pass'sport stamps

We've also done some celebrating...

Sims turned 8 months!

we had our 9th wedding anniversary, and...

Di turned 30-something : )

Decorating cupcakes to celebrate

And we've said "good-bye-for-now" to some friends...

S & A playing during our final lunch-date

We find exploring new parks to be a good way to cheer us up after parting ways with loved ones.  Everyone enjoyed this park in Thônes after we dropped Nana, Papa & Nanny off at the airport:

It is a bittersweet time but we know staying in France for this transition phase was a good decision.  It's given us time to rest, to play, to complete the tasks above, to explore new places while visiting some other places that have become favorites and to say good-bye (for now)...

Stay tuned for highlights from our 3-day road trip around Mont Blanc!

DDG&S