We recently had the once-in-a-lifetime (probably) chance to spend three solid weeks together with my family--my mom, my brother Eric, and his wife Haidee. Since Eric and Haidee have gotten married, we have spent something less than 48 hours together, and that was before Toby was born. So when Eric emailed and said they were thinking of a visit this summer, I knew this was going to be a special time! They spent the last 2-6 years in Japan teaching English through the Lutheran church, but now are transitioning back to the US for grad school and such. SO they had more or less a summer vacation, 2-3 months worth of time off. And since my mom just retired this May, she had plenty to time to visit, too.
Everyone arrived on a Friday night flight with all their luggage, and we spent a few days in Buja on the front end, celebrating Mom's retirement, shopping, and playing!
Then we headed up to Banga on Sunday morning, the village where we had done our language school. Despite none of our plans working out (we had grand plans to show them the lovely singing at church, which for some reason was cancelled, and also to stay in the nicer guesthouse with generator electricity, which was full), they got the "real deal" experience of what life in Banga is like, complete with walks down the hill to mealtime, and power outages at night.
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| Lunch at the Banga Guesthouse! |
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| Banga countryside |
Finally, to Kibuye for 2 1/2 weeks of talks, games, food, and fun. It was wonderful. We took a couple of trips to Kibuye Rock, the waterfalls, and the Source of the Nile River. Also Eric and Haidee were able to come see our work in the hospital. Otherwise, we just hung out at home and enjoyed ourselves immensely!
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| Kibuye Rock conquerors! |
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| Tea party with the girls |
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| La source du Nile |
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| Congo River Basin |
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| Karero Falls |
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| 4th of July potluck! |
It was a special trip and while we were sad to see Eric and Haidee go, my mom will be here through September, hooray!
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