The Eliza Memoirs

This is the beautiful Eliza Imani. She is now 7 and 1/2 months old and seems to be growing a little bit of hair if you look close. Unlike Tekoa she loves time on her tummy. Her main mode of transportation is currently the roll maneuver which she has mastered to get anywhere in the living room she desires.

Amazing as it may seem there are two crazy Americans who are willing to have babies in Kenya. This is Eliza with her friend Joelle who are less then a month apart. God is so good to bring people into our lives that are struggling through some of the same challenges so we can encourage one another.

How can two kids from the same parents be so different? Tekoa did and still will eat almost anything. Eliza on the other hand battles with every bite of semi-solid food. Here she displays her disgust after receiving a spoonful of mashed avocado. But the important thing is she is getting her two upper teeth to match the bottom ones.

Yet another difference is that Eliza is extremely attached to her mother. This delightful image is of the two lovely ladies on a relaxing Sunday afternoon. Tekoa would allow complete strangers to pick him up, but Eliza has a difficult time smiling at our house help who is around three days a week. I guess she is just not interested in what other people think at this point in time.

TEKOA TIME

What does a two year old American boy do in urban Kenya all day. Well unfortunately because we lack a yard and at that a safe playing environment outside he spends a lot of time inside

That is why Rachel got creative and converted our dirty and cluttered area under the stairs into a cool little reading corner for the boy. A piece of dangling fabric, make shift shelf and a sweet mini carpet is all that was needed. Tekoa loves to sit down and talk through all of his books because he isn't quite able to read through them yet.

On special days the family has time to get out and visit some place with an open area for Tekoa to run. If we let him he would run all day with no real purpose other then to be active.

Of course he also loves to bake with his mother. He puts on his little chef apparel and takes over the mixing and beating and mess making for mom. This is him whipping up some home made hamburger buns for dinner. Usually Wednesday is baking day. It's a loved day by all since it is responsible for glorious treats like cakes and pies and cookies and homemade bread to name a few.

Tekoa does have some friends in the neighborhood of course. This is one of our neighbor boys named Sugar. He's a pretty sweet kid most of the time. He is 5 years old but he doesn't pick on Tekoa too much. Here they are playing in the water at the back of the house because it is shaded. Even the Kenyans don't play in the sun too much during mid day.

One of the other joys in his life is worship (not pictured). He loves to turn the music up and just dance and sing until he's drenched with sweat. All in all Tekoa has a pretty good life. Eat, play and sleep with a few other minor details.

Friday Night Fun

Here is our little girl again. I was trying to get a picture of her first two teeth. I will let you try and find them.

Tekoa can be a bit rough with Eliza at times, but generally he is a very protective big brother. He makes sure she always has toys to play with, and always lets us know when she is crying. Eliza adores her big brother most of the time the exception's being when he takes a toy away that he claims is his and when he try's to wrestle with her like he would his dad.

Here is our friday night dinner. Looks yummy doesn't it? Fresh Tilapia taken from Lake Victoria the same morning. Tekoa helped Josh prepare it by making sure it didn't jump out of the hot pan. It was our first time preparing it this way with out the assistance of a restaurant.

Tekoa was pretty excited about the whole thing. It was more traditional Kenyan food then we normally eat, which he actually likes a lot. Whole fried fish (the fish), ugali (the flavorless white stuff), and sikumawiki (the green stuff - means push the week). All in all it was a delicious meal.

Growing Kids

Tekoa and Eliza love taking their baths together these days. Josh and I have to be careful not to get drenched while they are having their splashing competitions. It is so much fun watching how they are already becoming good friends. What a joy it is to watch them grow into the children God has created them to be.

I have started Eliza on solid foods, but all we have had success in so far is baby cereal. I tried butternut squash today, and her response was gagging and cringing. So we had to go back to good old cereal again. Tomorrow we might try carrots, and hopefully that is a bit more successful.

Like any boy, Tekoa loves the outdoors. Tekoa loves his horse, but so do all the neighborhood kids. If Tekoa gets off even if it is just for a short time one of the neighborhood kids quickly gets on only for Tekoa to return and claim it back. Sharing is a quality we are working on now, and I am sure we will continue for many years to come.