Cards in the Banda

This afternoon Simon (John's son) and Anneth and Arnold ( Salome's children)  joined us for Go Fish and Crazy 8's in the Banda.  Along with some hershey bars to break the ice, we enjoyed playing these games.  I also went through my stock of children's books and found more books for Simon.  He is a very quiet young boy with a bashful smile that melt my heart.  When he went inside to show John all the books, John asked him, "Where did all these books come from"  His reply, " The madam that lives in the banda"  I told John that I gave him all the biology books that I could find including the Bui Bui book (spider book).  I don't need to see pictures of the spiders to know that they exist.  Andrew climbed up to our water heater this afternoon to see if he could fix it for us.  He has hope! Me - I've given up that we will have a warm shower until tomorrow night when we reach Peace House.  We had a few gifts to give to Andrew today.  Jewelry for the girls and Mama, Candy for the home, a cross to hang on the wall, prayer cards, and books for the children.  Alexa also had a crank radio  for him.  He was so thankful that it brings tears to our eyes.  When he hugs you, he doesn't let go. When he hugged Steph, he called her his daughter.  By this time, Alexa was in tears.  He asked when will you come again.  That is the hardest part for me.  I know with Steph and Matt entering the university years and with Andrew and Kate right behind them that my ability to come to Tanzania will be very limited.  I cannot promise Andrew that I will be back. Andrew refuses to say goodbye to us - There is no Kwaheri for him only Karibu Sana  and God willing we will be together again. With only one week left in Tanzania, we know that we will have to begin to say good-bye soon.  Loyishe has come to the banda to receive his gifts for his home.  It is so fun to see his joy in the crank radio.  He has to re-wrap the gift to show Mama.  Everything is precious to him.  New baby will come in July or August.  If it is a girl, Mama will name her Laura.  Loyishe says "laura come so we can hapana more babies"  Loyishe said 3 was nzuri sana but Mama had other ideas.  Mama would like a girl.  We can only hope that God hears Mama prayer and Loyishe prayer because he does not want 5 watoto (children)