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Since the 4th of July is not a big holiday here in Namibia, we did the
best we could to make the most of it. Earlier in the day we had a braai
(BBQ) with the other Americans in our town. Then later, we allowed
Kevin to celebrate at home by dancing on top of our braai with
sparklers in hand. Its a good thing Winter (June - Sept.) here is not
too cold to enjoy being outside.
Since the 4th comes in Winter, you guessed it, Christmas comes in
Summer. Our first Christmas here was just three days after our
belongings arrived from the USA. We were still trying to get unpacked
on Christmas Eve day. But we set that effort aside and dug out our
Christmas decorations and artificial tree. With our stuff out, it felt
a little like home.
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Kevin has always wanted a tree house. So after cutting down all but the
trunk of the dead tree next to our house, we decided we should build him his
dream house. The hard part was finding acceptable wood to use. It
wasn't until after we had finished the floor using skirting
(what we would call baseboard) that we found some plywood. We bought
all they had (four sheets) and used them for the walls. We are still
not sure what to do about a roof; metal (like our house) would make it
much too hot.
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Kevin only hammered my finger one time! I should have known not to hold
that nail for him. We had never worked together on a project this big
before. I think he learned something about planning, in addition to
skills with hammer and saw. He did most of the floor nailing, while I
did the cutting.
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Waterberg Plateau Park is about two hours from where we live. It seems a
nice park with overnight accommodation and some hiking trails. We made
a day trip of it, taking only the one trail to the top of the plateau.
Kevin also went for a swim in the pool. We took the back way home, a
gravel road, and after it got dark we found we were chasing rabbits.
The rabbits would run out in front of the car and then just keep going
down the road. They must have thought they could outrun us. We also saw
some springhares. At first we thought they were little kangaroos. At
least, that's what they looked like to us. |
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Shortly after we arrived in Tsumeb, about one year prior to this
picture, we stopped at the cemetery closest to our home. We were struck
by the number of open graves lined up and waiting. Since our first visit to
this cemetery, about six rows of these graves have been filled. And our
town has a population of less than 20,000! As we read the grave markers,
we notice that most of these people died between the ages of 35 and 50!
Thinking of these open graves reminds us of the urgency of reaching the
people of Namibia for Christ. When it comes down to it, our life here
has but one purpose--to share Christ. |
