Yes, you heard right. Shipment number one...But I digress. There's been so much going on (little small things all add up so quickly) and I haven't had a moment's rest, but now I want to do some updating so everyone will know we're still alive and kicking!
Tuesday was another beautiful super hot day here in downtown (well, not really downtown) Yaounde, Cameroon. It started a new thing for Josh. Every single Tuesday and Thursday here they have playgroup for the little kids who aren't in school. So, since Josh isn't in school yet, he goes, too. He's surrounded by 1-3 year olds (it seems that EVERYONE here sends their kids to preschool once they hit about 3-4) and quite frankly, acted like them, too! I was discussing this problem with my neighbor who homeschools her kids. Well, she invited Josh to join them with their homeschool during playgroup time! I asked Josh if he'd like that, and his eyes got really big and shiny and his grin was contagious! He was SO excited about that idea! I don't know how much sleep he got, he was just so excited! and telling anyone who would listen that he was going to go to 'school'!! I felt so much gratitude for my neighbor in suggesting this. I just haven't know what to do! I know he's too old for the group, but what else could I do? I could keep him here and do our homeschool stuff, but he wants to be with other kids...so it solved the problem! So, Tuesday morning, Claire and Andrew went with Pascaline to go to playgroup, and Josh and I went next door for 'school'. It was fantastically wonderful!! Josh sat still, listening intently to everything, and participating when appropriate, and even came up with some answers that I didn't know he knew! good job, Josh!! They learned about sound and how it works (natural vs man-made, and vibration...) and after all their activities, etc., he turns to me and says, "Mom, that was FUN! Now I know what Vibrating is!!!" It was so cute! He was on cloud nine all day! I was so pleased and happy! He's becoming much more content here, and his uncontrollable tantrums have lessened. This move was much harder on him than any of us expected it to be, but he's coming out of it (and so am I! HA!!), and will be the better for it. He's such a good, smart kid. He's going to love going to school here in the Fall!!
Anyway, we got home from 'school'/playgroup, and after I had put Andrew down for a nap, we got a phone call--confirming that we'd be home to receive 3 cartons of our shipment!! WOOHOO!!!! Of course!!! I would have cancelled anything in order to be there! :) Well, we rushed around trying to get things straightened (again) and ready. Pascaline was frantically trying to finish doing the dishes before she couldn't do them anymore and i was trying to get Josh and claire to help me to clean up their toys... Well, the guys came early!! Oh dear!! And Pascaline hadn't yet eaten!! So, I made her sit and eat while the guys started unloading the cartons (and when I thought of cartons, I was thinking about the size of the boxes they sent our air baggage in -- see the pictures of Josh and Claire's houses in a previous posting--but, no, they were about 5 times the size!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and she sat down to eat FRIED PLANTAINS!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, the smell took me all the way to Guatemala and I started drooling and told her I LOVED fried plantains...and she said she'd bring me some... Ok, anyway, the guys unloaded box after box after box...good grief!!! It just kept coming!! And this was just under half!! We have 4 more cartons still on their way!! Of course, in those cartons come our sleeper sofa, dual recliner, and 2 lazy boy recliners...and our consumables... We got all kinds of fun things!! Like my wonderful Bosch! :) And all my dishes...and not one of the daisy dishes broke!! Wow!!!! I was so impressed! And I now have short sleeved shirts and capris!! YEA!! And towels and sheets and blankets...and our piano made it intact and happy! Anyway, I could go on, but sufficeth to say, it came. And there was much rejoicing! :) We worked super hard for 2 hours with non-stop picking up and moving and by the time Devin got home, Ndumbi (Pascaline) and I were kind of in a stupor! Ha!! And I, sillyhead that I am, did all this sans shoes, and boy did my feet hurt! It wouldn't have been so bad if we'd had carpet, but we only have the nice hard tile floors...
Anyway, Devin and I worked until super late unpacking every single last thing and trying to put it away as best we could. He took Wednesday off to help unpack and put things together, which was really really nice!! We now have pretty much everything all squared away and it's getting so nice and cozy! :) Hopefully next week we'll get the rest, because we didn't get any of Andrew's diapers in this shipment, and he's almost out!!!! :?/
So, Wednesday morning, true to her word, Pascaline brought me plantains!!! Woohoo!! And since I'm retarded and have never made them before, she just laughed at me, and cooked us breakfast! :) We had fried plantains with black beans and feta cheese...oh, it was heavenly!!! This morning, I made them myself, and it turned out great!! I wonder why I never did this in the states? Oh, probably because the plantains taste differently there. Oh, they're so ripe and good here!! mmmmmmmmm....
Anyway, Yesterday I was working in the playroom, getting everything sorted out, and I looked out the window at the garden, and saw the green beans were all loaded with beans!!! I've never seen anything like it!! So, I grabbed and garbage sack and ran out and picked a full 'Walmart' bag of green beans!! Mmmmmm... I gave some to Ndumbi and we had them (along with some super yummy Quinoa) for dinner!! Very healthy and satisfying and tasty!! It's fun to have so many vegetarian meals here. meat is SOOOOOOO expensive, so we use it very sparingly. But, it's better that way anyway, right??
So, our house is a little more cozy, we're doing well...today was playgroup again, but they couldn't do school due to some scheduling things, but it was ok, because the lady who was hosting playgroup today has older kids (about Josh's age) and they were out of school for a break right now, so Josh had big kids to play with and do big kid things with. That was good. He tends to throw more tantrums when he's with the younger crowd, so I'm happy to see him acting more his age. Andrew is becoming much more calm, and is getting better about not being so clingy. I think he realizes that I'm not leaving him, and he's getting more used to his surroundings, so it's all good. Claire is still silly. She changes her clothes a MINIMUM of 5 times a day now, because now that we got all her 'new' clothes (from the shipment) she wants to wear them all in a matter of one week. I don't know that our washing machine can take much more of that! (Normally, I wouldn't wash them, I'd just put them back...but if Ndumbi finds any clothing article on the floor or lying around, she just throws it in the washer. Funny.)
I have lots and lots of pictures and videos to put up, but I'm tired, and Devin is watching My Fair Lady without me!!! (We watched The Ten Commandments --Charlton Heston-- over Sunday and Monday, so I guess he's ready for another epic!) So, since tomorrow is Friday, I will do the videos tomorrow! :)
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