Chase Tyler

I am more than happy to announce the arrival of my new nephew, Chase Tyler Bruns, born yesterday at 8:44am.  He weighs 7lb 13oz and is 19 inches long.  He has dark brown hair like his daddy.  Thus far he enjoys both sleeping and eating.  Mom (my sister Amy) and baby are both happy and healthy.  

Here is big brother Kaleb, who turns 3 next week, holding his little brother for the first time.  He seemed to enjoy it briefly, but then decided Chase was heavy and gave him away to someone else so he could  play with cars.

Happy birthday Chase!

Nyerere Day

Last Thursday was Nyerere Day.  Julius Nyerere was the first president of Tanzania, serving from 1964 until 1985.  He was and is still well-loved by the people here.  He was a teacher by profession and so that is what the country called him; not Mr. President, but Teacher.  In honor of his life and service to Tanzania, October 14th is a holiday.

To celebrate this holiday Brett and I went to a traditional music and dance performance.  The Sukuma are known throughout Tanzania for their drumming and dancing, particularly with snakes, though thankfully they left them at home last week.  The dancing was really good, much different than what you see driving by the discos here.  I'm sure you would love to see pictures of this event, but as I forgot my camera, you will just have to imagine the long grass and feathery skirts worn by all.

Breakfast

I thought you might be interested in what Baylor had for breakfast today.  I don't usually think what she eats for breakfast is blogworthy, but today was a bit unusual.

She started with half an egg mixed with tomatoes.  Then moved on to a big chunck of papaya.  If you've never had papaya, it tastes like feet.  Then a few bites of chapati, an Indian flat bread.  From there she devoured several slices each of carrots and zucchini.  And then it got more interesting.  She ate a fish finger.  Yes, a fish finger--minus the breading.  To end the meal she had 3/4 of a banana. And it wasn't one of those teeny African bananas, either; it was a big one.

We were not dining at home.  No fish fingers for breakfast at the Harrison house.  Or any other meal for that matter, yucky fish.

Our daughter does indeed love to eat.

A Visit

The first two weeks of September were made wonderful by the presence of Scott and Cheryl McFaddin. Cheryl is one of my best friends from college and I was more than excited that they were coming to visit.  They actually came also to check out the Geita situation to see if maybe God was leading them there as well.  You never know where He's going to take you.  They spent a lot of time getting to know our team and the work that's currently being done as well as the work planned for the future.  My English students especially loved having new people to practice with.  Cheryl opted for the full Africa experience and got her hair braided in the market by two of my friends.  It was entertaining for everyone involved.  

As you can see, Cheryl is currently pregnant with their third little boy and I applaud her adventurousness (I do realize that's not a real word) in coming to the middle of nowhere Tanzania while growing a tiny person inside her.  It's not the easiest thing in the world; there are lots of bumpy roads,  uncomfortable mattresses and no sonic blue coconut slushes.  Of course, that's sad for all of us.  Well, maybe just me.

Anyway, it was great visit.  Brett and I were were happy that Scott enjoys Trivial Pursuit as much as we do.  We look forward to the next showdown.