It's a....

Baby warning message: If you do not want to know the gender of our upcoming baby, stop reading right now...

Last week we went to the doctor in Dar to get a big check-up done. Everything is now checked up and Joe Joe and the baby are both doing great!! At our ultrasound we were able to watch the little rascal kick and play (which Joe Joe has been feeling for quite some time). One highlight was when the tech doing the ultrasound poked to get the fella movin and we watched as a little foot raised up twice to poke right back.

And indeed, we did discover that we're going to have a little boy!! In celebration, we decided to go out to eat and indulge ourselves in some manly meals. Here's Joe Joe enjoying her NY Strip Steak with baked potato and Michael tearing into his Texan-Chili Burger. We're ready for ya big guy!!

Swahili word for the day is mvulana, which means boy.

Isimila

While in Iringa, we took a day trip to Isimila Stone Age site. Both the home of an on-going archaeological dig and just some really cool sandstone creations of God, this was a great place to spend a few hours!

Like the grand canyon.... but smaller and a lot less of those pesky tourists.

Here's some of the handtools that have been found, giving us clues to early civilizations. Plainly, you can see items like hand-axe, hammerstone, rock, big rock, and small pointy rock.

Look, I'm the giant SANDstoneMAN.

Satisfied with a fun day.

Happy 25th Joe Joe!

On her birthday a week ago, Joe Joe was able to witness greetings from home and well wishes, what a fun surprise!!

Also fun was her luncheon with some girlfriends, complete with pedicures and mshikaki.

A Ring of Fire

This is looking out our front window at dusk one night last week. Could it be aliens? Ewoks? Johnny Cash? Puff the Magic Dragon? A governmental conspiracy? Harry Potter? Some lost members of the Olympic closing ceremony production team?


Most likely, it's farmers burning off land for planting. It's illegal, and sad, because the forests are beautiful up in the mountains. Also, burning is not the best thing they could do for the soil. But still, it happens. We're guessing at night so that no one could navigate the mountain roads and paths in the dark to find the culprits!

Swahili for fire is moto.