Just a heads up before you get too far, this is not a coherent post on one subject.  I realized there were a few things I haven’t updated on – none of them long enough for their own proper post, though – so consider this a collection of updates about January.

The team from Dunham, Quebec was here with us for a little over 3 weeks.  We were a little nervous about hosting a team, because you never know what the team dynamics will be like, but this team was fantastic!  They had a great sense of working together and pitching in, and were quite willing to do whatever was in front of them.  In addition to spending 2 hours early each morning working in the garden with Mike, they shared at support groups and visited numerous homes.  There were a few setbacks, particularly that one of the team members’ passports was stolen, but they took it in stride and she was able to get a temporary replacement.  Cooking for the team was a bit overwhelming for me at times (I’m struggling a bit to cook and eat food, something I never imagined would be a difficulty for me), but Mike pitched in a lot and helped out whenever I felt like it was too much.  Overall, they were an encouragement to us and to the larger community, and it was a good experiment to see what hosting teams here might involve for us.

The team at a home visit.

shelling and cleaning seeds.

I’m well into the second trimester, and except for the nausea, things seem to be going quite well.  Next week we’re scheduled to have an ultrasound, so we are looking forward to seeing what we can of our onion-sized baby!  We will be coming to Canada by May to be there for the birth (currently scheduled for early July).  We are planning to work with After the Grind/YWAM Blackfalds before and after the birth. (I’d post a cute, updated picture of my growing belly, but there’s not much to see yet).

Construction on our house is moving along.  The main structure of the walls is almost finished, and hopefully by next week the roof will be on.  (Just in time for the rains to begin again.)  Besides the fact that we know very little about building houses, the way things are done here is very different from at home.  (For example, someone can give you a quote for how much something will cost, but it is often lower than the actual cost in the end.)  However, we have a lot of confidence in the builder we have hired, and he is reasonable and easy to work with.  We were set back for a few days after the foundation was built because of a material dilemma.  We inquired before purchasing the land if we could build a house using mud bricks, as that was what our budget was for.  However, surprise, either we were decieved or things changed in the course of a few weeks, and the district made a law that all houses had to be built with (more expensive) wood-fired small bricks.  We are hoping that the house can be finished and we can move in before we leave for Canada, so that it will be all ready when we return with baby!  We are still trying to raise funds for the house, so if you are interested in helping us stay out of soul-crushing debt, please see our How to Donate page.

The front of the house

From the back

So now its February, and we have a more reasonable number of things planned this month – more about that another time soon.