Tortoise Tots

 We got two new pets today, and, boy, are they cute!  They are African Spurred Tortoises.  We thought they were turtles at first, but after doing some research, we found that they are, in fact, tortoises.  Am I ever thankful for spell-check.  When's the last time you tried to spell tortoise?!  Turtle is much easier than tortoise to spell.

  

A missionary friend had two baby tortoises that she'd been saving for our family.  She has adult tortoises that have a new batch of babies every now and then, and we had told her we'd love to have some if there were ever any available.  On Thanksgiving Day, we hosted a group of almost a dozen other friends and missionary colleagues in our home.  She was there, and told us about these wee tortoise-tots she was saving for us.  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day, by the way!  Over dinner, the stories were flying!  ...from turtle tales to catching and eating bush rat, then on to why missionaries should always bring their own sheets and pillows when staying in any African "hotel" while traveling.  I just love sitting around a table full of missionaries and listening to their stories.  There is nothing like it!

But I digress... back to our new pets.  We picked them up today, and here they are!  They're about 6 months old.

We haven't chosen names for them yet, but we'll let you know when we do.

 In Isaiah's hand...

We'll keep them in this rubber tote for now, and eventually build a cage for them outside until they're big enough to fend for themselves.  They're only about 3-4 inches long now, so they could easily get lost or fall prey to cats, rats, or owls.  Yes, very cool for us, but not so cool for baby turtles, we have owls that live in the trees behind our house!

I loved snagging this photo with my new camera a few weeks ago.  I was surprised to see this huge guy just chilling in our backyard eucalyptus trees in broad daylight, and was thankful for my cameras great zoom.  Without it, I wouldn't have been able to take this picture, because he was pretty high up.

Our baby turtles, uh, tortoises, came in perfect time.  Just yesterday, our cat Flicker died unexpectedly.  She was due to give birth to a new littler of kittens any day, and I think something went wrong with the delivery.  We've had Flicker since we first moved to Niger.  She was a wonderful, friendly cat who was the mother of many sweet kittens.  She will be missed!  I was so happy to see the children's joy as they welcomed their new little charges, our tortoises, especially since I had literally just wiped away the tears from Flicker's death.  God is so good, and His timing is always perfect!

For more cool facts on our type of tortoise, you can check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_spurred_tortoise

On Bugs and Blogging

We are back in Niger, which means I have every intention of getting back to writing!  So many of you encouraged me while we were in the States this summer, and you are the reason I’m getting my act together, getting out my laptop, and starting to write again.  Thank you for encouraging me! 

 

I'm back at my desk and ready to get back to writing.  I'm also wearing my Africa necklace (a gift from Jonathan) to commemorate our first day back in Niger. 

It’s been over 15 months since I wrote last.  This is one of the sweet, adorable reasons why it's been so long…  

 

We now have four!  Welcome, Micaela Joy, born June 8^th, 2014.

Coming home after being gone for 6 months felt wonderful.  We reveled in the fact that we could get back into a good routine, the children could play safely within the confines of our compound  wall, we could get Micaela settled into life in Niger, and that we could see our Nigerien friends whom we have been missing during our time away.  The children were so excited to have their bedrooms and toys back and I was happy to have my kitchen back.  

But, wait…  It seems that while we were gone, someone ELSE had decided to try to take over MY kitchen.  Roaches.  I shudder to even type the word.  It is in moments such as those, that moment when I realized I would have to wage war to take my kitchen back, that we say 'one must either laugh or cry', and since crying really does no good in such situations, and laughing seemed utterly impossible, I just decided not to think about it at all.  Well, that lasted for one day.  Then I couldn’t think about anything BUT reclaiming MY kitchen from MY new rival.  Or shall I say rivals.  Because, you see, there were hundreds of them. 

I know that roaches come with the territory when one lives in Niger, or in any warm climate, for that matter.  I also know I am not alone in my battle, no matter where I live in the world, because when I google, “How to get rid of roaches”, thousands of articles come up giving “expert” advice on getting rid of the little pests.  Not only do the many articles come up, but thousands of comments and forums with distraught homeowners lamenting their "little" problem.  Ahhh... sweet comfort.  Misery loves company.

I have lived in Niger long enough to learn a thing or two about roaches and how to eradicate them.  So I armed myself with boiling water, cleaning supplies, my shop-vac (Thank you, Dad!), boric-acid-roach-zapping-concoctions, and a strong sense of resolve that I would KILL THEM ALL!  Well, I’m not too sure how well I’m doing at killing them ALL, but I will proudly admit that I believe I AM winning!  And if I’m not, well, I refuse to even consider that as a possibility.  Sometimes ignorance truly is bliss.   

But really, I’M WINNING!

For those of you who have told me you so enjoy living vicariously in Africa through my writing, well, there you have it!  This is one of the aspects of life in Niger that is probably best lived vicariously and not in actuality.  (Grin)

More blogging on a regular basis to come.  I promise!