A Picture of our New Home

It's coming down to the crunch time as we try to condense our house into 14 suitcases, 7 carry-on's and 7 backpacks.  Honestly, the stress level is increasing as the reality of a huge move begins to hit home. It is exciting, scary and overwhelming, but we are up for the challenge and trusting God for His strength for the next 17 (yes, 17) days.

Christmas looked much different for us.  We went simple this year.  While the gifts were simple, the richness of the day was especially meaningful.  We were joined by both family and friends and had a lovely time together.  The celebrations continued for the next couple of days as more family joined us and our oldest celebrated his 17th birthday.

We are now into the stage of sorting and packing up everything in the house.  In some ways, it's challenging to look at packing up, but in other ways, it is exciting to really starting focusing on what is waiting for us in Rwanda. The majority of conversations this holiday have revolved around the mission house, the people, the land and what we will be involved in.

The perception of life in Africa is often of a mud hut, but the reality is, where we will be living is really quite modern, developed and beautiful.  The house consists of 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms (with real toilets and a shower).  When teams or visitors come, our family will bunk together, so up to 12 additional people can join us at the mission home.  We have a lovely open living room-kitchen, complete with fridge, stove, oven and even a microwave.  We are going to try to bring a toaster oven, so there's less draw on energy for small items to be warmed. The windows can be opened or shut and the home stays comfortably cool, even on the warmer (+28C) days.  We look down over the valley and can easily see the highway from our kitchen window.

The property sits on a tiered hillside (remember, Rwanda is known as the land of a thousand hills).  The church, classrooms and playing field grace the top.  Down the stairs is the driveway and dorms, down some more stairs, the mission house and cookhouse.  More stairs down lead to the Rwandan family home and the stable. Below that is a grove of fruit trees (avocado, banana, plantain, etc).  A path leads to a garden area with fish pond below.  The set-up is amazing, the property gated and secure (we will have a guard at night).  

We have several animals on the property which will add to our adventure.  Beyond the typical geckos, chameleons, and occasional snake, there are goats, pigs, rabbits, a cow and calf, and rooster.  In addition, are the lovely fruit trees and beautiful flowering bushes. 

We are an easy (5 minute) walk to the village where we can get quite a bit of the food we will need (fresh fruit and veggies, milk, flour, cell phone minutes, etc) and a 30(ish) minute drive to the capital city where a modern (but expensive) grocery store is.  

While life will be very different in Rwanda, we are thankful to have an idea of where we will life and a little bit of understanding of what life will be like in this incredible country!