Crumbs

I have about 20 pounds of Bisquick, a snickerdoodle recipe mainly comprised by the former, and some time on my hands....

COOKIES!!!!!!!!!!!

My mom suggested that I become the "cookie lady". It sounded good to me! So this week I am going to be a baking machine and make bags of cookies for all of our staff to take home to their families. I am excited. I hope the cookies taste good......

The funny thing is that ideas of food and what a "meal" consists of is so different. We all eat chicken, but most likely don't want to eat it the way the other prepares it. But a cookie's a cookie, right? Anybody loves a cookie!! Even if they don't, I'm sure they'll appreciate the nice ziplock bag that they will come in, since they're extremely scarce around here. We save, wash and re-use all of ours.

I'll let you know how Project Cookie goes. Hopefully I'm not let with a pile of crumbs!

Photos: NOT of Trucks

1, 2, 3

Our three days of unloading are DONE.

1 drilling rig sits on the ground.

2 shipping containers are emptied.

3 days of hard, intense work.

We are extremely happy to have all this finally sitting here out west. It means that drilling can soon commence. Having the rig here has been many, many years in the making. I have only been apart of it's journey for this past year...Mark has for 3 years. The man who built it and hoped for it to dig for fresh, clean water...much longer.

So the day that it scratches the surface and digs deep for cool water is fast approaching.

Here are the pictures from the past 2 days:

The rig out of the container.

Who needs a crane when you have a pile of dirt!

Digging out the dirt to make a ramp. It was exciting for us all to watch!

Getting closer to being on the ground...

Finally!

The Driller and Wife

Final Thought for the Day

There are two things incredibly wrong with this picture.

1. A generator that weighs thousands and thousands of pounds is dangling precariously in the air.

2. My husband is standing directly underneath!

(No worries, the generator made it safely to the ground and Mark is still not used to the open-mouth look of disbelief from his poor wife.)

An Update Just For You.

Well, you heard it here first, folks! (Hey, I have to make reading my blog worthwhile somehow, right?) We are HERE in the WEST!! Mark and I flew in yesterday and met our containers, trucks, staff, friends and those nasty little lizards.

Today we have had a long day of unloading and unpacking. Mark and his guys having been working literally all day to unload the containers and all with out a nice big crane like last time! But some how ingenuity comes to the rescue and everything has gone very well. Tomorrow will be another day of more work. Tomorrow will be the day that our drilling rig finally touches African soil, where it was intended to be. That will be an exciting moment.

My day has consisted of setting up house. I have had great help from our housekeeper “Mary”. I have a lot to learn from this cheerful woman. And I appreciated having another female around to exchange glances with when it seemed the men were doing something more risky than I would have liked. But I am extremely pleased with our house and the plans we have for it! Mary’s eyes were very wide as we hauled in our oven and refrigerator. It was an exciting day.

Here are some pictures from today…not too many because, really, how many pictures of trucks and men unloading office furniture do you really want to see?

We'll see if they're still smiling tomorrow!

We always draw a crowd!

Our pretty bedroom looks out to our pretty courtyard!

Convergence

This is going to be a big week! We are converging on our new home. Our two containers are almost there....THE CONVOY ARRIVED THIS EVENNG!!...and Mark and I will be flying out there this coming Thursday. We are so excited. Our little convoy made it out there just fine and dandy, of course covered in our "thoughts". We are so thankful for them and their safe trip. The two equipment containers are almost there. And we will flying out there and starting putting all these things together to thus make our home and new base of operations. I am excited to set up house and Mark is excited to set up shop!

We are also ready to see more of the "bigger convergence" going on. What the pieces of the "big picture" will come together and result in LOVE be spread, the Ultimate Love. This will be an exciting time.

Convoy Update

Just a quick update for everyone.

The convoy did take off yesterday to head west. Mark and our country director, however, did not end up making the trip. Due to heavy rains beginning, it was going to take them much longer to get out there and if you read the news, you know that there’s much going on here in the country. So for peace of mind and caution, Mark decided to stay here. And there could not be a happier wife in the world!

I beg though to pr. for our extraordinary staff members who are driving the trucks as we speak. The have driven about a 100 miles so far, so we are keeping close track of them and lifting them up each mile of the way!!

Thank you so much for your thoughts and support. We will continue to keep you updated and know that we have great peace about everything here. We are excited to keep journeying together!

Mercy sake alive, it looks like we got us a convoy!

Ahhh, thank you C.W. McCall for your masterful song "Convoy".

As most of you all know by now, my husband is multi-talented. His latest endeavor?

Wagonmaster.

I mean, convoy leader! ("Wagonmaster" is my dad's call sign for Mark now.)

Our equipment is going to set out on a 3 day drive across the desert to our home and base out West. My love is taking the lead of 3 vehicles and his trusty team. I plan to pack him some good vittles as he leaves me in the capital city for a week. We are having fun with the "pioneer spirit" around here. [Well, not me...I plan on sunbathing next week as I desparately miss my husband.] I'm pretty sure if Mark could procure a horse to ride, he would.

No carrier pigeons for us! They will be outfitted with GPS tracking so I can follow their trail. I will post here each day their progress. So...

'Cause we got a little convoy

Rockin' through the night.

Yeah, we got a little convoy,

Ain't she a beautiful sight?

Come on and join our convoy

Ain't nothin' gonna get in our way.

We gonna roll this truckin' convoy'

Cross the Desert Way.

Convoy!

[I can't believe this song is relevant in my life. ]

The trail boss and some of his posse.