Our House

This is going to be a quick post because Jim needs to use the computer, but I just wanted to put up a few pictures of our lovely house! I really love it, and appreciate it now more than ever. Last weekend, Jim and I went to Swaziland because we didn't have work on Monday. We left Saturday morning in a bit of a rush and arrived in Swaziland at dusk - after some car troubles, a long line at the border post, and some directional issues. We took quick showers at the Backpackers where we were staying and headed out for a dinner at Mandelelala's. It was such a treat to go out to dinner because Manguzi doesn't really have any proper restaurants.

The next day we toured the Ezulwini Valley (Valley of Heaven). It is a beautiful place - surrounded by mountains on all sides and overgrown with vibrant flowers. We spent the day visiting craft shops and the Swazi Cultural Village. In the village, we had lunch on a porch nestled at the bottom of a lush mountainside. It was a beautiful view. We ordered cheeseburgers, and as soon as mine was brought out, a monkey jumped on our table out of nowhere! In a split second he stole my burger and jumped into a nearby tree. It was crazy!!! Even though I was a little traumatized, I was glad the monkey stole it because it had mayo on it - and I hate mayo. As a result, I reordered the burger and got a plain one - safe from the monkey's paws. After lunch, we went for a quick dip in the pool of a beautiful double waterfall and then watched some traditional Swazi dancing. We headed back to Manguzi on Monday, but this time we were three. On Saturday, we met an 18-year old girl from Germany who was backpacking for 6 months through sub-saharan Africa alone! I couldn't believe she was doing it being so young and by herself! Anyhow, she was having some difficulty with transport and happened to be going to the same area as me and Jim - so we gave her a lift.

When we were about 30 minutes from our house, we received a one-day old text message saying that our house flooded. I couldn't believe it! How did our house flood? Was everything ruined? Would we have to buy the whole house? How were we going to afford the damages? The questions were racing through my mind. Soon enough we made it to the house and looked inside. By the grace of God, there was almost no damage. Apparently we left a drain plugged and a tap twisted on (but when we left the water wasn't running, so we hadn't noticed). But, when the water did come back on - the sink filled up and spilled over, until the water had soaked the carpet in our bedroom, filled the kitchen floor (nearly 2 in. high) and began to spill out the front door. Our landlord (who usually lives 4 hours away) just happened to be in Manguzi and he noticed the water coming out the front door. He called a mutual friend of ours, and asked him to come over. Dr. Mark Blaylock, Colin (Jim's best friend and mentor here), and Bongani (a volunteer at Tholulwazi) come over immediately and cleaned up all the water! They mopped up everything and moved a lot of our furniture around to minimize the damages! It was so incredibly nice of them and so fortunate for us. So, after the entire flood - we only lost a few books and we had to tear up the bedroom carpet - which we will be replacing soon. Moral of the story - thank God for all your blessings, don't be ungrateful for what you have, thank God for great friends, don't leave the tap on!