It's raining, it's pouring

It hasn't been too rainy here for a few days, but down in the valley two bridges have washed away and there have been multiple landslides in the mountains. People's gardens are starting to suffer, too, either from the landslides or their food just rotting in the ground because the ground is so wet. A friend brought me some cabbage and sweet potato, apologizing for the holes in them due to the wet weather. In a country where the majority of people depend on their gardens for most of their food, too much or too little rain can be devastating. Food prices here are 2-3 times as high as the US, as very little is actually made here. Most is shipped in from Indonesia or Malaysia or Australia (and in our store's case, from the USA - hooray for Sunny Select! It's usually cheaper to buy US rather than Aussie here because Aussie food prices are also higher than US food prices.). Anyway, we'd appreciate prayer for the gardens and for the bridges to be fixed. It's hard to be cut off from parts of the country, especially because we women tend to feel "trapped" here anyway as there isn't much to do in our square mile of "woman-safe" zone and very few places to go even when we can get a man to escort us. However, the bridges being out does directly result in more flying for Gavin! His flights the next two days are because of the roads being impassable. So there's at least one upside. :)

Meanwhile, the kids LOVE mud. They also love baths, thankfully. Marcie is our biggest lover of both. (Mud, baths, balloons, play dough, pretty clothes and pretty shoes - somewhat incompatible with the mud-loving! These are a few of Marcie's favorite things.) She also loves being able to "have a hold it" or "my do it!" - in other words, be fully in control of the object in question or task at hand. Which leads to tantrums when she can't hold or eat the entire pack of gum, or when I won't let her hold the phone while I'm on with my friends. She calls me "honey" at least half the time, though, so she can frequently charm me into letting her have her way when it doesn't matter, e.g. holding the bag of balloons rather than just one balloon at a time. She also HATES time-outs, so it's remarkably effective when she does throw tantrums to let her know the screaming will only land her in her room alone. She has remarkable self-control for a two-and-a-half-year-old, I think, in being able to rein herself in. At least she has the past few days. It may change tomorrow. *Sigh* It's always changing around here. They keep us on our toes!

Marcie at the Primary Campus (Isaac's school) last Friday:

Isaac, Gavin and Isaac's friend Jason