Is it really already February? Time seems to be flying by. We have been in Swaziland now for over six months and seem to be in a pretty good routine and feel 100% confident about our decision to move here.
And six months in, Ben is already prepping for his first trip back to the United States. It will be mostly business, but he will get to see some family in Chicago so he is excited about that. He will be gone March 5-24. If you want more details on his trip just let us know. We will miss him for sure, but will keep ourselves busy while he is away!
The puppies are growing each day and every once in awhile we will find them sneaking into our house to take a break from the heat. Here is a shot from them the other day.
Mikayla got a couple of Signing Time DVD’s from her grandparents for Christmas and has really been loving them lately. She is getting really good at signing along and really focuses on getting her hands in the right positioning to make the signs. The other day I was watching her while she was watching a Signing Time and she was signing right along to the video and songs and was even signing words that hadn’t been taught, just shown. So precious!
On Saturday night Joe (the new volunteer) came over and cooked a fabulous dinner for us. He made braised rabbit, mashed potatoes and gravy. We paired it with focaccia bread I had made Friday and some butternut squash chocolate chip cookies. The rabbit actually tasted a lot like chicken and Mikayla ate it up. Delicious!
On Sunday we had folks over for lunch to complete our mango chili pepper challenge. I made crepes with a mango pepper marmalade and homemade whipped cream (super easy by the way). Ben made grilled chicken breast strips marinated with a ginger infused mango heat glaze. And Joe made a mango/pepper cocktail with Rum. The sisters contributed a chili dish. It was a tasty meal and we had a lot of fun experimenting with different flavors. I love that I have more time to do stuff like that now!
Tonight, as most of you in the states know, is the Super Bowl. Our satellite is actually broadcasting it live, so we decided to watch it. The only downside is that live means 1:00am. I guess we will just be tired tomorrow. I told the guys I would be willing to watch it if we had appetizers, so appetizers it is at 1:00am! I will contributing a homemade ranch dip with veggies and potato skins. Can’t wait!
On a downside, my driver’s license is set to expire at the end of the month. We tried to get this taken care of before we left but the courthouse wouldn’t let us renew it because it was too far out and hadn’t expired yet. There is no way to renew overseas, so I have to get a Swazi driver’s license. Unless we can figure something else out I will have to go through the whole shebang…written test and driving test. Should be fun! To say the least I am not looking forward to it at all.
That’s about it in news from the Kickert’s for this week. Hope everyone had a good week.
Mikayla enjoying some toasted pumpkin seeds!
Tags: Cooking, weeks happenings