An Innocent Christmas!!

That means having Christmas with our Innocent!  He is the dearest young man and is our African son.  Innocent lives with us in his  own little house… and cares for our house, property and all.  He speaks 5 languages and is an eternal gift to us in so many ways. 

He has made our live in Kigali and Rwanda so much better than we ever imagined!  So this time was just for him! 

He loves getting presents!  Who doesn't???

 Iris was playing with one more present for her as Innocent
began unwrapping his gifts. 

All things American, he loves-- so what could be 

better than wrapping up in a heavy USA Flag Throw! 

 Innocent surprised us with a beautiful Rwandan blessing.  I believe it says "May the cows that produce milk for you never stop producing milk".  Cows and milk are consider great blessings here.  People will often say… if you have done something kind for them…. "May you be blessed with many cows"… meaning… may God bless you with much.  Innocent
says that all things you have and that God has given you are considered "cows".  I wonder if this is what it meant in the Old
Testament when the old Bible characters had so many cows?
Probably not.. but just a thought.

PJ's and things to keep you warm on cool nights in Kigali.

Bruce opening his gift from me…  He loves to go portable kayaking with his friend Zain.. So i got him this….for Christmas..  

But his Christmas gift was just a picture..   

The boat was in Pittsburgh but we brought it back
and he had it out this last Saturday in Feb.

What a great Christmas present! 

Lunch at Milles Colline Hotel… the original Hotel Rwanda.
Now it is a beautiful place! 

The pool is such a fantastic sight.. from our table. 

                    The next day we went to another pool with Zain and had fun swimming.. but on the way home i began to get sick. 

Whatever happened….it knocked me off my feet for a day and 1/2.

This made me very sad because i didn't get to do anything else with Michelle and Adam and the kids.  My only goal was to get better so i could travel back with the kids!  

This made the end of the Versaw visit very anti-climatic for me.

But Bruce carried on with Backgammon games with Adam and 

some of the Turkish guys.  And a trip to the mill where they make the furniture and maybe other places that i have forgotten. 

Their trip was far too short and hurried so maybe they can come 

again and stay a lot longer!  

That would be GREAT!

love, 

margie

CHRISTMAS EVE DAY IN AKAGERA AND KIGALI!

Oops.. I was wrong.  That wasn't the last picture at Ruzizi… 

and i totally forgot that this day is 

 CHRISTMAS EVE!!!

Before we left for the day.. Grampa had to comb Iris's hair.  This was the funniest thing about Iris and Grampa.  Everyday
she would ask him to comb her hair.  Really sweet and
Grampa loved it. 

This is my personal favorite from the whole trip.  Something about this picture just tells a million stories.
I'll let it speak for itself.

After our leisurely breakfast we headed to the lake to
take the boat ride around the island to see
what was there. 

Look who has the front seat.

 Our guide and driver was taking off lickety-split!  Isaac loved it!

Our guide saw this huge, literally --"Goliath Heron"
and knew something else would be near.  Our guide
pulled the boat in right near the giant Heron…

And there he was… a huge old croc!  The shocking thing that the
guide told us was that that Big Heron… can easily kill a croc because he can peck him to death on his neck behind his head.
Sounds risky!  While we were looking at the croc…  a hippo got behind us and the guide just took the boat out as fast as he could.
One can never be between the shore and the hippo… or he
could attack.  Our guide took no chances.   We were glad. 

Off we went to the other side of the island. 

And this little pretty thing appeared. 

Our guide pulled so close to the shore and
right under this Fish Eagle.

And so the zoom was fantastic. 

She didn't budge.

In fact, I think she liked being the center of attention.  

A magnificent bird that looks just like our Bald Eagle.

Hanging on and talking to us at the same time!

When we reached the other side of the island we found all the fowl!  This is Great Cormorant on the nest. 

 These "babies" still have their down on. 

We were watching this King Fisher eating and then all of a sudden he took off with his big catfish in his strong talons. 

This is a terrible picture but if you look closely you can see
two Pied Kingfishers… They are black and white.

 

One last African King Fisher Eagle before we head back to the shore and also back to Kigali.  We had seen a lot of animals, birds and reptiles but no ellies…  We were all a little disappointed.. but it was Christmas Eve… so there is more to look forward to.  

 Time for the Christmas Eve service!
 Also time for coffee before hand.

Outdoor Christmas carols. 

Kofi and Isaac before church. 

Iris climbing the steps.

We had almost a whole row!

Hedda and her mom were there, too…
Her Mom was visiting from Germany.

Well, there isn't any snow….so white lights on the tree
helped with that a bit. 

Michelle showing Kofi her camera…
I think he wants that camera! 

Our Pastor's family lights the Christ candle.  They have 2 adopted Rwandese boys,  2 girls from their own marriage and 2 foster Rwandese little loves.  They are a blessed family and we are all blessed to have then leading our church family here in Rwanda.

Then the choir sings a couple songs.

Kofi is in the choir!

Then the dancers came out and the volume and the beat increased.

But not much was going to wake up this little doll who was done for the day or so it seemed.  Yes, the church was HOT!

Then it was time for the candle lighting
and singing Silent Night. 

Little love woke up to see all the candles lit all over the church.
She was so sleepy.

But once we got home….They were both awake!

How great to have them here for Christmas~ 

So excited about a hairbrush!

And excited about wrestlers, too!

 Grampa and his new shirt.  Not so excited.. ha!

A magnetic game board for the road!

 Safari animals to play "Africa" with!

Licorice from Holland

Looks like Christmas!

Still sweating and hair curling…  in her new Christmas dress.

This had been quite a big day….. from the
Game Park to church to opening presents!

Anyone tired?
I'd say we are all exhausted but so much fun
to have the kids here!  
Tomorrow is Christmas.
Another big day… 

 Let's get some rest before tomorrow morning arrives! 

love,
margie