Chalk another one up to "I never thought this would happen"

The big feast is today…. so last night the drums and dancing started in full force. Hundreds of people. Crazy, crazy loud. We slept with earplugs and Advil. This morning at 5 they were still going strong, so Brant went down to the village to watch and take pictures. I kinda crawled out of bed, watched from the porch a bit and decided to go down and get the experience. I threw on some clothes, not evening taking the time to wash my face or brush my hair, and went outside, where Brant was motioning for me to hurry up. All of the sudden I was surrounded by tribal people in headdresses and drums and painted faces…. singing and chanting and painting ME and putting a headdress on me! It was a TAD crazy, to say the least. 

They painted and dressed every member of our team and danced around our houses, and yes, we woke up the boys to get painted and dressed. They were troopers.  

Enjoying coffee now (all 5 of us!) and the lull before they start killing the pigs, which should be.... um, fun?

You know, really, this is the stuff nightmares are made of.... being woken up and taken outside to a group of loud, scary looking people who surround you and cover you with mud. :) It was a tad bit much for Caleb, who stayed in my arms the whole time, but didn't cry.  

I don't have any pictures of Ezra with his headdress on! Hoping our teammates got a few good pics and will add them later.

Turtle Bread

A rite of passage in our house is making Turtle Bread. I am not sure how we got started, but between Saxon's "following a recipe" lesson and the first grade reader's "Pam and Lee Bake Bread" story, we have little boys who look forward to the day when they get to learn how to bake Turtle Bread. 

Friday was Ezra's day. He was so proud.

Caleb.... back in 2013. 

And Elijah, when he was a little bitty guy in 2011, with the original Turtle Bread. Where has the time gone?