The Journey: May 2013

Monday, May 27, 2013

Lately...

It has been awhile, so I wanted to do a little picture dump of what we have been up to lately.

First, I have joined a fitness class where I do Zumba every Monday and Wednesday and Tae-Bo/Abs workout on Thursdays and Fridays. This was taken by the instructor AFTER class one day, so not the best look for any of us :) but it shows the diverse group in Nigeria!

Next was just a random that I took out of our window. There was a party going on at the church next door and it looks like they were about to cook up some goat! yuck!

notice the dead gutted animal on the ground :/

On May 11th, we had a Lagos Wine Club event. It was a fun night outside tasting wines from South Africa and catching up with all our friends here. Sadly I didn't get any pictures at the event, but I noticed that the house was right across the street from an EY office when we arrived. Oh the memories from sooo many hours worked there!

hard to see because its so dark

Next, we went to the Yacht Club for the National Lighting Races on May 18-19. They had a dinner with a live band on Saturday night, and then an awards ceremony on Sunday afternoon after all of the races. Our good friends won the whole thing, so we were glad we went to help them celebrate (and enjoy some yummy champagne!) They are National championship and now in Italy to sail against other countries!

Heineken sponsored so that's why the beer girls are there!

LYC

A friend that works for Exxon recently had a baby with his Nigerian wife. Following their tradition, they have a naming ceremony within 10 days after birth to announce the name to all the friends and family. We went to see the newborn and celebrate the birth and were please to see that the baby was named Jason Michael!

he was so precious, at 1 week old.

Lastly, Jason got our carpenter to make some cornhole boards. They were a hit at our dinner party and the Derby party! Just wanted to include this to show the carpenter and all the hard work he has done on everything in our house (including that beautiful table behind him!)

Friday, the carpenter, and our boards.

Living Fountain Orphanage

On Saturday, the 25th, the Living Fountain Orphanage had a goodbye party for Belen, who was the girl that first got me volunteering there. She had been there a year and made so many positive changes at the orphanage that we were all sad to see her go. But she is relocating to Houston, so its not goodbye forever for me! It was also goodbye to Nisha, that has been volunteering and teaching trainings for the staff of the orphanage.

the kids sang some songs for the guests of honor

more songs. the owner, in green, is directing them

more dancing with the saxophone man

Belen dancing with her babies

my precious Samuel

Momma, in the middle, with Belen and Nisha and their husbands.

dancing to the music, Ayo showing off his moves

we danced in to present the gifts to Belen and Nisha

About a week ago, I took a lot of picture of the kiddos trying to get a good one to frame for Belen as a going away present. I got a lot of them playing with their new kitchen set, dancing and trying to pose for the camera!

love this picture showing a little crack of Precious :)

the boys cooking

cooking

Godwin and Samuel washing dishes

Kamaru playing in the car

Ayo putting the dishes back in the box

the girls doing the Cha-Cha slide

everybody clap your hands!

How low can you go?

can you bring it to the top?

everybody getting a little silly

patiently waiting for the next song

trying to get a good group shot, but Samuel covering his eyes..

Godwin hiding and Success looking at him

Joy does not look happy and Samuel still covering one eye :)

all had become distracted by now!

lately I have been spending more time in the nursery after the toddlers lay down for their nap. With 2 little babies added, its a nice break from all the running and dancing!

this lil chunk is about 6 months old, but glad to see him plump after he came in so deprived!

she is 2 months old now but came in at only 1 week old!

these 2 little Moroccan twins are just precious!

I rubbed her little back until she fell asleep for her nap.

Chieftain's Ball

On Saturday night, May 25th, we went to the Chieftain's Ball of the Lagos Caledonian Society. Like the ones before it was a very fun night full of champagne, scotch, food, and Scottish dancing until the morning!