Ryleigh's 1st Tuliesque Valentine's Day

Ryleigh had to snap her Valentine photo with her daddy a day early since he was headed out to the bush...

She woke up to a very Valentiney breakfast (I’m pretty sure I got major mom points here – atleast with her!)

She had a few Valentine happies from Rock & Lhi Lhi, Nanna & Pop, and her daddy & momma!

We spent the day trying to stay cool, as she played with a potential future “Valentine”!  I know these two will be BFFs!

We missed having our favorite Valentine of all around but were thankful for the opportunity he had to go out to the villages.  Hope you had a sweet Valentine’s Day!

Road Blocks

About 5 hours into our drive to Tulear we arrived at one of the many one lane bridges.  The way these work is whichever vehicle gets there first – crosses 1^st.  Simple right?  Well, unfortunately this truck made it to the bridge about 30 seconds before we did.  This, my friends, is what we call a “road block”. 

My first thought, after about 5 minutes of seeing that the driver was in no hurry to get his truck unstuck, was to see if there was another road we could take…a detour if you would.  The answer? No.  This was the only road. 

45 minutes later – after the help of 3 taxi bousses full of people…this is what our road block looked like…

So, we continued to sit in our car.  By this point, Ryleigh is out of her car seat and in the driver’s seat trying to see what she can do to help.  The Lord started speaking to me about this situation.  He spoke to me about road blocks in life.  How often do we see a roadblock and our 1^st thought is, “God must not want me going this way...I should find another path.”?  I have to admit it’s usually my initial reaction.  However, it’s not necessarily always the correct response.  Sometimes, we are on the “right road” so to speak – or maybe even the ONLY one that He’s given for us to go down.  Road blocks don’t always mean “turn around”. 

Maybe, a road block just means to slow down…to look around…to notice your surroundings…sometimes perhaps it’s just a gentle reminder to be still and know that He is God.

I have to wonder if I would have noticed this view if we hadn’t been stopped by it for over an hour. Needless to say, I’m trying to remember to be thankful & give Him praise – even for the roadblocks.

MOVING DAY

Well we are official residents of Tulear, Madagascar now!  It seems slightly surreal since it feels like just yesterday we were in the states explainging to everyone we wouldn't be living in Tulear until Feb/March 2012 - and guess what? Now it's here! 

The moving truck arrived at 8am - yes it's large...it is a HUGE truck but it's from one of our friends here that runs a trucking company - he helped us out since it's his slow season :)  So, then we started loading up!

We finished up around lunchtime and then it was time to get on the road to Tulear!

We're so thankful we have a little girl who loves to snooze in the car...those 14 hours go by a lot faster that way!  There was one "roadblock" (there will be a blog about that) but otherwise it was a smooth trip.  Before we knew it we had made it!! 

Thank you for your prayers during our trip down here and thanks for your patience in hearing updates - we still are awaiting the internet guy to show up!!