Learning Thankfulness

I wish I could say that its so easy to be thankful for the things we have here. We aren't financially forced to eat beans and rice every meal, or suffer from waterborne sicknesses and parasites because we can't afford to buy clean water. We have a water tank to store city water when it comes so we're not as affected by the water rationing schedules during dry seasons. We have a car, a motorcycle, and money for public transportation if we need it, so we don't have to walk for HOURS every day just to get to work. These things aren't true for the majority of the population here, or the majority of the world for that matter.

Yet for some reason, instead of choosing to be thankful for our GOOD and EASY life here, I find it so easy to get frustrated when ALL OF KIGALI is out of my favorite imported product...or I want to take a bath and the water is a gross shade of brown or green, or when our daily internet allotment runs out in the middle of our favorite streamed tv show, or ....etc, etc. The list of my petty frustrations can go on and on. The truth is, most of the time, I feel entitled to these things. I feel like I deserve vermont extra sharp white cheddar, real maple syrup, and unlimited internet. News flash to me... I DON'T. Contentment and thankfulness are choices we make. They don't come naturally, and they are not situation dependent. I think Paul said it best in Philippians.

"I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13I can do all this through him who gives me strength."

Here are a few things we've been thankful for lately:

First of all, we have an abundance of some very tasty fresh fruits and veggies. For that I am thankful. Colored bell peppers are nearly impossible to find though, but somehow Matt happened to find red, yellow, orange, red, and even PURPLE bell peppers! They were beautiful, tasty, and one of our most exciting finds here to date.

I love all the beautiful color that comes from fresh fruits and veggies in our house!

We got this beautiful rooster a couple months ago, and recently he has started learning how to crow. He sounds like an awkward teenager trying to find his voice and its pretty hilarious every time he tries. We got him in hopes of getting some baby chicks someday.

Not too long ago, we cracked open some eggs and found these! The ring around the small white dot that you can see in the top left egg, and the one furthest to the right means they've been fertilized!

At the same time, we happened to have one of our ladies go broody, which means she's mama hen and will sit on the eggs till they hatch, and then ideally take care of the babies once they're here.

We'll keep you updated if/when we get some chicks, but we're super thankful that they might be here soon!

We're also very thankful we get to hang out with these little ones every day. This is also Esther's blog debut. She's about 2 months old now.

We're thankful for the beautiful view we get from our office

Our heirloom tomatoes are growing! Oddly enough, Rwanda only grows roma tomatoes locally, so we're excited to get some variety!

Bella finally has a tug-o-war partner. Its only her favorite game in the world. She's got a *slight* weight advantage, so she's usually pretty good at winning.

Last but not least, we are thankful that we are usually able to find the things we need to make most of the foods we might be missing from the US, like cinnamon rolls the size of your face and homemade greek yogurt.