Packages, Permits, and more...oh my!

Well this has been a fantastic week to say the least. God has given us quite a few surprises as he continues to bless our time here.

Last Saturday was my (Liz's) 30th Birthday, and it was such a treat. Jill, Melissa, Cara, Stacia, and Jen all surprised me on Skype in the morning, so I got to catch up with them before our power went out for the weekend. Then we had afternoon birthday cake and tea at the Borden's house. In the evening, Shannon and I got to go to a fabulous dinner...French style food, four courses, outside with a beautiful view. It was my birthday present from the team. I also got emails, cards, and facebook messages from many of my family and friends back home. I felt so loved and blessed!

During the week the surprises kept coming. First, I received a birthday package filled with goodies: chocolate chips, Peanut M&Ms, Twizzlers, and Dried Blueberries (all stuff we can't get here). Yum.

Next, we received our work permits! WOOHOO! After three months of waiting, we are now legal. We can technically stay in Tanzania as volunteers for the next two years. This also allowed us to go get our Tanzanian drivers licenses (a hilarious process where you basically go in with a copy of your license, pay $10,000 schillings, and get a little stamped piece of paper with your picture hand pasted on it - no test, no other approval, nothing). So now if we ever get a car, we'll be able to go anywhere we want.

And finally, we got an oven! Yes, God is good. Until now we have been baking in tiny toaster oven that looks like it came from the stone age. No handle on the door-so you burn yourself almost every time you use it-and black gook caked to the bottom. We were thankful to have it, but we are overjoyed to have a full size, evenly heating appliance. In honor of the occasion, we baked chocolate chip cookies as soon as we got it installed!

If you have any good, from scratch recipes, send them my way, cause now we will be cooking up a storm.