"We Are Family"

“We Are Family”…the theme song at dinner tonight…with some heavy accents and of course only two lines of the song repeated with some cha cha in between.  Meal time is family time here.  It is manner time, English lesson time, I love you time, “more please…” time…it is precious time!  We have a great schedule here that is proving to keep us all organized with a routine that works… the kids know what to expect and we have some sense of regularity in the day.

Today we drove up, up and up to the Mohale dam.  It is one of 4 dams in the country, connecting a water line all the way down to South Africa…the drive up and through the mountains is twisty and turny and around every corner is another corner and another, all the way up!

Cars were few and far between, but people weren’t…all along the roads are adults and children as young as 4 or 5 commuting their way to and from who knows where…today we saw a man walking up the hill and he gestured to us, holding something up… so Scott stopped the car (in the middle of the mountain and the middle of nowhere) and the man came to the car with a beautiful woven basket, and said, “150 or best price 100 (rand)”…we bought it of course! Just another moment not easily forgotten… a reminder of the mystery of this place and the magic of being receptive to the moment in front of us…

Goats speckling the mountain sides, donkeys interrupting the roadway, children carrying wood bundles on their heads, a single sheep on the edge of a steep cliff overlooking the dam, speed bump signs reading: “humped zebra crossing”, women washing clothes at shallow rivers, shepherds herding their flocks wearing the traditional Basutho blankets, and endless smiles and waves from all ages, bright faces with willing greetings and the ever so familiar greeting of….the thumbs up!

The day ended with our local crew of kids, hanging off of Scott, attempting to hang off me, playing mock soccer on the hillside....sweet smiles and laughs...we are part of their gang and they are part of ours:

 

We lay here now reflecting again on a day with our boys.  Their little chuckles are becoming familiar sounds and they call to us when they need anything…and the best part, we are there!

Xo!