more pictures of visit home

It feels kind of funny to be posting these entries on my Namibia blog when they have nothing to do with Namibia….  Everyone does things gratuitously when a baby’s involved, I guess.

This kid is one day old but he already looks like he's two weeks old. Maybe that's 'cause he was two weeks overdue! Dad sees the knuckles on that hand and predicts he'll pitch for the Phillies or something. (I wasn't really paying attention as he went on about it.)

His name is Torrence David Martindell.  Isn’t that so regal?  I’m gonna call him TD/Touchdown, for short.  But I don’t think his parents want him to have nicknames.

We feel a torrent of love for little Torrence.

we quickly put this Christmas ornament together and on our tree, so now here are our two favorite ornaments side by side (Torrence with his uncle Charles)

playing Scrabble with the family, which was mostly just during breaks from trying to use the camera timer to take a picture of us playing

taking a walk on Bishop’s Beach with a church member who has become a dear friend

learning to knit socks (two at a time and toe-up) from Rieta

decorating cookies with our church organist, who has also become a dear friend

snowshoeing atop the mostly frozen Victor Creek, about a three-hour drive from home

frozen waterfalls

My glasses were fogging up from my overheated face, and to top it off they kept getting snow on them. Well, by the end of the hike, I took 'em off and later realized I'd dropped them in the snow. I knew where I could find them, but by that point I was cold and wet and it was getting dark, so I decided not to turn back to look for them. The Peace Corps will provide a replacement pair. Thanks, everyone, for your tax dollars being put to good use.

I had to wear a helmet in case I joined my brother and his friend for ice climbing. I opted not to join them, though. But I kept wearing the helmet 'cause helmets always make you look cool.

This visit has been really nice and I don’t like to think about going back.