My whimsical husband

Growing up in the Foreign Service with very practical parents, we were not the sort of family who tried to customize our government-issue housing.  I don't even think I understood that walls didn't have to be white until I was well into adulthood.  I did spend my high school and college years collecting tapestries and textiles that I thought I would one day use to entirely cover the walls and ceiling of a room in my house - it was going to be the nargileh room, and have pillows on the floor.  (Now my kids use those same tapestries to create play houses, and I haven't smoked a nargileh in ages ... how things change!)

I have held on to the practicality that raised me, and so, when moving around, it has never occurred to me to bring my own furniture (with the exception of our comfy king-sized bed) or to try to paint the walls.

But I married into some crazy creativity, y'all.  My husband comes from a family where white walls are viewed as an unfinished canvas, where the same house might have two different paint colors each year, where, if you are bored with the white ceramic tiles that adorn your fireplace, the natural solution is to run out and buy a dozen different kinds of paint and turn it into a mosaic.  The end result was stunning - but never in a million years would this have occurred to me!

A three-month-old Natasha with her
great-grandpa John in front of said fireplace.

Even now that I have acquired something of a home aesthetic, it doesn't seem worth it to me to try to customize a house that I will only live in for two years.  If you take away the time spent settling in, and the time spent packing up, that only leaves 18 months, tops, to enjoy the fruits of your labors.  And I'd rather spend that time sewing.

Anyway, my husband doesn't feel that way.  So while I was back in the States on maternity medevac last year, he took matters into his own hands and created a jungle nursery for Gabriel and a princess room for the girls.

The elephants are my favorite.  They represent our family, and the white doves above represent the two babies we lost to miscarriage.  I wish I could separate this part of the wall and take it with us everywhere we go.  Maybe I can get a good high-resolution photo of it and put it on a canvas.

I also really love this monkey.

The princesses' chamber.

The woodland friends wall decals by N's bed were out in the hall, but she decided she wanted then in the room, so ...

See the little frog prince to the right of the door?

Sun and moon on the ceiling:

And my favorite - the little dragon soaring up in the clouds:

The girls are going to miss this room when we leave.  I think J may want to recreate it when we move home.  It just seems like a huge pain to me.  My practical streak is ingrained.

My first project comes to fruition

I recently attended the planting ceremony of the Gulab Kheil Winter Dormant Fruit Tree project. This was my first project that I personally helped do from concept to funding to finish. It's small, but it's a start. 20 families from one village participated in a 2 day training with an additional two day training for hands on practice and tree planting (we were there for the first day of tree planting). Each participant received 35 tree stocks (1 meter tall) of improved fruit tree stock of their choice from apple, almond or apricot. In addition, each participant received a wheelbarrow, shovel, pruning shears, nylon rope (for tree spacing), an axe and manure for fertilizer. They will also receive replacement trees in the spring if some of their trees fail to make it through the winter.

The villagers were extremely excited about this project from day one and there are already several other individuals who wish to sign up for additional trainings. For me, the two important factors of this project was that the village initiated the idea for this project and it has the potential to be sustainable in that the villagers will be able to garner an income from these trees from day one: 1) selling root stock initially and 2) then selling fruit in the future.

Below are several pictures from the day.

This is the valley where the project was taking place. Notice the terracing where the trees will be going.

The trees, labeled and categorized for each individual farmer

Signing or thumbprinting for the trees

The trees aren't light, let me tell you

Photo Op. Yes, cheesy, but it's my good side

Handing out more equipment

Another cheesy photo op, but I wanted to help. Me and my big mouth, later they had me dig a tree hole and plant the first tree. I'll come back later and carve my name in it.

Planting my tree!!

And even without running water or 24 hour power, you have to have your satellite.