upgrades.

We made an upgrade to our kitchen this week, and I’m pretty excited about it!

That’s right, we’ve entered the two-burner stove world!  I can now make tortillas and fajitas at the same time; I can make pasta and sauce at the same time! Or for dinner tonight, fish and tortillas for fish tacos.

Our kitchen now looks like this:

Also, over a month ago we upgraded our front room to a community space. I had been hoping to get it all sorted before I took photos and presented it to the world, but who am I kidding? That could be ages, and I don’t even have a clear vision of what that means! Right now, I know I want to add some art to the walls: some paintings and quotes and such.

Other than that, it’s a continual work in progress. Our main goal was to provide a space in our home where everyone could feel welcomed in.  We had Mo Bya build shelves for us. They weren’t exactly what we had in mind, but they are sturdy!  And I’m glad there is a sense of pride that he contributed to the space and that he has unique skills we don’t have.  It also helps to give clear instruction on which shelves the kids can access (dolls, cards) and which they aren’t allowed to play with (medicine primarily).

The magnet board was quite the project, but it has been wonderful!  The kids love it.  The little round tables are great space for the kids playing cards, coloring, and even treatment tables for wounds.

We put up curtains between our house and the community space, which has been really helpful. It allows us to keep the front doors open so that its cooler and the community knows they can call for us, but we also aren’t watched all the time. Sometime it is nice to eat a meal or work on a project without observers. Other than that curtain, we avoided fabrics, which can pick up lice from the kids.

The space has been really wonderful. We can have a huge group of kids in any afternoon, and still sweep it up within a few minutes. We can invite mothers in while we get medicine for a baby, or even just have a clean space for sterilizing wounds.  We can also sit and work in this space in the evening, studying language or reading or editing photos or writing a blog, while a few kids color, play with the magnets, or play Memory. It has really given us space to just be with the community on more and more occasions.

And we’re upgraded! So excited for both!