My Life as an African Gypsy

Now feel sorry for me. Waaaa.

Okay. Now we're over it. ;)

Jon and I are committing to 6 months of this lifestyle to see if helps his eczema. When he was no longer having breaks between his outbreaks and he was using steroid cream almost daily, we decided we had to figure something out. So we're giving it a shot and if it helps, it'll be our new lifestyle.

Currently I have 3 bowls of coconut shavings soaking in effort to make my own coconut milk and coconut flour. I bought pre-packaged stuff to test the waters, then I hope to buy fresh coconuts to use, as they are cheap here.

I've also experimented with white and brown rice flour and tapioca flour, though my processor and coffee grinder can only get the flour semi-fine. I am so grateful that my brother-in-laws are headed over in 2 weeks, and they will bring along an electric grain mill. (Cheers broke out across the land) These vary in price, so I think I got a well reviewed mid-ranged one. I'll give review after I test it out a bit. This should make life a lot easier, as current rice flour takes blending about 1 cup at a time, and then running about a 1/4 through the coffee grinder multiple times, and even then we get some crunchy raw rice.

We are headed to South Africa this weekend,, and I hope to find a few other helpful things. I was graciously given a little jar of xanthan gum and I was excited to find out that I can buy it in South Africa without breaking the bank, though I've yet to experiment with it. I couldn't find it here in Mozambique. I am determined to figured a good all-purpose flour blend with ingredients I can find here. This sweet-loving baker needs me some cake, pies, and cookies... not to mention my tortillas and bread.

Coconut milk has been an awesome substitute for us. I've been buying cans, though I hope to make it myself. I've used it in mashed potatoes, butternut soup, bread, etc. and it has worked beautifully, without a coconut taste.

Previously I was a confident cook/baker taking pride in the compliments of friends and guests, now I am floundering, apologizing, and often on the brink of tears. Sigh. Give me some time. I keep telling Jon that I am confident I can make gluten free food that is yummy and that people won't be able to tell the difference. Only time will tell.

God has been exposing deep heart issues, forcing me to be honest with myself. Yesterday we had a friend at the hospital receive news that his daughter had died from Tuberculosis in a hospital up north. So here is the short, he has cancer, his 15 year old son had cancer and has just finished Chemo, and now his daughter is dead. My first reaction was to shake my head and think it was an unfortunate situation. I wasn't grieved though. No tears welled in my eyes, no sorrow in my soul. That bothered me. Had my heart become a little numb to death here in Mozambique? Death just happens. Often. People expect it to happen. It isn't so sad for them.

It is easy to grieve and have compassion on suffering that is in your face and before your eyes, for the person with obvious physical pain. But what about the family? What about emotional pain, that which we don't see, especially here in Mozambique, where tears are weakness and are rarely shed?

I forced myself to really think about the situation, what had happened, what this man was experiencing. I thought about my own daughters and my own husband. There. I felt deep in my gut.

I don't want to grow accustomed to suffering, to death.

From there the Lord said, "That isn't enough Layne."

Jon and my first reaction was, "Let's get him home." We'd pay what we needed to, but we would be determined to make it happen and quick. His family needed him right now. He should be there for the funeral. I felt no attachment to the money, glad to see it go to a good cause, to be a blessing. We'd pay for the round trip, making sure he would be back for the next round of Chemo.

But the Lord began to prod. Layne, you are so free with your money, and that is good, but are you so free with your life? As I began to think, I realized I had to be okay with more.

I am a planner; I hate last minute things. I don't do well with my husband traveling. There it was though, we needed to offer for Jon to drive him, which would be an overnight trip. I wrestled a bit, wanting the money to be good enough, wanting to make excuses.

No good.

So I let go. I swallowed the lump in my throat, got myself back to thinking of the grief this husband and wife must be feeling, especially the wife at home alone, now needing to plan a funeral for her own young daughter. I vocalized it and told Jon we needed to offer it.

Turns out, for various reasons, the bus was the better option for this man. I won't lie, I felt a bit relieved, but my heart had still been exposed, challenged and hopefully changed.

In my exploration of how to teach preschool for Anaya, I was exposed to light tables as a means of learning. There are endless activities to use them. (check google, Pinterest, playathomemom.blogspot.com, etc.) Put it this way, just about everything is more awesome on a light table. Well I soon decided we must have one. Because I have a handy hubby, we came up with a plan, and as of today we are proud owners of our very own light table! (Said with bursting excitement)

Here is how we did it:

Bought a clear plastic storage tub with a flat smooth top

We painted the inside silver to reflect the light well. (I bought heat resistant spray paint, because I didn't want to worry at all.)


Bought 2 florescent lights to put inside


Hot glued them to the bottom of the tub and connected the two cords


Drilled a hole in the side for the cord to come out


Added an extension cord with and on/off switch


Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit under the lid, so you don't see the bulbs straight through the clear top


And ta-da! Light table!
Love that it is plastic - no worries about breaking or harming it and everything can easily be wiped off. And the top has a little lip, which is great for things simply staying on the table and will be great for playing with paint and sand.


Anaya is already enjoying it


Our discovery bottles just got a lot cooler



Showing how mixing colors makes new colors!

I've only had the table a few hours, and I am loving it! Okay, okay, Anaya is too. ;) Here's to learning in fun ways!

My new addiction. I love these! Old plastic soda bottles turned into toys/learning tools. Be sure and hot glue the lids shut so you don't end up with a mess on your hands.




Anaya calls the pink one the "pretty one". Water + glitter. If you use shampoo, hair gel, or corn syrup, it will fall slower, but those things are a little expensive here and the water is still fun.

The green on is water + food coloring + dish soap. Bubbles!


I cut some ribbon to watch float around. It is fun to watch float around.

Next one is toothpicks + rice. Cool shaker that kind of sounds like rain.


 Water + food coloring + marbles and shampoo + marbles. We can compare the way the marbles fall.

And the last one is very versatile. I cut up the letter of the alphabet and put them in peas. You roll the bottle around searching for different letters. You can put plastic items/animals and do an eye-spy. Older kids can do sight words or spelling list. So great! Anaya actually likes this one a lot.

I am going to make a static electricity one this afternoon when one of my bottles dries. You put little pieces of styrofoam and little pieces of tissue paper then rub the bottle on the carpet and on your hair. Fun!