http://www.steffensenfamily.com Steffensen Family Blog Tue, 09 Oct 2007 03:21:50 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en While we were in Tanzania, our dog Mandy stayed with Leslie's sister Cate and her family in Asheville, NC. While she was walking Mandy one day, a TV commercial producer saw Mandy and asked Cate if she'd be willing to put Mandy in a commercial. We've been seeing ... http://www.steffensenfamily.com/2007/10/08/our-dogs-a-tv-star We're back in our house in Springfield, VA, and we're slowly getting unpacked and settled in. I have a job, and Leslie is looking for one in between the unpacking and getting the kids ready for school. Now that we're almost settled, I'm going to break down and ... http://www.steffensenfamily.com/2007/08/06/back-in-the-us-and-getting-settled (Please read yesterday's post first, if you haven't.)  Well, after two days of toothpaste on my arm, I'm convinced it's working.  I now realize that I had another Nairobi Fly sore on my wrist last month that I thought was a bacterial infection.  That sore was oozing plasma for a ... http://www.steffensenfamily.com/2007/03/22/nairobi-fly-toothpaste-is-working This week I accidentally discovered yet another previously unknown hazard in East Africa, the Nairobi Fly. Good info and a photo are at this link. I have definitely killed several of these. I must have either killed one on my arm or killed one and then rubbed my arm. ... http://www.steffensenfamily.com/2007/03/21/nairobi-fly It's interesting what you get used to.  It's even more interesting when you realize you've gotten used to it.  There are big geckos on the wall here.  Not little two-inch ones like we had in college in Austin, but big five-inch ones.  The bugs they eat are big enough that ... http://www.steffensenfamily.com/2007/03/20/geckos-on-the-wall-cows-and-goats-in-the-road This evening Rev. David Copley and Mary Brennan from the headquarters of the Episcopal Church, USA, visited Msalato. Bishop Mdimi Mhogolo, our bishop in the Diocese of Central Tanganyika, spoke at the end of our meal and summarized how Leslie is helping the Diocese very well. He said ... http://www.steffensenfamily.com/2007/03/18/bishop-mhogolo-on-how-were-helping Hi All, Sorry for the long delay in writing. I got out of the habit while we were traveling over the holidays, and between a terrible internet connection and every-other day power outages, it's been hard to get going again... Enough excuses. The power is now fairly stable ... http://www.steffensenfamily.com/2007/03/17/were-still-alive-despite-the-mosquitos-best-efforts Hi All, Sorry for not writing.  The past few weeks have been hectic.  I had final exams to prepare, give, and grade.  Leslie spent two weeks going to Zanzibar and Mikumi National Park with Virginia Holt, another ECUSA missionary stationed in South Africa.  Virginia came up here for her holiday and ... http://www.steffensenfamily.com/2006/12/21/merry-christmas-and-a-happy-new-year As I write, I am filled with anxiety for my Degree students as they take the first exam of exam week. They begin with my class, New Testament I. I never realized how hard it is to give a test. I struggled over the questions, I sought ... http://www.steffensenfamily.com/2006/11/27/leslies-november-letter I finally worked through the power outages and slow bandwidth to get the site transferred to our new server at GoDaddy.com.  If you're reading this message, your DNS server has caught up with our address change.  Everyone's DNS server should be caught up by tomorrow, at the latest.  If you ... http://www.steffensenfamily.com/2006/11/27/the-site-and-e-mail-are-back-up-and-running