Pregnant!

We are very excited to announce that we are expecting a baby!  Little Sandeen is due on October 31, 2012.  We don’t know yet if we’re having a boy or girl, but hope to find out when we have an ultrasound in the States sometime after we get there in July.  The timing of the pregnancy seems perfect – we’re happy that we’ll be in North America for the third trimester, birth, and first two months of adjusting to being a family of three, so we can be close to good medical care and our families.

As you might have surmised, becoming parents will affect our work in Tanzania.  I (Michelle) really love my job and plan to continue working part-time.  My schedule will probably change a bit as the baby gets older, but in general I hope to be able to work some from home and go into the office to meet with the translators as needed, knowing I can’t be in the office full-time any more.  With that said, I know I can’t keep up the same workload as I have now, so have already started to make some adjustments.  Supervising and advising three translation teams would be too much for part-time work, so I have already started training a new advisor for the Ikoma translation team.  If I can’t be their advisor, I want to be sure I am leaving them in competent hands!  I will continue to work with the Ikizu and Zanaki teams, and hopefully this will be a doable arrangement.

We hope that you are excited along with us!  When I have enough of a bump to merit a picture, we’ll be sure to post one.  Please pray that Little Sandeen and I are both healthy and that there are no complications along the way.