meeting the wazee

Wazee means older person in Kiswahili but like many words come with an inherent meaning of respected elder. In Kiswahili there is even a separate greeting offered for older people by anyone younger than them to show respect. I love this aspect of the culture as it is very important to teach children to always offer this greeting upon entering a place where elders are present. Annikah and Evangeline are blessed to have 5 living great grandparents and we wanted to make sure they all met Evy before we head back to Africa. Here are some photos we treasure:

meeting Grandpa Lower

meeting Grandpa Kunneman on Christmas Eve
meeting Grandpa & Grandma Engstrom in Iowa

4 generations of women of my side

a few more shots from our photo shoot: