Sympathy Pains

I never realized what a tender tummy I have until our trip to Mansa yesterday.

Since this trip to Mansa would be the last before Tom heads to the U.S we decided to take Peter with us for some special time. Troy needed a yellow fever shot in preparation for his upcoming trip to the U. S as well, so it turned into a family road trip. 

We woke Peter up early and he had a peanut butter sandwich with Tom before we drove out at 7 AM. 

It was a rainy, drizzly day. Not much to look at out of the windows. All grey and bleak. Inevitably Peter got bored. He began to ask to sit with me up front. 

After telling him no, it wasn't long before he started telling me he had a stomach ache. Even though Troy was convinced he was lying to get attention, I decided to hold him on my lap in case he was car sick. 

We had to make a short stop at our new land to  talk with the headman. He'd had an important dream he wanted to share with us. (More about this at a later date)

While waiting for Tom to have his conversation, I tried to interest Peter in some of the story books we brought along, but he was uncharacteristically quiet. I began to wonder if he really were feeling ill.

Sure enough, the stomach ache revealed itself to be real indeed. All down the side of the door--inside the car! All over my messenger bag! All over Peter! It was a mess!

I threw open the door and had Peter stand outside to complete doing what needed doing. Trouble was it was still raining. So I had to maneuver to hold an umbrella over Peter while comforting him and trying  to contain the mess. 

I couldn't  ask Troy to help because he was actually also sick with malaria. Did I forget to mention that? What a day!

Finally I called for Tom and he hurried over to dig the paper towels out of the back of the car. All the coolers, crates and shopping bags had to come out first. 

It took every last paper towel to get the mess under control, and even then my messenger bag was destroyed. Thankfully I had my laptop bag with me and I could transfer everything over. 

Ever since I had begun to wonder if Peter was car sick, I'd been battling my own nausea. Now having to deal with the aftermath if Peter's sick, I thought it might be a matter of not beating it, but joining in. Troy made it clear there was no way he was cleaning up after me should I take that route. 

The rest of the day was a trial indeed as Peter's stomach gave him, and us by extension, big trouble.

He cheered up a bit in the middle of the day, but by the time to go home he was feeling sickly again. We had another small episode, but he finally fell asleep. It wasn't the day we'd hoped for, but we survived it, which is always a good thing. 

My mom used to say her stomach would hurt when someone had a cut or injury. At the time I thought it was an odd thing to say, but now I find myself clutching my own stomach when I see someone in pain.  What about you? Do you get sympathy pains and/or nausea when someone else is sick? 

But it Seems Like Just Yesterday

Our first son, and third child, T.J,  was born in Mexico at a small clinic in Guadalajara.

 Funny story: fathers were not generally allowed in delivery rooms. Tom had not been able to see our twins born since theirs was an emergency birth (8 weeks premature) and they were delivered in a large, government hospital.

With T.J, we arranged with the doctor ahead of time that Tom could attend the delivery. 

However, once the day came, the doctor wanted to examine me first and make sure everything was set up before allowing Tom into the delivery room.

What the doctor didn't know is that I took after my mother and was not going to waste any time in getting that baby out. 

Out in the hallway, Tom was anxious and annoyed that the doctor had taken me away from him. He made up his mind to just barge into the delivery room anyway. A Catholic nun/nurse tried to block his way down the hallway, but he pushed her out of the way and burst through the delivery room door just as T.J took his first breath. 

I'm pretty shocked the doctor didn't turn to stone at the look Tom gave him, but how was he to know the baby would be born after only five minutes. The nurses were annoyed that they hadn't even had a chance to do all the pre-delivery work--IVs and monitors,etc. 

Three weeks after T.J was born we packed up our little family of five and moved to the U.S taking a break from fulltime mission's work for a time.

 Less than sixteen months later, our second son and fourth child was born. After that we constantly had to answer the question: "Do you have two sets of twins?" 

T.J was always very pretty (sorry, T.J--you were!), and people would constantly compliment us on our three girls. When our second son was born they would ask if we were glad we'd finally had a boy. This was despite T.J being dressed in boy clothes and sporting a boy haircut.

At three years old he pulled a table onto himself and knocked out his two front teeth giving him that adorable gap-tooth smile for the next few years.

T.J turns 22 today. He's a Junior at the University of Houston studying History. I love to hear him talk about history. He's going to make a great professor one of these days. While going to school he works as an assistant manager at a charity resale shop. He has a really good eye for the value of items. 

Happy Birthday, T.J! I'm so proud of you!

Related Post: read how T.J got his name here.

Exactly Two Years Ago: The Big Reveal

Exactly Three Years Ago: Water Play

School Days

I'm taking time out from my homework to update this space. I'm loving my time here in South Africa. Durban sits on the Indian Ocean and it is HOT and HUMID at this time of year. 

Even though I'm still on the African continent it's been easy to forget. My host for the week is a lovely, Scottish woman who lives in a sweet cottage surrounded by lush vegetation. As I do my homework on the porch her two Jack Russell Terriers come sit next to me. 

We drive to school on large highways with proper road signs and several lanes in either direction. Shops and office buildings line the roads and it feels more like Europe than Africa.

I'm here in Durban to qualify as an administrator to use the ACE curriculum so we can open our new school for the kids at Kazembe Orphanage. ACE is a unique, learning system that works with individualized education. It's going to be great for our kids. However, the procedures are very different from traditional classrooms and require some getting used to.

 Above you can see the space that I am occupying this week and half of next. Eight days of putting my nose down and getting work done. It's not that the work is that difficult, but the procedures are very exact and must be followed precisely. I'm a rule follower with a rebellious side, so you can imagine how well I'm getting on right now. 

We are being treated exactly like the students would be in our learning centers so that we can understand how things work from the kids' perspective. Each day we have to set our goals for how much work we'll get done and then take the extra home (if possible) as homework. In the mornings our books are inspected and our goals and homework slips checked for mistakes. Today I got four demerits!!!! I'm fairly certain I'm going to get at least one more tomorrow because I wrote the wrong page number on my homework slip. 

I'm praying God blinds the eyes of the examiners. Not sure if that's the theologically correct thing to do, but I'm desperate.

In the midst of all this modern living, there are a few signs that I'm still in Africa. Can you spot a couple of them below? This photo was taken just outside my classroom when school was out for the day.

I asked a few of the students standing around if they ever get away with saying 'the monkey ate my homework', but they said no. However, the monkeys do frequently steal their lunches. Life in Africa!

Exactly Four Years Ago: Be Prepared
Exactly Three Years Ago: London Fun
Exactly One Year Ago: Introductions

How Did We Get Here?

The last time I checked it was Christmas Eve. Now it's nearly a month later. What on earth?!?

Am I the only one who feels this way?

So much has gone on since last I shared my life with you. I blame the internet….truly….we only just got our internet repaired—it was off from the end of December until January 21. We were limping by with another internet source, but it was quite expensive and meant we had to be quite judicious in our use of it.

I’d love to catch you up on our lives, but as I look backward in amazement to how fast time has sped by, it hasn’t slowed down at all. So, I’m going to make a bullet list and later go back and write articles for as many of them as possible. Deal?

·         I went through a rough time in December. We lost one of our staff members to HIV/AIDS and I didn’t realize how much I was grieving until I was lost in it. Going through this during a ‘holiday season’ while mostly alone didn’t work well.

• ·         Santa showed up at Kazembe Orphanage. Twice! And he made children scream and cry—both times!

• ·         I showed The Nativity to our staff members for their Christmas ‘party’. I love the way that movie focuses on Mary and Joseph and their life in the village. Life here in Kazembe is not that different from Jesus’ time—except people have cell phones.

• ·         We celebrated personal Christmas, staff Christmas, kids’ Christmas, and New Year’s Eve all within 4 days. Whew!

• ·         We set off fireworks, on New Year’s Eve from the top of the hill at our new land. Thankfully we had warned the surrounding villagers months in advance so they didn’t think the gods had gone crazy. We may have been a little crazy though. A couple of times we had to ‘duck and cover’ due to faulty equipment and heavy winds. Adrenaline just enhances the fireworks’ beauty though.

• ·         I worked terribly hard to close the books from last year. I didn’t necessarily work smart, so it probably took longer than it needed to, but the job got done, so it’s all good.

• ·         Tom and Troy competed against each other in editing a Santa compilation video. Now that the internet is back up we will be posting them both on YouTube for your votes.

• ·         Peter had a bad case of malaria so I took care of him in our house for 3 days. He now comes up to me a few times a day insisting that he’s hot--hoping to get to lie on our couch and drink Sprite and watch Curcules (guess which movie that is). By the by, he may win the prize for cutest pasta mispronunciation. He calls spaghetti baskabetty.

• ·         I began using a bullet journal method. For the first time in a really long time, I’m keeping track of my life daily. I’m pretty excited about this.

• ·         Tom tore apart our pantry, sprayed for bugs (Africa life!) and then added some new shelves. It’s looking so good now and much more useful. Plus, the extra shelf space means the kitchen is less cluttered. Even better is that I was so busy in the office that I couldn’t get in Tom’s way. You all know what I’m talking about, right?

• ·         Some good missionary friends stopped by for a weekend visit. It’s always wonderful to sit and enjoy conversation over dinner with like-minded people. Life-affirmingly good. (Spell check, it’s a word in my universe!)

• ·         As I write this I’m on my way to South Africa (via Mansa, then Lusaka) to attend an administrator’s course. Just one more step toward opening our school. Bonus: I may get to see a beach!

  

• ·         Brent and Sarah are on their way back right this minute. (Hooray!) We’ll briefly cross paths in Lusaka and then they’ll be heading north to Kazembe while I fly south to Durban, South Africa.

 One of the drawbacks to having limited internet access is not being able to hang out with all of you. Tell me something exciting that has happened for you so far this year. 

Baking Up Christmas Cookies with Just a Touch of OCD

Christmas is for kids, isn't that right? Crafting cards, and presents and homemade ornaments. And let's not forget cookies. Christmas just wouldn't be the same without cookies. 

I'm all for baking and creating. I love it. But, throw a couple/few kids in the mix and it's a horse of a completely different color. A very messy, noisy horse.

However, I strive to be a good mom and so I put on my big girl knickers and roll up my sleeves (both literally and figuratively), and get to work. 

First of all, a plan had to be made. 

A Pinterest board started and properly pinned upon. 

Recipe cards printed. 

And, very important, a spreadsheet created. 

And not just any spreadsheet, but a very detailed one that lists not only which cookies will be baked, but who will take part in the making of each one, by which day they should be completed, and whether advance prep is needed.

Then ingredients must be assembled and mise en place completed. 

Now, some people say that baking can be an excellent math skills exercise for children. 

Measuring and scooping and pouring and counting will prepare them for proper school work. 

I say that if God intended children to do math while baking, he would have given them the right mother for the job.

As it stands, I measure and pour and count ahead of time. This way the children can take part in the baking without adding to their mother's silver hair. 

(this may be why I still have only four silver strands)

('course it could also be why my bigger children find College Algebra to be so difficult--if only I'd let them do the measuring when we baked.....)

The kids seemed to enjoy the assembling and stirring and baking. Can I just take a moment to mention Janet's casual posing--that girl has a model inside her. And, Jennifer's dimple. Have you ever??

I divided the kids into groups of 3 and they're each helping with one recipe. This is a tradition my youngest daughter, Jasmine, started. Those who bake get a sneak taste of the baked cookies and the rest are saved for Christmas. Three children at once is about all I can handle. It gives them all a chance to do a part without having to wait too long between stirs or rolling out.

So far we've knocked five recipes off our list. Another will be done by the first grade boys tomorrow. They'll be bashing hard candy into chunks for stained glass cookies. They'll love that. 

I think I'll have them do the banging outside though. 

My poor nerves.....

Exactly Four Years Ago: Happy Birthday, Dad!
Exactly Three Years Ago: Christmas in Africa --a peak into our living room
Exactly One Year Ago: Busy Little Elves
(Almost) Exactly One Year Ago: The Santa Claus Drama

Fabulous at Forty

There is something about birthdays that just begs for a bit of introspection and retrospect. No matter the age too, there is a feeling of time fleeing by. I've heard a 23 year old girl comment on how time was passing too quickly and her life was nearly over, and she'd done nothing with it yet. I wanted to pat her on her head and say, "you dear, sweet, young thing". My 60 year old uncle essentially said the same thing to me today on Facebook. Age truly is a relative thing.

Somewhere toward the beginning of the year I joined one of those online 'lose weight' groups. It was called Fabulous by Forty, and everyone in the group was close to turning forty and wanted to be at or close to their goal weight by their next birthday.

I was excited to do it, and it seemed a reasonable goal. 

However, I didn't quite make it.

Even though I didn't meet my aim, I still think my life is fabulous. Here's why:

My body may not be perfect, but it still works and it brought six children into this world, so that's a fabulous thing.

There may not be a string of letters behind my name, but there is a string of children--6 + 29 and counting. I think that's pretty fabulous .

I haven't made it to all the countries I'd like to (Ireland, I'm looking at you!), but I have lived in seven countries and visited four others. AND, I still have years ahead of me. I can still see the world!

My family is spread around the world and I miss them terribly, but I have friends spending the day and night with me today. We're gonna watch my favorite movie and eat cake, and it's gonna be fabulous!

I could moan about forty years gone by, but  instead I will look forward to the next forty-sixty years ahead of me. I just know they are going to be fabulous. (Pray for my 99 year old grandpa. He fell and fractured his hip just the other day)

Life is exciting and fun and full of adventures. It's FABULOUS!

(Mom and Dad, I hope reading the ponderings of your 40 year old daughter, doesn't make you feel old. I think you are both amazing and fabulous and I want to be just like you when I grow up)



Exactly One Year Ago: My Very Own Day
Exactly Two Years Ago: Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Exactly Three Years Ago: A Puzzle and a Prize
Exactly Four Years Ago: Happy Birthday to Me --an adventure story

For Such a Time as This

Way back in August when I was taking my curriculum course, a friend of mine (also taking the course) mentioned that her teenage daughter, Vika, needed some volunteer time for her transcript and  asked if I would mind if she came to spend some time with us at the beginning of December. I said it was a great idea. I knew Troy would enjoy the company—especially if her brother, Andrew, also came.

Then I forgot about it. With all we’ve had going on, I’m not surprised, but I was a little embarrassed when my friend called again just before Thanksgiving to work out the details, I had to quickly think about a program they could help with. 

Not that it’s hard to come up with things volunteers can help with. Not at all. The kids are always in need of time and attention. We have things to build. Things to organize. Lots to do!

With Christmas coming up I was ready to get activities organized and kicked off for the month of December. 

But I had no idea how much I would need those extra hands.

The week Vika and Andrew arrived was crazy! One of our staff members lost her child, a nanny lost her father, and several nannies were down with colds/flus/stomach issues or had to stay home to look after sick loved ones. Yet another staff member was diagnosed with HIV and was told to take time off work to allow the treatment to begin working.  

Tom and Troy were still recovering from a bad cold and then I began to have symptoms. 

To top it off, this was our shopping week, which meant that Tom and I would be out of town for 2 days.

It was quite the welcome for Vika and Andrew. They were so sweet and jumped in to help with anything that was needed. Troy also pitched in wherever and whenever. 

They prepared meals, looked after the kids, supervised Christmas card painting, helped the girls make friendship bracelets and even clipped the nails on all the goats. (I think that is going above and beyond if you ask me)

 

I'm so grateful I work for a God who sees so far in the future that he would arrange way back in August that two volunteers would land on my doorstep during one of the craziest weeks we've ever experienced here at Kazembe Orphanage. 

And, by the way, for those of you who wonder (and maybe even worry) about this current generation, I’m happy to say there is definite hope for the future. I was so proud of these three teenagers.

 

Exactly One Year Ago: Not Quite Cinderella -- This details the work I did last year to outfit all our kids with shoes. We urgently need shoes. Click over to the Kazembe Orphanage website --and the how to help button to see how you can help. Thanks!