The Princess Dress

My One Drop

NOTE: Now I know, I often write light-hearted fun looks at our family life or travels. Those wonderful things are still very much a part of everyday life here. But so are difficult things. It's just not true for me to only share the fun and easy. That's not reality. So, if you would really rather read funny giraffe stories, just close this up right now and check back next week (I won't take it personally). If you're up for a picture of the other side of my reality, read away!

This is a land of extremes,
both the most wonderful
and the most difficult
place I have ever lived.
It's a package deal.

There are very many wonderful things, but I have been at times overwhelmed by the severity of suffering and poverty and difficulty people face and wonder how I could ever 'do enough' to help. It is such a cliche of Africa. You have seen it many times before. Like many of you, I always want to do more than I really am able, and work to keep balance in our lives. There is still a gaping hole, an empty bucket thirsty with need. And I have only one drop to add.

My one drop is all I can give. I am finite. So I give my one drop with cheer and focus not on what seems lacking, the parched hole that remains, but on the drips. Drip, dripping their lovingcare into this immense desert of need. Drip. Drip. It is too heavy to walk carrying the constant burden of this empty bucket. Hopelessness takes you down. Thriving here means reveling in the drips, the droplets that together add up to something more. Hope. A rising water level. Their thirst will not last forever. It will be quenched.

These months here we have finally become acquainted with some of the families in our neighborhood community and 3 of those families have had a death to mourn in this new year. A young mother (my age, maybe not all that 'young' I'll admit...) succumbed to tuberculosis, survived by 5 children. A beloved grandfather killed in a bad road accident. A father killed by a falling tree. The mourning process here is a 3-day community event. Close friends and family members sit with the bereaved day and night. African Traditional Religion says deceased ancestors are to be feared, and it is a heavy time for these families. The weight I carry is that somehow in my mind these deaths seem preventable, unjust.

So with these difficulties in the back of my mind, I was given music for Christmas that was just in time. There is a great temptation to see the empty bucket. To try with all we are and all we have to fill it up. Only to feel we have failed, give up and close our eyes.
Close your eyes.
Hum loudly.
Really it doesn't exist.
Convince yourself.
And the lyrics of this song speak to that self-protective temptation to avoid heavy realities:

------
LIKE A LAKE by Sara Groves
Inspired by Lake Kivu and the people of Rwanda

so much hurt and preservation

like a tendril 'round my soul

so much painful information

no clear way on how to hold it

when everything in me is tightening

curling in around this ache

I will lay my heart wide open

like the surface of a lake

wide open like a lake.




standing at this water's edge

looking in at God's own heart

I've no idea where to begin

to swallow up the way things are


refrain:
bring the wind and bring the thunder

bring the rain 'til I am tried

when it's over, bring me stillness

let my face reflect the sky

and all the Grace and all the wonder

of a peace that I can't fake

wide open like a lake

I am fighting to stay open

open, wide open like a lake

--------

Yes, these sufferings hurt.

Deeply.

But God's Grace through Jesus Christ is deeper still.

There is incredible power in looking heavy realities in the face. Staring them down. Pouring grace on them. Heaping coals on their heads. Praise God heavy realities are not the end of the story. There is redemption. Drip. Drip. There is a peace that passes understanding - a peace that we can't 'fake' - trusting in our God to sustain us, to guide us and our 'one drop', and trusting He will fill this empty bucket of need as only He can: perfectly. In the right way. At the right time. Drip.

On our trip last week we met 3 teenagers working hard under the noon sun to fix the potholes in their small-town country road. We asked them, "Why do you do this?" and they replied, "For our country." Young people who care about their future, and are willing to work hard toward it? They were a huge encouragement to us. We are not the only ones with 'one drop' to give. Drip.

"We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit." Romans 5:2-4

I'm one of those people who eats up music like food, savoring the best bits slowly and enjoying them over and over, especially with this artist, Sara Groves, who I had never heard before. There are many reasons I might enjoy her music. She writes it all herself, for one. Her lyrics really make me think for two, and she liberally uses the piano in her songs for three. She's about my age, has two boys and a little girl, and campaigns for International Justice Mission's work in nearby Rwanda. If you want to listen to the above song, without buying the album (Fireflies & Songs), go here or here. Though, for the record, I highly recommend the album.

OH - CAW - PEA

Our adventure to solve Daisy's Dilemma (see previous post)
began by 4x4 driving 90 minutes south of here to a small grass airstrip. (One of our tires rolled off into the bush part-way through the trip, but I'll write about that another day!) We flew out into the jungle in a very small prop plane and landed at Epulu in the heart of the Ituri Rainforest where there is a small population of the only-known relative of the giraffe: the okapi!

The towering trees all struggle for sunlight and the canopy of trees is some 200 feet above us. This picture of one okapi eating his leafy breakfast gives you an idea of just how tall those trees look from the bottom of the jungle floor!

Due to its remote location, most people don't know the okapi is very elusive. They are not quite 'endangered', but are still frequently poached for food. This was a Center on the Okapi Reserve dedicated to helping the species survive. They have sent okapis to zoos all over the world! These pictures are taken of okapis in captivity at the Center, and even then they would run away if we coughed. We had to stand very still and very silent to see if they would approach us. Somehow anticipation always makes the prize more valuable, and finally getting to see the okapi live in person was amazing! They are majestic. That's the only word that came to mind. Pictures don't do it justice. Their dark brown/black/blue coat plays off the light so beautifully...

So back to our continuing saga...

We finally located Daisy's cousin!
Tatu is her name (which means 'three' in Swahili).
There is not a whole lot of family resemblance other than long, slow strides, big ears and beautiful dark brown eyes.
She was very shy about meeting with us, but very attentive to our news!

She was very excited for her cousin Daisy and has a 4-yr-old boy herself!

And we got a great vacation out of the deal! =)

Daisy's Dilemma

.




Meet Daisy.

Don't take that personally.
She's really quite sweet once you get to know her.
She always tries to make the tourists feel they are important
by continually licking and kissing them.

Here's Daisy hard at work:

All her hard work has paid off and brought her a certain amount of fame over the years, and she has seen quite a number of years so far! She's even thinking about writing a book about her life. Despite her advanced experience with life, she just had a baby last year and is enjoying being a new Mommy. Here she poses at a professional photo shoot looking very distinguished (obviously not her best side! But she refrains from comment on today's celebrity photographers...):

She wanted to get the news of this new baby to her distant cousin living in Congo. The distance from Kenya to Congo may not look very daunting on most world maps, but to a new mother giraffe, there is just no way to walk 2,000 mi. Everybody has their limits. It's good to recognize them. So Daisy, who would usually send news by way of migrating birds, is stuck, because all the reliable families of birds have already migrated for this year.

Her cousin has always been very supportive and has gone through her own struggle to have children, so Daisy insists on getting her the news as it will be a great joy and encouragement.

In her hour of desperation, Daisy is forced to rely on the absolutely worst form of communication: humans. It has been said that humans are responsible for not only missing or forgetting their communications, but (gasp!) even making up their own dramaticly incorrect versions of the truth! But alas, she is out of options.

Our family will be going here for 4 days:

... in the hopes of relaying correctly Daisy's all-important message.

Can you guess who her cousin is?

Until next week,

Kent & Kim, James, Joel & Anna

Juice

Well, I haven't forgotten you all, I assure you. There seems to be a limit to how much 'creative juice' I get each day and lately I've been sketching the wall-paper I want to stencil on our living room wall, among other things of course! Pictures will come I promise.

So why is it that I only have one poem, one story or one drawing that can come out of any given day or two? Then I feel spent.

Just a reminder of earthly limitations I suppose.

So Monday was a drawing,
Tuesday was a poem,
Wednesday was day sick in bed (just a cold)
Thursday another drawing,
Friday, a cooking creation
and here we are at Saturday once again for a story.
In this case a boring one about how I have nothing interesting to say! =)

Despite all this talk of artfulness, my primary focus has been on getting the kid's schooling into a good routine again. We got really sloppy after the holiday break and started school whenever we got around to it. So we are getting our ducks in a row and sitting them down at 9am sharp! This after they have finished their checklist of 10 'jobs' each morning. So far it has been lots more time and energy for me, but lots more happiness and productivity for everyone.

We past milestones this month of one year in Africa (my how time flies when you're having fun!) and school mid-year exams. James is still reading us out of house and home. Currently reading a Biography of Jackie Robinson, Happy Hollisters Mystery book #2, and working on the Chronicles of Narnia. This Wednesday we learned column addition where you have to add 4-5 numbers in the hundreds together. I did much of the first page with him, and sent him to his desk to do the last word problem on his own. He came back a few minutes later with no work, just an answer. I checked it and it was right. He had added 390+240+152 in his head! (782) Be proud Grandma! So this is 'modified' First Grade...

Joel is doing well in Kindergarten. He's learning to jump rope, read, color in the lines and is recently very interested in being a librarian or veterinarian. We finally found his lefty kid scissors and his cutting skills are doing much better! Anna is still the singing, artsy one who is currently spending her time on ponies and princesses. Apparently Belle and Cinderella are the better ones...

We measured them and they have all 3 grown at least an inch since the start of school in Sept. James and Joel have each gained a couple pounds this year, Anna not so much. I think it is normal that they would be thinner here (I know I am!) with tropical heat and not so many snack foods or fillers in foods. But don't worry, I'll keep track to be sure they get enough.

Off to a hopefully restful Saturday, after I cut a friend's hair and fill up a few buckets (our house is low on water this week). Rest does seem to 'fill my buckets' so I can be creative again. Hope you get some good bucket-filling rest too!

Kitchen Remodel

For those who haven't already checked this out on our facebook page...

Over Christmas break we had the ambitious goal of tiling our kitchen floor and countertop. Sounds do-able for a week off according to HGTV, right? Well, we were pretty clueless about what we were doing, and there is no Home Depot with help around each corner. Bonus: No extra stuff to spend money on! Drawback: Little to no expertise to draw on, and little to no equipment. We had picked out tile in November, and sketched out what we wanted, but making it happen is always more time-consuming than you think it will be...

Most cooking is done by charcoal outside the back door of the house, so a big glamorous open-style kitchen is not to be found in Africa thus far. This one happens to be about 10 x 12! Should be quick to tile, right?


We've learned that apparently ants are capable of digging through concrete. I suppose if they can consume entire trees it should not surprise me that they managed a little tunnel over 30 years since this kitchen was originally built. There was actually quite a lot of that corner missing...



And here's our finished product on 'moving day' (moving the fridge, stove and stuff back into the kitchen from the dining room that is). No more ants! Lots more light! Shelves, drawers and sink to be finished soon, but a real countertop! So here's more of our process:

Acid washed floor, ready for cement, planning out the tiles.

We measured the center of each wall and used my handy black craft yarn to determine that these hand-crafted cement walls do not have a square corner to start our tile with...

Mixing cement apparently requires sand. Good thing there was lots of it where the kids played. Just needed to be washed...

One the cutest sand-washers:

Actual tile going onto the floor!!!

Woohoo!

White cement acts as grout. Here Kent cleans it up with a little 'help'. =)

The next day when all was dry and done, he laid down our huge UN tarp purchased locally and assembled the kitchen counter/cupboard (which was too big to bring in finished). So here's the first coat of paint on it...


It should also be noted that Kent went to great lengths to get rid of those pesky ants! After cementing their tunnel shut, they dug right through again within 48 hours! The next day he got them good once and for all with the help of pouring poison in their tunnel, recementing and layering with silicone! Ha! Get through that! We haven't seen more than one in the last 2 weeks! We are the champions! =) (ok. really it was all Kent!)

Now I don't have to dread the kitchen. I can enjoy it! Thank you Kent!

Handmade/Remade

Several people have asked what I made each of the kids for Christmas... With trimmings untrimmed and school underway again, I thought it was about time you got to see the pictures. First, some background: After moving from house to house for a few years we had a bizarre assortment of bath towels in varying states and shapes. The ones we were given at our wedding more than 10 years ago are still around, but used as bathmats for now. We bought some nice ones given for someone else's wedding when they moved out of Africa in yet another shade of blue. And then Wycliffe's linen closet gave us nice new ones last year. Anyway, every time I would have 3 kids rotating through bath times (which can personify the word chaos), I would be scrambling around the house in search of towels and often end up grabbing a bright beach towel or just dry one off and use the same towel again on the next one - gasp! This is a house with no linen closet to date, one closet total to be exact, which houses mostly medicines and other things that must be 'out of reach'. So some borrowed bamboo shelves hold all the sheets, towels and table linens in our bedroom. True colors for you!

I saw a really neat 'how-to' blog post and adapted her directions for cute lined baby hooded towels, to cute lined kid-size hooded towels. Even cooler, those towels that were someone else's wedding gift? They matched the kids' bathroom tile! AND they are part of a set with oversized hand towels as well as itty bitty ones (still bigger than a washcloth). Why on earth anyone would need three things smaller than a towel in the bathroom is beyond me. But it worked really well for me to use one oversized hand towel for the hood and we can still use the itty bitty ones for guests to dry hands. Should work. So I knew which blue towels I wanted to use for the boys, and then we happened upon some sheets for sale and there was a cute striped pattern that matched. It was like God put that sheet there just for me! It was a twin fitted sheet with the Value Village tags still on it. Fitted sheets are really hard to come by overseas, another American invention, so it hurt a bit to be cutting up such a useful sheet (then again, I didn't have a pair, just the one). Good elastic is hard to come by too, so I pocketed that part for another project and cut the sheet to bits, kicking myself all the while for not splurging on a rotary mat and cutter while I still had my high school Fabricland discount... I wasn't sure how my machine would handle terrycloth, but it was a non-issue. I love this Janome, thank you Mom!

Lots of sewing and wrapping later. I got this:

...which is pretty much priceless.


And it reminds me of this from 4 years ago, ages 3 and 1:

So there is the story of the handmade boys' gifts.

As for Anna, she has been trying to wear her brother's old castoff bathrobe that is much much too big for her (and covered in race cars among other boy things - snails? puppy dog tails?). So I had in mind to make her a bathrobe. Sounds simple enough. One of our friends in town had experience with this - go Kathleen! - so we were off to the piles of bargain bin towels along the market street to find a couple towels that could be remade into a bathrobe for Anna. Once again, God provided. We found not only a cute towel, not only a beach towel (lots of room to work with!) but a Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet beach towel! For $4. Can't beat that! Then we paired it with a soft white one someone had cast out for paint spots. We were able to work around the paint spots and had lots left over. Anna is in love with pockets these days, so I threw one of those in too. It's nothing like flawless workmanship. Nothing. I promise. But using the boys robe I was able to copy the design more or less. Sewing without a pattern usually works for me, but when she unwrapped it I still had no idea if the sleeves would go past her elbows or not! Anyway, Anna finally has her own Piglet bathrobe (and it fit!... and she likes it!):

Piglet IS the best one you know. He's pink!

Even cooler is that everyone now knows where their own towels are, and can hang them up or get them down independently.

Peace for a busy Mom?
Priceless.

Three Years of Grace

Our Anna Lynne was almost Annalynne Grace,

and after three years I'm still a bit undecided. Little late I guess.


One

Two

Three
GO!

Here's to three years of Grace in the precious smiles and laughter of a beloved beautiful baby daughter! For her entire first year I used to kiss her cheeks with grateful tears in my eyes because she seemed too good to be true.
But she's still here and she's real.
And I still feel that way.
God is so gracious.

Anna turns 3!!