A Quiver Full

Around the Compound

2012-02-09T10:35:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd take a minute and share some pictures of our world. To be honest, I only have pictures that I've taken inside of our compound walls. This is true for 2 reasons. First of all, every time we go out, I'm too overwhelmed to take photos. Secondly, we are already extremely out of place just walking down the street here, throw a camera in and we'd really be over the top. I'm hoping that soon we'll get comfortable enough to be able to show you the sights on the other side of our wall. For now, here's a glimpse of our immediate area...

This is one of the many fruit trees that grow in our yard. We have grapefruit, oranges, tangerines, lemons, and avocado. We've been told that there are also mango and guava, but I haven't figured out where they are yet.

The oranges are in season and we made some homemade orangeade this week.

This is our beloved generator. It's what ensures that we are able to keep our fridge cold. We are thankful for Lottie Moon which provides this tool for us.

Those tanks ensure that we have water (as long as we remember to turn the pump on when we have power.) The kids need constant reminders to stay off the water tower.

Everyone keeps apologizing for how ugly everything is since we arrived during the dry season. They keep telling us that we will really love it when rainy season comes and the plants are green and beautiful. But, I'm really not thinking it's ugly. Just look at this flower, one of them many beautiful blooms around the compound.

This was our attempt at fast food (which was anything but fast.) I found a recipe for Chick-fil-a type nuggets and we made some homemade "potato chips." The kids loved them and asked if we could have them every weekend. With what it cost to buy that much white meat and the time it took to produce that meal, the answer was a resounding no. But, they will be great for an occasional treat.

This is a beautiful handmade basket that I bought at the fair trade market, it's about 2 feet tall. It cost me about the same amount of money as 2 chicken breasts (with the bone still on them.) Crazy, huh?

He's hard to see, but on that back wall, there is a blue and orange lizard that I was trying to get a photo of. I was having a hard time focusing on getting a good shot because there were two others in close proximity and I was trying to keep an eye on them too. I did not want one running across my foot. There are lots of little ones, but I've seen at least 3 different ones that are at least as long as my forearm in our yard.
This is the guard shack where our night guard stays while he's at work, 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. We were told that he's been guarding our gate for 20 years. He doesn't speak English, so we have limited communication with him at this point, but he is very friendly and helps motivate us to learn Hausa.

This is a close-up of the guard area. I can't imagine how long the nights would be in that little area.

This is a random photo that I took because it struck me as funny the other night when I got out of the shower and looked at the contents of my dresser top. You'll notice that there are 2 alternative light sources (a candle and a flashlight), a can of smell good spray that I used on our borrowed furniture drawers, a LARGE can of Raid, a bottle of melatonin someone here gave me to help aid sleep, and my one "house" thing from America that I put in my suitcase.

Grasshoppers!

2012-02-07T15:54:00.010-05:00

I titled this post "grasshoppers" for two reasons. The first reason is because last Friday, I ate one. A grasshopper that is. Apparently, they're in season. I didn't know that there was a season for grasshoppers, did you? I wish I could say it was delicious, but honestly, I thought it was gross. It was crunchy, and it was very, very spicy. I tried to imagine that it was a barbecue potato chip, but I don't have that vivid of an imagination. Those eyes sort of killed it for me.

The two Bature (white) people on the left are our next-door neighbors. They are the crazy people who are responsible for bringing me grasshoppers. They are relatively fearless in navigating the city and we're learning a lot from them (even if they are lunatics!) The beautiful lady on the end who is laughing at our drama is Naomi, our house helper. As you can probably guess, she's a merry soul and her laughter comes easily.

Here's a close up. I'm guessing your mouth is watering at this point.

Even though "Uncle" Frank was offering naira for the kids to eat one, Isaac was the only one who caved. He wouldn't eat a whole one, but he did eat the legs.

I didn't exactly fly under the radar or eat it like a true sport. I had a big glass of water by my side which I drank down after I'd swallowed the little guy (little is a relative term!) I did however get it down and keep it down, so I'll consider it a win for now.

This is a horrible picture, but it accurately captures my, "I am not going to allow myself to vomit" mindset at the moment.

The second reason why the title "grasshoppers" seemed appropriate is because I've felt a bit like one. I realized that when I went to church on Sunday and some very nice Nigerian pastor spoke on the story of Joshua and Caleb when they went as spies into the land of Canaan. The story talks about how Joshua and Caleb trusted God to give them the land while the other 10 spies were afraid. The Bible says that the spies reported that the people in the land were too big. They reported to the people that they would be like grasshoppers among giants. Immediately I realized that I was struggling with the same feelings. Even though I've seen God do some extraordinary things to get us to this point, I've wondered since we arrived if we could ever really be effective here. Could God really use us? My heavens, we can't even grocery shop or remember all of the greetings to get through the average day, how in the world are we ever going to accomplish anything of eternal significance? But Sunday, the Lord reminded me that just like He brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea, fed them with manna and quail, and performed miracle after miracle, He can use little ol' me, if I'll trust him. And when He does, it won't be because of anything spectacular or special in me, it will be because of who He is and his willingness to let me take part.

A Week In

2012-01-31T15:45:00.004-05:00

Well, we've passed the one week mark and we're sort of settling in a little bit. Life is certainly much simpler here and things move at a much slower pace. At this point, we're still battling some fatigue and sleep is not totally regulated. We're not sure which part of that is jet lag vs. transition issues vs. malaria meds. We really don't care what's causing it, we just want it to get better!

Today we reached a big milestone, one that I've been afraid of, but I'm so glad we've conquered it. We went shopping. All of us. Without someone who knows the ropes accompanying us. And we came back alive, with most of what we set out to get. It was a very productive trip (by West African standards). At this point I think that anytime you find more than 50% of your list without plowing over a motorcyclist, that's a win. Of course, with our assorted skin colors and our big family, we got plenty of stares, but we made it. I feel so empowered.

Okay, maybe not empowered. Honestly I am struggling a little bit with exhaustion and I have to wonder if it takes so much energy just to feed our family, how will we ever learn what we need to learn to do what we really came here to do. Then I remember that we've only been here a week, I talk to the Lord a little bit, I hide in the bathroom, and then I come out and make it through the next few hours. It's a beautiful pattern I've fallen into. But it's working, for now. I just keep reminding myself of other times when we've lived in survival mode and how I've seen that if I'm just faithful to keep putting one foot in front of the other while clinging to the Lord, there always comes a day when I realize we're not just surviving anymore. I'm trusting this time will be no different.

Yesterday I faced another one of my fears. House help. Shh, for some reason, it's something that people don't like to talk about. It seems sort of taboo, but it's a reality that I've been able to learn more about as I've gotten closer and closer to the "inner circle" of African expats. I think it seems so decadent, the idea of house help. Especially for someone who is in our line of work. You know, someone who is supposed to be sacrificing so many worldly things. Let me just tell you folks, it's not a luxury here in West Africa. Every day that we're here, Ryan and I are more convinced that surrendering a portion of our salary to fund someone to help us survive is not a luxury, it's wisdom. Nonetheless, I was worried about having another lady in my house all day. Especially while I was trying to homeschool.

It was a silly thing to worry about. It's obvious that it's going to be a good thing. I am blessed that the gal who will be helping us has been with other families doing similar work for nearly 20 years. She knows how to get the harmattan dust off of my floors. She saw the blackening bananas on the counter and asked me if she could make banana bread. Then she laughed at my puny Pampered Chef roller and sent Abby next door to borrow a real rolling pin so that she could make us fresh flour tortillas, which we used for lunch today. She is pushing me to use my language, even though she speaks good English. We're going to be really blessed to have her around.

There is so much more to share. Every day is filled with challenges that I never would face in America. They often times result in a good laugh or cry, depending on my frame of mind. At the same time, there is a freedom and a beauty here that is precious. Ryan and I keep having these "I can't believe this is our life" moments. I've got some photos I'd love to share, but the internet is not going to cooperate tonight, so I will tell more of our story another day.

For now, I will ask you to pray about 2 specific things:

1. We are so thankful that all of our paperwork arrived safely from Canada, what an answer to prayer! Tomorrow Ryan will travel to the capitol city to try and retrieve our passports and get our visa mess straightened out. Please pray for favor, safety, etc.

2. Pray that we will be able to develop better sleep patterns. We have 2 kiddos who are really struggling and they're having some vivid dreams when they do sleep. This can be a result of the malaria meds, so we need wisdom and discernment about how to conquer all of it.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and words of encouragement. I truly believe that your support and encouragement has been a big part of our first week here being so incredibly smooth!

It Just Takes Longer

2012-01-26T16:35:00.004-05:00

That’s what everyone told us during all of our trainings. It just takes longer to live in Africa. I tried to process that, I tried to imagine it, I thought I had an understanding. I did not. I think it’s sort of like having your first baby. You can read all the books, take all the classes, babysit for a friend, etc. But, until you have that baby in your home and have lived a few of those sleepless nights, you cannot understand.

It’s true though. It just takes longer to live here. For example, often we are without power. So, when the power has been out for a while and we need to use the generator to keep the fridge cold, we go into our pantry, flip this lever to switch the current from city power to generator, turn off the hot water heater, go outside and turn the generator on. Then, at 10 o’clock each night, when it’s time to turn the generator off, we have to go outside, turn the generator off, remember to flip the lever back to city power, in case it comes on during the night, and then flip the hot water heater back on in the hopes that we’ll have hot water the next day. That’s just to keep the fridge cold.

I’ve been shopping the last two days. Two different ladies have graciously taken me around town to show me some of their favorite stores and stands. Just figuring out how to make foods that are familiar using the ingredients that are available to me at a reasonable cost will be a challenge. But, I look forward to figuring it out. Each store has a small selection of foods, many of them about the stock of your average 7-11. At this point, I’ve been to all 3 of the “large” grocery stores and there is nothing back home that I can think of to compare them to. Maybe a country general store. Maybe not. Okay, no comparisons.

The packaging for everything is so different. Like, I never would have thought that the mound of black trash bags full of powder was flour. Fortunately, my colleague explained to me that I need to freeze it and then sift it before I use it to get all of the bugs out of it. I haven’t had to use it yet, but we’ll see!

Today, I bought hangers from 3 different stands, because I kept thinking that the next stall might have a more reasonable price. Then, when I brought them home, they had to be washed and dried before they could be used. When I started using them, I realized that I didn’t buy nearly enough so now I’ll get to brave the market again to find more of them.

I did buy some strawberries. When I got home, I had to run a sink full of this cleaning solution to soak the strawberries in for 20 minutes before they could be eaten.

Water. That takes longer too. Fortunately, we were given a nice water filter through the WMU program that Southern Baptists run. So, each morning, we pour water in the top and then it trickles through the filter into the reservoir. Then, we can use it to make our kool-aid, milk (it’s powdered here), and ice (which we haven’t actually had yet because the freezer has yet to get cold enough). Before we brush our teeth, we have to make sure that there is bottled water in the bathroom for us to brush with. When the filter gets dirty, we’ll just scour off the crud and use it again.

Laundry is fun too. We have a washer that someone blessed us with until our crate gets here. So, when we have city power, that works great. We don’t have a dryer, so we can hang the clothes out to dry. But, if we do that, then they have to be ironed or put into a hot dryer long enough to kill the mango fly larva, or else we’ll get a mango worm growing in our skin. Since we don’t have a dryer and I am not about to iron everything, we’ve chosen to live like Sanford and Son with clothes hanging all over the house. We’re going to get a better system soon, I hope.

It just takes longer. That’s all there is to it. It could be maddening. Truly! But we’re choosing to look at it as an adventure. We can already see so many ways that all of these inconveniences can help us to live in greater community with other folks. It also helps us to be grateful for the little things. I have not picked up my to-do list pad one time since we got here and even with all of the craziness of learning how to operate in this new nomal, I’m enjoying learning new skills and processes. Mostly.

Here is a picture of our side entrance as we found it when we arrived, covered in garland and balloons. Our luggage was piled up on the carport.

Another example of something that takes longer. While trying to rearrange the furniture in Abby's room, we encountered a nest of termites living under a bookshelf. Here is a photo of Ryan holding up all of the termites he swept up using that Nigerian broom you see in his hand. You can only imagine what kind of squalling was going on in that room as we were killing and stomping on that heap of bugs!

Wowza!

2012-01-25T15:17:00.000-05:00

I’m going to go ahead and write this blog post while it’s rolling around in my head, though I honestly have NO idea if and when it will ever get posted. Some wise person told us to record our thoughts and impressions and take lots of pictures while everything was fresh and new to us because soon, it would all seem normal. At this point, I find that incredibly hard to believe. But, since I respect this person, I’m going to take their word for it and try to chronicle a little bit of our arrival.

Our flights went well. Much better than I expected. The only thing that was a struggle was sleeping. We didn’t do much of that. Between 5 kids and the flight attendants offering something to whoever was still awake, sleep was scarce. So, by the time we landed, we were beyond exhausted. Our bodies were convinced that it was about 9PM, but the clock in our new country read 6AM.

As we waited in the immigration line, we discussed how well everything had gone and how we could tell that the kids were reaching the fragile state, so we hoped the next few hurdles would go smoothly. But you know, God has a way of giving us what we need and not what we want and the next few hours certainly proved that.

When the immigration officer called us forward we stepped up in full confidence, knowing that we had our visas in our passports and we were good to go. Then, the officer asked to see our paperwork. We were confused, we didn’t have any paperwork. We’d sent it to the embassy, gotten the visa, and here we were! They proceeded to explain that all of the paperwork the embassy received was supposed to be in a sealed envelope, addressed to the consulate, and we were supposed to produce it at that moment. We looked at each other in horror because we knew that we had handed that 3 pound stack of papers to our supervisor in Canada and asked him to shred it for us, because it contained so much personal information.

At that point things got really hairy. Kids started crying, phone calls started flying, uniformed people started using words like deport. It was not good. In the meantime, about 50 feet away, our luggage was going round and round the carousel as we watched and prayed that we would be able to get to it.

After a while, they took Ryan back to a room to discuss our options and they sent me to go and start claiming baggage with my 5 children. There was a sea of porters wanting to help us and I was totally overwhelmed. There were bags stacked all over and so one porter started gathering his friends and they pulled then together. I counted, and recounted, and then counted again, only to discover that we were missing 3 bags. So, as Ryan was getting our passprots seized, I was trying to fill out baggage claim forms and my kids were trying hard to hold Abe together as they alternated bouts of crying. It was horrific.

After what seemed like a very long time, even though it was probably only an hour or so, we were told we could leave and given a sheet of paper with our passport numbers on it, but no passports. Next came customs, where an officer insisted that he was not letting us leave until he searched our bags or provided him with a detailed packing list. We kept saying, there are 7 of us, we are moving here, they are household goods, clothes, book, etc., etc., etc. Praise the Lord, that gal that had come to help us out with her trusty phone and embassy contacts had greeted a man earlier who told the man that we were his friends and to let us go. So, miraculously, he waved us on.

At this point, I was exhausted, stressed, and it was time for our drive home. We had been told that the drive could vary based on the traffic, checkpoints, etc. Let’s just say, that the rhythym that had begun the day continued on our way home. Both of our colleagues who traveled with us said that they think we may now hold the record for the longest drive home from the capital city, and it took between 6 and 7 hours. We got stopped at so many checkpoints by so many officers in so many different kinds of uniforms that it was almost comical. Then, about 2/3 of the way, Lily got horribly carsick and began vomiting. It was traumatic.

Fortunately, things began to improve from there. We arrived at our new home to many friendly faces who were all eager to greet us and welcome us. Our house was covered in balloons and colorful paper chains. The beds were made up, there was a starter supply of foods, and it was obvious that we were welcome.

Our first morning here, Ryan and I both woke up, anxious about our situation. We knew that if we couldn’t secure those papers in a timely fashion, we were going home and that was a heavy weight. But, we both spent some time in God’s word and then dialogued about what we felt he was saying to us. Though we were in different places in scripture, we both were reminded that none of the previous day’s events were a mistake. God was certainly aware of everything we’d faced. We had not willfully made a mistake with the visa paperwork and God was going to do his will, whatever that may be.

Later in the day, we were able to get in touch with our supervisor and we found out that he had not yet shredded the necessary documents. So, I’m happy to report that they’re on their way and we’re prayerful that we’ll see them soon and be able to get all of this mess resolved.

The last couple have days have been spent attempting to unpack, shop, establish phones, internet, etc. I can’t wait to share a little bit about the learning curve that the last few days has involved. But, that’s a whole ‘nother post. I am very hopeful that sleep will come tonight as it’s been avoiding me our first 2 nights here, so I’m off to bed!

Sprint through the City

2012-01-22T15:59:00.005-05:00

Today, we saw London. Okay, today we saw enough of London to know that we want to come back and stay awhile. We debated about what to do with our 9 hour layover in the city. The easy route would have been to stay at the airport, and we seriously considered that. But then, we thought through the fact that we have no idea when we'll be here again and we know the cost to fly a family our size anywhere, so we decided to take the tube into the city and do a quick walking tour. Here's some of what we saw:

Those famous red buses.

Outside Buckingham Palace. Abe wanted to know why we couldn't go inside to see the queen.

The famous palace guards

Isaac was very excited when he spotted these!

Look Kids! Big Ben!

Climbing again!

London Eye, near the Thames River

The Olympic Countdown Clock at Trafalgar Square.

Sacked out on the train back to the airport.

Awkward.

2012-01-19T11:52:00.001-05:00

For years, I've had a heart for people who serve overseas doing what my family is about to embark upon. Literally, since I was a little girl those people have fascinated me. I've always wanted to serve them when our paths have crossed, but I've never really known how to do it well. It's always felt very awkward. Now that I've walked about 1/10 of a mile in their moccasins, I have had a lot of realizations that I'd like to share with those of you who might want to serve and minister to these folks like I do. I'm sure I'll have far more knowledge in 3 or 4 years and I'll look back on this post with humor. Like, you know, once I've actually left the continent. But here's what I can tell you for now that I've discovered about this new life journey:

We need prayer. It's not just something we say because it's the right thing to say. We literally depend on the prayers of the body. Just as much, we need to know that you're praying, so an occasional e-mail or FB note is a welcome thing.
We are not superheroes. We don't have any special powers. We do not want the American church to elevate us. We're ordinary people who have surrendered to God's call on our life. Our kids throw tantrums, we get irritated with our spouses, we are tempted to doubt God's power. We need your friendship, not your awe.
We miss community. Words cannot express how much we miss our church. We have full confidence that we will find another type of community in our new city, but it will be very different. In some ways, we will always long for our familiar American worship.
We want to share what is happening in our lives, so please listen. It's really hard because part of our heart is in the States and part of it is with our work. We want to engage in your world and we want you to engage in our world. At the same time, things have changed for us and we aren't the same people that we were before. Just knowing that there are people who will listen to the details and allow us to think aloud and share what is happening is a good thing. God is changing us in amazing ways and we aren't sure how to process it all, be patient with us. We promise not to show you any hour long slide shows of us wearing native clothing and chasing giraffes. Maybe 30 minute power points, but not hour long slide shows.
Remember our kids. Notes, cards, e-mails. They mean so much to our family. Not because of what they say but because they show them that somebody remembers them. Our kids love to know that they are not forgotten and that there are friends who are holding them up. From everything we've read and observed, our kids can and will continue to struggle with where their "home" is. It is our prayer that instead of feeling that they have no home, they will have multiple homes and that when we're in the states, there will be people who are willing to invest in them and pour into them for those windows of time.
Pursue us. In the months ahead, we know that we will become even more disconnected from what once was. Communication will become more challenging for us. We may not be able to answer every e-mail promptly. Don't stop sending them. I know you're busy too, but when the Lord brings us to mind, we'd love to hear from you!

We are so thankful to be leaving behind so many people whom we love and who have loved us so well. I have told my children many times through faces full of tears that we should be thankful that this hurts so bad because this means that we have been blessed with lots of love. I keep reminding them that there are more people to love just around the corner. I can't wait to see who they might be.

How quickly time flies

2012-01-18T20:37:00.004-05:00

About 8 years ago, we bought Abby a little purple nightgown from the Children's Place. It was long on her, but she didn't mind, that was exactly how she wanted it. She was in that stage where we had to beg her to wear jeans or pants and she would prefer to spend all of her days in princess costumes. I had no idea how quickly that would pass.

Now, she's so independent and her last question before she falls asleep each night is, "Mom, will you get me up before everyone else so that I'll have time to fix my hair in the morning?"

I'm telling you people, when it comes to your kids, time flies. You blink and it's another birthday. Before you know it, you're facing a long list of, "I don't remember the last time they needed me for this" realizations.

It's sweet and it's right and it's very, very hard on a momma's heart sometimes.

What, you may ask has me voicing this observation today? That blasted purple nightgown. It's been in continual use in the Campbell household for about 8 years. I canNOT justify carrying it overseas. Because today it looks like this on Lizzy...

and like this on Lily...

and if it barely covers their bum, it doesn't make the cut. But, man I'm gonna miss that little purple gown and the sweet little girl characteristics that it represents!

*and yes, my house looks like a bomb blew up in it. Don't judge till you've attempted to reduce your world to 25 suitcases people!

So Thankful

2012-01-17T01:13:00.005-05:00

One of the things that has been so neat about our time here in Vancouver is that we've gotten to live here like a normal resident, but we've also known that our time here is temporary so we've pushed hard to see and experience much of what Vancouver has to offer. In some ways, it's been like a 3 month stay-cation. But, really, there have been lots of days where the work/assignment load has been anything but relaxing, so I guess that's not the best analogy.

Anyway, my point is, we've had a great time experiencing all that we could here in the city. One of the last things we really wanted to do was get out in the snow a bit. I knew that after last year's little head injury, I wan't interested in taking up skiing, but I did want to try something snowy that we didn't typically get to do back in Carolina.

A friend here offered to take us snowshoeing and it was a great fit. The hike we did was easy, only 5 kilometers round trip and it was perfect for beginners. We were a little worried about Abe, but he kept up as well as could be expected. Towards the end, we did strip off the snowshoes and let him walk about in his "runners," as they call sneakers here in Canada. It was a great time with good friends and we're so glad we got to experience it.

Heading toward the trail, getting the hang of it!

5 minutes in and he's already covered in snow!

Two sweet girls!

Moving along

At the top! There is an amazing vista behind us, but the fog makes it hard to see.

This bird and several of his little friends were waiting for us at the top. We happened to have a few snacks in the backpack and they ate nutri-grain bars right out of our hands. It was pretty cool!

If you look carefully, you can see that there is actually a bird sitting on Abby's hand.

Under the Sea

2012-01-17T00:55:00.004-05:00

Last week we had the opportunity to go on a field trip to the Vancouver Aquarium with our classmates. I'll be honest and say that aquariums are not my favorite way to spend money. They just seem like they're really expensive and if you've seen one, you've seen the same basic stuff. However, the aquarium here has an excellent reputation and it was definitely on our "to-do" list. By going as a group with our colleagues, we were able to get a much better rate and we got to spend the day with people that we've grown to love.

All in all, we had a great time. I've been in aquariums that have much more of a "wow effect" in how they display their animals, but the Vancouver aquarium was really great in a different sort of way. First of all, they had some animals that we typically don't see in our southeastern US holdings, like beluga whales. They also had shows going on all day long, so we got to see a dolphin show, a beluga whale show, and a 4-D imax type film, so that was fun. They had lots of things the kids could touch and do, so they stayed happy. We're really glad we went.

Anxiously waiting to get inside!

Helen and Hannah showed us their mad jumping and swimming skills.

Not so sure about touching that anemone.

I wonder if God was showing off just a little bit when He created jellyfish. Hands down my favorite!

One big beluga!

Traditions?

2012-01-07T09:56:00.002-05:00

In the midst of the Christmas season, I had not one, but two moms ask me if I would be willing to blog about my family's Christmas traditions. I explained to them that I would, but it probably wouldn't be until after Christmas and that they would probably not be impressed when I did and that I certainly wasn't an authority on how to have a Jesus-centered Christmas.

I've been wrestling with how to share all that's on my heart when it comes to this topic. Because it's complicated for me and I feel like I need to share some background. So, here goes...

When I was growing up, my parents loved me. Very much. I always knew that. However, they both came out of lots of brokenness, which they were in the process of working out. As a result of that, there had been previous marriages and previous children, which always complicated Christmas a little bit. Who am I kidding? It complicated all of life a little bit. And inevitably, that effected the kids involved. Sometimes more than a little bit. That's what you call living.in.a.fallen.world. I'm thankful for my childhood. God has redeemed the low points and used them to make me who I am in Him. He has also done a work in my parents and they are continuing to grow and heal even in the most recent years. It's a good thing. I truly believe that they did the best they could with where they were at when I entered the picture.

That being said, my Christmas memories vary. But I can tell you that I always loved Christmas. I loved the tree, the lights, the presents, and the fact that it would be one day a year where my parents would stop their busyness and be together. It's the only holiday that focused on our individual family for the day and not the extended family of grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles.

I have to say though, that there was never a real emphasis on Jesus. I knew it was his birthday, I knew it was about Him, but the actions and the traditions were not reflective of that. I don't fault my parents. At. All. My mom had come out of some pretty extreme poverty and she put out lots of energy to make sure our Christmas was magical when it came to gifts. There was also energy to give to working out the Christmas visitation schedule for the other kids. Not to mention, my parents weren't exactly like-minded about faith, especially in the early years. It was complicated. But, the bottom line is...I still grew up loving Christmas and it was the most magical time of year.

So, when Ryan and I got married, we waded through lots of muck bringing together two different ideas of what Christmas was supposed to look like. We didn't even agree on what day the presents were supposed to be opened. But, we both wanted to tightly cling to time with our families, because for both of us, there were some very deep emotional things involved in that season. We never thought twice about the pattern we developed, which involved going to his parents for Christmas Eve and then getting up early Christmas morning and driving 3 hours to my parents. We did this for at least 12 years- even after a move to North Carolina and later to Georgia. We didn't really think about it. Each time was non-negotiable for each one of us. We didn't really work on developing many of our own traditions. It didn't occur to us that we needed to.

However, in recent years, we have become increasingly aware that we needed to make some changes. We haven't traveled on Christmas in about 4 years. We've tried to implement more and more traditions for our own family unit and we've tried to shift the focus, a little at a time. I'm going to be honest here and tell you that it's complicated.

I read the blogs of families who are going radical and "redeeming Christmas" and they sound great. They're so brave. I'm not there yet. Maybe I'm not holy enough, maybe I'm not brave enough, maybe I am desperately clinging to the things that made that part of my life so magical growing up, maybe I've just not been convicted that I need to forsake everything that Christmas was to me when I was a child. I like the gifts, the tree, the stockings, and the lights. Whatever it is, whatever reason I have for keeping so many of the "pagan" elements around, right now, me and Jesus are okay with it. That may change, I don't know. But right now, I'm choosing to extend grace to myself. I feel certain that He is too.

However, all of that being said, that doesn't mean that we don't take measures to transfer our faith to our children during this special time of year. We do. We do take time to worship, to focus, to serve, to give, to celebrate, and to invest in each other. But, we've done it in a wide variety of ways. It rarely looks the same way twice. This year, it's been even more pliable and we've been able to identify the things that the kids truly consider "required traditions." Here is some of what we've done:

We haven't done Santa. Some of the godliest people I know do Santa. That's great for them, but we don't do Santa. I was one of those children who was devastated when I found out the truth and I decided early on I wasn't comfortable with the creativity that was involved with telling the story.
Every year, we do try to give to someone who has need in some way. We've done all sorts of things, we've done the shoeboxes, we've picked names off a tree to shop for, we've adopted families with needs through a SS class, last year we did 12 days of Christmas gifts for a family that we were involved in sharing our faith with. That was definitely the kid's favorite. They loved the ringing and then dashing from the doorstep every night for 12 nights. It doesn't matter so much to us what we do, but that we do something(s) and that our kids are involved. This year it was simply baking cookies to share with some neighbors that we've met.
We always help the kids make gifts to give to the people that have invested in them through that year as a way of saying thank you. Teachers, coaches, etc.
Every year, we put up our Christmas tree together (usually the Sunday after Thanksgiving) and on the night that we do, we eat "party foods" like sausage balls, fruit and dip, and cheese cubes. I learned this year, that my children consider that a non-negotiable.
We do some sort of nightly Christmas count-down and we use that time to share the Christmas story. This was a resource that we used when our kids were younger (though ours was the first edition.) Now that they're older we use the Bible. It works amazingly well.
We give each of our children 3 gifts, as a reflection of the gold, frankincense, and myrrh that the wisemen gave.. Although, I'm going to be honest here and say, we also do stockings and they involve little gifts. And sometimes those 3 gifts are really multiple gifts with one theme. Like this year, Abby got an I-Touch. But with it she got a cover and a docking station too. But we counted it as one gift. So, it's probably not as minimalist as it should be. It works for us.
We bake together. We eat together. We laugh together. Those are all rock solid traditions.
That's really about it when it comes to the set-in-stone traditions. There are several other favorites that we have done off and on through the years, but we don't do them every year. These would include things like making gingerbread houses, crafting ornaments, christmas light driving, caroling, and hosting parties of different sorts for different purposes.

Here's the bottom line. This is one of those many areas where I think it's really important that Jesus followers extend a lot of grace to other Jesus followers and even more grace to those who don't know Christ. One of the current trends I see with the explosion of blogs, social media, Pinterest, etc. is that there is so much opportunity to share great ideas and see what others are doing well. I think that's great. However, that's just what you're seeing. The part of their life that they're doing well. And all of those representations of other families doing it well can cause us moms to sink quickly into feelings of guilt and inadequacy. That's not good. In fact, there is a little verse in the beginning of Romans, chapter 8 that says, "There is now, therefore, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." I choose to think that applies in how we celebrate Jesus birth.

Don't get me wrong. I want to use the season wisely. More than anything, I want to capitalize on the fact that it's a time of year when those around me who don't know Christ may be more willing than ever to hear the good news. I want to celebrate in a way that honors Christ and encourages my family. But, I have to be very careful not to focus on the details so much that I lose the joy. And, while I have a responsibility to share faith with and disciple my children, my decisions about how we celebrate will not single handedly determine whether or not they walk away from my home loving Jesus and sold out to his work. I'm only one part of that puzzle.

Around Town

2012-01-07T02:24:00.015-05:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, we had a great time with Grammy and Pa while they were here. We wanted to make sure that they got to see a good bit of Vancouver, especially since it's such an amazing city. So, after Christmas weekend, we decided to go exploring. On Boxing Day, we took them down to the waterfront area to show them the sights there. It was a yucky, rainy day, but we've learned that here in Vancouver, you just push through the yuck.

Here are Grammy and Pa with the kiddos in front of the Olympic cauldron. (Notice that Abe has his new "lookers" around his neck. You might know them as binoculars.)

The kids insisted that we take Grammy and Pa across the bay on the Seabus. They made sure that we ate beavertails while we were at the Quay.

The seaplanes, the barges, the waterfront, the mountains...they never get old!

The next couple of days, we stayed in. We had sick kiddos and the rain was bad, even for Vancouver. We didn't do much more than walk to the theater across the street for their Toonie Tuesday showing of The Adventures of Tin Tin. Because of the rain and the sickness, we decided that we were going to rent a car so that we could get around town faster and drier and actually see some things for the last 1/2 of the week. It was a great use of the money and we are so glad that we did it! I packed my purse full of tylenol, advil, and mucinex, and we hit the road!

For our first stop, we headed over to Lynn Canyon. This had been my favorite of all of our previous Vancouver explorations. The old growth forests, waterfalls, and suspension bridge got the same sort of "wow" from Grammy and Pa that we had given them!

Here are Grammy and Pa on the suspension bridge.

Hiking just a bit, trying to find an alternative path around the muck!

Grammy and Abby, trying to stay warm!

The amazing thing about having the car was how fast we could cover ground. We were able to go straight from the canyon down to Stanley Park in just 20 minutes or so. This would have taken us well over an hour on public transportation, and then we would have had to walk a BUNCH to see what we saw in just 90 minutes.

Here they are in front of the totem poles!

The big girls at Prospect Point. Notice the huge barge behind them?

Me and my honey!

The next day, we decided to branch out and go to a place we hadn't been to before. So, we headed out of the city to Fort Langley, which is considered the "Birthplace of British Columbia." It's actually a historic park, sort of like Williamsburg on a smaller scale. We really loved it because the interpreters really engaged us, you could touch everything, and there were lots of history bits that we had never heard during our other explorations. Because the history of BC centers around the fur trade, it was all new to us.

Here's Isaac, trying on a beaver hat. Did you know that beaver was once the standard of currency in BC?

These are Hudson Bay blankets, which were one of the main things that were traded to the aboriginal people in exchange for the beaver pelts. They were "priced" by weight of the wool and those small lines on the side of the blanket indicated the cost. That green one has 4 lines, so it would have cost 4 beaver pelts.

Here we are, attempting to assemble a bucket in the cooperage. We learned that things were shipped in barrels as opposed to boxes for a very practical reason...

they could be rolled to the ships rather than carried!

Here's Lizzy participating in a Fur Trading wedding. She's presenting a gift to the couple. We enjoyed talking with the gal on the far right after the wedding was over. She is from a country that borders our new homeland!

Ft. Langley

Our 3rd and final day with the car was definitely my favorite. It was New Year's Eve, the weather was forecasted to be clear, and we wanted to do something fun. We decided to drive the Sea to Sky Highway up to Squamish and Whistler. Let me just say, it did not disappoint!

I spent the summer before Ryan and I married in Alaska as a student summer missionary and ever since, I've been looking for something as majestic. Ryan took me to Colorado and, while it was beautiful, it wasn't Alaska. We went to Yosemite, again, amazing, but not Alaska. Finally, after years of searching, on New Year's Eve, I looked at Ryan and said, "I think I can honestly say, this is as beautiful as what I saw in Alaska." He agreed it was the most majestic place he'd ever seen.

This was our first stop, just outside of Squamish. This is Shannon Falls.

The whole crew, at the falls.

From the falls we drove to Brackendale, where the Bald Eagles are currently nesting. For the last several years, it's had the highest bald eagle count in North America. We didn't watch too long, because it was cold, but we did count 6 eagles and we even caught this one soaring around and then diving down to fish. Unbelievable!

This was the view to our back as we faced the eagles. That is one intimidating looking mountain. Can you imagine being on the top of that thing? Yeah, neither can I.

From there, we headed North toward Whistler where we planned to stop at Brandywine Falls. As we made our way, the snow became thicker and thicker around us. The bad thing was, when we got there, the park was closed for the winter. The gates were locked up. The good thing was, the snow was so high, we were able to park on the side of the road, walk on in, right over the top of the gates. We headed right down the path (it was obvious many others had gone before us.) I think my dad was pretty convinced we'd lost our ever-loving minds, but that didn't keep him from following us. When we were safely back in the car I assured him that if he'd hang with us we'd either keep him young or send him to an early grave!

So happy to be tromping through the snow!

This kid was sopping wet by the time we got him back to the car, but he had a blast!

Cheese!

We made it to the falls! It was extremely different from the first fall we saw, it was much more powerful!

What's not to love about a snowy forest overlooking an incredible waterfall?

A final pose before we turned the car south and headed home!

Christmas Highlights

2012-01-06T00:56:00.011-05:00

Our December was crazy busy. Real shocker, huh? I'm sure that none of you can relate. I am determined that next year, my December is going to be different. We'll see how that works out. But, I'm thinking that my family will have the chance at a fresh start at this whole Christmas thing. Moving to another continent, where it will be just our little family unit will certainly provide a clean slate, don't you think?
Don't get me wrong... I've always loved Christmas. It really is my favorite time of the year. But, I've been increasingly convicted over the last few years that our Christmas needs to be more about the baby in the manger and less about the baubles that our North American Christmas has become. We've made a few changes-some additions and subtractions over the last few years, but there are so many traditions related to our location and our relationships that I haven't really thought about, I've simply done them. I'm planning to put some real energy into re-thinking our "normal" before next year. I'm sure lots of the old favorites will stick, but there is definitely some revision to be made.
Okay, enough rambling. My objective in this post was to record a little bit about this year's festivities. Despite the chaos, it was a very fun and memorable Christmas season. We are thankful to have had this Christmas here in Canada, it provided some fun opportunities to be sure!
Our Christmas festivities kicked off with hosting a Christmas party for our team here. We had a fun night with lots of laughter and we were so glad that we got at least one opportunity to entertain, as that's usually one of our favorite parts of the season.

Here is one of Abe's favorite teachers from school, wearing the groovy hat that he unwrapped during the white elephant game. The hat has now made it's way to the preschool classroom at school!

The week before Christmas, we received a surprise package from some friends in NC. These girls were from a book club that Abby and I went to in the months before our move. Most of them didn't go to our church and they didn't really know our other children very well. Yet, each of the kids had cards in the box and there were a variety of little treats and toys too. Ryan and I both teared up when they opened it. It seems silly, but the burden we carry for our kids during this whole process can be pretty heavy. It's something that we pray through and discuss a lot. For some reason, receiving that package and seeing that the kids got so excited, not about the contents, but about the fact that these friends remembered them was humbling, overwhelming, and reassuring all at the same time. Lily kept reading and re-reading her card and saying how nice it was that they did that for us.

Ear to ear smile after reading her cards.

Lily, reading Abe his card.

We did a ton of baking this year, sharing with lots of folks. These are cookies that we made to take to some of our neighbors. Since we're in a "transition kitchen", there were several times that I would start projects and then remember that I didn't have my normal tools for the job. The night we decorated these cookies was no exception. However, necessity is the mother of invention and I learned several tricks that work great, including how to make my own colored sugar!

Here's a lovely painting that my husband made for me using a $4 canvas and Dollar Store paints (most of which were leftover from a Thanksgiving project.) It made a nice addition to the few decorations we had this year. Isn't he handy?

The highlight of our December was Grammy and Pa coming to visit. The fact that my dad doesn't exactly do airplanes combined with the fact that we had quite a bit of stuff we were hoping to get here from the States led them to drive cross-country to visit us. We were glad to see that blue van pull up with Mr. and Mrs. Clause inside!

Inside the van, they had two crazy big boxes of goodies from friends in KY. Nana and Pap's church had collected items to send us, and they ended up with a ton of treats. So, my parents ended up carrying them by van instead of mailing them. They stocked those 2 boxes full of our favorite American goodies and groceries along with a gift for each of us. It was a delight! In this picture, the kids have begun unpacking the box, while Nana and Pap watch on Skype.
We actually had one more day of class left after the grandparents arrived. Lily and Lizzy ended up being too sick to go (actually, we had sick kids for about 10 days- the whole holiday!) But, they were able to stay with my parents and I got to go to class and watch the kids do their little Christmas presentation. Abe's class sang several songs. In this photo, he has just finished singing, "The Reindeer Pokey." The older kids had memorized the Christmas story from Luke 2 and we got to listen as they recited that.

The kids decided a few weeks before Christmas that they were going to do a play for us on Christmas Eve. So, they spent their free time writing, typing, and rehearsing. Isaac played the part of Santa.
Lizzy played the part of the big sister who helped her little sister understand the "True Meaning of Christmas." Here she is reading it out of the Beginner's Bible.
Abby directed and played the part of the narrator. Here they are, taking a bow after it's all over.
Here are the milk and cookies they left out for Santa after their play had ended. This is something that Lizzy insists that we do every year, even though we do not, nor have we ever, pretended there was a Santa. We don't even have gifts that are labeled from Santa. Ryan always plays along and eats all or part of them, though all involved parties know it's a game.

Here's Isaac showing off his new jammies! My mom has always given me one gift on Christmas Eve, new pajamas. As our family has grown, she's maintained that tradition for all of us. This year, she made us all pajama pants with t-shirts. Isaac's were UK, of course!

Here's the tree, loaded down. I took this picture mainly because I know next year's paper and piles will be very different. This probably looks like a ridiculous amount of stuff, but when you divide it between 9 people, it's not as gluttonous as it looks!

This little red thing is our attempt to do something "Canadian." These Christmas crackers are very common here. You put them on the table with your Christmas dinner and after everyone has eaten, you cross arms, grab the end of your neighbor's cracker, and pull. There is a loud pop and a treat flies out. In addition to the treat there is a paper crown and some jokes to share around the table.
Lizzy and Lily, wearing their paper crowns.
Grammy and Isaac (don't they look a bit like Jughead, from the old Archie comics?)
Here's Pa, attempting to read the fine print on his joke.

I have lots more to share about the fun things we saw and did while Grammy and Pa were here, but that will have to wait for another day. At least I've broken my blogger's block, maybe I can get rolling again!

Ice Skating

2011-12-17T13:18:00.002-05:00

We had our first ice skating adventure with all of the kids, which I'll share more about in another blog post. But for now, I wanted to put this video up for Nana to see NOW! I have lots to share when things slow down, soon!

What a Week!

2011-12-02T22:57:00.004-05:00

Last Sunday, I looked at my husband and expressed how thankful that I was to be feeling well. I had been suffering with a head cold that just wouldn't go away for almost two weeks and I was finally feeling energetic again. I had a productive Sunday, even finishing it off with several blog posts that I set to auto post all through the week. I went to bed, ready to take on a new week, knowing it was going to be a good one.

Monday is always a busy day here because we have class, then coaching sessions, then we head home to prepare for house church in the evening. As Monday wore on, I started to feel a bit fatigued and achy, yet I refused to believe that I could be getting sick again, so I pressed on. By the time house church was over, I made a beeline for the bed and stayed there until Wednesday, when I finally transferred to the couch. I have been so sick. I am confident I have had the flu. I literally have been surviving on Nyquil and Advil. It's been the pits. Now, I'm feeling better, but my energy level is so low and though my appetite is returning, my tummy gets very ugly every time I eat. I'm sitting here eating ginger ale and saltines for dinner because my attempt at eating a real lunch made me miserable.

Here's the thing, now it's Friday night and I'm looking back at the week and I am so discouraged, which is ridiculous. If any one of you reading this had been in bed sick all week, I would assure you that all you need to do is rest and take care of yourself and everything else will come in time. And I would mean it. Yet, looking at my own situation all I can think is how high the laundry pile is, how the groceries are low, and how I'm going to have a bunch of big fat zeros on my accountability report for the week if I don't muster some energy to stay out for a while tomorrow. It's ridiculous. Why do I do this to myself?

And my husband, my sweet precious husband has been such a jewel. He's tried hard to keep everyone fed, keep the laundry under control, complete his assignments, wrangle kids, and he's made nightly walks to the grocery store or pharmacy for the ONLY thing that sounded good to me each night. He's even spent the last hour talking me off of the ledge I've somehow climbed up on this week. Gently reminding me that people love me, my children aren't ruined, Christmas will still be worth celebrating, I haven't failed forever in the Great Commission, and my family isn't falling apart, just because I've been stuck in bed all week. Sometimes, you need to hear someone say those words, even though you shouldn't have to be told these things. He's such a keeper.

I do have to say that I did get one thing accomplished this week that I hadn't counted on happening. I made this:

It's a Christmas Countdown/Advent calendar

It has these little drawers that hold whatever you put in them.

I saw one in the scrapbooking store that I have been frequenting here, the very first time I went in to explore. While I was in there I inquired about the class they had where they were making them. They explained that the class was full because they didn't have enough kits for all of the sign-ups. I expressed my regret and that was that. But then, last week, I was in there for something else and one of the owners was so excited to show me that they had an extra kit and they saved it in case I wanted to buy it and do it on my own. I purchased the kit, which looked like this:

Can you say, "Who has time for this?!?"

I carried it home, hopeful, but knowing that realistically it might be a project for next year, when my life is not THIS insane. I set it out of the way and went on with my regularly scheduled life. Then, on Wednesday, when I started to lift my head off of the pillow, I saw it and thought, maybe I could work on that for a little bit? So I did. And little by little, over the course of a couple days of cutting, sleeping, pasting, sleeping, painting, and sleeping I got it done. I even found some wonderful mother online who had already assembled 24 scriptures to read in anticipation of the Christmas season which were already typed up in strip form so that all I had to do was print them, cut them, and put them in the correct drawers. I added a few special treats for a few of the nights, which my husband picked up at the local Dollar Store/Safeway and we had it ready before we put the kids to bed last night, December 1.

I'm not totally satisfied with the center. I would like to add a bit more dimension to it, but it will work for this year. And maybe the next 16 years. We'll see. It's done. We have a simple, functional way to recall the scriptures behind the story, and I'm very excited to take it down to the corner and show the ladies at the store my finished product. Because the middle of their sample did not reflect the same aspect of Christmas that mine does. And I'm hopeful that it just might give me one more opportunity to share a bit of truth with my friends down the street!

The Mail Must go Through

2011-11-30T09:00:00.001-05:00

We got our first packages last week! They were supposed to be for my birthday, but the Canada Post apparently doesn't get in a hurry. Or maybe it's USPS, I don't know. At any rate, we were happy to get the packages, even if they did take 2+ weeks.

The best part was, my sweet mother thought she'd send me some cream cheese brownies, because they're my favorite. And, according to her, she knew they'd stay fresh because it's cold between NC and Canada in November, right? Well, here's what happens to cream cheese brownies after 15 days in a priority mail box.

Why yes, that is green fuzz. Which is a shame because she individually wrapped each brownie!

Fortunately, she included other goodies with far more preservatives and they made the trip just fine. Palsie's Popcorn, how I long for thee!

Ryan's parents sent me some new UK pajamas, which I will use lots. Being good grandparents, they also threw in some new tukes for the kiddos. Let's see if you know your Canadian vocabulary, what is a tuke? These pictures should give you a clue!

By the way, if any of you were desperately wanting to send us something, you can do that! Our address here is: 4516 Frances St., Burnaby, BC, V5C 2R7. However, I suggest you avoid cream cheese brownies, even though it is a bit colder in December!

Stepping Back in Time

2011-11-29T09:00:00.000-05:00

One thing that I know I'm going to love about Vancouver is all of the cool Christmas activities available to us. That's one thing that I always complained about in Raleigh. They just don't have all that many special things to hail the Christmas season. Maybe that's because everybody is too busy putting on Christmas Cantatas?

Anyway, my point was, there are so many options for Christmas festivities here and I know we won't get to try them all, but we're going to give it a shot. This weekend, we visitied the Burnaby Village Museum which is a living history museum set in about 1912. They have it decorated for Christmas and they had all sorts of festive things for the kids to do. The best part was that gate admission is free this year because they're celebrating their 40th anniversary! Here are some pictures of our fun (and rainy) day.

About to board the restored tram car from the line that made Burnaby into it's own little city

Abe and I, sitting on the tram. Who knew they had rattan seats?

Amazing balloon man

He made these cool creations, a snake, a pig, and 2 monkeys

Here is Lily with Father Christmas. He let her write her name on the "nice" list.

Isaac loved the old truck. Boys and their toys!

My favorite was the school house. The teacher did a great job of telling us about the school of the era. Let's just say the kids aren't in any hurry to go back to that period!

Cool globe in the school house. We found our country, but alas, our new city is not listed on there.

Our time at the village ended with a ride on the 1912 restored carousel. Honestly, it was the fastest carousel I have ever ridden. I was worried Abe might fall off!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

2011-11-28T13:21:00.001-05:00

It's Christmas time, which I love. Of all of my worldly possessions, my Christmas decorations are among my favorites. In fact, I love them so much that I didn't purge very many of them when everything else went. Instead, I put them all on the crate. The crate that we'll see who know when? So, this year, we have none of our traditional baubles. But, that's okay because that means we'll have them all next year (we hope!)

That means that ingenuity is required to make our home festive this year. We inherited a 6 foot Christmas tree from someone who took a turn in our house some other year, so that was a good start. Then, Ryan suggested we make salt dough ornaments. He and I had done that our first Christmas and we actually treasured them and used them until they were ruined in a basement flood a few years ago.

Last weekend he and the kids cut out the dough while I ran some errands. Then, after baking all afternoon, they were ready to paint. Using paint and brushes purchased at the local Dollar Giant, we set to work!

Everybody took part in the painting!

Here are some of them drying.

This weekend, we tied ribbon through the holes and prepared to hang them on the tree.

Here they are, on the tree, along with the paper chain we made. Notice that the ones in the picture spell out CAMPBELL. Abby thought that idea up.

Here's our mantel, ready for the holiday!

Our humble, but precious tree.

It's our tradition to put up our tree on the Sunday after Thanksgiving and we always eat what my kids call "party foods" and watch a movie as part of the festivities. The last few years, the movie of choice has been Elf.

Ready for bed, but not before some Christmas tree silliness!

Giving Thanks!

2011-11-28T00:55:00.006-05:00

Thanksgiving is the only holiday that we've always done the same way since we got married. Christmas and Easter have varied, but Thanksgiving has always meant a trip home to KY for an amazing spread of ridiculous amounts of food. Ryan's family likes to eat and they like to have fun, so it's always been a great time.

This year, for the first time in 17 years, we haven't been there. I guess that we might as well start our time away with the one holiday that is most engrained and get it over with, right? Anyway, regardless of the big change, we had a great day and we have so very much for which to be thankful.

We love to entertain and the fact that we're the largest family in our training group means we have the largest house (please understand, large is a relative word here.) Anyway, those two factors meant that we got the pleasure of hosting Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year. We actually got the day off from class, even though it was not Thanksgiving here in Canada. So, the 9 other couples in our group along with the 16 children we share, came to our house for a yummy time of fellowship. It was tight, but the company was good and the food was delicious. Someone had even brought us a TV this week, so we were able to watch football. All in all, it was a great first holiday outside of the States.

It was a bit of a challenge securing some of our typical recipe items, but I'm sure it was nothing compared to next year's Thanksgiving. One of the many things I'm thankful for is that God has allowed us to have "step-down approach" to moving overseas. I think he knew I'd need to be weaned off a little at a time!

Most of the food, spread out down the hall. Isn't that your normal serving spot?

Abby wanted to make a dessert and she picked these cute pumpkin cupcakes.

Not to be outdone by her sister, Lizzy made a chocolate cake and iced it all by herself!

I love being married to a man who can take a $3.99 bag of pumpkins and use them in a dozen different ways to make our home seem festive. Even in the humblest of homes, he always makes things look nice!

Most of the desserts

My first attempt at one of those cute pennant banners

Isaac and one of his friends helped with a clean-up project and as a reward, I gave them some of those plastic "hillbilly teeth." I caught them in the bathroom a few minutes later checking out their new look.

Should I be worried that we don't get dental coverage until our first year is complete?

In Recent News...

2011-11-17T03:26:00.008-05:00

Well, it's cold. It's rainy. It's cold and rainy. They warned us it was coming. I knew it was inevitable. I'm thankful for the month we had that was a little milder. But, I'm pretty sure we have officially hit the "rainy season."

Most days, I can tolerate it, but today has been one of those days where I just wanted to take my toys and go back home. I woke up not feeling so great. I think I'm "trying to catch a cold," as my daddy always says. However, it's Wednesday, the day that I'm supposed to be intentional about getting out and trying to meet folks here in our neighborhood. So, despite the rain, I spent 5 hours out with Abe, looking for opportunities to converse with people. Because it was so yucky, I decided to take him to the local mall to play on the indoor playground. I waited for 25 minutes at the bus stop (they're supposed to come every 8-9 minutes.) Then, when one finally came, it was too full for us. By that time, I had already chased Abe's umbrella out into the road once, so what did it matter if we waited for the next one, right?

By the time I got to the mall, the last thing I wanted to do was talk with folks about spiritual things. However, I was able to engage two ladies in conversations that led to the main thing. Actually, truth be told, one of them engaged me. In fact, she informed me that despite Abe's color, he would probably be pretty smart because his head was so big that he had room for his brain to grow. And, how do you respond to that? She also expressed her opinions about kids and the large volume of plastic toys they have available to them as well as how they eat too much junk for breakfast and how a diet of oatmeal and raisins is what they really need. I won't even get into her explanation about why African men, um, shall we say, "have more needs," than white men, making the African orphan population so high. Thank the Lord that Ryan and I had agreed to meet up for lunch, so I was able to excuse myself after a while.

By the time I got over to the restaurant and finally met up with Ryan, I was soggy, frozen, and traumatized from another bout of chasing Abe's umbrella along a much busier traffic route. (Yes, I learned my lesson, took away the umbrella, and let him get waterlogged instead!)

By the time we finally got home this evening, I was DONE! My husband sent me to bed at 6:30, and after a 5 hour nap, a blog post seemed like the right thing to do. Now I just pray I can sleep again after this brain dump!

On a more positive note... we had a fun day last Friday. It was Canadian Remembrance Day, which is taken very seriously here. Nearly everyone has the day off, they all wear red poppies on their coats, and ceremonies abound. However, the ceremony that we planned to go to was scheduled outside, right in the middle of a freezing, wet morning. So, we opted out and stayed home for a couple of hours before heading out to explore.

The kids wanted to take us over to Lonsdale Quay (pronounced Key.) They'd been there on a field trip and thought we needed to see it too. It proved to be a neat place. One of the highlights of our day included riding the seabus, which is part of the public transit system here. Because it was Remembrance Day, the mounties were out and the kids got to finally see them! They were able to have their picture taken with these two.

Then, we explored the Quay, which is basically a cool market. The kids were really hoping to show us an octopus, which they'd seen on their previous visit. They were not disappointed. One cool thing was, we were spending the day with one of the TCK consultants from our company's main offices who had come to visit the training center here for a few days. She has actually served overseas in a place where octopus was not unusual, so she was able to tell us about the taste and texture. However, at $16.99 a pound, we opted to take her word for it.

The kids wanted to make sure that we ate a beavertail while we were there, which was delicious. It was a lot like an "elephant ear" only shaped like a beavertail. I'll just be honest and tell you, I have a real weakness for any type of fried dough. That's where I always spend my share of the snack money at the fair! So, I was happy to cave to this request.

Here we are, at the Quay, looking back across the inlet at Vancouver.

Here's the Lego Orca that sits on the Vancouver waterfront, Isaac loves this guy!

Vancouver is filled with these random sculpturish thingies all over downtown. The kids thought this raindrop was cool. Wonder why they chose a raindrop?!?

On Saturday, Abby and I went to a popular Christmas Craft show that is done here every year at the convention center. Let me just say, it was SO different from a similar type of event in the Southeast US. In 400 vendors, I never saw one piece of polka-dot grosgrain ribbon. Nor, did I see personalized, monogrammed goodies. No appliques and no ruffles. I did, however, see no less than 1,000 hand knit hats (priced $55 and up), tons of handmade jewelry (mostly silver), bushels of handmade soap, and an entirely different color palette than you would find back home. There was also an abundance of free gourmet food samples. Apparently, Canadians love fruitcake, salmon preserved in all sorts of ways, and berries covered in a variety of chocolates.

Monday was my birthday, and I had one of those "pinch me" moments. When I was growing up, I was a part of an organization called GAs and later Acteens, which are ministry programs that educate girls in SBC churches about missions. One of the things that we did, all through my growing up years, was pray for Ms on their birthdays. We had a little prayer calendar time where we read their names and prayed for them. I remember hearing a M speaker say once when I was young, that many Ms use their time very intentionally on their birthdays because they knew that literally 1000's of people would be praying for them on that day.

These days, the company uses e-mail to distribute those names and I get the list in my inbox each morning. So, Monday, when I opened my e-mail and saw the list for the day, my name was at the top! After years of praying for Ms, I was the one being prayed for! It was one of those, "I can't believe this is really my job" moments. By the way, if you're interested in subscribing to some of the prayer threads our company offers, you can do that here.

My sweet family gave me several gifts. My favorite was having Sunday "off." We went nowhere and they did all of the cooking and cleaning for the day. I will forever be harassing my husband about the Hamburger Helper he made for my birthday dinner!

Seriously, he made up for it in many other ways, not the least of which was walking in the rain to get a yummy chocolate cake from a bakery I've been eyeing since we first discovered it on Halloween. To make the gesture even sweeter, he even made sure it had orange icing, which has been a running joke between us for years. Actually, since the year that he totally tanked on my birthday, dealt with my wrath, and ended up buying me a birthday cake at Food Lion at 10p.m. when nothing was left but one with some hideous orange icing. That was before orange was trendy. Let's just say that since that time, he's done significantly better at the birthday thing.

We continue to covet your prayers as we move forward in our work here. We now have a group of folks meeting in our house each Monday night. Right now, there are just folks who are colleagues with our work, but we're very hopeful that soon it will include other folks who want to hear more about God's word.

Making Hay While the Sun Shines

2011-11-08T17:42:00.013-05:00

So, we've finished week 3 here in Canada and we're getting the hang of many things. The transit doesn't seem so overwhelming and we're even getting braver with navigating different routes and venturing out to new places. Grocery shopping is still different, but I'm getting into a new stride. I was chatting with a Canadian lady today about a few items that I still haven't been able to find and I mentioned sliced pepperoni. She asked why I wanted it pre-sliced, she thought that was odd. I just don't think I would enjoy it as much if I had to take that big tube and slice it myself. I'm sure that soon that will only be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to groceries!

Last week we did the normal class routine. We had presenters in town from Calgary and Ryan and I each had a turn to go out with one of them and practice what we're being taught. It was neat to talk with them and to be challenged to apply what we're learning.

I hit a little bit of a slump last week. I think the finality of our decision comes in waves and last week, I had one of those waves. I think that seeing photos and posts from everyone back home having fun together for Halloween while I'm here in this massive city wandering around and trying to find someone to do community with just seemed a bit overwhelming. But some time in prayer and in God's word, along with trying to see my situation through the perspective of truth, helped me to work through the funk. I'm sure it's not the last time, but I'm glad to be seeing the glass half-full again.

The weekend came with two beautiful days back to back. We had planned to spend one day playing and one day working, but it was too beautiful to do chores and errands, so we played both days! A friend here encouraged us to get outside since the dry sunny days left in the season are going to come with increasing rarity. We had a great time enjoying this glorious place.

Saturday, we visited Lynn Canyon where we were able to tromp through a gorgeous forest. The claim to fame there is a suspension bridge that spans the canyon. I made it across, but I preferred the hiking to the bridge crossing. The forest is what is called a temperate rain forest and it was so beautiful. Ryan kept saying that he felt like he was spending the day in a postcard, the kids decided it was just like Narnia in the summertime.

Crossing the bridge

The view from the bridge. Although I'll admit, Ryan stopped to take this photo, I just kept on trucking across.

The stumps were as much fun as the rocks!

Beautiful view # 197

Enormous old growth forests

Can't you just see Mr. Beaver running across that path with Edmund or Lucy?

Beautiful girl!

On Sunday, we decided to go downtown to Stanley Park and rent bicycles. Everyone has been telling us about this amazing bike path that goes along the seawall which circles the park. It's a very "Vancouver" thing to do. And it was very cool, but I must admit that 1/2 way in, I was wondering what in the world we were thinking. I'm not the most confident bike rider, so at those points where the path was narrow, the "real bikers" were zooming by, and we were trying to keep five children all on the seawall and not in the sea, I was questioning my sanity. But, 10 kilometers later, when we were returning the bikes, I was glad we'd done it. The bike rental employees could not believe that Abe rode the entire loop on his own. He was one tired guy, but he did it!

See why we couldn't stay home?

Away we go!

Pit stop #1. The kids loved this slide.

Gorgeous views!

Pit stop #2, it's not everyday you see a 1/2 dozen totem poles off to the left.

Have I mentioned that I love this city?

You can barely see it, but Isaac loved the Chevron station out in the middle of the inlet.

Look at that line-up!

Abby felt like all of that peddling deserved a cupcake. That girl and her cupcakes!
Waiting at the bus stop. Two tired kids.

Trick or Treat!

2011-11-01T13:48:00.001-04:00

Being brand new to our community, we weren't sure what to do about Halloween. So, we decided to ask around and try to get a feel for what might be appropriate and effective for meeting people in our community. It became obvious to us, through checking the local media and asking around that trick-or-treat is a big deal in our area. I mean BIG deal. So, we decided to dig into the closets and find some inexpensive costume ideas and then hit the streets.

We're so glad we did! The custom here is to start with the shops, which gave out candy from 3:30-5:30 and then move to the residential area when the sun goes down. We had a great time visiting many of the local shops along with hundreds of other families. After that, we went to a couple of residential streets around our house before heading home to give out candy ourselves. The doorbell rang pretty steady until 8:00 or so, and that's when the fireworks began. We were too wiped out to head down to the local school to watch them (not to mention we're southerners who were still thawing out from our earlier walk!) But, we had the opportunity to listen to fireworks well into the night! Who knew that Canadian Halloween was a bit like our 4th of July?

Here they are... a pizza delivery guy, a nurse, a fairy, a housewife, and a construction worker.

I don't love this photo, but can you see the writing on the glass? This is normal where we are.

The only thing we've found that is cheaper (and yummier) than back home, the produce! Ryan took this while the kids were getting candy at the produce stand.

Those heavy tools were pulling his pants down!

In line at the barber shop

Friendly firemen giving out chocolate!

Notice ALL of the people and cars? Welcome to my new world!

My favorite picture of the evening.

This is Isaac with "Papa Joe." Papa Joe is actually named Hussan (sp?) He is a Kenyan who serves Indian food at a restaurant called Papa Joe's Pizza. Confused yet? Anyway, Ryan and I ate at his restaurant on the day that we prayer-walked our 7x7 and we have a bit of a heart for him. So, after we finished collecting candy, Isaac and Ryan went to thank him for giving us the pizza box that Isaac used for his costume. They asked if they could take his picture with Isaac and Papa Joe even had Isaac put on his company jacket for the photo. The boys plan to have one printed and then go have lunch and take it to Papa Joe next week. Please pray that they have an opportunity to share the Good News with him!

Canada-Week 2

2011-11-01T01:18:00.007-04:00

Well, as of today, we've officially been in Canada for 2 weeks. I have to say that, for the most part, we're still really loving it. The assignments continue to challenge and stretch us. We're constantly trying to apply what we're learning and go out of our comfort zones. At the end of every day we're exhausted, but it's a good kind of fatigue!

Our biggest adjustment, besides the schedule, continues to be the lack of a vehicle. It seems like we "lose" so much time riding mass transit and the planning that is involved for procuring groceries or deciding on a route can get old. But, we're trying hard to look at our commute in a positive way. We've seen and experienced all sorts of things going to and fro and we've also gotten to talk to some really interesting people.

On the flip side of that, there are parts of city living that we love. For example, I can walk out my door and in 10 minutes or less I can be at a grocery store, barber, fire station, many restaurants, a bakery, produce stand, meat market, fish market, or a $1.25 store (yes, the "dollar" stores here actually are $1.25 stores, I told you it was more expensive here!) All the while, hearing a dozen different languages. That's kind of cool!

We've found several fun things to do here in the city this week, here are a few photos of all the fun!

On Friday night, we had some colleagues over for dinner. Their oldest daughter, who is quite the artist, brought her face painting kit. The kids had a great time getting their faces painted while the adults visited.

Here is Isaac looking quite yucky!

Lily, the pumpkin

Abe, the puppy

On Saturday, we met some other friend for a day of exploring on Granville Island, which is not actually an island, but a peninsula. This area is known for it's markets. We enjoyed exploring the Kid's Market, which is two floors of children's shops Then we went to the public market which was full of every food you can imagine and some you'd rather not!

Exploring a meat cabinet. I don't think this is the one where I saw the $70 turkey.

Hmmm, not exactly sure what that one is...

Abe found something else he'd like to try. We opted for a donut instead.

One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just isn't the same!

The girls with some new friends

Totem poles are everywhere here!

Just an average view around these parts. I'm telling you, it's breathtaking!

Coming Down of My High Horse (again!)

2011-10-26T04:03:00.000-04:00

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the LORD.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts."

Isaiah 55:8-9

I’m going to share something that I’m not proud of in the hopes that it comes across with the humility I intend to show. Last week, in the last few days we had in the States, I woke up in the middle of the night one night and all I could think about was adoption. It’s not something I give a lot of thought to anymore, but that is what the Lord brought to my mind. In particular, I was thinking about how God has used our story in the lives of others.

You see, when we were in process with Abe, I spent a good bit of time learning about orphans and international adoption, it sort of consumed me. I followed blogs of fellow adoptive parents who were getting all sorts of opportunities to share publicly about their adoption stories. During this time, I became pretty convinced that there were a lot of people in my world who should be opening up their homes to orphans and actively living out the gospel in this way. Actually, I’m still pretty convinced that’s true, BUT the thing is, there was a part of me that thought that I needed to play the part of the Holy Spirit in convincing others that this was God’s plan for their lives.

I’ll confess that I thought my church should be doing more to make people aware of this need. I actually was a little bit resentful that they didn’t ask us to share our story on a public platform, especially since Ryan was the children’s pastor. I didn’t share this with people, not even Ryan, but in my heart, I harbored some bitterness and a bit of a haughty spirit about the whole thing. I just knew that if they would let us share, others would step forward and get involved in caring for those orphans I was reading about.

But they didn’t. And Ryan and I aren’t the type to push those sorts of things. And God revealed to me the darkness and pride in my heart. I sort of resigned myself to the fact that our process must not be intended to inspire others, but rather must just have been a personal journey for our family.

So, I did the only thing I knew to do, I brought my baby home and began the process of transitioning to a family of 7. It was hard, and we had a lot of days where we just put one foot in front of the other. Along the way, I’d answer questions people asked and I’d openly share our story in grocery store lines, hallways, kid’s birthday parties, or wherever else people asked. But I left the convicting and the platforms to God, ‘cause He sorta knows best in these things.

Then, the other night, when I was laying in bed thinking about adoption, God brought to my mind some of those conversations I’ve had over the last few years. I realized lying there, that I could count 6 families that are in my “circle of influence” who are currently in the process of adopting from 6 different countries. When I started counting, I really couldn’t believe it. I realize that their adoption decision has nothing to do with me, but I also realize that I have had the privilege of encouraging them in their journeys. It’s not something I purposed to be a part of, but I believe it’s something God has been gracious enough to allow me to celebrate in.

Final Days

2011-10-25T14:18:00.000-04:00

Between our orientation and our first field placement, we were given 3.5 weeks of down time. So, how did we spend it? Well, we did a little bit of everything.

For the first couple of days, we unpacked and squeezed in the necessary doctor visits. We also went to visit our friends at the co-op that we’ve been a part of for the last 4 years. It was fun catching up with our friends over lunch, though one hour wasn’t nearly enough!

Then, we packed up and headed to the beach for 7 days with my parents. While we were there, we had a great time. We read, worked puzzles, played games, and explored the Outer Banks. We also spent lots of time on the beach building sand castles and boogie boarding by day and chasing ghost crabs by night.

While there, we visited a local lighthouse,

explored the Wildlife Center,

ate hot, yummy, made to order donuts,

Climbed the sand dunes at Jockey's Ridge,

And explored the local souvenir shops.

After we returned from our beach trip, it was time to work. We rolled up our sleeves and spent about 4 days packing, purging, repacking, repurging, and getting our luggage down to this pile.

We were hoping for 14 suitcases plus carry-ons, but instead we ended up with 17 checked pieces, 7 rolling carry-ons, and 7 backpacks.

After all of that hard work, it was time for another break, so we headed to Knoxville, TN to visit some friends. They gave us the opportunity to share with their congregation about the journey we’ve been on the last couple of years. It was fun sharing about what God has been doing in our lives.

While we were there, we celebrated Abe's 4th birthday for the first time.

From there, we headed to Cherokee, where we spent some time with some great friends.

The kids had a blast playing in the hot tub by night and exploring Cherokee culture by day.

Lizzy and Alexa found themselves in the middle of a Cherokee dance line (surprise, surprise!)

The kids enjoyed the tour, but they girls got the giggles when we figured out, quite by accident that the guides undergarments, or lack thereof, were authentic too!

How cute is this baby? I must admit that his flopping head made me a bit nervous!

Celebrating Abe's birthday for the 2nd time!

Gorgeous view from our cabin!

After that visit, we drove 30 minutes to Maggie Valley to meet Ryan’s parents. They had borrowed a cabin from a friend and we met there for a few more days of mountain fun.

Lily and her Nana

Hiking in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park
Some of the many elk that we saw during our day of hiking in the park.

Abby and her Nana

Sweet sisters

This was taken just minutes before the "accidentally" got wet in the creek. They were soaked by the time it was all said and done!

40 years these precious people have been married!

Did I mention the fact that the mountains were amazingly beautiful?

Finally, we headed back to NC for the final round of laundry, carry-on packing, our last day of worship at Faith Baptist Church for the next few years, and of course...

Round 3 of Abe's birthday celebrating!

Humbled, Grateful, Overwhelmed

2011-10-24T11:55:00.000-04:00

One thing I've lived over the last year is that everything comes at a cost. In life, you constantly have to count the cost. For us, this process has been days, weeks, and months of cost counting. There has been no part of our life that has not been affected. Our time, our possessions, our relationships, you name it, we've processed it in some way.

The part of this process that has been most costly to us, hands down, is leaving our parents behind. It has grieved us terribly, we've prayed and prayed about it. And, while we still hate that it has to be so hard and that separation has to be a result of our call, we don't doubt that it's what we're supposed to do. I am sad that my children won't have as frequent face to face interaction with their grandparents as they have had, but I know that doesn't have to change the bond that they share. I also know that God has a plan for their lives and that might involve using a variety of people to shape their lives.

One of the things that God has used to heal our hearts a bit with the realities of this separation is other believers. While our parents will always be our children's beloved grandparents, God has also been graciously bringing other, loving adults into our children's lives to invest in them as well. It's been an interesting thing to experience and I've been humbled by it.

There are so many people who are willing to be involved in my children's lives. Already, my children are discovering "uncles" and "aunts" who are sharing this journey with us. These people love my children and are genuinely interested in their lives. There is a strong bond within our community of colleagues that I can already tell will bring enormous benefits in the lives of my children.

In a few short months, there have been several volunteer teams from US churches who have chipped in and loved on my children. Between our time in Virginia at orientation and our first week here, I have been overwhelmed by the people who are willing to take a week of vacation to come alongside us and equip us to do what needs to be done. Just this week, a team of volunteers from Georgia led my children in a week of orientation activities, while their permanent teachers spent some time helping the adults get started. These people didn't just come and put on a program, they really loved on our kids. I have no doubt that they will be faithful to lift our family up in prayer during the months and years ahead.

It's really been overwhelming to see how God has allowed our family to be blessed by these precious people. I am grateful that our Father knows our needs and sends people to encourage and equip us in so many ways!

The Campbell Kiddos along with some precious volunteers from Augusta, GA

Canada- Week 1

2011-10-24T00:37:00.006-04:00

We've completed our first week in Canada and it has been one very full and exhausting week. Overall, we love our new city and we are delighted that we get to spend the next 3 months here. It is an amazingly beautiful place and our neighborhood is perfect for our family. We are excited to see how the Lord will use our family during our time here. I thought I'd take a minute and share about our first week.

We flew out of Raleigh EARLY on Monday. With 17 pieces of checked luggage, we wanted to make sure that we had plenty of time to get settled. I was worried because I knew that several of our suitcases were right at the weight limit, and I really didn't want to pay any overage fees. Thankfully, Ryan had checked in on the computer and then we met a nice American Airlines employee at the curb who took all of our bags and they didn't even have to be weighed. We couldn't believe how smoothly our check-in, security, and customs processes went. I truly believe it was the many prayers so many of you prayed on our behalf!

Ready for take-off!

The plane ride went smoothly, except for the fact that we were famished when we finally arrived. I hadn't packed enough snacks, thinking we would have time to pick up lunch during our transfer in Dallas. But, we ended up having to do a really quick transfer and so lunch didn't work out. American Airlines doesn't serve pretzels or any other complementary snacks, so we were incredibly hungry when we landed. By the time we finally ate, it had been about 10 hours since our modest breakfast. We were all about to come unglued. Lesson learned, we'll have plenty for the next plane ride!

After we scouted out a Burger King in the airport, it was time to find our way home. The representatives from our training organization took most of our luggage, but we had to make our way home on public transit with one piece each. This went fine during the Skytrain ride, but when we transferred to the bus, things got crazy. It was standing room only on the bus, we had an exhausted preschooler, 7 pieces of luggage, and we had no idea where we were going. We missed our bus stop because we didn't know that we needed to pull the "stop" cord, so we ended up walking farther to our home than we should have.

We were pleasantly surprised by our house. It is perfect for us. It has adequate space, more than we've had since moving out of our house 9 months ago. We are only 2 blocks from a grocery and a dollar store. We are just a few blocks from a Pizza Hut, McDonalds, several local restaurants, a nice library, and a large park that has a year round, indoor swimming pool and fitness center. It's going to be a great area for us to build community over the next few months.

This is our new living room. Those of you who know my husband well know that he's loving the plywood over the fireplace. Mr. HGTV will find a solution for it soon, I feel confident!

Abe, finding a way to entertain himself as we unpack.

We had orientation this week which included 2 days of information regarding logistics, expectations, and getting to know the other folks in the program. The third day, we spent prayer walking in our assigned section of the city. Each family is given a section of the city, called a 7x7, that includes the area where we live as well as some commercial, residential, and community type locations that will be where we will focus our energy during our time here. As we learn different strategies, we will focus on applying them in our 7x7. This is where we hope to build relationships and attempt to push back the darkness that is so evident in our city.

Day 4 was so much fun! We were split into 6 teams and sent out on a scavenger hunt of our city. Spouses weren't allowed to be on the same team, so I had a great time dashing across the city with three other ladies. We saw some really great places that I can't wait to go back to and savor when we're not racing. Our team didn't win, but we sure had fun. Second place didn't seem too bad, since it was actually Ryan's team that beat us!

Our team in front of the Olympic Cauldron

One of the items we had to find was an octopus. This counts, doesn't it?

Do you see why I'm in love with this place? Breathtaking!

This picture is a common sight in our new world. This city is so diverse, with over 200 languages spoken. There are huge populations of Asians and South Asians all over the city. It truly is a cultural mosaic!

Today, we were assigned a church to attend from either our people group or a near people group. Ours was over an hour away and the pastor of our church is actually from the country that will be our home in West Africa. I don't know that the service was much like what we could expect in our host country, but we enjoyed meeting some folks and hearing English spoken with the beautiful accent that will soon be a part of our everyday interactions. The service didn't start until 3:00 in the afternoon, which meant we got to sleep in a bit today.

One thing that I have not enjoyed about our time here is grocery shopping! Of course, the fact that we're establishing a pantry totally from scratch for the first time in 16 years has complicated the whole thing. I've been thinking about what it is that it wears me out so much and I think I've boiled it down to 3 things.

First, it is so expensive. I mean, CrAzY expensive! I had been warned and I even know that our company will help us compensate for the cost of living here, but that doesn't make it any easier for me to think through whether or not I should actually pay $20 for 5 chicken breasts. I mean, couldn't we just go without chicken for the next 3 months? Even though that's basically the main ingredient I have cooked with for the last 10 years?

Secondly, they carry different things here. My standard items may or may not be available and if they are they may or may not look like what I'm used to. Everything involves reading, thinking, and comparing. I came to the realization last night that I have to memorize some conversions from kilograms to pounds before I go out again.

The third reason why I find it so exhausting is the whole public transit thing. To go grocery shopping, we have to walk to the bus stop, ride a bus with our empty bags and carts, then we have to walk across the shopping center, do the shopping, fill up our bags and carts, and then walk back across the shopping center to the bus bay, get all of the groceries on the bus, get off of the bus, walk the rest of the way home, and put them all away. Of course, we could go to the store that's around the corner, but the cost is really only reasonable for the items that are in their sale flyer, so that's not practical for the bulk shopping that our family requires. And yes, for those of you who are going to point it out, I do realize that this is nothing compared to the culture shock I'll face when we get to our final destination!

Here we are on our morning bus ride. We've discovered that if we ride the bus all the way to school, rather than transferring onto the Skytrain, it takes a little longer, but there is no crowd. So, when we have time, we ride all of the way there on the bus.

You can tell by the windows, it's a cool and rainy morning- our new normal!

This week, we'll start to settle into a pattern that will resemble the "normal" for our family these next few months. We'll go to class four days a week from 9-12:30. In the afternoons or evenings we will have application and engagement assignments to help us apply all that we're learning. The kids are schooled during the morning class time and then they can be involved with our work after class.

We're so thankful to be here and we can't wait to see what we're going to learn while we're here.

When the Rubber Meets the Road

2011-10-15T05:17:00.001-04:00

"I lift up my eyes to the hills, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth." Psalm 121:1

So, it’s here. The time we’ve been preparing for is approaching. After months of time crawling by and it seeming like it will never ever get here, time is now flying! It’s down to the point where we can count by hours and they number less than 100. CrAzY!

The reality of the fact that we’re about to leave the people and places that we love for 3-4 years is staring us in the face and those goodbye moments we’ve been dreading are becoming a reality. We are dealing with it the same way we’ve dealt with all of the other hard parts of this journey. We simply keep doing the next thing, putting one foot in front of the other and clinging to the call and the truth that propel us forward.

Our first tough goodbye happened earlier this week. Our family got to spend a few days with some of our dearest friends, the Nemitz family. Our Lizzy and their Alexa are “kindred spirits.” They have loved each other's company since they met as preschoolers. They both love to laugh and they have no reservations when it comes to being on center stage. They both have NO filter and they consistently complete one another’s sentences.

But, our friendship goes well beyond Lizzy and Alexa. Our families just love one another. We parent in ways that are similar and our kids get along great. We find it easy to spend time together and though our schedules often go different directions, we always have a good time when we get to have time together.

This week, we spent some time together in a mountain cabin in Cherokee and we had a great visit. At the end of the time, we all gave hugs- from the youngest to the oldest and I was pleasantly surprised that everyone held it together. But, as we climbed into our vehicles so that we could head in different directions, I couldn’t help but tear up. My situation was complicated by the fact that I looked back to see a whole vehicle of misty eyes. While we all sat their sniffling, we waited for the Nemitz to pull away first. Lily, who uses her words sparingly, spoke up and said, “Hold on, they’re probably all having a moment in their van too!”

Needless to say, we all laughed, as the tears continued to stream down our cheeks. Ryan cranked up the praise music and we made our way down the mountain, crying, singing, and attempting to regain our composure. I think the tears were partly because we really will miss our friends. And I think they were partly because we’re just grieving so many little things. Beloved things lie behind and uncertainty lies ahead. That’s the reality. But the other side of that reality is that adventure also lies ahead as well as new friends and exciting opportunities. That’s what we choose to focus on in those “down the mountain” moments.

All Good Things Must Come to an End

2011-10-14T16:46:00.005-04:00

After 8 weeks of tough, exciting, challenging, and ever stretching training, our orientaion time came to an end. On September 21st, we finished up our training time and headed back to NC. Our last week there was a time of celebration, reflection, and goodbyes to people that we’ve grown to love. There is no way that we can explain the bonds that were made in such a short time. When you’re united in a love, a passion, and a call like we were with these folks, friendship comes quickly. They are about the only people in the world who are not wondering if we’ve lost our minds!

The last week, the kids had an open house to show off all of the research and projects that they’d been working on for the past 8 weeks. These kids really came to love and respect their teachers, our family’s call, and the country that will soon be our home. We couldn’t be more pleased with the way they prepared our children.

Here are a few pics of our last days in the bubble:

Abby, showing off her hard work.

Lizzy and her friend Emma.

Isaac and his projects.

Lily is so proud of her hard work.

Abby and her fabulous teacher, Mr. Dustin

Ms. Becky won Lily's heart from the start, what a gift she was.

Our good friends, the Nemitz family came to see our commissioning service. Afterwards, their son Ian declared that he was going to be a missionary to Thebes. (Can you tell that they're currently studying ancient history?)

Oh, how Abe loved this dear friend. He is still talking about him nearly every day. Maybe someday, their paths will cross again.

It wouldn't be fall without...

2011-09-23T13:48:00.006-04:00

Carter Mountain!

Typically, after the craziness of summer ministry and promotion Sunday, our family takes a family camping trip to enjoy the fall season (my personal favorite!) This year, our schedule didn't demand a getaway and our new role didn't allow us to take our camping trip, but we did manage to get to one of our favorite stops from our last couple of camping trips.

On our last Saturday in Virginia, we had the day off and so we decided to drive over to Charlottesville and pick apples at the Carter Mountain Orchard. We love the views, we love the hike through the acres of trees, we love the fresh apples and we especially love the hot apple donuts. Can you say, "YUM!"

Anyway, here are a few pictures of our adventures:

So proud of his apple!

Hmmm! Where to start?

Notice that Lily's pockets are full? We had both of our bags totally filled, along with Abby's purse and our jacket pockets. They were yummy!

The perfect one for Isaac was just a little out of reach.

Delicious!

Leaving the Bubble

2011-09-19T22:44:00.000-04:00

It’s hard to believe, but this week, we’re leaving the bubble. When we came 8 weeks ago, we were totally unprepared for the assignment ahead. I’m still not so sure that we are now, but we’ve certainly had lots of opportunities to learn lots of stuff. We’ve attended tons of classes, listened to lots of speakers, met some fascinating people who’ve been investing their lives around the globe, and we’ve been challenged to spend time in prayer and reading God’s word. The people who were responsible for preparing us have done their job strategically and diligently.

All that said, I can honestly say that I’m very excited to go. I am ready to launch. I can’t wait to apply some of the strategies I’ve been taught, meet the new friends I’ve been praying for, see the places I’ve been reading about, and learn how to speak the language of the people God has placed in my heart. I’m eager...and, I’m terrified. Still. Maybe now more than ever.

It’s not the same set of fears that I had when I came here. Well, some of them are. I’m still really afraid of African food. I know, it’s silly. But, it’s real.

I believe that most of my fears are simply the reality that it setting in. In 4 weeks, I’ll climb on a plane and leave my country. The only country I’ve ever known. I leave behind my beloved fall season. I’ll leave behind the familiarity and conveniences that have been my life. I have resolved that I can live in a country where the infrastructure is such that internet, electricity, and phone services are hit or miss. But the reality is, I’ve never tried it. And I don’t want to be a wimp who comes running home with my tail tucked between my legs because I can’t handle it. I fear failure.

I also really fear the loneliness. I have had such a network of people in my world for the last decade. But, the reality is, their lives are continuing in the old pattern and I’m not there anymore. They love me, and I know that they would help me if I needed it, but they aren’t my everyday community anymore. I can handle it, but my kids are struggling a bit with why people aren’t writing, calling, or e-mailing like they’d imagined people would. It’s hard stuff to explain to children.

It’s been okay, because we’ve been surrounded by like-minded people who are going through the same sort of transition, and we’ve been able to find fellowship, accountability, and encouragement with them. But once we leave... we’re going to go through 7 more months of transition that will involve living in 3 different countries. We will have no consistent church body during that time. Our colleagues will be varied at each place. My children will not be in any one place long enough to join a club or a co-op or a school. I know that God knows my needs, and I know what it is to walk intimately with him during difficult seasons. Honestly, it’s the faithfulness that he’s always shown me in the past that’s propelling me to keep moving forward with this crazy plan!

There are other fears, too many to name. I think that if I wasn’t wrestling with the grief and fear that sometimes overwhelms me, I wouldn’t be human. So, I’m trying to face my fears in a way that is productive. I’ve been trying to make it my habit to take those thoughts captive and talk to the Lord about them. We’ve spent lots of time talking as a family and the interesting thing is, the days that one of us is overwhelmed about a certain aspect of this life change, someone else is filled with hope and encouragement. God is continuing to knit us together in a way that only he can.

So, from the bubble we’ll go! Because, that’s what God has called us to do. That’s what He’ll equip us to do. And, that’s the only thing we really want to do at this point.

Candy Corn or Bread of Life

2011-09-18T21:48:00.004-04:00

Disclaimer: This post is written primarily to my Southern Baptist friends. But, the rest of you are more than welcome to read on.

The other day, we were having a conversation with some colleagues of ours and we began talking about the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, which will be collected in December. Now, this offering is collected each year in SBC churches across the country. It’s purpose is to fund international missions around the world. 100% of the money goes directly to overseas missions work. It’s the primary funding of our international missions program. Without it, we couldn’t go, our friends couldn’t go, and the millions of Unreached, Unengaged People Groups that we’re trying to reach would not have someone strategically working to bring the gospel into the world’s darkest and most difficult places. Here’s a link that tells a little bit about some of the things the offering supports.

The reality is, with the economy struggling, Lottie Moon has struggled too. If you truly believe Matthew 28:19-20 is a command, then that’s a serious problem. I firmly believe that our work is not complete until EVERY tongue, EVERY tribe, and EVERY nation have heard. Which means, our task is not finished. People who have the gospel must go to places where there is no gospel witness. According to the research of Southern Baptists, that’s nearly 3,600 people groups. That’s kinda, sorta, unacceptable.

Why am I telling you this? Because you have the opportunity to be a part of changing that statistic. One of those ways is by giving faithfully to Lottie Moon this Christmas. I heard somewhere, that in 2009, the average Southern Baptist Attender gave $24 and some change to Lottie Moon. And I also read that in 2010, the average American spent $66.28 on Halloween supplies. WOW! How about this? How about if every Southern Baptist chose to cut their Halloween budget in half and give it to Lottie Moon instead? According to my calculations, that would more than double this year’s Lottie Moon offering.

Then, the folks who are applying to the mission board, able to defend a call to missions, who are being turned down simply because the funds are not there, would be able to go. More people could go, more people could know, and all we Southern Baptists would be missing is a few bags of candy corn. Seems like a great idea to me!

Lizzy is 11!

2011-09-17T22:45:00.005-04:00

Lizzy had a birthday this week and we had a fun time celebrating her special day. The nice thing about being on an intimate campus of 175+ people on your birthday is that there are lots of folks to celebrate alongside you. It was one of our first chances to really see how the community of our colleagues can really provide such a loving family feel. I think that Lizzy felt very loved all day long!

Since her birthday was on Monday, we decided to have a little party on Sunday afternoon. Here are a few pictures of the fun!

Everything's ready for our friends to come by! We had simple cupcakes since we have a very basic kitchen here. No mixer, no fancy buttercream wonders!

The girls did a craft where they decorated their first name initial. Here's Lizzy's while she was in process. They turned out so cute.

Nail polish, lots of nail polish!

Silly girl, pretending to eat the pancake eraser that her sister gave her!

I would post some more pictures of Lizzy with her friends, but the reality is, most of her friends here can't have their faces posted online safely. It's humbling to know that we work with folks who are willing to go to places where they are taking real risks to accomplish the tasks set before us. When you pray today, pray especially for Lizzy's new friends who are going to some of these difficult places. Thanks!

Down on the Farm

2011-09-17T22:03:00.006-04:00

I haven't posted any pictures of our daily life for a while, so here are a few glimpses of life on the "farm," as we like to call our little training center, here.

From the youngest to the oldest, we all enjoy playground time in the evenings. The kids all enjoy visiting with friends before bed and we adults do too!

The kids have loved the children's library here on campus. They are reading more voraciously than ever!

We've celebrated lots of birthdays! Of the 8 adults in our morning worship group, 4 of them have their birthdays during this 8 week stretch. We've enjoyed sharing breakfast treats together on those days.

Here are Abe and 2 of our quad mates practicing their rhythm on an African drum so that they'd be ready for cultural worship later that night.

Here are our quad mates dressed for African worship night!

Lily was SO excited when it was FINALLY her turn to bring BJ, the classroom bear, home for a week!

Rain, lots of rain. We've had the rain from a hurricane and a tropical storm since we've been here, but it didn't keep the Campbell kids inside!

Time Wasters

2011-09-13T19:00:00.001-04:00

I’m going to be honest here, one of the things about our orientation time that has been a real challenge for me has been the lack of internet and television.

We are not big TV watchers and we don’t really have shows that we “have” to watch regularly, but I still like having one around. Especially during hurricanes, earthquakes, and unrest in my soon to be host country. You know, just being able to access world news is sometimes good. We’ve also missed having it for the purpose of watching a family movie on the weekend. And then, there’s those days when nearly everyone in your family has a fever because they’ve just been injected with a variety of vaccines that most Americans will never even think of getting, times like that, call for a comfy couch and a day of the Hallmark Channel.

The internet is here, we just have to walk to another building to get it. But with having 2 big storms and an earthquake while we’ve been here, there have been issues and we’ve had 3 weekends with no internet. They turn it off during our class time, so that we can’t sneak in an e-mail or facebook check. That’s probably a good thing, because I confess that I might get distracted sometimes. I knew that I used the internet a lot, but I didn’t realize how much until I came here. Now, I find myself hiking across campus anytime I need to do banking, e-mailing, online purchasing, blogging, or research on just about anything.

Some days, it’s been maddening. I now keep a “when I get to the computer” list going all of the time. But, in some sick and demented way, I feel like I’ve been given a gift. Because I’ve realized something that I already knew but refused to acknowledge... those screens waste a lot of time. And I’ve found that the reality is, I can actually do what I need to do on the computer each day in just a small, disciplined amount of time. If I am intentional about what I click and how long I spend just reading and browsing the millions of things available to me online, I can accomplish much more in less time.

Suddenly, I have found time to do things that I’ve been wanting to do, but I hadn’t bothered to make time for. In the evenings when I would normally collapse in front of the TV or computer, I have done tons of reading, I’ve memorized scripture, and I’ve made time to fellowship with other people. Through all of this, I have become acutely aware of what time wasters these things can be and how important it is to use these tools wisely.

Now, don’t get me wrong...when this training is over and we head to beach for a few days, I will be glad to turn on the TV. And, I’ll confess, I made sure that I booked a house with wi-fi. But, I hope that I will be able to use the lessons I’ve learned about these time wasters for many years to come and that I will be a little more balanced in my use of time.

Adapting?

2011-09-11T22:22:00.002-04:00

Okay, so you know that your kids are getting prepared for the whole third culture concept when you observe the following behaviors:

While taking a walk with your 7 year old she says, "Mommy, look at that cute squirrel. (long pause) Mommy, if that squirrel bit us, we wouldn't die because we have gotten all 3 of our rabies shots."

When your 9 year old son asks for a Hausa Bible on his next birthday.

When baby doll play now requires 2 long scarves- one to wrap around the "mommy's" head and another to tie the baby onto the back. And when you overhear the play the children are "talking" with a long string of sounds that are not truly a foreign language, but sound an awfully lot like they could be.

All country flags are either immediately identified and then connected with the friend who is or will soon be living in that country OR must be identified ASAP so that we can figure out what country it belongs to and what their major religions are.

When you're headed to Sunday evening worship and your children ask, "Mom, what continent are we going to worship like tonight and how many different languages will we hear?"

Needless to say, we're having a great time of learning and we're especially enjoying our Sunday night, cross-cultural worship times. Tonight, our service consisted of at least 8 different languages. I've also learned that one good thing about wearing a head covering is that you don't have to waste time fixing your hair!

I can't wait to find time to share more (but for now I must sleep!)

Making Sense of it All

2011-08-23T21:46:00.003-04:00

It’s lunch time. Normally, I would be in the cafeteria during this time. Instead I’m eating mac n cheese in my quad. I had to come here today because I needed to take some time to process what I’ve been hearing for the last day and a half. You see, our speaker has been sharing with us about the persecuted church. The man who is teaching us has spent hundreds of hours interviewing nearly 600 believers who have lived through significant persecution because of their faith. We’ve heard some of their stories and I’ve been overwhelmed by their testimonies. That’s heavy stuff.

We’ve also been learning about ways to be effective in cultures where the church is persecuted- some dos and do nots. He has led us in learning about the characteristics of those who walk victoriously through persecution. It’s good information to have.

I’ve come to a realization that I had somehow missed during my long tenure in the American church and I’m not sure that I like it. You see, if you examine the church planting movements in Acts, you realize that persecution is normal. Imprisonment, stoning, angry mobs, these were the norm. I’m not sure where the American church came up with the idea that persecution is abnormal, but that’s what we believe. I guess the question I’ve been asking myself the last couple of days is, why aren’t we being persecuted here in America? The only thing that I can come up with is that we aren’t moving and telling and ministering to those who don’t know in such a way that persecution is even necessary. Satan is using the tools and of embarrassment and fear so effectively, that he’s not having to resort to imprisonment or death. Wow.

God has used this time to really challenge my thinking and to recognize that so much of what I believe is so upside down. One thing that has really affected me is the speaker’s own story. This man and his wife buried one of their own children in Africa. This child died of an asthma attack. Do you hear me? An ASTHMA attack, for crying out loud! They were in Africa... because that’s where God called them and that’s where God called their son. I don’t know if American medical care would have made a difference at all, but I wonder if their minds have ever gone there. I wonder if they’ve wrestled with that?

Now remember, I’m the momma of 2 asthmatic children. Two asthmatic children who have peanut allergies. And, God has called my family to one of the top peanut producing countries in the world. Needless to say, I’ve spent the past 24 hours in a sort of come to Jesus meeting. Because all along, after praying and fasting and feeling confident that God has called us to go where we’re going, I have fought off the temptation to worry about these 2 children by telling myself that if God calls us there, he’ll protect out children. He loves our children more than I do and I can trust him with them. And the bottom line is, that last night, when everything settled down and it was just me and God, I had to ask myself a difficult question. What if God, in his infinite wisdom, chose to let one of my children perish in Africa, regardless of my obedience to him. Heaven forbid, but what if?

And then I began to ask myself these questions...Do I believe that God’s word is true. Do I believe that Matthew 28 is really a command? Do I believe that Jesus really was telling the truth when he said that he is the only way to the Father. Do I really long to see a multitude from every language, people, tribe, and nation knowing and worshipping our Lord Jesus Christ? Do I believe that to live is Christ and to die is gain, just as the Apostle Paul said? And, when I asked myself these questions, I had to answer a resounding yes to every one of them. So, that leads me to only one appropriate response and that, my friends, is obedience.

Then the next set of questions came. What if, it really happened? Would I be able to walk through another day? What if I had to make a phone call back to the states and tell my parents, my church, the families of my children’s friends that the inconceivable had happened. Would I ever be able to get through the condemnation? Would the guilt, the anger, the sorrow be more powerful than my call to lostness? Overwhelming questions for a frail little human like me.

Here is where I have settled. I don’t know. I can’t know. Hopefully I’ll never HAVE to know what that sort of loss would do in my life. But, I do know this. God’s grace is sufficient. Just as He has given me the grace, strength, courage, and wisdom to shoulder everything he’s called me to as of today, he will give me the grace, strength, courage, and wisdom that I need for all of my tomorrows. He’ll give it to me, only when I need it, not a moment before then.

Please understand, I have no intention of endangering my children. I have no desire to be a martyr or a widow. But, I do desire to be obedient and in that obedience I have to face the reality that God isn’t conventional. He doesn’t always work in the way that the my privileged, western, democracy oriented mind thinks that he should. It’s a lot to think about, but it’s a reality I needed to think through and wrestle with.

A Poem- Written During a Moment When I Could not Absorb One More Word from the Speaker

2011-08-19T22:10:00.001-04:00

Ode to Two Bathrooms

When I had you, I didn’t see

The ease of life that you brought me.

Brushing teeth, grooming hair,

Bathing kids, taking care.

Now you’re gone and I know,

that I really love you so.

How I miss time alone,

Sitting there upon your throne.

Now lines form, down the hall.

Children fuss and they call,

“It’s my turn, now!”

“No, it’s mine!”

“I’m going to tinkle anytime!”

“Hurry, hurry, we must go.”

“Sister, you are going too slow!”

I shake my head and roll my eyes,

Lifting them up to the skies.

“Lord I know you’re stretching me,

but must it involve pee?”

I know someday, I’ll have you back,

and now I truly know,

that even when you’re dirty and black,

respect to you I’ll show.

Catching up, again!

2011-08-19T21:58:00.002-04:00

At this point, I’m posting old news. But, I want to get these things recorded on the blog for my own selfish purposes! I haven’t had time to scrapbook in a long time and what gets put on here is it for me. So, here goes my rundown of our last week before training time.

We had our special day with Lily, just as we had with the boys. We took her out to lunch at the Mellow Mushroom, where we got to sit under the big mushroom. Normally, our big family can’t fit at the tables under there, so that was fun.

Then, we headed to the Factory where we painted pottery. Lily made a piggy bank and some magnets. In true Lily fashion, she took her time and was very meticulous in making it just right. She wasn’t so happy when one of her polka dots started to drip, but we decided it could just look like her piggy had been rolling in the mud. Ryan made a platter for our new kitchen counter, which turned out very cute. He painted a big top in the center, with polka dots around the edge and then wrote “Campbell Circus” around the edge. It’s very fun, and I wish I’d gotten a picture of the finished product, but I guess I’ll just have to wait and show it once it’s perched on our new counter. We finished up our “Lily Day” with a stop at Sweet Spoons, our local frozen yogurt place. All in all, it was a great day together.

For Elizabeth’s special day, we headed to dinner at her very favorite spot, The Olive Garden. That girl loves her breadsticks! We followed up dinner with a trip to the Raleigh Little Theater where we got to see the play, Gooney Bird Greene. Lizzy has a dream of being on stage one day and she absolutely loves the theater. We finished up with a drive through Cook Out for a milkshake.

Abby’s special day was spent in Durham. We started off the morning by driving thru Chick-Fil-A for her favorite fast food breakfast- Chicken Minis. Then, we went to Rare Earth Beads to take a beading class. We learned the basics of beading, including the clasping, which was pretty simple. The toughest part was definitely choosing the beads. Ryan ran errands while we beaded and then picked us up for lunch. Abby is our adventurous eater, who loves to try new places, so we decided to try Foster’s Market in Durham. We all enjoyed trying something different, but my personal favorite was the chocolate macaroon we picked up at the German bakery that was next to the bead shop. Yummo!

I wish I had pictures of Abby’s day, but we have lost a memory card, Thankfully, it didn’t have much else on it, except a few sets of goodbye shots. I’m still hopeful that it will turn up, but I’m not so sure.

Pruning is Painful

2011-08-18T22:08:00.000-04:00

We’re in week four week of our training, which is really hard to believe. The time is absolutely flying by and the information is coming at us so quickly, that sometimes it’s hard to digest it all. I feel challenged in so many areas of my life and I am trying to process how to apply all that I am learning.

Last week, I hit a bit of a low, just feeling discouraged about all that was expected of me and whether or not I am the right person for the task that’s been entrusted to me. Processing it all, I just began to feel that maybe my gifts and skills don’t necessarily line up to the expectations of my organization. I am so out of my element here and many of the skills that I’ve spent the last decade strengthening are useless to me here. My abilities to organize, administer, and run a household and ministry are not really beneficial during this season. Someone else is educating my children, cooking my meals, determining my schedule, and even telling me what to read.

As I’ve listened to speakers, strategies, and expectations, I have just felt incredibly inept and weak. I have not doubted my call, but I have certainly doubted whether or not I’m going to be able to be effective in my call. So, mid-week last week, I was really wondering if I should just pack up my toys and head home. I went to bed one night really discouraged and defeated.

But, just like so many times in this process, God met me at my point of need. The tone of my sessions the next two days allowed me to shift my thinking away from all of the ways that I was ill-equipped to instead look at all of the ways that I can depend on God.

One of the sessions that really resonated with me was focused on John, chapter 15, where Jesus talks about the vine and the branches. I have often heard sermons and read things on the importance of abiding with God, based on this passage. Always, it resonates with me in some way. Last week, the thing that stood out with me is the pruning aspect of the passage. I realized that this time that I’m in is a time of pruning. The vinedresser is stripping away some of the branches that bear “some” fruit so that He can strengthen them, refocus them, and allow them to bear “much” fruit.

I realized that while pruning is painful, it’s not the same thing as discipline. While discipline is about sin, pruning is about self. The purpose of pruning is to deal with, and liberate us from the things we love and pursue. So, while I’m acutely aware of how painful this pruning process is, I’m also very grateful that God is doing something new and exciting in my heart and mind.

Around the "Farm"

2011-08-17T21:26:00.007-04:00

I thought I'd take a minute and give you a peek into our world here at orientation. Things happen so fast that I haven't caught much of it with the camera, but here is a little glimpse.

This is what family movie night looks like. We don't have TVs or our own living room, so we watched our flick on the laptop and used the two twin beds that Ryan and I have pushed together as our couch. We even baked cookies using the roll dough, but then realized that our kitchenette wasn't equipped with a spatula to remove them from the stone. Don't worry, we figured out how to get them off, the no desert policy in the cafeteria will motivate you in that area!

One of our assignments for our part of the world is that everyone has to cook from scratch 2 times while we're here. I chose to fry chicken as our entree, but I had to borrow pans from several neighbors in order to have enough to share. Fortunately, my in-laws were traveling through and my mother-in-law arrived just in time to help me with it. It was yummy!

This is our "kitchen" table. We don't actually eat here very often, but it offers our only non-bed seating, so it gets lots of use.

This is a picture of the girl's dressers. These are photo worthy because it had been almost 6 months since some of them had had a dresser. They were excited to each have their own again.

These are the kids from our "church" playing around after we ended this week. Notice there are our children and the children of one other family. The kiddos aren't loving our "small group" worship format, but it's good preparation for the field. They do love the folks in our group, but they miss Sunday School and the worship team.

Here is Isaac sporting the Armor of God that he and Ryan made for one of his class assignments. It's amazing what a boy can do with a leftover box and a roll of duct tape!

Lizzy and Isaac are facing off, each with their own set of armor.

These are the other married gals from our Sub-Saharan group. We were at one of our supervisor's homes getting ready to eat a West African style meal, from a common dish. The required dress was a wrapper and a head wrap.

Keeping it Real

2011-08-07T21:54:00.000-04:00

I’ve always known and readily admitted that I have control issues. I am not proud of them, I am taking baby steps to make them less crippling, but they still exist. If you want to be acutely aware of your issues, come to where I am- they’ll squeeze them out of you. This week has been a bit of a pressing for me. Okay, that’s an understatement, I feel like I’ve been laid out on one of those ancient torture devices where they stretch your limbs in all different directions until you snap.

Yesterday, I snapped. It was ugly and it was embarrassing and what made it worse was that my kids got to witness my mega meltdown in full color. Oh, it was awful. Thank you Jesus it’s over and hopefully, we’ve talked enough with the kids about it that they won’t be scarred for life.

It started out with an attempt to take my two oldest girls to the “Busy Hands” sewing building. I didn’t want to go, I had other things on my agenda, but they desperately wanted to go and I decided that I would take them. So, I dug down deep to find my happy heart, put a smile on my face, and marched off to do my motherly duty. Now, I knew that the posted sign had said that there needed to be one parent per child. I also knew that I had 4 children who wanted to get there at least once and a limited amount of Saturday mornings that we could squeeze them into. So, against my better judgement, I marched off with the two oldest, certain that we could make it work.

It seemed like a great idea UNTIL I was greeted by the friendly lady at the door who informed me that there was no way that they could both participate. I explained our circumstances and in her nice, but very firm way, she basically said that my situation did not matter to her, this was the policy. Then, she began to show my girls what their project options would be- when it was their turn to sew. I knew I was in trouble as soon as the tears started welling up in my eyes. I stepped outside thinking that surely I could get myself together and go back in with a plan for choosing who might get to sew. I had almost regained my composure when the girls came looking for me. They took one look at me and the oldest burst into tears herself. Before I knew it, all three of us were crying- and I mean body shaking crying right there in front of the Busy Hands building.

We managed to make it back to our quad without too many face to face encounters. As soon as Ryan saw us, he knew something was wrong. So, we all sat down at the table and explained, through our sobs, what had happened. It was ridiculous and I readily admitted to him that I knew my non-stop tears had very little to do with the sewing lady. I felt like I was living in that story about the little boy in Holland who used his finger to plug the leaking dike and save his village. It was as if someone just pulled the plug on all of the emotions that had been just lingering on the edge.

We’ve struggled since we got here with the realities of our family size. Everything from after school pick-up to the dining hall to the one bathroom to the amount of homework we’re trying to process with the kids each evening has been complicated by the fact that our family is bigger. Living as a family of 7 is tough in our society. Living as a family of 7 in a communal living environment is borderline brutal. Things like finding childcare for evening meetings is daunting for us. We’re overwhelmed.

But, here’s what we keep telling the kids (and ourselves.) God has a plan for our family. All of these ways that we’re being stretched are purposeful. Learning to submit to authorities about things that we think are petty is good for our character. Coming to grips with the fact that our family is different than others in our community is a reality that will only become more real in the months ahead.

Yesterday, after 90 minutes of tears, I finally got control enough to go to the mall and make a return at the Apple Store. As we were walking into the mall, with my eyes still swollen, my oldest daughter looked at me and said, “Mom, if we get in here and you start crying, just tell anyone who asks that you are in the process of moving your family overseas and it is a very emotional process. That ought to make them be quiet.” Great advice Abby, great advice!

Getting Settled

2011-08-02T21:53:00.003-04:00

Well, we’re a week into our training and so far there are at least a dozen words I can use to describe it: exciting, challenging, confirming, overwhelming, filling, draining, welcome, stretching, humbling, eye-opening, equipping, and fun (sometimes). I could go on, but I think you get the point. It truly is a roller coaster ride of emotions and underlying all of it is just a humility and a gratitude that God has brought us to this place and time.

The kids are off to a great start. Their classes seem to be really well developed. Most of their teachers have experience raising children overseas and some of them were also raised as children overseas, so they bring a wealth of knowledge with them. They are teaching the children vital skills necessary to transition from what they’ve known to being “TCKs.”

If you’re like me and you aren’t sure what a TCK is, let me explain. A TCK is a third culture kid. This simply means that our children will most likely identify themselves with 3 cultures-our home country, our host country, and the transitional culture of other families who are our colleagues. They’re learning lots of skills needed for the opportunities and challenges that will come with each of those cultures. So far, their biggest challenge has been trying foods they’d rather not eat. Let me just say, I can totally relate!

Here's Abe with one of our quad mates who he affectionately calls, "Ewijah."

Here are the 4 oldest getting ready to enter class on their first day of school.

Our grown-up class time has covered a variety of topics. We’ve talked about everything from computer security to prayer to traveler’s diarrhea. A steady flow of assignments fills our evening hours and all of the reading, memorization, and other expectations keep us busy.

All in all, we’re getting a rhythm. We love having our own “house” again. We have a unit which includes 3 bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchenette, and a washer and dryer. We share a common living room with three other families. We’re enjoying getting to know the other families in our “quad.”

The kids have enjoyed the experience of eating in a cafeteria all the time. Though we sometimes miss the home cooked meals and we definitely miss dessert, none of us miss the dirty dishes that come with it! I can’t imagine how we could get it all done if we had to cook as well.

For all of my Southern Baptist friends who are reading this, let me just say that your Cooperative Program dollars are being used in some amazing ways here at the learning center. We are so thankful for this time to be equipped and it’s obvious that much thought is being put into the use of our time and your resources. We are routinely challenged to be good stewards of your gifts. I can say that I am more confident than ever that Lottie Moon is a great way to invest the resources that God has given us.

We covet your prayers as we journey through these next 7 weeks. We know that the task ahead of us will only be possible through God’s power. One thing that we’ve heard over and over is how vital it is that we enlist the prayers of many. So, if you remember us, please pray for balance, longevity, and energy for the tasks ahead.

Grief

2011-07-24T05:17:00.002-04:00

Wow, once again it's early in the AM and I'm wide awake. I've got the washer cranking, but that's the only task I can do without waking someone up. Since the crating company came, the number of beds we have has become even more scarce, and we have folks sleeping all over my parent's house. This leaves me an excuse to blog, even though my to-do list is enormous.

In a little over 24 hours, we hope to be in our temporary home. We're ready. Not physically, that will take until late into tonight. But we're ready to move on with this thing. We've said most of our goodbyes, some of them several times. We're ready to have our own space again, even if this spot will only be ours for 8 weeks. It will be nice for everyone to have their own bed and dresser drawers again. We're ready to be equipped for the task ahead.

The last several months have been both a joy and a burden, a vacation and a chore. We've loved the traveling and visiting that we've been able to experience during this down time. There have been some great memories made with some fabulous conversations along the way. But, through all of it, there has been this underlying theme of grief. Little things will sneak up on us, on me, and there are these overwhelming moments of grief.

Some of them are little things, the realization that snow cones and swimming pools will probably not be the theme of our summers in the coming years. The awareness that Chick Fil A fries will soon be a thing of the past. Michael's and AC Moore will be no more. Silly, but true, we've had these conversations. I don't know if it's the familiarity that I'm grieving or the convenience, or what, but sometimes I'm struck by sadness over these sort of things.

Things like climbing in the Suburban and driving out of the cul-de-sac can bring tears to my eyes as I wonder if I'll ever get the hang of driving in our new city. Or, when I start a load of laundry any time, day or night, and I know that the electricity will last until the end of the load, I can find myself overwhelmed with the realities of our impending power issues. I dread that part of our new life.

I won't even get into the people. Honestly, it's so very hard to say goodbye and even harder to lead my children in saying goodbye. This is all they know, this is all they want to know on some days, and it can be a hard, hard thing to navigate. This week has been especially brutal and I have a couple of children who are very fragile right now. That brings me grief. I know, because moving is not new to me, that there will always be new friendships and adventures awaiting, but they're not all buying that just yet.

This morning, we will go and face one of the things I've been grieving a lot, my church. There are so many things that I dread about leaving. Because of what Ryan did, we usually got the opportunity to work with MKs who were visiting. We tried to be active in helping them find the right spot and checking in on them regularly. I think because we've always had a heart for missions, we've always had a special love and compassion for MKs. Several years ago, we had a family who was attending our church while they were home on stateside assignment. A few weeks into their time with us, the mom stopped me in the hall and, with tears streaming down her face, thanked me for always calling their children by name. She explained to me that their children were so far out of their comfort zones and that every night the oldest one asked if they could please just go home (home meaning their host country on the other side of the world.) She confessed to me how good it was to know that we cared enough to learn her children's names and to welcome them personally each week. The American church sunday school concept was so foreign to her preschoolers and she desperately wanted it to be a positive thing for her children, because she and her husband desperately needed to have a season of corporate worship and refreshing.

That made a real impact on me. From then on, when I went to "big church" and heard a song that wasn't my favorite or an announcement that irritated me and I was tempted to be ugly, I would remember my friends on the mission field. I would think about how they were meeting as families or in small groups, when maybe they would have loved to have one service in my comfy chair. I began to see corporate worship more as a treasure or a privilege and not as much as a task.

Now, it's my turn to go. I know that we will find beautiful ways to worship on the other side of the world. I know that we will find those with sincere hearts to sing praises with. I know that worship in a mud structure alongside of someone who is a new believer will be sweet and precious to us. But, I also know that there will be weeks that I will long for the familiar choruses of Faith Baptist Church in Youngsville, NC. I will desire to hear the words from the lips of my precious pastor. I will miss the hugs of those who know me and with whom I have shared my life.

I am so thankful that my grief has given me opportunities to see God's goodness in my life. In so many ways, His mercies have washed over me. He has been my comforter and He has been faithful to remind me of His promises. And, while the changes are sometimes hard to face and difficult to process, I am thankful that I have the opportunity to go, even in the midst of my grief.

Crating Madness

2011-07-23T06:42:00.005-04:00

I shared a little bit about our last minute decision to crate. Let's just say, it's resulted in all sorts of madness. Literally, every time we would go to the store and think we were done, something else would come to mind and we'd start a new list. Needless to say, it's been a very expensive month and while we don't feel like we've been excessive, we still can't believe how much money we've spent. Then, we remind ourselves that we don't normally buy 18 months of Zyrtec at one time or $200 in rechargeable batteries. Nor do we normally try to stock up on a wide range of Christmas and birthday gifts all in one trip to Walmart. Not to mention, 3 years worth of socks and underwear for 5 children in one stop- that can add up quickly. Surely, we will have less expenditures in the years ahead because we've made so many advanced purchases.

Because of our family size, we were allowed a pretty large crate. Our company allows a set amount per couple and then adds on a smaller amount for each child. Then, if a family can't or doesn't elect to crate, the unused portion is paid to them as a $ per square foot amount. This money is then used to purchase items that can't be crated. Since we had sold most everything, our strategy was to crate only what would be unavailable or very expensive in our host country. It didn't make sense to purchase things here that would take up our crating allowance if we could just purchase them there. Our goal was to use about 1/2 of our crating allowance- leaving the other half available in cash.

Our country has proved to be a bit challenging with shipments the last few years, which is why we initially were told no on a crate. However, our company has decided to ship our things via ocean freight, which they haven't tried for a while. The containers that the moving company has successfully gotten in recently are these pre-fabed boxes called "lift vans", which are 207 cubic feet each. Our initial goal was to use only 2 of those boxes, but in the end, we decided we'd be happy if it all fit into 3. This allowed about 1/3 of our cubic allowance to go unused, for later purchases.

We spent three weeks shopping, packing, and sorting. Unlike the old days, where folks could pack their crates at home and stuff things in every nook and cranny, all of our stuff had to be packed in a box, or at least wrapped in packing paper. We packed much of what we had ahead of time and the contents of any one box were totally random. It might start out as a box of toys, but we filled in every nook and cranny with little items. So, one box might have a Playmobil pyramid, a 6 pack of socks, 2 tubes of Neosporin, 2 bottles of flintstone vitamins, a pair of children's shoes, 72 pencils, 20 packs of jello (removed from the boxes), and 15 cheese packets that we'd pulled from the blue box mac and cheese- after we'd dumped the noodles out. CrAzY! Needless to say, Ryan and I had to throw our administrative/label maker tendencies out the window and remind ourselves that the goal was simply to get it there.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of our day yesterday, when the men actually came to take our stuff away. It was terribly hot, like 107 degrees. They were kind and polite, but they weren't fully on board with the "get as much as you can get in there" mentality that we'd developed. However, they responded well with our help and lots of cheerleading. Before we started loading the 3rd crate, the man in charge told me that it was time for me to make some decisions about which of the remaining items I would be willing to leave behind. Ryan explained to him very politely that he was confident it would all fit- we weren't leaving any of them. He reluctantly agreed to try. Ryan had to actually get on the truck and explain to the men that we were going to rearrange the sofa and loveseat because they had left too much open space behind them. They decided to try his idea and voila! Anyway, when it was all said and done, we got all the items on and had a few holes to spare. I thought the men were going to club me as I grabbed a dollhouse, a shopping bag full of hangers, and 2 dozen paper towels and began wrapping them in brown paper. We did it all politely, with lots of "thank yous," "bravos," and "yes sirs," but the bottom line was, I refused to send that much air to Africa!

The piling begins

Ready to be loaded into the lift vans

This is Ryan and Abby, encouraging the men to find a hole for this "little box."

Nailing on the final door! We were in celebration mode at this point!

In the end, we parted as friends. One of the men commented that all of that stuff fitting was about like Moses parting the Red Sea. Heaven knows, the prayers were going up during that last 30 minutes! We are thankful that it's done and now we pray that it all gets there safely and without a hitch and that we find favor with the fine folks in customs once it reaches our host country.

Goodbye Gary, Ed, John, and Brian. Thanks for a memorable afternoon! Now, go drink some Gatorade!

Isaac's Day

2011-07-20T07:00:00.005-04:00

I started sharing last week about our special day with each of the children. I only got as far as Abe when other things started clamoring for my attention. Isaac went next, after Abe. We took him out on a Sunday, right after church, and he was so excited. We started out by grabbing a snack at Sheetz. My kids always love getting to pick their own snacks out like that, because it doesn't happen very often in our world. He also got himself a big Sheetz cup, filled with Cheerwine, which is another rare treat!

From there, we headed down to Adventure Landing. Ryan and I had never been there, except to drop a child off at a birthday party or two. Isaac had some previous experience, so he showed us the ropes. We had a really fun time playing together. We started off with miniature golf and all three of us managed to get at least on hole in one. Then, we headed inside for some laser tag. We were the only 3 in there, so Isaac and I teamed up on daddy. The sad thing was, he still won!

Full concentration!

Pausing for a quick pic, too hot to lounge around.

From there, we tried the go-carts. Isaac loved them, Ryan and I , not so much. If I could have been on the track by myself, I would have been fine, but all of those 10 year olds whizzing past me were a little unnerving! I guess I'm just not a daredevil, or maybe I'm scarred for life after my sledding accident this winter, but all I could think was, "I hope I get out of this without a head injury!" That's one of those things I'll just be the photographer for next time.

Finally, we headed back into the AC and used our arcade tokens. Isaac tried to find the games that would pay a good amount of tickets so that he could get lots of treasures at the prize counter. He was a bargain shopper in the arcade and ended up with 4 or 5 little treasures to carry home.

Next, we headed up the street to his favorite restaurant, the Outback. He and daddy had a good time hiding the bread while I went to wash my hands. He thought it was funny when I came back and fussed at them for not leaving me any. That boy is just like his daddy, he loves a good practical joke! His favorite part about the meal was that we ordered cheese fries and we only had to split them 3 ways, not 7! He decided he could get used to that!

Next, we stopped off at Ed McKay's used bookstore where he picked out a couple of books to read. I can't seem to supply him with books fast enough these days, which is a good problem to have. He also helped us choose a few used dvds and wii games to add to our collection before we head overseas.

As we headed north towards home, Isaac said, "I don't want this day to end." He expressed that he thinks he might like to be the only child. We talked about what that would look like, and he decided he'd like to be an only child sometimes.

Finally, we ended our afternoon with a stop at Palsie's popcorn. The heat of the day made our shaved ice treats even yummier. We were soft and let him carry home a mini bag of cornfetti popcorn too. Fortunately, that flavor provides no temptation for me, but the kids just love it.

It was a great afternoon together. We had lots of laughs and enjoyed spending time with our little guy. He is so sensitive and loving, but yet he likes to have a good time. We're proud to have such a great kid on our hands!

Reality

2011-07-19T04:01:00.002-04:00

It's 4:01 AM. I've been up for the past 45 minutes, making a failing effort to go back to sleep. I suppose that's what happens when you let yourself collapse into bed at 9:00. That wasn't my plan. I still had a ridiculously optimistic list of things to accomplish. But, when I snuck into the room where Abe was supposed to be sleeping and I heard the words, "Mommy, I'm 'cared. Will you way with me for just a wittle minute?" I grew weak. I collapsed into bed and let his precious 3 years old lips kiss my eyelids and declare his unending love for me. It was worth it, even though my to-do list lies half completed on the nightstand. I know his 3 year old kisses will soon be a thing of the past. That's the sad reality of life.

The reality of life has been overwhelming me lately. Yesterday, my mom saw me struggling with my tasks and she asked me if she could help somehow. I replied that if she could just wiggle her nose and make all of the stuff go into the right piles, that'd be great. She answered back with the words, "Honey, if is could wiggle my nose and make what I want happen, you'd all be back in the beautiful house with all of your stuff on the other side of town." And I know that she wasn't being ugly, she was just telling the truth. She's been so brave through this whole thing, putting on her best face and trying to be strong. But I know that the truth is, seven gynormous pieces of her heart are about to relocate, and it's brutally hard on her. That's a tough reality to face every day.

It's tough because, if the truth be told, I would like to wiggle my nose and be back in my big beautiful house on the other side of town. I'd like all of my stuff to be neatly organized in my ridiculously large closets and stored in our beautiful furniture. I'd like my walk in attic full of homeschooling resources which would be neatly reorganized just in time to kick off my perfectly planned school year. I'd like my weekly meal plan to be hanging on the side of the fridge, just waiting for daddy to come home from work and for us to enjoy our normal family dinner prepared on my granite countertops. That's the truth. Well, some of the time it is.

Then, there are these moments where I remember why we're doing this. These moments when I take myself back to the call and the scripture that came with that call. These times when I remind myself that while those are all good things, and they were mine for a season, they are not the things to which God has for me now. I remember that He desires good things for me and that while I may never have "stuff" as nice as what I once owned, or a schedule as predictable and orderly as what I once had, He's going to give me things that are even richer. And, if that doesn't work, I go to the internet and look at pictures of the people, especially the children who are living without hope and that always does it.

Then the reality of the present comes again, the tears of a child who has had to say another goodbye or the decisions about which books or toys make the cut and I simply do the next thing, pushing my way through the madness. I think what is making this final sort so hard is the fact that what is left is the stuff that we really love. The easy stuff has all been long gone at this point. What's left is the stuff that's really dear to us, for one reason or another.

The worst this week was definitely the dress-up clothes box. It's been taunting me from the corner for weeks. I knew it had to be dealt with, but I've been putting it off. Finally, this week, I decided I couldn't wait any longer. Here's the thing, most of what was left in that box at this point are items that have been made by my mother, so there's the first reason why they are so dear. Most all of them were made for some special occasion, which is filled with memories of simpler times, leading us to reason number two. Finally, my kids have outgrown or nearly outgrown about 1/2 of the clothes in the box but still attempt to pour their bodies into them when they need just the right dress to play "civil war refugees" or "knights and princesses" in the backyard. This hammers home the reality that times are changing and my kids are growing up too fast. In the end I laundered them all, put the one that was torn aside, and space bagged the rest of them. Cop out? Maybe. Sanity saver? Definitely. I feel confident some little girl in West Africa will be delighted when they need to borrow a beautiful size 5 Dorothy costume or a perfectly detailed colonial dress. Hey, I've gotta deal with reality somehow, right?

Pros and Cons

2011-07-14T06:49:00.004-04:00

From the time that I was a little girl, I knew I wanted a big family. I had no idea what I was biting off, but I'm sure glad I stuck to my guns. The controlled (sometimes) chaos that is my life brings me so much joy. And while I sometimes long for just a little bit of free time, I can't think of any better way to invest my life than in these 5 precious children that the Lord has entrusted to me. I love it.

I love the way that, by it's very nature, a larger family helps kids to learn to work as part of a team, to be considerate of others, and to die to themselves on a regular basis. I really enjoy seeing my kids interact with one another-most of the time. Their love for one another is priceless. I could talk for a long time about the benefits of our family size.

But the reality is, that like anything, I could also make a lengthy list of drawbacks. One of the things that I struggle with the most is the concern that they're all getting what they need. We've been blessed to the point that we don't necessarily have to worry about their physical needs like food, shoes, and clothing. But, the emotional needs are another thing. There are two of us and five of them and sometimes, it can get overwhelming. I worry that I may not be dialoguing or interacting with them enough as individuals.

I once heard a woman from a big family talk about her relationship with her mother. She said that her mother was always so busy that she only remembered talking to the back of her head and that she always wished that she could have a chance to see the whites of her eyes when she talked with her. That bothered me and I've thought of it many times over the last few years. I hope and pray that my children know that they're loved as individuals and that they feel like we value their words, thoughts, and ideas.

I guess that's one of the reasons why we've always made birthdays a big deal at our house. We don't always do something fancy, but we do try to make sure that each child is celebrated and that we recognize the special person that God created them to be. We are always trying to remind them that God has a purpose for THEIR life.

The emotions of the last few months have brought their own set of issues and the burden of helping each child process and dialogue about the changes we're facing has been weighty. I worry that we've messed this up somehow. Then I remember that God is writing their testimonies, even as He's writing mine, and I take comfort in that. Still, I know I have a responsibility in shepherding them through this overwhelming time.

We have friends who are also getting ready to move their family to a new place of ministry, and they had a great idea. They decided to take each of their children out for a special day before they headed out of town. We had talked about doing something similar and after reading her blog, I decided to just do it! Our calendar is packed pretty tight, so we've had to do it in short spurts, but it's given us a chance to talk with each child one on one as well as express to them how very loved they are. So far, we've had our day with the youngest three, and it's been fun for everyone!

The first day out was with Abe. He was quite funny when I told him that we were going out together. He first asked if he could take his bike. We explained that we were going somewhere special, where he couldn't take his bike. He asked several other questions and then concluded that he'd just stay with the kids at grandma's house and let daddy and I go. Uhh, not the reaction I was looking for! After talking it up for a day or two, he finally decided he'd go, though the idea was so foreign to him, he still wasn't sure. The fact that the other kids were so excited for him helped to convince him that it was worth a try.

We decided to take him downtown to the Marbles Museum, which is a really nice children's museum. When my oldest 3 were young, we went to these sort of establishments all of the time. Abe has never been to one. I know, that's awful isn't it? I could choose to feel really guilty about that, and it's tempting. But I've been to developing nations and I've seen the conditions that many of the world's children live in. I've also seen the pile of toys the boy has at his disposal, so I refuse to let Satan attack me on that one.

Anyway, he had a great time. You could tell that he was a little out of his element at first. We would invite him to play with us and it was almost awkward for him. He's so used to playing with his brother and sisters that he wasn't sure how to engage in that sort of play with us. Typically, when he and I have one on one time, I read with him or do puzzles or something that has more "educational value" because he gets a ton of pretend play with his siblings. However, I didn't realize this until we were asking him to cook for us at the Marbles kitchen and he was so obviously shy about doing it.

With time he warmed up and we ended up having a great time. He and I raced cars, which was fun. However, I think sawing with daddy was definitely his favorite! He sawed and sawed until the wood was too small to saw anymore.

After our time at Marbles, we took him to McDonald's, which was his pick. We let him play in the playplace, something we rarely do anymore. He thought that was big fun, but he was ready to go home and see the "kids" when it was all over.

By the time we got home, he was exhausted and so were we. We didn't realize how far removed we were from the "sippy cup" crowd. Ryan and I laughed that we felt like senior citizens as we looked around at most of the parents beside us at the museum. I guess that we so rarely go to those "preschool friendly" places because the ebb and flow of our lives is geared more toward our homeschooling schedule. I definitely was able to see in very obvious ways that Abe's preschool years look very different than those of my older kids. And again, I had to remind myself that God made no mistake by placing Abe as the 5th child in our family. He has a purpose for Abe, even in that and I can't beat myself up over the things that he isn't getting, but rather focus on the things that I can provide for him in the context of our family.

Abe enjoyed the big foam blocks.

On your mark, get set, go!

Sawing away!

Totally wiped out! I caught this glimpse of him at the McDonald's playplace.

Answers, All at Once!

2011-07-11T23:18:00.006-04:00

Uncertainty. I hate it. I'm not good at it. It brings out the ugly in me. I thrive with a set schedule, routine, calendar, and of course, my beloved to-do lists. That's who I am. And sometimes, it's my greatest strength. But, sometimes it can become a sin issue for me. Because sometimes I love neat and orderly more than I love people. And sometimes I have a tendency to rely on my well-laid plans more than Christ. It can be a real idol to me and I am constantly seeking balance.

Of course, the Lord knows this about me. It seems like He's always calling me into situations where I have to die to myself in this area and learn to trust in Him. This last 18 months of paperwork and process has certainly been no exception. You know, I keep saying that the Lord has been so personal to me through this whole process and I truly believe He has continued to put me in situation after situation where I could continue to be challenged to trust in Him and not in self.

The last few months have been frustrating to me because our friends who are going through the process have been getting all sorts of answers about the where's and how's of their future. They've known details about their language learning, their visas, their dates of departure, their living arrangements when they get to the field, and a variety of other things which have been totally up in the air for us. We, instead, had been told that we would be able to freight a crate, then no, then yes, then no, then maybe, then yes. We've been told that we were going to an additional training for the months of Oct.-Jan., then no, then maybe, then yes. The process for procuring our visas has been a little iffy. The kid's schooling, because of the iffy timeline, has also been extremely uncertain. And the list goes on.

The thing is, it's not anyone's fault. It's been a variety of variables with each little issue that have made for a whole lot of uncertainty. And, as I already mentioned, I. don't. like. uncertainty.

Finally, after months of trying to imagine all of the possibilities and figure all of the variables, I just sort of gave up. I came to the point where I'd just laugh as each "maybe" phone call or e-mail came. Ryan and I would exchange looks and remind each other that we obviously didn't need to know the details yet. We'd signed up to go and that's what we were going to do, trusting God with the particulars.

So, in the middle of our time in Lancaster, the answers started coming. In the matter of about 48 hours, we got many answers that we had been waiting months for. It was confirmed that we were going to be able to crate, something we'd given up on several months ago. We also found out that our additional training in Canada had been approved, meaning we wouldn't depart for Africa until late January. It was confirmed that next year would be a homeschooling year for us, after all. And, we even found out for sure where we'd be living when we got there- with pictures even!

Needless to say, it's been head-spinning few days. All of this information sent us into a flurry of planning, organizing, and list-making (finally!) A crate meant that there were many purchases to be made. So, we shifted our remaining Lancaster days away from our original plans and instead, we purchased 3 years worth of socks, underwear, sheets, and shoes for 7 people at the outlet malls beside our hotel.

In the past 10 days we've ordered appliances, homeschool curriculum, a trampoline pit cover, and a variety of household goods. It's been crazy. A good crazy, but still, CrAzY.

Here's the thing. While it's been great to get so many answers and be able to make plans, we know that we must continue to hold them loosely. We know that our country assignment could change if there were to be security, safety, or visa issues. The possibilities are always there. But, for now, I think I'll just pretend they aren't.

Before I go, and return to the chaos that is ruling these days, let me share with you a few of the pictures of our house. I wish I could have recorded the moment when we opened the photos in the e-mail. Honestly, you would have thought that it was Christmas morning. After months of not having a "home," the kids were giddy. It probably could have been a mud hut and they would have been so excited that it was "our" mud hut. Anyway, here they are, I bet they're better than what you had imagined!

Here's the front of the house.

The backyard. This is rainy season, so the grass won't be green like this when we get there.

This is the trampoline pit. The kids have prayed specifically that we could find the right cover for it. Ryan ordered one today and we're hopeful that it will come in before our crate leaves next Friday and that we will be able to make it work when it gets there.

This is the kitchen, which I'm currently considering a "blank slate."

The living room

The dining room

Country Roads

2011-07-11T07:57:00.002-04:00

The farmlands of Lancaster were a welcome sight after 10 days of subways and concrete. I hadn't spent as much time researching our options for that part of the trip and so we really didn't have an agenda. We just found some backroads and made our way to the little shopping area known as Kitchen Kettle Village. We spent the morning exploring the shops, feeding animals at the little petting zoos that are everywhere there, and watching some Amish women who were canning some sort of salsa at the jam kitchen. We ended up eating hot pretzels for lunch while sitting next to two Amish children who had a little stand made out of a red wagon, and some scrap wood. Their product offering was a variety of previously used horseshoes which they had spray painted. We chatted with them while we ate and our topics ranged from school to dog breeds to their typical summer day. It was a great way to start off our week.

Dinner that night was an epic flop. We ate at the Good N Plenty restaurant, which serves a variety of PA dutch offerings, family style. The chicken, mashed potatoes, and homemade bread were a hit, but beyond that the kids were disenchanted. They tried several of the offerings, like cracker pudding and apple butter, but we didn't push them as far as chow chow and beef stew. I know, we're headed to West Africa. I know, we're in trouble. Trust me, it's a matter of prayer.

This picture makes me laugh. This is who I am. Chunky bracelet, sequined shirt, holding 2 pocketbooks with a third in the bag. I am feeding a llama and I am about to move to West Africa. What in the world?

The Kitchen Kettle village mascot. If you look carefully, you can see one of our lunch buddies in the left rear portion of the photo. She and Lizzy were excited to find out they were the same age.

The next day, we headed to the Herr Factory, which was a big hit. It was free, informative, and fun. Not to mention, yummy! Hot potato chips, right off the line are delicious. We got to see them make pretzels, nacho chips, popcorn, and of course potato chips. The kids picked out a huge shopping bag full of various bags of "oops" chips to take home and the entire thing cost of $6.00. I found a new favorite flavor, salt and pepper, and Ryan fell for the dill pickle.

That evening, we went to the Sight and Sound theater. This, my friends, was incredible. We saw the story of Joseph and it was so neat. We all sat riveted the entire 2 hours. We've been listening to the soundtrack ever since and it's a new favorite.

Outside the Sight and Sound

The final "fun" thing we did while there was a trip to the Hershey Chocolate World. I have to say, this wasn't my favorite. Don't get me wrong- I love chocolate and all things Hershey. I appreciate the life of Milton Hershey and the humanitarian contributions that he made. What I didn't like was that there were non-stop opportunities to spend money from the minute you walked in the door. Wanna make your own candy bar? It's really cool, and it can be yours for $14.95. Wanna watch a 3-d movie about chocolate? Great, it's only $7 each. I suppose that's to be expected and I knew it going in, but I still don't have to like it.

We did have fun riding the free chocolate ride, practicing packing Hershey kisses, and even letting everyone choose their own $1 candy bar from the gift shop. We did pay to ride the singing trolley tour which took us all around town and explained the life of Milton Hershey. They showed us the Hershey factory, mansion, hotel, park, and school. The two actors who were our tour guides made it fun and the kids loved that they got free candy every few minutes. We did it once, we'll check the box, next time we'll go somewhere else. I guess I'm more of a National Parks kinda girl.

The anticipation is building...

About to practice "packing" kisses

Waiting for our trolley to take off.

This was the first souvenir that Isaac selected. Needless to say, we redirected him to the $1 rack.

At this point, the trip headed in a different direction and we spent the rest of our week in the outlet malls. But that, my friends is a different post for a different day.

Beantown

2011-07-10T06:34:00.017-04:00

First of all, let me just say that I don't understand why they call Boston, Beantown. Never once did we experience the opportunity to order stellar beans on any menu we encountered. Which was fine with me, as I'm going to be getting my fair share of beans soon enough. But, Ryan would have liked to have some of those famous Boston Baked Beans. Apparently it's a historical reference.

Now that we have that out of the way... I can say, Boston was a neat city. I'd like to go so far as to say it's beautiful. But, we spent 4 days experiencing the city through the hoods of our raincoats, so I wouldn't know. Neat? Yes. Beautiful? Maybe, the jury's still out. Anyway, we had a great time and I definitely want to go back once more before I die. There was too much to see in a few days.

Here's a bit about what we did do. We stayed the night somewhere in Connecticut on our way up to DC, so we made our way into the city midday. We decided we'd try navigating the Suburban all the way into the city since it was the middle of the work day. Going in was fine, coming out, not so much. We tried it once, it was fun, we used the "T" for the rest of the trip. Bostonians apparently get the terms "freeway" and "parking lot" confused.

That first afternoon found us at the Charlestown Navy Yard exploring the USS Constitution, the USS Cassian Young, and the Maritime Museum. They were all really cool. We would have stayed longer, but we wanted to beat the traffic out of the city (or so we thought.)

It was here that I cemented my understanding of the fact that the kids are significantly more interested in things that they just studied, not things they were excited about 2 years ago. There are 2 ships in the yard- one was "Old Ironsides" from the war of 1812 and the other was a WWII vessel. I just knew the former would be of greater interest, but I was wrong. They were totally captivated by the Cassian Young and they were able to access information that we had just read with our 20th century history studies this year. That ended up being the pattern for the whole trip. The things we had just studied were definitely the bigger hits. The Maritime museum had one of the best displays for kids that I have ever been to (and I've been to a few museums.) They took what I thought would be a pretty dull and narrow topic and presented it in some very engaging ways. The best part was, it was free! When we finished our time there, we all concurred that we do not, under any circumstances, want to experience the life of a sailor in 1812.

Boys and their cannons, what more can I say?

This "sailor" interacted with the kids really well, explaining to Isaac that he was old enough to be a powder monkey aboard the USS Constitution. Obviously, whatever he's saying at this moment has Abby aghast!

Here's Abby at the maritime museum, loading a goat onto the deck of the ship.

The next day we road the subway into the city and got off at the Boston Common. We knew that our first priority in Boston was to see the duck statues and ride the swan boats. If you're a mom, you know what I'm talking about, the Make Way for Ducklings gang. My kids have loved Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, and Quack since they were little bitties. I can't tell you how many times I've read that book, and we have the audio book too! We quickly found the duckling statues in the Public Gardens and took our pictures there. But, when we got to the swan boats, they were closed because of the yucky weather. We were so sad!

There they are, the ducklings immortalized in bronze forever. Abe claimed Mrs. Mallard and wouldn't move, so the others are simply smashing those cute little ducklings.

The rest of the day found us walking the Freedom Trail. This is really something that you should do. Seriously. In a few hours, you can cover a ton of Revolutionary history. We started at the Boston Common and ended at the Old North Church (you know it... one if by land two if by sea.) It was really neat seeing those amazing places. Of course, it's been 2 years since we read all about it, but the big things like Paul Revere, the Boston Tea Party, and the Boston Massacre were still on the kid's radar, so that was good. I'm hopeful that the next time we study it, they'll have the memories of the actual places to make it even more alive to them.

One of the MANY neat graves we saw during our Freedom Trail walk.

Apparently, Teddy Roosevelt also visited the Old North Church.

Paul Revere's house. Did you know that he had 16 children?

I'm going to be totally honest here and say that while the Freedom Trail was totally cool, the fact that we got off at the North End and made a purchase at Mike's pastries, made it extra special. Amazing pastries, incredible cannolis, and macaroons that melt in your mouth. Need I say more?

After taking a bit to decide, then working up the nerve to get aggressive enough to push to the front of the line, we finally scored some yummy goodness!

On day 3 we headed out to Lexington and Concord. There, we rode a little trolley tour that took us all around the area. It was a good choice for us. They did a great job of covering the events that occurred there and helped us understand all about the "shot heard 'round the world." Again, there was too much to see. We wanted to explore Concord more, but by the time we saw all there was to see in Lexington, it was too late. The girls and I really wanted to see Orchard House, where Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women. But, alas, it didn't happen. However, we did get to go into the house where John Hancock and Samuel Adams met Paul Revere during his Midnight Ride. We also went into the Tavern where the minutemen were hanging out while they waited for the redcoats to march into Lexington. Both have been amazingly preserved.

The Minute Man statue in Concord.

We headed back into Boston the next day, stopping by Harvard Yard along the way. The kids were totally unimpressed by all things Harvard. Which is honestly fine with me (buncha liberals ;). We did all concur that the burgers we ate at the famous Mr. Bartley's Burger Cottage were darn good. What can I say, when you're eating a Joe Biden burger, wondering if you should have ordered the Sarah Palin instead, it can be little overwhelming. However, the cake batter frappe that we all shared was what really made the place yummo!

The famous John Harvard statue. Notice the shiny toe. We didn't have any exams to take that day, so we didn't rub it.

Mr. Bartley's Burger Cottage.

From there, we headed to the Public Gardens, where we finally got to ride the much anticipated swan boats. They were all that an iconic experience should be and we especially enjoyed watching the animals as we rode. After that, we walked from the Public Gardens to the Prudential Center where we boarded a Duck Boat tour so that they could show us all of the things we hadn't seen yet. The kids have begged us to take one of these puppies in several cities we've been to. We said no in Philly last year. We've said no in DC multiple times. We caved in Boston. What can I say, we're weak. Honestly, when it became painfully obvious that we couldn't see all of it and that the sun was not going to cooperate, it seemed like a great idea. And it was. We had fun riding in an amphibious vehicle, seeing the city partly by land and partly by water. We learned things we wouldn't have learned otherwise, and Isaac even got a chance to drive the boat on the Charles River. We did not, however, buy the children those annoying quacking duck bills (unfortunately, a couple of them did use their own money to purchase them!)

Here's a shot taken from our swan boat. The driver's actually pedal those things like a bicycle.

This, my friends is a photo taken inside the Boston Library. Be careful not to confuse it with any one of our Franklin County, NC branches. The resemblance is remarkable.

Isaac driving the duck boat.

On our way out of the city on Sunday, we drove a little ways up to Lowell, MA. This was a great national park that perked our interest because the kids had read all about the Lowell Mills this year in school. There, we got to explore the weaving room at one of the old mills and see and hear the looms in action. We got to walk through a typical boarding house for the mill girls and hear about the tenement life that came with the influx of immigrant workers. We walked along the canals that were built in the city. It was a neat experience and once again, Ryan and I learned as much as the kids! Unfortunately, we forgot the camera, so we have no photos to prove we were there.

We headed out of Lowell and made our way down to Lancaster, PA. And that my friends is another post, for another day.

DC

2011-06-22T23:09:00.012-04:00

Way back in January, when our house sold, we decided that we would spend a good bit of time traveling before we started our new adventure. Part of our traveling would be to familiar places, to visit with family and friends. But, for much of the time we wanted to see new things and make some family memories together on this side of the world. We basically took out the US map and decided on places we wanted to see. We allotted one month to head out west, and we did that for the month of April. We also decided that we wanted to head toward the northeast and see a few things there. We only had about 3 weeks for that trip, and that’s what we’re doing now.

The first 5 days were spent in DC. The grandparents all joined us for that part of our trip and it was an adventure to be sure. I learned a few things along the way. These include, but are not limited to the following facts:

No matter how long one allows, you never have enough time to do everything you want to do when you’re in DC. We saw completely different things this time than we did last time, and we still left too much undone

It is hard to get 11 people going the same direction at the same time. Someone is always ready for a bathroom break, a snack, or a nap at the wrong time.

Restaurants in big cities are not friendly to parties of 11.

Preschoolers and senior citizens to do not tolerate 7 straight hours of walking very well. (What can I say, it all looked closer together on the map!)

I do not like traveling during the tourist season.

In spite of those few negatives, we had a great time. We rolled into town Friday afternoon and visited Arlington Cemetery. We got to see a few highlights, including the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, before we were caught in a torrential downpour. We were literally soaking wet by the time we made it back to our cars so we decided to skip a restaurant and order pizza back at the hotel.

Waiting under a shelter for the storm to pass, I'm not sure why. We were already sopping wet!

We caught this glimpse as we were entering the parking garage, beautiful!

The next morning, we headed to the Holocaust Museum. I debated about taking the kids there, but since we had studied 20th century history this year, I felt they’d be okay. We had done a considerable amount of reading about the holocaust, both fiction and non-fiction, and I think that was a key to the experience. Nonetheless, it was incredibly heavy and there were times when one of them would need to walk away from a display and regroup. I think they did a lovely job of covering a very unlovely period of history.

These quotes were a couple of the ones that were on the wall in the hall of remembrence, such a somber place.

After that, we decided to walk the monuments. That’s where we went wrong. All those people walking all those monuments in one afternoon was too much. We walked, and then we walked, and then we walked some more. Ryan and I must have pushed too hard, because we nearly had some temper tantrums on our hands by the time we got back to the vehicles- and it wasn’t just the children! Anyway, we can now say we’ve seen all of the major monuments from Washington to Roosevelt to Jefferson!

Yes, we were hot enough to take a red-neck foot dippin' in the WWII Memorial.

Nana and Abby found the name of one of Nana and Pap's friends on the Vietnam Memorial Wall.

What a crew!

We stumbed upon a crew of Korean Veterans at the Korean War Memorial.

The kids enjoyed being silly at the FDR Memorial, we were worn out by this time! Here's Lizzy pretending to listen to a Fireside Chat.

Abby with FDR's dog.

Lizzy and Isaac are hanging in the soup line.

Finally, we made it to Jefferson. We knew the car was not too far now!

After our crazy monument marathon, we thought we'd run over to Georgetown and get some yummy cupcakes. Abby had really wanted to go to the bakery where they film "DC Cupcakes." Let me just say, Saturday night would not be the time to try that. We waited in line for 50 minutes. At this point, the grandpas thought we had totally lost our marbles, I don't know, maybe we had. But, the cupcakes were delicious despite the wait!

Too many choices, all of them delicious!

Happy faces ready for some yummy cupcakes.

The next morning we started out at Ford’s Theater. The kids were very disappointed when they found out we weren’t going to see a play there. I’m not sure how they got that idea in the first place. I was disappointed to learn that the whole thing was not original, but rather a reconstruction. However, it was still interesting. It definitely wouldn’t make my “do again” or “must do” list.

The presidential box where Lincoln was shot.

After that, we headed over to the National Mall. We only hit 2 of the museums at the Smithsonian, and within those, we only saw the highlights. We went into the Air and Space as well as the American History. I honestly think that I have been into those two every time that I have ever been to DC. I told Ryan that someday we’re going back and spending a whole day in the National Gallery of Art, which is where I really want to go!

Monday, we spent the day on Capitol Hill. The rotunda was as beautiful as I remember it being when I visited as a child. As we walked around the various buildings, I was overwhelmed again by the foresight and sacrifice of our forefathers. The principles on which our constitution are written really are remarkable and I think that the hand of God is so obvious if one has eyes to see it.

We enjoyed lunch at one of the congressional building cafeterias. It was fun to eat among all of the House interns and assistants. Though, we felt a bit underdressed in our khaki shorts and sunglasses! The best part was when they came on the intercom and informed everyone that an unidentified substance had been found in the 5th floor ladies room and that area should be avoided. My kid’s eyes got as big as saucers until I assured them that we were not headed to the 5th floor ladies room!

Why yes, we did traipse all over the DC Metro and Capitol Hill with our KY shirts on. We may have looked insane, but we had an easy conversation starter!

My favorite part of Capitol Hill was definitely the Library of Congress. Somehow, I had managed to miss that on all of my previous visits and it is absolutely amazing! The building is jaw dropping from the tile work, to the stone, to the marble fixtures. Not to mention, the Guttenburg Bible, the main reading room overlook, and Thomas Jefferson’s personal collection. It was amazing and I highly recommend it to anyone who has never been.

The ceiling of one of the Library of Congress rooms. Simply amazing!

Tuesday, we left the city and headed to Mount Vernon. My only regret about the day is that we didn’t get there earlier. There was so much to do and we didn’t allow enough time. The mansion itself is beautiful and only takes a few minutes, but the grounds, the visitors center, and the museum areas can easily take an entire day. We enjoyed what we were able to see and when we climbed into the car at the end of the afternoon, we were worn out!

Now we’ve headed further north to see some places we’ve never been before. Can’t wait to explore some more!