Family bike adventure

Today we did something we've never all done together as a family: biking.  Jude and Eva are still riding trikes.  Hannah doesn't even own a bicycle.  But we borrowed a bike trailer for the little ones and my mom's bike for Hannah and head to the route of the Hiawatha for a little family adventure.  You can read more on the site, but the Hiawatha is a 15 mile bike trail along an old railroad route.  There are a number of tunnels to ride through, the longest of which is the 100+ year old Taft tunnel: a cool, damp, pitch dark 1.7 mile ride through the Bitterroot mountains between Montana and Idaho.  There are also some beautiful old trestles along this historic mountain rail route.

Here's a few pictures getting ready:

Not sure what's going on here, but I thought it was worth everyone's smile...

Eva with her lantern for the tunnel:

Entering the Taft Tunnel:

Out the other side:

More along the way:

Made it back to the truck for the long ride home:

Update on our hopes, plans, and dreams

***Scroll down for updates***

So, this blog started as a way to keep you, the reader, informed and up-to-date on our progress toward Burundi as the Lord leads us.  There's been lots going on, but admittedly, little on the blog as of late regarding Burundi. This is partly due to the fact that for a while we didn't know what was happening or what we could or could not say.  And partly due to the fact that Hannah can bring you such wit and humor as it pertains to cleaning the schoolroom, making pizza, camping, horseback riding, and birthdays.  I will make my best attempt here to bring you up to speed on our Burundi progress and timeline as we see it.

Hannah and I traveled to France in June to spend a week with the medical team heading to Burundi.  They spent 10 months in Albertville, site of the 1992 Winter Olympics, at a Christian language school.  At the time we only knew the Faders and wanted to meet the rest of the families and singles who were headed to Burundi.  We really enjoyed getting to know everyone and we both felt a connection to the group.  And, yes, France was amazing--pastries, parasailing, people, and all!  But it was not up to the team to invite us and we couldn't invite ourselves.  Hope Africa University and it's leadership would have to invite us and we didn't know if that would happen in 6 months or 6 years.  We left in a bit of emotional turmoil regarding this unknown.  There were a number of issues, which I won't get into here, that could have affected that decision, but as the Lord would have it we didn't even have to wait 6 weeks!

Shortly after our return from France the rector of the university extended an invitation for us to proceed with our plans.  In all likelihood we'll be working with World Harvest Mission as our sending agency.  This fall we'll begin their Sonship discipleship training course.  In April 2014 we plan to travel as a family to Burundi for 3 weeks to further evaluate (and be evaluated) the situation and our fit.  From there we would attend World Harvest's week-long "Assessment and Orientation" program in Philadelphia.  From that point we'd begin the process of support-raising, and then the big relocation.  It remains to be seen how long support raising will take or what we'll need in terms of language training, but we could be saying au revoir in as little as 16-18 months.

In the meantime we're praying and asking you to pray with and for us.  We need to be more diligent with working on our French.  Hannah has to school the kids.  Life goes on.  I still have a dental practice to run.  I'm in the process of contacting dental supply companies and inquiring about their humanitarian aid discounts and donations policies.  An advocate for us is working hard to procure dental chairs, lights, and other equipment and get it all shipped to Burundi (no small task, I assure you!).  I'm working up a 3-year list of dental supplies to have shipped ahead of time (there's no national dental supplier and the cost of mailing supplies would be exorbitant (not to mention the risk of "losing" supplies along the way).

Oh, on September 19th Hannah and I will be meeting in Spokane with Dr Frank Ogden, for whom the medical school in Burundi is named.  Dr Ogden is a surgeon who dedicated many years of service in Burundi. We're excited to meet with him and hear his stories, wisdom, and recommendations.

There's much to do and at first glance I think there's loads of time to do it.  But I know that's not true.  Time can and does move quickly and if we're not careful before we know it, it will be upon us.  I'll try to update you as we move forward, but I hope this brings you up to speed a little bit.  (Published 8/27/13)

***UPDATE 12/23/13***
We have our tickets!  The whole family will be headed to Burundi for three weeks this spring.  We will spend time at Kibuye with the McCropder team, in Bujumbura (the capital city) meeting other Hope Africa University personnel, visiting with some of the other physicians, missionaries, and World Harvest team members, and possibly giving some dental care. 

We have so many questions about how our family could fit and be used with HAU's vision for dentistry in Burundi.  Our prayer is that God would clearly direct us!  We have had a picture in our minds for the past year plus as to our idea of living, teaching, serving, and learning in Burundi.  We realize that some aspects of this vision are spun from our own chaff-like desires, and some have been nurtured by God's plan for us.  Deciphering the difference feels impossible at times, but we have confidence that we won't be left to flounder halfway between Bonners and Bujumbura. 

Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.

Life's Little Milestones

Saturday was Henry's birthday.  This is the kid who starts counting sometime in February or March and announcing periodically how many days it is until his birthday.  He occasionally (any time of year) informs us exactly what kind of birthday cake he wants.  This could be anything from "chocolate cake with coconut frosting" to "a chocolate cake in the shape of a dinosaur with strawberries and cherries and green lemonade-flavored frosting."

So when the countdown was in the single digits and he requested a pineapple upside-down cake, I was shocked.  Really? Is that what you really want, Henry?  Have you ever even tasted pineapple upside-down cake?  Are you sure?  Okay, if you're sure. 

Not surprisingly, Eika volunteered to do the baking.  Within a matter of a few conversations I went from being obligated to an artistic and culinary marathon manifestation of my love for my son to remembering the pineapple rings at the grocery store.  I held my breath, sure that he was going to change his mind at the last minute.  Then the baking commenced and I held my breath for the moment he realized that this messy, sticky mound was his birthday cake.  But still, no regret surfaced.  His birthday was four days ago and still I'm waiting for muffled sobbing one night at bedtime and a confession that he wished he had asked for a different birthday cake. I mean, there wasn't even any frosting, for heaven's sake!

I'll skip the play-by-play of the rest of the birthday weekend, which included (but was not limited to) the giving and receiving of assorted weapons and other dangerous gear (bow and arrow, flint fire starter, blow dart gun, firecrackers) and serious noise making devices (a djembe, firecrackers).  I know really, deep down in your heart, all you truly want is to see Henry as a teeny baby, right?  Who needs details about how many arrows he has lost already or which things on our property he has set on fire?  Well, here he is.

And for those of you who missed it then, here is the birth announcement (modeled after the announcement made by Henry's great grandparents when Henry the third was born):

 Somehow, with a few hundred pizzas, gallons upon gallons of ice cream, and lots of hugs and kisses he has turned into this:

Happy birthday, Henry!  We love you!

First Day of School

We did it! We de-vilified the school room!  I did not conquer every square inch of every drawer, corner, and shelf, but it is now a place where learning and productivity may once again flourish. 

 This side is the playroom side, complete with snuggly reading corner, play kitchen corner,

 and bins of legos, cars, trains, and puzzles to get out one at a time.

 We are starting slowly, as we attempt to build back up to an organized schedule and routine.  This morning we did school for about 2 hours, which was a perfect amount of time for our first day.  Eva and Jude need to get used to some quiet, contained, free-time play on their side of the room, which happens after I spend some time first thing with Eva on phonics and numbers.  Eika and Henry usually love having a break in their own school work to go have recess with the littles on the trampoline or riding bikes.  I still have a lot of work to do as I continue to work towards an organized system that helps us get it all done!  But here is proof that I have made progress (if you doubt me at all, just refer to my previous post here).

Digital Consolidation

One of the main things that has taken so long in cleaning out the school room is figuring out what to do with past school work, old curriculum, and things I am not using this semester but I think I'll use down the road.  Typically my solution to last year's school work, drawings, and papers is to put it all in a stack and shove it to the side.  Who wants to get rid of her kid's first book report?

Now that we are heading into our 6th year home schooling though, I'm running out of space for saving things.  Thinking about packing up our family and heading off to Africa has also caused me to evaluate what I'm keeping and going to have to go through again later!  I just sent a huge stack of papers, notebooks, and projects to the recycling bin, which felt fabulous!  Before I said farewell though, I took an idea from my mom about hanging onto the memories without the mess.  She once told me that when she gets letters or drawings from her grandchildren, she takes photos of the special things.  She might keep the letter out on her desk for a while, but when it is time to throw it away she is not losing it forever.

So each one of my kids has a file folder on the computer for artwork.  I guess I might separate it into having a schoolwork folder and artwork folder for each kid, but for now it's all in one.  So now that I have these all handy, of course I have to share them!

 Henry's health poster draft, 2nd grade

The following three pictures are from Henry's first grade history notebook (2011-2012).  

"Il Duomo" - Architect Filippo Brunelleschi (Pippo)

 

"Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal.  He built the Taj Mahal for a tomb for his wife."

The last three pictures are Eika's.

 "Babur's Mosque"

"Taj Mahal"

Flashback to the Yaak

I just came across this photo from a previous camping trip.  Here are Hank and Henry in July 2007 (Henry was almost 2 years old).  This is the same campground (the Yaak in Montana) where we camped a couple weekends ago.  Recognize the hammock?  Hank got it in Belize, the summer just after we first met (2000).

Here we are at another favorite summer spot, the same month:

And one more shot of Eika, just to be fair.

Can you tell I'm supposed to be working on cleaning the school room?  I'm sure I'll find at least a dozen more things to blog about before I finish that darn project.

The Most Perfect, Inspirational, Creative, Educational Home School Room!!! (If you are a pack rat)

If you search for school room ideas, whether for your classroom at school or your home school room, you will find some pretty terrific color-coordinated spaces.  Heck--even if you have nothing to do with school, between the Pottery Barn catalog and two seconds browsing on pinterest, the toy bin in the corner all of a sudden seems to need some inspiration.  

Well, moms, I'm here to bring you back to earth.  There is some universe where kids put markers back in color-coordinated wallpaper-covered repurposed paint cans, but it's not this one. I don't know about you, but I'd be happy to start my school year with the table cleared off.  Double points if kids could each learn to put their math books on any book shelf when they are done with it.  

I'm going to give you a little tour through my universe now, in an effort to balance the scales a little.  Consider this my equivalent black ugly tar lung to a smooth Joe Camel ad, or maybe The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty's response to a world of stick-thin, blemishless models.

The Pre-school Play Corner

There is a table under there somewhere. 

Notice the organizing bins yet to have things sorted into them.

Yes, this is our school table.  

It's a good thing we have a couple more weeks until school starts.

 This is my one organized shelf.  The left is labeled "animals" and the right is labeled "history." 

 The books on the shelf now represent approximately 9% of animal and history books in the house. 

The sad part is that these are the pictures after I have spent wasted two days of my life trying to regain order.  I did something with all that time...threw away old math papers?  Separated legos from the math manipulatives? 

Here is the other tragedy that is never mentioned in those unrealistic portrayals of classroom perfection.  While you are trying to organize your school room (or reading corner or toy closet), the rest of your house goes to pot. 

The laundry doesn't do itself, as it should under the circumstances.

 I'll let this picture speak for itself. 

 

 

If your couch has a gravitational pull...

...and you need a vicarious camping experience this summer, here's what I have to offer you.  I'm pretty sure I have all the bases covered.

Pounding the tent pegs in with a rock,

running in and out of the tent while daddy says "take your shoes off!!!"

interacting with the wildlife,

relaxing in the hammock, 

 chilling in the creek,

partaking in the requisite campfire cuisine,

whittling sticks around a morning campfire,

having "bedhead" late into the morning,

rounding up with friends for a last-morning group picture,

 and even a silly we-didn't-get-quite-enough-sleep-but-this-sure-was-fun final family shot!