Gentleness

At our youngest's dedication

Sorry, it is usually our goal to post the blog over the weekend- so this is a little late.
Yesterday we had our youngest dedicated. It was a time of blessing and committing ourselves to the task before us as parents and asking for the prayers and support for that task and for our son from a congregation of friends and family.

You may remember that our youngest's middle name is an island word-- which means gentleness in the local language. Over the weekend we also heard two sermons, in two different towns, from two different people on the subject of meekness and gentleness. These sermons highlighted gentleness as a misunderstood concept but also something for which we should strive and pray.

Some might find it strange that we chose a middle name that means gentleness for our son, especially since he is a boy and while our culture is willing to embrace gentleness in women--we often associate it with timidity and weakness.  But gentleness is something to be valued.  We have found that it is a striking and surprising feature that is often not immediately apparent.  However, when you meet a man or woman of true gentleness, you are moved by it.

Why is gentleness such a hard concept to value? Perhaps it is because there is an unseen aspect to it--like a mammoth iceberg whose majority hides beneath the ice.  The fact of the matter is, true gentleness assumes strength.  In order to be gentle there must first be power and strength to be controlled. For example, a person who is too frail to offer a firm handshake is not being gentle, rather they are weak and feeble. However, the person capable of acting with strength, power or authority who consciously chooses to restrain that power and instead to act with tenderness, care, or moderation--this is showing gentleness.

Kids reading with Grandpa

The confusion perhaps comes in the appearances-- it may be difficult for the outside person to tell the difference between a feeble person and  a gentle person.  One sermon used the illustration of a large muscled man holding a little newborn baby as a way to help visualize the strength that is being restrained.  The picture is helpful if we remember that there are other kinds of strength beyond the physical.  Our words, our intelligence or our abilities to persuade and convince all reveal different strengths which can be used to dominate and conquer.  Gentleness can be shown in these areas too.

We expect gentleness in the weak because we think they aren’t capable of strength, but the wise and humble realize that in gentleness there is a power to disarm the strongest.   Gentleness may be hard to explain in words but we’ve seen it, and the gentle people that we have met have always struck us as godly people who are close to the heart of Christ. And so we pray that it will be said of you, our baby son.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We’ve had lots of opportunities this past week to talk with friends and acquaintances about our work on the islands.  We have been warmly received and have had some great discussions for which we’re very thankful.  It has been great to have this time with friends and family before we return.  We are also thankful for the good health we’ve all enjoyed.  We are also thankful that our youngest is sleeping better at night!

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray that we would find the time to keep balance in our life between meeting with lots of good friends and family (who we really want to see) and watching over us and the kids and not making things too crazy as we get ready to return to the Islands.  Pray that our kids would continue to be able to adapt well to all the changes and adjustments that seem to come every day.

No!!! Not Packing!

Kids with Grandma & Grandpa in Boston snow

Sometimes it has seemed like a puzzle, a challenge--- other times like a nightmare, a packing nightmare that we are only half-way through.

5 locations, 5 different climates, 2 adults, 3 children, 3 different airlines, 3 different luggage allowances, 4 airline trips, 7 flights, almost all our possessions:

FRANCE- 1 year - Alpine (snow, cold) - Leaving Luggage Allowance: 3- 23kg/51lbs bags each, total: 276kg/608lbs
We had a year to accumulate stuff, but luckily that is a healthy luggage allowance (the airline has special allowances for international workers like us).

CALIFORNIA- 3 weeks - It’s California (no snow, but chilly)-  Leaving Luggage Allowance: 2- 50lb bags each, total: 181kg/400lbs
Don’t forget we’ll be getting Christmas presents in CA and Boston too for that matter.

BOSTON- 3 weeks- New England (snow, cold)- Leaving Luggage Allowance: 3- 23kg/51lb bags each, total: 276kg/608lbs
Shoot, I guess we can’t leave the winter clothes in France. Don’t forget the things we have in storage in Boston. But at least we have a good allowance on the way to Kenya and at least we’ll be able to leave all of our cold weather clothes in the US.  But before we leave the US we’ll need to think about what we’ll need for the coming years that we can’t get on the islands. Mail isn’t reliable so we shouldn’t plan on shipping much. How fast do you think the kids will grow?

KENYA- 1 week- Cool & pleasant (like a US fall/spring)- Leaving Luggage Allowance: 30kg/66lb each, total: 120kg/265lbs
We’ll need some jackets and long pants for the mornings/evenings in Kenya. The conference in Kenya is a week-- are we going to drag all our possessions to this conference? Let’s at least try not to have to open all our bags that week... but wait, the luggage allowance leaving Kenya is less than half our allowance coming into Kenya. Thankfully there will be some people going to the islands at this conference, they may be able to help us out. But wait they probably won’t be able to take an entire 23kg bag, so I guess we’ll have to repack in Kenya, and we might have to leave some things behind in Kenya to await a later trip. 

ISLANDS- 3 years- Tropical (hot & humid)- Interisland luggage allowance: 20kg/44lbs each, total: 80kg/176lbs
We’ll finally be on the islands. It will be summer clothes from then on. But the main island isn’t our final destination. We still have a little interisland plane ride to go.  At least getting to Clove island we can ship some of our stuff by boat.

Our youngest & Aunt

So we’re in Boston now. We had to pay for a couple extra bags coming from CA but we made it this far. Now we get a little respite from packing but the job is still looming in our minds. The sideroom of Tom’s parents’ house is full of bags and we’ve started bringing out the boxes from the garage storage. It’s not over, but it is not impossible. We’ll do it. We’ll get there. By God’s grace, we’ll manage.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Megan’s aunt has recovered enough to go home from the hospital after brain surgery- we are very thankful. Continue to pray for her full recovery. We made it safely to the Boston area. The kids did well on the planes. Our plans for our final weeks in the States are coming together and we are thankful that we will get the opportunity to see a bunch of friends and family in the coming 3 weeks.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for a relaxing and enjoyable time with friends and family for the next three weeks.  Pray for our times of sharing about the islands with different groups here on the East Coast.  Pray for everyone’s good health during this flu season.  As always, remember to pray for the islands, for the work that continues to go on there, for the struggles of our island brothers and sisters and for our future team.

Cramming Americana

Tom & our youngest share a moment

Three of our six weeks in the U.S are already gone...  When you have so little time in a place, there is a desire to maximize that time to its fullest.  Of course, our priority is spending time with friends and family, sharing about the islands and preparing for our return to Africa, but there are also some cultural things we want experience one last time that we know we will miss when we leave it.  The things we missed in France are not the same things we will miss on the Islands (mainly because of availability) but some things are so American that even if you can get them somewhere else it’s just not the same as at home.

Start off with a hot shower and strong water pressure.  Water comes on and off in the Islands and a hot water heater is a luxury we won’t have.  Truth be told, most of the time we’re not interested in taking a “hot” shower in the jungle climate of the islands, but sometimes we wanted to take the edge off of the cold water from the tap.  Most often on the islands, our showers came from buckets of collected water and our “hot water heater” was a teapot full of boiling water poured in to make for a pleasant lukewarm experience.

Our kids throw balls past mini-golf hazard (that's legal, right?)

But America offers more than just good showers, there’s also entertainment- movies and sports.  So we’ve been seeing movies.  (Have you seen Les Mis yet?  It was fantastic!)  Not just new ones, but we’ve also been catching up on some of the films we missed in 2012 and earlier through Netflix and redbox.   We’ve also watched a lot of bowl games and are following the Patriots and 49er on their playoff runs.  We’ve also gotten to take the kids to see some Stanford women’s basketball.  (Actually, women’s basketball is something that exists on the islands...but of course, it’s not quite the same.)

There is so much to do with kids in the US.  There are three great parks with awesome play areas in walking distance of the house- what a luxury! The kids love it. Then we went miniature golfing yesterday--another piece of Americana that can’t be taken for granted.  Watching our 2 yr old throw his ball through the door of the castle and say “I did it, Daddy!”, while Grandad helped Grace correct her putting form and seeing our 4 yr old hit a nice straight putt was priceless.

And of course, there’s the food in the US.  Any pork product is highly prized: bacon, sausage, ribs,  bacon, barbecue pork briquet, pork chops, bacon--there are no pigs on the islands.  But surprisingly the American foods we love are actually quite international.  You can get decent imitations of a hamburger or pizza on the islands, but you’re hard pressed to find Mexican, Thai, Chinese, Japanese sushi, Indian, Italian, etc.  Then of course, there’s some other classics like a good diner breakfast--eggs over easy, hash-browns, toast, a cup of coffee, and did I mention bacon?  Or French toast, or pancakes. We’ve been putting on the pounds on this brief American visit.

The kids cheer on Megan

Of course this is just a slice of the things we enjoy in the US.  We could also make similar lists now for the other places we’ve lived.  We already miss picking up a fresh loaf of bread every day from the local boulangerie in France.  And my mouth waters to think about having the famous island dish called Madaba again, but for now, we’re enjoying our American roots with some of the things to which we can’t help but be partial.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We’re thankful for all the fun we’ve been able to have with our West Coast family and friends.  We’re also thankful for all the people and places we’ve been able to go to share about our experiences in the islands.  We even got to join a group of native French speakers this week!  We’re also thankful for nice weather and good health.


PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for everyone affected by the flu.   Pray for the health of our family as getting the flu and traveling would not mix well.  Pray for Megan's aunt who is recovering from brain surgery. We will be traveling to the East Coast on Tuesday.  Pray for a safe flight and for packing our bags, which always seems to be a stressful and unpleasant experience.  Continue to pray for the islands, that more people might remember islanders in their prayers and that God would lift them out of hardship and darkness.

Old Year, New Year

Christmas kids (our kids with their cousin)

We didn’t stay up and watch the ball drop this New Year’s Eve, but we’ve taken the opportunity to reflect on the year past and the year to come. It’s a bit strange to have our year so defined by a place, but 2012 was France, and now that it is 2013 our expectations and thoughts turn toward the islands.

Megan and our 2yr old read a book he got for Christmas

“So, how was France?”  It’s a question we’ve been getting a lot and the answer is that is was a very good year.  For starters we learned a lot of French.  We got a strong foundation for a language that will be very useful for us in the future.  We enjoyed being students again, though we now have more understanding for those who balance being students with having young children (one of the biggest challenges of the year).  Thankfully our kids loved our life in France--especially our oldest who loved going to school!  Plus, we welcomed our youngest into our family!  It was a good year.

And what about the New Year?  What are we looking forward to?  In a word: the Islands.  As most of you probably know, we are here in the States just until early February when we return to Africa and the Islands.  Now we’ve lived on the Islands already for more than two years, so isn’t it all familiar?  Well, it is and it isn’t.  We’re going back to the Islands which means favorite island foods, island sunsets over the ocean, island rainbows, and island mountains, community living and island friends, brothers and sisters. 

Stanford was in the Rose Bowl so...

But even though we’re going back to the islands, we’re moving to a new location - a new island, a new town, a new house and new neighbors!  We’re going back to the islands, where we already speak the language, but we’re going to be learning a new dialect - new language helpers, new vocabulary, new pronunciations.  We’re going back to the Islands, but we’re going to new roles as team leaders, getting ready for a new team full of new teammates to join us in November.  This also means new responsibilities, new challenges and new requirements on our time.  It also means that for the first 9 months before our teammates arrive, we’ll be on our own.  We’re going back to the islands, but with three kids instead of two and our kids are getting bigger which means we have to figure out new issues like schooling.  We’re going back to the same islands, but we’re going to have a lot of new challenges. 

Did we mention that Stanford was in the Rose Bowl?

We receive a good reminder through one of our kids’ memory verses... “The Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Our time in France is done, our time in the US is very limited, then it’s back to the islands, but through it all we know that God will watch over us and as we trust in him we learn more and more to be content in whatever situation (or place) we find ourselves. 


PRAYERS ANSWERED
We thankful to be able to enjoy a relaxing week with family. We finished our new blog design, new magnet and new flyer. (We’re mailing the magnets/flyers out this week-- email us your address if you’d like one.)

The kids with their "Silly Uncle"

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Our old teammate has another month of homestay ahead of her, continue to pray for her and her impact in that village. Pray for the women of the islands.  Recently a couple of women have expressed interest in learning more about the most important things in life.  As always continue to pray for the spread of light and hope among the island peoples.