Thanksgiving

Writing in the new Thanksgiving book

“The GREEN one!” our 4 year old yelled.

I could have predicted this choice. Our youngest always chooses the green anything. Green is his favorite color and color usually supersedes any other factors. So when he was presented the various journal possibilities, the green one obviously won his immediate affection. The problem is that there was also a red journal among the finalists and red is our 6 year old son’s favorite color….

In comes our 8 year old with her powers of persuasion trying to bring consensus. She pointed out the cool way the green journal closed with the sliding sticks along the cover. Our 6 year old wasn’t completely convinced but we took the green journal to the check-out and officially had our new Thanksgiving book!

Our Thanksgiving book is a tradition we started in 2007 and each year we take the long Thanksgiving weekend to think back and write down everything we’re thankful for from the past year. Every family member contributes their thoughts and each year takes multiple pages. Last year we filled the original Thanksgiving book so we needed a new one.

Making turkey table decorations

It has also been our tradition to share with you some of the highlights from our entry.
This year we were thankful to be at Tom’s parents’ house with family and friends enjoying some real American turkey day traditions like the big parade and real turkey! (On the islands we often settle for chicken.) There was all the classics: stuffing, potatoes, yams, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and a little less traditional— a huge Snickers bar (which our son got trick or treating and saved to share at Thanksgiving!).

Some highlights from our kids:  Our eldest is happy for “horses, bunnies, getting her ears pierced, and learning to ride a bike.”  When asked what he was thankful for our middle child looked outside the window and started listing what he saw, “swings, slides, rope ladders,” and then he added, “and everything that happens on Thanksgiving.”  Our youngest is thankful for “Buzz Lightyear and green.”  Enough said.

With his prized giant Snickers

Looking back on our year we spent over half the year on Clove Island and the rest of the year here in the States.  From our island time we are thankful for many good days, great relationships, for good news spreading and people sharing and for the strong conclusion of our team.  On the US side our thankful list is full of lists of family and friends we’ve got to see and lists of places we’ve been— coast to coast and north to south!

We have so much to be thankful for, especially remembering that we have a hope that will not disappoint us.  We hope that you are thankful as well and that you too know this hope that will not disappoint.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We’ve got word that one of Megan’s great aunt died over the Thanksgiving Day weekend having spent a wonderful time with her family and dying peacefully in her sleep at the age of 93. We’re thankful for her life and for her peaceful passing. We had a great Thanksgiving with family! Our country leader met with the island governor again— it was a tense meeting but it ended with our leader standing strong and the governor saying the new visas would be given.

Thanksgiving day leaf pile fun!

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Continue to pray for all our colleagues on the islands, that they would stand strong in the face of scrutiny. Pray especially for our teammate who will be back on Clove Island in the coming week and looking to renew her own visa. Megan had her appointment with a surgeon. We’re looking into the costs and options and will be seeking a second surgical opinion. Continue to pray that the decision about whether to pursue surgery would be clear. We continue to trust God with our finances too. We go to Vermont this coming weekend-- pray for safe travels and good times sharing and reconnecting with people there.

Be Patient

Quick stop in DC on roadtrip

You ever notice how some lessons are applicable to so many areas of life? 

Our daughter’s second cousin was watching her do some of her school work this week. “Wow! She writes a lot! And she’s fast!” I flashed back to a few years earlier when our same daughter sat complaining about writing a single sentence. I remember telling her then— “It’s hard now, but if you keep practicing, it will get easier, you’ll be able to do more and it will be easy!” I told her 2nd cousin something similar— he’s three years younger, but someday he’ll be writing just as well as her. He just has to be patient and keep practicing.

I feel like this theme of being patient, going slow and building up endurance keeps popping up.

First there was talking to the groups of people preparing to go to Africa for the first time. We were reminded about how learning to trust in God is something we often have to grow in. We trust Him in little things and ultimately learn to trust Him in big things. The same with prayer. Sometimes praying for more than a few minutes seems daunting, but if we make a point of growing in that area soon the idea of praying for hours can be exciting instead of exhausting.

Dream come true-- dinosaur bones "in person"

There was also road trips. When we first did an hour-long trip with the kids, they complained about being in the car “so long!” Then we went up to Maine (multiple hours). Then we went to Ohio (multi-day road trip). We just finished our road trip all the way down to Florida and back and our kids talked about 4 hours in the car as “that’s not that long!”

Then there’s my back— physical therapy goes slowly. I’m asked to do an exercise that looks easy enough but I can’t do it without the “bad” kind of pain and so I am forced to start with an even simpler, easier exercise. Then there is even the exercises themselves— my body isn’t used to them so I have to go slowly and get used to holding the right muscles tight. It takes patience.

Talking with so many people brings back memories of other things we have had to patiently grow in:  Learning the island language and understanding island culture.  Learning to play an instrument.  Learning to drive stick and all the embarrassing moments of stalling out at stop lights.  Seeing students slowly learn to speak English.  Watching Island English teachers learn how to be engaging with their students.  Seeing friendships deepen over time.  Seeing lives changed by the truth and yet slowly growing in wisdom and maturity. 

Kids and Lincoln

I confess that there are times I wish we could just skip the waiting and the slow building of endurance and get to the end-result. Don’t all the ads tell us that we deserve things faster? Faster is better, right? Instant gratification!  Don’t wait!  Get it now.  But sometimes fast isn’t the best, sometimes it isn’t even possible.  I guess there was an ad way back then that got it right.  Do you remember the slogan “The best things come to those who wait?”  Of course, then they put the ketchup in a squeeze bottle.  I guess they couldn’t wait for it after all.

But seriously, much of what we hope for our kids, for the islands, for ourselves, even for the world requires waiting, requires patience. There will be days of discouragement but we hold on to our hope and keeping moving forward.

Psalm 27:13-14
I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living! Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our huge road trip is over! Thirteen states over 18 days! It went well. We are thankful for how well the kids did, for all the wonderful weather, for safety on the road and for all the family and friends we were able to see. We are thankful for how well Megan’s back did— the road trip was not a setback and we continue to wait patiently for continued improvement.  We are so thankful for all the people we were able to see and hope that they were as blessed to see us as we were to see them!

PRAYERS REQUESTED
At the offices in GA we were able to get a clearer idea of where we stand financially. Pray that we would have the financial supporters we need to make up for the monthly shortfall we have. We also met some potential new members for our team.  Pray that God would send the right people to join us!  Megan has an appointment with a surgeon to consult about the possibility of pursuing surgery for her back. Continue to pray for healing for her back and for a clear way forward. We pray for a great Thanksgiving for everyone and that we would truly have grateful hearts. We continue to pray for our teammate as she leaves to return to the islands soon.  No new news on the visa situation, but no news might well be good news…

Green

Is this really November?! Go Florida!

“What’s daily life like?  What’s it like for your children?  What should we bring?  What do you miss the most?  What was the hardest part?  What was the best part?  What kinds of things will you eat?…”

So many questions and almost all of them are good questions. This past week we met with over a dozen people on their way to Africa.  As we talked with them about our experiences in Africa it brought back many stories of our first days, our first thoughts, our first memories.  (If you’re interested in some of those stories click on old blogs from Chad.) 

Our 2 oldest

Their questions kept coming and we did our best to answer, and I think our answers are helpful, but even as we answer, there is the niggling feeling of an inconvenient truth:  You can’t really know what it’s like until you’ve lived it.  We wish we could prepare them, keep them from making some of the same mistakes, help them understand the depth of culture, but it all takes time.

When we’re in America, we get these same basic kinds of questions about life in Africa wherever we go, but somehow it’s different when you’re talking to people getting ready to go themselves.  They aren’t listening out of polite curiosity.  They are mining us for knowledge and wisdom that will help them on their great adventure ahead.  They have made a decision to leave behind their comfortable, familiar lives to enter into the unknown, and so they are a wise to go into it with their eyes wide-open.

The exciting thing is that they are going!  They will learn.  They will experience the things they are asking millions of questions about and they will never be the same.  They will find their own answers to all the things we’ve been talking about.  They are stepping into a new world that’s incredibly thrilling and at the same time incredibly hard.  We don’t try to hide it from them, we tell them how hard it will be.  Thankfully, none of them are walking into this blind.  They know it’s going to be hard.  Entering a new culture is a struggle and hopefully ultimately a joy, but they won’t really know until they get there!

Our youngest

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our week in Georgia was great! We were very encouraged by being able to interact with everyone at the office as well as all the new people preparing to go to Africa in the future. We even found someone who is interested in joining our team on Clove Island! We were able to meet with one of our former teammates while we were in Georgia— it was great to connect again! We were able to reconnect with more family that we hadn’t seen in years— another blessing!

PRAYERS REQUESTED
The leader of our NGO on the islands met with an island governor. It was a good meeting. Our leader was able to be honest and open. The governor will be talking with his advisors about our group— continue to pray for favor and an increasing openness on the islands to dialogue about the things that are really important. Our teammate is returning to the islands in just a couple weeks— pray for her preparations and goodbyes. We are in Florida and tomorrow morning the roadtrip continues as we head back north. It will take a week before we are back in the Boston area— pray for our kids that they will continue to transition well. Pray especially for our youngest who has the hardest time with all the traveling. Continue to pray for protection and healing for Megan’s back.

Driving

One of our stops on the road

Almost since the day we got back to America for our home assignment I’ve been driving.  Drive to the store, drive to church, drive the kids to the YMCA,and now drive for hours on our road trip from the North East to Florida.  It struck me, as I put in another 5 hour day and covered about 300 miles, how different this lifestyle is from that on Clove Island.

Two years ago I was without a license.  My license had expired and I didn’t realize it until nearly a year later.  That’s how infrequently I drove on Clove Island.  For three and a half years we and our entire team managed to live without a vehicle of any sort.  How were we able to do this?  Taxis.  The taxi system on Clove Island is quite wonderful.  For almost the same price as a bottle of coke, you can get a taxi ride to any part of the city, regardless of miles or traffic.  It’s a set price.  Taxis run almost all the time, so except for very late at night or very early in the morning, you can rely on one showing up within a few minutes.  So getting around the city, doing shopping, we either walked or taxied, and it worked quite well.

Jack O Lantern faces

But all this is so different from my American relationship to driving.  Here in America, driving is a rite of passage, an entrance into adulthood, a key to independence, and almost an inalienable right.  And the truth is it would be very hard to get by in America without a car (at least where we’re from).  But we have something here that enables this car culture: good roads.  Whether I’m racing down a smooth highway at 70mph, or driving down a winding country road.  For the most part, roads are smooth and well kept up.  In fact, judging by the number of work crews and slow downs we see because of construction, roads in America are in regular repair.  The fact that I can cover 300 miles in 5 hours is really absolutely astounding to an islander.

There is a road that runs around the entirety of Clove Island.  It is 65 miles long.  If you were to do this trip without stopping it would probably take you about 6 hours.  That’s an average speed of about 10mph, and by the end of the day you are so bumped and bruised and tired from going over so many bad roads that you really wouldn’t want to do it again any time soon.  Who wants to drive roads like that?  Sure, avoiding pot holes and driving through mud puddles or dirt stretches might be fun for a little while, but no one wants to do that for hours.  Not to mention the wear and tear on your vehicle.  Oh and you can forget rest stops and restrooms while you’re at it too!

Ready to trick or treat

When we go back to Clove Island next year, we will again have the question before us.  Should we buy a car?  Will it be helpful?  As I drive my car around the States, part of me says , “Yes, the freedom!  The possibility!  Think of the villages we could visit!  Think of the new opportunities it might bring!”  But then I hit a bit of construction where the road is turned up and traffic slows to a crawl.  Do I really want a car?

PRAYERS ANSWERED
The first legs of our big road trip are done.  We have arrived in Georgia and we’ll be here for about a week before we head down to FL and then back up to the North East.  So far the car has done beautifully, the weather has been wonderful, the kids have done better than expected, and the driving has been pretty uneventful.  The highlights have been the visits with friends and family on the way.  We are thankful for God’s blessing and protection this past week.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Please keep praying for the situation with our NGO on the islands.  Nothing has deteriorated but nothing has been resolved yet.  Pray that our leaders would have wisdom and that we would continue to find the favor with the government we have enjoyed for so many years.  Pray that we would have many advocates among the islanders who would come to our side.and defend us.
Pray for our week in Georgia as we encourage people on their way to Africa and meet people who could possibly be our future teammates.  Keep praying for Megan’s back.