Foto4Friday

The boys are back in town.

Colin, (on the left and aged 14) and Chase (of the Russell fam, on right and aged 15) went off on a safari of their own. They have been planning and plotting and preparing for a long time. They took 2 forms of public transport out to a tiny town and then hiked in 5 hours to the home of a Maasai friend. They set up camp near Ole Kukan's house and did day hikes up into the hills to spy on wild life, enjoy the views and generally have great adventures like getting caught in thunder storms and the like.

My camera is on the blink so they just held up my little Mac and smiled into it right after they arrived home.

They were tired, hungry, happy and very pleased with themselves. We were extremely pleased to see them again. At one point the Land Rover they were in was briefly chased by an elephant, but they had no other terribly dramatic incidents.

Happy Birthday, Jesse!

Well, it's hard to believe that Jesse turns 21 today.

Heather and I were eating our oatmeal porridge out on the veranda, looking out on the wet grass and trying to keep the 4 dogs from stealing toast off the table. I turned to her and said, "And today is Jesse's birthday!"

Heather, his 9 year old baby sister, burst into tears. I guess we miss him a lot.

"Jesse is an adult!" Heather said.

That must be so but wasn't he just this size, like, yesterday??

(Jesse at 3 months old, behind Steve and Donna's old house in Santa Barbara)

Happy Birthday, Jesse-boy! We all like you lots and lots.

PS I posted on my Conversant Life blog about what it means to turn 21. It's called "To Be a Man."

Introducing Conversantlife.com

Just a quick post to mention that I have accepted an invitation by Conversant Life to become one of their bloggers.

Conversant Life aims to connect faith to news and culture. Through a host of bloggers and regularly posted news items, they look at Creative Arts, Entertainment, Spirituality, Science, Global Concerns, Social Issues, Relationships, Business and Sports.

My Conversant Life blog falls into the Global Concerns category, but I'm pretty sure I'll end up wandering into Spirituality, Relationships and Social Issues.

I've put up an initial post just to introduce myself so check me out if you would like :-)

I hope to post there weekly and will try to remember to mention it here when I have a new post over there.

Great Reviews for Lisa McKay's Debut Novel

This post is just to convey big congratulations to my friend, Lisa McKay, as her novel, My Hands Came Away Red, continues to soar on positive recognition in the big, bad world of publishing.

I met Lisa in Pasadena last year when a mutual friend turned to us both and said, "Ah, my 2 favorite Lisas!" (Nice one, Scott.) We just kind of "got" each other and that was that.

Anyway, Lisa is a bright one and I am so pleased for her that her debut novel, which only just came out, has already gone to re-print and is now being translated into Dutch and Russian.

My Hands tells the story of a group of teens who take a summer mission trip to Indonesia and get caught up in a tragedy of violence between the Muslim and Christian communities on a small island there.

Well done, Lisa! And would you get over here for a visit already??

Yesterday...

Yesterday we spent the afternoon of Easter with friends. We spent a good deal of time cutting fruit and veggies and grilling a variety of meats on the barbie outside. It all tasted wonderful and there was a good celebratory feel in the air which, I think, is what Easter should feel like.

But the best part of the day was our hike. After sending the Peace Corps volunteers, who had to get back to Moshi, off on the bus, we headed up Lucky Lucky. (I'd kind of like to know how the hill got that name.)

It was a little late in the day to start a hike but we were determined. Besides, we had all promised Heather that chocolate treats would be hidden at the top.

The sky was going all pink and gold and the grass was thick, green and wet. The mud was especially sticky and clumped to the bottom of our shoes, giving us chocolate colored platforms to walk on. It was really quite amazing that no one fell on their backsides as we slid and sunk in the wettest parts.

After a hunt for pastel colored surprises that Max hid (and Gina looked for with a distinctly competitive shine in her eyes) we began the slip and slide walk/run back down the hill, trying to beat the darkness home. We thought about the hyena that Max and Gina said they saw not far from there as we made our way through the coffee bushes toward the end of the adventure.

I loved the way the clouds cleared to show us a new covering of snow on Mount Meru. I loved the 360 degree view of a green expanse of Africa. I loved the thick groupings of bright green coffee berries weighing down the branches we moved through. I loved the brisk air and the fact that Heather left her shoes behind accidentally when the mud got too thick. I loved the feel of being with friends as the day came to a close and the tired, happy feeling in my muscles as I climbed into the truck to go home.

Easter is a good holiday. Such a good thing we have to celebrate!

In Lieu of Foto4Friday...

There's something wrong with my camera so no new photo yesterday. But don't let's be disheartened about that. In lieu of a new photo, I found an old photo that I thought would be good to put up as a comparison to this one of the Borden and Russell boys from a recent post. As Colin used to say when he was little, "Take a check at this..."

Jesse, Skyler, Trevor, Colin and Chase, December 2007, Tanzania...

Chase, Skyler, Trevor, Colin and Jesse, some time in 1995, Kenya...

And Jesse is Doing What?

As you know, Jesse is in Belize doing an environmental science semester at the Creation Care Study Program. He's loving it.

The students just completed 2 week internships with home stays and Jesse's was pretty much a perfect fit for who he is. He stayed with a djembe-maker and his family where he learned about more than just all things djembe.

He posted about it on their group blog so here's a word from our dread head boy. You have to scroll down about 3 short stories to his post...

Peace and Love.

At Home

It has been a peaceful yet remarkably industrious evening round here.

Heather has spent the after dinner time writing a song. I don't know what she was doing to write this song, but she was plunking away on the electric piano that is staying at our house for a few days and scribbling things on a piece of note paper between plunks. She didn't want to stop her inspiration to brush her teeth, but she did, eventually. I walked her and the Russell twins (who had been doing art things) out to the guest room where they have taken up residence for this time that Peter and Tammy are away. The 3 of them seem very grown up, sleeping away in a room that is not part of the rest of the house.

Colin and Chase have been packing. For months now they have been planning a camping trip of their own. They hope to leave on Saturday and be away for 4 nights. They are 14 and 15. Is this a bad idea? I like hearing them as they browse my kitchen shelves and make their food decisions. So far they are taking instant noodles, oatmeal porridge, granola, peanuts and sun dried tomatoes. An adventure will be good for them. But will it be good for me?

Skyler is sitting in the living room alone now with his guitar. As noted before, I really miss hearing Trevor play so having Sky here this week feels really nice. I've known him since he was running around in nappies. Ha! He's so tall and amazing now. I think every home should have a guitar player to bring those good sounds in.

Byron has fallen fast asleep on top of the covers. He has been running around like a crazy man for several weeks with all his work. I'll have to wake him up so he can go to bed.

And me, I'm looking down at pink toenails on my feet. I almost never paint my toe nails, and certainly not this loud color but on Sunday I was at a tea that I needed to look respectable at and I couldn't think of any other way to make my toenails look clean so I grabbed the only bottle I could find, which was in Heather's room. Now I'm stuck as I'm pretty sure we don't have remover in the house.

So this is a long post about nothing in particular. Just a record of how things are in our house tonight.

Goodnight.

Wakeful

I remember you
Head in the crook of my arm
Little self pressed lightly across me
Warm

Now you're here
Head in the crook of my arm
Long self flopped down next to me
Wondering

You question
And try to explain what you feel

You hurt
And try to put words to it

I feel it too

We stare up into the darkness
Admitting our fears
Exchanging our reasons for frustration
The things we don't like about ourselves

And God rests there with us
In our questions and fears
He talks to us about
The way he sees us

His version is so different
From our own

Journeying with you
Is my great joy

Foto4Friday

I Don't Like It When the Internet is Down

On Monday at about 2pm my internet connection faded and then vanished.

At first I didn't want to believe it. I kept myself in a state of denial, telling myself it was just being extra sluggish and ridiculous. I didn't want to call the server because, oh, I don't know why. Maybe it was because making the call would force me to admit that the connection really was cut, (as in dead, lifeless, of no use, severed.)

Last time this happened I called them over and over. "I can see the problem," I told them. "The cable is dangling like a free and crazy thing from the 5th pole away from my house! Just come and FIX it!"

But they didn't come until almost 3 days later. (By then I had developed a slight twitch and a nervous little laugh.)

I NEED this connection! I need to know that an email from Trevor might just drop into my inbox at any time (you know how college kids are up at all hours) or that word from Jesse, away-off-yonder, might suddenly show up. I WANT a cheery note from Nelly and news from my sister, for crying out loud. I HAVE to hear back from Brady, my travel guy, so that I can stop being stressed about the tickets I'm trying to get booked for a whole buncha people. I MUST give answers to a lot of PRESSING questions from IMPORTANT people and, what's more, I FEEL BETTER about myself when I have a clue about what's happening in other parts of the world so for heaven's sake DON'T cut me off from the BBC!

Oh my! Now the connection has been repaired after a 24 hour disruption.

And I'm just left wondering this... How did I manage so nicely for those 10 years in Loita without being wired??

:-)

Foto4Friday

Pepi Says, "Please," and We Have Some Incidents

It rained really hard this afternoon. Pepi wanted a sympathy entrance pass.

Sorry, Pepster.

Heather fell out of a tree today. They tell me she was pretty high up when a branch broke. She landed on her back on the cement but doesn't seem to actually be hurt, apart from a little tender in one shoulder when hugged.

Skyler came off of his motorcycle today when he was practicing at the track for the race on Sunday. He didn't get hurt either, though the bike did land upside-down like a bicycle getting ready for a tire change.

Some guys tried to ambush Colin and Chase and steal their bikes on Tuesday but they didn't succeed. In fact, Colin and Chase never even knew what they missed. Their soccer buddies saw it unfolding and chased the would-be ambushers off as Colin and Chase rode away toward home from practice.

I think we've been giving the guardian angels a work-out this week.

I'm thankful for safety.
(I really am.)

Real God... Real Life

I got a note from a young friend yesterday. She's someone I love and I love what she's learning.

I quote her anonymously to protect the privilege of being on the receiving end of her open heart...

"... We are all young and learning who God really is. Not Religious God but Out-of-the-Box God who meets everyone where we're at and sees us as his perfect creations. We are the ones that dwell in our guilt of sin and shame, but I'm learning to break free and stop worrying, and to start living and enjoying him. That's what he's been showing us lately--that it's ok to be happy Christians!"

Truth is often simpler than we think. I am thankful for friends who journey with me on this path of pursuing it.