Thankfulness

Due to Thanksgiving arriving today, I thought it would be appropriate to share a list of 10 things that I am thankful for. I can't sit around the table and feast with you as we share what we are thankful for, but in this way you can imagine me sitting there passing the mashed potatoes.

Yes we will be enjoying our own feast here on Saturday. There are 4 chickens just waiting outside which will be a portion of our dinner. Thanksgiving in a place outside America is always interesting. It is not the easiest holiday to explain except simply that it is a celebration of all that God has done / provided in our lives. 

1. For wonderful family (spread across many miles) who supports me in all my adventures
2. For friends who also live many miles apart and yet have influenced my life in so many positive ways
3. For all the varieties of people I have met in my life who teach me
4. For letters and the encouragement they bring with them
5. For books to entertain and provoke thinking
6. For music to make work so much easier
7. For the stars and moon that shine, no matter where I go and for the crazy pictures that someone made up long ago
8. For internet, even if it is slow and unreliable
9. For the ability to travel and experience new ways of life
10. For God's love, forgiveness, and protection.

This is just a short entry, but I hope that it helps you think about all the wonderful things in your life. Oh, I guess I forgot to add the wonder of 2 trees and a hammock stung between!   Happy Thanksgiving!   Enjoy your family, feasting, friends, and fellowship.

Photo Time



Simba, our guard dog ...

The Yard (with the gate in the background) ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The House"

My room!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New curtains!
(and Mexico wall decorations)

 

 

 

 

Check out my homemade dresser in the corner!

Braids, Mortorcycles, Chickens, Market, Tea, and Mail

"L'un pour tous et tous pour l'un!" – we watched the 3 Mouskateers in French.


And I did Marianna's ...

They did mine ...

And thus, another week has passed. Not much new and exciting has occurred this week. Schooling happened as usual. Laundry, cooking from scratch (as in squeezing liters of lemon juice and steel cutting oats), playing tag, killing insects, and sweeping sand all occurred as usual. I have started to get a little more creative in my braids on little girls’ heads, but still it is a normal activity. I suppose the excitement stems from the idea that next week is already Thanksgiving!  We have been trying to figure out the plans for this wonderful day. We will be having a feast and sharing it with fellow Americans. Yet again I will spend the year away from my biological family, but I am with family here.

 Let me think, a few firsts this past week for my time here in Chad…. I got to ride to church on the back of a motorbike, riding a motorcycle did not really concern me, but tying to figure out the etiquette is interesting.   For instance, being a female I definitely should not hold on via the driver. This made getting on and off interesting, as I was accustomed to holding onto my dad’s shoulder when I got on the bike. Also, trying to figure out how to gracefully get on and off with a skirt is interesting as well. They just don’t teach you these things at the motorcycle safety coarse in Ohio. We did not go very fast, but you just never know when something (like a chicken or goat) might dart out in front or (in the instance of our street) you might have to dodge giant piles of dirt that the city decided to dump there.  Here you really can’t take corners too quickly because often it is turning from a paved road to a sand/dirt road making the edge rather slippery. Sand plus pavement equals very little traction.

Another first for me here in Chad was the killing of chickens. We took a little break from school to go observe the killing of two chickens, just the preliminary step for Thanksgiving. Currently the chickens are nicely canned. Oh yes, we have canned sloppy Joe meat, canned chicken, canned pumpkin, canned chick peas, and guava jam of course. All produced by the kitchen of Jo.

I also got to go to the market for the first time last Saturday. It is really quite overwhelming. It is a large market with a few different sections. There is the meat market, vegetables, a few dairy areas, cloth/clothing sections, and of course lots of random shops with canned goods and big bins of dried goods.

Well another addition to daily life is that I have started drinking tea with milk and sugar instead of just black. The reason, well it tastes good! Also I have discovered it as the best vehicle for drinking powdered milk, my source of calcium. (well we also have homemade yogurt and homemade fromage blanc.)

Currently on the school front, we are on the countdown for Kenya. We have our goals of where we would like to be in the curriculum prior to vacation. It is really amazing how little time we have. Fortunately it seems that the crickets no longer have much time as they are few and far between.

I have received some letters, thanks friends and mom. Sorry Dad I have not received any of yours, though I anticipate seeing which pictures you have sent. I have mailed some in reply as well. So hopefully some of you will be getting some mail from Chad…yup they actually lick their stamps here.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! Don’t eat too much turkey because it will make you feel sleepy, but please play a round of PIT for me. Also my dear gaming friends, playing Race for the Galaxy by myself just does not cut it. Why oh why did you spoil me soooo with strategic and competitive games, even when I was across the country.

The Two-inch Day

So as a writing assignment in the kindergarten curriculum, Katelyn was supposed to write a story (or dictate) about the day that she woke up and was 2 inches tall. So Jo and I decided that it would be fun for all of us to write a story and then we could all do a presentation of our story. So I have the stories here to share with you. They are pretty funny, and they give you a little glimpse into the life we live here as well as a bit about the kids personalities.

Elin’s story:

As with every day previous, I awoke to the noise of my alarm, “Beep, beep, beep, beep.” Without opening my eyes I felt around trying to hit the snooze button. Unsuccessful, I opened my eyes as the beeping got louder. “This can’t be right,” I thought, “It is still dark and my alarm is going off.” The alarm continued and I became quickly annoyed. I sat up and soon discovered that the sheet was on top of me and it was surprisingly heavy. I tried to lift the edges but was too weak to move them. I finally rolled to my hands and knees and crawled towards a bit of light. By the time I reached the edge of the sheet, I was exhausted and the alarm had slipped into a background noise, something I hardly noticed.  I peered out from under the covers, and had it not been for my mosquito net, I would have fallen the two feet onto the concrete floor. “Something is not right,” I thought while I clung tightly to the net and stared at the cold hard floor.

“Something must be done,” I thought. “Surely when I don’t come for breakfast, someone will come and check on me. I must figure out a way to unlock my door!” I grabbed onto the mosquito net and jumped. The little weight I had was enough to un-tuck the net and I was able to climb down it to the floor. I dropped down onto my flip-flop, now five times my size.  It made for a soft landing. I scurried across the floor of my room suddenly very aware of all the insects and sand sharing the floor space.  I climbed my purple shelf, avoiding books, which if they fell could easily squash me. I hurdled to my chair and scaled the back. Once at the top, I took a running start and lept, grasping onto the carabineer attached to my keys. I held on with all my might and swung back and forth, back and forth. As the swaying stopped, I grasped the key and tried to turn it.  Using all my strength I turned, pushed, jumped on, and hung from the key until I heard the blessed click. Carefully I climbed back down to the floor where I sat, exhausted, to wait for someone to search for me. I knew that breakfast happened about 45 minutes after my alarm went off.   I was uncertain the length of time that had passed since I first dropped to the floor. Ordinarily these actions took less than a minute. I estimated that it would not be too long before someone would cone looking for me.  I carefully sat down, making sure to avoid any spider webs, to wait.

I had dozed off when I heard a knock on the door and Marianna say, “Elin, are you coming for breakfast?” I cupped my hands around my mouth and in my loudest possible voice shouted, “COME IN PLEASE!”  With a sigh of relief I heard the familiar squeak of the door hinges and saw the sun streaming in. Marianna tentatively opened the door and stood inside. She heard the beeping of the alarm clock and said, “Elin, what is that noise? Can I turn it off? Where is it coming from?  Where are you? Are you coming to breakfast because breakfast is ready and we are having porridge and cold chocolate?” Before I could mutter any word, Marianna looked around the room, looked in my bathroom, and ran out the door. I grasped on to her sandal and hung on as she ran across the yard. “I suppose I will skip brushing my teeth and getting dressed before breakfast today,” I thought. “At least my pajamas shrunk with me.”

Once inside the door, Marianna sat down to remove her sandals and I jumped off quickly before I was thrown with the sandal into the shoe basket. I ran along the wall until I was across from the table leg.  I ran to the leg, climbed up it and pulled myself onto the table.   I dashed under the edge of Zack’s bowl to catch my breath and plan about what to do next.

Quietly I crouched listening to the breakfast conversation. Marianna, in a quick but breathy voice, said, “I went to Elin’s room and asked her if she was coming to breakfast. I heard her say to come in with a really quiet voice. I opened the door and found the room empty. There was a strange beeping, but Elin wasn’t there. I even looked in her bathroom but the whole studio was empty so I ran back over here.”

“That is funny,” said Katelyn. “Maybe she was hiding from you.”
 
“Well if she was hiding why would she not be over here for breakfast,” remarked Josh. At this point I was trying to get their attention. I grabbed onto Zack’s hand, which he was ladling porridge into his mouth with. Up I went along with the spoon towards his mouth. I was yelling but no one heard me over their talking and eating. Zack finally felt my presence on his hand, but he simply flicked his wrist, mistaking me for a bug. Through the air I flew, finally landing in the squishy porridge pot.

Luckily the children had not devoured every last bite or else it would have been a very hard landing in the pot. Instead I sank down to my waist and was stuck in the ooey, gooey, warm, sweet porridge. I could not move like the oats around me. My only hope was that a spoon would come in my general direction so that I might hang on and allow it to pull me out. Some might say that luck was on my side (except for the fact that I was only 2 inches tall) when the serving spoon came my direction. I held on tight and opened my eyes wide trying to determine whose bowl I would go to. Swiftly I dropped into Katelyn’s bowl where her spoon came towards me. I dove out of the way, not wanting to be anyone’s breakfast. I continued to dodge in this manner, until her bowl was nearly cleaned out.

I must say that as the bowl emptied the dodging became much easier. “Eww mommy a bug!” cried Katelyn. I swiftly jumped out of her bowl and hid behind her cup. The rest of the family finished eating and the plates were rapidly being cleared from the table. I made a dash to the water cooler at the opposite end, scurrying from bowl to cup to pan to bowl.   I reached the water cooler, caught my breath, and waited for just the right moment.  

I took a deep breath, took my stance, and plunged head first into the glass below the water cooler, filled with the drips from above. At that moment I woke up sweaty and out of breath. My alarm began to beep and I promptly hit the snooze button, simply because I could.

Katelyn’s story (5)
I was going to pet Simba and then Simba snapped me. He swallowed me and I was inside his tummy. Soon, he went poo poo and I fell out of him. Then I squeezed through the crack of the door and came inside.  I climbed up the wood of my bed. I looked at Marianna’s bed and she was bigger than me. Soon I looked at everything in the house and it was all bigger than me.
　

Marianna’s story (6.5)

My sister was huge and she almost sat on me. I went outside. I went to an anthill and I went in it. It was cold. I had a good time. The ants had round faces and sharp teeth. They had straight legs. They were a light brownish color. The anthill was tall, because I was only 2 inches.  The ant said, “Marianna, get us food because we can’t find food.” Then I went back into the house and got the left over food on the floor and dead crickets for them. I gave it to the ants. The ants and I ate the leftover food but I didn’t eat the crickets. The ants begged and begged for me to eat the crickets. I went back to my nice warm bed. I woke up and I was the size when I was six and Katelyn was tiny. Then my sister turned huge again and we both played with our dolls happily.

Zack’s story (8.5)

When I woke up, I realised my pillow was huge, and the cover was huge. So I had to get out of bed. But how?! I thought and thought until I came up with an idea. I could use the net to swing down from the bed.  I untucked the net and then carefully let myself down.   Once I was down, I started to walk.   But how could I make myself big again? So I went down the hall, past the kitchen, and towards the door. The good thing was, that I could slip under the door easily. The bad thing was I would have to get past Abdoulaye AND Simba AND the big lizards. So I went out and I saw Simba coming. I jumped into the bushes. But Simba smelled me and found me. He put his nose into the bushes. I jumped on his nose and he lifted it up. Then he started toward the gate. I tried to stop him but I couldn't. Abdoulaye was headed for us, so I hid in Simba's fur.  Abdoulaye sometimes makes toys out of little bugs, so I did not want to meet him. The lizards would try to eat me like bugs, but Simba carried me past the lizards, and past Abdoulaye and opened the gate. Then he went out and went down the street towards Margaret's house. Once he got there, he saw Beethoven.

Beethoven is the other dog in Margaret's compound. I was tiny but my voice could be heard. So when they were about to get into a fight, I yelled, and Beethoven ran. Simba walked past Beethoven, but then we had to cross Lulu. Lulu was the other dog there. When he came to Lulu, Lulu growled, but usually, Beethoven would be there. But he wasn't, so lulu ran out of Simba's way, and we went to Margaret's. Back behind the house, until Simba came to a place to rest in the shade. But out back, there were the real big lizards, so I stayed next to Simba. When Blitz, Margaret's cat, came, Simba growled. Blitz hissed, but Simba scared her off. She went up into a tree where she wouldn't bug me. But then we had to get home again, and Beethoven was with Lulu beside the gate. Simba growled, and they ran. Then he got safely past them. When he ran, I had to hold onto his fur. He went onto the road and there were motorcycles, so he ran home just in time before the big trucks came. He opened the gate, ran in, and dropped me near the door. I slipped under the door, and went to the kitchen. Mommy had just made breakfast. There was a broom in one corner of the kitchen, and I climbed up the broom to the counter. When I got to the top, I had my feast of pancakes. Then I was big again, and my Mom said, "What in the world are you doing up on the counter?" I took half of the pancakes to Simba for helping me get past the lizards, the cat, and the dogs.

The end.

Josh’s story (10.5)
One day I woke up to see that everything was 2 gazillion times bigger than me! Or I just grew smaller over night. I romped and played in my bed with my puppy Rex and tried to train him to do what I wanted. I wasn’t sure it was going to be a good day today because I had to send an email to my friend Collin! But how would I reach the computer? Then it hit me!  I could use my remote control helicopter because it had tiny controls!  So I tried but as soon as I got in, the control panel broke. “Aw nuts!” I said.  I looked at Rexes squeaky toy and had an idea! I tied a string to a stick and tied the other end to the squeaky toy, and quietly went on Rexes back then I yelled “REX SQUEAKY TOY!” In a flash he was up and running toward the squeaky toy! I was holding the stick! So wherever I pointed the stick Rex went! I guided him toward the computer when I heard a faint humming sound; Rex paused and went out the door, out our gate and jumped up into a truck headed for the local airport! When we got there Rex ran up a ramp leading to a plane going to the States! It was cold and dark too I was really mad at Rex for getting me in such big trouble but I gave him his squeaky toy anyway because he found a package of food already cooked that they would serve the people. It was my favorite, hotdogs with ice-cream for dessert and a bun with butter and jam and peanut butter! We had a feast! Well I did any way since I was so small. Rex ate pretty much everything there was in that place which was only two packs, thankfully.

Then I saw the sign saying ‘FOR THE CAPTAIN OF THE ARMY THOSE WHO EAT THIS MEAL WILL BE SENT TO JAIL. HENCE FORTH DO NOT EAT THIS’ MY knees started shaking at that. Then I saw a some toy skydiving things ‘Perfect’ I thought. I tried the tiny one on and it fit! Then I looked for something that would fit Rex and found a dog sized suit then we jumped into them and opened the hatch and jumped out into a life boat and cut ropes holding the boat and... Landed on a run way?!?! The plane had not even taken off yet.

We went home and took a nap. When we woke we were big and we ate dinner. Next morning Zach was lost and so was Rex.

the end

Jo’s story ("Mom")
There was a big party at the club around the corner that night, and I had hidden my head under the pillow in an attempt to drown out the raucous music and never ending sounds of revelry. I had work to do in the morning, and did not want to lose my sleep.

When I awoke, I was covered by a huge suffocating thing that blocked out almost all light. Dazed, I tried to get to my feet, but could barely push it up off of me. Where was I? What was happening? At last I was able to inch my way towards the distant light, and finally emerged from under the .... what WAS that thing?! I looked around and saw what I saw every morning.... the sun streaming through the window, my husband sleeping on his side of the bed, the gauzy white net that kept the mosquitoes and other creepy crawlies at bay. I had been suffocated by my pillow?! But.... slowly it dawned on my foggy brain, something was very wrong. I was only two inches tall.

Something told me it was going to be slightly more challenging than usual to get breakfast on the table, my daughters’ hair neatly braided, and the massive pile of laundry dealt with. But my first challenge was getting out of bed. The mosquito net was tucked in as usual around the edges of the mattress, and I was unable to pull it out. Finally I found a place where it was a little looser and was able to wiggle through. I hung on the edge of the net and swung back and forth until it sagged closer to the floor and I felt safe enough to drop down. Whew! From this new vantage point, I could suddenly see what had been growing under the bed all this time, completely unnoticed from my normal height of 5’6.” Hmmm... definitely a job that needed tackling but not my first priority.

I ran quickly across the hallway, into the girls’ room, and found what I was looking for... a pink and black dress lay on the floor, normally worn by one of their dress up dolls. Pink is not my favorite color, but I couldn’t be choosy! As I struggled into the plastic-y dress, my eyes lit on a pink car. YES! This would make life so much easier. To my delight, it started right up, and I drove down the long hallway into the kitchen.

Breakfast. As I stared at the towering stove and counter tops, I knew I was in over my head. My son Joshua was the breakfast helper that week, so I decided to go wake him – not the easiest task even when I’m my normal size! However, he had a foot hanging out of bed, so I jumped up, grabbed his toe, and climbed up to his ear. After some tickles and a lot of yelling, he began to stir. “Josh, you have to help Mom with breakfast!” I cried. Mumbling and confused, he finally began to understand that I needed a little more help than usual this morning. I gave him directions to make oatmeal and coffee, managed to escape being stepped on, and moved on to the girls room. (Zachary was already busy sweeping, so I thought it was best to stay out of his way before he enthusiastically swept me out the door. Since he was listening to a story, he wasn’t really looking where he was sweeping!)

Since I had found some clothes to wear in their room, the girls had woken up and were getting dressed. I climbed up the closet door and shouted to get their attention. Finally they stopped talking and were so excited to see me – the same size as their little dolls. They decided they would do their own hair, but in giving them some direction, I ended up tangled in Marianna’s curls and was almost ripped apart by Katelyn’s combing. What a close call.

I hopped into my little pink car again and zipped down the hall to the kitchen.... just as I was about to turn into the doorway, a huge foot crashed into the car and I went careening into the living room. A deep voice rumbled, “WHO IS LEAVING THEIR TOYS IN THE HALLWAY?” My head was spinning and I found myself under the table, wrapped around a chair leg.  The car was nowhere to be seen. I began to cry out, “Honey, it’s ME!!!” but my dear hubby didn’t hear a thing. Fortunately when he asked Josh where his mother was, he heard the story and I judged it safe to step out from underneath the table. When one’s eyes are six feet off the ground, it’s easy to miss little beings down there!!

After a tiny bowl of oatmeal and a tiny cup of coffee, it was time for me to get busy. I was already completely exhausted, though. I put on a movie for the children to watch (Mommy being small suddenly was a WONDERFUL thing!) and crawled into the little castle in the girls room to take a nap. I dreamed I was big again, and I’ve not woken up yet. :) I have, however, cleaned underneath my bed.

Fall in Chad

Happy fall to one and all! No really, it is fall here too. Certain types of trees are losing all their leaves slowly, so as we walk down the road there are piles of leaves, some burned partially and others not. It is almost like home, except we don’t get the blazing colors. The leaves might turn yellow before brown but that is about all the color we get.  Along with fall comes a slightly cooler temperature, though on humid days it is still quite warm (by cooler I mean around 80 degrees). Recently however, I have had no electricity in my room, making sleeping slightly difficult since I don’t have my fan keeping me cool. Luckily the main house has only part of the electricity out, so the refrigerator can still be plugged in, and the lights are working. We think that maybe the power shortage may be caused by the piles of dirt that are being dumped on our street. They don’t exactly look before they dump. Poor Simba (the dog) goes out the gate to do his business (quite the handy routine), but due to the loud trucks and dumping of sand, he becomes quite frightened.

Papaya season has started! We have lots of papaya trees in our compound and have been eating a slice of papaya about twice a day. A breakfast of homemade yogurt and papaya is the perfect way to get the day rolling.

This past Sunday we went to the park that is a block away to play with the kids. We brought a whiffle ball and bat, rugby (foot ball), and a football (soccer ball). We started playing for just a few minutes and more and more neighborhood kids appeared to watch. Then we started to get them to play as well. I spent the afternoon pitching the whiffle ball for kids to try and hit. Some of the kids were hitting the ball quite far.  It was fun to just watch them make contact, especially the littlest kids.  It was a lot of fun though quite warm.

So here is a little bit about the ministry that is happening here in Sarh. Moses, when asked, preaches at different churches in the area.  The YWAM group is in the process of making bricks to build a new campus on which they will be able to run their discipleship schools.  Eventually there will be places for students to live, classrooms, offices, and a place for employees to live. They are hoping that by next year they will have the buildings necessary to run a discipleship school. There are also teams of people who have gone through the YWAM program who are going out to share the gospel at surrounding villages.

Another ministry in town, aside from YWAM and the Baptist mission that has a pharmacy, is a home for girls who they are helping to escape from villages. The girls are escaping the ritual circumcision that is quite common. The girls are taken care of here, are able to get an education, are taught about the Christian faith, and they are one of the choirs that performs at one of the local churches. This is a ministry run by Chadians. It is not easy to be in charge of a house full of teenage girls, however it is an important task. There is quite a lot happening here in little Sarh.

Book update (sorry I forgot last week) Poisonwood Bible, Little Pear, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, and Hatchet. I am trying to get a nice mixture of adult literature (which is sort of depressing in some places) and good old children’s literature, which there is a lot of in this house.  Night Walkers, Mountain Born, Understood Betsy.

On a different note, I will no longer be able to enjoy the singing of crickets. Yesterday I awoke to an invasion of crickets (not little ones but the average is an inch long). Basically my shower was alive with a big black moving blob. I decided to skip brushing my teeth until after breakfast and went and got Zack to assist me in disposing of them. He and I killed a total of 24 crickets throughout the day in my house. That was simply the number in my bedroom and bathroom. An estimation of cricket deaths in the main house was over 50. It was quite the adventure!  Luckily my electricity was on so I could see where I was stepping.

All in a day ...

Hello all! It has officially been 1 month since I departed the North American continent.   I am finally getting settled into the swing of things.  


In the teepee

Last week, if my post actually happened, I promised some details as to my day to day life here.   Around 7:00 am we eat breakfast as a family.   Then the kids have a few chores that they must complete before the start of school.   Around 8:30am we start school.   We do some school, have snack around 11:00am, more school and then lunch around 1:00pm.  We are typically finished with school so the time after lunch is left for outdoor fun or other creative activities.   We have done a few projects in the afternoon with the kids.   One project was making masks (just like I learned in my wonderful art class for teachers at North Park……putting my education to use).   Another was to make animal cells out of jello, dried fruit, and other random edible items (yes Mom, we included peanuts since they are in abundance).   The big project this week was to build a “teepee.”   A tree in our compound was cut down giving us plenty of materials.   After the children built 3 or 4 different models, the adults finally decided to assist and make a structure that would stand.   We used bark to bind and then used the sticks still with leaves to weave onto the structure to create a wall. It has lasted a number of days although the walls are slowly drying out.   Simba, the dog, has taken a liking to it and sort of views it as his own personal house. It is quite roomy inside and we could fit a mat as the carpet.

The girls and I also had the project of making oatmeal bread one day  (oh yes, and they were oats that we personally steel cut).   It became quite dense due to our required substitutions, but it was still delicious.   I also made cardamom bread this week and we enjoyed it multiple days.   We have had lots of fun doing little projects here and there as well as playing games inside and out.   I am becoming well adjusted, learning how to use the gas burners and oven (turning the gas tanks on and off), using the washer that has a separate ringer, and simply everyday life like stopping a shower midway when the power goes out in order to light a candle.   No more planned power outages roommates.

Pois de terre (see last week's blog)