Please God, not Africa!

This past week we were at the ABWE  head office in Pennsylvania for three days of training.  It was a great three days of classes, workshops, eating, laughing and learning. When Nate went to Togo at Christmas, he met John, who quickly became a friend and kindred spirit.  John is also returning to Togo this year for a short term stay, so he attended training with us.  It was so great to meet him after all the stories I'd heard about this guy.  These two are two peas in a pod. Here he is with Nate, and their new friend: We had three days of intense classes on everything from finances, health/safety, moral purity, language acquisition, personality types, etc.  All of our teachers/staff of ABWE were excellent.  They were all such high quality people. Here are two of my new buddies, Deb and Terry, who work with short termers to get them on the field: We sat at the same table every day with other short-termers who were headed to Africa.  ...

When we moved to Coldstream about a year and a half ago, I was in need of a running buddy.  Thankfully and providentially, God provided me with a neighbour, right across the road, who was eager to run with somebody too.  (I know she'll laugh as soon as she reads "eager"!) And so we ran.   A few months in, she invited another friend, and so two became three.  And it has been the three of us for months and months now. I love running with Alyson and Crystal.  These two are my sole sisters. On Saturday night, our three families got together for a bbq.  It was funny to finally meet the people I've heard so much about. Alyson and her husband have four boys.   Crystal and her husband have four boys. We have four boys and one girl. Alyson has a dog named Bailey. Crystal has a dog named Bailey. We don't have a dog named Bailey, or a dog at all, BUT we might get one in Africa (for protection) and so, it would only seem appropriate if we nam...

Yesterday, two sweet women from our homeschool group held a garage sale to raise money for our family. This is Paula and Gabrielle, showing off some of the fantastic items people donated: Gabrielle hosted the sale at her house and by the night before, she could no longer get into her living room because of the bags & boxes of donations.   Gabrielle is crazy fun.  And on top of that, she's someone you don't want to mess with, because she's practically a black belt in karate.  Here she is with one of her trophies (which she threw in the "free bin" at the sale)! Paula is adorable ~ she is sensitive to people and their needs.  I have no idea how many people at the garage sale ended up talking to Paula and sharing their troubles.   She spent a lot of time listening, sharing (and chastising Gabrielle & I for dropping the prices on items)! We had lots of good stuff -- and if you are one of the kind people who donated your unwanted items,...

Last Friday, Nate came home with an adorable pair of earrings for me and a little bit of unexpected news. Friends of ours have a daughter, Milana, and she thought it would be a good idea to do something nice for us.  So she decided to make homemade earrings, sell them at school, to her neighbours, to raise money for us to go to Africa. I had no idea she was doing this!  She made over 100 pairs of adorable earrings and sent home a pair for me. On Sunday, when we went to church, I grabbed my camera hoping to get a picture of Milana at church.  I was so glad I thought to grab my camera, because she brought all the earrings and sold them at church too. Here she is, with her display (including flowers, Togolese flag, and her ipod pumping out tunes): Here's her display, surrounded by "Sunday shoppers": Some VERY happy customers:    Each pair came in a cute little bag with a tag attached "Earrings for Africa by Milana" and only $5! ...

Last night we were invited to friends (Mark and Yvonne's) for dinner.  It was an impromptu party, planned at the last minute.  They were providing dinner and we were bringing dessert. When I walked in their home, the aroma of roasting potatoes and barbeque greeted me. Turns out, Mark had read my previous blog post, and there was a surprise on the grill. A STEAK!  A big steak.  A steak bigger than my head....all for me!  There was steak and chicken for everyone else, but they were much much smaller. Here's a photo of me with my steak: Yvonne took another picture of Mark and me and the steak, but there was a strange glow around Mark.  I'd like to think that the photo was of Mark, me, the steak and the Holy Spirit, (blessing Mark for his kindness) but I'm not sure Mark's theology could permit my idea.  Still, I'm pretty certain. How was the steak??  Incredible delicious, juicy, and perfectly grilled. Thank you, sweet friends!...

Here's the beginning of a list of things I want to do before we leave....this list is just as much for me as it is for you, so I'll remember what I want to get accomplished. 1.  I want to eat a big steak.  I think there won't be big juicy steaks in Africa.  2. I want to make a Family Time Capsule.  My grade 2 teacher did this with our class in the September of that year and we opened them in June.  It was so fun.  I think we'll weigh and measure ourselves, write down what we're most looking forward to and most afraid of, and a bunch of other silly stuff.  Then we'll open them when we get home and see how we've grown (or shrunk) and how ridiculous our pre-Africa ideals were. Tonight, that's all I can think of.  I know there's more but I can't recall right now.  Hence the list!