“F” is for Farewell

Part of the training we received in preparation for the field was about leaving well. The acronym was RAFT. “R” and “A” are for reconciliation and affirmation. Before heading out of the country it is good to take care of business at home with each of one's relationships by reconciling with them if needed and affirming them. In fact, we should be doing this all of the time regardless of whether or not we are leaving the country.

A photo CrazyMom's father took as we drove away.

Then comes the “F.” The “F” is for farewell. This is the stage that we have been living in for the last month as we have been saying goodbye to colleagues, church members, friends, and family. There have been tears shed along the way - particularly in that final moment of parting when there hangs in the air the weight of separation. As I have gone through this, in some small way I can now better understand the images I see of couples parting as one goes off to war while the other stays behind. How much more difficult of a parting that must be. While we are leaving many family and friends behind, we are thankful that the nine of us will be together on this journey.

The “T” is for transition. There will be some significant challenges for us over the next few months as we transition from here to Kenya, spend three weeks at Africa Based Orientation, and then travel to Rift Valley Academy to settle in and start teaching. We are excited about the future, but please pray for us as we transition.

Africa or BUST

One of the stops we got to make before heading out of the country was at my sister's house. She and her family had shirts made for the occasion, which was a lot of fun and very, very thoughtful.

Thank you guys! We love you!

The Pocket-Picker, the Finisher, and the Cross-Master

**Two days until we leave for Kenya and I am posting about soccer. Sounds crazy, but this is one of those posts that I have had on my to-do list for a month and today I get that check mark.**

Here are three clips of a few seconds each of the girls playing soccer. First up is Miss Bookworm at left defender. Sometimes the coach would feel that she was not aggressive enough in going after 50/50 balls, but she had a preference to not take the risk on a 50/50 but rather wait for the striker to make a move and then pick her pocket.

I was standing along the sideline of a game halfway through the season when Ed shot on goal and the goalie made a great save. I cheered. All of the parents turned to look at me like I was a heartless father. But you see, Ed already had two goals and the opposing team was clearly not going to mount a comeback to win. If she scored a third goal, then I would have had to take the whole family out for ice cream according to family tradition. That goalie saved a goal and saved me $25. I was happy.

Word got out about “Hat Trick = Family Ice Cream” and I think the coaches liked to see me sweat so they started playing Ed more up front as the Finisher rather than center mid as the Distributor. In the first game of the final tournament Ed scored two goals so the coaches should have pulled her from the front line, but everybody knew that family ice cream was on the line. Well, here is the ice cream goal, as you can tell with KD yelling “Ice cream! Ice Cream!” after she scores.

FG usually played right striker and was tenacious with sticking with the ball until she got the cross off. About every clip I have of her playing seems to end with a nice cross. The team scored many goals off of her crosses, although not on this clip.

The Hats that CrazyMom Wears

We discovered recently that we needed to know the blood type of everybody in the family for some of the paperwork related to moving to Kenya.  With no time to schedule a bunch of doctor visits, we contacted our local nurse - CrazyMom.  She ordered multiple home blood type kits and we had a family party last night by having CrazyMom prick our fingers.  Miss Bookworm used her knowledge from biology class to guess my blood type based on CrazyMom's and the kid's blood types, but Nurse CrazyMom still made me do the test.  I think she just wanted to stick me with a needle and watch me squirm.

Garage Sale

When I sat down to read my email tonight, I found that Miss Bookworm had shared a Google Doc with me.  It is a busy time in our lives and so she decided to help out by writing an ad for the garage sale we are having Saturday.  It is always great when the kids find ways to chip in to help move us along towards Kenya.  Here is her ad:

Due to our impending departure from the country, we are (still) trying to get rid of the junk in our house. Junk being defined as anything we are not taking to Kenya, storing long-term, or filling our trashcans with. The method of junk-removal for this weekend is: garage sale. This means that you officially have a job in our departure. Get your friends, family and anyone you happen to meet along the way and come relieve us of our junk. And then come back for round two. (Don’t forget to borrow a truck!) Because we have a lot of stuff to sell, and if you don’t believe me, well.... you’ll just to have come and see for yourself. Our garage sale will be this Saturday (May 12) and it will last all day long. We will be selling everything from toys to dishes to furniture. So come one, come all to the Big Crazy Family garage sale!

Spoiling the Grandkids

A few days ago I received this email from my boys:

“Dear Dad, We are coming home from Chicago. We had a great time. We are looking forward to coming home. We hope you will spoil us as much as grandma and grandpa have been spoiling us.”

The three boys were making good use of Grandpa’s smart phone by pecking out this email to me. Grandma and Grandpa hosted them for a couple of days in Chicago and they got to do all sorts of fun activities. Going to museums by day and eating out at night provides a good basis for spoiling, and then there was the ice cream, cake, and smoothies.

Since we were not there, we don’t know all that went on, but all reports indicate they had a great time. However, a “great time” is in the eye of the beholder. Evidently Grandpa and the boys had a “great time” at Ed Debevic's while Grandma made a mental note to never return there with them. :-)

Of course, the trip was not really about spoiling the grandkids, but about loving them. We are thankful that Grandma and Grandpa took this time to invest in our boys.

Digitizing Photos

Yay!  We wrapped up a big project tonight.   We finished scanning all of our photo albums.  It will be exciting to be able to take all of our photos with us as we head off to Kenya now that they fit neatly on my laptop.

It is also fun to have them accessible rather than off in some album somewhere.  For example, take a look at a few gems that were in the last album we scanned.  They are B&W photos I took in 1999 when Buddy was born.

Presenting Buddy to the girls when they came to visit at the hospital.

Buddy's first day.

Ed sleeping.

Miss Bookworm was holding books even back then.

Celebrating Five Years in America

F.G. and K.D. just celebrated their five-year anniversary of landing on American soil. The above photo shows how much they have changed physically, but they have grown in many other ways as well.

I sat down and chatted with both of them today about some of their early memories of the transition to America. K.D. remembers grabbing Little Foot’s hand when he got off the plane and not letting go for the rest of the day. Little Foot was a big comfort to K.D. when he first came and none of the warnings we heard about “virtual twinning” came true for us.

K.D. also remembers looking out the airplane window and thinking he saw moving bugs on the ground. He could not figure out why they were so “civilized,” moving along lines so neatly. It was not until the plane got close enough to the ground that he saw they were really cars.

F.G. remembers being brown in a largely white world. There were times when she just wanted to blend in and not be seen, but everybody noticed her.

When I asked them about the best things about living in America, here is what they said:

K.D.
-Pizza!
-Living in a house with a TV that shows American football.
-Being able to turn on a switch and have a light come on whenever you want.
-That the houses are not small.
-Not getting hit with a stick in school.

F.G.
-Having more food than she could normally get.
-Being able to go to school.
-Having parents that love you.
-Being able to sleep in a bed in a big room.
-Having more opportunities to play with friends.

There are things to be missed, however. They both miss friends and loved ones. F.G. also misses being able to walk to the market rather than having to take a car. K.D. misses roaming the streets with his friends. Sometimes he would find a coin, walk into a store, buy a piece of bread, and then take it home to share with his sister.

It was fun to reminisce about the “old” days with the two of them. I am looking forward to seeing what the next five years bring.

Reading in Bed

After a long week of work, I came home a little bit bedraggled tonight. After changing out of my work clothes, I plopped down on my bed and started reading a copy of Advanced Photography where I found a sweet article about painting with light. It was so good, in fact, that it motivated me to get off my duff and paint my own picture.

A special thanks to Miss Bookworm and Buddy who helped me with some of the logistics of the shot.

Life Together

Here is a photo from the last newsletter we sent out.  It has K.D. trying on bee keeper clothing, Miss Bookworm celebrating her 16th bday, Anna singing in a church event, CrazyMom on her laptop, Little Foot ice skating on a lake, F.G. doing homework, Ed playing indoor soccer, and Buddy ice fishing.  Lots of fun memories just from life happening.