Wherever You Go, There You Are

Cold

2010-11-02T11:50:00.003-04:00

Cold, it is always cold. Cold outside, cold inside, cold during concerts, cold during school time. I think the cold has gotten into my bones and does not know how to go away. I also think I am truly cold blooded because I find myself just stuck standing in one place as people go by me asking me if I am ok, because it is not normal to just be standing in the middle of a room for nothing, or where ever else i have become stuck due to the cold.

Small Spaces

2010-10-21T17:05:00.001-04:00

As I was visiting with a host family about the differences between the UK and America I came to realize why I like it over here so much. It is small. And I prefer small places. Everything here is compact, the streets are narrower, the buildings close together, you can walk many of the places you want to go and if you have to drive it is not far. You can get most anywhere on public transportation. The houses are smaller, there is still plenty of space but each room has a door closing it off, compared to the open floor plan of most houses in the US.

When I think of the US I think of large shopping strips so large that you have to drive from one parking lot to the next. Walking places is not possible in most cases; unless you are in the downtown area of a city. The roads just keep getting bigger and bigger as do the cars. Everything is big.

And I have learned that I like small. I like being in a room that is not open to the rest of the house. I like walking from one store to the next instead of driving. I like the smaller cars and streets. I don’t mind that the one place that kind of belongs to me on tour is the small space of my bus seat.

Small is good.

Paris

2010-10-07T14:52:00.002-04:00

Another new country. France! We are here for only a short bit, a couple days to be exact, but I am loving every moment of it. We are putting on workshops at the American School of Paris (Yes indeed, African children going to France to do concerts for Americans), and tomorrow evening we have a concert. Today after our workshops we headed out to see the city. I have to say, it is different than I thought. For some reason I thought it would be smaller, meaning smaller streets and buildings and such, more like what is found in the UK. So it was quite educational to learn it was so different than what I had in my mind, it is big. We were able to drive by most of the major sites in the middle of the city. I do have to admit though, the chaperones seemed to enjoy it more than the children I think, considering that the game the boys who sit behind me on the bus were playing was how many motorcycles they could count. Once they got up to a hundred they gave up.

As the children were told Paris is known as the City of Love. Brian pipes up "The City of Brian!...Yes everyone loves Brian, it is the city of Brian"

I bet you did not know that France and England have eyes. There is a fair going on, and so there is a large ferris wheel that we drove by. (The children had all just seen the London Eye a few weeks ago)
Collins "Ah look! It is London's eye!"
Primo "Yes look there, Paris has London's eye"
Collins "Maybe this is France's eye"
Primo "Yes, this is France's eye"

Mirror Story

2010-09-06T17:34:00.002-04:00

My alarm went off in the morning
I threw on some clothes for the day
Went and woke up my kids
Then went downstairs to get a cup of coffee
(my plan was to then go back upstairs with coffee in hand and fix myself properly for the day)

I arrive in the kitchen to get said coffee and greeted my host
She looked at me, and sudden horror crossed her face and said
"oh no, I am SO Sorry! We were going to put a mirror up in your bathroom before you came but we forgot!!!"

Hmmm...Lesson to be learned, I should not just drag myself out of bed and make an appearance before first doing something with myself. Or stay in my pj's so that people know I have not yet gotten ready for my day.

(That afternoon a mirror was put up in the bathroom)

UK

2010-09-04T15:51:00.000-04:00

Being in the UK:

• I can usually understand what is being said, but when in doubt, smile and nod.
• Pull the string by the shower to turn on the hot water
• Everything is smaller
• Walk to where you need to go
• Starbucks…what Starbucks?
• Pudding (dessert) after every meal, yummy
• Small roads…am not sure how people do not crash into each other
• Love the big old churches
• Stone houses, so nice
• Pastures, hills, sheep, cows
• Seaside a lot of the places we go
• Hang the clothes to dry
• I love being back here! It is just grand!

Travel Quote

2010-08-18T06:15:00.002-04:00

I was asking one of my kids, Stella, how her flight from America to Scotland went and she told me this:

"Today morning, I was confused yesterday night, because I went to sleep then I was woke up and was told to eat breakfast, and i was upset because it was night and i just went to sleep."

Poor girl, time change is so hard for kids sometimes!

Two Weeks Of Office Work

2010-08-15T17:26:00.002-04:00

After being with my choir for a week I was asked to come early to Lisburn, Northern Ireland to help out in the office for two weeks prior to the choirs arrival.

It was a variety of different things that I helped out with: phone calls, tour details, prepping things for the bus, etc. And in the non-office hours I enjoyed time out with friends. A lovely tour of a castle and the Giants Causeway. And beautiful flat of my own. Although I feel like I should have something great and interesting to say, it was kind of a couple of normal work weeks except that I was in a different country while doing the work. Although I have to say, the sights were quite different and I was very excited about those, and it was lovely to see my friends over here.

Most of all, I am looking forward to my team and children to be here with me. I was just settling in with them, when I came over here. So although I have had a lovely time I am really looking forward to Tuesday when they arrive!

Nail Polish Remover and Doughnuts

2010-08-04T13:53:00.000-04:00

Shampoo and lotion are a normal something something to explode and get all over your suitcase when flying. How about finger nail polish remover. Yes indeed that was the exploding bottle of choice. But naturally I am a smart packer at this point in my life and have all my bottles of stuff in plastic bags. But it still did quite number on my stuff, everything stank of nail polish remover, and that is not nice. But after a good cleaning and airing out my bag over night things were put to right….Stupid bottle.

On another note I would like to report that a ziplock bag of original Krispy Kreme doughnuts when put in a shoulder bag between a laptop and a book and make the long trip from the USA to Northern Ireland, do eventually become flattened like pancakes. Here is the important part… these pancake like doughnuts taste just as good! I have continued eating them the couple days I have been here and despite the laughs from other people I stick by my decision that they are as good as ever…in fact I think I will eat another one right now!

Starting Again

2010-07-24T20:11:00.002-04:00

Well here I am back in North Carolina, with 23 children and 5 other wonderful chaperones. I have only been here for two days but have already dove into cooking meals, grading school exams, and taking walks to the lake in 105 degree weather. It is all great. Today the excitement was shoving the kids all out the door into an hail of water balloons, which I am told is a normal Saturday event. I have been to this house so many time it kind of feels like I have never left, and it is good to be back home.

Priorities!!

2009-06-07T18:02:00.001-04:00

Bedbugs

2009-05-03T23:46:00.001-04:00

Good night
Sleep tight
Don’t let the bedbugs bite

Yeah well let me tell you a thing or two about bedbugs. New York, that is where it all happened. I am in bed in my hotel room with my three sleeping children in the bed next to mine, and I am watching a movie on my computer when out of the corner of my eye I see a small bug crawling on my pillow. Well I brush it away and don’t think much of it, bugs are around now and then…no big deal.

In the morning I have several large bites on the back of my shoulders, and as the morning goes on more and more big red bites keep showing up. The itching is starting to drive me crazy. So I figure it must be bed bugs. This was a three night stay so I switched to a new room for the second night, but by then it was too late. I had over a hundred bites show up by evening. And these bites were turning into huge welt like hives. By the middle of the next day I ended up going to a walk in clinic because I was starting to react to the hundred some odd bites. Three medications later I am doing much better. Lucky for my kids I was the only one attacked. So far that is my one and only experience with bedbugs and I really would like it to be my last.

Kick and Run

2009-04-19T21:22:00.001-04:00

You hear of cars hitting pedestrians but how often do you hear of, or see, a pedestrian hit a car? We were on our bus, stopped at a red light, downtown Montreal. On the other side of the intersection there is a person crossing the street on a don’t walk sign and a car comes along to make a right turn on their green light. But this takes the car in the path of the person crossing the street. This is when the pedestrian decides to kick the car as it is passing by because he is mad at it. That is right…He kicks the car and hits it as well. So the car stops and the driver and the pedestrian start yelling at each other. Eventually the lights all change and they both have to get out of the way. I was truly amazed. The pedestrian was in the wrong, yet he still had the nerve to attack the car!

Our Last JOH Show

2009-04-10T22:59:00.000-04:00

We are coming to an end of our Journey of Hope theater tour. Tomorrow is our last concert. It is a bitter sweet end to this part of our trip. On one hand it will be nice to change the pace of things by switching back to our church show, and to have a bit more of a predictable schedule. The bitter part is that we are having to say good bye to many of our team members. Because they are here specifically for the theater show they are now all going their own ways in just a couple days. It will be quite sad to see them all go, they are all good friends. We have worked hard together, and shared many laughs and good times together.

Coffeeville

2009-03-20T20:42:00.001-04:00

I think this is where I would like to go and live!!!
Just go and sit and drink coffee all day.

Spelling Test

2009-03-17T22:14:00.002-04:00

One of the Aunties gave a spelling test in her English class and then later showed me one of the tests. At the top of the paper Spelling Test had been written out nicely...only it was spelled,

sppling test

Times Zones and Salt

2009-03-13T23:54:00.003-04:00

I am quite excited because today is the last time for a couple weeks that we are changing time zones. The last number of weeks we have been changing between Central and Eastern time a couple times a week.

On a completely different note, this evening I had the most salty chips in the world. They were saltier than 10 salty things! They kind of made my lips get sucked back into my head and dry up into nothing. And you may think I am making this up, but no I am not, even my friends at the table with me were wiping off each chip before eating them. That is a lot of salt! You may be asking why we kept eating them? Well sometimes a person just wants chips and salsa.

Michigan

2009-03-03T15:02:00.006-05:00

Right now we are in the upper top of Michigan, the part above the Michigan Mitten part. Traveling long distances on a bus is a curious thing when it comes to the weather. We get on the bus in one place where it is perhaps a wee bit chilly, but not cold. And when we get off the bus we are surrounded by snow, frozen rivers, ski hills, ice covering the parking lots, and snow mobiles everywhere. So out comes all the layers of clothes, hats, scarves, gloves, etc. Knowing that probably by next week we will be putting them all away because we will once again be needed a wardrobe change to accommodate the next states weather.

This is what I see when I look out my hotel window.

Lord / Jackfruit

2009-02-13T21:17:00.002-05:00

We had a bunch of extra time this evening before bed time, so I asked my three girls that I am staying with to teach me one of our Luganda worship songs. I already know quite a few of them and enjoy singing what I can during our devotion time, but every time I join a new choir there are yet more new songs to learn. So Florence starts taking me through a song nice a slow so I can get all the different words, and as we are singing along all three of the girls start laughing till they are falling on the floor. They tell me between bursts of laughter that instead of singing "the name of the Lord shall be praised" I am singing about jackfruit. ...sooooo I guess I was not saying it quite right, but I got it in the end...I think. Florence says she is going to test me in the morning.

Safety

2009-02-13T00:36:00.001-05:00

Safety First,
I always say!!

Salad Is Not Real Food

2009-02-07T20:40:00.002-05:00

We go to buffets quite often. And a couple times now I have just gone for the salad bar and fixed myself a big, grand, salad. Twice now it has happened where I bring my salad back to my table, and the kids I am sitting with look at my heaping plate in amazement and ask me “But Auntie aren’t you going to get food?!” I look at my salad which is big enough to be my entire meal, and tell them that I have a huge plate full of food. But they insist that I have not taken any real food. They point to their plates filled with chicken, mashed potatoes, fries, and a variety of other such stuff and tell me that they have food but I do not. So at the end of a meal when I am completely full from my salad they are all still amazed because I did not eat any food for dinner. (can you tell how fond they are of salad!)

Jacky

2009-02-03T00:38:00.003-05:00

Friday January 30, 2008 Jacky passed away.
She was one of my children from the children’s home I helped out at in Uganda. Yes she had AIDS but she was a healthy child for the most part. She was a happy, fun loving little girl. But a number of days ago she became sick and ended up in the hospital. There were complications with the blood transfusions she received, and her forth day in the hospital she went home to be with the Lord. Although I was only at the children’s home for a month and a half I still feel very attached to those children. There is something about spending all day every day with them, taking them to the clinic every day, giving them their medications, playing with them, holding the little ones as they fall asleep, taking them for walks, and giving them all the love possible because they do not receive it in the other parts of their lives. They called me Mummy and I felt like it. And now one of my children is gone. Gone for reasons I cannot explain, she was only 9 years old, and she lived and died from a sickness that was in no way her fault.

Departing

2009-01-25T21:06:00.001-05:00

After the last couple weeks of staying at our base house we are now on the road. This first stop is a couple days of staging our show and getting it ready for our concerts. Although it is always nice to be in one place and in our own home it is also nice to be on the road again. We went to church this morning, then headed out right from there, we also picked up two new Aunties at the airport that are joining our team. It is a great team, lots of fun people, and great kids. I would write more but it has been a long day and my brain has now stopped working.

One Bum

2009-01-18T12:58:00.000-05:00

I was on the bus on the way to church, sitting between two boys. Godfrey is twisted around not sitting properly on his seat, so I ask him:

Is your bum on your seat?

He hold up one finger as says

One is

The Large Things In Life

2009-01-17T13:12:00.000-05:00

“It’s a mistake to think it’s the small things we control and not the large, it’s the other way around! We can’t stop the small accident, the tiny detail that conspires into fate: the extra moment you run back for something forgotten, a moment that saves you from an accident – or causes one. But we can assert the largest order, the large human values daily, the only order large enough to see.”

From the book Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels

An Uncheery Subject

2009-01-15T14:50:00.000-05:00

I had a rather interesting conversation with a friend last night and it has left me wondering about myself, human nature, the laws of God and man, and how desperation will cause you to make choices you would not normally make.

The question posed (which stemmed from us watching the evening news) was “Do you agree with torture?”

Well my first response was a great big, NO it is never ok. Now although most countries will not admit it, I do think that every government tortures individuals to get the information they want, and the world is a better place for it. I know it happens but I do not want to know about it.

Now it is one thing when we are talking about terrorists and countries being invaded and people being blown up, it would seem that for the greater good the information should be extracted from the individual in order to save a greater number of people. Does that give us the right to do horrible horrible things to another human? But we also brought it down to the level of would we think torture is ok if it was just the safety of our families involved.

Through the conversation I stubbornly suck to the fact that it is not ok, and I would never think it was ok under any circumstances…but here I am a day later still wondering. I hate people being hurt, and I hate the ugly side of life. I know that some people make those decisions and are ok with that, but I am just not one of those people. I do not like violence. Is it possible for me to say, it is not ok with me, but at the same time I know it happens and with that I am ok with as long as I do not know about it. I know that is rather two-faced but that is how I feel about it.

Jasper

2009-01-13T15:19:00.000-05:00

I went to Jasper Alberta with my friend Jessica. We had a great time walking through a canyon on a frozen river. I have never seen anything like it. The canyon walls going so high up above and beautiful frozen waterfalls all around. Half way through our walk it started to snow big fluffy snowflakes, it was quite magical. There was also a cave like place that had snow crystals growing down from the ceiling, once again I have never seen anything like it. I tried to take pictures but it really did not do any of it justice.

We also went to a lake and did some snowshoeing around on it. We were the only people in the world. It was one of those places that you can hear the silence and the wind rushing through the mountains that surrounded us. It is times like these that I can so easily see how big God is, how amazing He is, and how He is eternity. It is so easy to get wrapped up in life and think all my problems are such a big deal, but then I stop and look at the amazing creation of God and wonder why I worry. If God is so great as to make something so breath taking then surely he can take care of me and my little life.

Rats

2009-01-05T00:13:00.000-05:00

So the other morning I got up and came down to the kitchen and stopped short as I find on the kitchen counter a box of rat poison and a pellet gun. The cat food is all put up on the counter and I realize that all the bedroom doors were shut (which they are usually not). At this point I start to freak out, WHY is there rat poison and a gun in the kitchen!!!!!

Here is the story. That night at 2:30am my mom realized that she had forgot to put out the garbage for garbage day. She opens the back door to get the get the garbage can and when she grabs it she feels like she touched something that was not quite right but does not see anything. Well let this be a lesson to everyone!! If you touch something funny feeling in the dark, Run Away! Because the second time of grabbing the garbage can brought a big fat rat, about 9 inches in body length, running up her arm. It dropped off half way up and ran into our kitchen to disappear. My moms screaming brought both my brother running (I slept through it all). So at 2:30 in the morning Jesse goes to the store to get rat poison, and Casey brings out his pellet gun to gun down the big fat rat.

The whole next day I go creeping around scared to death that it is going to come out and attack me. I made Jesse bring me a broom so I could defend myself before I was willing to climb down off the chair. And better yet we taped a butcher knife to the other end of the broom. So no worries, I had my weapon to keep myself safe, because I was sure it was going to come after me.

The next night we set traps, and lucky for us it got itself trapped. So no more rat to come after me and kill me. It is ok folks, I am ok!

2009

2009-01-01T23:03:00.000-05:00

Welcome 2009. I know the new year is suppose to be a big deal with goals and such, but I have to say I have never really gotten into the whole New Year thing. New Years comes and goes and life continues to plod along in the same manner it always has, bringing its ups and downs, and small to large new adventures around the many corners that we turn in life. Now I do indeed look forward to the new years that come, and I always appreciate the years that we have finished, but that is about it. So this is me, rather nonchalantly saying, welcome 2009, may you be what you be.

Same old Same old

2008-12-27T16:27:00.001-05:00

I know this is probably becoming old news, but here I go again on yet another tour with the African Childrens Choir. This will be my fourth choir, what can I say…I guess I really like what I do. I would love to say that this tour is going somewhere exotic but there is nothing too exotic about the mid west of the states. Although traveling with 20 some odd children is adventure enough.

So once again I am wrapping up my life here in Bellingham. I was talking to my boss at work and we were figuring out when my last day would be. I told her that if she needed I would work up till I leave, I just need one day before I go to get ready to go. That statement got a good laugh out of everyone in the room. I guess needing only one day to get ready to leave for 8 months is not the most normal thing. But it has become so normal for me I don’t give it too much thought anymore.

Personality and Strenghts

2008-11-22T18:41:00.000-05:00

At work we all did a bunch of personality type stuff and here is what I came out with:

Personality Type based on Myer-Briggs
ISFP "The Sprite"
Loves working behind the scenes to contribute to valued persons or causes. Happiest when working individually at something that matters deeply to her. Enjoys the moment, taking great pleasure in sensory experiences. Is reserved - showing warmth and enthusiasm only to close friends; idealistic; deprecating - demanding a great deal of ones self; gentle; compassionate; attentive

Strengths based on Strengths Finder
Belief:
Has a strong core values that cause her to be family-oriented, altruistic, even spiritual, and to value responsibility and hight ethics both in herself and others. They will give her life meaning and satisfaction, guiding her towards a consistent set of priorities. She will be dependable and trustworthy. Her work must be meaningful, valuable and mesh with her values.

Achiever:
By the end of the day she must achieve something tangible in order to feel good about herself. The relentless need for achievement might not be logical, or even focused, but will always be with her. Keeps her moving and motivated.

Responsibility:
She takes psychological ownership for anything she commits to and feels emotionally bound to follow it through to completion. She has a near obsession for doing things right, along with impeccable ethics making her utterly dependable.

Relator:
Draws her to people she already knows, and derives a great deal of pleasure and strength from being around close friends. She is comfortable with intimacy, deliberately encouraging a deepening of a relationship.

Learner:
The process of learning is especially exciting. It enables her to thrive in dynamic work environments where she is asked to take on short project assignments and is expected to learn a lot about the new subject matter in a short period of time, then move on to the next one.

Learning Style based on Memletics
Solitary:
Private, introspective and independent. Can concentrate well, focusing thoughts and feelings on the current topic. Aware of own thinking. Spends time on self-analysis, taking time to assess accomplishments or challenges. Likes to spend time alone. Prefers to work on problems by retreating to somewhere quiet. Likes to make plans and set goals, knows direction in life and work.

Social:
She typically prefers learning in groups or classes, or spending one-on-one time with an instructor. She prefers to work through issues, ideas and problems in a group, bouncing ideas off others and listening to how they respond.

Physical:
The body and sense of touch are used to learn about the world around her. Enjoys sports, exercise and other physical activities, and uses that time to think about issues, ideas and problems. When learning a new skill she would prefer to "jump in" as soon as possible.

The Language of 2 Year Olds

2008-11-15T14:09:00.000-05:00

With my current job I am working with two year olds. At this point in their lives they are learning how to talk, and name their shapes and colors and such. So one afternoon we were all sitting around our wall chart of shapes and the kids were pointing them out with great pride saying the names of them. Now of course what they were saying did not so much resemble the name of the shape but they were catching one or two of the sounds that should be there. Well one child points to the start, looks at me with a huge smile on their face making sure I was listening to them, and confidently pronounces the name, "sshit." Hmmmm, yes honey that is a star, good job!

Another child consistently calls a triangle, chicken.

The next day one of my girls comes up to me and holds a one sided five minuet long conversation (that is very long for a two year old). She was very excited about the story she is telling me and talking as fast as she can. She is also taking in a huge breath between each word she says making the story quite long. This is a little bit of how it went:

she (breath)
she (breath)
she (breath)
and (breath)
umm (breath)
bing (breath)
and (breath)
for (breath)
and (breath)
JACK (breath)
um (breath)
chab (breath)
choo choo (breath)
for (breath)
JACK (breath)
and (breath)
chair (breath)
seat belt (breath)
Here she cracks up laughing at her story
aaannnnndddd (breath)
mommy come (breath)
and (breath)
and (breath)
daddy come (breath)
and (breath)
um (breath)
she (breath)
she (breath)
she (breath)
come (breath)
um (breath)
and (breath)
church (breath)
um (breath)
yeah (breath)
table (breath)
and (breath)
chair (breath)
daddy (breath)
on (breath)
him chin (breath)
Once again she starts laughing, showing me on her chin about her daddy
daddy (breath)
daddy (breath)
chin (breath)
and (breath)
miss (breath)
and (breath)

This was the understandable part of the conversation, there were a lot of words thrown in there that I could not make out at all. But I found her very funny with how excited she was about telling me all about her daddy and something on his chin.

And that my dear friends is the level of conversation I have throughout my days!

2008-10-31T00:47:00.001-04:00

So yes it has been a long time from the last time I wrote. I am now back in the US, in Bellingham. The rest of my time in Uganda was great. Holly is back and feeling much better and able to take back over her orphanage. I am now working at A Children’s Learning Center. I am the teacher for the two year olds. It has taken some getting use to, but I do enjoy working with them. So I am here for now, but we will see how long I actually stay in Bellingham.

Little bits of the Day

2008-08-27T10:38:00.000-04:00

Yesterday late afternoon I went and sat down in the sitting room and in just a few minuets my lap was filled with three children who were soon fast asleep, and there they naped for an hour till it was dinner time, while another child sat in another chair and visited with me. When it was time to eat, one child woke up with my pants imprinted on thier face, my front was covered in sweat from the child right on top of me and my arm was covered in drool from the third child. It was quite the nap time!!

Today I took 7 boys for a walk. One of them yesterday decided that we sould walk to Kenya. So off we went. We ended up walking to a golf course, and on our way we came to thousands upon thousands of bats flying overhead and covering the trees. And then we came to four cows on the green, and later some goats. There was also a section of power lines down on the road that we just walked around and by for quite some time. Only in Africa is a walk like that normal.

My Day

2008-08-23T12:18:00.000-04:00

So a general day for me looks like:
5am The kids get up
7:30am Sharye and Jessica get up and have coffee in bed

The rest of the day is filled with:
Letting the kids hang on me
Plyaing cards
Maybe play some soccer
Take some kids for a walk to the river
Sit and let the kids pile in my lap
At some point some child will come crash into me with a fever and they just need a bit of cuddle time
Maybe walk some kids to the clinic

Kids dinner is at 6
Meds are passed out to all kids at 7
Kids go to bed
Adults eat dinner
Watch a movie
Go to bed

A Hop Skip and a Jump to Africa Again

2008-08-12T01:59:00.000-04:00

Life is funny, one minuet I am sitting at home wondering what to do with my life, and in the space of three days I packed myself up to head off to Africa. Well not Africa directly, first I visited my friend for a week, and now the two of us are off to Uganda in two days. Sadly I am going under unfortunate events. A friend of mine has become sick and needs to return to North America for treatment. The only hitch is that she has an orphanage. So there are three of us; one American, one Canadian, and one Ugandan, who are stepping in to run things while she is gone. My ticket takes me there for six weeks, we are hoping that in that amount of time Holly is recovered and ready to work again.

Although it is bad circumstances that is take me there, I am really excited. I love Uganda, and I am very ready to go and spend more time there. I have also always, for as long as I can remember, wanted to work in and orphanage. I went through many years of being chagrined as to the fact that the US does not have orphanages for me to work in. So now here I am about to fulfill one more of my life ambitions…and I get to go to Uganda to do it.

A day in the Sun

2008-05-16T22:44:00.000-04:00

You know there is something about spending a day sitting in the sun. In a perfect temperature, not too hot, not too cold. Sitting there alllllll day, reading, journaling, time on the computer. It is truly grand, and there is something about it that makes the world feel like such a grand place.

2008-04-30T18:58:00.000-04:00

Good bye Base Choir.

I miss you already.

Black Hair

2008-04-27T21:54:00.000-04:00

The other day during lunch I was talking with some of my kids about about the different colours I have had my hair. I told them I have dyed my hair different colours of red, I have had it blond, my normal colour is brown, and I have even dyed it black. Upon saying this last colour Mark who is sitting next to me says "eh! I wish I had black hair!" (please remember this is an African child who could not have blacker hair). I looked at him and laughing asked him what colour he thought his hair was. With a foolish grin he responds that for a second he thought he had brown hair and forgot his hair was black. I am still not sure if he really did forget or if he was joking, I kind of think he really did wish he had black hair.

Dress up time in Elsa's African outfit

2008-04-26T16:00:00.000-04:00

Dress up time in Prossy's African outfit

2008-04-26T15:58:00.000-04:00

Driving Driving Driving

2008-04-25T23:20:00.000-04:00

Well after three long days of driving we are finally home! The whole group is so glad to be off the bus. After our last concert on the morning of the 23rd we had to say good bye to three of our chaperones. It was the beginning of the end. So after our hurried good byes we started our three day drive from Wisconsin back to our home in North Carolina. We arrived here today and it is so good to be home. We have already started our repacking and organizing of all our stuff. Our next few days will be filled with getting the kids pack with everything they need to go home with along with as much play time as possible. The kids are all so excited to be going home, they are counting the day.

Stop And Smell The Flowers

2008-04-08T01:23:00.000-04:00

So this morning I went grocery shopping for the next three days of lunches for the choir. As I am walking up and down the isles of a nearly empty store, I find myself completely enjoying myself. There I am piling loads of fruit, bread, and lunch meat into the cart as I listen to the mellow music that is playing in the store; and I realize how much I miss doing normal things such as going and buying food. So as I am taking my stroll with my loaded cart up and down the store, I start to realize how busy I get and then forget to take pleasure in the little things in life. Our society gets so wound up with work that we forget to sit back and smell the flowers. And by consuming our lives with our work and social live of moving here and there, we are robbing ourselves of simply enjoying living. So my revelation for the day is stop and enjoy the grocery shopping, don't always run around like a chicken with it's head cut off. Even if you have a lot to do, take one thing at a time and enjoy what you are doing. Take pleasure in the little things, because it is all the little things that make the big picture of life.

Life with/out kids

2008-04-05T23:34:00.001-04:00

Sometimes I wonder about my life. I mean here I am in a hotel room after putting to bed two of my girls. After our concert I snuggled into bed with them and read them a story, we prayed, and now they are sound asleep in the bed next to me. I love being a parent. When I came on this tour I thought, just four months, that is not so long, how attached to these kids will I actually become. Well it has happened. I love my kids so much. I love being a parent, I love laughing with them, having tickle fights with them, hearing their stories from their days, teaching them the right thing, leading them in devotions, putting them to bed, giving them hugs, encouraging them at their concerts, and so much more. This is the third choir I have been with, the third group of kids, and the third group of my children I will have to say good bye to. I wonder if I will always be living these short little time spans of life with so many people coming and going. As God continues to call me down the path that he has for me I wonder if it will always be this swinging door of people and places. If it is, that is fine with me. As I always say, Where ever you are Be all there. And I try my best to live like that. But there are times when I do wish that I could just keep my kids like a normal parent. Watch them grow up and know that they are (hopefully) in my life forever. I suppose I am just getting thoughtful as we are counting down this last month till the kids fly home, and I will be left here once again without children to call my own.

A Grand Chocolate Fondu

2008-04-05T00:13:00.000-04:00

Shampoo

2008-03-27T22:05:00.000-04:00

So I went to get ready for bed last night, open up my toiletry bag and find that the cap had broken on my shampoo bottle and there was shampoo all over. So at 11:30 at night I have to clean everything off, and clean up my toiletry bag. But of course the more I rinse it out the more it lathers up. Let me tell you, it is now one clean bag! Nothing like lots of shampoo lather to clean up a bag.

Going to the Movies

2008-03-22T23:31:00.000-04:00

We decided to take all the kids out to a movie. There is a $1.50 theater near by. So this afternoon we all went to see Alvan and the Chipmunks. We even did it up right with popcorn and pop. I was not expecting much out of the movie, but as it turned out it was fun and rather funny. I love watching movies with the kids. Because they hardly ever see movies their reactions to them are great. The kids get so into what they are watching. Anyway, it was a great afternoon.

Holding Your Breath

2008-03-17T21:23:00.000-04:00

Do you know the driving game where you drive through a tunnel and see if you can hold your breath through it? Well we were driving today and went through a long tunnel and the kids tried to hold their breath. Half way through we hear a voice from the middle of the bus "I AM HOLDING MY BREATH" I just about died laughing. Then later we went through another tunnel and a little way into it, we ask "Who is holding their breath?" and all over the bus we here a bunch of excited "ME" Hmmmm....something tels me some of them don't quite get the game.

Hitch Hiking

2008-03-12T19:42:00.000-04:00

So we are flying out of Florida tomorrow and we have to get going at 5:30 and naturally that is way to early to eat breakfast. Any normal person's stomach would not take any part in putting food in at 5am. So Sarah and I took the hotel shuttle to the grocery store so we could get food to eat later at the airport. I made sure before we left that we would also be picked back up. So we do our shopping for breakfast and lunch food to take with us tomorrow. I call the hotel and tell them we are ready to be picked up, they say ok. 45 minutes later I call again, they say the driver just got back from the airport and he will be with us in a few minutes. 30 minutes later I call the hotel again and no one picks up the phone. So I call one of our chaperones and tell him to go down and yell at the front desk. He calls them and they inform him that the grocery store is actually outside of the shuttle range and the driver was just bing nice to drop us off but he is not going to come and pick us up. We give the hotel a what-for because I had been told we would be picked up, so they call a taxi and they were going to pay for it. In the same time Sarah went and talked to a lady coming out of the store and tells her our situation and asks for a ride back to our hotel. The lady was very kind and agreed to give us a ride. So we loaded all our groceries in the car and she takes us back. And that is my first hitch hiking experience.

Rich People

2008-03-11T23:35:00.000-04:00

This evening we just finished up with a corporate event in St. Petersburg FL. We did a short performance for about 130 people who are all the financial people of sorts to large corporations. Disney, Johnson n' Johnson, Nike, and one of the larger hotel chains are just a few of the corporations there. These people were coming together to somehow decide and think about what they should do with their money. So we are hoping that some of the money will come in the way of the African Childrens Choir. But despite if it come to us or not, I think it is great that all these large companies are looking for something that they can feed into in a way that will make a positive impact in others lives.

Skydiving Video

2008-03-06T18:20:00.000-05:00

Skydiving

2008-03-05T01:30:00.000-05:00

Hotel Pictures

2008-03-01T23:46:00.000-05:00

So being that we stay in hotels every day of the week, there are a few things that I have noticed. Why is it that they decorate the two sides of the room exactly the same??? On one side of the room there is a bed and a picture over the bed. About two feet away there is another bed and the same picture is over that bed. This I do not understand. Why not put two different pictures in the room. Do they think that the people sleeping in the two different beds only see the picture over their bed??!! A little bit of creativity would be nice. Is It really that hard to find a set of two pictures that would go together nicely in the room. Honestly, I could do a better job at decorating hotel rooms than what they are doing.

The other thing is the coffee that is provided in the rooms. It is usually quite nasty. It is kind of like having a little bit of coffee flavor with my hot water. Being that this is the case I have given up on it. On the occasion I will attempt to drink it but too often I can only manage one sip of it and then I just have the pleasure of having a cup of coffee sit next to me. But on the other hand there are the hotel that do have good coffee. So not all hotels fail on this point (which is a very important point in my books).

A big plus to hotels, is that often times the pillows are just right for pillow fights…

My wet bed

2008-02-23T00:10:00.000-05:00

So we had a bit of a long drive today so we did not get to our hotel till late. By 10:30 I had my two girls in bed sleeping, and I then climb into my bed. This is when I discover that my sheets are wet. So I call the front desk and ask them to bring new dry sheets to my room. As I wait for them to come I strip off the wet ones and find that it is the mattress that is wet. Yes there is a large wet spot right in the middle of my bed that had soaked through all the sheets and blankets on the bed!! So I point this out to the lady who brings me my new sheets, and being that my girls are already sleeping she brings me a cot instead of moving us rooms. I do not even want to know why my bed was wet. Some things are better left unknown.

What have you done this morning???

2008-02-16T16:02:00.001-05:00

I am sitting on an airplane next to two other chaperones with my 22 children sitting in the rows in front of us. We are waiting for the rest of the people on the plane to disembark before we move our group off. I look at my watch and notice that it is only 8:30 am and think “hmmm most people are just getting out of bed or leaving for work.” As I voice my thoughts I soon find myself and two friends laughing to kill ourselves as we start listing what we had done already.

Wake up our 22 children at 3:00 am
Load our bus
Drive a half hour to the airport
Check in all 28 people
Eat breakfast as we wait for our plane (and drink Starbucks)
Pass out all the boarding passes to the children
Get the group settled in their seats
Take an hour and a half flight

And there we were, still needing to take another flight, to get us to Florida for our concert later that day. So we had already done quite a bit by 8:30, and we were just wondering what other people had done with their mornings by that point?

The Grand Old Opry

2008-02-06T23:09:00.000-05:00

We did an event for a dentist convention at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel, a.k.a. The Grand Old Opry in Nashville TN. I am told that this is a very famous hotel and performance halls, I had not heard of it before. But anyway we preformed there. It was quite the event, everyone was in formal evening attire, boy did I feel under-dressed in my black pants and blue button up concert shirt! Before we preformed we were given dinner. Usually if we are fed at things like this we are shoved in some back room and given something like spaghetti. But here we were treated great. The waiters actually came around and put the napkin in our laps, and the adults were served steak and shrimp (the kids got some really good mac and cheese). And O man the fruit and chocolate cake that came at the end of the meal...mmmmmmm good! I was really impressed with it all, it was some of the best food I have ever had. The kids were a hit and got a standing ovation after almost every song. It was a fun evening.

2008-01-24T21:52:00.000-05:00

2008-01-24T19:59:00.000-05:00

How is this for a medical day. I took one of the chaperons to the dentist and we were told that she needs all four wisdom teeth out and that is why an infection has set in. We get home and later in the day one of my girls walks into a wall and splits her lip and now has a bruise on her nose as well. In the evening one of the boys falls off his top bunk and bit his tongue quite badly, so he has more than a quarter of an inch gash in the middle of tongue (good thing he did not bite all the way through it). Fun day!!

Spider man dreams

2008-01-23T22:39:00.000-05:00

I was talking to one of my boys, Martin, as we were drying dishes together. He had already showered and was in his spider man pajamas. He goes on to tell me that when he wears those pajamas they tickle him at night and so he dreams of spider man. In his dreams he is spider man and saves people and does good things, but if he is having a bad night then he dreams he is the bad spider man and he does bad things and kills people. So I asked him what about when he is in his other green pajamas, and he said that when he is in those he just has normal dreams, like he is a move person in the action movies.

Age 17

2008-01-19T19:50:00.000-05:00

I went to walmart the other day and found some movies in the $5 bin (I love that bin), anyway I want to pay for them, and I guess it was because one of the movies was PG13 but it rang up on the register asking if I was over 17. So the man asks me, I say yes, he looks at me for awhile and then asks for my ID. I know I look young but I think I look older than 17.

Wattle

2008-01-13T21:50:00.000-05:00

In my grade five science class we are learning about poultry. We drew a rooster and labeled the different parts. There is the red comb on top of the roosters head and there is the wattle, which is the red skin that hangs down on the neck. One of the kids asked me what is the purpose of the wattle. Well I had no idea so after class I looked it up and after much looking around, I went back to the kids the next day and gave them the answer. It is for nothing. The wattle is for nothing. And I find that to be strange...flesh that is for nothing. It is the same as our ear lobes, what is the reason for them...it is for nothing. Or the baggy skin on some dogs...for nothing. You know a lot of different kinds of birds have a lot of for nothing skin. Don't you find that strange? I find that really strange.

Kid Quote For The Day

2008-01-10T10:35:00.000-05:00

The children were in rehearsal and were going over the terms "stage right" and "stage left."

They were asked "If this is stage right, then over here would be...?" One of the children answered "Stage wrong!"

Coffee

2008-01-09T12:24:00.000-05:00

Mmmmmmmmmmmm....Coffee is the life giving force of life!!

What is with my name?

2008-01-07T11:18:00.000-05:00

So this is what I do not understand about my name. Why is it that if people do not know how to say they make it up in such a way that they add a bunch of letters that are not there. For example one of the older children here, had seen my name written down and so he comes up and calls me Auntie Sarshe. Now how you get an extra sh out of it I don't know. Now one might think "well he is just a child" but it is not only children who do this. Honestly! Where do people learn to read? But as far as this child goes we solved the problem. He calls me Auntie Sharshe and I call him Marmar (his name is Martin) So in the end it all works out.

In a Movie

2008-01-04T17:14:00.000-05:00

I felt just like I was in a movie. As I was flying from Seattle to North Carolina one of the flight attendants came on and asked if there was a doctor on board. About the same time another flight attendant went rushing by with oxygen. Well it just so happened there was a doctor on board so she went to the front and then they came to get more medical things, and we went down to a lower altitude of flying. I started getting worried we would have to make an emergency landing somewhere, being that we were still a few hours away from our destination. Well in the end it all worked out, I don't know what the problem was but it was soon taken care of and the person seamed to be ok after that.
Drama, drama, drama.

London Show

2006-12-09T17:04:00.000-05:00

Our last evening togeter. We went to a London show, The Lion King and it was GREAT!!! The show was amazing!!! We were sitting in the 8th row back so we could see all the expressions of the actors. We also spent quite a bit of time with the
cast before and after the show, they loved the kids, they were so excited to interact with them. Before the show they spent some time teaching the kids a song or two from the show and we all sang it with them. The kids sang one of our songs for them, and then the cast wanted the kids to teach them a few dance moves. After the show we went back stage to see the cast in costume, and it was the cutest thing, we went back and the cast excitedly told us that they have have been practicing and
they have something to show us, they all line up and did the dance
moves that the kids had taught them!!! It was so funny to see them in
costume, these amazing actors, all lined up like excited children to
show us that they had practiced and they wanted us to see. It was the
best last evening we could have had, I can't think of anything better
that could have happened, we will all always remember it.

Chocolate

2006-11-24T18:20:00.000-05:00

We just went to the Cadbury chocolate factory. We had just read the book Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and then they watched the movie. So on the bus ride there we gave them all a golden ticket and told them where they were going. O boy there were a lot of excited kids!! It was a lot of fun and they give out a lot of chocolate!! By the end the kids were asking if they had to eat it, because they did not want any more.

4 Day Holiday

2006-09-24T17:46:00.000-04:00

Holiday!! Yes I have had a wee holiday and it has been lovely. My wonderful Erica friend from Bellingham is getting her masters in Glasgow Scotland so I took a few days off to come and visit her. We have had a wonderful time catching up, shopping, and lazing around. The lazing around has been wonderful. We spent a couple days just moving from one location to another to sit and visit and watch TV. Although this may not sound like the most exciting, I think it was the best rest I could have had. My mind has found rest. An interesting aspect to this visit is that Erica is currently in between flats. So we have been flat hopping. Actually it has just been between two homes. We have slept in two different places and have spent our days in both flats, along with some time out while we were locked out of both places. And all of this has come to the end result of: feeling very rested, getting caught up with a friend, ready to go back to my kids and other aunties and uncles, and I have met a lot of fun new people during my time here.

Sheep and Cows

2006-09-21T15:37:00.000-04:00

We covered Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in a couple of quick weeks. Nothing very eventful happened except for when I stayed on a sheep farm with three of my boys. Our host uncle took us out to the fields to see the sheep, and he brought his sheep dog. He sent the dog out to show the boys how he rounded up the sheep, and my boys thought that was so great that they started to herd the sheep also! I stood by and laughed as I watched three children running around the sheep. The poor sheep and dog were quite confused with the situation and did not know what to do.

We are now back in Scotland and will be heading to England at the end of September. I have to say one of my favorite things about the UK is all of the rolling fields filled with sheep and cows. As we are driving along in our bus the view goes something like this: sheep, sheep, cows…sheep, sheep, cows… and I love it. I have also seen some of the hairiest cows. You would not believe. They have some name or other but I call them Yak Cows.

Edinburgh, Scotland

2006-09-05T08:56:00.000-04:00

For the month of Aug. we were in Edinburgh Scotland. Every year there is a month long festival called The Fringe. We had the pleasure of being one of the shows. For the month we had a flat that we spent our days at, it was really nice to spend a month in one place. I was asked to write something for our website about the Fringe, so I wrote the following:

The Fringe

Right now the city of Edinburgh is living and breathing the Fringe Festival. It is the heart beat that everyone is living to. Every time we step outside the quiet of our flat we are aware of the festivities around us. Everywhere we go there are crowds of people, all looking for the next street show or entertainment that will pop up next. Our evening concerts are just one of many shows that are taking place all over this area. It is fun knowing that we are one part of such a large ordeal. People are here from all over the world, all hear to appreciate the arts in all forms. Everywhere we look there is some different for of show, from dancing and singing, to drama or magic tricks. Fun is in the air at the Fringe.

Italy

2006-08-14T14:20:00.000-04:00

We had 5 days in Italy. It went something like this:
-food, food, food
-people talking to us...we don't know what they are saying
-food, food, food
-we had two concerts while we were there
-food, food, food
-we stayed a few nights at a hotel, and a few night in an abby with nuns (the sisters)
-food, food, food
-I helped sell product to people who I could not communicate with and with money I had never seen before in my life
-food, food, food
-we experienced about an hour of night life...wow...hmmm...more people all out having a good time than I have ever seen before...wow...very full bus, standing room only...wow
-food, food, food
-every meal has a lot of food

Dinner

2006-07-14T22:58:00.000-04:00

I was sitting next to Galale at dinner tonight. One of the foods we had were hard boiled eggs. By the time Galale got done with his egg he had shell all over himself and the floor. As he noticed what a mess he had made, the most frustrated look came over his face and he began shaking his head. Smiling, I said something about the mess he made, asking him what happened. Galale replied "Even me myself, I don't understand myself"..."I know, I am disgusting!" He then continued to mutter to himself about how messy he was while he cleaned up his mess.

Coming to an End

2006-07-14T22:45:00.000-04:00

Well in a few short days (10 to be exact) we will be leaving the US! We will be going to Italy for a few days and a few concerts, and then we will be heading to the UK for the rest of our tour. I have never been to Europe, so I am really excited! Although we still have five months to go, I feel like tour is almost over. This last little bit is going to go so fast. In a way I am ready to be done, I am tird and I do miss staying in one place for more that three nights in a row. But at the same time I am going to miss this life, and most of all I will miss the kids. Anyway, I am looking forward to this next part of the adventure. Thanks to all of you who have stuck with me through all of this. My next blog will be coming from the UK!!!

Gettysburg

2006-06-09T22:55:00.000-04:00

Today I had a half day off. So myself and two others, Jessica and Jamie, made our way to Gettysburg. There we went on a self guided tour of the civle war battle at Gettysburg. The land is so beautiful here, I have a hard time understanding how so much blood shed and fighting could have happened here. Most of all I love that I had the opportunity to see this area, it was very educational.

The picture of the view is of Little Round Top and Big Round Top

Photo Shoot

2006-06-08T22:08:00.000-04:00

At one of my host family homes they had a beautiful yard with flowers, trees, and a pond. I pulled out my camera, and the kids I had with me that night and myself, had a great time taking pictures. Cissy, Rebecca, and Mwikali were quite the picture takers!! These are some of the pict's.

Hair

2006-05-17T10:14:00.000-04:00

For any of you who care, I now have blond hair. I have told my kids that I would not cut my hair so the next best thing is to change the color...so now it is blond...well actually more of a yellow.

Recording

2006-04-08T00:27:00.000-04:00

We had a recording with Jars of Clay (a Christian music group). The recording was a took the whole morning and afternoon. The group was really nice. Dan, the lead singer worked with the kids to get the recording they wanted. The song the kids recorded will be out on thier next album (coming out in Sept.)

Roller-Skating

2006-03-16T22:38:00.000-05:00

We took the kids roller-skating for the first time! That was quite the adventure. Just think of 25 children who have never been on roller-skates before. They had so much fun! They were on the ground probably more than they were on their feet, but they were all having them time of their lives.

Flying

2006-03-07T20:00:00.000-05:00

So, I am quite proud of myself! As many of you know I am not all that good with airports and flying, but on my way home from my vacation I did quite well. I had to change flights in Dallas and that was quite the adventure. I found the little TV's and found my gate, I took the sky train to another part of the airport, I had to walk and walk and walk, my flight was delayed and changed gates, and I did just fine!! I tell you what, although I still do not really like airports, I think I have graduated from needing a flying buddy to being able to fly on my own (international flying does not count). I no longer go into a complete state of panic and cling to the nearest person next to me wondering why in the world I would willingly walk into such a big place so full of people and lines and security, and such. But no worries, I am no longer an embarrassing display of disaster when I travel.