"She Is Rich, She Can Send All Her Kids To School"

There are days and seasons in our homeschool when I think it would be less frustrating for everybody if I let the girls run free and Instead taught well-behaved monkeys (not the poo-flinging kind). It’s not all their fault, somedays I can’t get past my expectations and my stuffed to-do list for the day and I’m impatient about any deviance from my plan and then everything falls apart. 

But then there are the days when I am so stinking’ proud of their creative little selves. 3rd grade how I love you, we are currently studying oceans, poetry and Incans, Aztecs and Mayans.

This week, I told Jon, “Yeah, I thought studying poetry would really be there thing but it is not landing.” 

And then they wrote these. Even a hint of humor and irony at the end I’m praising God that in spite of their teacher’s (me) weaknesses, they are learning something. (I corrected spelling)

“Oh Squid You Block Your Prey

Oh Squid you block your prey

by squirting all day

You leap and sleep down in the deep.

You keep your babies safe in bed.

If I’d seen you, I’d have said, “Hi squid! You’re so red!”

By A

“The Dolphins

Jump, swimming,

Loving, Sailing,

In the boat I feel like bailing.

If I fall

I know you will save me.

If I stay, I will play with you.

Just me and who? 

You. I guess that’s we, 

you see.”

By J

I’m going somewhere, besides having you read my kids’ poetry, promise. 

While outside measuring the size of a full-size humpback whale, a few curious adults joined us, asking what we were doing. I tried to describe a whale…but first I have to describe a large body of water, different from a river, different from the small lake, it is an OCEAN. Amazement followed and i went inside to grab any book of animals and ocean animals we have. In our community, unless an animal can be seen, it is difficult to conceptualize it as there aren’t many photos or books or context. The girls wandered off, doing their own thing while learning continued. “How big is a baby whale when it is born? What is the biggest land animal? How does that compare to the whale? Do snakes eat people? What do fish taste like? Where did you get this book?, etc”. 

The requests have been continuous in this season for more education offered to the children, more for the adults. Doors are also opening for us to be able to learn from the wisdom of our neighbors. We always want to move forth in humility, not as the experts but as learners as well. Do you know the brain has endless capacity to learn? The more we learn the more space we have to learn.

Sometimes when our homeschool has energy level zero, I tell the girls about all the kids around them who want to learn. Neighbor kids who walk long distances for school and don’t get a single book. I don’t have to pull out “Back-when-I-was-your-age” stories of hardship as all around, we see bright people with a hunger for knowledge without resources to do anything about it. J and A love it when I draw on these stories. (Sarcastic, yes).

We invited two families over to watch the documentary by Disney, “Oceans”. The above picture is taken at start time, none of the people we had invited had arrived but they mentioned it to others and we started by showing a globe, talking about land, where we are in the world, how much is ocean, etc. As the movie started, more people asked to enter until it was shoulder-to-shoulder and the girls and I left so there would be room for more people. It was so fun to hear the excited and astounded gasps. It was hard to grasp what was happening as most of those in attendance have never been submerged underwater as there is not a large enough body of water around. And so to watch animals underwater, it seemed like they were flying.

 I can’t find words to describe my feelings sufficiently. Teaching times like these energize me at the same time, leave me…humbled, achy, heavy. We are surrounded by many smart, capable and motivated individuals. I again feel the inequality of having endless opportunities. Plus all the books, pictures, resources, access to internet and crayons and how it can change a child’s or adult’s learning experience and life.  I know this holds true worldwide, even in the context of the western world, children in poorer communities have less access to resources and it is harder to excel. Is that just the way it is? 

As we teach, we learn from our neighbors. In the women’s self-worth and leadership classes, I hear the women discussing the mark of a rich life as being able to send all their children to school. For example, a picture of a women milking a cow is equated to a happy life as “She is rich because she has a cow and then she can send all of her kids to school.”

 How does this strike you? Do you feel tension? What ideas do you have?

"You Got Me Out of Bed For This?"

Meskel morning air hung thick with smoke as we lit our flaming torches. Because of the Littles, our bonfire was at 6 am, hours after the earliest were lit. The girls bounded out of bed on Meskel morning, having slept lightly in anticipation for holding a flaming torch and seeing which direction the smoke traveled. Meskel is an Ethiopian holiday, “Finding of the True Cross”. I’ll not type more as wikipedia does a decent job of explaining the tradition.

By 8:00 am, I smelled like bonfire smoke and had coffee spots, fresh out of the jebena, and spicy stew on my clothes, not a bad start to a day. I can never complain as most of my days start with good coffee.

Miss T’s face in this picture speaks, “You got me out of bed for this?”

After our very impressive bonfire, we ate breakfast before an 8:00 am date for coffee i the yard.

When we are in Injibara, Jon and the girls do a traditional hike on the morning of Meskel. I am sure someday Miss T and Tiger will join.

A view from the top

And this yellow wild flower is named the “Meskel Flower”, blooming brilliantly against purple wildflowers and green grass during this season.

Within the last few weeks, God has opened doors for me to lead three small groups of women in a leadership and self-worth course. I’ve loved learning alongside the women and getting a deeper insight into the culture of the women around us. I’ve so many thoughts on education right not that I will give the subject its own post.

The Dreaded Call From A House Guest

Before launching into the slated funny story, we had a scary experience this morning. The neighborhood transformer box meets in our front yard. I was teaching school and a neighbor came to tell me the box was on fire. I went out and saw flames and neighbors running. I called Jon and a friend went into town to the power company. I stood in the front yard with the girls and we called on the name of Jesus to stop the fire. I’ll chalk it up to a surreal experience to watch and know no fire department exists. I pulled down our evacuation box and made sure all of our important documents were present in case the fire spread. The power company turned off all power and the fire stopped, praise God. Two employees came out with much cajoling from us and again, did a band-aid fix. Jon has become quite the electrician but he can only work in our house were he has control of when to turn off the power. A deep paradox, so thankful my family and all our neighbors are safe but frustrated at the band-aid solutions. Thankful to be in faith-building situations and seeing God work but also fighting the anxiety of the “what-ifs”. 

A power worker who was finally convinced to come and look at the problem. His job is high risk and he shimmies up these poles…

Cutting down leaves too close to power lines.

Sigh. Now for something more light-hearted.

Deep breath because I originally wrote this one for laughs. :)

We are hosting a small group from Addis as we have KIBIR team meetings. Always a special time for our family of cultural learning and community as we laugh into the night and learn around the kitchen table. Uncle Misikir is one of our guests and our four love him and vie for his attention. 

With guests, we also have increased probability of critters entering the house as doors and windows are left open more frequently. I warned the guys staying in the attic, “Just make sure to close your window before dark because things get in.” They were out late and so I scrambled up the attic stairs while stew simmered on the stove and I shut the window and door. 

Jon and I were laying in bed, talking through the day when Jon phone rang, caller ID showed it was Misikir, who was sleeping in our attic bunk area. Nebeyu was up there. We’ve had enough guests and enough hilarity/trauma to know when someone calls you from your own house, there’s a critter situation. As the story goes, they were chatting about the day when a moth flew up from Nebeyu’s blanket in the dark and it scared them. Then something started swooping at their heads.  They tried to ignore the bat and close it in another part of the attic as they decided if it crossed over a narrow curtain barrier, it was out for humans. Then they proceeded to tell each other scary stories about vampire bats killing donkeys (we don’t have vampire bats) but when the bat crossed into the bunk area, they were already in a frenzied state and they called for reinforcement. Bats are in the male jurisdiction in our home and so I stayed in our cozy bed as Jon climbed the ladder to the attic.

As the story goes, and I can’t stop laughing as I write this, one of the men (whom I shall not name), huddled under his blankets, only his eyes peering out while calmly giving instructions. (I was specifically told not to use the words “shouting or crying”).  The other two, were trying to get the bat. Jon couldn’t find a badminton racket and so grabbed a ping-pong paddle. The other man had shed his blanket that was covering him as he didn’t want the bat to fly into the blanket with him and had the idea to instead use tote lids. As the cheerleader recounts, “I looked out and it was like they were playing tennis”. A bit of swinging, a lot of swooping from the bat and they destroyed it. 

At the breakfast table, our houseguests said, “Yeah, when you said close the windows or things will get in, I thought you meant mosquitos!”. They said they had all grown up with rats and they would much rather have a rat than a bat, as a bat is “a flying rat”. 

Oh, life isn’t boring.

 

Immersion

How do we foster Christlike empathy in our kids? In what ways can we teach our kids to view all people as intrinsically valuable? 

After prayer, the Bible and parental model, I believe experiencing new and different and creating spaces for them to walk in another’s shoes is a game-changer to raise Kingdom-impacters. And new experiences don’t just form kids, but all of us!

I always love hearing your ideas. How are you fostering empathy in yourself, kids or community?

The below immersive and interactive event is slated to be a top-notch learning experience for kids and adults. Fort Wayne area friends, it will be worth the 45 minute drive. All are invited.

HOW FUN WILL THIS BE?!?

I might even price out tickets to attend-ok, just kidding (plus, it’s on my mom’s birthday, so make sure to wish her “Happy Birthday” if you see her there). 

You’ll enter through airport security and travel the world in about an hour. You’ll experience:

-A mountain emerging out of the building

-A traditional Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony

-Drink filtered Wabash river water. (it’s clean!)

-See how different religions worship and what they think

-Try to learn an unwritten language

-Pet a goat and see normal life in other cultures

-Enter to win a helicopter ride!

-Pray for the lost

-See how business as a mission works in unreached areas

-Taste food from around the world

-Make your own “homemade” soccer ball 

AND MUCH MORE!

(Giving credit to where credit is due, thanks to Amber for the list and Jenna for the graphic)

If you go, send me your pics, I would love to see them.

 

The event planners asked us to join them in prayer in the following ways. 

1) Pray for a passion lit in people’s hearts as they experience the great needs for missionaries and senders around the world.

2) Pray for the unreached and hurting

3) Pray each missionary represented would feel overwhelmed with support and prayers through this event. We are praying this fuels people to greater prayer and support. 

 

In other news, Noonday (A fair trade and life-impacting company ) has dropped their Winter collection and it’s fabulous. They have launched a line of artisans all over the world and gone into Christmas decor. My sister, Kristen, is an ambassador, check out the new collection here.  

  

 It’s nearing the Christmas shopping season. Can you let us know in the comments what fair-trade companies you have found that you could recommend? 

Also, I’d love to know if you can attend the Global Missionary Adventure