"Pine Mouth"

Well, a lot has happened in the last month, and obviously we're not posting most of it here, specifically because it is mostly the highest form of simply enjoying being with our family and friends here in Tennessee, and we're too busy enjoying it to post about it.

And we're really OK with that.

But blogging continues to be a way to denote some of the odd little details of life that might otherwise be forgotten, and so we share the random:

***

Monday, we traveled down to Chattanooga to see Jena and Brian, and our two nieces.  On arriving there, we got to spend an awesome afternoon with our friends the Chaffins, who know how to put together a mean lunch and otherwise make you feel totally at home.  Then we descended the mountain on which they live and headed over to Jena's.

Wednesday morning:  Why does my coffee taste so bad?  Why isn't this going away with brushing my teeth?  Why does everything taste terrible today?

Well, it turns out that I have "Pine Mouth", a recently described (by the FDA) syndrome where you eat pine nuts, and an as-yet-unidentified something makes everything have a bitter and metallic taste. Thankfully, it goes away spontaneously after 4 days to 4 weeks with no longterm effects.

Actually, our friend Chris, while serving us the absolutely awesome pine-nut-containing orzo on Monday, mentioned to Rachel that she had had this problem.  I missed that conversation, but was thankful that it existed, so that Rachel could correctly diagnose me 2 days later.

No big deal, but it is messing with my US weight gain plan.  Each time someone mentions a yummy meal of the future, my first thought is "man, I hope I'm tasting things normally by that time."

Safari 2015

As a little family vacation, transitioning from Burundi back to America (for 9 months), we stopped by Kenya and took the kids on a safari.  The last time that Maggie went to Maasai Mara, she was 1, and so we were excited to let them experience this, and maybe, just maybe, Maggie and Ben will remember this trip into adulthood.

We have been on safari multiple times (click here for old pictures), and each time is a little different, with unique things you didn't expect.  So, here is a rundown of what made this safari unique, i.e. what it will be remembered for.

Hyenas.  We saw more hyenas on this trip that all prior trips combined.  It was sort of like when they took over in the The Lion King, but the Pridelands did not look to be suffering otherwise.

Of course everyone wants to see carnage on safaris ("I want to see a cheetah eating a zebra"), but as Carlan pointed out, the more unnatural the carnage is, the better ("I want to see a zebra eating a cheetah!"), even to the point of the ridiculous ("I want to see a meerkat eating a zebra, who is eating a cheetah!").  Driving into camp this time, we were greeted by the closest thing we have yet encountered:  a hyena eating a hyena.

We stayed at a new place (for us) called Salt Springs, which was hard to get to, but is Maasai owned and run (unique among the lodges there).  It was more budget, but still very nice, and great service.  They had a dining area that overlooked a big bend in the river, and you can just sit and watch for animals in the distance.

This was Toby's first safari, and he loved it.  The monkeys were his favorites, and just riding in the bumpy car was his most favorite.

Mongooses and Rock Hyraxes (or Dassies).  I think we had seen about 1 of each of these on prior trips.  This time, they were out in droves and we saw more than 50 of each.  Here is a picture of the little Rock Hyraxes up in the cleft.  They are actually the closest cousin of the elephant, if you can believe it, and could rest on your palm.

We saw several hippos grazing out of the water, which is cool, since normally they are just ears and eyes poking out of the water.  Possibly because it was the rainy season...

The first of our two companions: Abraham Paternoster, our friend who spent most of his gap year (before college) with us out at Kibuye.

And the second: Molly Shankles, who is starting med school in the fall and spent the last 2 months with us at Kibuye.  They were both a huge blessing to us.

Birds.  Maybe we're just more interested in birds as time goes along, but we saw tons of great birds on this trip.  Here is one of about six lilac-breasted rollers we saw, but we also saw 5 types of storks, hamerkops with their ridiculous 6-ft wide nest, cranes and many others.

Probably the single coolest moment was this pride of lions eating a cape buffalo.  As Abraham pointed out, it was one of the Big Five, eating another of the Big Five, so there you go.  In fact, we saw probably about 20 lions, which is compared to less than five on any other safari we have been on.  No leopards.  They remain imaginary in our book.  And cheetahs are getting more dubious as time goes on as well.

There is nothing like an elephant (or better yet, a family of elephants) slowly making their stately way across the savannah.  We followed a great group of five for a while, and they can within about 20 feet of our vehicle.

Safari njema!

Urugendo rwiza!

Bon voyage!

It was a good journey.

Remembering Grandma Selle

My grandma, Alvera Selle, passed away yesterday at an assisted living home in Bay City.  She was in her 90s and apparently her health had been failing for some time, so I’m so thankful she had a peaceful transition into her heavenly home.  Times like now are the hardest to be away.  I sit at my desk in Burundi, the rain falling outside, my cell phone out of reception, the power and internet out for the day, and wish I could somehow connect to my family in this time.  So instead, I sit here and remember all the things I can about Grandma, and write down some sort of small tribute for the role she played in my life.

Grandma spent her whole life in Bay City, MI.  I wonder if she ever in her wildest dreams imagined that one day her granddaughter would live and work at a hospital in Burundi.  I remember telling her about one trip of mine in 2007.  My husband Eric and I were going to work in Bangladesh for a month.  She wrote and told me she couldn’t find Bangladesh in the encyclopedia, so had no idea where we were.  Come to find out it was an encyclopedia from the 1950s, when Bangladesh was referred to as East Pakistan.  I remember how every time I would talk to Grandma about our plans to go and work in Africa she would pull out an article clipping about a woman working in orphanages in Haiti, and tell me how she was making quilts for the orphans.  Now I think back, and I think that was her way of trying to connect with me, doing a very strange and foreign thing to her.

Meeting Maggie for the first time

My memories of Grandma are all connected to the house on Kasemeyer where she lived for 60 years with Grandpa.  A basement full of rag rugs and quilt scraps, Hallmark napkins for every occasion and rows upon rows of canned peaches, pickles, chili sauce.  Playing cards at the dining room table, mostly euchre but also pinochle and solitaire.  As a kid, arranging her brightly colored lipsticks on her dresser, with a bookmark I cross-stitched for her hanging on the mirror.  The picture of her looking so un-Grandma like at her wedding in the 1940s.  Climbing the crabapple tree in the front yard, bird feeders in the back complete with thieving squirrels, a huge garden.  Food, always so much food...angel food cakes, stollen, church windows and decorated cut out cookies at Christmas, and pecan rolls.  Oh, the pecan rolls and crescent rolls, essential for every family gathering.  Little cacti growing in the bay window, beautiful flowers growing outside.  Watching Grandma pull out shoeboxes of old Christmas cards, newspaper clippings, letters I had written her at age 6.  All evidence about how much she cared, how much the small things meant, how much she followed her friends’ and families’ lives.  

More memories...Grandma perming my hair at the kitchen table, going with her to bring fresh plants and water the flowers at Daddy’s gravesite.  All the pictures we have of Grandma and Grandpa coming to Minnesota, and later Phoenix, to attend Grandparents’ Day at school.  Christmas gifts of Birthday Bear, a Care Bear suitcase, Christmas ornaments, Precious Moments.  A yellow daisy quilt, then a blue jean quilt, and now a beautiful blue quilt on my bed that she made for my wedding.  Attending church at Zion Lutheran where everyone knew the Selles, a 50th anniversary party complete with (indoor) photo shoot and my brother and I singing in church.  I remember flying out from California one year, getting picked up by Eric in Chicago, and surprising her for Thanksgiving.  She had no idea what to say.  I remember bringing Maggie to visit Grandma for the first time, meeting her first great-grandchild...she was the first of her seven siblings to have a great-grandchild.  Grandpa died just weeks before I left for Kenya, and I was so thankful to be able to come to Bay City for the funeral.  It was an expected death, but still hard, when you lose the man you’ve been married to for 60 years.  The one time I saw Grandma smile that week was when she was sitting in her recliner after the funeral, holding Maggie on her lap.

Meeting Ben for the first time

Eric told me several months ago that if you’re never expecting something, it will be unexpected when it comes.  Obvious, perhaps, but I guess in some ways I just assumed Grandma would be around forever, or at least another 10 years or so.  I didn’t think that when we left in 2012 for France it was a real goodbye.  Somehow I just kept thinking that we would be back visiting her on Kasemeyer street in just a few more years.  I’m glad she got to meet at least two of her great-grandchildren (most people still haven’t met Toby, so that one’s not surprising).  I’m glad she got to see the family ornament collection, from Bronners of course, grow from 5 names to 15 over these past 40 years.  She shared more and more stories of her life with me as I grew older, and I know in many ways her life didn’t turn out the way she hoped it would, or at least the way she planned it would when she was younger.  But I hope that in the end, as she looked back, she was able to see all the joys and successes, all of the ministries and hospitalities, all of the friends, and the family, and the love.  And I hope that on Monday afternoon, she was welcomed home by her husband, her son, her parents, and the whole cloud of witnesses that has gone before.

Firebomb Macaroni the Rhinoceros Beetle

Following up on the Big Five post, I have actually seen a "Little Five" list, where each of the traditional Big Five is replaced by an insect that contains it's name (ex. I believe "ant lion" replaces Lion).  One of the replacements showed up on our back porch this morning:  The Rhinoceros Beetle.

These little guys are not too commonly seen, and this is the first I've seen in Burundi.  I have no idea how he wandered on to our porch.  They have an impressive horn, but are harmless dirt diggers, and Maggie plucked up the courage to hold him.

The kids loved seeing him, and decided to name him.  Ben wanted to name him Fire.  Maggie wanted Bomb.  I suggested Firebomb.  And then Maggie suggested the last name Macaroni.

So we present to you Firebomb Macaroni the Rhinoceros Beetle.

Revising Africa's Big Five

Here's a post that badly needs a bunch of images, but our limited bandwidth is prohibitive.  Maybe I'll add some later, when I'm somewhere else.

We are looking at traveling to Kenya in a few months, and planning on taking the kids on a safari, which should be great, especially as they will be quite a bit older than last time, and more able to enjoy it.

If you have ever looked into safaris, then you are probably familiar with "The Big Five".  Everyone wants to see "The Big Five".  Tourist trinkets are often emblazoned with "The Big Five".  Different parks are valued on whether or not they can boast all of "The Big Five".

What is the Big Five?  It is lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants, and cape buffalo.  Why those?  As we understand it, it is a historical list from the days of big game hunters, because these five were the hardest to bring down on a hunt.

And we have adopted this list for game viewing.  The problem is that we are not trying to kill these animals.  We are instead deriving pleasure from watching them, which everyone should agree is quite another thing.  Therefore, we would like to propose a new list.

Elephants, lions, and rhinos are cool.  No doubt.  Even when not killing them.  The leopard however is elusive.  So elusive that we have decided that it is imaginary.  Even if it is not, so much disappointment is born by not seeing a leopard that it seems a bad fit for this list.

So the leopard is out.

Cape buffalos are ugly.  And mean.  And travel in herds.  So you can't get close enough to enjoy their ugliness, but they are easy to find.

So the cape buffalo is out.

Replacements?  We would like to submit the hippo and the giraffe.  Both are incredibly iconic.  Both are items of the earliest childhood imaginations, and seeing them in person does not disappoint.  And they are big.  So our revised list goes like this:

1. Lion
2. Elephant
3. Rhino
4. Hippo 
5. Giraffe

You will not be disappointed.  At the same time, we would like to submit a couple other lists, because completing lists adds a certain satisfaction to almost any activity.

The Big Five Birds:  Africa's birds are truly awesome, and though you might not ponder it ahead of time, you should anticipate a good time seeing them.  The list:

1. Ostrich
2. Secretary Bird (huge 4 feet tall cockatoo-looking white bird)
3. Grey-Crowned Crane (stately and 5 feet tall)
4. Flamingo
5. Stork (you can choose which one.  The Marabou stork is very iconic and stately, but kind of in an ugly way.  The Yellow-Billed Stork is a favorite of ours.)

And last, The Cute Five:

1. Dik-Dik: these tiny antelope are about knee-high and always found in pairs
2. Rock Hyrax: this little gopher-looking guy is the closest relative of the elephant
3. Bushbaby: nocturnal tiny primate with giant eyes
4. Meerkat: because of the Lion King, which really is an inescapable allusion for all safaris
5. Warthog: it's cuteness is controversial (as in, Rachel disagrees), but when you see a little line of them running with their tales straight up, I think you'll agree.  And again, the Lion King.

So, forget the anxiety of leopard hunting and the disappointment of the Cape Buffalo and settle in for a safari list that truly satisfies.

Merry Christmas 2014

Can't believe the Christmas season is almost over again.  I wanted to share a few glimpses of our Burundi Christmas with you!  It was really a lovely month and we enjoyed the lack of commercialism, if not the lack of available stores to pick up last minute gifts in. :)

1.  The Christmas Tree.  I bought it at a garage sale in 2012 and this year we were able to assemble all 9 feet with our vaulted ceilings!  It was pre-lit but all the lights were burned out, so we restrung it. The kids really loved helping decorate the tree this year.  We'll collected a huge collection of ornaments from all over the world, and all through the last 35 yrs of our lives (ok, 35 for me and less for everyone else).

2.  Christmas cookies.  Cut out sugar cookies, molasses cookies, Russian teacakes, and thumbprints.  Only thing missing were PB kisses.  Thanks to Eric's sisters, we had lots of cookie cutters and sprinkles for my little helpers to assist with.  

3.  Wrapping paper.  I forgot to put any on the container, so I wasn't quite sure what to do.  Not for nothing am I the child of a teacher, though.  I found some brown paper that had been used to stuff a package, and we make some star shaped potato stamps.  Potato stamps, above mentioned cookie cutters, and tempera paint = afternoon activity PLUS gorgeous wrapping paper. :)

4.  One week before Christmas, we picked up a special suitcase in Buja!  Our moms had put together 50 lbs of gifts and treats to make our Christmas more special.  It arrived just in time with a group of visitors.  On top was a handmade tree from Shar the quilter.  There are little ornaments that the kids can pin on every day.  Hanging up on an extra curtain rod in the kids' room.

5.  Traditional Christmas Nutcracker puzzle.  I think Eric has put this puzzle together over 50 times in his life.  He can do it in about 30 min or so, all 500 pieces.  The kids actually really enjoy puzzles too, and with some help of putting like-pieces close together, they could start to enjoy a long standing McLaughlin tradition.

6.  The first gift of Christmas: a package Aunt Mariah sent in October.  We opened it Christmas Eve morning and enjoyed new shirts and puzzles for everyone!

7.  Christmas Eve dinner.  This followed the Christmas Eve service at our house but unfortunately Toby was throwing up the whole time so we didn't have time for picture taking.  Dinner at the McLaughlin household has always been snacks on Christmas Eve.  Here in Africa (also in Kenya) we save foods all year to bring out for the special snack meal.  Triscuits, summer sausage, cheese, hummus, juice and Sprite...Yum!

8.  Christmas Eve gifts.  We all got to open one gift before bedtime.  Maggie opened a Lego friends set and was totally excited....

... I thought I picked a Lego set for Ben to open as well but whoops!  It was actually a box of cereal.  He was no less excited to find the Lucky Charms. :)

9.  Christmas morning Lego assembly.  A classic from my own childhood.  With no adult help, Maggie assembled all 369 pieces.  And then did Ben's set for him too.

10.  Later on...We opened a few gifts on Christmas but then saved several to open one day at a time, which lasted us until New Year's Day.  It was great to slow the pace and the kids enjoyed a special gift each morning instead of all at once.  Once all the cereal had been opened we had a veritable American breakfast feast!

11.  And finally, Happy 9th Anniversary to my best friend and husband.  Carlan had the kids over for dinner so Eric and I could enjoy a dinner of Thai food to ourselves.

Merry Christmas and Happy 2015 to all!

Soup Revolution

Several years ago while I was staying with my mom in Phoenix, she served me a super yummy Thai Shrimp soup.  I found out that she had gotten a soup base recipe from a magazine like Better Homes and Gardens or Healthy Living or some such place, frozen the base into small batches, and could pull a bag or two out at a time and make something like 15 different recipes from the base.  Sounded interesting, so I copied down the recipe and tucked it away.  I had more or less forgotten about it, when it was rediscovered with the arrival of my cookbooks in the container.  I mixed up a big batch of it last August and canned it in batches, and let me tell you it has revolutionized my life.  Perhaps that’s a dramatic statement, but for a working mama in Burundi who sometimes comes home after 5pm and has no instant meals or takeout available, this is big.  The soup took probably less than 2 hours to prep and cook.  The canning took a bit longer but people who live in locations with constant electricity could freeze instead for a faster process.

So when I need a quick meal, I open up a jar of the soup base and add basically anything we have in the fridge and voila, instant meal.  I’ve added leftover beans and rice, cooked sausage, spaghetti sauce, enchilada sauce, quinoa, noodles, cooked chicken.  It’s tasty by itself too, but nice to add some more “hearty” ingredients.  The kids like it, so in my opinion there’s nothing NOT to like about this.  

Here’s the base recipe (and in my opinion, all quantities are relative...for example, we don’t have celery so I left that out.  Maybe I added extra carrots, who knows) (and of course, all ingredients cut to your desired size):

1 lb carrots 

1 1/2 lb onions (3 medium)

4 stalks of celery

2 cloves garlic

1 lb cabbage (1/2 head)

3/4 lb green beans

1 1/4 lb zucchini (3 small-med)

2-28oz cans tomatos (or about 8 cups diced)

6c chicken broth

6c water

2 bags baby spinach

salt and pepper to taste

Cook carrots, celery, onions, and garlic in water/broth (use 12 qt stockpot) until soft

Add cabbage, green beans, and tomatos, simmer x10min

Add zucchini and spinach, simmer additional 10 min

Freeze/can in 2c portions, makes 28 cups (although I used 4cup portions, better for a family sized meal)  

It also ends up being a very thick soup, and so I’m able to add 2-3 cups of broth to every 4 cup portion for a more regular soup consistency.  You could add more broth ahead of the freezing/canning, but I like the fact that it’s kind of a “space saver” thing.

Some of the recipe suggestions for additions include:

Minestrone (add kidney beans, cooked pasta, parmesan cheese, basil)

Mexican Chicken (add chicken, corn, cumin, lime)

Greek Fish Stew (add potatos, fish, dill, feta)

Thai Shrimp (add rice noodles, shrimp, snow peas, coconut milk, lime juice)

Southwest Chili (add ground meat, chili powder, cumin, black beans, salsa)

Really though, the possibilities are endless.  Looking forward to many variations of this soup in years to come.  If anyone has other low-prep/all natural ingredient/probably vegetarian recipes they love to whip up, feel free to share!  We’re not really organic-y type people, but our life here necessitates such. :)  Unfortunately, most of the low prep stuff or “prepare ahead and freeze” recipes involve a lot of meat (hard to get here) or things like “one jar of alfredo sauce” or “one container of cream cheese.”  Sigh.  Miss those....

Back to School

Well, I finally have a kindergartener in the house!  Sept 8, Maggie packed her backpack and headed off on the long 2 minute walking commute to Kibuye Hope Academy.  She joins 7 other kids (3 other kindergarteners) for school from 8:45-11:30 and 2-3p each day.  It's a fun chance to have four different teachers in variety of subjects, like science, math, and language arts.  The afternoons are French and either PE or music (the class I teach…music, not PE).  She of course is loving it!  We are still deciding what to do about school next year in the US, but for now this is a great option for her.

The 2014-2015 Kibuye Hope Academy students

 Not to be left out, Ben seriously wanted to go to school this year as well.  But being the only 3 yr old, there weren't any preschool options.  No problem.  My mom brought out some workbooks and so Ben has "school" with mom or dad maybe 2-3 times a week for about 10-15 minutes. :)  He likes to practice his cutting, drawing lines/starting letters, and playing a new Memory game from Mimi and Bapa.  Quite the little student.  And he gets to come to music classes on Wednesday afternoons as well.

Just for completeness sake, a picture of Toby.  Not even close to going to school but cute anyway.

Eric's New Music Compilation

Dividing my songs into albums is fairly easy, at least up to now.  The songs come from a easily definable period of my life.  Last time, it was our two years in Kenya.  This time it's our life in France.  Next time, it will probably be our first couple years in Burundi.

It took a little while to get this done, since we were still very much suitcase-living, up until a few months ago.  But it was nice to unpack the instruments and recording gear, and put these songs into their current form.

Free.  Very much free.  Share it.  

Hope you enjoy.

Goodbye, Grandma

On Friday, we dropped my mom off at the Bujumbura airport after three wonderful months.  It was very sad to see her go.  Three months is a long time but I can honestly say it was WONDERFUL for us, and for the kids (and hopefully for her, too).  She was a tremendous help with the kids and with help around the house, especially after our house helper got sick and was out for about 6 weeks.  Eric and I were able to spend a little more time at the hospital or doing administrative tasks while she spent time with the kids.  There is a big Grandma-shaped hole in our hearts right now, and we're hoping we somehow can fumble through the next months without her.

At Maggie's ballet recital

Breakfast in bed for a special birthday!

Birthday crepes and ice cream!

Ben loved to cuddle with Grandma

She worked on lots of sewing projects for me!

Grandma cleaned out her classroom and brought all the extra craft projects for the girls…big hit!

Ballet Beauty

We recently had some friends come and visit, Logan and Julie Banks.  They spent 6 months at Tenwek while we were there and had a son the same age as Maggie, so we got to know them pretty well.  Logan is a family practice doc with OB experience who is looking for a long term hospital to work at.  He and Julie came to check out Kibuye.  It was so wonderful to see them again.  Julie is not medical but jumped into volunteer work with enthusiasm…she was up for anything and everything!  One of the best things she did was volunteer to teach a ballet class for our girls.  Oh my goodness, they were over the moon with excitement.  Miss Julie brought over tights and leotards and every day from 3-4pm they would have their classes.  So much excitement!  What our girls lacked in grace and coordination they more than made up for in enthusiasm. :)  The weekend before they left, Julie planned a little recital for the parents.  They all got dressed up and did their hair/"makeup" together.  Maggie took this VERY seriously and so there are not a lot of smiling pictures but she was very focused on her pointing and positions.  So thankful that Julie's gifts and talents provided such a special and joyful experience for our little ones.

Crafty Mama Part III

My mom's time with us is coming to a close (boo)…and there were a few projects that I wanted to finish before she left.  Mother-daughter-wisdom-imparting and all that.  First off, I finally finished Toby's stocking!  I've blogged about this before, but since my mom made a Christmas stocking for me when I was little, and Eric's mom made a stocking for him, I thought it would be fun to be able to make stockings for our kids, too.  They are all different: Maggie's is felt, Ben's is cross-stitch, and Toby's is needle-point.  None were completed for Christmas #1, but all for Christmas #2.  The boys' stockings (and Eric's) hang to the left and the girls' hang to the right. Ah, symmetry. :)  It was fun to do Toby's stocking, never done needlepoint before, and I think it turned out great!  My mom helped me cut it out and sew the backing on securely with a machine.  Eh voila!

All three proudly displayed on our new mantle.

The other project I've been thinking about for awhile is canning.  Our power has been off a TON and so even though we have freezer space, I'm constantly worried about the state of things in the freezer.  I had put some canning equipment on the container but had never tried canning before, although my mom has lots of experience.  We tried a batch of pickles which basically turned out (not quite vlasic, but not bad).  Then our dear house helper Salvatore has been sick for the last month so I have done a lot of scrambling to get meals ready, make spaghetti sauce, bread, etc.  (again, SO glad my mom is here right now).  Fortunately he is back now, but his absence inspired me to put away some "emergency stores."  We mixed up a giant vat of spaghetti sauce and another one of a vegetable soup base.  And here it is, yielding 5 quarts of spaghetti sauce and 8 quarts of soup base.  All the jars sealed so it was an exciting evening. :)  Some days I feel a little bit like "Little House on the Prairie," although honestly we're a long way from that.  Nice to get in touch with my pioneer self!

On Stories, Sagas, and Wingfeathers

I started reading at the age of 4, and have been in love with stories ever since.  When I start reading a new book, I generally devour it in several sittings.  I’ve been known to read entire books in the airport bookstore during long layovers.  The seventh Harry Potter?  Read the entire thing in four sittings at Barnes and Noble (yes, to be fair, since then I have purchased the book so I’m not just free-loading off of B&N’s free books and comfy chairs).  My favorite books have always been fiction, usually fantasy literature, and more’s the better if it’s an epic series.  I guess the appeal is the new world to be explored and discovered, a story about heros and rescues and justice and love and hope (with a little bit of magic and swordplay and impossible creatures mixed in).  A world where good DOES conquer evil, where the good guys win, where hope does not disappoint.

What changes a book series from good to great for me is the grand “aha!” moment at the end where I discover that all along, the author was leading me down a path to reveal a grand destination.  From the first page of the first book, there was a specific ending in sight and at the end, I can turn around and look back at the path, look back at all the little clues and seemingly insignificant details scattered along the way, and they are all pieces of a whole that fit together.  JK Rowling nailed this with HP.  Christopher Paolini (Eragon) not so much.  I enjoyed his stories along the way but was left very unsatisfied at the conclusion of the book, too many loose ends and not enough resolution.  Robert Jordan and his Wheel of Time series may or may not have done this....he rambled so much that he lost me along the way.  

I recently finished a new series that I began reading in 2008.  Generally, I prefer to start reading a series after it’s been completed so I don’t have to wait for the newest books to come out (although rarely has this worked for me), but I started Andrew Peterson’s Wingfeather Saga as a blog reviewer just before the first book was officially released.  The fourth and final book in the series, The Warden and the Wolf King, was just released last week, six years later.  Long have I enjoyed Andrew’s songs and songwriting.  I would expound on why, but his website actually says it better than I could:  

“Peterson’s most loyal fans in fact, tend to be those who find resonance with the “glowing ache” that permeates his body of work. But it’s never been the ache of hopelessness or despair. Instead it’s the ache that comes from deeply loving something that has been lost, and from daring to hope that it will one day be restored. It’s the recognition that any pain we now feel is somehow inseparable from the joy that was intended for us from the creation of the world. And it’s the undying hope that that same pain is also a promise, a forward longing, a deposit of the redemption and restoration of the greater joy that is yet to come.”  

Now, if that doesn’t inspire you to listen to his music, I don’t know what will. :)  His books actually feature more of that same “ache” as his music.  He starts out a little goofy in book one (On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness) but matures as a writer and really hits his stride by book three (Monster in the Hollows).  And by the time I set down the fourth book, I was extremely satisfied in how cohesive the story was, how bits of story from book one were revisited and elaborated on to play a major role on book four.  I set down the last book with tears in my eyes.  If you like books like Narnia and Harry Potter, give the Wingfeather Saga a try.  It’s my free and unbiased opinion.

Family Visit

We recently had the once-in-a-lifetime (probably) chance to spend three solid weeks together with my family--my mom, my brother Eric, and his wife Haidee.  Since Eric and Haidee have gotten married, we have spent something less than 48 hours together, and that was before Toby was born.  So when Eric emailed and said they were thinking of a visit this summer, I knew this was going to be a special time!  They spent the last 2-6 years in Japan teaching English through the Lutheran church, but now are transitioning back to the US for grad school and such.  SO they had more or less a summer vacation, 2-3 months worth of time off.  And since my mom just retired this May, she had plenty to time to visit, too.

Everyone arrived on a Friday night flight with all their luggage, and we spent a few days in Buja on the front end, celebrating Mom's retirement, shopping, and playing!

Then we headed up to Banga on Sunday morning, the village where we had done our language school.  Despite none of our plans working out (we had grand plans to show them the lovely singing at church, which for some reason was cancelled, and also to stay in the nicer guesthouse with generator electricity, which was full), they got the "real deal" experience of what life in Banga is like, complete with walks down the hill to mealtime, and power outages at night.

Lunch at the Banga Guesthouse!

Banga countryside

Finally, to Kibuye for 2 1/2 weeks of talks, games, food, and fun.  It was wonderful.  We took a couple of trips to Kibuye Rock, the waterfalls, and the Source of the Nile River.  Also Eric and Haidee were able to come see our work in the hospital.  Otherwise, we just hung out at home and enjoyed ourselves immensely!  

Kibuye Rock conquerors!

Tea party with the girls

La source du Nile

Congo River Basin

Karero Falls

4th of July potluck!

It was a special trip and while we were sad to see Eric and Haidee go, my mom will be here through September, hooray!