Wendy and Don's rehearsal dinner

Here are a few pics for you DGCC folks from Wendy and Don's rehearsal dinner last night...






It is a glorious morning here, an exceptional Berkshires summer day. The sun is bright and the sky is clear as a bell...a perfect day for a wedding!

Hiccup...

If you are traveling abroad this summer...check your passport!!! On Wednesday, when Coty's dad got to the airport with the hikers, he was not allowed to get on the plane because his passport had expired in May!!! He thought he had gotten it in 2000 before the first Spain hike and so had not checked it. But, in fact, he'd gotten it in 1997 before traveling to Australia and it expired in May.

Sooooo, there's a slight delay in the England plans. They were able to reschedule all their flights and will now leave on Sunday, just a few days late.

But, there's another twist. We just got a call from Coty's folks that they are on their way to the doctor right now because Matthew had to be awakened at 12:30 this afternoon - he'd slept through the night and the whole morning - and he had a fever.

We'd certainly appreciate your prayers for Matthew and for them to figure out what's wrong. Probably a virus, I'm guessing, but I bet he's glad he's not starting out on the hike in England today. God's providence.

When I heard about the passport incident, I just kept thinking, "OK, Lord, why did this happen? What good are you going to bring from this mix-up?" I am thankful that Matthew, being sick, is with grandparents in Virginia and able to be well taken care of right now. We'll keep you posted....

Tubing on the Battenkill

Today we rented inner tubes and floated down the Battenkill River. We started across the state line in Vermont and floated our way down to Eagleville covered bridge, not too far from Cambridge, NY. It took a lot longer than we anticipated and we all got a little, or a lot, sunburned, but we had fun on the river and saw some beautiful spots. Floating down a river on a hot day is just about the most relaxing thing going. We were just wishing we had not started quite so far up the river!



I loved seeing all the birds along the river; swifts, red-winged blackbirds, and even several cedar waxwings...beautiful! And I tested my botany skills, trying to identify as many trees as I could. There were sunny wide spaces in the river with willows and cottonwoods along the low banks and then narrower, shadier river sections bordered by steeper banks, covered with hemlocks and ferns. We also saw some of these...



wild yellow irises blooming along the river bank.

We stopped at a rocky spot along the river bank covered with flat stones and took a lemonade and stone skipping break. Remember how I said recently that my guys can turn any children's game into a competition. They can do it with rock skipping, too! "Who will be the first one to skip it all the way across the river?" "Who can throw it and hit that white rock first?"

When we finished our river ride, we were pretty famished. We'd been on the river for four and a half hours and we were really ready for our picnic lunch! We sat by the covered bridge and ate. Joel and Kennan also had fun jumping off the bridge abutments into the river.



Thanks, Erin and Luke, for a fun day!

Meeting the horses

Coty told folks that we were going to meet our grandhorses on this trip. Well, yesterday we did and here they are in all their horsey beauty with their proud owners!

Erin and Paladin, a big, brown, gorgeous Irish Draught/Quarter horse cross with an exclamation mark on his face (or so Erin says)...




Luke and Logan, a little, strong, smart Morgan/Mustang cross, a great cow pony for our favorite cowboy...

Arrival

We arrived at Erin and Luke's little house on the hill around 10. (For those of you who I told we were pulling out at 7 AM, let's just say, it was a little later than that). Anyway, the line of pine trees that marks their property was our landmark and we had no problem finding the house. As we pulled into the driveway and extricated our stiff from long-sitting bodies from the car, we were met with a most amazing sight. Across the road from the house is a field. Hovering above the field were what appeared to be MILLIONS of fireflies, blinking their lanterns on and off, on and off, in what was almost a Christmas-light like display. Magical! Welcome to the country. The moon was up and shining its three quarters full light over the Taconic Ridge to the west and Venus shone brightly in the northwest sky, as well. Take a deep breath...feel the peace. Hugs all around.

Competition on the road

Our friend, Rob, recently noticed how our family of boys at home seems to be able to take the simplest children's games and turn them into intense competition. He was commenting after a particularly rigorous game of sharks and minnows, in which he got way more exercise than he anticipated.

We also have this ability on the road, as well. On Monday, the ABC game was taken to another level by Matthew, Kennan (our nephew), and Coty as we headed toward New England. We had two state matches (meaning it took two states worth of driving to get to Z), two and three player matches, and I bet if you asked them this morning, they could each still tell you how many games they won! Intense competition, indeed, but friendly and very funny to me sitting quietly in the backseat reading. Front seat, passenger side is an advantage in the game and I was happy to give up my usual seat for the sake of the game. To keep it fair, Joel and Kennan kept switching every hour. I sat in the back seat reading and chuckling, to shouts of "A - ahead, B - Bojangles, C - construction,....X - exit, z - pizza!!!!!" In our family, you have to say the letter and the word in which you found it. License plates and words on vehicles don't count. It has to be on a road sign. And you can't use the same word as anybody else. Anyway, here are the shouted comments that made me laugh the most:

"Oh my gosh, you just missed it," said Kennan to Joel, after Joel had just gotten "P" but missed the next sign, "Antique store with quality quilts!!!! I can't believe you missed it!" (That was the mother lode of Q signs, I think)


"What letter am I on???" said more than once by the oldest player of the game, whose name will go unmentioned, but who also lamented, "I'm at a disadvantage in this game because I'm driving. I have to look at the road sometimes."

Thankfully, said player, kept his eyes on the road enough to get us to our destination. More on that in the next post.

Whew!

Do you know how hard it is to say good-bye to a 14 year old at the airport security line, walk out of the airport to the car, and resist the urge to run back in and hug him just one more time!!!! I found out this afternoon. When we walked out of the airport terminal into the heat of this June day after saying good-bye to Matthew, I squeezed Coty's hand tight and told him I was going to cry. And I did...a little bit. Whew! What a day! Three boys are now on their way.




Thomas and Andrew made good time to Orlando and are now resting at the Wycliffe apartment before meeting the rest of their team this evening. I think this drive to Florida feels like a rite of passage for them. They only made one wrong turn in an area of highway construction, but quickly realized they weren't on the right road and turned around. Tonight and tomorrow they have orientation and then fly to Atlanta/Paris/Ouagadougou on Tuesday.



Thanks for your continued prayers for our travelers....and their mom! In spite of feeling the pangs of missing my boys and the inevitable thoughts of "what if," I am terribly excited for them and thankful for God's work in and through them this year. It was a sweet privilege to stand next to Matthew in church this morning and hear his deep voice, singing loudly and with great feeling, these words:

Our hearts are longing for the glory of the Lord
To be made known in all the earth.
Lord, let your kingdom come! Lord, let your will be done!
Yours is the greatest name of all!

Go, tell it, guys!

The bags are packed...

I have to say, these young men have done an amazing job of getting themselves ready to travel! Their bags are all packed and the only thing left to do is put the trip food in the cooler and grab their toothbrushes. Thomas and Andrew leave at 6:00 AM to drive to Wycliffe headquarters in Orlando and then on to Burkina on Tuesday.

Matthew leaves in the afternoon to fly to DC. He, also, has packed both for 4 weeks of backpacking and two weeks of touring. He flies to England on Tuesday as well.

This morning I was thinking back to the days when the boys were younger and we packed for trips. They used to bring me a pair of shorts, t-shirt, socks and underwear and I'd roll it all together and secure it with a rubber band. Even with their little helping hands, packing was A LOT of work for me. Not any more. This time I have simply been the adviser and list maker.

As they head out, I thank you, Father, for these young men you've entrusted to us. Guide their travels tomorrow and in the days ahead. Make them lights for you as they step out. They've been on loan to Coty and me for awhile and we gladly, through a few tears, remind ourselves that they are yours. Mold them, refine them, use them for your glory.

Double, double, toil and trouble...

A week ago, our little Charlotte Mason co-op presented a shortened version of Macbeth. The outdoor amphitheatre in Carla's neighborhood was the perfect spot for our young thespians to present the play. Enjoy a few pictures from the evening.

"Here I have a pilot's thumb, wracked as homeward he did come..."



Macbeth and Banquo



A skeptical Lady Macbeth



"Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow..."



with our prompter in the background. But the kids did such a great job, I don't think she was needed except for entrances!

A great dinner and the day ahead...

The dinner was great. Andrew did a superb job frying the cornmeal dipped green tomatoes. And since my tomato frying son also works at a well known bakery that often has excess goodies, we dined instead on whole grain bread, which admittedly was NOT as good as my biscuits, and chocolate raspberry cake, which made my brownies taste, in comparison, like cardboard.

If we eat in the next couple of days, it will be a less exciting. I'm trying to clean out my fridge since since the boys leave soon. Hmmmm, what can I do with leftover spaghetti, carrots, cabbage, and Korean BBQ sauce???

I can't believe how much we still have to do before the guys are ready to go, but Lord willing, they will leave with enough underwear to make it through, passports so they can enter foreign countries, and journals so they can record what happens. I guess most places, even Burkina Faso, you can get pretty much anything else that you forget. Which just reminds me that I forgot to pick up their malaria medicine from the pharmacy yesterday. Oooops. Add it to today's list.

At times like these, I am tempted to go into frantic, frazzled mode. I am not a nice person when I get that way. I don't like to operate in that mode and my family doesn't enjoy it either, so I am taking steps to avoid pre-trip panic. The most important thing for me is to begin my day with the Lord, sticking to my regular Bible reading plan and committing each moment of the day ahead to him in prayer. Then I have to be aware when I begin to move faster and bark commands. If I hear myself doing that, it's time to stop, breathe, and pray for God to reign and calm to return, for my focus to be on Him, not on the pile of laundry. Crazy Mom with her peace shattering agenda is put in her place and the suitcases get packed. We even enjoy each other in the process.

Summer dinner

It's summer!!!! Yeah. Feel the heat. Smell the tomato plants. Hear the cicadas. Tonight's summer dinner features some of the first produce from the garden. We'll be eating...

Steamed veggie salad with a triple basil marinade (Italian, purple, and Thai basil all from the garden)
Roasted red potatos with lemon pepper
Sauteed kale and swiss chard from the garden
Fried green tomatos (I know, I know, I should have left them to ripen but I just couldn't resist and we LOVE fgt's!)
Sliced cucumbers sprinkled with dill with a dollop of sour cream on top
Hot biscuits with the last remnant of Erin's rhubarb sauce
Brownies with vanilla ice cream
Sweeeeet tea

MmmmmMmmmm!

The Big Dig

We have a big hole in our backyard. It started as a "sinkhole" which we believe was caused by a builder's intentional blunder years ago. During construction of our house back in the '80's the builder apparently piled logs and brush that were cut down in clearing the lot, bulldozed dirt over the pile, planted juniper on top of it, and left it to rot. When we moved in 5 years ago, the hill was just beginning to sink. Since we've lived here, the hill has completely collapsed in one area, taking a crape myrtle tree with it. It's been an eyesore and a conundrum for the last couple of years. What to do with a big hole??

Fortunately, we have a helpful friend who knows about things like soils and engineering retaining walls. Gary has spent lots of time spearheading the efforts to turn our sinkhole into something wonderful. With the help of the boys and their friends, we now have an even bigger hole in the yard. One day last week, they excavated the sinkhole to determine what the soil was like underneath. They've now dug a trench for the footer for a retaining wall and augured holes to make underground pilings to support the wall. The next step is to gather supplies for building the wall. Scavenger that I am, I am scouring new neighborhoods for broken concrete, rocks, rebar, and other needed items. If you know of any broken up patios or sidewalks anywhere, let me know!

I am picturing a low stone wall with a raised garden bed along the curve of the wall. The retaining wall will extend above it. Stones and gravel or pavers will floor a seating area in the middle with a small firepit for these evenings when we'd like to extend "porch time" to the outdoors and include some marshmellow roasting. Several folks who have seen our big dig have asked if we're putting in a hot tub. Nice idea, but no.

This sunken firepit/garden is a dream at the moment, but one which my precious friend and sons are turning into reality much faster than I could have imagined. I'm a fortunate mom to have guys who are so willing to spend their hours off from other "paying" jobs, digging, sweating, and getting blisters for wages which include all the ice water they want, occasional root beer floats, camaraderie, and the deep gratitude of this thankful mom.

Gary overseeing Joel's digging



Thomas and Shawn digging away at the hillside



One of the ominous holes that riddle the hillside and cause sinking



The day's work...



and the day's workers minus Gary



(P.S. No, they didn't dig in their natty polos. They were mostly shirtless while digging but dressed for the photo!)

Welcome home, M, M and V!

Here are some pics from our recent welcome home potluck for one of our church's missionary couples and their precious daughter. (I'm about a week late posting them...sorry!) We set up tables in the shady driveway and folks enjoyed a bounteous potluck lunch. We also spread blankets and set chairs around the yard. It was wonderful to see so many folks enjoying conversations, kids laughing and playing in the pool, and even a few brave adults who played a few rounds of four-square.

Andrew on leaving Cameroon

As I told you in the last post, Andrew and Thomas will be traveling to Burkina Faso in a little more than a week. The boys return to West Africa after an absence of almost five years. Both are eager to return and have many fond memories of our year in Cameroon. Just last night as we sat on the porch after dark, talking by candlelight to the music of droplets falling from rain soaked oak trees, we reminisced about our days there. We laughed a lot remembering the "crazy men" in the market, the hordes of children that seemed to come from nowhere whenever any of our children walked out the door with a soccer ball, the thunderstorms that rolled in every afternoon during rainy season, and more...

In a recent paper that he wrote a paper for his Rhetoric class, Andrew penned his thoughts on the experience of leaving Cameroon. He gave me permission to share this paper with you but reminded me that it was for a class assignment, "Remember, Mommy, this was a figures of speech paper so, if you post this on your blog, you might want to say something to that effect; I think this essay would have been different (and better) if it weren't for the figures of speech stipulation." With that qualifier, then, here is Andrew's recollection:

“If I know a song of Africa…of the giraffe and the African new moon lying on her back, of the ploughs in the fields and the sweaty faces of the coffee pickers, does Africa know a song of me?” – from Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen.
The front gate of the rest house thrust open its wide arms and propelled us out into the African thoroughfare. The sights of Africa inundated me for the last time. Everything now was so familiar, so normal, so beautiful. I tried to take it all in, remember it all; it would all be lost to me soon. Puddles began to form in my eyes threatening to destroy my peaceful, calm attitude.

The same streets that a year before had seemed so destitute and squalid now shone at me in a different light. I hadn’t noticed the elegant, towering palm trees before, or the beautiful blue bay, or the sparkling colors of the African clothing, or the smiling faces of those same muddy, rag-covered children. Before, depression and despair had suffocated me; now hope and happiness allowed me to breathe freely. This place that had once seemed so foreign to me had become my dearly beloved home.

As I watched the city fly by, memories from the last year engulfed me. First, there had been severe pain. Arrival culture shock intensified by a dreadful car accident had turned my dreams of Africa into a nightmare. Then, for two prolonged weeks I had been grossly ill. Food was manure to me; nothing pleased me and nothing would stay in my troubled stomach. When I finally recovered, I was sick of Africa and wanted desperately to return home.

Then there had been social dread. The thing I feared the most was the one thing I needed most. I was afraid to befriend the African children; I, with my blond hair, blue eyes, and quiet voice, was so incredibly different from them. Their fast-spoken pidgin intimidated me, their loud, harsh voices intimidated me, and their rowdiness intimidated me. Then Sam Jumkwi came along and changed my view of Africa forever. Oddly enough, he was the fastest speaker of the fast, the loudest of the loud, and the rowdiest of the rowdy. For some reason, we had an affinity for one another and quickly became the best of friends. From him I learned how to speak Pidgin, how to barter in the rambunctious market place, how to cook African food, how to eat properly: how to truly love Africa. Now the puddles in my eyes turned into streams as the picture of Sam waving to me when our van departed from our hometown of Ndu played through my memory.

The image of the long dry season came back to my mind. Dust had covered the houses, trees, and ground like snow in a New England winter. Then, without warning, the rain had come turning everything to orange mud. Overnight, the entire countryside had been transformed into a beautiful, green landscape. The hills on the far side of the valley had shone with an African radiance. Each evening, we watched those western hills as a beautiful masterpiece of art that only the hands of God could create was painted before our eyes: an African sunset.

The van stopped; reality came flooding back to me. We piled out of the Pajero taking our few boxes. For the last time, I smelled the sweet, smoky scent of diesel fumes and wood fires; for the last time I saw the beautiful African city choked with run-down yellow taxis; and for the last time I laid my saddened eyes on the place I now proudly called home.

Traveling sons, trusting God

"I have been a mental traveler..."
Karen to Denys Finch Hatton in "Out of Africa"

For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.
Psalm 33:21

That's what I will be this summer - a mental traveler - journeying vicariously to far places, glad in God, trusting in his holy name. Why? Because three sons set off at the end of June for travels in the UK and Burkina Faso. Here are a few details...

A "walk" in the UK

On June 24, Matthew will fly to DC where he will meet up with Coty's dad (who just turned 77), one cousin, and two "honorary" cousins. They will fly to London a couple of days later and then make their way to near Manchester where they will begin walking along the Pennine Way. When they reach the end of the Pennine Way, they will connect with St. Cuthbert's Way, and then the Southern Upland Way. 32 or 33 days later and 325 miles northwest, they will complete their walk in the small town of Beattock, Scotland. At that point, they will rent a car and travel first to Bishop Aukland, the small town in Durham County in northeast England where the first Thomas Pinckney, who made his way to the coast of the Carolinas in 1692, grew up. They'll spend a couple more weeks touring around England and return home in mid-August.


GET Global in Burkina Faso

Do you know where Burkina Faso is? If you don't, you are not alone. I did know about this West African country before this summer only because on one of our trips back to the US from Kenya in the early '80's, Coty and I made a stop there to visit a graduate school friend. At that time the name of the country was Upper Volta. Our visit to the capital city, Ouagadougou (wa-ga-do-goo), and to Orsi, in the north was BC - Before Children. Little did we imagine that one day we'd be sending two young adult sons off to serve God there.

The same day that Matthew leaves, Thomas and Andrew will head to Orlando to the Wycliffe headquarters where they will participate in orientation for their trip to Burkina Faso. They are traveling to Burkina Faso on a GET Global trip with Wycliffe Bible Translators. The trip will give the boys the opportunity to assist translators who are working with some of the countries' 66 indigenous languages. They will spend two weeks in the country, mostly in rural villages. I expect that they will see sights very similar to ones we saw in 1982. This is one of the poorest and least developed of all African countries so change is slow.

To read more about Burkina Faso, go here and here.


Those of you who know us, know that we have had traveling sons before (Spain, China, Egypt and the Middle East). It is never easy for this mother to send them off to such faraway places. I feel so helpless to do anything if they have a problem. I wait for news when they are in remote places for extended periods. I wonder about all kinds of things - what are they eating? What are they seeing? Where are they staying? Who are they meeting? Are they healthy and safe? And I wonder and pray - God how are you shaping these young men through the experiences that are being indelibly ingrained in their memories?

Our sons' travels have risks involved. On the Spain hike, Thomas and Andrew faced a very dangerous, potentially life threatening situation. After the China trip, Andrew was ill for several months. While in the Middle East, Jonathan witnessed protest demonstrations in Jerusalem and observed heavily armed snipers on rooftops. Why do we let our sons do these things? Are we crazy?

Well, maybe, but I don't think so. Coty and I have lived in dangerous places, too. We experienced the fear of a coup attempt in Kenya in 1982, barring our door with everything we could in our apartment as we listened to constant gunfire from less than a mile away. We had a car wreck in a remote place in Cameroon and had to drive many hours to get medical care for Joel. We have learned, and continue to learn that life is not safe or neat or easy. We want our sons to have to trust God, to be in situations in which they know that God is their rock, their fortress, their deliverer. We want sons who believe deeply in God's sovereignty and so believing, step out, trusting.

There's a big world out there...and it's God's world. As the children's song says, "He's got the whole world in His hands." We want our sons to see this, to have a sense of God's passion for the nations. We want them to stretch beyond an Ameri-centric view of life, to understand deeply that following Christ is not "western." I can't think of any better way to foster this than to travel to the nations. We want our sons to be world Christians.

Traveling, especially to developing countries provides the opportunity to see and experience the kinds of difficulties that the majority of the world's people face daily. It fosters compassion and sensitivity to the hurts of the world. We want our sons to be tender hearted, to be men that weep for the pain of the hungry and poor and downtrodden.

We also want our sons to be strong young men, whose tender hearts beat alongside backbones of steel. We want them to be ready to meet unexpected situations, unafraid to step out and explore; to be self reliant, not addled or bewildered by difficulties, not whiners. Backpacking definitely helps to shape young men who possess such qualities. You certainly have no opportunity to whine when you backpack with a retired Air Force general! And to have to carry all of your belongings, to walk with blisters and aching shoulders, to keep going when you are tired or hungry, to press on in inclement weather, to encourage your fellow walkers when you'd rather stop and rest - these all do their part to foster strength and perseverance.

So, as we send our sons off this summer, we will be on our knees, seeking to trust God for their safety and health. Even more, we will be praying for Him to accomplish His good purposes in their lives and ours, whatever the summer brings. And whatever it brings, we will be glad in God.