Road to Rwanda----Christmas Traditions

  I thoroughly enjoyed reading Dicken’s   A Christmas Carol   to my middle school students this December.   However, it did open up many sentiments and thoughts in my own mind as I processed the differences between US and Rwandan Christmas traditions.   As one of the anticipatory set activities before we read A Christmas Carol, I had them discuss (agree/disagree) with a list of statements.   One of the items was the statement: “Christmas traditions are important.”   Almost complete unanimity on their part that they were NOT important.   As I questioned further, I found out that none of them really receive Christmas presents.   These are not at all destitute students.   Most of their parents pay a nice tuition sum for their attendance at our school.   They are middle and upper middle-class children. The more I thought about this, the more my heart was hurt. The next day I told them that this fact brought tears to my eyes.   (Being middle schoolers, their response was “Does that mean you

Road to Rwanda----End of Semester

 God is so good. I was so concerned that I would not be able to get all the end of semester things done because of being gone to the US for those 2 and a half weeks. But I am in better shape than I nearly have ever been going into the last week of school before Christmas break.  School at VVA (Rwanda) has been delightful, sharing A Christmas Story  with the students, and I will be able to enter their final grades on Wednesday.  For Peking Univeristy, which will also end the semester on December 16, rather than the 31st,  I have nearly completed their grades.  Because PKU is closing early,  our assignment schedule was compacted. Rick and I have had one long essay, one short essay, and a portfolio between December 1 and December 16, which means we have each grade 300 items during that 2 weeks.  I am very close to being done.  I am now just costing through the last week of classes, enjoying my students and anticipating Christmas.  I am sure it is due to your prayers.   Sister's memori

Road to Rwanda----Almost

 God sends his angels.  Here and there.  The Brussels Airline helper that we just grabbed as she walked by.  We weren't even scheduled for any leg of our flight to be on Brussels Air, but she made the luggage happen so that we did not have to cart 70+ pound bags all over the airport.  We went down to retrieve our 5 bag from baggage claim.  We had an email from Luthansa saying it was coming in late from Frankfurt.  It was not there, but somehow it apparently made it to our Rwandair flight that we take from here to Kigali.  Could there be any more airlines involved? We were able to access a very nice lounge and took a shower and had nice hot food.  God is good....and I am tired.  I would have loved to have been able to take business class on this leg, but our points are for United, and this is not that.  I tried talking our way on, but it has not worked yet.  Finally found a wheelchair man to take me through security, which is nice. I pray I have a wheelchair in Kigali where we have

Road to Rwanda----Saga Continued

 Saga continued.  So after waiting 3 hours British Airways opened up, but when we tried to check in we were told it was economy and not business.  I really wanted to lie down for part of this flight, but more importantly we would owe tremendous amounts of money for our 4 overweight bags.  I took off running ( or my version of it) back the mile to terminal B to see what could be done.  They have rescheduled us and I am waiting now to get on a flight that will go Boston-DC-Frankfurt-Brussels-Kigali.  Half of it is business class so we can take our bags.  But rather than getting into Kigali at 8 p.m. on Nov. 29 we won't be there until 6 a.m. on NOv. 30.  I will still go straight to school after my 2 hours car ride.  I would not be able to sleep anyway.  One real draw back to this particular itinerary is that we will need to get our 70 pound bags in Brussels and take them to the next airlines.  We could not check them clear through.  At one point in our lives, carting 70 bags around wa

Road to Rwanda----Pray Us Home

 We had friends in Panama who asked us each vacation time what flights we were taking so they could schedule themselves at a different date/time.  The number of times that our flights are disturbed is legendary. True to form, we arrived at the Boston airport after a very restful night at the hotel to find that they had no record of our reservation.  I guess our flight/flights had been canceled, but no one informed us.  We sat at the desk for an hour and they were able to reschedule us out on British Airways to London, Nairobi, Kigali.  So we packed up our huge, huge 70 pound 4 bags and hiked off from terminal B to terminal E.  It was a bit of a walk, but, PTL, I can do walks like that now. (I am talking a mile or more.) Here we sit for a couple of hours until the British Airways desk opens and we can confirm this ticket. With our tickets we should be able to access a lounge and wait even more comfortably then.  We have been told our business class seats are also confirmed. I pray so. 

Road to Rwanda---Up and Away Again

 We had a lovely time with family, but now are on the move again.  Paul and Purity took us to the hotel in Boston, now, the night before we take off tomorrow. If we did not come today, Paul would have had to take time off work, and this is a nice respite before that long flight.  We were able to use points and money given from Rick's sister and husband to upgrade to business class for 2 of the 3 legs of our flight.  It means so so much.  We can lie down and arrive rested, or at least more rested.  We don't arrive until 8 p.m. Tuesday night, have a ride contracted for the 2+ hours to our home, and then I will be at school at 6 on Wednesday morning.  Please pray for rest and even extra special energy to meet the needs of my students.  They are writing saying they hope I am back soon.  We will do Dicken's Christmas Carol for the weeks leading up to break.   We have most of the paperwork ready to sell our RV to Camping World.  We are close, but not quite there.  Just ran out of

Road to Rwanda------In Masschusetts

 Not sure if I am doing really well....or just numb.  After Sister died on Tuesday, my thought was, "Oh, I get 4 days to just sit and rest a bit," because our plane to Paul in MA was not until Saturday.  By Wednesday (the next day) I realized that what I really wanted to do was go be with family, so I got on the phone and was able to trade our tickets to that night ....and got a $200 rebait because it was a cheap 'red eye' flight.  The trip was fine, but by this time we (particularly Rick) were pretty exhausted, and he has pretty much just been sleeping since.  I have spent the days with Peace and the evenings with the rest of the family.  We have almost sold our RV, which was not even on the "list" but is a good thing.  Except a few hours ago, the Camping World sales rep who is purchasing the RV called and said the name on the vehicle registgration is wrong, and sure enough, it is Machlund.  So the hassle of correcting the title and registration.  And then

Road to Here-----My sister is with Jesus

 My sister died this morning.  I sat by her side from Saturday night until Tuesday morning.  I pulled this lovely recliner over parallel to her. I could reach out and hold her hand, while I graded online essays, while I talked, while I slept.  It comforted me. I pray it comforted her as well.  She opened her eyes when I arrived Saturday night. That is about the only indication I had that she knew I was there.  There was no more communication with her.  She was peaceful and resting these 2+ days, and we just were together.  There were visitors and time reminiscing and prayers and nurses and repositioning and medicine, but most of the time there was just her and me and sitting quietly.   I worked online and slept and thought and prayed.  She was in a lovely hospice house where she had been for a little over a week, and they had gotten to know her when she was her loving, warm, compassionate self and the staff mentioned how much they appreciated her.  That meant a lot.  I felt supported.

Road to Rwanda-----Waiting.

 We are here in OR with my sister after about a 40 hour trip. The last part was easier than the first 8 hours of Rwanda to Brussels.  Sister is non-communicative, although she did open her eyes a little bit when I told her I was here.  Rick and I will spend the night in hospice house with her. On some levels it is easier on me not to have her responsive, although some people may not realize what I mean by that.  She is surrounded by her loving family, and we are waiting.  I think the second half of our trip was easier because of your prayers. Thank you.

Road to Rwanda----Brussels

 We are sitting in the Brussels airport.  Rick is spread out over 3 seats as he cannot sleep on the airplanes and we have now been enroute for about 22 hours since we left our home in Musanze.  I arrived in Brussels and was able to access online and found my Brother in Wisconsin had died Friday morning.  He deteriorated more rapidly than the family had anitcipated.  His funeral will be Thursday.  I love my brother, but the intent never was for me to go be with him.  However, we suddenly find that my sister has also gone downhill very quickly.  She is sleeping most of the time and cannot swallow, so they are stopping her life sustaining meds.  Our prayer is that we make it in time.  We get into Eugene, OR on Saturday night.  I also expect that just the thought that I am coming is enough for Sister.  We have kept very short accounts and if I do not make it, I will be OK.  The thought really does count. I don't think I am really grieving.  Reality might hit later, but we have an etern

Road to Rwanda---yeah, well, I am going to see Sister.

 After all my declarations that we just couldn't, well, I just got tickets to see my sister, leaving on Friday.  I decided if I left now and was back here right after Thanksgiving, then I only had 2 weeks of school before my nice Christmas break and I would have time to recoup and get ready for next semester.  It took 4 hours (two of them on the telephone to United Airlines) to get the tickets.  If I got return, multi-city tickets, they were literally twice the price.  So we decided that we couldn't do it, but then God prompted me to try one way tickets and, sure enough, it ended up being half the price!  What kind of sense does that make?  But of course the computer sensed that we were in Africa (I assume) and would not accept credit cards, etc.  I ended up using Skype to the airlines to book the tickets. We had the money for the tickets, but just could not bear to spend the extra $400 per leg to get business class, even though we had the points, but we will be OK.  We will fl

Road to Rwanda---Garbage cans (again), ants, and asking for guidance

 So our garbage can was stolen again last night.  Our school insisted that the guard/landlord replace it this time. (Last time we bought a new one ourselves.) However, I told our wonderful school liaison that I did not care near so much about the replacement of my garbage can, but rather about protection from people climbing over the fence into our housing space.  The liaison looked at me quizically and assured me that we were not in danger.  The thieves just wanted to make a little bit of money, but would not hurt us.  I guess I am reassured, but somehow I know we are speaking a different cultural language.   I just stepped into our living room and was greeted by about 10 huge flying ant kind of things.  I was disconcered and am still not sure where they came from.  After I stopped and looked at them, though, I think they are the flying ants we used to fry in Zambia.  If they are that ant species, they only come out at a certain time.  I need to ask around, not that I really am planni

Road to Rwanda----Haircuts and Machettes

 Rick's hair was getting really ragged. He won't let me touch it....for good reason, but on the way home from downtown tonight, I made him go into the hair salon (euphemism) that is about 100 yards from our apartment.  He did not want to do it. And it is a little scary because how many white people's hair would anyone here ever have dealt with, but I just insisted.  They were really, really nice and competent.  A lady was obviously in charge, but there were a couple men working for her that did all the hair.  As I sat there waiting, a student from our school with her mother came out of the little area where they wash hair. They proceeded to put curlers into her straightened hair.  I realized they could do that for me, so I asked if they would.  No running water.  They brought in water in big buckets and heated it over a burner.  The man then carefully, oh so very carefully, washed and set my hair.  I do not have any access to hot rollers or curling iron and my hair has been

Road to Rwanda----Prayer Request

 We caught our mouse.  The first man-sized trap we tried was too big and we just fed the mouse 3 meals of peanut butter and cheese, before we traded it at school for the live mouse trap.  That worked within about an hour of putting it down. ....but then we were stuck with a live  fairly large mouse.  We realized that we had no idea how to kill the mouse, open the trap, nr dispose of the body? We just set it outside on the back step for the night since it was late.  When I left in the morning, the mouse had rolled in the circular trap to the other side of the porch and was still squeaking and we still did not know how to handle him/her.  The guard rescued us....I did not ask the details...but we brought the guard a pizza just now to say thank you.  We reset the trap, but after 3 days, no more mice, so I guess we are again rodent free. Yay! We had parent/teacher conferences at school this week.  That meant very long days talking to people after teaching all day and not much prep time. Bu

Road to Rwanda---Theft, Mouse, Mountains

 Our garbage can was stolen 2 nights ago.  When I was leaving in the early morning, our garbage was dumped on the ground outside our back door and the can was gone.  The surprising thing is that we live in a walled apartment complex.  The gates and doors are locked.  Most of the walls have barb wire strung over them. One section it might be possible for them to climb over, but with difficulty.  We also have a night guard on duty.  It is a bit of an uncomfortable feeling.  It was the only thing available to be stolen as far as any of us can see.  The other apartments are even more inaccessible than ours.  As far as actual loss, a garbage can is pretty unimportant. It is the safety factors that weigh on us a bit, particularly after the home of a family with children at school was broken into a few weeks ago.  The teenage brother scared the thieves off when it looked like they were going to harm his older sister.  These things are not really common here and overall we are very safe, but i

Road to Rwanda---Saturday morning walk....and Ebola?

 My computer cord was left at school yesterday after the movie night in the gym (Zootopia).  So I was up at 4 to make food for company at supper tonight, (I was up because I just can not seem to sleep in....but I can nap again after awhile.) and then at 6, I walked to school to get my computer cord.  I am so thankful to be able to walk like this. I have not walked these distances since leaving Panama in 2017. As always, the mile to school and the mile back was interesting.  It is Saturday morning, but being so early I could only hear one Seventh Day Adventist service.  Later in the morning, you can hear many congregations as you walk.  I also encountered two groups of 50+ people running in cadence to militaristic chants.  I felt a little uncomfortable with this.  In some places I have lived you stay away from this type of groups. I was also the only foreigner I saw on my whole trip to and from school (not that I ever see foreigners on this trip.) But I asked a passerby what the groups

Road to Rwanda-----Walking Home, part 2, the next morning.

 Sequel to yesterday's post about the little girl asking for money.  This morning when I was waiting for my ride, two young men (older teenage/20's) walked by.  One of them said, "Hi." I answered, "Hello." The other young man, rubbed his stomach and said, "I am hungry."  I put a disgusted look on my face and waved my hand to tell him to go away.  The first young man said, "That is rude, isn't it?" I agreed.  We talked for a bit about how rude it was and that he needed to tell his friend.  By this time the second young man had walked on a few steps and was laughing.  I assume there was no hunger involved.  And although I may have supported the cultural norms, and stopped some other musungu (foreign white person) from being bothered and helped the gentlemen see that it was inappropriate, .....but I can't help wondering how it possibly shared Christ's love.

Road to Rwanda----Walking Home

 When we are living cross cultural, one spends a great deal of time trying to figure out just what to do in certain situation.  As I walk the mile home from school every day I see well over a 100 people on the road. (Rwanda is one of the most highly populated rural countries in the world, probably the highest in Africa.)  A few times a week, someone comes and walks with me for a ways.  Sometimes we talk in English, and sometimes in another something else....which I do not understand, but the exchange is nearly always pleasant.  Today though a little girl was sitting beside the road.  She was about 11 or so and had on a school uniform, although it was quite old and ragged.  (Rather unusual because Rwandas dress exceptionally nicely if they can.)  I would assume she is poor, but the country does take care of its citizens so I assume she was not starving and she did not look like she was.  She saw me as I passed and said, "Give me money," in English.  This is a phrase we hear fa

Road to Rwand----Wildlife

 We have spectacular birds here.  As I walked home yesterday, there were two green parakeets at my feet, not a foot away, eating beside the road side.  There is an irridescent large ibis who feeds on our common green space at school.  A few days ago as we stood outside in a circle for morning devotions. there was a brilliant red bird with a black stripe on his wings matching the red flowers on the tree he was crawling around in. Every morning we wake up to the screeching of what we assumed were crows.  It sounded  like crows. But we finally saw them flying and squawking.  They are medium sized, long billed, long necked ibis, flying over head. This particular pair has a nest we can observe high in the tree as we wait for our ride in the morning.   But we also have other wildlife, not that we have necessarily seen them yet.  Of course, there are the mountain gorillas, which bring thousands of visitors per year ( maybe per month) to our town.  But there is more.  As we were reading "

Road to Rwanda---Weekends

 A long-napped Sunday afternoon.  I have continued to be pretty tired every day, but it is some better.  We are enjoying ourselves.  Saturday afternoon we spent 4 hours playing "Chicken Foot", a domino game with 7  other ladies.  It was at a gorgeous brick home built by a missionary who has since moved to another field.  It has about 5 bedrooms, and a small guest house.  When you look at these buildings (including the school's magnificent buildings) they are absolute miracles.  I was told this beautiful brick home and the land it was on cost about $80,000 USD.  And to think that each of these thousands and thousands of bricks were hand made.  The speed of construction here is also phenomenal.  I  am used to endless delays in any building project, but the work force here seems more than willing to put in the time and effort.  To finish off the Saturday evening was a meal made by the Zimbabwean friend.  It is nshima and relish that we enjoyed in Zambia 40 years ago: a corn

Road to Rwanda----Don't Quit!

  Don’t quit!   That was part of the pastor’s message this morning in church.   He was citing Ecclesiastes 3 where 28 different “seasons” we may meet in our lives are listed:   “A time to be born, a time to die, a time to plant, a time to reap.”   But at no point does it say that there is a time to quit.   Wow!   I needed that.   It was only a flashing, passing thought, but Friday afternoon, I thought, “I just want to go home!”   I think I have not really had that thought flash through my mind since about the first few months in Quito about 45 years ago, 1976.   It just is not something I think or feel.   And the thought was born after such inconsequential things. I have broken 3 staplers in 2 weeks.   (I think they were broken when they came to me, but regardless,) I cannot seem to find a working stapler, and I use staplers. Then the hard wooden desk chair that I had for the first week gave me horrible back aches after about 20 minutes of sitting on them.   I substituted a plastic cha

Road to Rwanda-----Kwita Izina

 Kwita Izina is the name of the Rwandan celebration to name the baby gorillas who were born in the past year.  Yesterday was the day.  There are huge groups of tourists and officials who arrived in Musanze (our location) to travel up into the mountains for the naming ceremony.  This year there are twenty babies born to about the 1,000 surviving mountain gorillas.  Rwanda is very conservation minded and jealously protects its gorillas, both for ethical reasons, but also because it is a major generator of funds for the economy.  There are many tours, hotels, etc. around our area.  What a wonder to live in a place this close to these majestic animals.

Road to Rwanda-----Bad Roads, Skin Color, and Mountains

  I feel less tired this week as I get more into the groove.   Felt well enough to go to the church Wednesday night prayer/praise service.   Of course it is never easy.   A friend said he would walk us over there.   He arrived on the back of a taximoto to our front gate.   As I have said, the main roads in this country are gorgeous and immaculate, but the minute you are off them, oh my.    It was about a 10 minute walk past rather nice gated homes in the city streets, but the roads were deep in mud.   We waded through puddles a few inches deep, ruts that went on forever, etc.   Very few street lights, so just using our phones, and picking our way.   The worship was good, but the trip was tiring.   Twice yesterday, two little boys in separate incidents, reached up and petted my cheek.    It was a loving gesture, but a little strange. I think they might be checking to see if the white would rub off, but I am not sure.   We were told in devotions on Monday that a little preschooler was

Road to Rwanda----Umuganda

  It is Saturday.   I am thankful for Saturday.   When you are retired, Saturday is the same as any other day, but as a working person, Saturdays are precious.   I find this one particularly precious. After a week of teaching, I find that I have been absolutely exhausted every night walking the mile home.   I nap, and then go to bed. Lol.   I also have been concerned why I am panting so hard by the time I get to the top of the stairs to my classroom. Although not in excellent shape, I am not used to panting.   However, yesterday as I was praying about this, God brought to mind that I am at over 7,000 feet where we live!!   Well, no wonder I am tired and panting at times.   I feel better now….not physically,   but emotionally.   I was up at 5 this morning, like usual, and got the brownies baked for the company I am having for supper.   (If I thought they would come through to me, I would beg someone to mail me some baking pans.)   Ovens and the paraphernalia needed for ovens are not t

Road to Rwanda-----Tables and Games

  So, I am lying on the bed in the spare bedroom. It is where Rick and I spend our time at home.   We don’t anticipate much company to sleep in this room, so instead we bought a chair for Rick, and I use the bed and we can keep the itty bitty living room clean.   I am kind of hiding back here right now.   The apartment had no table or chairs.   We have been sitting on the bed or couch to eat most of the time.   But we contracted to have a small 1 meter square table with 2 benches and 2 chairs to be made.   It did not arrive last week because we were at in-service meetings all getting ready for school.   The man came at 5 tonight with the table. He was to arrive at 4 as soon as we walked the mile home from school, but he had trouble finding transport. Finally, someone else arrived with the table and benches and chairs strapped to his bicycle!!!   Really amazing how much they can load on a bicycle.   The carpenter spent the time he was waiting hanging our pictures for us.   (We have 2 Ch

Road to Rwanda---- Help me for my first day of school

 I have a power point put together to introduce myself to the middle school students for my first day.  But there are class rules here and I would like to cover them in a fun way.  I do not have much time, and some of you have asked about ways you could help.  Can you search meme's and send to me that illustrate the following rules:  (You know "meme"-----those sayings, words, pictures or short clips that add zest to a statement. We appreciate them so so much on FB.) Even if you find one meme for one rule it would help me out.  Rule 1: Respond to adults with "Yes, Ma'am" or "No, Sir". Rule 2: Make eye contact when someone is speaking. Rule 3: Congratulate the winner when someone does something well. Rule 4? I f you win do not brag. If you lose, do not show anger. Rule t5: Respect other students' comments, opinions, and ideas. Rule 6: Always say thank you when given something and please when asking for something. Rule 7: When you receive somethin

Road to Rwanda----International Staff

  This is truly an international staff.   I have had so so much fun with the neighbor lady here in our apartment complex who arrived at the same time we did. She is from Zimbabwe, which we have visited many years ago when we lived in Zambia, and has many similarities with Zambia ( like calling the hot water heater a “geyser”, which the Rwandan staff found confusing, but I knew what she meant).   The other night as we were walking home from eating supper at the principal’s house, we got to laughing so hard I thought people might come out of the houses and tell us to be quiet.   We were particularly tickled when we figured out that we really did not know which road to turn on to get home.   We figured it out but were afraid maybe we would be hours wandering.   She most recently came from a school in Afghanistan where she was teaching.   She was not able to return to Zimbabwe until after the Taliban had taken over, but then made it out.   She has a beautiful 6 year old daughter with her.

Road to Rwanda----Moto-taxis and Reunion in Kigali

  I have been walking the kilometer back and forth to school, up and down hills.   I am so blessed to be able to do this after replacing both hips and one knee.   Sometimes the hip that was replaced first still gives me some pain though.   Seeing me stopping and resting frequently on the way home, one young lady, finally, stopped and asked, “Madam, I can see you are so tired.. Can’t I carry your backpack for you?”   I thanked her profusely, but said I was not so much tired, as in pain and I didn’t think she could help.   They have many motorscooter and bicycle taxis here.   One man on a motorscooter, drove past, then circled back…twice…telling me to get on.   I have really contemplated if I could bring my leg up far enough to get on the back of the bike or motorscooter and as I stood there with the man, I just knew that I would fall flat if I tried.   So I explained the problem, refused the helmet he was offering so I could ride safely.   He circled back around a second time to talk to

Road to Rwanda----tetanus shots and hot water heaters

  These have been busy, busy days, so I will post a few reflections a day for a while to try to catch up.   On our second day here I cut my finger very badly cutting up vegetables. Every time I took the bandage off for 2 days it bled copious.   When I had my check up in the US right before our return, the doctor wanted me to get a tetanus shot, but since I did not have an open wound, it would have cost $70.   I knew tetanus shots were available all over the world, so I declined. I decided I had better get one here after cutting myself. It was not quite so easy as I had hoped. Admin at the school had to call around to figure it out. Then the wonderful man who has ferried us all over took us to a pharmacy, where they found the tetanus serum and I paid $6 for it. Then we had to drive to a clinic.   The man’s cousin was the one who gave me the shot for $9.   $15 for the whole process, but a little more hassle. We have not had hot water since we arrived. This would not have been a probl

Road to Rwanda------Setting Up

  (VVA friends who are reading this blog, please, please, do not think that we are casting dispersions on our living arrangements, or dissatisfied living here.   We are very happy in Rwanda. But we want friends back “home” to understand why we need prayer.   We also want them to have a fuller understanding of the things that many face when moving overseas.)   I wrote in passing to my sister and good childhood friend (which I do every day) that the there were many difficulties in adjusting to our apartment.   My sister asked me to share the difficulties.   She was quite astounded at the kind of things that are involved in setting up a living space in an overseas setting and said she thought we had never had it so difficult before.   We assured her that these kinds of things were not uncommon, but that many times no one shares them.   I decided, at the risk that people may think that we are being Ugly Americans, to list some of the problems we have attempted to solve over the last fe

Road to Rwanda----First Impressions

 Our internet is difficult,  Just a hotspot off our old phone from China and that took a while to make happen.  There isa lovely assistant director here, Fred, a Rwandan, who has hung with us for the last 2 days, through ATM's, phones, internet, water faucets leaking (2 of them),  endless shopping, etc.  Such a blessing to have a young gentlemen to walk this road with us.  Thanks to the Andrea, the director's wife, as well.  The director is in the States settling in a child to college. We could not do any of this ourselves: we have no wheels, we don't know where to go, and we don't know the language.  Always humbling to be so completely dependent on others.  But we have spent most of our adult life in this kind of situation.  Never easy, but acceptance that it is the only way we can set up living outside of our own country/culture.   Impressions:  Rwanda is a busy, lovely country.  The absolutely CLEANEST place I have ever seen.  There were people out sweeping along sid

Road to Rwanda----Arrived!

 We just arrived in Kigali, the caital of Rwanda.  I am pretty tired, but I will write so that you know that we were blessed by your prayers.  It started off eventful.....like usual for us.  As we zipped our carry on's, the zipper on Rick's suitcase broke.  We were starting out hours early, so we quickly drove to Walmart and came home with a new suitcase....but we messed up.  (We bought 2 suitcases in the past 3 days.  Both of them are the same size.  We can't use either one.  One was to replace a smaller bag and we wanted to fit in 70 pounds and it was the same size as the one we were using, so too small.  The one we bought the day of leaving was to replace Rick's carry on and it was too big for that.  I am not sure why we were/have been/may continue to be so spatially challenged that we can't assess the suitcase's size better.  I don't remember having trouble before.  Age?)  However, I just forced the zipper on the carry on backwards and rezipped.  It held

Road to Rwanda-----Packing

 So with all the horror stories coming out of Europe about flights right now, of course, WE are scheduled through Brussels on Aug.4!!! Brussels has the worst record for ontime flights in the world.   Not to mention all the things being said about lost luggage.  BUT, we just got confirmation that the portion of our flight from Newark to Brussels has been upgraded to Business class!!! I cannot express how thankful we are.  It will mean being able to lie down for the overnight 7+ hour portion.  It also means we have 70 pounds per suitcase all the way through, regardless if the other two legs are upgraded or not.  So relieved.  I had visions of sitting on the floor of the Greenville/Spartanburg airport throwing out 20 pounds from each bag inorder to get on our flights.  We easily manage living overseas.  Enjoy ourselves immensely.  But the travel to and from has become more and more exhausting as we have aged.  So the Lord told me that maybe upgrading our class of flight would help.  We ap

Road to Peace's placement.....real success this time.

 From January on, in Indonesia, I thought and prayed about what needed to be done this summer.  It just seemed insurmountable, particularly within my time frame. But every step that I had envisioned has just fallen into place.  We arrived to SC on June 7. On July 7 (one month) we completed the paper work for Peace's placement in a nursing home, where she has to be for 90 days for her to access her funding stream in her rmove from FL to MA.  Today, 3 weeks to the day after arriving in MA, Peace was placed in Fitchburg Rehab and Nursing Home.  As we waited the weekend between the finishing of the paperwork and her placement we were confident of the availablity of a room that had been promised from her arrival in MA....the only nursing home to respond at all to our repeated inquiry. Even though the responding admissions officer was fired 2 days after we met her, we were still assured that the room would be available. Confidently we called on Monday morning to confirm the room to find

Road to Peace's Placement...........Success, almost.

 The nurse assessor for the Ageing Services for North Central Massachusetts came to our RV today at noon.  She is the gatekeeper for nusing home placements. She gave me verbal assurance that she would give Peace approval for a 90 day skilled nursing care placement!!!!  Can't believe that we really are at an end of this road.  Why do we doubt? I had absolute confidence that God would take care of Peace, but I was never completely sure that this was the  route that He wanted to take.  I considered not writing this until she actually was in placement, because there are a few more steps that the agencies have to check, but the verbal assurance was given.  The admissions director for the actual nursing home (who is in corporate headquarters rather than local becasue they fired the admissions director who was the only person who answered any of our feelers to nursing homes, 2 days after I met her, ) Anyway, he has also given me verbal assurance that they have ONE female bed available. Ho

Road to Peace's Placement

 At last there is time enough to write a bit.  And overall it is positive news.  We got into SC at Peters on June 7, and were quickly on the road to get Peace in FL.  I was sick most of the trip and time in FL but it was not to the extent that we could not pack up her belongings and head north after 4 days. (After a fun lunch with Shelly Rabe, student from Dakar Academy.)  Rick did a masterful job of fitting into the back of our Dodge Caravan a small coffin size cedar chest, my mom's huge rocking chair and innumerable boxes of Peace's life, besides the 3 of us. We spent 2 days in SC for Peace to see her nieces and nephew, and 2 days in PA to see Purity.  Then we drove the 3 hours over to Pittsburg to connect with friends from Senegal days, Jay Sappington, who had cared for our RV for the winter.  This portion was arranged by a friend from Zambia days, Jean Snyder, so we could get our Caravan and RV PA inspected.  What fun visiting with these friends. Paul flew down from MA to d

Road to Peace's Placement

 48 hours from the time we left our apartment in Papua, until we arrivedat Peter's house in SC.  I've certainly had worse trips, but this trip was marked by the hordes of people.  Our flight arrived in Japan at the time that our next flight to Houston opened for boarding!  This diminuative Japanese lady pushed my wheelchair past every obstacle and to the head of every line and made it through customs, security check, and reticketing/negative covid check in half an hour.  Not to mention covering a great deal of ground.  Rick was pushing to get through so hard that he did not bother putting on his belt after security and carried it in his hand.  As we sat down on the plane he realized he did not have it!  (I was wondering what new adventures a beltless Rick might pose.)  Right before we departed, one of the airline hostesses walked the aisles with his belt asking if it were anyone's??  So we were spared wardrobe malfunctions.   In Houston we had 3 hours, but I have never seen

Farewell to Indonesia 2

 Well here we go.  At 9 this morning we leave our apartment for the last time to get our covid test.   We then board our 6 hour flight to Jakarta, overnight in the airport hotel (Can you imagine an airport hotel for $40 per night?....and much better than the baggage claim area where we usually spend our 11 hour layovers),  7 hour flight to Japan,  12 hour flight to Houston,  3 hour fight to SC.  Because of the International Date Line we arrive at Peter's house just 9 hours after we left Jakarta.  Can you imagine?  Our layovers after Jakarta are mercifully very short (pray we make connections).   And God just goes above and beyond with those small little perks.  For instance, a week ago we got an email from the local air carrier asking if we wanted to "bid" on an upgrade to business class.  I had never heard of such a thing, but after checking with our Indo friend online, he said it was not a scam.  So we scored an upgrade for $30 each for the first 6 hour leg of our trip!

Prayer

  We need prayer.  On June 6 we leave Indonesia and (after many long hours) arrive in SC the night of June 7.  After a few days in SC with Peter and fam, we will go down to FL to pick up Peace. She needs to be closer to family and MA seems to be the best location and Paul and Alisha have graciously said they will be available to her.  However, the point is to find her another independent/assisted living situation such as she has had for the past 10 years or so  in FL.  The paperwork is clear and eventually it should work out, but there is this immediate interim period which has just been impossible to facilitate.  MA says Peace needs 90 days in a skilled nursing facility for assessment and then she can step down to an assisted living situation.There apparently is room in assisted living, but it has been IMPOSSIBLE to find a skilled nursing facility that will accept her for the 90 days.  They will not even answer the phone calls that Peace's coordinator has placed multiple times.  S

Farewell to Indonesia

 My students threw a surprise farewell party for me last night!!! It was just so so sweet of them.  They really kept themselves quiet about it.....a little hard to imagine. All year long we have talked about movies, and last week they were pressing me for favorite movies.  I told them a few and they ended up choosing "Princess Bride",  which was such fun to watch at the party.  They had brought in plenty of food and drinks.  We sat around in the multipurpose room for over 3 hours and talked and watched the movie. The 9th graders had to leave after an hour or so because it was their grade level party at their sponsors' house.  They told stories about interactions with me and wrote such nice notes. There were about 30 of them.  I cannot express how touched I was.  Tonight is the end of year staff appreciation dinner.  That will be nice too. It is, as usual, at a restaurant about an hour away which is owned by the parents of some of our students.  It is always a good time. T