Road to Rwanda----"The Day When I Lost My Frogs"

  The assignment for my Ph.D. students at Peking University was to write a narrative/descriptive essay about an impactful experience from their childhood.   I have no idea where this student got these ideas, but I thought you might be as entertained by his essay as I was.   The Day When I Lost My Frogs A giant vat was in the yard when I was about 8 years old. One day, my brother advised, “Let's catch some frogs and fill them into the vat for pets.” Catching frogs was not been forbidden by China. It was my first time doing this kind of thing even though it’s normal in the countryside. We were so excited about this advice and started moving. The primary step was to prepare the tools. We imitated the process of the television show we had seen before. We burned a needle with the candle and twisted it into a semicircle as a hook. And we broke off a stripe of wicker from the tree for the rod. Finally, we tied the hook to the rod with a segment of cotton string. We dug s

Road to Rwanda-----Safari (Eat your heart out)

 To celebrate our 70 th and 75 th birthdays we went on safari.  How many people do you know who can say that?  I am writing this sitting in front of a breath taking view down the mountain to lakes and islands below me just outside the gates of the Acagera National Park.   We have been fake charged by a hippo (with huge open mouth and lots of teeth), watched a baby zebra be aggravated by a bird trying to perch on his ear, seen a herd of 40+ elephants, traveled through a village of baboons, sat while a large herd of buffaloes crossed the road in front of us on a night trek, and encountered 4 rhinos just standing beside the road as we were leaving the park last evening.   There were also countess numbers of antelope/deer animals (elands, topi, impala, etc.), exotic birds, and sleeping crocodiles.   About the only thing we did not see was a lion and a leopard.   Our guide was the director from our school who initiated the trip as a birthday present to his 16 year old daughter, who is a

Road to Rwanda---Dentist

 Going to the dentist anywhere is always an unwanted adventure.  I went today and the biggest take away I had is the mixture of new and old.  A friend at school had called the dentist for me.  No appointments, just go and wait.  I was the only one really in line at 9 a.m. when the dentist came.  He took me to his office with a nice modern chair, etc.  He asked if I was familiar with this set-up. I said yes.  It seemed a strange question to me, but he proceeded to tell me before he moved the chair up, down, or to lie down.  I suddently realized that many patients would never have sat in a chair that moved like that before and he was used to warning people before he gave them that sensation.  We then moved to the radiology room.  This chair was very old and outdated, and although he tried to use the machine with me sitting in the chair in the correct position, it did not work.  I had to sit sideways in the chair leaning up against the wall.  I also had to  steady the x-ray machine with m

Road to Rwanda----Prayer Request for Our Daughter, Peace

 We need prayer for Peace's placement.  We moved Peace, our youngest daughter, from Florida where she has been in care for 13 years, to Massachusetts this past July.  Her caregivers in FL had warnd us that the funding and available caregivers were sadly lacking in FL and that we should move her to a State with more secure funding and also closer to family.  The Lord led to move her to MA.  We were told that it might take a year for a place in a nursing home to open up for her before they could begin the process to access the funding stream for her placement.  God opened the doors and after concerted work on our part she was able to go to a small nursing home in Fitchburg, MA after only 3 weeks.  Miracles! We left her there in July.  She has been well cared for and has had good times visiting with her older brother and his family who  live in Fitchburg.  However, it is now 219 days since she has been in the nursing home. It is wearing on her and also she has increasingly become inst