What to post?

I'm sitting here, thinking I need to post something, just to let you know we are still here. We are. And rainy season has truly arrived. Larry and Sandi Dick are with us for a couple extra days because their flight was canceled due to heavy wind and rain for the last 24 hours. I expect you folks on the east coast of the USA should be looking for a tropical storm to form once this gets out over the ocean. Hopefully it won't become a hurricane. Rick says that if it does, it should be named Lauren for our friend whose beachside wedding got rained on yesterday - it was nice all afternoon until 4, and that was exactly when the wedding was due to start. It was a holiday - the Liberian "Independence" Day - see my blog from last year for more info on that.

The wonders of the internet never cease. Earlier this week, I discovered that our internet connection was good enough to listen to BBC's "Focus on Africa" online. Made me wonder - could I listen to US radio? In particular.....to hear the Red Sox games? It's been killing me to miss the great season they are having (62-40, best record in MLB). Turns out that yes, I can. Isn't that cool? Of course, it means I stay up too late listening to the games, especially if it's a good one. It's kind of weird to hear the RKO announcers and ads for Dunkin Donuts, d'Angelo's Sandwich Shop and Giant Glass (1-800-54GIANT), sitting here in Africa. But it's great not to miss the fun. I remember back in 1988 when we were here and one night I caught Johnny Most announcing a Celtics game on Armed Forces Radio- it was such a sweet moment to get a little bit of home. We're pretty spoiled now with email and internet access. I guess that means the Red Sox Nation extends even to West Africa.

Max is just with us for a couple more weeks- he'll go back August 12th and begin classes on the 16th. We're planning to send the other boys to the new American School, but they may not start till later in September because the building is being renovated. I warned them that we are going to start "school"- some Math and maybe writing - soon after Max leaves so they don't have too much down time. But they won't mind I think. We're running out of things to do in the rain.

So that's a quick note. Just a glimpse of everyday life here.

ELWA Academy Closing Program July 7, 2007

Here's a little glimpse of the "chaos" of an elementary school closing program. Singing, talking, dancing, marching, dodging in to get a picture- everyone is moving. But as Rick once told Do Young, if you are going to live in Africa, you have to learn to love a little chaos!

The quality of the upload was a little disappointing. If I can do better, I will make a note.

Mystery Photo number 3 Revealed

Well, it's time to let you know about mystery photo number three. We did have some correct guesses--I guess we're being too easy!

It was a type of termite nest, but in a rather "fungal" formation, located up in the woods behind a waterfall where we went during our vacation in Bong county last month. We had a great day at the waterfall, which was beautiful and refreshing as well as lots of fun. We went there with some new friends the Lippys who are Baptist missionaries up in Gbarnga, and who have six kids (3 boys and 3 girls) whose ages overlap ours pretty well.

We also got to visit Rainbow Town, a sort of mission station with an orphanage for about 90 kids of ages from 1 year to 18 years, and a school which educates both the orphans and kids from nearby villages. Our friends Jackson and Harriet Quenisear manage Rainbow Town with help from several different ministry groups. This pic is of Jackson and Harriet's son, Germeni, with Max and Caleb, looking at the fish pond.


Lotsa love from Rick and Deb.... more soon....

The best tool in the world

You probably think that this would be Rick writing. But it's Debbie. I wish I was a poet - if I were, I would write a poem called "Ode to the Vise-Grip". Last summer when we were home, it was June, so we bought Rick some tools for Father's Day. I'm not really very educated about tools, but I saw a set of vise-grips and they looked cool so I got them. The pretty blue and yellow handles caught my eye I think. What an outstanding tool! We have used these handy dandy devices to unstick several very stuck things in the last couple weeks. And things tend to really get stuck here - between the high humidity and high salt content in the atmosphere, stuck stuff is just part of life. So this is a very silly blog entry, but I just want to recommend the lowly vise grip to all of you - it's not a power tool, but it is a powerful tool.

It wasn't poetry, but it was kind of poetic, don't you think? I bet Rick could turn it into a real poem, but he wasn't interested.

Mystery Photo number 3!!!

Well, we're back from our very quiet, maybe even a tad boring, vacation in Gbarnga. But it was just what we needed.... some down time. System shutdown for a little maintenance!

We'll tell you more about it soon, and share some more pictures, but at 11:15 at night, all we have time for is MYSTERY PHOTO number 3, taken during a walk in the woods. That's Jared's hand next to it. WHAT IS IT?

--looking forward to hearing from all of you! Love, Rick