We've had some problems with internet and our old computer no longer being able to connect to Google Chrome. As technology marches on in the Western World, we're stuck back here in Africa! Oh well. Same song, different verse I guess.
Anyway, I'm trying to catch up now. I had a whirlwind trip to Nairobi Kenya where I met up with a couple from our highschool we hadn't seen since 2004, had a killer Chai Latte, and stuffed my brain with too much information in meetings. But it was good, and everyone survived the week here in Malawi. Chad's a great dad, and he did great balancing teaching 4 classes and managing dinner and bedtime and 1 load of laundry (!), but I don't think it's something he wants to do very often!
I got home on Saturday at noon, and we left Sunday morning for Zambia. Several good friends of ours are at the 40/40 training camp 4 hours from here, so we wanted to stop in and visit with them. Do you remember my stories of 40/40 from our orientation 3 years ago??? It just about killed me, with Isaac at 4 months and hauling water to hand-wash cloth diapers every afternoon after walking 3 miles into the bush and feeding and bathing 3 kids at a camp-ground of dust and out-houses. Anyway, I digress. So we drove up into camp, excited to see everyone. And then we found Isaac had an accident in the car and we didn't have any water warming, and Omara and Isaac found the ash-pit and tried to see who could get dirtier, and then everyone got hungry and it wasn't time to eat yet, and then we had to get 4 filthy kids clean and in bed in a canvas tent with everyone able to hear the fit Omara threw, and...by 7pm I was in tears, feeling like I had just teleported back in time and was stuck in the worst month of my life all over again. And we'd done in willingly. What were we thinking????
But the next day while everyone else had to walk those 3 miles, I sat in the sun and hand-washed Isaac's carseat and clothes in my leisure, and drank chai, and went into town for a snack when we got hungry. Much better! And we even survived that night well enough to enjoy a bonfire complete with marshmallows!
We made it home Tuesday afternoon in time for Anya to rush off to her dress-rehearsal for her ballet recital. The power stayed on long enough for me to catch up with 3 loads of laundry--enough to dress the kids in their uniforms today, but not yet enough to empty the dirty clothes baskets! That can wait for another day, now that I'm really home and can settle in again. At least until Friday, when Chad goes off on a 3-day birding safari and I'm home with all 4 kids and no car!!! I insisted he go, in order to recover from his solo week here. But again, what was I thinking????
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
3 years in the lives of our children
We have now been in Africa for 3 years. I know that’s a long time, though the time has flown by. But really, what is 3 years in the scope of my whole life? Hardly anything. But it has come to my attention just how significant it is in the lives of my children. Perhaps I should have realized that earlier, but somehow this has become normal life for us all, so I forget just how removed they are from what is normal in the US! Let me illustrate:
*Anya (age 10) was reminicing about America, and she said dreamily, "I had totally forgotten that you can turn the TV on and actually see something. That will be awesome!" (our TV is for movies only)
*Ethan (age 7!) stared at me in awe at the description of listening to music play out of the dashboard of a car, because he didn’t know what a radio was. The next day, he came in and excitedly reported that our friends have “one of those radio things that plays music in a car”. We obviously do not!
*While paying our electricity bill at the gas station, Isaac (age 3 ½) got out of the car and peed, happily facing the street. He peed in the flower garden at the children’s school. He sometimes walks to the front door and pees out onto the driveway—and it doesn’t phase anyone but us!
*We went to a friend’s house for a nice dinner, and after we prayed, Isaac blew out all the scented candles she had so nicely lit. I scolded him, but he looked at me in confusion and said, “But the power is on!”
*Today at a speech assessment, Isaac had no idea who Santa Claus was. He was unable to recognize the drawings of the church (long building with a tall steeple) or the house (2-story with a picket fence), didn’t know what a wagon was, and he was very disturbed with why the carrot had green leaves sticking out them (they’re always cut off by the time we see them). He thought the horse was a giraffe and the rabbit was a cat, but he knew the elephant and zebra and eagle.
So when we come home in a year from now, please be patient when my poor children don’t recognize your fruits or vegetables, mistake farm animals for an African safari, or “water” your church planters after the service because they don’t know where the toilets are! If it’s any consolation, they can greet in 2 or 3 languages, identify the differences between a puku, impala, waterbuck, and duiker, differentiate between mango, papaya, flame, tulip, jacaranda, and frangipani trees, and they know how to decorate eggs, play card games and get ready for bed by candle-light!
*Anya (age 10) was reminicing about America, and she said dreamily, "I had totally forgotten that you can turn the TV on and actually see something. That will be awesome!" (our TV is for movies only)
*Ethan (age 7!) stared at me in awe at the description of listening to music play out of the dashboard of a car, because he didn’t know what a radio was. The next day, he came in and excitedly reported that our friends have “one of those radio things that plays music in a car”. We obviously do not!
*While paying our electricity bill at the gas station, Isaac (age 3 ½) got out of the car and peed, happily facing the street. He peed in the flower garden at the children’s school. He sometimes walks to the front door and pees out onto the driveway—and it doesn’t phase anyone but us!
*We went to a friend’s house for a nice dinner, and after we prayed, Isaac blew out all the scented candles she had so nicely lit. I scolded him, but he looked at me in confusion and said, “But the power is on!”
*Today at a speech assessment, Isaac had no idea who Santa Claus was. He was unable to recognize the drawings of the church (long building with a tall steeple) or the house (2-story with a picket fence), didn’t know what a wagon was, and he was very disturbed with why the carrot had green leaves sticking out them (they’re always cut off by the time we see them). He thought the horse was a giraffe and the rabbit was a cat, but he knew the elephant and zebra and eagle.
So when we come home in a year from now, please be patient when my poor children don’t recognize your fruits or vegetables, mistake farm animals for an African safari, or “water” your church planters after the service because they don’t know where the toilets are! If it’s any consolation, they can greet in 2 or 3 languages, identify the differences between a puku, impala, waterbuck, and duiker, differentiate between mango, papaya, flame, tulip, jacaranda, and frangipani trees, and they know how to decorate eggs, play card games and get ready for bed by candle-light!
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Update on Ethan
Well, Ethan's been taking the new medication for two weeks now. We're on Easter Break now, so we've held it for the last 2 days (and since I've said his name in exasperation about 20 times so far this morning, we're beginning to think that might be a mistake!). The meds, much as I hate to admit it, are working amazingly. His handwriting, described as "horrific" by the educational psychologist, has dramatically improved. The first day he spent 3 hours reading a book "for fun" and did his homework by himself while I went grocery shopping. For anyone who has a child like Ethan...that's really miracle-material! He complained of a headache the first day, and a stomach ache the second, but since then he has been complaint free. He's not been at all "zombie-like" so I asked him how he felt on the medicine--he said, "I really like it--it helps me behave better."
The only trouble we've had is with the insomnia, which I'm hoping will ease with time. He's often still awake when we go to bed at 10pm, which means I have to give him his growth hormone injection while he's still awake. That has not been as pleasant! So far, he's still able to get up at 6am, happy and seemingly refreshed, though I don't know how. That won't last forever, though, so please pray for him to be able to fall asleep easier. Speaking of the growth hormone, we did meet with the endocrinologist and Ethan's growth velocity went from 2cm/yr to 10cm/yr on the injections, so they're working. The plan is to stay on them for 1 more year, which should take him up to the 25% percentile in height. At that point, we can stop the injections and have 'room' to watch and see if his natural growth hormone will pick back up and do its job.
The rest of us are well too. Busy and not sleeping like we should still, thanks to Isaac and Omara, but we're well. We have 2 more weeks of vacation from school before classes start again for Chad and for the kids. Miriam took this week off from the clinic, and it's been nice to get things done around the house and relax a bit before real life hits again on the 16th.
The only trouble we've had is with the insomnia, which I'm hoping will ease with time. He's often still awake when we go to bed at 10pm, which means I have to give him his growth hormone injection while he's still awake. That has not been as pleasant! So far, he's still able to get up at 6am, happy and seemingly refreshed, though I don't know how. That won't last forever, though, so please pray for him to be able to fall asleep easier. Speaking of the growth hormone, we did meet with the endocrinologist and Ethan's growth velocity went from 2cm/yr to 10cm/yr on the injections, so they're working. The plan is to stay on them for 1 more year, which should take him up to the 25% percentile in height. At that point, we can stop the injections and have 'room' to watch and see if his natural growth hormone will pick back up and do its job.
The rest of us are well too. Busy and not sleeping like we should still, thanks to Isaac and Omara, but we're well. We have 2 more weeks of vacation from school before classes start again for Chad and for the kids. Miriam took this week off from the clinic, and it's been nice to get things done around the house and relax a bit before real life hits again on the 16th.
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