November 13, 2005

I’m finally getting around to journaling again. I haven’t been very disciplined in this area but you win some, you lose some. Here are some highlights of the past month.

Several weeks ago at dinner we had another priceless prayer by Jason. It started normally with thanking God for each person in the family but he concluded with “and thank you for the giraffe poop and elephant poop. Amen.” Yes, that was the highlight of our trip to the zoo in Jason’s eyes. Brendan had his own list of highlights which included the orangutan picking his nose with his gargantuan hands and proceeding to eat it. It really doesn’t get any better than that. We all enjoyed watching the zookeeper feed the baby giraffe with a huge baby bottle. And we got to see an armadillo up close which was pretty cool. But honestly, what can top poop and snot?

Jason is at the age where he is ultra polite. We get lots of pleases and thank yous. He loves to snuggle and tell us that he loves us. Grandma and Grandpa get big hellos when they come home from work. Jason is the first to ask how their day was and he asks Grandpa, “How was Fuller Seminary?” He is trying to figure out everyone’s last name so he often asks, “What’s your Smith called?” Or “What’s your bottom name?” He has gotten into playing preschool games on the computer which he calls the “com-Peter.” It’s amazing to me that a three year old can operate a mouse so well! Jason is getting into drawing a bit but apparently forgot that we only draw on paper. He took a black dry erase marker and drew on Grandma and Grandpa’s leather couch and on the wall. Thankfully, I was able to clean the couch but the wall will take a few coats of paint! Good thing my parents appreciate art in all its various forms!

Brendan is learning so much in kindergarten and generally enjoys it. He does say he is ready to not go everyday so I told him about Thanksgiving vacation and Christmas vacation and he brightened knowing he would have time off soon. He loves to make designs on paper with a ruler and pencil. We had our last soccer game on Saturday and I am thankful the season is over and our Saturdays will be free. Brendan really improved this year and scored a lot of goals which really boosted his confidence. The highlight for him was receiving a bobblehead trophy along with the rest of the team. He is still very much into science. We attended a dinosaur evening at the local library and a scientist explained so much about fossils and dinosaurs and made it accessible to kids (and me!). It was very good and I learned a ton! We also went to Kidspace museum where Brendan was able to talk to a volunteer and share everything he knew about grasshoppers to gain points toward a prize. He earned 100 points with his knowledge allowing him to take home a very nice seashell.

Some of the highlights for me include:
- Scrapbooking night at the church. Peter braved Chuck E. Cheese with the kids while I chatted and worked (mostly chatted!) from 6 – 11 p.m.
- Time with Dre, a friend from PMC who moved to Arizona while we were in Prague. We had several hours together which was very refreshing!
- I’ve been reading “Dissident Disciple” by David Augsburger and really challenged in how I understand spirituality and how I live out my faith.
- I’m still in training for the Urban Dare Champions Race which is Dec. 8-10. I ran/walked 10 kilometers for the first time ever a week or two ago. I was surprised that it didn’t kill me though I hope to improve my time over the next few months. I hope to run the 10K at the MCC Relief Sale in Fresno in April and hopefully will do it in an hour.

But what has been occupying most of Peter and my free time is completing an application to work with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). Awhile back, one of our friends suggested that we look into this organization but we were focused on finding a job somewhere in the United States, teaching at a college. A few weeks ago, I decided to go to MCC’s website and I found an opportunity in Zambia that could be perfect for Peter. The position is to live and work with students from many countries of Africa striving to create peace. The Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation invites lay leaders from all over Africa to come and be trained in a variety of areas including conflict transformation and peacemaking. They need someone to teach courses and seminars in peace building. Peter and I actually considered serving with MCC shortly after we were married. At that point we had few skills to offer and three years seemed too long of a commitment. Thirteen years later, we finally have a few skills to offer, and three years doesn’t seem quite as long. We really like that we would be part of this institute that is dedicated to worship, reflection, study and action. We would be joining this community and working alongside them to equip leaders. There may be opportunities for me to serve in various capacities as well as they do some training in trauma and recovery, an area that I am very interested in. Although we would try to learn Bemba, the local language, English is the official language of Zambia which could reduce some of the stress of learning another language in order to communicate at all. There are school options for the boys and we would actually have our living expenses taken care of (other than by loans and the generosity of parents) so that would be a step up for us! So we have filled out a very long application and have begun the conversation with MCC to see if this is indeed a good fit for us and our family. We are very excited about the possibilities but we are also aware of some of the challenges of living overseas. We invite your prayers and discernment as we move through this process. The application process is extended, taking 6-9 months, so should this be the next step for us, late August would most likely be our departure time.