It seems that I update the blog best when I come to realized that I really need to update the blog. Perfect.

Summer has been hot and dry (ok, somehow it's always super humid, but we're also experiencing drought for like the everyeth summer in a row since we've lived here).

We've had lots of company! The Norquists of Rhode Island, Ashlee, my 'rents, all in June. We spent a chunk of time up north in July, and since then it has been a blur of Ben traveling off and on. This has all made for a summer that has felt extremely short.

Ben was able to spend a few days here, as well as a week in Italy debriefing with Bryan's missions interns. It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it.

I've been purposefully ignoring my garden. The cooler times of day = a gazillion bug bites = sleep trouble, which is so not worth fresh tomatoes. That's how I feel about it. You can't even really see the soil anymore for how overgrown it is with weeds (and herbs. Love the herbs). As I had sort of resigned myself to not having a garden next year anyway, I think its spring 0f 2012 before I return to cultivation.

Henrik is loving summer. Pool time, park time, coloring, movies while mom makes dinner... It really is the good life. Oh, and LOTS of blueberries. Henrik is talking more all of the time, to the delight of pretty much everyone who hears his sweet voice. Really.

Babies #2 & #3 seem to be doing well. Another check-up and u/s in about two weeks, then on to every week or every other week appointments (depending on this next u/s) with an u/s about every two weeks. I also just joined the Chattanooga Area Moms of Multiples Club and have my first meeting this coming week. I'm excited to meet these ladies-- browsing their website and seeing the support the group offers was really encouraging back when I was feeling a bit panicked those first days after we found out about the twins. By the way, for anyone who hasn't heard yet... we have a boy and a girl on the way! We're very excited to welcome these little ones in late October/early November.

Soon the Bryan students will begin arriving in town. We're excited for a new school year, and the rhythm that participating in the college year gives our family life.

Someday I'll post pics.

Spring Break

This past week we traveled with a group of Bryan students to Nashville to help out an organization there-- Community Servants operating in the Wherry Housing Community of Smyrna, TN.
The basic idea is this: Community Servants works with the Wherry Housing Community's Tenant Cooperative to renovate old rental units. Community Servants has some input into whom the unit is rented to and the cooperative has the additional income from a unit that would otherwise be uninhabitable. It is a win-win-win arrangement. Community Servants is able to minister to particular families practically and spiritually (many are refugees or the homeless) while coordinating newly-remodeled, affordable housing for them, and the cooperative is supported on the financial side. The neighborhood is a safe and clean one because of the personal investment of the tenants in the cooperative and the Community Servants ministry (many of those who have been helped in the past do the helping now). Volunteers within the Wherry community, from the Nashville area and from around the country provide the labor. Our team worked on two units, painting, sealing, cleaning, doing some tiling and flooring work. We met both of the families who will live in the units. Oh, so rewarding!
Henrik wasn't able to participate in the renovating, but he was a great cheerleader/court jester. He did an A+ job sleeping in an unfamiliar, noisy place, too! Good work, kid.
Now all three of us are pretty darn exhausted, plodding into another week. Whew. And that is that.

Ben's January

Ben has been a busy one, too!
The semester began with the Spiritual Life Conference, with speaker and author Andy Crouch. From his website's bio:
"Andy is the author of Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling, winner of Christianity Today’s 2009 Book Award for Christianity and Culture and named one of the best books of 2008 by Publishers Weekly, Relevant, Outreach and Leadership." He is also a senior editor at Christianity Today and a really, really nice guy.
You can listen to a few of Andy's Bryan presentations here.
I think it was really fun for Ben to have Andy on campus as Andy's writing relates to some of Ben's special loves: art, creativity and the kingdom of God.

Ben has also been busy recording a few interviews with Bryan chapel guests. The show is a production of the college which airs on the Christian radio station here in Chattanooga. Some segments have not aired yet, so those aren't posted, but here are two that are available:

"Being the Protagonist in Your Story"
Interview with Gary Stratton October 24, 2009

MLK Day Project Interview with Danielle Rebman January 16, 2010

It is a source of happiness for Ben to bring challenging speakers to campus, and we hope that their good work (and Ben's, too) yields good fruit in the lives of the students.
Hope you have fun listening to these!

September? Already?

This is indeed the busiest part of the year for us-- both schools back in session.
I returned to work in early August (the day after we returned from Slovakia, actually!). This year I am working at the elementary school less than a mile from our house. It has been absolutely wonderful! I work closely with 4 great ladies (this is the first time I've felt like I had co-workers in teaching... teachers tend to work pretty independently most of the day...), do a lot of paperwork, test students' English proficiency levels, and tutor a newcomer for a few hours each day. I am really enjoying it, and am a bit disappointed to be leaving soon!
Ben is back at Bryan, teaching 5 credits this semester. His two biggest undertakings are a Christian Life Formation Course called "Wilderness Disciplines" and a freshman Worldview section. He has spent a lot of time pulling together materials for these classes, doing a lot of reading, etc. I met a few of his students at the park the other day-- their main feedback was that his laugh is contagious. I guess that tells you he is enjoying himself! Also, this is his first semester taking on the responsibility of facilitating the student-led ministries in "PCI" (Practical Christian Involvement). We had those ministry leaders over for dessert and conversation with a chapel speaker the other night, and helped flip pancakes at an informational breakfast meant to recruit more participants into the ministries on Saturday morning. Probably 150 students showed up-- a great success. Tomorrow's chapel is aimed at calling the student body to begin (or maintain) a lifestyle of Christian service and ministry. Pretty exciting things happening at Bryan!
On the baby front, we had another appointment yesterday, complete with a quick ultrasound meant to size him. Baby Boy is very healthy. We saw him yawn, suck, and exercise his little lungs! His heartbeat is very normal at 146bpm. The ultrasound put his weight at 5 lbs. 11 oz., but that can be somewhat inaccurate, I understand. I am so excited for him to come-- to see him, hold him, name him, but also a little sad to lose the joy of the anticipation itself!
In the baby-prep arena, our busy schedule means that the to-do list only grows, with lots of hard work on lots of things every day, but little progress on the little tasks that I'd love to finish before the baby arrives. Things like organizing the fridge and freezer, dusting cupboard shelves and moving furniture to vacuum, etc. I told the doctor that I need at least two more weeks to get ready, and he tapped me on the forehead and told me to get ready now. Car seat in, bag ready. I REALLY DON'T think I'll be in labor tomorrow or anything (I repeat-- the baby isn't coming quite yet), but I guess I should start altering my mindset from thinking the baby is coming sometime in the far future to sometime in the near future. To that end, I am hoping to sort through my mess of papers at work this afternoon, with resolve to keep organized from here on out, for my coworkers' sake.

Home, Sweet Home

We're back in TN now-- and so glad to be here. Being back in our church family Sunday morning, spending time with friends Saturday and Sunday evenings, being back at work, visiting the baby doctor later today... All wonderful returns to routine. Well, there is also the laundry and cleaning that needs to be done, but I'm so glad for the super-enjoyable things that the housework isn't getting me down too much!

We have good pics to share and some stories to tell. All in all, our adventures abroad were rewarding and full of learning for us both. It was great to get to know some of the Bryan students so well, and to see first-hand the ups and downs of their time in their internships. It was also valuable, for that matter, to see the ups and downs that the ministry hosts experience, as well!

Our last week in Slovakia was spent in "debriefing" the students' experiences. The students flew in from all over the world to spend the time together at a "Penzion" (guesthouse) in central Slovakia. The scenery was beautiful and the culture rich: even a horse-drawn cart and a farmer harvesting with a sickle were seen from time to time! The students worked through some readings and reflections in small groups, and shared from their summer experiences with all 20 of us. Hearing about their personal and spiritual growth over this summer made all the ups and downs worth it. Amazing!

Ben says,
"Maybe we can ask the question, 'What are the most important things in life and see what people say.'"
Well?

On another note, we have been busy worker bees the last few weeks. Ben took a trip to China and returned last Sunday. Since then (well, for me, while he was gone, too) we've been helping the school here move to a smaller space next-door to their current location. This has been quite an undertaking, even for many people working very full days. Progress is made each day, though, and the end is in sight-- well, it has to be done by tomorrow, so that will be the end of it! The busy pace has really eliminated our time together, and even the time for one's own thoughts to materialize past the sorting and organizing mentality. But... the limits on those times makes them very valuable. I've had just a few moments to squeeze in some Bible and other reading, and found the times to be especially fruitful. Tonight, Ben and I were able to sneak out for supper together, and had a wonderful time of conversing, remembering good times and planning for the future. The little things have seemed especially precious this week, in a great way.

Tonight Ben will head off with some of the students to see Dark Knight. I will sleep. Ahhh....

This week the English camps are underway at BERC. There are 4 day camps offered-- in the morning, 2 sessions (one for 8-11 year-olds, one for 12-15 year-olds) focused on practicing English and playing sports. In the afternoon, the same age groups switch to a focus on English and art. I've been helping the Bryan interns with their planning for the camps-- sort of a continuation of the ESL training we worked through together last week. I feel as though I am making a valuable contribution to BERC and the Bryan students, which is nice. Ben is going to be teaching in the art class, so he's been making lesson plans and breaking up tile for making mosaics with the older group.
Ben has readjusted well to being back in Europe-- he also had a great experience in Kenya and Rwanda. I saw some great video that he took of the Care of Creation sites, driving around Kigali, and some wildlife at the nature preserve in Rwanda. When we are back in the states and y'all come to visit us (or next time we visit you), he can show you, too!
Yesterday we all went to the home of a family from a nearby church-- the wife is Slovak, the husband British. They hosted us for a delicious dinner, walked us to the nearby Austrian border (which used to be marked by a high, well-guarded wall), and began to tell us about the history of the area. The woman was a student here in Bratislava during the student protests and was an active part of the underground church as communism was falling in the '80s. Slovakia had a very peaceful transition out of communism, but boy, did she have some suspenseful stories to tell! It was an honor to hear about that period of history from someone who had lived through it, and indeed shaped it in part.
Tonight I am teaching more ESL methods, and Ben will have completed his first day of leading the English and Art camp for the middle/high school aged kids! More to come...

Independence Day

Well, July 4th has come and gone for me and the interns in Bratislava.

We began our celebration by reading the Declaration of Independence (please read it-- honestly, what was King George thinking?) then enjoying a BBQ of hamburgers (and they really were ham-- no ground beef available), hotdogs, baked beans, potato salad and watermelon. I made the baked beans. I tried to fix them up as best as I could with some spices and ketchup, but without any molasses or brown sugar, they were, well still pretty Slovak-style.
After tossing our paper plates, we connected the school's LCD projector to the DVD player and watched 1776. I went to bed about half-way through, but I am definitely interested in seeing the whole thing at some point.

All the festivities considered, this was the most patriotic of July 4ths that I've celebrated in a while. Even sans fireworks and parades.
I'm blogging now as I wait for a phone call from Ben, who has probably arrived at the airport in Vienna by now. After he gets his bags, he'll buy a bus ticket from the Vienna airport to the Bratislava airport (1hr drive), where we will pick him up-- he should be back here by lunch time today! I can't tell you how excited I am to see him. He'll be back here for about a week before he heads to China. We'll update you more on his adventures in Africa this past week in the coming days...

Friends Who Take Care of Creation

I'm sitting at Brackenhurst in Kenya, home of the office for Care of Creation. Jan, a friend of Ariel and mine from Bethlehem works here now as a supported missionary. Care of Creation works to enlist pastors around the country to teach what scripture says about stewardship of God's creation. They aim at transforming value sets that will transform behaviors toward the land. Deforestation is a major problem in Kenya, which leads to soil erosion, loss of indigenous plants and animals, and decreasing land that is useful for farming.



I'm enjoying my time here, though I miss Ariel and my boy. Can't wait to see them on Saturday in Slovakia.

Love to all.

Teaching ESL

Well, I've made it through day two of teaching ESL. The class is usually comprised of 7-9 students or so (students come and go through the day as they are available). About half have some language teaching experience, half don't. I feel pretty prepared and put-together overall, but this morning I woke up an hour late because the time on my phone got off by an hour, so I made it to class just in time. That threw me off a bit. Ugh. All is going well, though, really. Tomorrow the students will begin putting together some lessons!

Turandot

Ben left for Rwanda this afternoon, missing out on a night at the opera! The Bryan/BERC group saw Turandot this evening performed at the National Theatre. The building is new, luxurious, and beautiful. The old national theatre was an historic building in the old city, reputed to be beautiful as well.

Blah, blah-- I had a little trouble staying awake, but by the third act I was more perky, and especially enjoyed the beautiful costumes and choreography.

Not much of an update for today, but it's bedtime for me...

Bratislava

Well, we've arrived! Ben and I are on location with Bryan Missions Interns this summer. I'll be in Bratislava, Slovakia through the beginning of August, helping with some ESL training and various tasks at a school here-- Bratislava Educational Resource Center (BERC). Ben will have Bratislava as a home base, visiting the student interns working with ministries in Rwanda, Kenya and in Asia at different points.

We (Ben, me and baby, too) arrived on Tuesday afternoon, a bit travel-weary, but in pretty good shape overall. We slept well both Tuesday night and Wednesday night, which is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! Ben, by the way, provided me with a delightful surprise by lifting from his luggage my currently-most-prized material possesion... my body pillow! How he stuffed it in there, I don't know, but I love him for this act of care and thoughtfulness, as well as for many other reasons.

Other good news-- Ashlee passed her NCLEX (nursing board exams) on Monday! Pretty wonderful!

Prayer requests for us:

• for Ben, as he travels to Africa this weekend for about a week


• for me as he is away (Anyone else remember how I used to traipse off to foreign countries on my own and do just fine? I'm not so independent anymore...)


• for the interns here in Slovakia and elsewhere to grow, learn and serve well


• for the ESL training next week

We'll try to blog regularly-- keep us email-updated on your lives, too!

Ben's African Email Journal

Well, Ben arrives back from Africa this afternoon. Here are some excerpts from his emails. This is sort of a long entry, and somewhat repetitive, but it will give those of you who wonder what Ben's job involves, exactly, a peek into the life of Ben. I've added a few explanatory comments.

[Ben was in Tanzania for a few days before going to Uganda. He was able to call me from there, so no emails to include here...]

April 22
I've arrived in Uganda without a hitch. The flight was quick--reading Supper of the Lamb made the short flight seem like moments. Enos picked me up. He was right there, holding a sign that read "Ben Norquist, Enos Ekato." He is such a happy, smiley person! I'm having a great time with him. We stopped in Kampala for Ugandan lunch, local fare that's just like I remember, and we ran right next door to the bus terminal and purchased tickets for tomorrow morning. We'll leave the house at about 6:30 tomorrow morning to fight through traffic to our bus leaving at 8:30.
I'm trying to figure out what to give to Enos and his family, with whom I'm staying, as a gift of thanks...I'm going to notice if they have a CD player in their truck. If so, I'm going to give them a copy of John Piper's "Fire and Light" CD, of which I've brought several copies. By the by, I listened to Pipers latest sermon podcast--"We are to be Midwives in the Second Birth for Other People."[Who else would title a sermon that way? Ha!]

April 23
I just arrived in Kigali, not too road weary, but certainly glad to be out of the bus, and now with friends, anticipating dinner at Emmanuel's [Emmanuel is an administrator in the Episcopal Church of Rwanda, and our close friend and contact there. He has visited Bryan twice]. Emmanuel picked Enos and me from the bus station upon arrival an hour ago, brought us directly to his office to show Enos (a good friend of his who has never been outside of Uganda in his life).
The bus ride was nine and a half hours--quite a long trip admittedly, but it felt to me more like two hours. Supper of the Lamb hurls me through hours without my really noticing. We bought water off a hawker who boarded the bus and rode with us from one town to the next (and, I bet, jumped on the next bus heading in the opposite direction from the town we dropped him in). The view, especially in southern Uganda, is majestic, just jaw-dropping. God is gracious to give us such overdone grandeur to enjoy.
Mary, Enos' wife, is a kind, a spiritual leader in her family (at her instigation we sat in the living room for a full half hour of prayer and scripture reading before dinner), and soft-spoken. She is quite the person. I will look forward to showing you the picture I took of Enos and Mary on their front steps early this morning as we readied to pull away to catch our bus.
Yeah, it's April in Rwanda [the anniversary of the beginning of the genocide and time of the mass panic and horrific killings]...that occurred to me as well, yesterday, as I watched the Kampala news and the anchor mentioned the date. Yes. Please pray for the church to do a good job of offering God's comfort. Please also pray for me:-That I'll be able to simply fellowship, connect on a human level with Emmanuel and our other friends - I'm afraid that I could easily be all business and end up failing to strengthen the relationship. It could even feel worse--like I'm using people.-That we'll be able to construct a vision for the interns for this summer that Emmanuel, ministry hosts, Bryan, etc. can get excited about.

April 24
Today was wonderful! I say that because my meeting with Michael at MOUCECORE [a Rwandan Christian organization that does community development and reconciliation work. We stayed at their guest house last October. Two Bryan students will be interns there this summer.] was so successful. We had a great time connecting on a personal level (I've shown our picture to many people already today). We talked about having children, naming children, and other family-related items. We also got to business, which was pretty good. There may be some internship costs (hiring a translator, fuel for several/many special trips throughout Rwanda), but Micheal said that MOUCECORE would be willing to share the costs with Bryan, which will be helpful.

April 25
Hi, baby,I'm quite ready to come home now--I've completed the business I came for with great success. I had a wonderful meeting with John, the director of Solace this morning [a Rwandan Christian psychological counseling and community development center], who was full of ideas as to how Bryan and Solace could partner. I think I'm going to enjoy John's company whenever I'm in Rwanda, same with Michael of Moucecore, both wonderful men, easy to get along with, and passionate about their work.
I also had a great time with the IJM staff today. I met two of the interns (actually one fellow and one intern Alistaire and Marissa) for lunch at the Novotel (four star restaurant) [Poor Ben...] . Great fun. Hey, Marissa is a student at Bethel U! Who'da thunk it. It was just us for lunch, but after we went to their offices which were abandoned for lunch, so we went to where they were finishing lunch. They were celebrating two birthdays for two of the Rwandan lawyers. It was fun chatting with them all there, but it was even better when they finished up. I walked with the whole staff to their offices, got the tour, sat with Dieter, the director for a while, talked with the director of programs, and really, just made friends with them. I won't feel uncomfortable calling them for lunch now any time that I'm here. Dieter and I spoke about their internship needs here, which was helpful. And Merissa, the one intern, is excited about connecting with our students this summer, orienting them to Kigali, and introducing them to an ex-pat Bible study that's been meeting recently! Oh, man. Very good.

April 26
I'm so pleased with how my visit has gone--I'm coming home having truly connected on a personal level with Micheal, Emmanuel, John, the American team here, a few staff from Solace, Enos and his wife from Uganda, and several staff and interns at IJM! Oh, man, I've seen that God has been generous in the last few days. But I'm so glad to be starting my long way home tomorrow morning!
I finished The Supper of the Lamb, so I'll spend a good bit of time in the Bible, sleeping, reviewing notes from the trip, and, once I board my transatlantic flight, watching some films I bet. I reason I've e-mailed again is that I think that once I check out of Solace in a few hours, I'll have passed to the dark side of the moon until I get to Amsterdam, where I may have a chance to find an Internet terminal.

Things this Week

Last weekend Ben was in D.C. with a group of students attending the Global Prayer Gathering of the International Justice Mission. I wasn't there, so can't give a first-hand account, but it seems that it was a top-notch experience for all. He and the students came back with some new perspectives. Ask Ben more, or visit the website for details...

Tuesday night Ben took me out for my birthday to The Curry Pot for Indian. It was really wonderful-- incredible spice flavors (better than India Palace, which used to be my measuring stick for all other Indian-- can you believe it?)! The Curry Pot is owned by Christians, interestingly, and they serve beef! Ben ordered Beef Biryani, and I had Vegetables Korma.
Yesterday afternoon I told my Punjabi 1st-grade student that I had Indian in Chattanooga, and he got sooo excited.
"Did you have the circle things?" (I gathered that he meant the doughnuty sort of dessert
served in a rose water syrup-- I don't remember what it is called, either.)
"No, but I've had that before. It's yummy, isn't it?"
"Yes, I want one. I really want one. I want a BIG one. I want one as big as an ELEPHANT!"
By this time, he had climbed up on top of his chair and was shaking with excitement as he gestured. Guess he likes to eat out, too. So cute. As for myself, I am ready to go out for Indian again tonight. I won't, of course, but I'd like to. I'd really like to.

Sigh. In all, we have had a busy few weeks. Right now there is are ENORMOUS piles of dirty dishes (the dishwasher is malfunctioning, which doesn't help that situation), dirty clothes, garbage (we haven't taken a trip to the dump for a few weeks), and the grass is about 18 inches long in the front yard. It's a good thing there aren't any ordinances in these parts limiting one's right to a lawn au natural.
Tonight I have about 2 hours after work before students come over for class. Hopefully these piles can be diminished. Except for the lawn problem, which will linger a bit longer, seeing as we don't own a lawn mower.

Atlanta? Gag me!

Today Ben is traveling to Atlanta with the missions class. Here is our conversation from last night regarding this trip . I was washing my face while Ben was already curled up in bed, so I was sort of calling across the rooms to him.

Me: I'm excited for your trip. I mean, I'm not excited that you will be gone, but the trip is going to be--(gag. GAG. blech sound.)

Ben: (laughing uncontrollably, now running into the bathroom in his underwear, laughing more) I'm sorry, I'm sorry... I'm not laughing at you. (laughing, laughing, laughing, now rolling on the floor and clawing at my knees, laughing)

The morning/noon/night sickness attacks quite unexpectedly. Ha ha.

I didn't actually get sick, just gaggy. So it was funny.


So, about Ben in ATL. Here's their COOL plan, beginning Wednesday afternoon:

• Visit Hindu temple (several of the students will be in India this summer)
  
• Visit Operation Mobilization headquarters, eat supper with staff
  
• Talk strategy with OM staff
  
• Stay at horse ranch!
  
• Spend weekly global-prayer time with OM staff
  
• Eat somewhere fabulous, I hope; debrief
  
• Something else I can't remember
  
• Be home by Thurs. evening!

Bigger and bigger news

Hi all. Ben here. Ariel really is showing now! Just ask Elden, Ronelle and Ashlee because they saw the rounding belly over Easter. Ariel's usable wardrobe is diminishing; she's experiencing various kinds of discomfort; she's moving around a little differently--and it's all wonderful! I love that Ariel's body and life is changing--I get to be a partner with Ariel and a witness to the mysterious things happening in and to her! Oh, man...Oh, man.

Most other personal news pales in compare to Ariel and my parenthood, but I'll go ahead with one piece anyway. In April I'm taking a group of interested students on a trip to Washington D.C., where we'll be gathering with folks from around the world whose jobs it is to advocate (throug the legal system) for women and children trafficked in the sex trade, widows who have had their property seized and families in bonded servitude. The meeting is called the Global Prayer Gathering, and it's hosted by the International Justice Mission, an evangelical organization dedicated to rescuing and caring for slaves and prosecuting slave masters and traffickers under the laws of the host country. This meeting is an opportunity for my students to see the incredible dedication of these men and women and to come along side them in prayer for the work God is doing around the world. We leave April 11th!

Semester 2

Well, it's back to work for us this week-- the county schools are in session this week, so I am back in the classroom, and Ben has been on campus at Bryan preparing for the second semester, which begins next Monday. I'm pretty excited about the classes Ben is teaching this semester (he is, too)-- The Church as a Global Community and The Gospel and Human Trafficking (I might have the title of that one a bit off). As busy as the semesters are with our day jobs, evening classes, retreats, etc., and as much as I've enjoyed the winter break, I must say that I miss the students and all of the happenings on campus. All will be back in full swing soon enough! Bryan kicks off the semester with their Christian Life Conference Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of next week with Nick Nowalk presenting about Jonathan Edwards' theology of the trinity in chapel and evening sessions. We are praying that the Holy Spirit will move the students' affections to adore God in deeper and life-altering ways.