Faculty-Award Winner in Our Hearts

We are up in fair St. Paul this weekend to celebrate Ashee's graduation from Bethel and from Nursing School. She has worked so hard and had so much success! It is clear, too, the work God has done in and through her. He is a gentle protector and provider, and has indeed worked things together for good. Yesterday we attended the pinning ceremony (a tradition in the nursing profession since like 830AD or something). I was hoping Ashlee would win the Faculty Award. She didn't. I still think that she should have! I don't need to elaborate on that to the whole world, but you all understand the loyalty and love for your own kin-folk, right? I just can't imagine another living soul who could possibly deserve it more than her. So I have awarded it to her in my own heart. See above. HA!

Afterwards, Ben and I took my grandma out for supper while the rest of the fam attended a banquet. They had dried-up chicken, and we had fabuous Chinese at Pei-Wei. That was Grandma's choice, believe it or not. Afterward, I found out that she has never had Chinese before, so I think that she actually chose it by accident or misunderstanding, but she happily ate her Sweet and Sour Pork anyway, so good for her. We also mined her for family names. It was fun to listen to her remember who is who and related to whom. She even elaborated on how to say some of the names in German, which is pretty neat.

This morning we're up before everybody else since we're working on TN time, so here I am blogging. After everyone else awakes, we will head off to Key's Cafe for breakfast. You might think that the highlight of the weekend for me is the food. That is a highlight, but also it has been fantastic to be with the fam.

Last night we watched video footage from Ashlee's trip to Uganda last January, and our ultrasound video while eatng strawberry sundaes and drnking root bear floats. Food again. Good times. Everyone has felt the baby kick by now, too, which is fabulous!

Window Screens

Our house came without window screens. I realize that most of the world makes it without window screens, or even the option of A/C, but I was really getting tired of the situation. After pricing out (expensive) relplacement screens, we found a nifty screen making kit at Wal-Mart. Ben crafted perfect-fitting screens for each window in the house, installing the last one yesterday afternoon. We were in heaven! There was a light rain outside, and the breeze was refreshing and bug-free. Last night, perhaps around 11, when we were falling asleep in our newly ventilated bedroom, we heard furious scratching UP THE SIDE OF OUR HOUSE and clawing onto the screen in our bedroom. The CAT, whom we do not officially own, but who lives on our property, had torn a hole in the 6-hour old screen in an effort to socialize. Maybe this is why there were no screens on any of the windows. Ugh.

Something Like Christmas

Well, last night we were invited over to dinner by another Bryan staff couple. We had yummy, yummy brats with the fixin's, followed by a shopping spree!
This family has two boys, the youngest of whom is three years old, and they have a lot of baby boy clothes up to size 2T that they don't need anymore... So they gave us our pick!
We got some really nice items in all sizes and seasons. Even better, their boys were born about the same time of year as ours will be, so the seasons and sizes should line up fairly well.
Then, their next-door-neighbor gave us a really nice high chair.
What generosity. It really is a big blessing-- saving not only the money that would be involved in buying these items (even at garage sales or whatever), but also the time.
Just wanted to brag on a generous, generous family...
Hopefully we can pass things along to someone else someday-- that's the idea, right?

It's a Boy!

Well, another point for women's intuition. Every woman who ventured a guess (at least, those who told me about it) thought it would be a boy, and sure enough...

Tech: "Now, you want to know what it is?"

Us: "Yeah!"

Tech: "See that? There's no doubt about it. Those are boy parts."

Let's Pray for the People of Burma

On Saturday Cyclone Nargis hit the coast of Burma preceded by a tidal wave 12 feet high that claimed whole villages. As of this morning, 22, 464 people have been confirmed dead. Another 41,000 people are still missing. That means that the death tole will rise. But for thousands of families, the fate of their loved one(s) will remain unresolved--their names will never be removed from the missing list. Let's pray for the people of Burma as they move through this tragedy.



Read more about the cyclone: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7385662.stm

Subscribing to Posts

Okay, this post is mostly for Ashlee, who keeps asking me how to subscribe to blogs.... For Blogger, anyway, just scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on "Subscribe: Posts [atom]". You have to have a gmail account to subscribe, though.

The Loooong Weekend

Have you ever had a weekend that seemed TOO long?

It seemed like forever in longness. We had a short and yucky camping experience. We couldn't find our destination. I was hungry (when pregnant= cranky, then weepy). It stormed. I didn't sleep. It was dark most of the time we were there. We didn't hike, go to the Sequoyah museum or take the drive on the Cherohala skyway to NC as planned. We did eat breakfast at a cute diner, though. Ben will tell you it was a great birthday present, though, and that he had a great time (I love my husband. He is sooooooooooooo good for and to me!)
Then, on Sunday morning, Ben woke up with the stomach flu. He was miserable.
He is still home sick today-- keeping food and fluids down, now, but still pretty dehydrated and weak feeling.

We have been thanking God for the safe, quiet, sheltered bedroom in which we sleep well and healthfully most nights. Really, I am taking that much less for-granted now.

Onto the week at hand...this afternoon our life enters a new realm of knowledge-- we find out if freckle is a frecklo or a freckla! I've been thinking it is a boy for quite a while (an ultrasound we had a while back showed the little one bouncing all over the place with little-boy-like levels of energy. Maybe this is a sexist conclusion, but I needed something to go on...), but the Internet predicts a girl... Ben has not guessed. What do you think-- boy or girl?

Our birthing class last week was uneventful and not that interesting-- except for the"fetal bonding" time, in which we were supposed to imagine ourselves floating in the uterus with our baby, sharing the bond of love, while listening to the rhythm of ocean waves in the background. We couldn't stop laughing. Of course we were sitting right up front, where everyone could see our lack of composure. I felt immature, very self-aware and quite embarrassed, which made me more giggly, unfortunately. I hope that we don't have to do this every week.

Kicks and Somersaults

Well, we are feeling movement, for SURE. I've been feeling topsy-turvey-tummy feelings (like the feeling you get on a roller coaster) for a few weeks, but I thought I was just a little nauseous still. Not so-- that is baby Norquist making him/herself known! Now the swirling feeling is often accompanied by little nudges from the inside. Ben got a high-five from the baby yesterday morning, and a couple more last night. The nudges keep me company during the day, bringing a little smile to my face at otherwise uninteresting times.
Tomorrow night we start birthing classes... stay tuned...

A Piano?!!

While Ben was gone, I was busy refurbishing an upright piano for him.
I bought it at a thrift store for $100. All of the keys worked, and nothing was broken, exactly, but it had quite a few sticky keys, no key tops left, and about 40 years worth of dust everywhere. there were, in fact, areas on the inside which I thought had been painted black all through the vacuuming and first and second washings-out. The third time over, I discovered... beautiful wood under all the grime, not black paint. Yuk!
With the help of directions from the Internet, my dust mask, vacuum and Murphy's oil soap, I cleaned, filled holes, turned pins, filed felt, glued on new key tops and shined it up over the course of about 25 hours or so last week. (By the way, you, too can be a piano technician. Steve will help you at: www.stevespianoservice.com)
It is a gorgeous piece of furniture, but more importantly, a lovely instrument. There are still a few sticky keys to adjust and tuning to have done, but it's well on its way.
Ben was... "flabbergasted," when he walked in Monday evening, which was, of course, the idea. It's not so easy to surprise him, but he really loves a good one, so this was pretty fun to pull off. A big thanks to the RA guys who lugged the piano out of the store, into a truck, up our front stairs and into the living room. It was quite a job, and a substantial part of the gift! Maybe we can get a pic on here at some point. It is a walnut color, with thick pillars on each corner and under the keyboard. There are neat little sliding doors above and under the keyboard exposing the working parts of the soundboard (I don't know what that is called-- the area where the hammers hit the wires).
Ben had fun revisiting some pieces he used to enjoy playing, and is excited to get back into it. The piano will also be nice to use for some class times and Christmas parties and all of that!

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.