Life Interrupted Part 2: Be Still

The sun is setting across the Bay from us, clear and bright and cloudless. We are sitting inside an old wooden hunting lodge, near a fire that we keep stoked for warmth. It’s been just over a week since we last posted and the contrasts between what we left and where we are could not be starker.

It had been an intensely stressful week, watching the pandemic unfold around the world and on our doorstep. I was having difficulty breathing –but nothing to do with any physical illness. So many decisions to make with not enough information too quickly. On our final Sunday in Arusha, we decided to take Sabbath with the kids in ways that we would not be able to for months to come. We went for an early morning swim at Gymkhana, all of us getting some much-needed exercise. Then Paul and the boys did some golf practice with one of the caddies (who washed his hands very well and professionally beforehand). We welcomed a remnant of our Bible study group to meet on our newly-roofed stone patio, at 2 meters apart. Those of us who could come really needed the time of debriefing and prayer. We and another woman were planning to leave (she’d just booked her ticket that afternoon) and the other couple was counting on staying. A few other families were still in town, not yet gone, but worried about leaving home. We struggled to sing some songs of encouragement and faith for this time, and speaking for myself, there were more tears than musical tones. We prayed fervently for the time when we would be able to be together again, reading and studying and singing and praying.

In the evening, we had worship together as a family. I was really encouraged when the kids requested songs for worship, some I hadn’t expected. We read the lectionary scriptures for the week and closed a day that was a needed respite from the tension we’d been dealing with.

Monday and Tuesday included a lot of preparations to leave. We needed to meet with all our colleagues together and discuss a few key issues. There were papers to sign. I took the cat to the vet (a somewhat heroic feat, in and of itself, getting that animal into his travel crate!). I was so incredibly thankful for our neighbor Kay, who was willing to keep an eye on Tramp while we will be gone for this extended period. She will share that task with our housekeeper –it’s better to have two possible people for every task these days. As Paul said, I had been preparing for a long lockdown at home, and so many things needed to be undone and given away. We needed to pack and prepare the house for a very long absence in which anything is possible – people might need to house-sit or find refuge. We were deciding which things we really loved and needed to take with us if we were to be gone longer than we anticipate. I decided that I just couldn’t leave my guitar and my music files, collected over many years. David had some special toys. Oren had about 23 kilos of schoolbooks alone, but also wanted to include a few projects to do when he got to the US.  

On Wednesday morning, Paul and I went back to the office to say a last farewell to Sharon. It was very strange to know we were seeing each other for the last time after working together for nearly three years. No time for a farewell party or a long preparation. It’s even harder for her, leaving Tanzania on such short notice after a five-year term, packing up her life and getting it all into 3 suitcases. We were glad that our Tanzanian colleagues had acquired small solar back up power systems, which will hopefully let them work from home in the likely case of a lockdown. We talked briefly, prayed and departed.

We left home before noon, with our trusty taxi driver Japheth, and had little trouble getting checked in to our flight. We were trying to be very careful, not touching any surfaces before wiping them down, social distancing, etc. But as soon as we got on the flight, we realized how futile it was. The flight to Doha was at least 2/3rds full, and then filled up completely after a stop in Dar to pick up more passengers. We had a few masks, left to us by my cousin Julie when she visited 2 years ago, and I was grateful we could wear these on the flight. We arrived to the crowded Doha airport about midnight, and struggled to find any secluded place where we could spend our 9 hour layover. In the end, we had to settle for an unoccupied aisle of chairs. David crashed out on a blanket on the cold hard floor, and I joined him. Paul and Oren did their best to sleep sitting up in the chairs, when the floor got too uncomfortable. Thankfully, by about 2 am, the airport was much less crowded and we were less worried about breathing other people’s air.

Our first flight was a wonderful 787, but the second flight was completely full and a much more cramped. Again, we wiped down everything around our seats and kept our masks on, but there was always the possibility of touching something or someone as we walked to the restroom or tried to keep moving. There was really nothing to do to make the 14 hour flight more bearable, except to escape to Hollywood. Actually, Paul and I both had the time to finally explore the recent films about Fred Rogers, both the one starring Tom Hanks, and the documentary. We found his approach to life and his transparent goodness really inspiring, a reason to pay attention to the person right in front of us, as someone worthy of respect and love.

Doha airport sculpture

Washington-Dulles airport was as deserted as I’d ever seen it. Health screening amounted to a few questions from the immigration officer. No tests, no thermometers, nothing. This doesn’t really inspire confidence, I must say, but maybe that’s because the USA became the country with the highest number of Covid-19 cases in the world the day we arrived. I guess they realized that travelers were not really the problem at this point.

My parents had gone to heroic lengths to get things ready for our arrival Thursday evening. They drove both their cars down to the airport, and waited for us in the parking lot (so as not to enter the airport). We had a few minutes to talk and share at a distance—it was really hard not to hug each other or have the chance to spend the time driving together back north. But, we were very tired, so we needed to hit the road. And that was another shock. The DC beltway was deserted, and there was little traffic even on I-95. No one was commuting back home from work. No rush hour whatsoever. We made a trip that would normally be 3-4 hours, in less than two hours, to a point an hour north of Baltimore on the northern tip of the Chesapeake Bay.

When I was 8, my parents joined with a number of families from their church to purchase an old hunting lodge and turn it into a small church retreat center, rather than allow it to be developed as condos. Charter Hall has been a place that I’ve always been able to come home to, throughout my life of travels here and there. Recently, it’s been hard to even get a weekday night when we could stay in one of the small cottages, because it is fully booked and rented. But with the coronavirus, all the normal groups using the lodge had to cancel. And so the owners agreed that we could stay in the lodge for the time being.

We found that my parents had been gracious once again in stocking the cupboards and the fridge, making up the beds, providing games, puzzles and sweatshirts. My dad had figured out solutions for internet access. Cousins had shoes and sweatpants ready for David, and a basketball pumped up. We walked in the house, showered and went straight to bed. We woke up the next morning in awe of where we had landed and how well-prepared things were for us.

So, the past few days have been kind of a blur, trying to get through jet lag, keep active, get settled. We’ve gone through a period of intense stress, to a time with few boundaries. We do have work to do, keeping up with our MCC projects, and the kids will start online school in earnest next week. But meanwhile, we’re trying to learn to be still. We are enjoying the marvelous wildlife around us. A red fox calls this point on the Bay home, and we’ve seen him four times. A pair of bald eagles seem to be courting just about the boat dock. We’ve spotted a river otter swimming home, and a black rat snake in the stack of cord wood. We’ve already taken about a dozen walks up and down the farm lane, the best exercise available to us (we really miss our lap-swimming!!!). David is in fishing heaven. Oren is trying to figure out what to do with all the free time.

We’ve had two highlights since we arrived. Yesterday, Sunday, we were able to participate in a worship service with our home church, using Zoom. There were probably 50 households who logged in, each from their living rooms. The pianist played from her home, our pastor preached poignantly about Ezekiel and the dry bones and invited us to write about our fears and hopes in the chat function. My brother’s family offered special music, led by my niece. The worship leader led us to share prayer requests aloud. It was an innovative way to share as a community and to be grounded in power of the resurrection, in this time of fear and separation.

This afternoon, my parents couldn’t resist coming out for a visit, and to bring a few more provisions. We all were very disciplined about maintaining distance, sitting outside to chat for over an hour. All of us were glad to have time to talk with someone else besides the person(s) we are living with full time.

So, tomorrow, we really begin to work in earnest towards a schedule, a routine, making sure that we pay attention to the needful things. Our governor today declared a total lockdown of the state. No non-essential travel, not even after we are finished with quarantine. We are going to be here, on the Bay, probably till the end of April. It’s time to learn to be still and know that God is God.

Life Interrupted

Stuck inside with no school.

It is all happening so fast that I need to begin to put it down day by day since this past Monday. Only last weekend life was still pretty normal, but that all changed and the change cascaded into a thousand other things which put us where we are today, and I need to start documenting it. In fact, we were kind of arm-wrestling in the kitchen last night over who would get to write this blog this time. It's been a week like no other in my life, and we each have a perspective on it. So, along the way, I (Rebecca) will chime in, using italics. 

Last Friday was a special day. Rebecca and I planned a date night, thanks to our friends the Taylors. As a Birthday present, they had offered to invite our boys over for a sleepover so Rebecca and I could go out. Friday was a normal work-day, with some anticipation of it ending, and when the kids got off the bus after school we went straight home rather than going to Gymkhana -- we wanted to send the kids off to the Taylors' as early as possible. 

We had a lovely evening with a delicious dinner: Rebecca had a brainstorm about using some special French treats that Jessica's family brought us, a bottle of good wine, and imported smoked salmon, to make an amazing light meal (hard to find here). Saturday morning we went out for a hike and had some appetizers at Rivertrees (a safari resort) in Usa River. Although coronavirus came up,  we tried not to make it the central topic of conversation. But cases had just been reported in neighboring Kenya and Rwanda. We had already planned to take some precautions at church: spreading chairs wider apart to promote social distancing, giving ushers gloves who would administer hand sanitizer at the door. 

We went to a school play that evening with the kids and Jessica (Oren and David were not in it.)

Sunday was normal enough with the more widely spaced chairs, but we did have Sunday school. Social distancing is not possible there, but we agreed that if school was cancelled, we would cancel Sunday School as well. It was a fun class, and the kids have been working on their "Dry Bones" song to sing for the church at the end of March.

I (Rebecca) led music for the congregation, together with Jessica playing flute, a pianist and another singer. it was such a joy to prepare music for this service, centered around Jesus meeting the woman at the well and offering her living water. Anxiety was already high in the congregation and we need to worship and pray and focus on the God who quenches our thirst.

We had a special Sunday afternoon going over to visit our friend Erwin Kinsey and his wife Angelika. They have a fabulous house and property. Erwin is a rural development specialist and has an encyclopedic knowledge of local flora. We took a hike around the hill they live on and he showed us many local plants and trees and explained their medicinal and nutritional values. We also toured his garden and left with many clippings. Angelika had prepared a feast to rival a Thanksgiving meal, and our kids were thrilled to eat so much delicious healthy food. The afternoon was slow and sunny, with a passing heavy shower. In retrospect, it felt like a desire to stop time, to take one last deep slow breath in, before the real storm hit.

We got home around 6 pm, and I had the sense that now was the time to get to the grocery store and at least prepare for a two-week lockdown -- taking every precaution possible as I did this necessary task.

DAY 1: Monday, March 16  

We took the kids to the bus as usual and had our morning swim but work at the office was not really normal. We had long conversations with Sharon about setting up new washing protocols in the office and limiting visitors, insisting everyone washes hands. There had been no reported cases in Tanzania-- until about 3pm that afternoon. In fact, it was the Parent's Association at our kids school that was our best source of inside information.  Chats starting coming in, with a live press conference from the Minister of health, sharing a report that there was a case, the first one in Arusha. She was currently at Mt. Meru hospital, just several blocks away from us. She was a Tanzanian woman who had traveled in Europe and returned from Belgium the night before and started feeling sick the next morning (Sunday). And the hour before this case was announced, two partner leaders, based at the very same hospital (Mt. Meru), had been in our office to sign their annual Memorandum of Understanding -- and had completely ignored our new signs to wash their hands before coming into the office! 

I must admit that by the end of the work day, I was feeling kind of flushed and thought I would take my temperature just to be sure (it was only stress) -- only to find that the office thermometer was nonfunctional. So I stopped by a pharmacy after work and it was an utter mad house. As I entered, someone bought the very last small bottle of hand santizer. I must admit, I bought one of the big 5 L jugs to share with our team. And tylenol and a thermometer. Arusha was panicking.

While Rebecca and I predicted that the first case would be in Arusha or Dar (where the International airports are) it was sobering to realize she was in a hospital just a few blocks away. 

Monday evening, by God's providence, we had already scheduled our church council meeting. All other business was put to the side. What was our response to the arrival of COVID-19 to Arusha? We are an internaitonal upper middle class community. A lot of our members (foreign and Tanzanian) travel extensively for their work. We have international visitors come to greet us every week. Every week, children in our Sunday school pray for their parents or relatives who are out of the country. And yet people rely on coming to Sunday worship. We had a number of people who felt that we should still continue services in some form. But we looked around the room --even many of our church elders are people with high risk factors themselves or live with vulnerable elders. We realized that we just couldn't continue to meet normally and made the hard decision to suspend services for the next month -- through Easter. It was devastating and also it felt right.

DAY 2: Tuesday, March 17  DECISIONS

The kids were on the bus as usual the next morning and I had my morning swim. I had my day off, but was following up on the church decision, preparing communications for the church website and Facebook. And parents at our kids' school had been sending desperate messages since the day before, wanting a decision from school about what they were doing for safety. It was non-stop wild on the WhatsApp chats. As the secretary of the Parents' Association, I tried to convey the mood of parents to the Head of School. On the church front, many of our young one-year volunteers were sending their farewells. All European and Asian organizations were calling their people home by mandate.

About 2 pm we got an email from the kids' school that they would be closed for 4 weeks after the end of that day (they would take a 2-week Easter break, them move classes online for 2 weeks). They thought they were taking extra cautious measures, but within the hour, the minister of health announced that all schools were closed for 4 weeks. I also discovered, when driving up the street about 100 meters from our office that 2 intimidating ministry of health landcruisers were parked in front of a hotel apartment complex, with armed guards and yellow tape across the gate. Quarantined. I found out that was where the index case woman had been staying prior to going to the hospital. The taxi driver who had taken her (as well as his family, and his next carload of tourists) was also currently in isolation.

In the evening, Jessica had planned to stay with Sharon overnight and was deeply processing a decision. Her parents were desperately calling for her to return home. And now her job was de facto over. It was hard to believe that just the previous Wednesday, we had sat around a table with her work supervisor. Our biggest point of discussion was how the school was going to continue to function when rain and mud made it impossible for the school bus to get to school. When school wasn't running, what work could Jessica do to keep busy. She was still planning to leave for a brief holiday in Kenya on Friday (which was cancelled on Thursday when a case was announced in Kenya). All that to say, the week before, our biggest concern was MUD! I just want to underscore what a big mental shift we went through in the space of a few days.

DAY 3: Wednesday, March 18  RAIN

Kids were home from school but we could not take a moment to parent. We went to the office. All of us were there, with Chrispin just coming back from vacation. The big issue had become Jessica. She did not feel she could stay in her host family as there were high-risk people she did not want to expose to the virus. The school where she was seconded was closed indefinitely. Effectively her assignment had evaporated. She was in the agonizing position of having to decide to terminate early and go back to France or stay on without anything to do. We knew travel was risky as well, especially to France. Sadly we had to counsel her to leave, although it broke our hearts and she made the decision to go. We were able to get a fairly direct flight for her, for Friday morning at about 5am. She decided to spend her last two nights at our house. 

As a team, we made the decision to work remotely from home as much as possible. We told our house worker, Nai, to only come once per week to clean. Rebecca went out and expanded the shopping list, because Oren had complained that we didn't have enough meat or cereal. And I got stuck in various locations during torrential rains in the afternoon. Stuck in the shelter at the Simba Farm shop, the quietest, safest place I could think of to buy vegetables, I had the picture of God washing and scrubbing Arusha clean of this contagion. But in the evening, we heard that there were 2 more cases of the virus, one in Dar, one in Zanzibar. We tried to enjoy the evening with Jessica and our kids, doing something we've often enjoyed together -- playing a board game.

DAY 4: Thursday, March 19  

This was possibly the most chaotic day I have ever experienced here. There was simply too much to do and the kids were home, cranky, needy, probably picking up on our anxiety. First we needed to drop off Jessica with her host family so that she could pack and say farewells. Later, we needed to pick her up and move her goods and MCC furniture out of her host family, and take her to say a few farewells to her local community.

In the middle of the day, we had committed to do two trainings on our compound for staff at the Joshua Foundation (where we live) on what coronavirus was, how it is spread and how to prevent catching and spreading it. We did 2 sessions so we would not have a crowded room, but it took over 2.5 hours, after nearly 2 hours for me of making a PowerPoint on short notice. Rebecca and I felt very good for having done it. People had both good and also some strange information. There was some rumor that the virus was a bioweapon released by Americans against the Chinese. And we are a bit apprehensive about reprisals against foreigners here. Some had heard that alcohol kills the virus so people who drink heavily are immune. It was good to give them correct information, and since it was a group of Christians who work there, we included some theological discussion about what it looks like to follow Jesus through this trial. (I emphasized NOT testing God, as Satan suggested to Jesus during the temptation. i.e. don't take needless risks believing your faith will save you, or put others at risk, by insisting on shaking hands, or having the sick come to services for laying on of hands.) They appreciated a theological grounding to push back on pastors that often suggest reckless acts to demonstrate faith in God. (For your interest, read Psalm 91 in light of response to Coronavirus, noting that Satan used the same psalm to tempt Jesus).

We were exhausted by evening and had our last supper with Jessica. It was a sober event. That same afternoon we got notice from our best friends in Arusha that they were planning to head to Australia, because their daughter is very high risk. 

DAY 5: Friday, March 20  ADIEU JESSICA!

2:05 AM My alarm went off and Rebecca and I got up and loaded Jessica and her stuff into our Harrier to take the hour drive to the airport. It was nearly empty when we got there and we dropped her at the door which is as far as we could go. We had already shed many tears, but all held out hope that maybe in a year she could come back to do a short stint with MCC Tanzania. It was hard to believe that just the week before we had been talking about her extending her assignment beyond a year, and now she was leaving 3 months early.

At 10:00 am we went to the office after getting another 2 or so hour of sleep. Kids left at home to their own devices (literally!). We went in to debrief with Sharon and talk about what our assignments would be in the current situation. All trainings had been cancelled by all partners, all schools that we support were closed, our YAMENer had just left, and next year's volunteer had just changed her mind about coming (so no visas to work on). That also applied for our IVEP volunteers who we were going to be sending from TZ to the US. It was like our jobs had dried up entirely, except for the work we did on our computers related to emails and reporting. 

The conversation with Sharon was sobering and although we went in to discuss hunkering down here, it had become clear that there were a number of considerations about whether that was a good idea. MCC's policy is to give service workers a choice which they would support. Although in this case support was purely moral. We realized that Sharon and I are both 'high risk' in certain categories, and that up to 20% of high-risk people who are symptomatic may need life support. That would not be available here. Also, the air ambulance service that MCC uses could not move COVID patients from Tanzania to another country. So staying really would mean hibernating and taking 0 risks of exposure. But to make matters worse, Rebecca and I realized that just sitting here without any work to do beyond homeschooling and emails, we would be a burden on our team if we got sick. We do not have a social network here beyond our small group and some friends. Other small group families had sent messages that they were leaving, too. The MCC national staff and our high-risk factor Rep. would need to care for us, risk being infected by our kids, etc. if one of us was seriously ill or dying. Realizing this, it seemed untenable to stay. The decision was abrupt, life-shattering, surreal. 

From there seemed to move at breakneck speed. Communicating with MCC travel to race to book a flight as more airports closed and flights were canceled. It is stressful doing this in communication with the travel agent in the USA, who is 7 hours behind us, and we have to check for answers to questions at 2am. We also called family to see if there was a place we could go for isolation for 14 days after arrival. And then a place to stay for several more months where kids could be homeschooled and watch their class videos online. 

DAY 6: Saturday, March 21

So that is where we are. Sharon decided she should leave as well and has a flight on Thursday. We leave the day before on Wednesday, March 23 on Qatar airways. Just got a message that that is the last day Qatar will be flying into Tanzania. 

Church in the Age of Corona Virus

The rainy season is upon us again. What I mean this time is the long rainy season that begins in March. Usually it is welcome after 3 or more months of dust that has piled on roads and anything that has managed to remain green. But this year I believe we had about 10 days of dryness between the end of the short rains and the beginning of the long rains. But in those 10 days it had the familiar hot dry feeling typical of the month of February and early March.

Rain does not really change our daily routine. It means mornings are cool and often overcast, but we still get up at 5, and get ready for school busses and swimming by 6:40 am. There is something interesting about swimming in a downpour, especially walking out shivering in a bathing suit and plunging in to find that the pool water, while cool as well, is not lower than the air temperature.

Daily routine is helpful this time of the year in MCC. Office work is a bit slower as we come to the end of a fiscal year. It is a time when we start to think about new concept papers and are looking at potential new partners doing interesting work. The downtime has also allowed us to do a little re-arranging in our office space. With the renewal of our lease, we acquired an extra room which we have turned into a 'kitchenette'. (At least it is where we put our hot water heater and microwave). So we have moved it out of the large shared office that Rebecca, Chrispin and I occupy. With that change, we had a big open space in the room where the stuff used to be. Sharon donated two of her chairs and some plants and tables to the cause of creating a 'staff lounge area' :-) It is conveniently located next to my desk. Here is a photo of me trying it out with a cup of coffee.

For us, like everyone else in the world, the big news is the new coronavirus (COVID-19). At this point, there have been no reported cases in Sub-Saharan Africa, but that will certainly change. There is certainly concern from those of us living here about whether countries are prepared for an effective response, or even whether there is a capacity to test and diagnose putative cases when they begin appearing. One thing in the back of all of our minds is the fear that in many of these countries, the spread of such a virus would be almost impossible to contain in areas where people live in extremely close quarters.

I do know that there is some diligence around ports of entry with immigration 'thermo-scanning' everyone as they enter. Anyone with a fever is quarantined and tested presumably. People leaving with a fever are also not allowed to fly until it goes down.

There is also some anxiety among expatriates about potential limitations on travel. Already all conference travel to Kenya has been banned, and MCC has had to postpone or cancel some regional gatherings there. People will likely have to cancel planned trips home during this period if there are bans affecting travel through Europe or to North America.

For the time being, we are taking the recommended cautionary measures in our personal lives, social distancing, washing hands, avoiding any physical contact with others (particularly handshaking) and trying not to touch our faces.

New offering set up.

One area in our context where this can be particularly problematic is church. Our sanctuary is often packed pretty full on a Sunday and greetings--hugs and handshakes-- are common. Last week the church council took measures to address this issue including teaching a new warm greeting that does not involve hands, using tongs to serve communion and installing hand sanitizer at every door. We even changed the way the offering is collected: instead of passing a plate, people will go up to the front of the church and put money into the offering bag. This will minimize hand contact on the same object. Interestingly, this is the way most Tanzanian churches do the collection instead of the more private 'western' way of slipping money into the passing plate. In the past, our church has avoided the social pressure that is a very normal part of giving offerings here in Tanzania, with everyone watching you put something in the basket or conversely, the shame associated with not going up to give. (And often someone shows and announces the amount you are putting in if it is a special offering.-- Definitely not the 'don't let the left hand know what the right hand is doing' approach!). But at ACC it was quite fun this past week to have everyone get up and dance to the front to give.

So we are adapting, and I have no doubt that the worst is yet to come. I think it would be hard to avoid infection if there was an outbreak in Arusha, but we will do our best to take the suggested precautions.

Outside of work and virus, we have had a few interesting days. David's primary school had a parent day and I was able to observe his English and math classes as they are preparing for the huge standarized exams (CIE's) at the end of primary school. It was enlightening to see what a lesson is like. Teaching is a bit like preaching and exhorting here: teachers demand a fair amount of participation in terms of students being able to rapidly answer a question, or show a skill that will be on the exam. It almost seems like an SAT test prep course with a lot of focus on precisely what they need to include in their 'big write' for instance, for maximum credit (hint: complex sentences, impressive vocabulary, with an intro, build-up, dilemma, resolution, conclusion).
But Ms. Joshua was very skilled in getting them to grasp this and think creatively and quickly. (Some of the exercises were like the game we would play where one person would start a paragraph, and another person had to pick it right up and continue--but follow the rules of the arc of the story.

I was at school several times last week, once to see David, and then again to rescue Oren after he got drenched in a downpour as they were returning from a long nature walk as one of his electives. He was too soaked to get home on the bus.

Church continues to be demanding, but interesting. I am still leading the Sunday School program with about 75 kids. Generally, it goes well. They are working on an arrangement of the Dry Bones song that they will sing for the adults as part of a family service at the end of March at which I am preaching.

Rebecca continues to be busier than me with church things, and although she has stepped down from the Council Chair position, she is stepping into Chair of Worship Committee. Last Saturday she hosted a Council retreat day for the elders. Our new chair led them in a lot of get-to-know-you games, as well as some time to reflect on the direction the church is going, get some spiritual renewal and deal with some practical problems. We were able to host it on our front porch under our new roof!! Yes, we decided to expand our house a bit by putting a covering over the front porch so that it can be used in the rain. They just finished building it last week and it looks great. Here is a picture of some council members sitting under it on our porch.

Rebecca is picking up the writing here: Last week we celebrated Book week here, too. There were a lot more special events for David in Primary and he was especially happy to buy some new books at the book fair. On Monday, he went to school in the only pair of pajamas he owns, which I realize must have been passed down from cousin Gabriel more than 2 years ago (they were a little on the short side!!). Thursday was costume day, and Paul and David worked for several evenings, concocting a Roman soldier’s helmet, armor and sword. I’m not sure which book this was drawn from, but that was what David wanted to dress up as. I think they may have just finished a unit on the Romans…

Aside from the routines of life, we have had a couple of nice special events going on in the past two weeks. One of our friends from Bible study, Joerg, invited us over to his house in the evening for a birthday celebration around his new firepit. It was an adult kind of gathering, but some of us brought our kids, who huddled in the living room watching a movie. The rest of us had some extended time to talk and share in a more relaxed way than we normally have time for at Bible study. A number of our friends are part of a school which is going through some tough transitions in their immigration status, but it was great to hear good news of progress on that night.

The next evening, Oren and a friend had been invited to have s’mores and conversation in a kind of mentoring situation with an older man who worked for years mentoring teens at Rift Valley Academy. It was on the other side of town, so we had dinner with one set of friends over there, and again a really good time of relaxed sharing. And then we picked up Oren’s friend, took him for the s’mores outing and hung out with that friend’s family, playing games into the night. It was apparently a really great time for the two teenage boys. They felt that this older guy was like Gandalf, with practically the whole bible inside of him. We are very grateful for people who take an interest in encouraging Oren as he is firmly settling into the teen years now. We as parents are really trying to work on ways to talk calmly about life and values and choices (proactively before the clashes that make all our tempers rise).

We also had some fun times with a 3-day power cut on our compound (I’m serious!). I would so much rather lose power than water, and thankfully, since they fixed the major pipe leak outside our house, we didn’t run out of water! Because it was all dark at home, it focused us more to play a few games together and go to bed at a reasonable time. Wow, I am really scraping the bottom of the barrel for things to write about this week. That’s also because there was a fair amount of drama involving the parents’ association of our school that I can’t really write about here… too bad, would have made some great stories, but you will just have to settle for the more mundane news.

This afternoon, Oren and I are having an evening out. I picked him up from school and now we’re sitting in this outdoor restaurant, watching Thompsons gazelles grazing in the enclosure next door. He’s currently doing homework and we’re going to have dinner and then go watch “Just Mercy” together. I’ve heard it’s a very good and thought-provoking film, but too much for David. I think structural racism is the kind of subject Oren would want to know more about and consider what it means to confront it. I’m enjoying hanging out with him and praying for some good conversation afterwards.

So, that’s all for now.

Bonus Photo. Oren working on art homework