The theme song from Hawaii Five O keeps running through my head. I don’t know if it is coincidence or not, but my college, Northern Illinois University, is now FIVE wins and ZERO loses and is ranked 16th in the United States, beating Maryland and Alabama in the process. And if you think THIS is obnoxious, just WAIT until the Cubs beat the EVIL Marlins.
We all have changes, but few like Matthew experienced this week. He got braces and...
With four sons, I have never found them with the slightest interest in what they wore. And they were easy to dress. Woman’s clothing is different. Sometimes you button it from the front; sometimes from the back. There are NEVER instructions.
It’s worth it all when I finally get Katie’s dress on correctly. She wears one on Sunday, and as we walk to church, there is no other word to describe it. She STRUTS. She looks good, and she knows...
It didn’t start well. My family bet on much weight I would gain on the trip. It might have been WISE, but it wasn’t SUPPORTIVE.
The transition from Africa to America is never an easy one. You are surrounded by people who have so little, and it’s so easy to feel guilty.
The flight attendant asked if I wanted the steak or the shrimp, and I started weeping. He responded by saying `It’s ok; you can have both.’ I struggled to compose...
Anyone who has been in Africa for awhile has that moment. You hit the steering wheel and just yell `Why? Why does it have to BE this way?’
Most of those moments occur when I’m at a school. I know how much of a struggle it is for parents to afford to send their children to get an education. The issue is: what do they get for their money?
The sad answer is that they don’t get much. It isn’t that the...
We celebrated the twins 2nd birthday on July 6th. Last year we celebrated it on July 7th. It isn’t another quaint Kenyan tradition. The reason is pure Kenya.
The original documentation we had on the babies indicated they were born on July 7th. When we got closer to the adoption, we got information that one (we weren’t sure which one) was born on July 6th and one was born on July 7th. When the adoption was final, we were...
The students left for school on Friday at noon. They weren’t due back until Monday afternoon, so it meant a long weekend. In the states, we could go camping in Tyler, or go to Six Flags, or hit the pool.
In Africa, you can drive just a few hours, and go to the largest game park in Kenya. We left about 7:15am on Saturday and arrived around 1:30pm. It was about 120 miles away. Even with a thirty minute rest stop,...
Nancy and I had a meeting to go to, and the older boys volunteered to watch the babies. It is truly heartwarming to see them together, except when the deed is done, and then there is great wailing and gnashing of teeth. Apparently, while we were gone, there was a major deed done.
We met the boys and the babies at the cafeteria. After we had eaten, JT invited us to `sniff Ben’s neck. When we did, he informed us that...
Nancy and I had the opportunity to visit Empuet Nursery School, which is to our knowledge the only pre-school serving the Masai tribe. This is significant because the Masai are herdsmen, and do not believe in educating their children.
They do believe in free food, and because of this, many of their children are allowed to attend this school. It is special to us, because the church it is held in was built by one of our heroes, Jim Hoeksema, and...
