A night-time glimpse

Last night, I walked into the kid's room to do my pre-bedtime check. They were all sound asleep, fully covered by treasured quilts and blankets listening subconsciously to the background "white noise" of the rain forest. Joe and Louisa share bunk beds, rotating each month so that they each get a turn on the bigger bottom double bed. Their heads are barely discernible underneath the mound of pillows and animals. I think they both try to employ my sister's favorite trick of hiding beneath so much stuff that a potential burglar would bypass them in favor of a more accessible child. Nate and Savannah sleep side by side in matching Disney toddler beds. They, too have an assortment of comforting items. Savannah has become a fan of small stuffed dogs and pooh bears of various sizes. She carefully places them underneath her blanket and quilt in what can only be described as a "Mommy Dog with her puppies" arrangement. Her hair is braided, just like her sister's in a somewhat successful attempt to limit the dreaded cotton like tangles that spring up each morning. Nate sleeps in a gray, much loved polar fleece hat, rubbing the tag of the same fleecy cloth baby doll that has comforted him since he was 4 months old.
Their room is an assorted mess of new and old treasured toys... a large wooden castle sits in one corner with various Playmobil, Imaginext, Schleich and generic army guys arranged in different battle scenes. Rogue detachments of soldiers and bands of fierce animals are strategically placed throughout the room, which can make these night time checks a bit tricky for a mother in bare feet. Louisa's desk is covered with her "science equipment" and secret journals. Her reference books lean up against a framed picture of Liana and Naomi. Joe's desk is sparse in comparison. A large two headed dragon looks over his bottle top collection and a library copy of the next book on his reading list... Little Women ("Mom," he says after reading the first chapter, "I thought this was about miniature people.") His wooden staff, leans against the corner. A train table that doubles as a duplo station dominates the middle of the room. Cars, trains and duplo creations are scattered around with wild abandonment. New shiny hotwheels are side by side with Kev's boyhood favorites. Nate refuses to use any block that is not red, while Savannah builds really, really tall multi-colored towers that topple over and leave blocks in unexpected places. A riding horse juts out near one of the windows, a throwback to my childhood and a great favorite of all four kids. Nate's sleeping beauty dress is in an elegant heap at the foot of his bed along with one tap shoe, one cowboy boot and several of his favorite truck books. Savannah's harmonica and magnifying glass lie in the middle of a wide assortment of Louisa's make-up and fingernail polish. Clothes of various sizes and states of cleanliness lie here and there, some peeking out from under a dresser or bed, others blantantly thrown in the very middle of the floor. Sigh. All in all it is a disorderly kid's room that oozes with the comfort of well loved and heavily played with toys. The birds of the rain forest chirp loudly, someone sighs and rolls over and just as I am ready to walk out, Nate reaches across the toddler rail and holds Savannah's hand. As I watch, she scootches closer and drifts back off to sleep with a contented smile on her face whispering, "Natie, you're my best friend."

Not Together

Dear Friends... as many of you are aware my marriage to Kevin is one that crosses many divides. But none so severe as those passions that come forth during basketball season. For a UNC gal married to a Dukie, these few months leading up to March Madness are both sweet and emotional. Since Kev is also a Maryland fan, it seems most games have some emotional element. As UNC and Maryland go into overtime this Saturday afternoon, there are lot's of loud groans and exclamations of delight. We are definitely not together as we pull for our favorite teams and urge them on to victory. Our children look on in wonder as they make the mental shift from rat hockey (our favorite athletic pasttime in BGO) to ACC basketball.

CSB Update...

This was posted earlier this evening on Paradoxuganda- the blog of our former team leaders, Scott and Jennifer Myhre. We are thankful that the school is in such good hands, both divine and human. We rejoice in the good news of exam results! But perhaps even more we rejoice that CSB continues to be a place where kids have a chance to excel, where the staff are challenged to grow as teachers and as disciples of Christ. We rejoice that the Kingdom is pushing forward in a place of oppressive darkness and opposition. Please join us (and the team in Bundibugyo) in praying for the students and staff at CSB and for David and Annelise Pierce as they continue to pour out their lives to lead the school forward.

The 2009 school year begins tomorrow . . . and so tonight our WHM teamjoined the CSB staff for a prayer walk, bathing every corner of thecampus in praises and supplications. David shared a few words aboutthe faith of Caleb in the Bible, who was not intimidated by the giantsin the land of Canaan because he sensed God's power to be more real. Annelise kept us moving from dorm to dorm, classroom to classroom, insmall groups and then all together in a circle of prayer. We preparedthe way for the students by asking God to do great things: to protectfrom disease, to give a passion for learning, to provide adequatefood, to inspire teachers, to draw forth worship, to change lives. Itwas a beautiful tangible picture of our partnership, and a way for usto collectively acknowledge that like Caleb we know that the God weserve is the One who can bring true change to CSB.
And our vision of hope was boosted by the weekend's news of the OLevel exam results. Christ School emerged as the leader in Bundibugyoonce again, with 5 students in Division One and NO FAILURES. To putthat in perspective, we had 5 of the 8 division one scorers in thedistrict, but only 51 of the 435 students. That means a Bundibugyostudent at CSB was 8 times more likely to score in the top tier thanaverage. And in our district more than 10% of students fail, but noneof ours did. We still have a long way to go to meet the highestnational standards, but this was hopeful news.
And so we meet the new year. The giants in the land are real(alcoholism, abuse, cheating, mediocrity, rebellion). But the grape-cluster vision of what God can do makes it worth the risk to moveforward.