Family Updates - Isaac

The Wind, the Sea, the Ship by Isaac Ries

Oh Thy beautiful sea holding a massive ship
With it’s powerful grasp.
Thy wind blows Thy massive ship free.

Isaac has discovered poetry this year as a third grader! The poem above is his first. He’s also written poems about the colorful cloth he’s seen in the village, his parents, and his stinky brothers. He’s also writing in cursive, learning multiplication and reading everything he can get his hands on!

He and Graham have started taking tennis lessons at the local courts. It’s quite an experience for them. They must listen to the instructor in French and then Dad translates what they didn’t understand. Isaac is doing a great job!

His interests at the moment include playing GameBoy, reading Magic Tree House books, learning about Native Americans and birds. He is full of questions, comments and information! He is also very honest and direct. A trait that the Lord will one day use mightily.

He’s the one in our family that instituted family game night on Wednesdays. He is a man of routine! He recently made a schedule of his daily routine. (I saved that!) He’s also become very independent with his daily chores which is a huge help to me. His prayers have had more depth recently and I am pleased that he is growing in his love of God. I am so proud of the young man that he is!!

Family Updates - Bryan & Tracey

We’ve been back in Togo since the end of August after a good summer furlough in the States. We enjoyed visiting Bryan’s brother’s family, Andy, Yannick & Jayson, in Switzerland in May on our way to the States. (The picture to the right was taken in the Swiss Alps during our visit.) The rest of our furlough was filled visiting with church friends, college friends, and lots of family!

We also celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary in Colorado! Our former teammates, Don and Jane, graciously kept our boys during a week of Camp Deer Run. A generous couple from Preston Road offered us their lovely summer home in the mountains near Breckenridge to stay in. We had a great time reconnecting without kids. We went whitewater rafting, shopping, hiking, to a movie and even out to dinner a few times!!

Since our return to Togo we’ve begun a new family routine. I am teaching the first graders, Graham and Elijah, five days a week. The preschoolers, Owen and Gabe join us for 2 mornings a week. It’s been a lot of fun helping Graham and Elijah to read! However, I think they have enjoyed learning about the orchestra the most so far. Owen and Gabe are just happy to be there with their big brothers! My housework and meal preparation has declined dramatically. Thankfully, Bryan has been a huge help in that area.

A lot of changes have taken place on our team during the past year. The Neals moved back to Texas in February. The Millers are at Harding this year as visiting missionaries. The Emersons will arrive in January. It’s just us, Katie, our teacher and the Reeves family in Togo. That means more responsibilities for Bryan and Dave especially. They have both risen to the challenge. They have chosen to make this time with fewer missionaries a time of deepening and growing the Christians. The theme they’ve informally adopted is “Knowing God”. Bryan’s come home encouraged by Kabiye’s desire to learn recently. I am continually impressed with how he balances work and family so well. He has much more energy than I do!!

Our biggest news it that we have decided over the past several months through much prayer and discussion that it’s time for our family to return to the States after this term. We’re not sure at this point exactly when we will return. We are considering either late spring 2008 or 2009. So, that’s been on our hearts and minds often lately. We ask that you pray for direction, vision and peace during this major transition.

I plan to post an update on each boy in the coming days. Check back to see what’s up with these crazy guys!! We love and miss you!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Ephesians 5 : 20 “..giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,…”

May your day be blessed! We love and miss you!!!

It’s Good to be Queen

Am I raising these boys to be sensitive men or what!?

Daily Life

Sometimes strange or funny situations arise in daily life that highlight how different my boys’ childhood is compared to my own 100% American upbringing. Here are a few examples…A couple of weeks ago I started to make cookies to celebrate autumn. Graham was helping me out and said, “Are we making harmattan cookies?” I thought how strange to make cookies for harmattan! Harmattan is when winds from the Sahara desert blow lots of dirt our way. To me it’s gross…everything is covered in sand and the hot air tastes like sand! But, in his mind harmattan was a seasonal change to be celebrated!! After thinking about it, I understood where he was coming from. Growing up we made cookies shaped like pumpkins, leaves or snowflakes. So, we chose the cookie press disk that looked like wind and made harmattan cookies!!

Our boys are looking forward to Christmas just like any other American kid. However, I wonder how many other 8, 6 and 2 year old boys are begging daily for a baby goat!!!

Every Sunday morning, our oldest son, Isaac asks if we are going to village church. Typically, our entire family travels 30 minutes to an hour to reach a different village each Sunday to worship. The service can last anywhere from 1-3 hours and it’s completely in the Kabiye language. Needless, to say the boys have a difficult time sitting through the service in the hot, stuffy hut without understanding anything that’s being said. Of course, we bring activities to occupy them, but that can only last so long, right? No matter what the answer to Isaac’s question is we get a huge response. Either much rejoicing or much sorrow!! They are beginning to learn at such a young age to sacrifice personal comfort for the sake of Christ.

Daily life activities that are private in the States are semi-public here in Togo. Things like taking a bath, going to the bathroom, fighting, cooking, etc. My kids are seeing these activities done by strangers all the time. They don’t really comment on it, but I certaintly do in my mind. I often wonder how this is effecting their world view. A few years ago when we were on furlough Isaac urinated in a Wal-mart parking lot before I could stop him. But, to him it was completely normal!

My kids have also traveled TONS more that I did as a child. The first time I left the country, other than Mexico (I did grow up in San Diego!), was after I graduated from Harding! I only left for the practical reason of “checking out” Africa because my fiance was interested in being a missionary. Our boys’ childhood is defined by travel! We travel long distances to go anywhere! We travel 9 hours for groceries, 5 hours to visit missionary friends, 2 days and across the ocean to visit grandparents. Isaac already has a long list of places he wants to visit within the near future…the great wall of China, the Eiffle Tower, and the Andes. I think in his mind these places are within reach. Dream big son!!!

Someone wiser than I said, “As missionaries we are raising green children. We parents are yellow and the host culture we raise them in is blue.” I’m living it!!

My First Post

I am happy to be entering into the blog world as a blogger! I’ve enjoyed reading many friend’s blogs over the past several years, but was reluctant to get my own. My husband’s had his own blog for awhile and has welcomed me to post on it. But, he’s got his own vibe going on and I didn’t want to ruin it. So, here I am.

I will warn anyone who’s reading this….I’m not a great writer. I much prefer to express myself verbally! I love nice long conversations with friends. However, living in Togo limits my ability to chat with US friends for very long. I’m hoping this blog will help us stay connected better!!! I want to share with you my thoughts, photos,and faith journey. I hope you’ll be encouraged to share what’s going on in your lives too! Until next time.