Adventures in an Odyssey - Six Nights, Six Beds

From Indy, we drove to Rockford, Illinois, where Daddy and Mommy spoke in the first of many deputation services.  We spent two nights in Rockford, and then spent the next six nights in six different beds.  Monday, Mommy called our cousins in Chicago and we joined Brian and Beth Stipp's clan, with 9 kids under one roof in a small house in the "barrio."  The kids bundled up and played outside, and then joined Isaac in homeschooling before we left for Rossville the next day.  We spent that night with Great Grandma Stipp.  She had a home-cooked meal ready for us, and the next morning she charmed Emma into a delightful belly laugh.  We all had a good visit with Great Grandpa Stipp as well; unfortunately, our  camera broke that morning and we didn't get any pictures of our time with him.  From there, we drove up to Bourbonnais, where we were hosted by Mike and Nancy Pyle.  We managed to squeeze into their spare bedroom and also were able to visit with Uncle Lane and Aunt Janelle Fosnaugh and catch up on our journeys.  (When we last saw the Fosnaughs, we were on our way to Africa and they had just been appointed to Haiti.)  We took a self-guided tour of the new Student Rec Center at Olivet, and then drove to Wheaton, where we spent the night with Tim and Bethany Radcliffe in their one-bedroom apartment.  We were sad to have missed their wedding last year, so it was nice to visit with them in their home while we were in Illinois.  Their apartment is right next to train tracks, and all evening the boys watched for the trains, announcing them as soon as they heard their wheels on the tracks, and running to the window to watch the cars go by.  We somehow managed to find sleeping space and everyone got a good night's sleep.

Finally, on Friday, we drove to Great Uncle Mike and Great Aunt Karen's house in Normal. We were able to spread out a little more there, and stayed three nights with them.  The boys stopped dead in their tracks when Uncle Mike brought out a Rubbermaid tub full of old Matchbox cars.  Before we left, every car was raced down the track the boys received for Christmas, and the "Rat Car" was found to be the fastest.  On Saturday, we took the boys to the Children's Museum in Normal, and they went again two more times with Uncle Mike and Aunt Karen before we left on Monday!  We shared with their church in Eureka on Saturday night and again Sunday morning.  It is always fun seeing family and friends, but it was time again to hit the road for another adventure in (an) Odyssey.

Christmas in Transition (Part III)

We traveled to Indy on New Year's Day, where we celebrated Christmas with Mommy's family.  It was a blessing to have the time with family, and the boys really enjoyed getting to know their cousins.  We were able to stay with them for about ten days, until it was time to pack up and move on again, on to Illinois.

These days, no gathering with friends is complete without the Shark Poem (from Aden's school concert).  This time, they were joined by their cousin Nolan, who jumped right in line without missing a beat. 

Gathered by the fire to open gifts

A few of our favorite things . . .

                                      a tiger mask                              color-changing African animals shirts

                                        a new watch                                            a safari vest

 . . . and our favorite little girls . . .

Enjoying time throughout the day . . .

 

                       Peeking out from Grandma's arms          Stretching to reach the table to color

                         Making music for Emma . . .

. . . and for anyone who will listen

Post-Sunday School fun

Arrival on US . . . Snow

A snow fort . . .

. . . and snow angels . . .

 . . . brushing snow off the car . . .

 

. . . making the perfect snowball . . . 

 Keeping warm by the nativity . . .

Morning storytime with Grandma Karen . . .

A highlight before we left Ohio was walking out of the service on Sunday morning and being surprised to see Cilla, Joel, and Bekah, and getting to meet the twins!  We were able to join them later that day for homemade pizza at Grandma Beam's.  Just before we left that night, all the kiddos got into jammies and ready for bed.  Two days later, we hit the road for Indiana.

Making the Move

As we journeyed through the Christmas season and set aside all our belongings for The Shipment, our house became more and more empty, and our garage became more and more full.

We had lots of help with packing and children.  The day the movers came to pack The Shipment was full of excitement.  The boys' table and chairs were carried out to the car port, waiting to be loaded, and the boys quickly set up an art station there.  Aunt Jodi helped them stay out of the way when she whisked them away to make "dirt art" and have fun at her house.  She also made lunch for all of us so that we could find time to eat in the midst of the chaos.  Meanwhile, following her typical pattern, Emma fell asleep on the living room floor.  When she woke up, Aunt Denise (barely back from her Home Assignment) was happy to take her home for a while until she got hungry again.

Finally, the moment came that the boys had been anticipating all day - time to load the truck.  The movers enjoyed having a curious audience, and we all breathed a deep sigh as the truck with all of our belongings pulled away from the house. 
 

Just one week later, we were ready to get on the airplane.  We'd been counting down the days, and while it was hard and sad to say goodbyes, the boys were ready for the adventure.  On Boxing Day, the day before we left, Daddy helped the boys pack their carry-ons (mostly full of Christmas gifts).  Over the next 24 hours, Noah unpacked and re-packed his backpack at least a dozen times.  He emptied it and showed the contents to anyone who would give him a little attention, and he constantly asked if we were getting on the airplane yet.
The time finally came.  Our missionary family gathered to pray with us before we left, and sent us off in our own PNG tradition - throwing flowers at our car (at Aden's request).  Airport activity is perfect entertainment for the Band of Brothers, so we had no trouble keeping the boys happy while we waited for our flight.  The 16 1/2-hour flight went very smoothly, and it helped that it was dark through the whole flight. 

Watching the sunrise in Atlanta

Adventures In an Odyssey: Off to the Races

It's a bit of an understatement to say that these boys love cars.  So when we bought a car to drive here in the US (we bought it online even before we left South Africa, and before we knew about the possibility of going to the Philippines), they immediately wanted to know what kind of car it was.  And it only seems fitting to name this series of posts about our Home Assignment travels after our Honda Odyssey minivan.

And before officially heading out on the deputation trail, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit the Indy 500 Museum.  (Plus it was significantly cheaper than the Children's Museum.)  The boys loved seeing and learning about the Indy cars, and we all took turns sitting behind the wheel of one of the cars on display there.  Unfortunately we couldn't take the track tour because of the icy conditions, but that just means we'll have to go again on another visit to Indy.

Christmas in Transition (Part II)

While we kept some of our traditions as we celebrated Christmas (family advent devotions, opening stockings and wrapped gifts), this Christmas was far from traditional for us.  The boys were very aware of this, since our house was void of most of our "traditional" decorations.  But it was even more evident in the way we spent Christmas Day.  We were grateful for the Christmas Day service at church, to help us keep our focus on what the day was really about and gather in worship . . . but it was also our last service at Cornerstone, and ended with some very difficult goodbyes, hard enough for Noah that he couldn't even say the word goodbye to his best buddy, Uncle Rodney.

We will certainly miss our church - they became family to us.  In our last weeks there, we realized that this was the first time we'd really become a part of a local church as a family, and it was such a blessing for us.  Our kids had helped us decide to attend there - when we first attended there in June of 2011, after months on end of going to new churches every week, this was the first time the boys had asked if we could go back the next week.  We each developed friendships within the church, and our missionary colleagues and friends are now the pastoral family.  Noah even earned himself the nickname, "Spicy."  On our last Sunday, they generously presented us with gifts - toys for the boys, and a framed photo of the congregation to hang on the wall of our new home.  During a time of special prayer, they sent us out as "missionaries from Cornerstone" (to wherever God would lead us).  It seemed fitting, and we are so thankful for their support and love to us. 

On Christmas Day, after we had gone home and opened gifts, followed by lunch at Auntie Linda Braaten's house, we went to the Leslies' for a game party.  The boys had made a sign advertising the event, and had been eagerly anticipating it.  When we opened our Christmas crackers at lunch, Aden was intrigued by the jokes.  Inspired by the new "material" and by his buddy Keaton, he put together a short stand-up comedy act for the evening and added some original jokes as well.  We enjoyed the time to relax and fellowship together, and eat some of the Christmas leftovers.  As we began planning the game party, it was decided that it would also be our farewell.  The missionary family presented us with gifts:  an African game, a beautiful wall hanging, a unique elephant birthday calendar, and a scrapbook full of notes and memories of our time in Africa.

It was certainly a unique Christmas, and one we will never forget - a day we spent celebrating the birth of our Savior, and full of memories, friends, and "family". 

Christmas in Transition (Part I)

Just as Christmas was approaching, our departure for the US also approached and we made the difficult decision not to renew our contracts, but to leave Africa. The timing of our decision made for a very different Christmas season for our family.  Ordinarily, Mommy does quite a bit to help remind the boys what Christmas is all about.  This year, however, the decorations and resources she would usually draw on were all packed away.  In the midst of moving preparations, our Christmas celebrations were significantly simplified.

the transformed tree

For a Christmas tree, Mommy took the boys on a walk to look for twigs.  When she had gathered a good pile, they headed home.  The boys were quite confused and disappointed, thinking that somehow along the way we would actually find a real Christmas tree, ready to decorate.  Mommy, however, had found inspiration and put the twigs in a jar (much like our Thanksgiving Tree a year ago), then tied red and green ribbons on the branches.  While Aden appreciated her creativity, Wiley was obviously disappointed.  But Mommy encouraged everyone to give it a chance, promising we'd add ornaments as December went on.  We had found an advent book at a used bookstore earlier in the year, and pulled it out for our devotions each night; Mommy copied images from the book to use as ornaments on our tree and we added one ornament each night.  One night, (about five nights into our advent devotions), when the unstable tree got knocked over twice as boys tried to hang their ornaments, Mommy finally admitted defeat.  That night, she went to Auntie Linda Braaten's house and borrowed a small pre-lit, pre-decorated tree that Auntie had offered for us to use this year.  The next morning, Noah expressed his amazement, and subtlely pointed out just how "Charlie-Brown-ish" the transformation seemed, "Now when I get next to it, I need to sing "Hark the Herald Angels!"  (Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of the twig tree before it fell over.)

Our other decorations were pretty simple as well.  We had a paper chain, counting down to the 27th of December, when we would get on the plane to leave South Africa (at the base of the tree in the photo above).  Mommy had also saved the stockings to pack in our suitcases; once she finished Emma's she hung them on the staircase.  When Wiley kept asking for a Nativity, Mommy printed one she found online and the boys had fun coloring and creating their own.

 

Our gifts for each other this year were all suitable for travel.  We started Christmas morning with a book.  Daddy and Mommy had recorded "A Charlie Brown Christmas" for the boys, and had used Wiley's voice from 2010 for Linus's part in telling the Christmas story.  Mommy filled the boys' stockings with small games, books, and toys that could go in their carry-ons.  They were thrilled with their very own felt books (after watching Mommy make two over the last year for other little boys).  

All the gifts were wrapped in leftover packing paper (once again), which provided an extra Christmas activity of decorating it.  Each boy unwrapped a homemade gift (a pillow cover for Aden, to be finished in our new home; a giraffe-print canvas for Wiley, to decorate his new room; a travel pouch for Noah; and velcro fabric squares for Emma).  They also got new books for our trip.  The boys had made special ornaments for Daddy and Mommy one day on a playdate at Aunt Brittany's house.  There was one larger gift, but before wrapping we had checked to make sure it would fit in the suitcase.  Daddy had picked out a skateboard for the boys, with "South Africa" on the bottom as a special souvenir. 

Emma's velcro squares and Swaziland ornament

Wiley's giraffe print canvas

 

Testing the new wheels

After opening gifts, we joined Auntie Linda Braaten for a beautiful Christmas dinner at her house, with Aunt Cherrie Kommel.  We celebrated in true South African tradition with crowns and Christmas crackers, and Aden especially enjoyed the jokes.  Before we ate, Auntie Linda reviewed the story of the wise men with the boys and asked each of us to share what we would give to Baby Jesus if we could see him today.  The "big people" gave answers such as future; ambitions; thankfulness . . . and Aden and Wiley mentioned some of their toys.  But Noah said he wouldn't give his toys; instead he quietly shared, "I would give him my heart."  What a perfect gift for Jesus, no matter what our age or circumstance!