And the people say, "Amen!"

I sit here with tears in my eyes having just watched the official swearing in of a president voted in this past November. I am overwhelmed. I do not think I ever watched an inauguration before. I will always remember this. Today was a day that proved anything can happen in this country. Anyone can dream and reach any goal they might have. I did not choose Barack Obama because he is a black man- I could not care less about that. I chose him because I felt he was the man for the job. That said, I am excited that he is a black man because it shows how far we, as Americans have come. Who would have ever thought that in my life time, an age where I grew up in a society where there was segregation and accepted prejudice, that we would get to a point where people can see beyond color, beyond race, beyond differences and look to the character of an individual and vote him in as president.  I am hopeful for our future. I am hopeful for change. And this hope does not rest just on the shoulders of Barack Obama but on the people of a nation that would vote him in. And the people say, "Amen!."

Happy Birthday MLK

Today many people had the day off. And many kids had no school. Why? To celebrate the birth of Martin Luther King. Our town does not give the kids off of school, all day the kids have Civil Rights education. I have to say I love this. I think that it honors him far more than a day of sleeping in and then hanging out watching tv. I was reading James Preller's blog (he is a children author who's blog I somehow came across and now love to read) and he wrote a bit about MLK. Here are some of the quotes he had and they just blew me away

Here’s a few relevant quotes from Dr. King:

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.”

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

“Cowardice asks the question, ‘Is it safe?’ Expediency asks the question, ‘Is it politic?’ But conscience asks the question, ‘Is it right?’ And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but because conscience tells one it is right.”

Amen Dr King, May we all learn from these words. 

Playing in the snow

On the weekend following Christmas Jay and I had a houseful of guests. For our southern nieces and nephew the opportunity to play in the snow provided too much of a temptation and out they went. My sisters got their hand in with the design of the snow woman and so she ended up with a mohawk,  pierced belly button, earrings and a set of the most lop-sided breasts before the thaw. While they were grooming the snow the kids were having a snow fight. Katie got Shelby good and after a while the two of them headed to make some snow angels. I just loved seeing all the kids have so much fun together in the snow.

Christophers of Nyack

Every year for Christmas my siblings and I buy just one gift for another sibling. We draw names out of a hat and this year Jay and I got Janet. She wanted a gift certificate to her favorite store, Christophers of Nyack an amazing shop that has something like 500 floors (I think it really is only 5) filled with beautiful antiques and decorative things for your home. It really is a magical place and I happened to have my camera with me when I went to pick up her certificate, which by the way is the best gift certificate ever, a poster sized drawing of the store, all outlines ready for coloring. Here are a few of the things I saw as I walked through that day...

Happy New Year!

Christmas is over, we even managed to get a tree (just 2 days before Christmas.) Then we had an ice dam and had to rip up the ceiling behind the tree... kind of gave it a real rustic look. Christmas is different with my kids being older now. No rush to wake up and look through the stockings and rip into the presents. Instead it was a sedate opening of a few gifts before a family breakfast and then off to church. More presents opened after church and then more when Kyle arrived from his apartment. Highlights? Kyle's box of bottle caps (an inside joke of a gift from me to him) and a kit to make root beer for Shelby. And also a noisy rubber chicken for our friend Karl. Then, the onslaught of visitors and a big dinner of prime riband macaroni and cheese. Then clean up, set up and ready ourselves for a visit from my sister and her daughters, big family meals, a Ferreira/Rebelo family party on Saturday and rest. I love being with family, my brother is out from California for a couple of weeks and having two of my sisters around along with a lot of Jay's family is a highlight of the holiday for me. Then a minor car accident (my poor little Prius needs a whole new passenger side) and a few crazy days at work and I was ready to ring in the new year (or actually sleep through it.) 

What am I looking forward to this year? Finding more ways to be of service to people, getting to Bangladesh and seeing Mt Everest and maybe even a tiger in the wild. Getting healthier- lose weight, move more, eat better (Maybe this is the year I will actually accomplish this.)I want to spend more time with family, less time with drama. I am looking forward to helping get Shelby ready for her new adventure of going to Saint Olaf College and seeing what being empty nesters will bring to Jay and me. I am hoping to build my Uppercase Living business up and find more ways of sharing this fun product with others. Reading more, playing less on Pogo, cooking more, eating out less and making peace on earth : )

Um Ya Ya

Its official, Shelby is accepted to be part of the graduating class of 2013 at St Olaf College! I cannot explain the joy and excitement we are all feeling at this news. My mail man is thrilled too, if only because this means I won't be accosting him along the streets of our town looking for some news in the mail. 

I am so thrilled that my daughter is going to be able to be a part of that incredible school. I look forward to seeing the challenges they give her, the possibilities they will open up for her. I am a bot envious to be studying at a place that so clearly values learning. Oh to be 17 and headed off to such a magical place. 

That said I am also already weeping inside at the thought of being so far from her. I know that many mothers and their 17 year old daughters don't love being together but I truly love being with her and I am going to miss her terribly. I know I will become a cyber stalker with their Hi mom cam, watching just to see if I can catch a glimpse of her walking through the commons. She has already told me I will need to sign on for unlimited text messaging so that we can talk when we need to. I am already practicing so that I will have Cheetah thumbs and text quickly. 

Now we begin the prayers for snow every day so that we can afford the tuition!

Well done Shelby, I am so glad St Olaf's recognized a gem in you.

Update

I already mentioned that I was heading to Bangladesh this February and here is the update on my schedule. I leave for San Francisco on February 11th. The team will leave form there on the 13th but I was nervous about snow in February and wanted to make sure I was there and ready to go so I will have a couple of days to explore the city. I have never been there before so I am excited. I downloaded a National Geographic podcast on a walking tour of the city and hope to try it. I figure the part of the walk that is all uphill will be good training for what comes later. I also plan on visiting at the Alliance for Smiles head office to meet the people there and learn a little more about the organization- good thing huh? I mean I am traveling with them on mission. 

From San Francisco we head to Hong Kong and then to Bangladesh. We have 9 long days (Or maybe it is 8) of surgeries and dental treatment for people in the area. before the team finishes up. 

Now here is the new part.... from there I am heading out to Kathmandu! What a trip. One member of the team, a veteran AFS member, posed an invitation to anyone else going to join him for a few days in Nepal. We will arrive in Kathmandu and have the rest of that first day free. The next morning we rise early and jump on a plane to do an air tour of Mt Everest (How cool is that?) After that we go back to our hotel for breakfast and then have a tour of the city for the day. We will even get to the "monkey" temple, a Buddhist temple that is inhabited by monkeys. The next morning it is an early rise again and another flight, this time to a National Park where we will get to ride on elephants as we travel through the jungle and then I get to take a bird watching hike- Love it! The next day we drive back to the city and make our way to the airport for the long trip home. 

I do not know why God has blessed me with such a wonderful husband who supports me on these adventures. With all his concerns about the economy and having 2 kids in college he stills sighs and says, "You're right, this is too great of an opportunity to pass up." I am so thankful for him. May I be a blessing on the patients I treat and the people I meet on this next adventure in the world.

Peace

Tired...So tired

I seem to have been off the radar lately, unless you visit me at work. I have been working a lot with my Uppercase Living. It seems that November is the month for parties. What else have I been up to? Well, this weekend Jay and I became grandparents. Shelby brought home a computerized baby for her religion class. Laurance, Laur for short, is a beautiful little girl. She cries every 4-6 hours but has not cried around me at all. Shelby has been bringing this baby with her everywhere or arranging for care when she is involved in something. Her French teacher babysat while Shelby danced in the French Fete on Friday night. She was a big hit at the restaurant we went to for dinner tonight. Every one wanted to know what we were doing with a doll in a baby seat at our table. It was really funny.

I have also been involved in my Diakonia program on Thursday nights. I have never really studied this way before. Our first 5 week course wan on the Old Testament and it was amazing. This session we are now looking at the Christian community. Once again I am looking at things in a way I never had before and I am finding it fascinating. We are reading a book written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor/scholar that was executed by the Nazis in Germany for his open disapproval of their course. His insight into a life of faith is so deep. We can discuss for hours just a single sentence. I am definitely learning a lot.

We all are waiting on pins and needles to hear back from St Olaf College in Minnesota. Shelby's early decision application has been received and her fate is in the hands of the admissions officers. We will know by December 17th if she is accepted. Please say a prayer.

And on this note I am out of here. It is time for bed and a well deserved rest after such a busy weekend

Packing my bags again

Although it seems as if I just got home from my last trip I am now getting set to take off again. In February I will be heading out to Bangladesh on a dental mission. Now let me just say I wasn't even sure where Bangladesh is knowing it only from the Beatles song but I was signing on anyway. I will be traveling as part of the dental team for Alliance for Smiles and am researching now to learn about the people of Bangladesh. Check out Alliance for Smiles web site and consider if there is any way you can help out. You can always support me by lifting me and the whole mission up in prayer. Stay tuned for more info as I learn it. The dates at this time are February 14th - the 28th.

( http://www.allianceforsmiles.org/ ) 

Visitor from Namibia

Last Thursday my family had the honor of hosting a visitor from Namibia. Pastor Paul Hatani Kisting is the deputy bishop for ELCRN a Lutheran synod in Namibia. I had met him briefly during my visit there in June and was happy to hear he was coming to the US and my church was asked to share our lives with him for a week. 

Jay and I rushed to get Kyle's bedroom set up as a guest room, something we had been talking about for over a year but never seemed to get around to. We have all decided that the now guest room is the best bedroom in the house (you can watch the waterfall while lying in bed,) and all are fighting over who will sleep there LOL

Thursday morning Pastor Nagle and I picked Pastor Kisting up at a church in Jersey City and set off to envelop him in our world for a week. We visited the Statue of Liberty, participated in various classes, walked at the celery farm, worshiped together and then had a pot luck dinner for him. He got a chance to play his trumpet with a friend of ours who plays one professionally. We went to a swing club in the city, shopped for his family and just spent a lot of time talking. 

Every time I have been to Africa I have come home and had trouble re-acclimating to life here. Spending this time last week with him was even harder. Seeing my community with a filter of someone from Namibia just made things even clearer. So many time I heard myself saying something or asking something and realized how spoiled I am. There are so many luxuries we have that I don't even notice. He couldn't get over all the cars on the road with only one person in them. That just doesn't happen in Africa. If someone is going somewhere the car will fill up with others needing to do something in that area too. I thought how many times my family are all going to the same place but our timing is a little different and so we all take our own cars. Can you say wasteful? So many things need to change.

But just as there were so many times when I died a little inside with embarrassment there were also times that he had me see something so wonderful that I also overlook. His amazement of self check out registers that talk to you and drive through bank windows.... you just don't see those things in Namibia either. 

Most of all I loved connecting with the quiet, faith-filled pastor. We have adopted him as a brother and I look forward to continuing to come to know more of him, his family as well as the beautiful country they live in. While some people would ask me why I would welcome a guest for a whole week with all the work it entails but I feel we were blessed every moment he was here and I will welcome him gladly at any time in the future.

From Namibia to Minnesota

I have been getting all kinds of grief from some friends about my neglect of my blog. All I have to say in defense of myself is between working more and trying to ward off carpal tunnel I have been staying away from things like typing on the computer. The wrist is feeling better so hopefully I will get a little more disciplined again. 

Anyway enough of that, this weekend I am in Minnesota with my daughter visiting at St Olaf College so I will take a break from my Namibia tales. All I can say is that this is the kind of school you dream of your child going to. Let's ignore the beauty of the school and it's setting. And let's ignore the friendliness of the students here. This school just exudes educational excitement. I want to be a student here.  I browsed through the course selection book while waiting on Shelby in her interview. The range of courses offered are thrilling. How I wish I knew of schools like this when I was graduating high school. The best thing was to see Shelby's excitement as the weekend went on. 

Our flight came in late and so it was dark out by the time we arrived in Northfield. Shelby and I grabbed a light snack and then met with her overnight host. The school had arranged for her to spend the night in one of the dorms. Everything went so fast that I left her feeling a little uneasy. I said a quick good bye and then headed to my hotel having left her the message call me if you need me. 

I didn't hear from her until the next morning when I received a text saying how great everyone in the dorm was and she was loving it. I met up with her after a biology class and met up with the Admissions officer, Angelique. I thought this would be stressful but she was really nice (IS everyone nice in Minnesota?) Anyway, Shelby attended 3 classes, took a tour, ate a couple of meals, spent the night, attended daily chapel and fell in love with the school. She loved the classes, thought the professors were brilliant, and admired all the tall gorgeous guys here (Apparently the guys are much better here in Minnesota.) 

Today we spent the day wandering around the town of Northfield, (We found 3 bookstores and a library - Shelby was happy.) This is the kind of little college town I have read of but never had a chance to visit - I just may have to move to Minnesota myself. We drove through the other school here in Northfield, Carlton. Shelby thought it was nice but nothing like St Olaf.

Tomorrow we will head back to Northfield for a visit to a church there for worship and then we will head back to the Twin Cities area. We are Mall of America bound. We will hit Archivers, a scrapbooking store to pick up a few things and then tomorrow night while at the hotel Shelby wants to make a little scrapbook about her visit to bring in to school. She needs to show the guidance counselor something to prove she really was on a college visit. 

Monday afternoon we head back home, both having fallen in love with this school and hoping that they recognize what a gift Shelby will be to whatever school she attends and that they invite her to join them next year.

Namibian Cell Phones

My post about the phone numbers brings up something that amazed me this time in Africa- the popularity of cell phones! Imagine you have lived somewhere where you were unable to have a telephone and then all of a sudden in comes this miraculous thing called cellular phones. My experience is that Africans have adopted cell phones whole heartedly. I am a tried and true anti-cell phone person and seeing the invasion of this technology saddens me. Not that I don't think people should be able to be in contact with others but I hate that we all have seemed to have lost a sense of being present. I hate that people don't talk to each other anymore in line, or talk with their check out person- why bother when you can call up anyone else you know and talk to them? About anything? As a dental hygienist, I have had patients interrupt my work to take a call. One woman actually motioned for me to continue while she chatted. Not likely! What has this got to do with Namibia? Well it is the same if not worse there. People take phone calls during meetings or text while in the middle of conversations there. It made me crazy. But that said one of the things that amused me was how the church was the one place that many people had access to electricity to charge up their phones and so you would see them plugged in to all the outlets possible during worship. Then when one phone was charged they would remove it and place another in the plug. I wanted to take some shots of it at one church but we left early and I did not get a chance. Here is the one picture I got with the phones in it.

Faces of Eembaxu

It is always the people that I meet that capture my heart when I travel and eembaxu was no different. While we could not readily communicate, many people did not speak english and I spoke no Ovambo, so conversations were short to say the least. But words are not necessary. Smiles translate well and quite often women would, by gestures, show me what I needed to do or what they wanted from me. One of my favorite "interactions" was when I was trying to get the address of 2 women from the women's conference. They had an exercise in friendship and I was given one woman's name and another was given my name. We were to pray for that woman and hold her in our heart. My being from the US presented a challenge. I gestured for them to write their address in my book but they wrote their cell numbers. They wanted me to give them my cell number. I was finally able to communicate that what good would phone numbers do us? We couldn't talk very long not knowing the other's language. At least a note can be translated. When the understood what I was saying we all shared a big laugh. Below are photographs of some of the beautiful people I came to know in Eembaxu.

Faces of Eembaxu

People of Eembaxu

Eembaxu continued

Sometimes I am just so amazed at how good God is. When I left home I knew I was missing the Women of Faith Conference at the Izod center. For the past 10 years I have been going to these conferences and having my soul filled and lifted by the praise of 10,000+ women all at one time in one place. I had arranged for tickets for 26 women from my church to go and I was sad to be missing it. So imagine my surprise when the weekend that my sisters in faith in NJ were headed to the WOF conference I ended up being present for a Women's conference in Eembaxu. While different from the one in NJ this one was amazing. I loved being present to see how these women in Namibia support each other, share their faith, learn together, raise money to do important things for their community and most of all search together to find out what God's plans are for them. I left from my time in Eembaxu inspired, uplifted and even more in love with God... He is awsome.

Women from the conference (that's me on the left.)

Pastor Ruusa

Sunday Worship

Eembaxu

After traveling a couple of hours through the country we made it to our church. We stopped along the way at a store for Pastor Ruusa and Teopaulina to pick up some food. While I waited in the back of the truck I met two people. The first was a young man who was asking me something but I couldn't understand him. It wasn't just the language problem, it was hard to understand any of the sounds he was making. I saw his tongue and saw karposi's sarcoma lesions all over it. The poor young man was one more of the victims of HIV/AIDs in a lot of the African countries. My heart broke for him and he became my first real face of AIDs. He walked away when he realized I couldn't understand him. I felt so ignorant and useless. (Actually I didn't even begin to realize how ignorant I had been- I had been thinking HIV/AIDS was not such an issue here in the US anymore. I hadn't read about it in a long time. Once I returned from Namibia I started noticing it more and more in the news. Contrary to my naive belief, we are still under the grip of the disease here too. The statistics are beyond frightening. How did I ever get so complacent as to not pay attention to this?)

The second person I wet was a young woman who was a Peace Corp volunteer from Texas. She was teaching in a small school in a very rural area of Namibia. We chatted for a little bit, waiting for Ruusa and Teopaulina to return. We got on the subject about what she was looking forward to when she returned home to the US. Besides family she said she wanted pizza, good pizza. I asked if she was going to be in Windhoek any time soon and she was- she was picking her mother up from the airport in a couple of weeks. I told her to go to the Gourmet Biergarten on the main street in the city. We had the best pizza there. Better than most places here in the US. How surreal to be sitting in the back of a pick up truck somewhere in Namibia being able to recommend a pizza place to local. It was so funny.

The women came back and I said good bye to my new friend and we were back on the road. Before long we arrived at the church. Pastor Ruusa's home was a traditional homestead connected to the church and I was so excited to be able to spend time here.

The church of Eembaxu

Pastor Ruusa's homestead

The family's living space was in the building to the left. My room was in there as was the area set aside for me to prepare meals for myself. WHAT??? I have to admit I was kind of freaked at the thought that I had to make my own meals but it was really a misunderstanding. There was a women's conference going on that weekend and the pastor had a lot to do for arriving participants. There was no time that day to prepare a meal for me. After that I was well taken care of and just wish I had more time to settle in so that I could have tackled cooking in Namibia but instead I settled for a slice of bread with peanut butter.

Heading to Eembaxu

Ok, Let's return to the story of Namibia. After heading north we made it to Ondongwa. Upon arriving at the hotel we found the pastors from our sister churches waiting to bring us to their homes. I was supposed to travel with Pastor Pieters but he was unable to make the trip north with us so I went to Eembaxu with Pastor Ruusa and Teopaulina, both of Eembaxu. Teopaulina had a beautiful red truck and I threw my duffle into the back and then asked about bringing my camera bag with me into the cab. It was then that Pastor Ruusa informed me there was only room for two people in the truck and that I would be riding in the back. You know, I travel in Africa looking for adventure and here it was. I quickly grabbed a jacket and a small pillow I travel with to sit on, put a hat on my head, slathered on some sunblock and off we went, in what direction I do not know, Eembaxu does not make any map. I will say I loved driving in the back of the truck. It brought back memories of being a kid riding in my dad's pick up, this was in the days before safety concerns. 

This was what I saw from my spot in the truck

This was just one little glimpse of the countryside I saw as we drove for around 2 hours through the rural areas of northern Namibia

Thankfully someone snapped a picture of me as we headed off for Eembaxu. 

Check this out!

Heading North

We arrived in Namibia on Wednesday afternoon. We headed to the ELCRN guesthouse in Windhoek for an overnight stay and then headed to our next stop, Tsumeb on our way up to Ondongwa. It was from Ondongwa that we would be setting our for our northern sister church visits. 

OUr group in front of the ELCRN guesthouse

This woman, Nailoke (which means let it rain), set up a business of baking breads in a solar oven. She measures out the dough carefully and puts it in soup cans. She then puts the cans in a box that is lined with mirrors. The plexiglass lid is closed and the sun does the work. With in a few hours the sun has beaked the bread which she then sells. 

I bought some bread from her and it was slightly sweet, almost like a corn bread. I wished I could have gotten more but it was early in the day and the bread wasn't ready yet.

This is our whole delegation outside of our hotel in Tsumeb