I just found these pictures of Darren, Aaron and Derek's camping trip this Spring in Central Florida. Thught you might enjoy seeing the goofy side of Darren. He says everyone has to grow old but not everyone has to grow up!
Sunday, December 16, 2007
ECHO's from the year gone by
Darren and Danny reach for the disk during our farewell Ultimate game at ECHO. The interns put on a great party, spear-headed by Danny. Darren was honoured by a rousing game of Ultimate after which we had a wonderful meal of all things 'Farm', including tilapia, home ground corn muffins, tangerine juice and salad.
What a great year with such a great group of women (and men). Each one of these precious women is preparing to serve God by giving their lives and talents to live amongst the poor, helping them grow and learn and about nutritious food for their families. What a privilege to be able to contribute some of my knowledge and experiences to their lives.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Oh Canada!
We are back home on the range after a week long move from Fort Myers to Victoria. We spent a wonderful couple of days in Seattle visiting long time friends, speaking at their church and shopping. REI is one of our favorite places to visit, and though we usually always leave with no more than a water bottle, this time around we had a gift certificate. Thanks to ECHO, Darren is now outfitted with a bike helmet and waterproof shoes. Though we would rather be in Central Africa, Victoria isn't a bad place to be, given the ample opportunities for cycling, climbing and backpacking. Trick now is finding time between all the other things we have to do to really enjoy living here.
We had a good meeting with the folks at the Evangelical Free Church of Canada Mission and are encouraged by the simplicity of their offices and staff.
This weekend we are up visiting my dad and step-mom, playing in their 5 acres with our dog, Koko, and enjoying being surrounded by mountains, woods and rain. Darren is busy getting our bikes put together so we can spend the next two weeks riding. We head for Skookum bed and breakfast the middle of next week where we will be house sitting over Christmas. It will be a great place to hide out from the busyness of Christmas, the traffic, and the many places to visit. I am also trying to wrap my head around the fact that I am leaving for CAR soon. Unbelievable. Lots to think about and so much to do, but in all honesty, the short days and rain have me wanting to just curl up by the fire and read a book.
We had a good meeting with the folks at the Evangelical Free Church of Canada Mission and are encouraged by the simplicity of their offices and staff.
This weekend we are up visiting my dad and step-mom, playing in their 5 acres with our dog, Koko, and enjoying being surrounded by mountains, woods and rain. Darren is busy getting our bikes put together so we can spend the next two weeks riding. We head for Skookum bed and breakfast the middle of next week where we will be house sitting over Christmas. It will be a great place to hide out from the busyness of Christmas, the traffic, and the many places to visit. I am also trying to wrap my head around the fact that I am leaving for CAR soon. Unbelievable. Lots to think about and so much to do, but in all honesty, the short days and rain have me wanting to just curl up by the fire and read a book.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
In the deep South
One would think that since we live in the most southern US state that we are already in the deep south, but no. Something culturally strange takes place as you cross from Georgia into Florida, where all of a sudden, the deep south becomes a cultural melting pot of the rest of the US, as brought here by the ever abundant snowbirds and northern transplants. So to truly experience the deep south, we actually have to go north into Georgia.
We drove to Athens, GA last week to deliver 4 large foot lockers of bare-rooted fruit trees to a friends place, whose parents were going to visit their brother who is an agroforester in Madagascar. Sound complicated? It's not really. Our neighbours in Gamboula, Luke and Leanne, live in Athens, and Luke's brother is a tree guy in Madagascar. So we drove the trees to L and L's place, as Luke's parents are heading over there and will be delivering them. We had a great weekend with our friends, and were able to debrief with them about our two years in Gamboula. What a treat to sit down and dream together about the future possibilities of working together in Gamboula.
After leaving their house we stopped off at REI in Atlanta; Darren successfully navigating the 6 lane freeway while I shouted directions over the noise of ECHO's old blue Ford van (the doors don't seal). We were like kids in a candy store; looking at all the camping and biking equipment made moving to Victoria this winter not look so bad. Southern Florida is hardly known for its biking/backpacking possibilities.
After picking up 200 potted grape vines we headed into the deep south, into cotton and peanut country, where we were privileged to spend the night at a cozy cabin in the woods. One of my wonderful volunteers at ECHO lent us the keys to their cabin for the night so we could taste a little piece of heaven (southern style) and rest up for the trip back to ECHO. Shortly after finishing supper, the neighbours dropped by (a 70 year old cotton farmer and his wife) and we chatted about what folks in the country like to chat about. (If you don't know what folks in the country chat about then you better get yourself down to the country for a spell). After a long conversation about his family that had recently passed on, we changed the subject and talked about peanuts. This led to an invitation to drive to over to their house to pick up bags of green, boiled, then frozen peanuts. I guess all you have to do is pop them in a pot of boiling water until they thaw and presto!, you've got yourself some boiled peanuts. Yummm. If you don't know what I am talking about, you are missing out. There are more than two ways to eat a peanut.
After picking up our peanuts, touring the locals real estate, and hearing about the grandyoungins, we headed back to the cabin for a peaceful nights sleep. I would go north to the south anytime!
We drove to Athens, GA last week to deliver 4 large foot lockers of bare-rooted fruit trees to a friends place, whose parents were going to visit their brother who is an agroforester in Madagascar. Sound complicated? It's not really. Our neighbours in Gamboula, Luke and Leanne, live in Athens, and Luke's brother is a tree guy in Madagascar. So we drove the trees to L and L's place, as Luke's parents are heading over there and will be delivering them. We had a great weekend with our friends, and were able to debrief with them about our two years in Gamboula. What a treat to sit down and dream together about the future possibilities of working together in Gamboula.
After leaving their house we stopped off at REI in Atlanta; Darren successfully navigating the 6 lane freeway while I shouted directions over the noise of ECHO's old blue Ford van (the doors don't seal). We were like kids in a candy store; looking at all the camping and biking equipment made moving to Victoria this winter not look so bad. Southern Florida is hardly known for its biking/backpacking possibilities.
After picking up 200 potted grape vines we headed into the deep south, into cotton and peanut country, where we were privileged to spend the night at a cozy cabin in the woods. One of my wonderful volunteers at ECHO lent us the keys to their cabin for the night so we could taste a little piece of heaven (southern style) and rest up for the trip back to ECHO. Shortly after finishing supper, the neighbours dropped by (a 70 year old cotton farmer and his wife) and we chatted about what folks in the country like to chat about. (If you don't know what folks in the country chat about then you better get yourself down to the country for a spell). After a long conversation about his family that had recently passed on, we changed the subject and talked about peanuts. This led to an invitation to drive to over to their house to pick up bags of green, boiled, then frozen peanuts. I guess all you have to do is pop them in a pot of boiling water until they thaw and presto!, you've got yourself some boiled peanuts. Yummm. If you don't know what I am talking about, you are missing out. There are more than two ways to eat a peanut.
After picking up our peanuts, touring the locals real estate, and hearing about the grandyoungins, we headed back to the cabin for a peaceful nights sleep. I would go north to the south anytime!
Saturday, June 23, 2007
A Weekend in the Hills
We had a great weekend in May hanging out with our old ECHO chums Jeff and Laura. Thanks to a generous gift from one of our friends, we enjoyed a great weekend in North Carolina catching trout, swimming and taking in the Brevard White Squirrel Festival. While you may wonder if this is some kind of strange mountain joke, I can assure you that white squirrels do exist, having escaped a circus train they promptly took up residence in Brevard, NC. We enjoyed outdoor blue grass music, were introduced to a great band call Sol Driven Train and had fun with each other.
Catching up with old friends is always a good thing!
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Back to Blogging
After too long a hiatus from writing, I feel refreshed and in need of some writing time.
I spoke with Clarisse yesterday for a good ten minutes, plus the 4 times I had to call her back because the connection kept cutting off. She is well along with all of the family. Her brother, who now works for a diamond company in Bania, has access to the Internet via a satellite down link and so we have been able to write back and forth. I recently gave him Clarisse's cell phone number (our old phone) and in the last four weeks he has been consistently calling Clarisse to find out how the family is. Unbelievable really. For the last five or more years he has been virtually inaccessible because of distance and no means of communication. Now that Clarisse has a phone they can be instantly (well, as long as they are in range of a cell tower) connected.
Clarisse said the gardens look great, the rains are steady and everything is growing well. I wish I were there. I have not remembered a more deeply sad time in my life. I am glad to be at ECHO, for if I had to be any place in North America it would be here. However, my heart longs to be in CAR, involved in the deep relationships that we have there, daily submerged in the sometimes messy lives of struggling people. I have yet to develop those kinds of relationships here. Maybe I just haven't gone out looking for them. Maybe I am too busy being sad.
I spoke with Clarisse yesterday for a good ten minutes, plus the 4 times I had to call her back because the connection kept cutting off. She is well along with all of the family. Her brother, who now works for a diamond company in Bania, has access to the Internet via a satellite down link and so we have been able to write back and forth. I recently gave him Clarisse's cell phone number (our old phone) and in the last four weeks he has been consistently calling Clarisse to find out how the family is. Unbelievable really. For the last five or more years he has been virtually inaccessible because of distance and no means of communication. Now that Clarisse has a phone they can be instantly (well, as long as they are in range of a cell tower) connected.
Clarisse said the gardens look great, the rains are steady and everything is growing well. I wish I were there. I have not remembered a more deeply sad time in my life. I am glad to be at ECHO, for if I had to be any place in North America it would be here. However, my heart longs to be in CAR, involved in the deep relationships that we have there, daily submerged in the sometimes messy lives of struggling people. I have yet to develop those kinds of relationships here. Maybe I just haven't gone out looking for them. Maybe I am too busy being sad.
Well, more on sadness later. Apparently sadness can mean becoming more like Jesus. We will see.
Friday, February 02, 2007
warm and cozy in Florida?
While we complained bitterly our last few days in
Victoria about cold weather, snow and never seeing the
sun, we spent Monday night on the ECHO farm driving
around in a golf cart checking thermometers. Our
first few days here had us in tank-tops and jeans, but
this week was sweaters and touques. While we can
hardly complain it makes me laugh at how adaptable my
body is. While in Gamboula 65F was absolutely
freezing, requiring all the warm clothes I could
muster. Being in Victoria made 32F seem downright
unlivable and though once I was all bundled up a walk
was a pleasant enough outdoor activity. Now that we
are Florida 50F is back to being a 'must have fleece'
event. It is nice to know how flexible God has made
our human bodies, but now that I have made this
observation, could someone please turn up the heat?
bossbugs@yahoo.ca
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