The Amazing Life of Justin Brown

Whether it is diving with dolphins and whales, wrestling with octopi, or catching fish more than twice the size of himself....Justin lives a life full of adventure. I sometimes wonder if we even live on the same planet let alone the same island.
His latest adventure includes somehow obtaining a shotgun here on the island and fulfilling a life long dream of hunting in Africa. Granted that his first hunt included Hunter dressed as Pocahontas, Avery in her chupies (underwear) and them stalking a crow in the backyard...nonetheless the smile on his face let me know he was still throughly happy with the results.
These are two of his partners in crime. Reid is in the middle and lives here with us. They always have some scheme they are working on such as building pneumatic potato cannons or buying old Russian era aircrafts. What they want to do with either of those things is beyond me, but they always have a good time together. Hans is on the left and lives on the neighboring island. Justin spends as much time over there with him and his family than he does here with us. He always comes back with some grand tale of the adventures they had on the sea or in the shop. I think Justin sometimes goes over there just to hang out with Hans and calls it "work".

Regardless of time of day, conditions, or anything really...Justin somehow finds "fun"....or maybe it is just the other way around?

Maji Safi

That means Clean Water...something thousands, even hundreds of thousands of people here do not have. In the case of many small fishing villages and outlying islands, the only water they have is what they can collect from the rain. They often travel by canoe-sized sailboats hours away from their island and bring water back in whatever jugs they can find...every day.

This is something that Justin has been interested in before we ever moved here. The NGO that he is working with also was interested in this had some contacts that also wanted to bring clean water to our islands. Through several different contacts and companies partnering together this is being accomplished. Using awesome new membrane-filtration technology along with solar and wind power we can now provide communities anywhere with clean drinking water. The machine runs completely off of wind and solar power and uses ocean water which are all near limitless resource for us here.

He's spent several weeks of these last couple of months traveling back and forth trying to help get the machine built, in place, working, and then came the Grand Opening.

I was hoping for some pictures of him shaking hands with the President or some minister at the Grand Opening of the first machine, but alas, poor Justin was sick as a dog from eating the village food for the days leading up to the big day while working on the machine.

But, praise the Lord, one community now has drinking water, the project worked, and we have the go-ahead for the next machine to come here to a small fishing village on our little island! I'm happy for this not only because these are "our" people, but also because he can come home at night for the months it takes to complete this next project!

Whoo-hoo!

Cereal for breakfast, store bought sandwich bread for lunch, restaurants for dinner, oh it's a beautiful thing! Cooking and dishes comprise HOURS of my day back home, so this little vacation has been wonderful.

And not just for me! In spite of the fact that the girls got to sleep at nearly 10 pm our first night here, I found them already hard at play at 7:30 the next morning.

The house we've been blessed to borrow is a Princess Wonderland!

And nearby: a real, clean pool with toddler height section AND a play ground! It's like...America!

Thank you, Lord for time to rest and play and get out of the daily grind. I've even been wearing sleeveless shirts and capris in the yard here, whew!

Justin has also gotten a lot of work done, with more to do today...keep you posted!

Christmas at the ends of the Earth

I know, I know. There are a LOT of places in the world that are worse off than we are! But still, we live on the far end of an island off the coast of the far end of the continent over the big ocean away from you. It feels like the end of the Earth sometimes.

And yet, we have sprinkles. One long, late afternoon found me and Hunter hand-cutting out Christmas-ish shapes, icing them with melty home-made icing and using our treasured red sprinkles. They sure tasted good!

I love how the big girls set up the Nativity scene with every character crowding as close as possible to Jesus (where, shouldn't we all be?). Of course, the little Monster (Braelyn) soon took care of that reverence!

Our one last coloring book has lost its luster, and mama's art has taken on a new sheen. This tree-almost-topper started as just the sleigh, but then Hunter wanted a reindeer. I had a choice: make him freakishly short bodied or nose-less. You see the winner.

The girls were absolutely over the moon to pull this little tree out of its storage trunk. Anything new is worth lots of squeals here. Our ziplock of ornaments was soon empty, but we made a teeny green and hot pink (close enough to red) paper chain to swirl back and forth over the front of the tree. THEN, Justin returned from the big island with real, live Christmas lights! They even blink and dance!

Keeping the lights on the tree has proved more successful than keeping the ornaments on, but hey, she's 2.

Speaking of these girls, what's new? Hunter is 3/4 through with her first grade math and phonics, which is exciting. It does seem that we go slower and slower though as it moves from coloring to handwriting. But she's been reading stories all by herself and I'm praying for the day to come when she slinks off to her room for a couple hours with a good book!

Avery is now able to say K and G sounds and is sometimes putting them in her words which is good, cause she's 4, but also kind of the death of her sweet toddlerhood. Her chin looks great, just a thin, pink half inch line. You seriously can't grow up in Africa without earning a few scars, right? She continues to draw awe-inspiring joy from tormenting her sisters by sitting on them or hugging their necks till they turn red or whatever she can think up, her little cheeks nearly splitting with how big her smile is as she giggles this strange little giggle, then prances away, high knees, tippy toes, arms straight down, off to her next adventure.

Braelyn is talking up a storm. Sometimes, I can't imagine a word she's saying. Other times, she speaks complete, intelligible sentences to me and I gape in wonder. She likes to click her tongue and say, "Soooo..." I wonder which of us she got that from. For real...I don't know. She also often looks for stuff (me, Bear-Bear, her shoes) by yelling, "Shooo-eees, aaaah-oooooo?" (Did you catch that: are you?)

I am good. Relationships continue to grow, neighbor kids continue to come for school and play, learning Swahili continues to be slow going. But then again, B's been working on English for 2 years and is hardly understandable. At least we're beating her! Homeschool is fine for now...I am having trouble imagining what I'll do when I have to make Avery do more than 10 minutes worth. Or 5 if I'm more honest.

We've had a crew of guys working outside, paving some of the rugged terrain, building some sort of outdoor kitchen (don't ask me...it's a mystery). Anyways, more chances to shine God's light (and battle off more marriage proposals...for my daughters. "No, you may NOT call me your mother in law!") I'm 30 for pete's sake. Granted, just learned a friend's (mother of 3 also) mother is pregnant for the 15th or 16th time. She's maybe 40. Meaning she had my friend at the age of 15 or 16. Ay, yai, yai. I'm rambling now.

Thank you for your love and prayers. This Christmas Season will be lonely without you, and hot as a Jacksonville August. But we rejoice knowing we are living, learning and loving smack dab in the middle of where God wants us to be!

Long Time No Write

I know, it's been too long. So many excuses, so little time. That's a strange one.

You'd think with a calendar like this, I'd have all the time in the world. But with Justin gone for the better part of 9 days, I found 3 little ones underfoot sapping all the energy I could muster.

I looked back at what our last month in the States looked like...how did we do it all? I guess with tag-teaming the kids and lots of grandparent time! (and two cars and Chick-fil-A and playgrounds and innumerable friends to visit and climate control and...)

Anyways, here I am. Refreshed after a returned husband and an afternoon with just "the ladies". It's almost funny how my weeks here seem to truly go up and down (and by weeks I do mean my moods) and yet I'm always surprised and frustrated when I reach the end of myself. I was so blessed by the prayer that a visiting friend prayed for me at our Ladies Hour (literally, it could not have been much more than that, but WOW).

She prayed for me that I would be the boat of my family. Being German, she laughed as she struggled to remember the right word and couldn't, finding only to say, "this main part of the boat". I think she meant the hull as she prayed that even though I certainly feel the waves and the wind and the chop of the water buffeting (should I instead use: slapping or smacking or pounding?) me from every side, that my family would feel safe and secure within me.

That goes right along with the Bible study book I am doing, "Becoming a Woman of Excellence" by Cynthia Heald. It is wonderful, though I think geared more towards the late teen/early adult crowd. Somehow as I seek to hide my "I had 3 babies in 4 years" body, in a Mus. society nonetheless, modesty lessons are a bit lost on me. However, it talks a lot about self-control in many areas and I have found myself super convicted of how my motherly frustration boils over into yelling. But a good boat protects and harbors its passengers from the sting of the waves.

So I turned to yelling in a whisper. It can be done. Yet I'm pretty sure that's not the equivalent of self-control. So I press on. Encouraged by my dear friend's prayer (and her imported Lindt chocolate) to press on towards the goal: Christ-like-ness. The One who yelled only one recorded time, and never at a child. Oh, Lord, make me more like YOU! Give me peace and patience and kindness and JOY in overflowing abundance. Let me love my children because you have first loved me SO WELL! Let me love them like you love me so well.

2 Birthdays in One!

This year Hunter wanted a "Dress up as whatever character you want as long as it's not a god" party. I think one of the boys had been talking about being Thor or something and she was worried it would be scary. A few days before the big day, the girls were watching Pocahontas and it became NECESSARY to be her.

We have (as evidenced by our Halloween costumes) a SAAAAD dress up box at the moment, so off Justin went to the fabric market. He returned with something PERFECT, if not a little too close to skin color for these pale ladies.

Sadly enough, this was the best picture I got of Braelyn at the party. But check out that faux bear claw necklace on her dress! Of course, all 4 girls needed dresses, including Lilee. But it was fun and now our dress up box is a little better to pull out.

We decorated Indian headbands, jumped on a balloon filled, parachute covered trampoline,

ate a yummy African version of a mud cake plus 80 some odd home-made chicken nuggets. Wow! Oh, listen to this little miracle: I went to put candles on the cake and could only find 5. I looked in the extra trunk and up high and everywhere. Resigning myself and hoping Hunter wouldn't count, I put them in. I left to do something, returned and there on the counter was another candle. I kid you not. So Hunter got to blow out all 6 candles. Later that night, guess how many candles I could find? FIVE. Thank you, Birthday Angel!

Here's our muddy cake with SIX candles on it. Braelyn did add her puff from the side for what it was worth. Sorry but those pictures focused on the back of Avery's head. Speaking of Avery, her chin is a work of art. While we're talking about miracles...there's another one! A thin little line of scab about half as long as the original gash according to both Justin and me!

Lastly, here's the ending pow-wow we jumped into after dinner. Then we played Wits and Wagers, kid style. Or, Wits and Waggers and Griffen on the right likes to say. What a fun day, thanks for all the love and prayers sent over here!

Spiders and Streakers

Today on the way to pick Justin up from the airport, I noticed several little boys jumping off the side of the road down into a pond, in various states of undress. I smiled and drove on. Coming back with Justin in the driver seat, he exclaimed, "what's that?" I looked and saw a crowd of kids running towards us. Wait, naked boys, lots and lots of soaking wet naked boys! And what's that out in front? Oh, it's two fully cloaked and veiled girls running like crazy, laughing their fool heads off, with their arms full of clothes. We laughed with them.

And here's the new neighbor at our team mates' house. Meet Mr. GoldenOrb Spider. Every bit as big as my hand, web shining gold in the sun, strong enough to trap and eat a small bird.

Yikes! Glad he doesn't live at our house!

This guy does live at our house, though. He's not as big as Mr. Golden Orb, but he's big enough.

More to come on that Desalination plant soon! Getting pictures together...

New Abilites

I've often told Justin I'd be lost without him between online banking and such. Well, loading credit for our internet service was another of those mysteries he left me wondering about when he flew off to the big island for the Grand Opening of the first Desalination Machine. More on that another day.

Anyways, after 6 days of no internet, I finally buckled down and followed his flawless directions and did it. And, I'm back. Too much information I know, but I need an outlet for all these pent-up thoughts.

Where to start? How about our big drama the night before Justin took off. Avery slipped on the mosquito net just as she planted her foot to sprint from the room, sending her feet backwards and her chin and lip straight down. There are a few clinics on the island, but they're barely to be trusted in the light of day, and none are close by. So nurse mama did her best and we're praying for a small scar...cause there will be one!

In neighbor news, our milk man (brings a fresh bottle every morning) and his wife had a new baby a couple weeks ago. I visited her for the second time Sunday and she looked exhausted. She said the baby cried all night. I asked if she had enough milk. She said no. I asked if she was eating enough. She said no. Today I took a load of rice and beans over; they said it would last 2 days. They have to feed everyone in the family it seems, not just the 2 of them. So what do I do? I've paid him so far in advance he may never catch up already. I know his brother has a nice house, so he surely could provide rice and beans, right? How much can I do? Should I do? Will I do? Lord, give me wisdom.

On a happy note, our early teen-age neighbor girl has been coming over and devouring our little library. She loves the books! She led me to believe she could understand them, but that soon became unbelievable. So, we've started sitting down for half an hour a day to translate some of our easy books. Great for both of us! Today we were doing a sweet little book called God Knows All About Me. The last line is: "From the beginning to the end, God will always be my friend, God knows all about me." I was asking her how she would say, "God my friend" in normal speech and her only reply was a blank look and "he's not". Several times. Finally I asked my Catholic friend Monika who told me. Together, we tried to tell Ghainima that yes, God is her friend!

That's enough for today. The pics are loading so slow, that's all you get on that front too, sorry. Thanks for praying for us. Please continue to pray for health and safety, friends and relationships.

We beat you...

Clearly not in the costume department, but we did "celebrate" a day early. Down below you have a hillarious pirate who struck this tough pose that still makes me laugh. She will pump her fist and say, "Zesss!" So cute. Then the Pink Ninja (that's actually one of my real head coverings) and some sort of Arabian princess. Miss Sandy brought back some real American candy from her travels and after the kids ran back and forth all over the local beach hotel, between us hiding behind different trees, it tasted oh, so good.
Miss Sandy also brought back real Disney Princess Dresses which were apparently so much more appealing than the Pink Ninja I came up with, so Hunter changed. Here's the whole crew, princesses, pirates, knights and of course, Spider Man.
This is a picture I snapped of Hunter when she rounded a corner to find me in my newest hiding spot. It was so fun to hear all the kids run up and shout, "Trick or Treat!" Then send them on their way back to Miss Sandy.
But the best part was afterwards, when the kids were all sweaty from running around and silly from candy and they stripped down to their chupis (underwear) and dove in the glassy water just as the sun set.
I love this picture of Hunter swimming through the sunlight with only her head, hiney and feet bobbing atop the water.

And here's Avery with her little pig-tails.
Thanks, Lord, for good friends and times away from the daily grind. Thanks, dear friends, for lifting us up in prayer for continued health, safety, and effectiveness, "that we might save some".

Baby Steps

Tonight after dinner we went outside to capture the last few wisps of breeze before the mosquitoes descended. I sat by the trampoline reading a new book from our dear visitor last week and the others were jumping. I hear the tinkling of laughter from my daughters and look up to see my big, strong husband, fully bearded, hopping around the perimeter with his wrists cocked down at his chest, feet nearly kicking his backside, delighting my 3 princesses with his perfect bunny hop. He sure knows how to thrill the souls of all 4 of his ladies. I've been reflecting on our life here. How sweet it is. How simple it is. We do home-school, we cook, we clean up, we do laundry and hang it out on a rope across the back yard. We eat rice and beans, we visit with our neighbors, we read books and watch movies. It's funny how much time you have together when there's no where else to go. No mall. No playground. No restaurants. No high speed internet. Nothing but each other and our neighbors to occupy our time.
Our team-mates have been away for a while and I have found myself becoming lonely for the first time in a long time. A good sign for our friendship! It also is a good reminder for me to go study language some more so I can make better relationships with our local friends. Here's where the Baby Steps come in. I knew that relationships take time, and our long-term goals are realistically REALLY long-term in this environment.
I try not to get impatient, yet we are also looking for every little appropriate opportunity. And there have been some! In teaching the little English school, we are going through the alphabet and learning a few words for each letter. When we came to G, I used God for one of the words. In my pathetic Swahili, I said, "God built the sun and moon, God built you! And who does God love?" The reply: "God loves the stars". Hmmm, did I say something wrong? No, I asked who not what...oh I'll just tell them..."God loves you!" Say it with me: "God loves me!" Again! It took a few tries, but they know the answer now. They also know He is GOOD. I even taught them the song, "Mungu mzuri sana" (God is so good).
We also had the opportunity to pull the Bible down onto the table in the middle of dinner with our good local friends to talk about their son's name Zachariah. The father said he was named after the grandfather of Yesu. I clarified, "Yesu Kristo?" and he confirmed. Though the Bible did not support this theory, we were able to turn to the book of Zachariah and show them that their son has a whole section of the Bible with his name stamped on it. We look forward to more and more discussions and doors being opened. Lift us up as we press on with language acquisition and for clear and effective communication. We look forward to the days where we are running and the days of baby steps are long gone.

It's Twins!

No, ho, ho, not for me! But one of our chickens must be prone to them cause this is the second time in the last couple months. Honestly, it's a little wierd, but it tastes the same, er, they taste the same.
In even cooler news, we have another visitor from Jax! Christopher flew in on his vacation time to bless us in a hundred ways. Maybe more if you count each individual crayon he brought!
Princess coloring pages, sidewalk chalk, markers, colored pencils, school books...
I just think there's something beautiful about a bag of brand-spankin-new crayons.
Not to mention what he did for our pantry. This was the best Christmas ever...and it's only October!
Thanks for coming to spend time with us...for spending your "vacation" living in our shoes...for bringing your smile and helpful hands. Thanks to everyone who pitched in and sent stuff with him! Thanks to Summer for sharing him. Thanks, Lord, for wonderful friends and supporters who love us and help us keep smiling!