Category Archives: family

Life on the Other Side

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We are settling in to life in Alaska for a bit. We have our time zones all straightened and have adjusted to the frigid temps and white fluffy stuff all around us. For all of you who are confused about what/why/where we are in the world right now; we are at our home in Anchorage off and on through August. Here are a few things that will be filling our days the next few months:

1. connecting with long-lost and dearly loved friends, family, supporters and churches throughout the country

2. sharing about our work in Madagascar with anyone that will listen

3. Jonathan will get his hands back in western medicine a couple weeks each month so he can keep his skills sharpened and our finances out of the red (thankfully this also affords us to put 100% of our support towards ministry costs while away)

4. Oliver will attend pre-school when we are in town where he is playing with lots of “little english friends” as he calls them and relishing over the plethora of English speakers and houses with toys everywhere we go.

5. ski, run up mountains and down trails, bike, kayak and camp any free moment we get

6. travel to 4 other states to focus on #1 and 2

7. drink lots of good coffee, eat lots of good food and go to the grocery store as much as possible because it is so fun and so easy and for the most part we can find every material thing we really need in life there (except bananas, which Fred Meyer was out of yesterday….a very strange experience, since in Madagascar that is something we never run out of).

8. spend time at our World Venture headquarters office in CO for meetings and personal and team debriefing

Top 10 Miss List

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As we close up shop on this end of the world for a few months to head back to the states there are many things we will miss about home in Madagascar:

1. Opportunity

Daily we are faced with opportunities to give in tangible ways to people greatly in need; a loaf of bread, a bottle of water, a prayer, medicine, a listening ear.

2. our teammates

Jamie and Alissa Shattenberg and their little brood of 3. They are much more than our teammates. They are like a brother and sister to us as we have ventured through the highs and weathered the lows of our first year in Madagascar together.

3. Fish

oh, the fresh fish in Madagascar….its is good….and big….and cheap.

4. the land

Madagascar is beautiful. During the rainy season the land turns vibrantly green overnight.

5. Friends

The last six months in Mahajanga has been a time of budding and deepening relationships. We look forward to growing in these relationship upon our return.

6. French school

Oliver has taken off in his school in every direction. He will miss his teacher, classmates and new found language (although we still do get occasional reports of his determination to teach others English).

7. Mangarano

This tiny mango packs a lot of punch and is the new family favorite. Its so good you literally drink it. Just cut a little hole and voila, instant goodness.

8. Freshness

Having very little access to traditional store bought foods means we live from scratch. Although its a labor intensive lifestyle in the kitchen, the payoff is worth it. Fresh tortillas, fresh bread, and homemade spaghetti sauce are a few of our weekly staples.

9. Beach

We live in a coastal town and our house is a 5 min. walk from the beach. That comes with some serious perks.

10. Sunsets

Nothing like the sunset over the Mozambique channel. We love our special family tradition of trying to catch as many sunsets as we can.

The Gift of Giving

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It was a shopping spree like none other.  One 100lb gunny of rice, 10 live chickens, several baskets of assorted vegetables, a sack of flour and a sack of sugar.  Mandy and I loaded up the car, grabbed the boys, and drove out into the bush.  We were headed back to Toby [Toobee]  to bring a little Christmas cheer to some of the poorest and neediest people on the planet.  As we pulled into the compound, the bell gonged and the sick and care-givers alike began to collect in the plain concrete church.  We greeted many with whom we had met during our last visit:  the pastor, the community leader, and the sick man who had previously been chained up to protect those around him.  It was such a pleasure to give this gift from us and our supports to this community… to see their eyes light up when they saw the luxury items of flour and sugar… to hear the kids sing and dance… to see the smiles on the faces of the sick.  For us the most touching moment was when an elderly sick lady presented us with her chicken as a thank you.  It was a poignant reminder that it is not the gift but the heart of the giver that is important.  It was a powerful opportunity to reflect on the greatest gift of all as we celebrate the birth of Christ.

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New traditions

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A fun new tradition that we began this Christmas was our first annual American/Malagasy/Norwegian all in the spirit of Mexico and Jesus Posada. This is a tradition that my mom carried out in our neighborhood when I was young. It’s simple. You gather kids together, have them play dress up and re-enact the Christmas story, sing songs and then eat food together. We had a blast joining with families and friends and carrying on this festive tradition in our yard this year. It’s definitely a repeater.

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An unusal Christmas

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Our first round of holidays on the island have been full of firsts. From killing our bird for Thanksgiving to new traditions and awkward moments at Christmas we are embracing our new and different way of life. The biggest different  this Christmas has been the heat. Living on this side of the equator on a tropical island is a whole different ball game. The downside, suffocating humidity and endless sweat; the upside, water. Ice cold water to drink and ocean water to swim in are a few of our favorite things this year.

A trip to the beach down the street on Christmas day was refreshing fun for the whole family.  However, strange and a bit unsettling to be surrounded by sand instead of snow this Christmas.

An awkward, but not untypical, moment occurred on Christmas Day when a communication mishap resulted in our failure to understand that we had been invited to a formal Christmas dinner at our landlord’s house (he lives upstairs from us). We were surprised when a family member came down to ask where we were; they were waiting for us to start. We apologized for our misunderstanding and told them we would arrive for dessert. After an hour and a half we headed over only to find that they were on course 2 of 7. We rode out the next 5 courses with them with fine and frightening delicacies like escargot and lamb. We were so full by the time we came home that we decided to delay our planned Christmas dinner until the next day.

A new year and bumpy roads

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Welcome to our new website! It is time to freshen things up a bit for 2012. It’s hard to believe that it’s already been nearly four years since we started our adventure towards Madagacar. As we bring in the New Year we also celebrate our one year anniversary in Madagascar. Oh the stories to tell! And we have told quite a few through our years of blogging (see highlights from the past year below). We know there are many more stories to come as we move forward in life and ministry in Madagascar.

Whether you are a friend, supporter, family (hi mom’s) or just passing by we hope you find what you are looking for here. We invite you to connect with us in one way or another and join us on the bumpy road of life in Madagascar.

The Village Trip

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Last month we took our first trip to the bush as a family. Our little family of four along with our teammates Jamie and Alissa, their kids, a short-term worker and 8 other Malagasy friends and partners hopped aboard a helicopter and a boat to take the rugged trip 120 miles south to Mahabana. Mandy and the boys experienced life village style while Jonathan worked with our partners to conduct a medical clinic and provide health education.  Life village style means a few things: lots and lots of sand, lots and lots of rice, community meals three times a day, a tribe of kids always on our heels and a true rugged experience. It’s hard to sum up the trip because each of us had a unique experience of our own. In a word, for Jonathan it was fulfilling, for Oliver it was fun, for Alex it was rough (fevers several times a day) and for Mandy it was challenging. All in all we are glad we did it and we learned a lot. Mahabana is a special place with an amazing history full of darkness and hope (click here for more details on the history of Mahabana). We are blessed to take part in promoting health and healing in this far corner of the earth.

Barking Turkey

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It was a new experience celebrating Thanksgiving this year… our first in Madagascar.  Preparing the turkey was my biggest feat.  It started in the market picking out the least scrawny and youngest one I could find.  I haggled over the price by pointing out the weaker points of the turkey while the seller promoted it’s finer qualities.  We settled on a price, I picked him up by the feet, and we went on our merry way.  The next step was changing it from a feathered, walking, breathing, clucking animal into one of those pieces of meat you buy in a US grocery store already plastic-wrapped.  I won’t bore you with details but it involved chopping, dipping in boiling water, plucking and gutting.  The final result on our Thanksgiving table was a roasted turkey sure enough but only a little bigger than a chicken.  Oliver summed up the experience well when he told a new acquaintance: “Daddy cutted the turkey’s head  when it was still barking.”