The kids having been asking me to bake lately.  In fact, Gavin and Eliana both attempted to bake their own renditions of dessert yesterday… for Gavin it was chocolate pizza and for Eliana, it was chocolate cake.  Of course the measurements were all askew and Eliana was heartbroken and distraught when her cake came out of the oven still in liquid form.  I promised, “tomorrow we’ll make chocolate chip cookies!”  Squeels of...

It’s the afternoon of December 20th.  Christmas is 5 days away…. so technically 4 more days until Christmas. Have I done any shopping?  No. Have I sung any familiar Christmas hymns in church?  No.  Have I done any holiday baking?  No.  Have I seen any Christmas lights glittering the neighborhoods and lighted trees, dotting the streets?  Sadly, no.  The truth is, it’s haarrrrrddddddd to get into the Christmas spirit here....

Celebrating major American holidays and living in Madagascar somehow just don’t go together very well… or maybe we just haven’t found our groove with them just yet.  In fact, the last 4 holidays we’ve celebrated in Madagascar have been doozies… starting with Christmas, then New Year’s, Halloween and most recently, Thanksgiving.  Some more have been doozier than others. Christmas of 2011 was bad, real bad....

Last week we arrived in Olongapo, Philippines where we’ll call home for the next 6+ weeks. We were blessed beyond measure as our teammates here had already found and furnished a small house for us… no easy feat in a developing country! As though this isn’t gift enough, the house is literally right across the street from the Mercy Midwives Birthing Home where I’ll continue my midwifery training. Within 2 hours of our arrival, I was called...

This last week has been an interesting one with ever-changing plans. The kind of interesting that happens with life in ministry and the associated spiritual battles. Last Thursday our family made the 10-hour drive to the capital city to take care of some things before we leave Madagascar next month. The kids and I were scheduled to fly back to Mahajanga while Jamie stayed in the capital to pick up Steve Fitch, the president of Eden...

Quiz: A customary gift of friendship here in Madagascar is: flowers a froofy-smelling candle a chicken a stuffed fish on a plaque to hang on the wall   If you guessed C. a chicken, congratulations!  Yes, a chicken is the traditional gift of friendship here in Madagascar.  There’s not any hard and fast rules about this (that I know of), however it’s the typical fomba or custom. Since we moved back to Mahajanga in July, we’ve received a few...

Last weekend on Christmas Eve we had a family first.  In the days leading up to Christmas, I was in a baking frenzy, making our hot kitchen all the hotter.  In total, I baked 19 dozen cookies as well as some bars.  We celebrated Christmas Eve day by delivering these scrumptious treats to our Malagasy friends and employees.  In Malagasy culture, it’s more of an honor to visit someone in their house.  So, all five of us loaded up into the car and...

There is something amazing about seeing my children being cared for by the friends of my youth.  In truth, it is a dream come true.  I love watching my children experience the world of Madagascar that I grew up in, a world one would not appear to fit into and yet where one is welcomed without hesitation. Take for instance, Isabella riding on the back of Armand’s bicycle through the slums of Mahajanga with full confidence that Armand will care...

Here in Madagascar at this time of year, the air isn’t getting crisp, the leaves aren’t falling from the trees, nor are we sipping hot chocolate by the fireplace but never the less, the holidays are upon us. There are only a handful of Americans living in or around our town… 14 adults that we know of.  Just 14 Americans celebrating a holiday that most here in Madagascar have never heard of before. A few weeks back, I got a crazy bee up my...

I have to admit, I was a little nervous as to how our kids would handle the village life of Mahabana.  It’s not easy living.  Hot and humid temperatures without escape, no electricity, no running water, no toilets, and only bucket showers.  Granted, it’s been a long time since I was 5 years old… but I should’ve remembered.  To our kids, once the excitement factor of our arrival vanished and the village kids weren’t so enthralled in the...

Getting to Mahabana is no easy task!  Though only 120 miles from the large city of Mahajanga, there are no roads, not even the semblance of a road.  In 2000, Jamie attempted to drive it once, it took 7 days, one way, and when they had driven as far as they could and after several problems with the car, including a small engine fire, they gave up and turned around.  They didn’t even make it half the distance to Mahabana. In the past, Jamie and I...

As I said in my last post, our family along with my parents, went to the beauty country island of Mauritius for a vacation earlier this month.  One word sums up Mauritius… AMAZING!  By no means is the island a first world country but it is a long ways from Madagascar…. in fact, Mauritius is one of the developing world’s most “successful democracies”  compared to Madagascar that recently earned the title, “the World’s Worst Economy...

What an absolute joy all around to have my parents with us!  They arrived bearing lots of love and gifts (including Christmas presents) from Santa Barbara.  They also came bearing some fun items from home… a few new movies and coloring books for the kids, some fishing lures for Jamie and coffee for me!  It’s been awesome to enjoy our days together, soaking up the parental and grandparental love that they bring and bestow upon us. The last...

As I’ve said before, cooking in Madagascar is no easy feat at times.  Though it has drastically improved with the number of items we can get for which I’m so incredibly thankful!  There are however, still a number of ingredients we can’t get or we need to improvise with, etc.  Case in point.  I was feeling eager a while back and decided I would make our favorite chocolate chip, oatmeal, walnut cookies that my dad bakes and are awesome!    ...

  A few weeks ago we went for a little fishing adventure.  In the past we’ve always done this sort of thing in a Malagasy lakana or outrigger canoe.  Kids have a funny way of changing things though … and this time we went in a small motorboat where the risk of capsizing is a little less.  It was a great Saturday on the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean.       ready and excited for a day of fishing! the traditional...

Last month I celebrated my birthday… I won’t tell you what exact year… just that I’m one year closer to 40!  Ohh! My birthday was a little of “this and that” this year.  We celebrated the day before with a birthday lunch and on the actual day, made the 10 hour drive to Mahajanga.  Jamie was a fabulous hubby and made me feel incredibly special throughout the day despite the lack of “ideal” birthday circumstances.  3 weeks after my...

Our long-time good friend and main ministry partner, Josy, left his wife home with their 3 kids and made the 15 hour drive to spend a few days with us and our 3 kids.  It was fantastic!!  We learned something new with our time together…. kids are kids wherever they are and whatever culture they’re from.  Josy felt like he was transplanted back into the chaos of the three small children that he left behind and that chaos was replaced by...

One of the great benefits of living in Antsirabe was the close proximity to a Swiss missionary who had milking cows and as a result, twice a week, we received fresh milk delivered to our house as well as thick blocks of cheese.  Since our move to Mahajanga, we’ve had to return to UHT long-life boxed milk and we haven’t been thrilled about it.  It’s terribly expensive ($7 to $8 a gallon), the taste isn’t great and I often wonder what chemicals,...

Traveling in Madagascar is never dull.  The roads in the city are congested with cars, bikes, rickshaws, people, pushcarts, oxcarts, broken down vehicles, and a whole host of livestock.  The only difference between the cities and the countryside is it’s less congested.  There is nothing that even comes close to a freeway on this large island.  The national “highway”, if you can call it a highway, is a narrow two lane road without dividers.  On...

Ony has become a favorite friend for Gavin (right) and his little buddy, Alex (left).  She’s a sweet woman who watches the boys while we’re in formal language study.  She has the magic touch and these boys LOVE her just as much as we do!  We’ll certainly miss her when we make the big move to Mahajanga this coming week.

Two weeks ago, over Pentecost, we had a long holiday weekend… after all, doesn’t everybody have Pentecost Monday as a national holiday?  Along with our guests, we went to a lush rainforest, Ranomafana (literally translated as Hot Water because of the natural hot springs).  It’s one of the “must see” tourist sites on the island.  A large rainforest with a river meandering through the valley floor, full of lemurs, chameleons, mongoose,...

It’s still hard to believe that last Sunday we celebrated Gavin’s 1st birthday!  He’s a sweet, fun-loving, quiet little guy, his eyes twinkle and he brings smiles to all he meets!  He loves to stand on chairs, open and close the dryer, take all the tupperware out of the drawer and sit in wash basins.  During church on his birthday, he took his first steps unassisted!  He’s trying to master this skill daily.  I keep telling him to slow down but...

Last week our Malagasy class w ent on a field trip to a center for adults who are blind.  This center teaches them a variety of trades so that in time, they may be employed as rug weavers, scarf and sweater knitters, basket makers, etc.  The center and the people were impressive however what really intrigued me was the early missionaries that started this center and lived in this remote location.  I’ve always been fascinated with the daily life...

Earlier this month, we had our annual WorldVenture field meetings, which consisted of a day of prayer, a day of business, a day of team building and a day of play.  Our immediate team recently tripled in size when our family of five and the Casurella family of four, arrived on the field this past January.  As a result, our team now consists of 7 adults and 5 kids.  We also had the privilege of our Malagasy office partners, Germain and...

OK, so this is NOT our house… in fact, it’s NOTHING like our house… this house is in the remote village of Mahabana that we’ve been going to for the last 12 years… HOWEVER.. we DID GET THE HOUSE we were hoping and praying for!  If you don’t get our newsletters, here’s the story behind the house.  In March, we traveled 13 hours to the northwest coast and large city of Mahajanga where we’ll move to in the beginning of July. ...

Last week I finally had a chance to pull out my mother-in-law’s old Singer sewing machine.  Sewing was a wonderful hobby that Bonnie and I enjoyed doing when we lived together 9 years ago.  She passed away in January 2010 and I consider this sewing machine to be a bit of an heirloom that I have the privilege to borrow right now.  The machine is one of those old-school, work-horse, they don’t-make-them-like-this-anymore machines.  I’ve always...

Easter here in Madagascar is celebrated a little different than in the States… no dyed eggs, Easter bunny or candy stuffed in plastic eggs, but that’s not to say there’s not a party.  The town of Antsirabe where we currently live is the party capital when it comes to Easter celebrations here on the island.  It consists of a week-long street party, complete with street vendors selling clothes and food, bounce houses and train rides for the...

As Easter approached this year, I realized I was disappointed in that we weren’t going to give the kids the Easter festivities that they’re accustomed to… church would look different, Easter with family would look different, and the Easter egg hunt would look different.  I grieved at the loss of these but didn’t speak of the disappointment of the absence of the plastic eggs filled with candy, the fake green easter grass and the goodies to...

We recently celebrated our second daughter, Eliana’s 3rd birthday.  It is during times like this that we are so incredibly thankful for modern technology and the ways that it has the capacity to bring families together who are literally on opposite sides of the globe.  During our celebration, we skyped with “grammy” and “grampy”, who despite being a 10-hour time difference, joined in the festivities with their own party hats, cupcakes, candles...

Sekoly is “school” in Malagasy and is what transpires four days a week for the three older kids on our team; Isabella (4), Oliver (3), and Eliana (2).  Sekoly coincides with Malagasy language lessons for the parents, however it’s a very different education for these little ones.  Jamie is their exuberant teacher and as a result, sekoly days are full of explorations and adventures, singing, learning Malagasy words, as well as...

  Often referred to as the “Eighth Continent of the World”, Madagascar is quite the unique island.  Around every corner there’s intriguing and sometimes not so intriguing sights and scenes.  We’ll spare you from the “not so” intriguing ones….  however, we will share with you the beauty of this Eighth Continent and the people who live here!  Come, walk into our world….