Turning the sighs into smiles

I can get so easily caught up in myself and what's happening to me that i forget to remember how God has been working this year in me and around me. I can get easily discouraged or stressed and I sometimes don't know what to do... but I know I can just go to Him with my problems, worries, fears...
Take tonight for example. I got home from school discouraged because I found out that my dad and I had miscommunicated about the FAFSA thing (long story but I'll just tell you it has not been submitted and Gordon's deadline for it was March 15!) so I sadly got online and tried applying, and sent our finance manager dude in the states an email with about 50 questions because my dad and I have no idea what our taxes in 2006 were, or our income or whatever!! FAFSA's so annoying! So that was just my first little thing that made me kinda mad. Then around 5:30 I was like "uh oh Nathalie's not gonna come and bring my prom dress to me!" ... my mom said "Don't despair until 10:00, there's still hope!" But she called me at 9 and said that she would have to bring the seamstress tomorrow and hopefully the dress will fit perfectly this time and I can stop worrying about it. I'm sure it will work out.

there's nothing to worry about!
FAFSA, my dress, and everything else on my mind right now ... it's all in God's hands. It will work out in the end, I just have to keep trusting Him!
This place really makes you learn how to do that. Nothing is for certain here. You can't depend on very much. The electricity and car problems are a constant reminder of that! You have to do a lot of praying and trusting, and it's been great for me to learn how to do that!

So as I think about this summer, ... and college ... and not being here next year, and new friends, I'm putting it all in His hands and I'm gonna try not to worry any more about anything.
I have had some awesome weeks recently...all because of friends and people, but school is not yet over. Exams are coming soon, and math is just relentless. It's not getting any easier! Thankfully I pretty much finished my main project for history and english class (a research paper), and that is getting judged next week, so i'm almost on the downhill slide. Prom is this weekend ---I am jumping up and down with excitement, and graduation is June 6th! There's a LOT to look forward to. Especially with this summer! Sometimes I just think "Why Me, God? I don't deserve all this! I don't deserve this kind of life you've given me with these kinds of people you've given me for friends!" But we don't deserve anything and God just gives it to us anyway, blessing upon blessing. That is the kind of God I serve! Yesterday I read something really cool. Here are just a few sentences I wanna share>>and I'll end it here. Because I'm TIRED!

If Jesus has divine power...then He has the supernatural ability to guide me and transform me as I follow Him.
If Jesus personally knows the pain of loss and suffering...then He can comfort and encourage me when things go wrong.
If Jesus loves me as He says... then He has my best interests at heart. That means I have nothing to lose and everything to gain by committing myself to Him.

Fou, fou, FOU!

Last weekend (not last but the week before that) was a lot of fun! First off I went to the adult boot camp and was extremely sore for the week after that... but it was fun anyway! Then I went to the Ivory Market (aka "Thieves Market") with the Cabalkas and Stones! Now the Thieves Market is exactly what the name says. It's downtown where you can find all sorts of interesting African art and artifacts...from paintings to rolls of snakeskin on tables (the market is set up under a roof with rows and rows of long wooden tables). And they got jewelry. Lots of jewelry! A lady visiting the Cabalkas, Paige, got real into the whole shopping thing and found some ivory bracelets she couldn't turn down! Sad, i know. But this is a place that has it all, as i've said. You have to bargain like crazy with the people. You walk past the tables, glance at what they have, and if you see something you like, you pick it up or point to it and ask how much it is. Normally they'll give you an outrageous price, like $20 for a simple hemattite or bead necklace,...or a tiny little wooden animal, and so you offer your price. Paige got good at it, and would always offer only 10% of what they asked for, and normally she came away with a pretty good deal. I was not looking for anything and didn't bring any money anyway, but that didn't mean anything to the guys selling. As soon as they see your face they yell to you. And if you're a woman, they call "Mommy! Mommy!" They automatically assume you don't speak french so they try out some of their broken but communicatable English- "Come! I'll give you best price! Good price madam, come! You like this? Yes? You take madam, name a price-- i give you best price..... For you mommy! for you!...." VERY annoying after a little while, with everyone calling "Mommy! Mommy!" or just "Madam!" ...They are so pushy. You have to hold onto your purse tightly (which is why I didn't bring one) because you can't trust anyone there. If your eyes stay a little too long on one table or if you touch something, the sellers assume you want it and are going to buy it, so when you say "No I don't want it" they won't believe you! One time I picked up something and said how pretty it was and the guy immediately asked, "How much? You name a price."
I said "No, I really don't want it thank you..."
"No I give you best price! Come!"
"But I don't want it and I do not have money!"
"$10? Give good price."
"Mais, je N'AI PAS d'argent!!!" (but i HAVE NO money!!")
And they look at me in bewilderment and ask again how much I'll give them. You'd think that by speaking french to them they'd believe it, but No!
So at that point you know it's time to just walk away. They just don't believe that you don't have money. You're white! Stop LYING! You're rolling in dough! ;-)
It's sad that that's what they think. After about 2 hours (which is way too long to stay in a place like that, but it wasn't bad on saturday, i actually had fun watching Todd and Steve bargaining and talking to the sellers...) we went to lunch at one of the best restaurants (this is where the pictures of us were taken...notice we look very well-fed and happy!), and after lunch we drove to the river. On the way, I started taking pictures out the window (this is when i took the pictures of the taxi and the man with the dozens of eggs on top of his head!). Quickly of course, because I didn't want to be seen. It is still illegal to take pictures here, but I couldn't resist. But still some guys saw me and gave me these crazy "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" looks. When we got stuck in traffic i put the camera away because any one of those guys could have come to our window and tried making us give him money because we weren't supposed to be takin pictures. We passed one building near "Taxi Central" as i call it, and there were a bunch of Mamans there waiting for a taxi. They saw me take a picture and soon had very irritated mad looks on their faces, and some people in our own car were getting nervous about me angering people, so at that, i turned the camera off and sulked. No, just kidding! But i did turn it off. But the day wasn't over yet!
We went to Chez TinTin, a little outdoor "restaurant" where we've gone before to sit facing the river, sipping some drinks, and watching the Congolese swim, boat, and whatever else. Last time we came Shannon was proposed to by a crazy (or just desperate) man! Something always a little crazy happens. This time it was my turn.
followed to watch. Mrs. Cabalka asked me if I thought it would be okay to take pictures, and i thought "sure, why not? there's no one around here watching..." and i grabbed her small digital camera. I followed the guys and took a few pictures of their backs walking toward the river. All of a sudden I hear "Vaaaaaange!!!" (my nicknaTodd and Steve decided it was high time they got into the rapids of the Congo river to see how strong they really were and float down the river just a bit. They took off their shirts and started climbing down the rocks, and Ime, yelled in a desperate tone:-)) and I stop and turn around. Right there is a man dressed in a wanna-be soldier-looking uniform. I looked around for his gun, but he didn’t have one so I stayed calm. I quickly put the camera in my front pocket but I knew he had seen me taking pictures already because of the look on his face. He was trying to be intimidating but I wasn’t going to fall for that. He immediately questioned me in French“What do you think you’re doing? Why were you taking pictures?”“I don’t know, I’m sorry, I stopped.”
“Give me your camera!”“No I won’t give you this!”“Why not?”“Because it’s my camera!”“Eh!” he looks at me, shocked, thinking this girl has no clue. She doesn’t have a better excuse than that?? “Well… then give me your documents of permission.” (Some journalists can get papers from the government granting them permission to take pictures)“I don’t have documents!”“Eh?! Bien, Then give me your camera.”“No, I’m not giving it to you.”“Brazzaville is across the river and pictures are forbidden there, and pictures are forbidden here too.”“umm.. okay… Sorry, I didn’t know that.”“Do you think I’m crazy for asking you this?”“No I don’t. I am the one who is crazy. I’m sorry, but I am finished, I won’t do it again. And I am finished with you.”He gives me a HUH?? look as I walk quickly away. So that was basically our conversation, but it sounded a lot better in French. Especially the ‘do you think I’m crazy’ part! “Non, je suis fou! Et je suis finis avec vous, monsieur!!”I love French sometimes…but man, I know it was all God that kept me from having to give up the camera. I just was thinking, “what can he do to me? He could try to take me away, but Steve and Todd are right nearby and they’re not gonna let anything happen…I have nothing to fear. Plus, I’m bigger than him.” (okay I didn’t really think the last part!!)My heart was beating really really fast as I sat down again at the table with our group. I was so relieved that was over, but I was surprised that it wasn’t harder than it was to tell him off.
So, have I learned my lesson about taking pictures? Um…well…no. Not really!People have told me stories about people getting arrested for taking pics though, so that kinda worries me. I’m going to definitely be more careful, but I’m thanking God that nothing happened.

I now leave you with 2 pictures of the sunset over the Congo River!

EASTER in Kinshasa

What an early morning!
We woke up around 4 and got dressed and ran out of the house at 4:50. Dad drove us to Sim's Chapel, the oldest building still remaining in Kinshasa! It's a small little church with a perfect view of the Congo River, so we set up chairs and food and had a sunrise service there. Loads of people came and we started almost on time, around 5:30! We sang accapella acapella accappella? Ah! Well we sang without music, and i was in the choir of course. Dad gave a message and we watched the sun rise over the river! It was so nice, and then we had lots of refreshments for breakfast when it was all done with.
When we got home at 8:30 we had a bible reading, had some easter chocolate bunnies and cinnamon rolls and then i slept for 2 hours! I could've slept for 4 but we had company coming over and I needed to bake a cake! SO that was pretty much my Easter:-)

Just wanted to write quickly and wish everyone a happy easter! When I get pictures from someone who was there that took pics I will post them for sure!
Christ is RISEN! He is risen INDEED.

Spring Break!

What a vacation!
I came into the week a little sad, and disappointed because our friends were planning on going to Kikongo, and we wanted to go too but there didn't seem to be enough room on the plane.
Well, we prayed, and God opened up the way for us to take 2 planes so that my family could go! We left on Wednesday morning and flew in a little tiny MAF plane ("The Caravan") to Kikongo (about a 45 min. trip). Kikongo is a very tiny village north of Kinshasa on the Wamba river where the Lowerys (a missionary family now living on campus at TASOK) lived for quite a few years. They have taken many groups to Kikongo to stay up there with them for fun, so now it was our turn.
You cannot imagine the difference in people's attitudes in cities and villages.
You cannot picture the difference in beauty in Kinshasa and Kikongo.
You cannot taste the difference in the air of the city and village .... Until you leave the city after a long time and go to the beautiful country.
No one could stop telling us how beautiful the Congo was, and so i was very happy to finally get to see for myself for the first time that it really was a gorgeous country. It was so neat flying over all of this undeveloped, untouched land. Wild thinking how much land there was and how it was so sparsely populated. The villages were spread out so far! There weren't roads connecting the city of Kinshasa to outer villages, and that's why we had to fly.
When there isn't connection by roads, you really feel cut off and isolated from the city, and i think that is why Kikongo felt like a different country.
We were met by at least 50 kids jumping around, waving to us with big smiles on their faces...welcoming us to their village. They are always excited when people come to visit, Jill Lowery told us. The kids were wearing very raggedy clothes, and most of them didn't have shoes, but they were as happy as can be.
"MBOTE!!" was the greeting that we used to say hi to them. They speak Kituba, but many of Kituba words are the same as Lingala words which is the language spoken mostly in Kinshasa (the word mbote is hi in lingala and kituba). Mr. Cabalka who was in the group made the kids so happy by taking pictures of them. It was the first time since South Africa that we could freely snap pictures without anyone caring. Actually, the kids and adults wanted their pictures taken! And we were in a place worth taking pictures of. Kikongo is gorgeous!
My family was put up in the Chapman's house (the Chapmans were on furlow, so they weren't there but they normally live in Kikongo all year 'round) and the rest of the group slept the night in tents or the Lowery's house.
So Day 1 (Wednesday) was spent hiking and river floating. We walked down to the Wamba river and were so excited to get into the water without having to worry about catching amoebas or other worms! We swam around as the first half of the group was taken across the river in Congo canoes. These canoes are long hollowed out logs which are steered by a long flat oar. The man taking us across was the village chief, and he was an expert at maneuvering the boat through the strong river current. You have to paddle standing up, and it's much harder than it looks. More on that later! While we waited for our turn to be boated across, we swam in the river and played some frisbee on the sand bar in the middle of the river. Eventually it was our turn so we all got into the boat and crossed. We hiked a little while to these waterfalls that very few white people had ever been to.
In Kikongo, many of the people do not go to the river or waterfalls because they believe there are spirits inside it. Evil spirits, so that is why they will boat on the river and fetch water, catch fish, but only do things that keep them alive. Most of them do not play in the river and swim. There was a picnic hut near the small falls where we had our picnic lunch. The villagers had brought us 3 huge sticks of sugar cane and piles of peanuts and oranges! Oranges and tangerines grow green here, by the way! They were so good, but it was weird that you don't wait for them to turn orange... you just eat them green. We enjoyed everything but felt bad about not being able to finish all that sugar cane! After a while your tongue begins to feel a bit funny and raw. You can only have so much...
We spent a lot of time splashing around the falls and decorating ourselves with clay mud for fun. Then we hiked back and a few of us [brave souls] swam across the whole river! The Lowerys said it had never done before! And when you tell that to some of us people who love adventures, there is no turning back. So we went for it! It was a very strong current but I swam hard and all of us including my dad made it across fine. We trudged up the river a little further and all floated down... had some competitions, and just played until dinner time.
That night we had a nice campfire-- sang songs, roasted marshmallows, and told some stories. Todd told one of his awesome stories for Matt after most of the people had gone to bed.

Day 2: My parents, Theo, Suzanne Francis, the Gorenflos, Hannah Lowery and Mr. Lowery all went back to Kinshasa at about 7:30am so that a few of us who wanted to could stay longer. Sarah and I were the special ones who got to stay til Saturday! I felt extremely privileged...
Around 10 we went to the river and just played around all day. We all got REALLY red even though we had put on sunscreen. My legs got eaten up by bugs too! But it was a fun day. We couldn't get enough of that river. Todd, Mr. Cabalka, and Joe learned how to handle one of those canoes. Mr. C. was getting pretty good, too! Me and Ms. Ewbanks tried a bit, but it was much harder than i thought and i kept getting carried away by the current! It just kept turning to boat around... so I gave up. Maybe if I could practice every day for a week or 2 I'd get it, but it was tough! We played some card games until dinner, then We had another campfire and another story from Todd, this time for me! :-)

Day 3: We went through the Kikongo village which is around the Lowery's house. It was so sad seeing how little each family has....and yet they act happier than we do! All of the kids in the village came out and followed us. Mr. Cabalka started marching with the kids, and they all LOVED it! We were all taking hundreds of pictures -- the small huts that each family lived in were amazing. We walked through the Mitedi village also, and found 2 boys drumming. They had buried 2 milk jugs under the sand and one of them was banging on a bottomless rusted out cooking pot! They really could drum though -- we enjoyed watching the kids sing and dance, and some of us tried dancing too. We were entertaining to them, to say the least! They laughed a lot at Joe C., Mr. C, and Todd who were trying to dance like they were. I thought they were doing a good job, though! That was probably the coolest part of seeing the village. We toured the hospital which was a bit depressing because of the shape it was in. We walked past all the sick rooms which didn't have any screens on the windows or mosquito nets on the beds. I thought it was interesting that the rooms for women were always bigger than the ones for guys. The conditions were so unsanitary it almost made me feel sick. It made me sicker to find out that the Lowerys really couldn't do anything about it though. The man running the hospital is corrupt and any money (screens or even nets) anyone gave to the hospital would go to his pocket or be stolen by other people working there. Even though the Lowerys tell everyone he needs to leave, they can't get him out because of his blood (he's the nephew of someone big), so it is a really sad situation. The hospital doesn't have enough money for new meds or even gloves. They reuse the cheap latex gloves they have by washing them!
Walking through the village was a big eye opener to how almost 95% of people in the Congo actually live. I'd never been through a village before so it was very good for me, but it just made me sad. I loved the kids who were all fighting over my hands to hold, and wanted pictures taken, and wanted us to stay with them forever, and dance and sing.... that was great, but I realized how hard it would be for any of us to live the way they do. They really have nothing, but that is life and they can still be so joyous. We have So much but we take it all for granted. I know God showed me this because He wants me to change my heart.
After the village we came back and relaxed with some lunch and talking...on our way down to the river we noticed how dark the clouds were getting so we started running down the path and jumped in the water. But then the lightning started getting worse and so we had to get out. We shivered on the bank for a while, got back in one more time and then went to the house because it wasn't clearing up. More games of cards and a good chicken noodle soup for supper. We played the funnest game of Spoons ever after that!

Day 4--Saturday: We got up early so we could leave in the plane by 8, but it didn't come so we spent an hour or 2 down at the river for the last time. The plane came at 11 so we packed up and sadly left. The kids all came down to send us off and you wouldn't believe how much they waved to us! I loved how they ran after the plane as we were taking off:-) What beautiful sweet people! Around 12 we landed and said goodbye to the group at TASOK.
That was one amazing trip! I am so thankful I got to go and do all that we did! It was really a blasssst.

another update on the "sitch" over here

Hey, i figured i should probably try to update since my last note might been a little shocking. Well, the situation has definitely calmed down and the airport opened back up! That is always a good sign... There is fighting still in upper parts of Congo but not here anymore. We are advised not to go out at night but we had church Sunday and went out to a restaurant...all of that is downtown. We passed tons of buildings that had missing windows because they were in the middle of the crossfire and so therefore were shot at. My friend in French class had to stay at TASOK on thursday night and left friday evening. As I said, there were 75 kids that spent the night thursday but anyway when he got home he discovered his car had been stolen and 2 of his workers were killed. Apparently some soldiers broke into his compound (he lives RIGHT where it was all happening, across the street from the cemetery downtown) and stole his car and his 2 dogs but didn't touch the house. His family had left the keys to the car in the car because if they hadn't the soldier's would've tried to find a way to break into the house and find the keys. It was a good thing none of his family were home that day because loads of bullets came through their windows ... he said his house is pretty much destroyed and really needs some work before they can move back in -- they're staying with cousins. The dogs that were stolen were returned! Figure that one out! lol. Ah, le Congo. C'est la vie. I heard some other crazy stories today...my friend Jisung got home and found that his gate had a lot of blood on it... at this hotel Memling, a bullet came through the window and a French delegate was hit and died on the way to the hospital from loss of blood! Downtown many of the little shops were pillaged...some of them have nothing left inside. The soldiers would put chains on the metal fences that are over the doors/front windows, attach the chains to a truck and pull so that the metal broke loose and they could easily break in. So SAD!The major grocery stores were not pillaged though, so we were able to do some grocery shopping and it all looked about the same. We were safe the entire time... it was completely calm by saturday so we got out of the house and went to TASOK, had lunch, and i made some cookies while we hung out with friends! God is SO GOOD! I don't know anyone personally who was hurt, so i am very thankful!
Well that's it for now! Thank you for ALL your thoughts and prayers! Continue praying that peace will continue and we can go on with our normal lives...and school.Love & Miss you all!!

this country needs our prayers

Yesterday our French class was interrupted by an announcement on the loud speaker that there was trouble downtown. But it didn't stop there. Every student in the class almost started getting text messages and calls... and answering them in class. We got new reports every 5 minutes. Shooting had started. There was heavy artillery. Soldiers were lined up right outside of Wasim's house downtown so he couldn't get home. Soldiers set up a whole road block on a main road. We heard a few booms at school, even though the fighting was far off. The first big disturbance since the elections. And it's the same people as last time. Bemba, the one who was running for president last time, has troops here that have started a huge uprising. It was the most interesting french class we've had yet! I stayed calm the whole time because i knew my house wasn't anywhere near all the trouble, but most of the kids at tasok live in the downtown area where all the craziness is happening!We went to African Studies and watched loads of kids start leaving school early. Afric. Stud. was our last class and of course we knew we weren't gonna have a lesson that day. Kids were starting to freak out. Mrs. Law, our teacher decided to let the 6 or 7 remaining in our class to play monopoly! ...To get our minds off of things. Chaima was picked up by her dad in his UN car, Mehreen and Nadia left,... Liz stayed put as her parents told her. She lives above where the trouble was but she lives pretty close to downton and her rents didn't want her on the streets. So at 2:30 when school got out we sat around the pick-up area and not many kids were getting to go home. I left at 3 with Mr. Gorenflo because i had to practice music for sunday with him, but Liz was left there and Wasim and a BUNCH of others who couldn't get home. We invited liz to come home with us but her parents wanted her to stay and wait. This morning I got ready for school and then as we were eating breakfast we got a call saying school was cancelled! Then we heard there were 70 students that had to stay the night at TASOK last night!!! They split them all up somehow with the teachers and other families who live on campus so everyone had food and someplace (or some floor) to sleep at. That shocked me. I thought by night time it would be calm enough for people to go home. Apparently not. Last night the airplanes were flying but this morning the airport was shut down. People are pretty much stuck here I guess. But I'm praying that will change. I'm praying that the situation will calm down today and we can get on with our normal lives.... if you can call living in kinshasa a normal life. But anyway! :-)We have neighbors who are really worried right now. But their dad is in the States, so I can understand.... I'm not worried though. I am praying, but I know God will take care of us and this was part of His plan. He allows things like this to happen so that we will lean on Him and trust Him. I know that He knows exactly what He's doing.... so why should I be afraid?Bemba's troops are apparently now trying to flee across the river to Brazzaville, and we hear that Kabila's army is after them. The UN has what, 30,000 troops stationed here, but they can't open fire unless Kabila asks them to. We have friends who are stranded at their offices downtown and can't get out to go anywhere until stuff calms down. So I'm really asking for everyone's prayers. Thankfully we do not live downtown, and thankfully God is going to protect us no matter what, but please pray for the protection of all of God's people here. Pray that the students at TASOK who are separated from their parents right now won't worry, and can get reunited with their families very soon.This morning we heard gunshots right outside our walls so we stopped and prayed. I haven't seen anything at all, but apparently you can see a lot of far-off smoke if you look over the wall. Tanks were heard driving past near here. I just want this to end soon... I am praying we can go back to school Monday and I can still graduate from here in June!Today we're just trying to relax and take advantage of the karaoke and tv ... watching lots of Monk episodes:-) And thanking God that we have POWER and WATER right now!!! It went off a lot last night and this morning ... so I hope now that it's back on it will stay on!Pray for peace.

red carpet day...and other stuff this week

Thursday was an interesting day. I broke down by the end of it from all my frustration, but there really wasn't MUCH to get frustrated by! It was just life. I almost got left at school again (i get forgotten quite a lot) and that just added to my ...what should i call it anger? annoyance? stress? Whatever it was, it was not worth getting mad about! Turned out my family was still planning on picking me up because they had to get mom anyway (i didn't know she was on campus) and we went to the Cabalka's to wait for her while she finished doing whatever she was doing! I think one of the things that happened at school was everyone dumped the prom decoration planning thing on me. So I had to go through the prom catalog and pick out decorations, then friday mehreen wanted to change all my ideas, and so i wanted to just pass the responsibility to her since she loves decorating and since she has all the strong opinions... but no, she wants me to take care of it. lol. Friday was actually fun though! We had a spirit day (to kick off spirit WEEK coming up tomorrow!)...which i will rename Red Carpet Madness. I let my friend Liz borrow my dress from last year, and i wore a dress i've had for a few years (see photo), curled my hair (woke up at 5:30 am), ...i think i was a little crazy to do all that. But we had an assembly and during the assembly, we had a fashion walk off competition between the 4 teams of the school! That was loads of fun. I walked with Wasim and Lisa, and our team ended up tying for 1st! I hate ties ... but that's ok. We are the Pirates team, and we always have to win!! :-p So the day was a bit crazy. I only stayed in the dress until 3rd period. The heels were a bit much!
Friday night was even more fun... we had a youth game night here, and dad surprised us and got the karaoke mic fixed! Well actually the Magic Mic works to PLAY music, but the mic itself doesn't work which means it won't score you any more (:-() buuut we just have to plug in a normal mic into the system and Voila! You can karaoke like normal! We tried playing Cranium, we ate food, and then we sang for a long time. The funniest and best Karaoke-er was Todd of course, but the funniest part of the night was when this girl finally got up there to sing and just as she was gonna sing her first note, the power went out! Okay it was SAD, not funny. No, it was funny. Really funny! But poor girl. It was time for everyone to go home anyway. God's got such a sense of humor... and He really has perfect timing, because the power was on for the whole rest of the party, and didn't stay off for too long! We also had coke floats and Fanta floats!! (Sarah & I had to make a lot of ice cream for everyone...i think we had 25 ppl) Good times...
Yesterday I kinda forgot about St. Patrick's Day... meaning I didn't wear green and didn't do a thing. Just wore my pajamas and relaxed the entire day! It was great. I had a lot of homework so i didn't relax the WHOLE day, i actually did do some work, but i didn't go to choir because I kinda have a cold and i needed to study for 2 tests....
What is up with tests every monday all of a sudden? I really hate this... Teachers don't understand!
I am so tired. That probably explains why this blog is crazy. So goodnight to all! 4 of the 5 "Camels..." sharing lunch @ school!

random thoughts smooshed into a blog

I am so excited about graduating. I have waited a long time and now the time is coming. I've been working on my senior page for the yearbook, trying to find pictures and trying to decide what to write on it. What do I want everyone to look at in their yearbook and remember me by? It's hard to know what to put. I want to put pictures of friends in the States but there isn't enough room. So I decided to put family and people that i am either always around or REALLY close to. But I have a book written instead of a short paragraph. I am always one to write a LoAd. I can't just write a short "Thank you to everyone who has always been there...." i have to go into detail, mention people's names. ... and then i realize i am caring too much about other people's feelings. If i don't mention him or her will they feel left out? Should I put a picture of her on? We're not best friends, but i think i should anyway ... But i shouldn't care. It's my page and i should put the people that have meant the most to me on my page, yeah? SO this is harder than i thought it would be. I have to be finished by friday. And i thought i was finished just now but I am starting to reconsider some of the pics/text i have on my page. I want my page to mean something to Me. Not just to people who buy yearbooks. I wish i could get someone's help! Wow, it's just a page in the yearbook, gosh!
I'm on swim team again! It started last week after boot camp ended and I am the only highschool girl. There's one 9th grade boy on the team but the rest are middle schoolers... so it's interesting. But I joined to stay in shape and learn how to swim better and swimming is fun for me. So it doesn't really matter who is on the team. We've got a great coach and that's all ya really need.

This past year I keep hitting myself for quitting ballet. When i decided to quit it was because i had to make a choice: guitar lessons or dance. And i chose guitar since i was always discouraged in ballet that nearly everyone was better than me and i had stopped improving for a while. I just felt like i was going no where and everyone else was way beyond me. Then i kept getting the smallest roles in the ballets which just added to my discouragement.... so i was like "well guitar you can do your whole life, and i love music so why don't i do that?" But i wish i could've stayed with ballet and done guitar as well. Of course that wasn't an option, but i'm debating on whether i would wanna go to beginner ballet classes in college. Just for fun. Ballet is so much fun and... so beautiful! I still dance around my room all the time. I can't dance but i can sometimes do a bit of ballet-ish stuff.

Dad just got back from Lodja (interior of Congo, "up-country"). He was speaking at a conference of like 450 people. He spoke the entire time in Tshiluba, his "mother tongue" that he grew up speaking when he lived in the Kasai! He got a lot of attention, i know.... and this group of 3 or 4 people who had traveled 3 days ON FOOT loved him and were so happy he spoke in a lang. they could understand. At this conference there were 2 meals for 400 (or however many) people every day from thursday-saturday! That is one heck of a lot of greens and beans and Chickens!! My dad said as a gift they gave him a live rooster and 3 hens He held them like the congolese do, by their feet upside down, and dad said the rooster kept trying to peck him, so when he did that, dad would knock him on the head! I hate roosters. They also gave him lots of fresh fruit as another gift. Those people's hearts are so big. They have nothing but they give all they can! My dad said he had an amazing time, and I think he felt at home again out there in the country (the Kasai part of the Congo is really 'out there!').

I went to a lock-in last weekend and it wasn't as bad as everyone thought it would be. but i guess if you come with a negative attitude you're not going to have fun...or if you just don't come at all then of course you can't have fun!! well, i came with a POSITIVE attitude and i had a great time just hanging with Liz & Chaima (since there were only like 4 ppl there my age!) ... we just don't have time everyday to sit and talk about anything and everything at school so this was really fun! And we swam, and i made spaghetti and brought that to share with them... and chaima brought us toblerone chocolate and apples :-) We watched 2 movies and i fell asleep during the 2nd one (Taladega Nights. Who wouldn't fall asleep with all that NASCAR and dumb humor?!) ... kinda just crashed right there in the auditorium... but that was fun. Then i went to sleep around 3 while everyone else (the guys mostly) played soccer out on the basketball court! I had no energy and was getting a cold so i am glad i decided to sleep! We had awesome croissants in the morning for breakfast and then went on our way home...Anyway here are some pics from that night.
I really wanna get out of Kinshasa even more now. We're praying we can do SOMETHING cool for Spring break --- which is April 2!! Excited about that!!Okay the bell's about to ring so i'm gonna stop this one right here.

a little update

The choir just left our house. They all came over after choir practice to have a little appreciation dinner. The power's been going out every day this past month, and today of course it went out.... and it stayed out til about 8:45! We have a generator, but that doesn't run the oven or stove so we had to heat all the food on our camp stove. There was SOO much food, too! Congolese mostly, so i didn't eat very much. Congo food for me is good only in small amounts. You can only have so much rice, beans, and greens! Or that's what i say anyway! But we had some realllly good chicken and lots of drinks! We had fans going but it was still so hot! Thankfully when the power came on we could turn the AC on... We had about 25 people in our living room! Our neighbors are having a birthday party right now, and so before the choir left we went over and sang happy birthday to their brother whose birthday it is! i felt kinda bad for them because we sang happy bday in Lingala, then french, then English, and then we sang this other song in those 3 languages and they just stood there smiling awkwardly at us!! I could kinda see them thinking "okay this is great but ... when will you stop?" Haha no it was fun. But their backyard is so amazing! They put candles around the pool, and they hired caterers in tuxedos and bartenders! Sarah goes "Man, why can't we have parties like that?!" Haha, it would be nice... but it's not that important! We had fun tonight regardless of our awful furniture, lack of seating, no a/c, and whatever else we might have been lacking. Oh the men in tuxes... :-) We sang a lot and everyone ate a lot... and now i want to sleep, but I know i haven't blogged in forever so i'm gonna keep going.

Boot camp ended Friday! :-( Made me sad because we only got to do it for 5 weeks and now the new after-school activities start. Todd will continue boot camp for anyone who wants to join, but i really wanna do swimming and it's on the same days so I unfortunately can't do it again. It got me in really good shape though! I am so happy I pushed myself every day to do it. It was reallllly hard, but it was so good for me. We had pre-tests on the first day of boot camp to see how many sit-ups, push-ups, dips, and flexed arm hangs (girls) or pull-ups(guys only) we could do in a minute. On the first day I think I did 40 sit-ups and around 40 pushups in a min...and i could hang for 15 seconds. Oh and i couldn't even do a dip on those 2 parallel bars. On Friday I did 50 sit-ups and 62 push-ups in a minute, and i hung for 42 secs. I could do only 2 dips, but hey i improved and that was the record for girls! I set the record for girl's pushups too:-) and beat all the guys in sit-ups. We ran the mile after doing all that and on the first day my time was around 9 mins and friday it was 8:07...which i wasn't happy with. I really thought i'd be faster but i just proved the point i've been trying to make all along. I wasn't made to run! My little sister has a faster time than me! So that was kinda disappointing but kinda expected also.

The talent show was 2 weeks ago and I sang 2 songs. One I played the guitar and sang with JoJo Top of the World (Dixie Chicks). It went really well and everyone said we sang like angels, lol! ...the other one i did with Chaima and Liz and it kinda flopped....well i won't say that, but it just wasn't the greatest! We sang Cowboy Take Me Away - another dixie chicks number. But we had fun... last sunday i sang a duet with this guy Jonathan in choir, who is like the coolest & funniest congolese guy i've met so far at church, and he has a really good voice. So i'm very glad i did that song... i'm also really glad all that performing stuff is over for the moment. I am working on Midsummer Night's Dream now in drama... and it's tough! Shakespeare is hard to memorize!! I am the fairy queen, Titania. It's a fun role but it won't be fun until everyone in my scenes have their lines memorized because it's hard to act when people have their noses in their scripts!! I'm really excited about my costume for this one though ... i'm gonna kinda look like galadriel i think, we're gonna somehow put extensions in my hair or find a very long wig, and i'm gonna have like a 3m long train coming off my dress! Mr. Ligon is ordering me a nice rhinestone tiara which is gonna look awesome!! So i'm pretty excited...it's weird that i'm a fairy again.

hmm, the fact that I'm graduating in 3 months still hasn't sunk in. Or if that fact has sunk it, the fact that i'm LEAVING THIS CONTINENT hasn't sunk in yet. I'm really going back to the States and I'm really going to college!! That just seems unreal. I'm so excited but I don't want it to sound like I'm dying to get out of here. I'm not! This place has been such an awesome experience for me. I have learned more than I ever thought I would, and last year I said I regretted a lot. Well now I am trying to not regret anything. Everything that happened happened and it has made me who I am now. And I can be thankful for the lessons it all taught me.
But how did I get on that subject?
I'm gonna miss quite a few things about Congo.
I will miss the choir.
I will miss being with so many nationalities and the funny cultural differences of those many nationalities.
I will miss not having to worry about being late to something...because running a little late is very normal here!
I will miss fresh GIANT mangoes, mangostan, avocadoes, and pineapple.
I will miss not having to wear a seatbelt.
I will miss the entertaining car rides---watching to see how much people can carry on top of their heads, seeing how many people can squeeze into one van, seeing the clothes people wear, etc!

I will add on to this list later when I'm really about to leave I think because I'm sure there are other crazy things i will miss!
Then I will make a list of I wont miss-es!

Okay it's time for some sleep. I miss you people in the States!!

A Valentine Ode to a young girl who grew up right before my very own eyes

There was once a little girl named Evangeline,
Who grew up quietly playing her mandoline.
From a career of the few, the proud, and the pink,
She turned from prancer to the swimmer in the drink.
Though the bodies of those who crash and burn do pile
And her test scores and brown friends make her smile,
I will always remember with heart aglow
The pretty little girl who said, “I know.”
I love you,
Dad

back to the basics

it's been a month so i feel like i need to post, but i don't have much to say, really... The play ended and it all went very well, exams are over (thank goodnessss!), we went on a river picnic tonight with good friends (which was awesome!!), i still swim twice or as many times as i can a week, i now am doing "boot camp" twice a week, and i have no homework for this weekend! So what do i choose to do with my time? Write something absolutely pointless. Here you are:

I love it when...
*the power's on
*Todd is hyper
*I can sleep in past 11
*i get done swimming at 7am (the feeling is great ... i'm just all ready for the day! bring it on.)
*Chaima gets a good grade in English
*Chaima says something that makes no sense in english, but makes perfect sense to us...
*there's ice cream
*my room is cold enough for me to be able to snuggle under a few blankets and not be sweating!!
*i have time to relax and watch a movie
*i can take pictures without watching my back for policemen
*people follow traffic laws
*people know how to stay in line
*people make me laugh
*i get long emails from certain people
*i have the time to write a really long email or "book" as chaima calls my emails!
*my shoulder isn't killing me (thats rare)
*i swim
*i can get/give hugs. The kind that last long.
*lyrics pop into my head and i can write a song
*it's bedtime
*Mr. Cabalka says good morning to me at school
*i sing in choir
*my rhythm doesn't suck
*i can watch the sunset
*i have chocolate
*i can take a long hot shower
*i get to catch up with old friends online
*someone says sweet dreams...and i actually do have nice dreams
*people seem to care
*i make a good grade
*i can encourage someone or at least make them smile
*boot camp is over for the day (haha kidding todd... well, only sorta!)
*i get sore from working hard
*we play games as a family and with friends
*my plans with friends actually work out
*i can lie in the sun
*i'm listening to music
*there's a bathtub in which i can take a nice long bubble bath with candles!
*someone unexpectant text messages me
*people screw up my name and call me evangelism
*i have the time to take a nap....even just for 30mins
*French/Africans or other internationals (and of course my friends!) kiss on each cheek (bisous!!)
*we get mail (doesn't happen often enough!)
*i bake something that tastes good
*i drink southern sweet tea...and it's really sweet
*i have a chance to just talk to my parents
*there aren't any clouds in the sky
*we have lots of fresh fruit like mangoes, pineapple, and mangostein!
*mom makes us hot tea and we have cookies
*someone brings oreos, reeses...or sour candy from the states
*someone brings us anything from the states
*there's something worth watching on tv and i actually have time to sit down and watch it
*there's a full moon out
*we go out to eat in an air-conditioned restaurant
*my feet don't get dirty lol
*i have enough boredom-time to write a pointless blog!

ah, Christmas!!

Theo did his Mountain Dew routine for us at the end of the day... and we 4 sang the Mississippi Squirrel Revival!




Mom and Dad got an awesome Congolese painting from the Stones... Colleen got some socks from Theo...twice! But that was just a joke... We gave Todd this fish tray, and as you can see... he liked it!








Christmas Times...
these were all taken on Christmas day, i think they're the best!!
(we had a really good christmas!!)

I'm trying to learn how to take pics at night. Without a tripod. Dang my shaky hands!!!



But here are a few. The moon of course looked so much better IN PERSON! ...meh, i'm still learnin!

another New Years in the Congo

My Christmas was AWESOME....and then I had a really quiet New Years. Not bad, just really different! We just wanted to do a family thing, so we had a few close friends so there were about 9 of us to make up our New Years BASH. No fireworks either... which is always the highlight of my new years, but it was ok! I'm thankful for the quietness of it though. Gave me a chance to just be thankful and look back at the year. We had a prayer time even, and prayed especially for this country that the new leaders won't bend to corruption. That was a really good part of the night...realizing if this country didn't change for the better, my family might be pulled out and not get to come back! Which is a weird thought since this is where they feel they're supposed to be. We pray that the election and the new president that it brought will actually bring good changes to this country. We know we can't change this country, or do anything to change anyone, but we pray that with God's help something will change and people will know that God's hand is on this nation.
We heard out in the streets people counting down to the New Year. And then a bit of cheering, and some firecrackers! We couldn't see the ball drop, we just had to imagine in our minds that in 6 hours people would be watching the ball go down, and the confetti would fall everywhere... people would cheer, kiss, hug, it was 2007!!! Time to make resolutions and do something to make this year better than the last .. or as good as the last (whichever way you see it)! I myself don't have too many big resolutions, because i've never gotten into that.
I just thought of a few small things that really i do need to do.
But mainly, it was thankfulness I felt last night. It's a new year, and God's brought my whole family through another one. I can let go of all of the regrets and mistakes i made this last year...just forget, and move on. And I've learned a lot from 2006. Learned things that will definitely help me in the future, and which have helped me to mature in my faith a whole bunch. I'm on my way to college this year and think that this year will definitely be an awesome one! Not only awesome, but life-changing.
And if you wondering...my new years ended a bit sadly, because... my sister left tonight, and I couldn't stop crying! She couldn't either. I had an awesome time with her but it was wayyy too short. Amazing seeing her again, and i'm sure i will see her in the summer which isn't TOO far away, ...but it does seem far away, and since she's all the way in the states in college, it's really tough seeing her go. And it also hit me that I'll be doing that next year. Coming to visit my parents and then having to leave. That's gonna be seriously tough!!!! I just love my family....

SO, anyway, from this Congo where it may be hard to celebrate and hard for me to feel like it's actually the holiday season, I sit here and say HAPPY NEW YEAR to you ALL!!.

i'm dreaming of a ... white christmas?

Christmas Day

Christmas in the Congo is, again, very different. My second Christmas, and I'm still not used to the way things are. I should have written earlier, but just didn't get a chance. In the States, you start hearing Christmas music in stores and in your car and home about the day after thanksgiving....and every year the decorations on and in people's houses seem to come out earlier and earlier. The familiar red, green, gold, maybe silver, decorating everything, the weather starting to get colder and colder...people seem to start getting happier (or more stressed...either way). You begin the hectic crazy shopping, buying in bulk because you just never know who else the gifts might be used for. You never know when the relatives will call and you have to be ready to get a room ready for them if they tell you they're coming... You start finding you have a lot less money saved for Christmas than you thought you had.... You hear the bells at WalMart & Target telling you to give to the Salvation Army or another charity...and people drop in their extra measley change...The parties start....the fires, the egg nog, picking out the tallest tree in the lot --hoping it will fit in your house under your ceiling without having to cut TOO much top off.....driving out at night to go look at lights on people's houses, there's no doubt about it. It's Christmas time, and Christmas is coming fast!
That is how it always is for my family in the States. But here in the Congo, things are quite different. The spirit isn't really the same. You don't see very many decorations. Some of the decorations you do see are the tacky kind that were rejected in other countries so it comes here (you know, the pink and blue wreaths... the NoN-christmas colors, but they're all sparkly so it's still decorative or festive?) It is blazing hot because it's summertime. You don't ever want cocoa or a fire (but you don't have a fireplace anyway), you don't wish for a white christmas because it's just not possible. There are no malls to have a crazy all-day shopping marathon at. There is no Salvation Army. You have to break down and buy a fake tree no matter how tacky you think it is. You have to break down and buy some tacky decorations, sprinkle some tinsel, as well....You don't worry because the relatives just aren't going to call, but you may have some friends that hint they need a place to eat Christmas dinner at....no matter how many decorations or fake trees you put in the house it still doesn't feel like Christmas. You will never have as many Christmas presents under the tree as you might in the States, but you will for sure have some very unique gifts you can only find in the Congo!!

And the list could go on. But there is at least one thing the same. You celebrate Jesus's birth, and remember He is the reason you have all the traditions and celebrate on the 25th. We had an amazing service on Christmas Eve, and even though we didn't have a candle light service at night, we had an awesome day. I've never sang Joy to the World so loud, i don't think, as i did in choir yesterday! Being in the choir has been so good for me. I can't get enough of singing with that diverse group....even if we spend most of our time sweating, and waiting for the altos and tenors to figure out their parts! that's part of the fun I don't really know what it is exactly that I love about that international choir, but yah...
And spending time with my sister has been too much fun! And the Stones moving here, following us all the way from Congo! And the other families who came at the end of the summer too! How could it get any better? I'm SO THANKFUL this year for everything God's done in my life and lives around me.... I can't say I prefer a Congo Christmas to a normal one, but there is something (quite a few things actually) that I do like about it...and it's a totally different experience that I've loved this year!
Thank you to everyone here in Congo who has helped me enjoy this year, the encouragement, the laughs, getting together and sharing memories or stories....I love you all! I'm almost done with the 2 years here and soon I'll be off to college, but every day keeps getting better, and I never thought I'd ever be able to say that! So thanks. That's about it. Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to you ALL!

out of water

From left: Shannon & Theo, Todd, my dad, and (bottom) Mr. Steve!

I had a good week, but Saturday was definitely the highlight!
I went to choir practice.... and afterwards, the Stones, Mr. C, and Mr. Ligon came over to our house. When we got there, there was no power, and it had been off all day, so i was a little disappointed. Ok, i was really bummed actually! My dad goes, "Why don't i just pray that it'll come on so we can have some fun and cook some dinner?" and so we all close our eyes except Mr. C. who is sitting by me, poking my shoulder going, "Is he serious? Is he actually seriously praying? What's he doing?" !! and my dad is actually praying a nice prayer....but it was SO funny!!! then the rest of the night he was like "I'm so sorry Waltie, i feel bad about that, i really didn't know you were seriously praying though......will you forgive me waltie? i feel bad..." Mr. Steve's famous words are 'I FEEL BAD!' :-) And he gives you this little innocent i feel bad face and puts his hand over his heart! hahah it's a scream!! So then a little later the power does come on and we all clap and Todd goes 'Hey walt, since it worked, i have quite a list of other things that i need to pray for, so can you--?" he was kidding, of course, and Mr. C. was like "It's a miracle!!" :-) And then he was "feeling bad" again because he was all surprised that the prayer had worked! So our casserole finally heated up while we're watching scenes from Tyler Perry ---this really funny actually christian comedy show called I Can Do Bad All By Myself. So anyway we are about to eat and my dad tells mr. c. to bless the food which he should know by now, is a mistake, because every time he does it the prayer is long and makes us all crack up! He was like "Dear God, thank you for Walt. .....Thank you especially for Daniel [mr. ligon] because we don't get to spend very much time with him, but i do not thank you for todd and shannon because i see them ALL the TIME!!! ....And i pray for sarah. Lord, she's got problems [his other famous line-- 'you've got' or 'she's got problems!!' -- he always jokes about sarah having the major problems]. Thanks for theo but thank you especially for Eva. She's just perfect. .. .. ...." -----And our dinner went downhill from there! Kidding. *well, kinda...* First Mr. C. put the christmas napkin rings on his ears which looked REALLY funny, and then sarah & theo copied, then shannon put the wooden napkin rings on her ears, and dad and todd put their red napkins as do-rags on their heads...I went and got 2 tiny ornament balls and hung them on my ears, put tinsel in my hair, and a big silver bow around my neck. Sarah put a wreath over her neck, and mr. ligon got the ornaments and a big silver garland thingy to put around his neck. I took a few pictures!! it was too much fun! Somehow we got talking on the subject of food fights and mr ligon said his mom one day started one at their house when he was a kid by throwing a glass of water in his face from across the table!! My mom.... about 5 mins later was going around filling everyone's glasses up, and when she got to Steve's glass, she goes "Would you like some more?" and before he had the chance to say yes, she poured the ENTIRE PITCHER right on his back!!!!! My dad's jaw dropped to the floor, my jaw dropped and sarah and theo's too. It was shocking!!!! I was like "there's no way my mom just did that" everyone else was just laughing! And mr. c. the whole time was going "Do you actually think this is funnY? Why are you laughing? This isn't funny!!" Not in a million years had he expected my mom to do something like that!! WELL, ME NEITHER!!!! Since moving here (or since meeting the cabalkas, i dunno which!) my parents have gone crazy!!! but it was so funny. My mom went over to my dad and stood behind him and suddenly mr. c. threw his cup of water on both of them!! They threw some more back, todd tossed some on sarah, and then we were out of water! Todd put an ice cube down sarah's back too. :-) awesome night!!! We then watched some Jeeves & Wooster and had dessert. Mr. Ligon told me "Sorry Eva, we're letting our hair down tonight." I was like does he not know i'm used to this? Just not the water thing and my mom... but i am totally cool with the Cabalkas and Stones gettin crazy!! They're too much fun.

Well, Hope you enjoyed the story..............i'm on my way to bed!