Friday Saturday Someday

Halloween!

2010-12-17T19:48:00.000-08:00

Good times during a family photo shoot with the Reeves, Miadichs, Zoradis and George Lee. A couple shots prior to the main shoot.

Bear Attack!

2010-11-28T20:18:00.000-08:00

Why you don't mess with Bear, even if your a lawn gnome

2010-10-19T09:57:00.000-07:00

So I came home from work the other day and witnessed this event shortly after being home!! Gave me a new respect for my son!

Movie Star Dad!!

2010-10-14T10:39:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! My friend Chase Reeves has created a wonderful new blog called FatherApprentice for expectant/new dads. It is a great blog with quality stories, resources and flat out funny antics. I encourage all of you to check it out, subscribe and write comments for each post. He is really trying to make a go of the blog and really wants it to be a resource for guys out there who are wondering what the whole parenting thing is all about. If you need a little extra motivation to checkout the site the most recent post is a video interview Chase did of me!! It is a fun little story about Bear's day o' birth. Check it out: FatherApprentice. Thanks for stopping into our blog and hope you all have a wonderful day!

What a treat!!

2010-09-20T21:23:00.000-07:00

Last week Morgan Cathey was in Portland visiting with us and the Zoradis. Morgan is a dear friend from San Diego who is now living in Cape Town, South Africa with his sweet wife Cari. They have been there for four or so years now and are an absolutely amazing couple. Lisa and I became very close with them when we lived there and miss them so much. Lucky for us Morgan came to the states for a wedding and swung up to Portland to see us all and do some work for These Numbers Have Faces. It was a blessing having him stay with us and share in our love and enjoyment of Barrett. Morgan and Cari are having a son in December and I am already figuring out how to get them both on the US national mens soccer team in 2026 (yes our boys will be 16 and killing it for the team). Anyways here are a couple of photos of Morgan and Bear while watching the Vaux swifts settle into their chimney at Chapman Park. Cari, sorry you weren't able to come out with Morgan...we miss you and can't wait to see you. I am pretty jealous Justin is heading out there in Oct.

Lisa needs to post.

2010-09-08T17:13:00.000-07:00

Since Lisa is the writer in the family I will leave the writing and therefore the more interesting blog posts to her. Here are a few more pictures of Bear. At the pediatrician yesterday he weighed 9lbs 2oz!!

Pics

2010-08-30T17:00:00.001-07:00

Anna wants more pictures of Bear's face so here they are!!

Bear in his Chomp! Chomp! pjs.

Bear all dressed up for Joseph Miadich's baptism.

Early morning.

Nap time.

Cortland and Ashley managing the Bear

2010-08-25T18:29:00.001-07:00

Over the weekend my brother and his fiancee came to meet their nephew and were completely won over by Bear's tiny roar and charm! We had a great time with them keeping it mellow around the house. Cort, Ashley and I took Bear for a walk in the woods out at Sauvie Island for a little berry picking. Fun times. Here are a few photos from the weekend. Thanks for visiting Cort and Ash!!

Some videos!

2010-08-25T11:36:00.000-07:00

The Great Mams & Paps!!

2010-08-20T17:21:00.000-07:00

So on Tuesday Barrett got to meet one set of his great grandparents: Mamaw and Papaw Webb. Mams and Paps are my mom's parents and they made the trip up here on Tuesday to meet their first great grandchild. It was a treat having them up here and Bear really loved being in their arms. Here are some photos of their time together:

The Great Paps

The Great Mamaw

Bear and his Greats:

Thanks Mamaw and Papaw for making the trek up here to meet your great grandson! We had a great time with you and we know Bear is missing you tons. We love you.

Barrett is back!!

2010-08-16T14:30:00.000-07:00

So Barrett has struggled slightly to gain weight and be the fat bear we want him to be. Today he was weighed and is back to and slightly above his birth weight of 6 lbs. 10 oz.!! Here he is sprawled out on my lap as I write this blog post:

Here is a photo I took of myself being "that guy" (bad right?) the carrier just isn't cool:

I recently hung out with my good friend Chase Reeves and we celebrated Barrett's birth with cigars Chase provided (loved it):

We have had a few more visitors and there is finally a picture of Bear and his Aunt:
Aunt Amy and Bear:

Kristin and a smoking Bear! (looks like he is smoking):

George Lee and his new BFF:

Here are a few more random pics of Barrett:
Fresh out of the Ergo carrier and he looks like a grumpy old man:

Our little glow worm in hibernation:

Thanks for tuning in. We will have more pics or vids later in the week. My grandparents are coming to town tomorrow and my brother and his fiancee are coming in for the weekend so there should be plenty of great stuff coming.
Lisa and I are doing well and are trying to find sleep any time we can get it.

Aunties, Grandparents and New BFFs

2010-08-08T12:11:00.000-07:00

"give me your lunch money!!"

Bogey weeping tears of joy...just kidding, he's laughing.

Visitors!

2010-08-04T22:44:00.000-07:00

So over the past few days we have had a few visitors to the house. These are a few of the highlights:

Bear showing the bigger kids (Joseph Miadich) whose boss!! How do you like his casual lean in strategy?

Mason trying to manage an angry Bear!

Justin Zoradi and Bear! Bear was the first baby Justin has ever held, needless to say we were all a little worried, but he did well!

Things are no more settled or sorted than the first day Barrett was born but our friends and family are helping to keep us grounded and sane. Thanks everyone for your support.

Barrett goes to his first PUB!!

2010-08-02T21:35:00.003-07:00

Baby Bear with his grandparents at the Lucky Lab Beer Hall!! Is it wrong to be 3 days old and in a pub? Are we starting him too early?

More pics

2010-08-02T12:32:00.001-07:00

It's official!!

2010-08-01T17:08:00.000-07:00

How do you like his "bear" prints?!!

Bear!

2010-07-31T19:58:00.000-07:00

What a pair!!

2010-07-31T11:48:00.000-07:00

Barrett baby

2010-07-31T11:27:00.000-07:00

A little morning time for just Barrett and I!! Loved it.

Baby BEAR!!

2010-07-31T09:22:00.000-07:00

Say hello to the little Bear!

Road Rage

2009-10-02T17:10:00.000-07:00

I had a moment today in the car. I’m not proud of the moment and whilst it was happening I had a fleeting thought about how embarrassed I would be if people could see me. Or rather hear me. I was making up a song. Outloud. The song was about how much I don’t like Oregon drivers. Oregon drivers are not to be confused with Oregonians. I love Oregonians, I almost am one. There was a certain amount of anger in my tune. I was saying things like, “you are all terrible drivers, you don’t even know how to merge, you’re so stupid and you get mad at me, but it’s just because you’re jealous that I live in California and can go visit there on Alaska Airlines for relatively little expense…” There were some other more developed ideas coming out in my lyrics, but you get the idea. I may have some unresolved anger. Or, maybe I’m just a passionate person. Nope, I’m not super passionate, I think I have some anger lurking.
I was thinking about Cape Town today, as I often find myself doing throughout my days, and I was remembering that I used to be angry when I was there about things that were much more important than how much I am hindered in making good time from a. to b. by Oregon Drivers. I was angry about things like racism or the general unfairness of life as so blatantly characterized by society in Cape Town. Now it’s just the Oregon drivers. Why is my world getting smaller these days? Is it that drivers in this state are really that bad? It’s very possible, they are quite terrible. But also, I felt a twinge of small mindedness for my road rage. You see, it wasn’t an isolated incident; I’m a frequent road rager lately.
I’d like to capture moments where I forget about how big and lovely and wretched the whole world is and get caught up in pouring my energy in to things like road rage or spending money on things that distract me momentarily or choosing productivity over relationship. I’d like to look at the world through wider eyes.
All this to say…we’re back in Oregon and there is a chance, be it ever so small, that the armourville blog may live on.

Picassa updated!!

2009-05-14T02:51:00.000-07:00

For anyone who still looks at our seriously lacking blog I wanted to let you know that I have updated our picassa picture site with recent photos. I think there are 4 new albums. Check em out!! You can also click on the flickr link where I post more of the artsy photos. Feel free to leave comments or just browse the images.

onfallingfromthetree

2009-03-19T04:16:00.001-07:00

We came down from the same seed
fruit from the same tree
and now far down the road
far
far
down
We hate and kill for arbitrary items listed by people given over
fully to their darkest corner
And I’m of the same fruit of just that one
the one who kills
who hates for made up reasons
For reasons we believe deeply in, reasons we die for
and kill for
And now down this road I have come, and around this corner I have seen
this mess.
And I don’t have means for cleaning, or a mind sharp enough for ideas
my hands can’t lift this weight, my motives don’t seem to matter, my ideology is a mist in the ears of the people left behind.
Fear has made some of us rotten with the idea of trying to preserve what cannot be lost and chasing after what can never be taken.
And the ones at the bottom of it all have lost the will to compete
and then the others hate them for the way they ended up.
I know something new is beneath the surface
And I’m supposed to wait for it and hope in it’s coming,
but this confusion and fear is sometimes all I can see.
And I feel exhausted.
And I look away.

reasons to like tanzania

2009-01-22T10:41:00.000-08:00

Sorry we seem to never post anymore. We just got back from a great trip to Tanzania. We stayed in Dar es Salaam, which is the major port city there and then took a ferry boat to Zanzibar. It was so wonderfully African. One of the main reasons it was a breath of fresh air (besides being as tropical as can be) was that the local people were very present in our time on the beach lazing around. In South Africa, life can still seem very segregated which is ultimately exhausting unless we let ourselves become numb to the inequality (which is a bigger problem for our souls). So it was refreshing to be able to walk through the city freely and interact with the local people without feeling unsafe. And it was lovely to sit on the beach and watch Tanzanian women wading through the aqua waters in their long colorful kangas harvesting seaweed while simultaneously catching rays. Don't worry moms, we wore sunblock! Don't worry Anna, it was only spf 8.

Armour family visits SA!!

2008-11-18T05:09:00.000-08:00

Dad being himself

The Armour Family

Cort and Odwa

Amy and Akhona

Mom, Dad and some ASP kids

So my family came to visit Lisa and I here in SA. We had a wonderful time sharing our life here with them and introducing them to all of our friends and co-workers. They met our puppy Sipho and I am pretty sure my parents hated him. Oh well, we love him. It was great for Lisa and I to have family here with us and sharing in everything that we are doing. We have amazing support from them. My brother and sister also had the chance to hangout with some of the students from Bridges Academy. Odwa and Akhona are still asking about them everyday! Hopefully my family will not soon forget their experience here and will continue to seek out the ideas of community development.

African Window

2008-10-04T04:52:00.000-07:00

22 Aug, 08
There are things that make me feel like I’m in Africa, the way that certain songs can make me feel like I’m in a movie that someone cares about watching and the way some fumbling mistake I make or some crazy person I’m interacting with makes me feel like I’m on a candid camera show and people are laughing, but I don’t know it.
I have a fairly normal kitchen, but the window is not normal. The window I look through is African. It has metal pains painted white and a metal latch that is hard to work. It also never closes, so that when the wind howls my window whistles me a cold tune. And it has thin white bars on it to keep me safe. It’s what’s outside my window above my ordinary sink that is the most foreign. I see tall grass blowing underneath our Mulberry tree and lining our homemade brick stoop. And in the near distance is a pre-fabricated shack. Like if there were many, many of these shacks they could be a track shack neighborhood. And in that track shack live three African men who work on this farm doing construction.
And so we have neighbors on each side with no fences to block our lives from one another. Their track shack has no windows so they have a little more privacy than us with our African windows. In the afternoons these men play soccer outside my African window with the metal panes and the cold whistling tunes. They put up two iron posts for a goal and take turns shooting goals at one another. They talk in a loud, jolly, foreign language and end their days with this game in the tall grass. When one scores a goal, the ragged ball goes sailing into the overgrown pear orchard and the man with his turn there goes high stepping after it.
And then I turn around from my African window with the dirty white panes and the streaky glass, the pear trees and the tall moving grass, and black men and I see my home which is remarkably unremarkable and home-like, with pictures of familiar faces taped onto our small refrigerator.
Some time I’m sure we’ll be in a place that feels even more unremarkable and home-like than this. And I’ll remember all the people and scenes that made me feel like I was far from home and at home in South Africa. And I’ll be sad (maybe), but I’ll remember that Annie Dillard says, “enough is enough. One turns at last even from glory itself with a sigh of relief. From the depths of mystery, and even from the heights of splendor, we bounce back and hurry for the latitudes of home.”

TNHF visits SA!!

2008-09-09T06:42:00.000-07:00

So our friend Justin Zoradi started an organization called These Numbers Have Faces. Please check out their site. Their mission statement "The mission of These Numbers Have Faces is to move from fatalistic statistics to identifiable persons. We aim to discern a felt need through relationships and create effective partnerships to provide opportunity and hope with networks of caring people." They are currently working with JL Zwane Football Club in Cape Town. A few weeks ago the TNHF crew came to South Africa for a vision trip. Here is a picture of the crew Jered, Kirsten, George, Morgan, Andy, Lisa, Anda, Dominique, Justin, Trish and myself: Lisa and I got to spend a few wonderful days catching up with the old Portland crew and some of the new folks. It was a great group of people and at one point I was begging them all to stay because it just felt good to have some community. We learned more about all that TNHF has been doing and hopes to do in the future. We had a wonderful time with the whole team and just wanted to share a few photos with you.Couldn't help putting this last shot in!! The movie theaters around here come up with some interesting names. The ladies could not get their minds out of the gutter.
It was wonderful spending time with TNHF and we hope to see them out here again soon!!

16 Days in California!

2008-09-05T07:14:00.000-07:00

So Lisa and I recently made the trek back to California for 16 days. In total we spent about 60 hours traveling between Cape Town and California and back. I will tell you that I do not care to travel for that many hours anytime soon. The cramped conditions of planes these days is getting ridiculous, especially when you are having to fly so far.
We hit the ground running when we got to LA. My sister Amy picked us up and drove us to the good ole OC. I think Lisa and I went into immediate culture shock when we crossed into Orange County because of the amount of nice cars and strip malls. My parents decided to take us to the new Javier’s’ on Newport Coast for Sunday dinner. Yikes!! What a scene. I have never in my life seen so many fake lips, boobs, cheeks, faces, and people in my life!!! Lisa and I were stunned. If we did not know what culture shock was we knew now. If you are looking for an interesting night out I would suggest Javier’s’ in Newport.
We spent a few days in Modesto hanging with Lisa’s family, mostly with Sam our 7-month-old nephew. He is the cutest thing alive! Here is a picture of him:We also got to see some of our friends while we were in Modo. After a few days back at home in San Clamente we met Lisa’s parents and Jeff, Holly and Sam at Disneyland!! Talk about an all time day! Sam was a charger and went on everything he was allowed to ride. He rode Pirates, Tea-Cups, Jungle Cruise, Finding Nemo and he would have rode It’s A Small World if it was open. He loved every minute of it! We loved every minute of it. Here are some pics from the day:Our 16 days came to a close with my friend Doug’s wedding. It was a gorgeous day filled with love, laughter and tears. Lisa and I got to spend some great time with friends at the wedding. A big shout out has to go to JP for his major lack of Farkle skills!!

New Photos on Picasa!

2008-08-26T01:06:00.000-07:00

Sibusiso on the farm in Franschhoek.
The Armours and the soon to be Zoradis at Doug's wedding.
View of Table Mt and Devil's Peak from my friends balcony.

These are just a few of the new photos that have been added to our Picasa web album. Go there and check out all our new photos. Hope you enjoy.

We have a new family member!!!

2008-08-19T03:03:00.000-07:00

So last week Lisa and I were walking around in the township of Sweet Home in the Cape Flats area of Cape Town, South Africa. While walking through this community we happened to spot a litter of puppies. The puppies were all mutts and were some of the cutest little creatures ever. When we got back to our home base in Sweet Home we asked one of the mamas what it would look like for us to have one of those dogs. She said she would look into the matter. The next day we were back in Sweet Home and there was a cute little male puppy in a box waiting for us!! We were so excited!! It was the best from the litter too!! We paid $3.50 for him. After a few days deliberating we decided to name him Sipho (See poe). Sipho means gift in the Xhosa language. He is definitely a gift to us. He is missing about half his tail which someone in the township decided to lop off. This only serves to make him more awesome!! Here are some pics of him.

Good times!

2008-06-12T23:58:00.000-07:00

Well Barney and Meg have left and it is time to settle back into life here in SA. As we get back into the swing of things I thought I would give you all a recap of our time with the Stichters. Our time started with a great evening out in Cape Town walking Long St and eating dinner at the Africa Café.After a few wonderful days spent hanging around Cape Town doing some work and touristy stuff like wine tasting, great white shark cage diving, surfing, Robben Island and going to the top of Table Mt, we headed up the Garden Route to Jeffreysbaai.

(Side note: on Sunday when Barney and I went surfing, I got super sick and proceeded to throw up out the window while I was driving. I threw up 7 times that day!! Worst day ever!) Along the way to Jeffreysbaai Meg decided she wanted to jump off the highest commercial bridge bungee jump in the world. She checked it from the viewing platform, suited up, cruised out to the jumping platform and dove over the edge to fall 708ft!!!! Didn’t even faze her!!
We arrived in J-Bay and immediately paddled out at Supertubes. We got some decent waves that first afternoon. The following day the surf was flat so we headed out to Seaview Lion Park. This place was amazing!! After a lame self-drive safari where we saw Wildebeest, Zebra, Giraffe, springbok and goat we made our way to the lions. We saw 3 huge Bengal tigers and about 50 lions. The tigers and a few of the male lions you could get within a couple of feet from them, only separated by a small electric fence. These lions and tigers are huge!!!!!! After watching them for a while we hopped in the car and drove through an enclosure containing 6 lionesses. After that we headed to the main building where they had 4 three-week-old lion cubs, 6 two-month-old lion cubs, and 4 seven-month-old lion cubs. We took the opportunity to go into the enclosure with the 4 seven month old cubs. What an experience. These cubs were definitely big enough to cause damage if they wanted to.
Lisa and Meg got to go in with the 2 month old cubs as well.
The rest of the time we spent in J-Bay surfing a great beach break as the swell filled in at Supertubes. We scored some great surf at the end of the trip with the wave of the trip definitely going to Barney at Supertubes on the Armour’s last morning.
We said our goodbyes and left Barney and Meg in Jeffreysbaai for one more day to head back on the Garden Route for home. It was a wonderful two weeks with the Stichters! Josh and Meg, thank you for coming out to visit and spending your vacation time with us! You can see more of our pictures by clicking here

All the Cool Kids...

2008-05-28T03:05:00.000-07:00

are hanging out in South Africa!

2008-05-06T05:04:00.000-07:00

Well, as the seasons change and you all wait with anticipation for the approaching summer, we sit anxiously awaiting the harsh southern winter. Yes that is right, we are on opposite seasons down here...July is the dead of winter!! Being so far south in the southern hemisphere we can look forward to Antarctic gales and tempests!!:( We have been watching the beauty of fall come over the land for a few weeks. The leaves have changed, the air has grown crisp, the cobras have gone into hibernation and the 100 degree weather has gone. Today, Mother Nature showed a sampling of her fierce southern winter side with some of the nastiest weather I can remember. The wind is howling, threatening to rip off anything that is not appropriately attached. The rain is falling horizontally giving even the Jackals of the field nowhere to hide from its wet grasp. I half expect any one of the Bridges Academy kids to get blown away anytime they run outside to their room to get something. As I sit in the comfort of the cement and mortar, architecturally sound office looking out the window admiring the beauty of Mother Nature's unrestrained ability to unleash her winter onslaught of wind and rain I cannot help but think of our friends in the townships.

With homes made of sheet metal and cardboard and roofs gingerly laid on top of the box house and held down by brick or tires or whatever else they can find how are they staying warm and dry? They aren't. If the wind has not blown their place down or apart, then the horizontal rain is coming in through the gap between roof and wall soaking the place like a fire sprinkler. If your house makes it past either of these then the rain draining down the hillside or off the streets is running under the walls of your house filling your floor with mud or water or worse.

How in the 21st century is this still possible? Not only that, but how is it still possible for such a large population of the world's human inhabitants? We have to do something. Take Burma for example. A cyclone has just recently hit there killing over 22,000 people with 41,000 more people missing!!! Katrina killed about 1,800 just to give you some perspective. The living conditions of many of the world's population are atrocious. I find that in everything we do here in South Africa my dependence on God becomes stronger and stronger. I ask a lot of whys and I want immediate answers but its not that easy. God usually answers with another question. I know I will be battling with questions like this for a long time coming. I do believe God is working in the people here though and that is very encouraging.

As you enter into the long, warm days of summer (except those of you in Portland...that is a few months more) I challenge you to think about, pray about and converse about the disadvantaged populations of the world who at that present moment may be melting in their home because of a lack of electricity and A/C or are soaking wet and freezing to death because of a lack of proper housing materials. The issues are much deeper than this but you have to start thinking about these things somewhere and once you open the flood gates you will not be able to close them again.

Handsome Boy

2008-04-21T23:56:00.000-07:00

I think memory is a strange thing. I think it’s strange how we don’t have much of a choice what is going to stick in our minds. I’m thinking about this more lately when I can’t remember things I would like to. Did I just sound like an old woman saying she had a “senior moment”? Damn. But really, there are things that stick in our minds eye and hold the picture of a memory that no photograph can capture. This is the kind of memory I love. It’s not the kind of involuntary memory of classmates’ names from elementary school that I wasn’t even friends with, it’s not the memory that houses the lyrics to the opening song for Full House or the Paul Abdul song I liked in 5th grade. It’s not the kind of memory that I feel like is taking up valuable space.

This memory is a picture of something I won’t ever forget and reminds me of a feeling from that place. I had one the other day as I was driving down our long dirt driveway. I looked in the rear view mirror and saw a boy riding his bike in the reflection. He was chasing me on an old looking black bike and he had a beautiful, young face and red, yellow and black beads hanging around his neck and a royal blue stripped shirt that he wears 2 to 3 days a week. His name is Sibusiso and I don’t have any special connection with him, it was more like a moment where I knew I was in Africa and really felt it as I bumped along the red dirt driveway leaving the farm. And I smiled the kind of smile to myself that is in a category all it’s own. It is way different than a camera smile and it’s nothing like the smile I do when I’m trying to make someone feel like they said something clever. It’s a smile just for me, no one is going to see it, I only get to feel it.

So I hope this new memory pushed something out that I don’t care about. And I’m sure that in years to come when I’m somewhere else in life and thinking back to this time and loving this time in my heart, I’ll see Sibusiso chasing me in my dust, determined to keep up even though he would have dirty boogers later and burning eyes. These memories are the best because you don’t know when they will happen and you can’t force it, they just come to you with all the benefits of a good dream and none of the involuntary forgetting.

Picassa updated!!

2008-04-18T02:03:00.000-07:00

I made a layout change on the blog. Our profiles and photo link now appear above the blog archive so they are easier to find. We will be putting up a new post soon. There has been much that has happened in the past few weeks. Our apologies on not posting in awhile. Our photos on Picassa are updated though. Check 'em out. Cheers!!

Picassa updated!!

2008-03-20T04:35:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that our picassa webpage of pictures has been updated. Check it out from the link on the left!!!

2008-03-19T06:58:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would put this incredible picture on our blog. We went with the Bridges of Hope Academy kids to the beach and a water park called "Supertubes" last week. For many it was their first time in the ocean and for all of them it was their first time down a water slide. Keep in mind that all of them grew up less than 15 minutes from the beach. You can sit in every one of their houses and smell the salty air...if you can pick it out of all the other gnarly smells of the townships. After teaching most of the kids how to body surf in some of the most Great White populated waters on the planet I figured I would take a few turns down the slides with the kids. What a hoot!!!! If you have not been to a water park recently, go now!!! They are a blast!! This one only had two slides and I still lost my mind on them. So all of you who make what seems to be weekly trips to Las Vegas...you have got to stop at one of the many water parks in the area and go crazy for a couple of hours. Watch out for slides I call Wedgie Express!!

Swan Lake Hysteria

2008-03-10T07:38:00.000-07:00

Last night I went on a fieldtrip with the 11th graders at the Academy to see Swan Lake on ice. If you are picturing me sitting around something like an Olympic size rink with characters moving around like Disney on Ice scratch that from your mind. We were headed for the performing arts center in Cape Town. I dressed up a bit because word on the street was that the girls were going all out in getting ready.

When I came up to the school to leave, what I experienced was like nothing I have seen. It was like the excitement of Prom, Homecoming, first day of school, first date, winter formal and your wedding day all rolled into one and multiplied by 3. Picture lines and crowds of kids formed for the girls who are going to walk out dressed up the way you might make a tunnel for your teammates to run through. Then, as each new girl exits the dorm room the screams roar and there is clapping and jumping up and down. It is Swan Lake hysteria. All I can do is laugh uncontrollably because I don’t know what other response to give to such a charged moment.

The girls that aren’t going are fake crying and going up to one another fake consoling one another with, “your day will come”. They are giving hugs to each other and begging for pictures to be taken alone and with poses in front of random cars. And each time a new girl walks down the stairs the crowd starts up again with a strange cross between heckling and kind of like yelling, “damn girl, you look good!” I was equating it in my mind to young girls as crazed fans over a boy band. But even the 14 year old boys morphed into crazed fans of their classmates dressed up for an outing into Cape Town. These kids were giving Raider fans a run for their money in their devotion to cheering their beautifully groomed classmates on.

DVL and is an 18-Year-Old Fit to Take Philosophy?

2008-02-28T07:24:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, I took Intro to Philosophy with my trusty friend Anna Luther (she was Luther then, back off!). I was reminded of several things about this class when, in a staff meeting here the other day, a man had a fly land on his upper-lip and begin moving around the landscape of his scruffy face while he remained unfazed by the insect who was becoming intimately acquainted with him. When this happened I couldn’t think of anything else except for the fly on his face and I even had to hold back laughter in a serious situation, which lets be honest, is always a bad lot.

Our Philosophy Professor, David Vander Laan, also possessed this same ability to regularly have flies land on his face and continue unflinchingly to teach us about the limits of reason or the ontological argument for…blah blah, or rather, meep meep, nar nar, as Anna prefers.

After my co-worker endured the fly on his face, my thoughts went elsewhere to early on in my freshman year as an 18-year-old trying to make it through DVL’s class. Let me give you some context for why this class holds so many memories for me. It was the only class at Westmont I would have considered myself to truly fail academically in. I got a C, but I’m not referring to the grade, I’m referring to the level of energy I put forth in the class, my confidence level in the material and my overall proficiency in the ideas I was learning about. I would like to take this moment to place blame for my failure in this class not on the extensive note-passing of Anna and myself, nor on my incompetence to test well in an oral exam. I would like to blame DVL for always letting flies roam freely on his face during lectures. Added to this strange quality of the man was the stare down. If you had DVL, you certainly remember that he would stare at people when he taught and hold his gaze for an unnatural and unbearable amount of time. Couple the gaze with the flies and you must admit there was nothing else for a couple of 18-year-old girls to do but initiate and uphold the best series of notes written between two friends in the history of note passing.

Let us recollect. There was Noel Peepgrass, who Anna kind of liked and he sat near us on most MondayWednesdayFridays. Now Noel went and started dating someone else, so naturally we needed to make up Garbage Pail Kid names for this girl and also any other person who crossed us in one way or another. Then, there was also the letting each other know what to expect for the chapel speaker of the day. This would be something like, “Anna, your mom is speaking in chapel today on her life of recovering from working the streets to sustain you as a small child. It should be touching, but possibly a difficult stroll down memory lane as you might recall some bad memories of your mommy taking you to work”.

To me, this story of my failure as a student of Philosophy is a strong argument for the value of development as a whole person. I did not retain or probably ever gain the intellectual concepts someone was paying a great amount for me to get. But, I did develop socially and emotionally as I grew in my ability to pass notes that made my old, worn out binders well worth saving. And if there is a going away party for Shane and Anna’s oldest child when he or she takes off for college someday I will bring that binder from Intro to Philosophy in hopes of imparting some unconventional wisdom to the college-bound.

Haille Sellassie as god?

2008-02-24T09:40:00.000-08:00

I had a conversation the other day with some of the kids from the academy about reggae and religion. Most of the boys seem to be taken by Rastafarianism. They tried to point out that the Rastas are the only people in the community not stealing and killing. They live fairly peacefully and other than smoking dagga (weed) they don't do anything bad. After our conversation I figured out that the Rastas use weed as their sacrament and their god (Jah) is actually a man they believe to be the incarnation of the last four manifestations of God. I further found out that the Babylon they preach against is basically western culture. I said that even though they may not steal or kill they don't believe in the same God and it is only through a belief in God that true transformation and forgiveness can take place. I tried to explain that the Rastas are not trying to make their communities better but are actually making them worse through the use and selling of their dagga (weed).

One of the boys then brought up the fact that under the guise of "Christianity" Africans were taken from their homes and brought to America or other Western Nations as slaves. This was a major point for him and rightly so. I apologized for that dark time in our history and agreed that this period was evil and wrong. I tried to explain that through the Bible and the message of Christ's forgiveness we can see that this "Christianity" was not a true belief and following of God's law. The boy then said that I proved his point of Christianity having evil views by acknowledging this past and he was through with the conversation.
I took a look back into African history and it is "white Christianity" that brought the slave trade and Apartheid. Apartheid was created in the theological department of the white university in Stellenbosch, South Africa. It made me realize that to many non-whites Christianity is a white, oppressive religion.
Our conversation ended there for the time being and has made me wonder and struggle with the idea of being a white Christian here in this country. How can I be effective in bringing development, community empowerment, Christ, and education to this community if I'm a white Christian? There is little differentiation between people that call themselves Christians and those that actually live a life dedicated to Christ's teachings (much like Christianity in American politics). In this same way there is little differentiation between Reggae and Rastafarianism for the boys here and I wonder how to bring the true Gospel to these kids given our pasts? I was encouraged though by the message I listened to today about Hope and how since God is who He says He is, our Hope in Him will not disappoint. God rests his promise of Hope on His character and therefore through my hope in the eternal glory of God I know that He will guide me and open doors for me. It is only through Hope in God that we can make sense of our suffering.

hy·per·in·fla·tion

2008-02-18T07:20:00.000-08:00

hy·per·in·fla·tion (hī'pər-ĭn-flā'shən)
rapid rise in prices as currency loses it's value

Don't abandon me. I'm not going to write about economic principles. Imagine if you will, going into Trader Joe's to buy a loaf of Milton's bread for $3.59. Now imagine just one year later that bread, in that same store, made with those same ingredients costing $179.50. Your salary has not increased and so buying this bread is impossible for you and considering that 4 people in 5 are without work where you live chances are, you are part of that unemployment statistic. Twenty hours out of most of your days are spent without electricity. And one candle, on most days, costs twice the daily official government wage for a farm worker. It's a dark time for Zimbabwe.

It's hard to believe that the African country with the highest literacy rate (85%) could be in such a bad situation. President Mugabe decided that 20 years after Zimbabwe gained independence and most of the farm land was still in the hands of white farm owners he would unveil a plan for seizure of land without compensation. This looked like a government official forcing a white farmer and his family off their land and giving it to a black family. As you can imagine, a person without training in methods of farming would be doomed to failure. Picture Lesley trying to start my dad's tractor and plow through the orchards. Or Anna directing field laborers when and how to prune the the trees... You get the picture. The farming economy that was doing very well went down hill and so now the country faces the annual 5,000% inflation rate. Or rather, hyperinflation.

There is a teacher at the Bridges Academy who has moved to South Africa with one million other Zimbabweans looking for a way to get their lives back. His name is Owen and he still has four siblings that are in Zimbabwe. He told Chase yesterday that he doesn't believe he will ever see them again. It's scary how fast a bad political situation can take over and negatively affect civilians who were previously doing so fine. It's like this weird thing where a good thing, like justice, gets hijacked and the wrong people try and make something happen that they believe is fair for them but ends up going so bad. We can cross our fingers that Robert Mugabe doesn't get re-elected in March despite all his efforts to take control of the election process. If he is re-elected he could be in office until he is 90, unless he dies first. It's ironic to have a dictator in a country that is supposed to have a democratically elected leader.

Night of the Living Mosquitoe

2008-02-12T04:45:00.001-08:00

There was a retreat, a rental house near the beach, a hard bed with only a comforter to cover ourselves with, and 2 windows offering relief from the heat but, in true South African form, having bars to keep out the crime, but missing screens to keep out the bugs. We woke up in a sweat a few after hours after falling asleep because of not opening the jailhouse windows and creating an oh so stuffy atmosphere. We decided to take the “bug” risk and opened the windows. What ensued was what might be referred to as one of the worst nights of our lives….dun, dun, duh!

Cue noises of lights switching on and off and clapping hands and banging against walls. When the light turns on, see white washed walls with blood spatters from a, not nearly high enough, death toll of South African mosquitoes. This sleepless war goes on for 3 hours, we are loosing the battle, we’re low on the supplies we need to win, we’ve lost our vision and…no, George W is not our Commander in Chief. We are fighting on God’s side, the side that never loses (supposedly).

CarsfromGod

2008-02-04T23:38:00.000-08:00

We went to church in Franschhoek for the first time. It is a church called Shofar and all the students from Bridges Academy ride a bus there, so there were quite a few familiar faces. This church is considered “charismatic” which includes members of the church being invited to share any “words” from the Lord they had. Open mic experiences have historically been very bad for me. Think no time limits, uncomfortable seats, emotional external processing in front of large groups that are captive audiences…you get the idea. I am not a fan. So if you have this “open mic” mentality and add to it the “God told me this” line it could be a very questionable mixture.
The first woman to go told a very touching story about forgiveness and I thoroughly enjoyed myself, even shed a few. Then a young woman went who (for the sake of annonimity) we will call Shera. Shera ditched class the day her public speaking professor taught on audience analysis. Shera also lacked the use of an alternative word for “blessed”. Shera also, in my humble opinion, told the audience something about God that would make many people question what God must think of them.
To make an uninteresting story shorter and more to the point, Shera went car shopping with her dad and picked out the car she wanted and got it. You might be thinking that I have left out some important detail that would make this more interesting or more touching, but I assure you I have not. She took 4 to 6 minutes to tell this story and talked about things like financing and timelines, she smiled a lot and also said that God just blesses her and blesses her. There was a lot of spewing and now that I am trying to recall, I’m not exactly sure what her point was at the end. The interesting part of Shera’s story was that she was telling it to an audience that was made up of one quarter people around her own age but that had probably very little in common.
The students of Bridges Academy are either a. orphans or b. nearly orphans. They are all considered to be “at risk” and have grown up in the township of Philippi in, by nearly all standards, poverty. I think it’s nice that Shera has a new car that only has x amount of kilometers on it (she did include that detail). I had a car when I was young also. What made me really question what she was saying is that if God really wanted her to have a new car, just the one she wanted, and it is because he loves her so much and wants to bless her so much, well then what the hell about all the kids he doesn’t give brand new cars to, let alone parents or clean water or access to education? Does he not like them as much as Shera or I? Did he forget about them? Are they being punished?
What is the currency of blessing that God deals in? Is he operating in our realm by dealing out material wealth, and by directing all of our physical circumstances? Or is the world coming and going with light and dark, evil and good and our hearts are what God is looking at? Is it a mixture of both? I’m not sure, but I personally feel very skeptical when I hear someone say that God gave them a good parking spot. I know he does give good gifts, but are they gifts in the same way we think of gifts? I would pay good money to know how those Philippi kids felt when Shera went on and on about God giving her a car?

In the spirit of being progressive

2008-01-28T07:40:00.000-08:00

Direct your attention to the left of the screen and you will see just how much energy I now put into the Armour blog. I'm surprised you didn't know that polling was a possibility. Please vote. There are only 4 or 5 of you after all!

Note: you are able to vote for more than one option.

Melting...shweating

2008-01-25T06:27:00.000-08:00

We are here. We have reached the farm, unpacked our bags, shopped for our first groceries and lay down on our new bed for our first nap, only to realize we can't sleep because of our racing minds and also because of the weighty heat...and no air conditioning and no working fan.

Our accidental inauguration into life on the farm/boarding school was to come upon group presentations of the students who were assigned to preform a cultural dance. I love to watch people dance and to watch these Xhosa kids dance and make their own beats with empty washing buckets and by slapping their thighs and stomping their feet and being responded to with whooping from their audience is about the best kind of dance I can imagine watching. Imagine the feeling of being somewhere where good dance is happening, like people are circling around a particular person and there is good energy and people are happy because that person they are watching is impressive. Well this is like that except way, way better. Like chills and possible welling up better.

Shine

2008-01-24T08:18:00.000-08:00

I wonder why we are the way we are

and why we only love each other from afar.

This is how we are fading

time.

You spend your days watching the door

You spend your whole life waiting, but you don't know what for.

You have everything you need right here

still you want more.

This is how we are fading

time.

I didn't come here looking for a soul

I'm a spirit trying to be human

but I'm thinking, this is how we are fading

time.

Hold onto yourself, you're afraid that you might get left behind.

And so you hide your eyes, you're afraid that the lies will make you blind.

But it's time to shine

It's time to believe in what you know

And you don't need stranth to be strong.

Time to believe in what you know

Time to believe before you go.

-Alexi Murdoch

auntie & uncy

2007-11-26T14:57:00.000-08:00

There's is a new baby in my family and I've never had a baby as family so naturally it's all I can be excited about in this long lasting moment of leaving Portland. I'm sitting on my floor that is empty of anything that would make our place comfortable, and cluttered with all things that make it look like we still have a long way to go until we are done packing.
Things are going so well with leaving. Why am I always so surprised and relatively ungrateful for when all things seem to go together so well? I guess if I had a profound answer to that question than this would be a blog worth reading.

The other night I was hanging out with Beall and Joy. I had borrowed a kitten for the night who belongs to my student Becky. If we weren't moving I would go to great lengths to keep him. He is orange and striped and I would even cut a hole in our garage door for him to go in and out if that was necessary. Becky let me name him and so I decided on something South African so she would remember what I had taught her about injustice. I named him Nelson Mandela. Mandela was falling asleep standing up. It was so funny that we were laughing very hard and there was a general happiness about having the heater on and the record player going that we were surprised when we noticed Beall's laughter had turned into crying. It struck me that there is quite a fine line between laughing very hard and crying. The emotional release of both is significant. For Beall, she was caught in a moment of realizing the immense beauty of our friendships and could see that soon they would be changing for a long time.
Consider the last time you cried hard. I know mine and I was alone so I didn't have to worry about the redness, puffyness, gaspingness, etc. and it was an important time for me of mourning the fact that I was leaving students who had come to depend on me. I supposed I had come to depend on them as well, why else would I be so sad?
I love hard laughter. Consider the last time you laughed so hard you had your specific hard laughing side effects (watery eyes, pain in your side, snorting, etc.) The collective value of moments like that with people you are close to is one of the good gifts coming down from our Father of heavenly lights.

Deciding if I should Share with you

2007-10-27T17:17:00.000-07:00

I created this not so original blog on a whim. Well I've thought about doing it before when I have admired others for doing it, like Justin Zoradi and Beth Wilson and Jan Carson and Kevin Saiki. But today I did it. And I put past thoughts up and now I'm considering the possibility of actually telling others to take a peek. I know I shouldn't worry so much about what people think of me, but get real, I do, I just do. And so I don't like people to read what I write unless I am very secure in knowing that that person will tell me it's good, like maybe my husband or Beall or maybe George.

So I guess people write on Blogs assuming that people want to read their thoughts on a particular thing, like maybe HIV/AIDS would be appropriate for my blog or teaching kids who mostly don't like me or at least act that way. So...what should my first official post be??

How about worry. I have some things I could worry about in my position. Like, how about a mortgage. That's common right? We are leaving our home and won't have a job that gives us money to pay our mortgage so we have to rent it out. We've had 2 people show interest in our lovely home. We've even said, "hey, use our stylish and comfortable furniture, we don't mind". But nothing.

The clock is ticking until Dec. 2nd when we want to shut our car doors and pull out of our common driveway one more time. What a great life moment that will be, I'll most likely cry and also think about what song I want playing in the backround to help me remember the moment for a long time from then. It would be so fantastic and it feels very necessary to have our place rented by then, but so many things have to go right for that to occur.

Doesn't Jesus address this? (rhetorical question) Something about clothing the lillies that are out in the elements and taking care of little birds...so if he cares about the lillies and the birds doesn't He care even so much more for what I need? So I guess I'll find out what I believe about what Jesus thinks about me in these next few weeks. I believe, Lord help my unbelief.

Those who find themselves utterly empty will be blessed because only then will there be enough space for my kingdom to be given.

Those who realize they have lost everything and acknowledge their deep loss fully will be blessed because then is the time that there is room in their hearts for my comfort.

Those who know who they are and don't have to prove their power are blessed because they will be given everything I have made.

Those who intensely desire for their goodness to be wrapped up in their love for Christ are blessed because when that happens they will be given all they want in Me.

Those who have hearts full of mercy for others and a desire to take care of them will be blessed because then, from me, they will receive the purest of care.

Thinking More About Africa

2007-10-27T17:10:00.000-07:00

8/8/2007

Now I’m thinking more about Africa, South Africa to be exact, myself being there to be even more specific. I’m waiting to leave. Not the kind of waiting I have been doing lately, like as in wondering if I should go, or if we should turn in an application or if we should buy a ticket or if we should even go, the actual physical waiting. I’m in the waiting room. I am on the precipice of my first visit to a new land, which might sometime be my home. I’m waiting for my plane to take off.

I watched the clouds roll into the San Francisco Bay today in a new way. They were like avalanche clouds pouring down in slow motion wiping out trees as they went. They were like an army of worked up soldiers descending upon their enemies. Then I saw a man who had been thrown from his car and was lying in his own blood in the middle of a freeway. That was strange and gross to see. I’m alive and well which at any moment could cease to be the case. And now I am waiting. I had stronger feelings about the stranger lying in the street dying than I did about this trip I am about to leave for. I haven’t been feeling much about it, not much expectation, not much worry. Am I scared? I won’t even consider it to be honest. I’ve been planning this trip for quite some time, or someone has anyway.

It’s kind of like starting a new school. I don’t know if I will fit in there. There is life going rough and well and dark and light and on and on. There is renewing and regenerating life that has nothing to do with me. I might go there, but I will be an outsider and in a new and strange way. I hope that I will have the wisdom to be humbled immensely by the situations I find myself in. I hope I have the frame of mind to ask good questions and I hope from the very depths that I have the courage to do what is good, even if that means being very, very lost.

Friday, Saturday,

Someday…

Thinking About Africa

2007-10-27T16:06:00.001-07:00

May 2007

The feeling has been strong lately, the stress and worry that doesn’t normally plague me. I don’t know what to do with strong feelings, I’m a thinker and I like order in my mind and a sound ability to articulate my position.

Africa has always been symbolically on my horizon, it feels like forever anyways. I’ve always been wanting to go and always been pushing it back, further back and pulling in practicality and leaning on money and doing everything but listening. I’ve always been skeptical of talking about God calling me somewhere. I feel called to be a certain kind of person, not to do a certain kind of thing and live in a certain kind of place. But I heard him say recently that I wasn’t listening for it. I heard a slight voice say I was leaning on my own reason to make sense of what my heart desired in a deep place that felt intimate to share with just anyone. I keep wanting my motives to be right and pure and perfectly thought out and authentic and original and anything but ordinary…sound familiar? I keep knowing that it is about my heart, but forgetting that my heart transforms, I do not transform it. I think much too highly of my mind and it’s ability to form a reason for anything that will push me towards action.

And so I have been moving heavily and clumsily through my days, reaching out to my students half heartedly and from a tired place where I lost a tight grasp on my meaning. The idea of going to Africa has been getting more and more blurry because I haven’t been listening, I’ve been only fretting and trying to make sense and make motive. The Spirit of Jesus Christ lives in me to make me move and know why I did. I don’t have to try and produce pure motives, I need to listen for them.

I cannot wait lazily for God to affect change in my life and in so doing become a consumer even in rating which forms of religious expression fit my liking. There is a restoring and renewing wave moving that I want to be part of as a minister of the Gospel, not because I spent ample time waiting for my motives to be pure enough, but because I trusted that it truly wasn’t about me and it is okay to go out and expect to be transformed in my going.