We made it!

Thankyou all for your prayers! Our travels went smoothly and Dorothy did very well.

~Kathleen

Ahhhhh...0 days left!

Last day in Bunia!

Please pray:

1. That we get all the last minute stuff done by 11am...Bunia - Uganda flight this afternoon.
2. That Dorothy will sleep well on the plane...especially for our Uganda - Holland flight tonight.
3. That our connection will go smoothly...Holland - Seattle!!!!!!!!

Thankyou all and can't wait to see you!

~The Martins

Our bins are packed...3 days to go!

The only things left out are:

A) going in our suitcases

B) will be washed and stored after we leave (ie. Sheets, towels, and a couple dishes)

OR

C) need to be given away

Best we’ve ever done at packing in advance!

~Kathleen

4 days to go!

Need I say more?

Surprise...5 days to go!

Joey found an extra bin I didn’t know we had! OK. That just doesn’t sound as exciting as it really is. Please understand me…an EXTRA bin…previously NOT counted on or planned for. Totally EMPTY! That means everything is going to fit!!!!

Months ago I sorted all our stuff by category. Divided it up by how many bins we had. This month I’ve spent evening after evening filling every little cranny, praising God every time all that was suppose to fit did. Now I am down to a few linens and random odds and ends. (I also have all my last minute stuff, but I have a bin set aside for those.)

Today Joey got me a couple cardboard boxes from the airport that we could use, but then this WONDERFUL SURPRISE. Did I mention that he found another bin?!!!?!!!! I can’t tell you how this made my night! Well, I guess I sort of just did. :-)

~Kathleen

6 days to go!

Last staff meeting today. We have such great co-workers! Definitely going to miss them while we are away. :-(

~Kathleen

Worst...7 days to go!

Today was probably the worst day we have had in Congo so far. So, what am I thankful for?

~For friends who listen

~For a God who gives us purpose even when our day is a waste from our perspective

~For a daughter who makes us laugh amidst everything

~For the near hope of furlough and the future hope of heaven

~For pizza and a movie, which tonight makes things a little easier :-)

~Kathleen

Eggs...9 days to go!

There are many things I will miss while we are away from here. However, the process of getting eggs is not one of them. :-) About three months ago I sent the following note to my fellow MAF wives…

“Dear________, ___________, and ____________,

Thought you might get a laugh out of or at least put up with my need to groan to someone older than 9 months.

Bought 30 eggs on Saturday and just got around to washing them due to the fact that I didn't feel like it yesterday. :) Lost 3 to transport squashing. Does anyone know why everyone here thinks that eggs will be safe placed in a plastic bag, put in a basket under potatoes, and carried over these roads on a motorcycle? Anyways, got the good ones sorted out and into the sink before Dorothy woke up this morning. Washed them up when she went down for her morning nap and then...promptly, while moving the tray into the fridge, dumped all 27 of them out of the tray. Such a lovely, sickening, cracking, smooshing sound. So, I just spent thirty precious naptime minutes picking, scooping (egg is not easy to gather), and wiping up eggs. Amidst the carnage...1 fighter of an egg. A 3600FF egg [about $4]. Feel kind of bad about planning to eat it!

Hope your morning is going much better! Thanks for letting me vent. Oh, the chocolate I am currently eating had a note on the wrapper…"You should charge for your advice". So, advice for the day (free to you): Open door, then move tray inside. Don't try and multi-task. One hand for each wasn't the intended procedure!”

When it happened, I figured I could laugh or cry. Hope you got a good laugh too!

10 days to go!

Apparently, our batteries are doing a countdown too. Last few nights they've been dying between 8-9pm! Nothing like loss of electricity and blackness to remind you of time running short!

~Kathleen

Firsts...13 days to go!

Dorothy is ONE today! Hard to believe. Here are some other recent firsts...


First official story time...with Aunt Deanna.

First Tea Party

First "Independent" Skyping

First Cartoon

First Christmas

Which brings us back to today...First birthday cake!

14 days to go!

Power went out last night around 8pm. We decided running the generator in order to post a blog probably wasn’t our wisest choice. So, we opted for two posts today instead. :-)

~Kathleen

Tuesday...15 days to go!

Joey flew for MSF (Doctors Without Borders) today. His route took him 242 miles north of Bunia. 716 miles roundtrip. He transported 3,089lbs. of baggage and freight and 19 passengers.

8:09am: Bunia-Dungu (9 people)

9:44am: Dungu-Doruma (8 people)

10:42am: Doruma-Dingila (9 people and 78kgs of freight)

11:58am: Dingila-Ango (4 people, HUGE solar panel, boxes, 80kgs of mattresses, and 16 plastic chairs)

12:28pm: Ango-Dingila

1:02pm: Dingila-Dungu (5 people, 60kgs of freight)

2:42pm: Dungu-Bunia (6 people, 60kgs of freight)

Mommy's Little Helper...16 days to go!

Rainy Season...17 days to go!

(This post I wrote in June, but I took these pictures on Dec. 28th, well into dry season. I guess it was a special birthday present from God!)

I don’t know whether it is rainy season or not. I seem to get a different answer from every person I ask. My favorite response so far is that you know it is rainy season when…it rains! So, it is raining right now. :-)

I love the rain here in Congo. It is amazing. Now you must understand, I’ve loved the rain everywhere we’ve lived. Whether in Washington where it comes down in a slow drizzle all day or in Chicago where it pours. I just love rain.

Here it is different. It is a drenching rain. It comes in waves, torrents, deluges. Waterfalls are instantly created as the water rushes off the roof and the walkway around our house becomes a raging stream. It’s amazing. I don’t mind that life has to come to a stand still. You can’t talk because the pounding is too loud on the tin roofs. The roads are often worse than giant slip-n-slides so driving is out of the question. Everyone takes cover in a storm so your guard or cleaning lady will be late to work for sure. However, none of this bothers me. It actually adds to the wonder of the downpour. Somehow this wall of water has caused everyone to stop and take notice.

~Kathleen

Nothing Accomplished...18 days to go!

(About last Saturday…hopefully today will be more productive!)

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick…”

How can it happen so quickly? One minute life is just going along and then it hits…discouragement, failure, hopelessness. Today it was a power issue. It is Saturday so we didn’t have any huge plans, just laundry, dishes, etc. You know basic get-life-back-under-control stuff. Accompanied by pancakes for breakfast, of course! However, last night our washing machine stopped working and was doing funny stuff to our electrical system. So, that was first on Joey’s to-do list this morning. Oddly our water heater plug was fried and cracked too. Joey’s meter reader was giving him strange readings from all the different outlets in the house and all of our possible electrical inputs (solar, generator, and very limited city power) were acting weird also.

Joey had estimated 30 minutes to an hour to test everything and at least figure out what was not working right. After two hours of trying one thing and then another he guessed that maybe his meter reader’s battery was low. No, we don’t have that one size of battery. (I have extras of all the other sizes, though!) So, off to a friend’s to borrow one. Another hour passes with just as much confusion. Possibly the whole system is fried or our generator is busted. Guess how we were feeling now?

None of the stuff Joey is discovering really makes sense together. Could it be his meter reader is just not working at all? So, Joey borrows a friend’s and retests everything. By now it is nearly 5pm. Dorothy and I are about ready to lose our minds as Daddy usually does a lot of the child care on Saturdays and we have come to REALLY count on that---both of us. Of course, Joey is getting more and more discouraged as things keep not working out. Finally, with the borrowed reader things are making more sense. Maybe it is just a problem with the power strip for the washer! Yea!

Well, it is 8:15 now. Dorothy is happily tucked in bed. Joey is off to pick up burgers and fries for dinner (not quite the same as in the States, but take-out none-the-less!). It turns out it was probably a problem with the washer itself. We will know for sure tomorrow when we plug in the borrowed one. (It got too late to empty the old one of the water and clothes, move it out and the new one in, and change the plugs so it will actually work with our outlet.) Yes, Joey’s reader is just not working right and the hot water heater problem is probably totally unrelated. So, we’ve ended the day right about where we started it. Dishes and laundry look about the same and we still have no washer. However, there is hope for tomorrow. Maybe that was why today was so discouraging. Hopes kept being dashed. Tomorrow, though, is a new day!

“…but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” ~Prov. 13:12

~Kathleen

Countdown...19 days to go!

We actually started this at the beginning of the month. We leave for furlough on the 25^th so for Christmas I thought, “Perfect! Just like an advent calendar!” and gave Joey a countdown to furlough paper chain. Also known as, “The Survival Chain”. :)

We have been talking about furlough for months now. Mostly because I am a planner and lists help me keep the stress to a survivable level. However, as most of you know, this fall has been crazy here. So a lot of the stuff we need to do before leaving still isn’t finished. We also have a lot of undone want-to’s, like updating this blog.

So, as I was sitting here enjoying the brief calm (Joey is out flying, Dorothy is sleeping, and I am eating lunch), I thought maybe you would enjoy counting down with us. Sharing in this particularly unique aspect of life as we know it. Maybe it will even help me get more done. One can always hope, right!?!

The posts will keep the countdown, but will also include random details from this Fall, packing, and current life. They will probably be short. Welcome to Furlough 2012 countdown!

~Kathleen