The Martins: 2015

Friday, December 25, 2015

Christmas Essentials

Someone recently asked us what traditions do we have for Christmas now that we are overseas. After a moment of reflection we said, “Always spend it in a different place!”

Upon further reflection, this fact isn’t exactly true, but not far off. During our time overseas we spent Christmas…

2008 Canada

2009 1^st House Bunia

2010 Parent’s House WA

2011 2^nd House Bunia

2012 Apartment Uganda

2013 2^nd House Bunia

2014 Apartment WA

2015 1^st House Nyankunde

Watching two new families wade through the holidays, trying to figure out what does it look like here, what is important to them, and how to make this happen, got me thinking. What are our practical “Christmas Essentials”?

Anticipation: This one is hard to accomplish here. No colder weather. No snow. No Christmas music on the radio. No advertisement. Even the churches talk very little about the upcoming day. One year I actually asked Joey if he would mind if we just didn’t celebrate, it just felt like we were pretending. So, how have we done it successfully (when we have)? Decorate. String the lights up, set up the nativity, light the candles, and pull out that tree. Read Christmas stories. I don’t think the girls have read anything but Christmas books all month! Morning, noon, and night are filled with fun tales of snow, camels following the star, and the wonder of the new baby. This year we added a new form of anticipation. The girls and I have been crafting. Drawing cards for our neighbors, making a gift for Daddy, playing with red playdough, baking, and covering our walls with Christmas artwork made using crayons, pencils, stickers, glue, etc. One last thing, get that music going. Jingle all the way!

Gifts: Theoretically, gifts are not “Christmas Essentials”. However, we have found that for us they bring with them the joy of the season and are thus, essential for us. There are no malls or neighborhood toy shops and packages don’t always arrive in time. So, we have gotten creative…paper chains filled with a month of daily specials or food items we don’t normally buy here due to the price. Once, we even wrapped up new toothbrushes! For us, it is the fun of unwrapping something unexpected and sharing in that joy.

Fellowship: The lack of family at this time of year is usually the hardest part. Honestly, there is no solution for that. You just miss them terribly. And, no, it doesn’t get easier the more time you have been away. That being said, you can still benefit greatly from a few group gatherings with friends. Over the years we’ve been to movie nights, caroling parties, game nights, and ladies teas. All focused on rejoicing together as believers whether just a couple families or large groups. It is just good to be together with others at Christmas time.

Family Celebration: Is this one obvious? Maybe, but I have found it hard at times to really celebrate on Christmas day. This year has probably been our best ever. The kiddos slept in till just after 7am. Now that is celebrating! We opened one gift each and it was great seeing the girls revel not only in their own gift but the ones they gave to Joey and I. Then we had a leisurely breakfast of instant oatmeal (a special treat from friends!) Church this morning was a joint service so it was completely in Swahili and really long. However, we went and enjoyed the music and the unique joy of celebrating together as a body of believers. The rest of the day has been cozy, quiet, and super restful, filled with more sporadic gift opening and lots of special food (Bacon, M&M’s, Corned Beef Hash, Biscuits-the just add water kind!) Tonight we will probably Skype with family and watch a movie.

All in our Christmas bests.

So, our Christmas essentials are not earth shattering, but they all combine to keep our hearts remembering that God loved us enough that he sent his only son to be born as a baby and then die to pay for all our sins, rescuing us from darkness and delivering us into the Kingdom of Light! Merry Christmas!

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Favorite Photos from October & November

Look! We fit your shoes Mom and Dad!

He always closes his eyes when I catch him grinning at me!

Levi makes faces all the time. One of my favorites!

Captain Hannah

Passenger Plane

Thankful for these precious blessings this Thanksgiving!

Saturday, December 5, 2015

The Hike

My sister had been with us for two weeks and we thought it might be fun to do something memorable before she left. In the past our boss had mentioned wanting to hike to a nearby waterfall sometime. Joey had seen it several times from the air and so we thought, “Hey, let’s ask if he wants to take us to the falls this Saturday.” He agreed and we headed out around 8am for a 2-3 hour hike.

Things in Our Favor:

Jon is an experienced outdoorsy guy and can speak a fare bit of Swahili.

We had an even kid to adult ratio and have hiked before.

We wore appropriate attire, packed high calorie munchies & plenty of water.

Kids were set with sunscreen, shade hats, and Levi was securely settled in a front carrier.

The weather was overcast, but not threatening rain.

Things NOT in Our Favor: Everything else.

The road out of our village to the village nearest the falls took us about 45 minutes to drive the 9 or so miles. Here are a few pictures of the “road”.

At one point we came to this bridge. After inspecting the structure, Jon and Joey decided they could rearrange some of the boards and drive over. However, they had us gals and kids get out and walk across…just in case.

Upon arrival at the nearest village we were joined by several “guides” who claimed to know the way in. Not a very long way, they said. And off we set. Not a lot of pictures as we were eager to get started and figured lots of photos could be taken later. We wound through several groupings of houses and headed deeper under tree cover. At one point we switched guides as they said we needed guys with machetes. That is when we left the path.

It was beautiful and fun so far. So much greenery! Hills on either side of us and eventually the sound of water coming from ahead of us. We must be near! That is about the time we crossed the river for the first time. A line of men standing on slippery rocks talking to you in a language you can’t understand wanting you to pass your children off to them to be handed over the water. Yeah, that was working real well for me. I’m standing there thinking about how fast the water is flowing, how deep is it, and how nearly impossible it would be to scramble after anyone should someone slip or fall. But we all made it across, though now some of us were wetter than when we started. I don’t remember how many more times we crossed. By the end, the girls were crying and I was seriously contemplating how we were going to make it back out again.

The guys were now hacking a path above our heads as well as below our feet and the terrain was getting steeper and more uneven. That is when lugging around a kid for about 3 hours in the African jungle smacked one of us down for a bit. I, the compassionate sister, took a picture. Almost there, they said.

Finally, we made it to the lower falls. Yea! Took the photo. Everyone smiled and we decided it was time to call it a day. There is an easier way out, they said.

Not too many pictures of this part. We were trying to scramble through overhanging vines with thorns and trying to keep our feet from tripping over underbrush, logs, and brambles. The girls were crying a bit through this part as the thorns were sharp, they were hungry, and we needed to keep moving to keep up with our guides. But we were on our way out, they said.

P.S. This was taken after the hike was over.

Then we arrived at the upper falls. What? You thought we were heading out of the jungle? Yeah, so did we. The look on Jon’s face after talking to our guides again is one I’ve never seen before. I didn’t ask what he was thinking, but decided then and there that I never wanted Jon to be mad at me ever!

So, we took a break. Put the girls down on the jungle floor and fed everyone. Note to self…next time pack snacks for 5 extra adult male guides. After we all ate and regrouped, we headed out. Pictures below aren’t particularly great, but they prove we were there.

There are NO pictures of our hour long hike out of the ravine. It was the worst part of the whole hike. Granted, it was shorter than the way in, but quite vertical. The ground was loose, no real good footholds and the few branchy vine things solid enough to grab had barbs on them. Strangely enough the overhanging stuff was still there. For large portions we were scrambling on all fours. And there were biting ants covering the ground. Yeah, it was pretty miserable. I distinctly remember praying, “Oh, God, please get us out of here!”

We finally made it to the “road”. It wasn’t much of a road, but it was walkable, horizontal, and we could stand upright. It opened up to a beautiful vista as we started to descend the hill. None of us felt like it, but we took a couple photos before continuing our trek.

Another hour later, just before making it back to the village where the truck was parked, we got stopped and almost didn’t get permission to pass. There was a brief moment when we had to contemplate the possibility that we would have to go back into the jungle. Thankfully, that didn’t happen and we arrived shortly thereafter at the beautiful sight of the truck. Which was accompanied by the second MAF vehicle…a search party of sorts, since our hike had taken about 7 hours and our phones had lost coverage in the ravine. They brought water and rolls. Best meal the girls had had in ages!

By the end we were just glad to have made it out in one piece. The girls don’t like the word “adventure” any more. However, we did succeed in giving my sister a memorable African experience!!!

Photos by J. Cadd, D. Wendt, and us. For Jon's take on the trip see: captainsblogafrica.wordpress.com/2015/10/06/captains-log-6-october-2015-scouting-the-falls/

Monday, November 30, 2015

The Blessing of Visitors

In September, my sister came to visit. We had a wonderful time together! This is her second trip here so we did less of the touristy stuff and more of the normal life things. The girls loved showing her around, playing dress up, coloring together, and generally just spending every waking moment with her. She blessed us in some very practical ways as well, doing dishes, hanging laundry, and even babysitting for an entire day so I could go on a flight with Joey.