itinerant good

Ruthie

2012-02-04T17:09:00.001-08:00

The first thing I did when I got back to my mom's house from Christmas Island was to walk in to Ruthie's room to see if it was true. She really was gone. When I left we had just found out she had severe artery blockages which were predicted to slowly allow her feet and legs to die, leading to gangrene and then a slow painful death. But, one week later she was gone. I heard the news by satellite phone. My brother was with my mom in the early morning when Ruthie went to be with her "Mommy, Daddy, Brandy, Whitepaws, and Cat Cat." Ruthie has been telling us for years, "me ready go up to heaven." The previous list is who she knew she would see when she got there. It's strange to have her gone. I miss her tight, long, snuggly hugs. Ruthie hugged like a child, head tucked into my chest, exuding gratitude and pleasure, fully present and accepting the hug as if it were a gift.

The suddenness of her departure made us wonder what happened. Then Janet, Ruthie's friend, and ours said, "maybe God just took her." That seems right. Ruthie was in a lot of pain for the last few months and it looked to be a long haul ahead but instead she got to skip all the dire predictions and head straight to the arms of Jesus and mommy, daddy and all those pets that have gone on ahead.

This past weekend was spent with my sister and mom organizing for the services. My favorite thing we did was to bake cookies for the reception that followed Ruthie's memorial services. Mom asked me to bake a few dozen so I asked her to help me think of what Ruthie's favorite cookies were. "Lots of frosting and sprinkles" was Mom's immediate response. That sounded exactly right. So, we made frosted sugar cookies topped with rainbow colors of sprinkles in shapes of dolphins, fish, bears, cows, stars and moons. My last gift to Ruthie. Her many gifts to me were colored pages, Bible verses, hugs, smiles, dances together, prayers, and a model of faith like a child.

Christmas in January

2012-01-18T22:09:00.000-08:00

Well, here Eloise and I are aboard Nomad. Brian and I decided that two months apart was far too long so I booked flights from California to Portland to Honolulu to Christmas Island, Kiribati. The 3 day journey was long but I felt taken care of by family and strangers alike. Only one flight per week arrives and one flight per week departs from the airport here. The customs and immigration officers get most of their work processing the paperwork of the large Ecuadorian purseiner fishing ships that base themselves off the island. This is a very very fishy place. "World class bone-fishing" I've been told and read many times. The handful of other gringos that debarked with me here were all arriving to either fish or surf. In fact, there is a law that locals aren't allowed to fish for bonefish in order to leave them for the tourists.
Brian greeted us through the chain link fence next to the runway as we walked to the tiny wooden one-roomed building to get stamped in. He'd caught a ride with the immigration lady that processed his boat paperwork that morning.

We've been here one week. It feels as if we just arrived and yet we only have one week left. Yesterday was a really fun and full day. We hitched a ride to a surf break with an Australian man staying at a surf camp. The ride consisted of a car and then a local wooden boat. Approximately 25 feet long, the yellow and red canoes are all made here on the island. It's a canoe with a platform with benches across the top and an outrigger off of one side. Powered by a 40hp outboard motor, they handle chop and waves quite smoothly because of their construction. We were dropped off at the east side of the strip of land surrounding the world's largest atoll lagoon, and walked five minutes to the West side-the ocean side. Coral sand here is, white, soft and almost fluffy when dry. Eloise and I played on the beach while the guys went surfing. Brian cut his surf session short so he could have more time with us. Our time together is precious after having been apart for so long. Eloise became very agitated whenever she thought we might be taking her away from her boogey board. In fact, she didn't want to ride on in very long with daddy dragging her along the shallow waters like in the past. Instead she wanted to stand on in on the beach and wiggle around like a surfer surfing. That and collecting sea shells occupied most of our time at the beach.

We didn't get back to Nomad until 2:00. Then a batch of cookies and lunch and a little bit of clean up brought us to 5:00. time to go ashore to the Rainbow Lodge. This is the property of Simi and Sima. Jeff is staying ashore there until he flies out tomorrow. They have two tidy cottages for rent to tourists. The cottages are made almost entirely out of coconut tree products. Simi and Sima had invited us to dinner and so we arrived, took showers in Jeff's cottage and then relaxed in the shade around a table wondering what the protocol was. Soon Sima and her daughters started carrying out dishes and covered bowls of food. The table was covered. But there weren't enough chairs for all. Simi informed us that their tradition is to let the guests eat first. And then the whole family disappeared into their house, leaving us to eat by ourselves! The youngest daughter appeared at one point to play with Eloise while I kept eating.

And there are more fun times since...

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one more thing

2011-12-28T22:05:00.001-08:00

If you want to track Brian's progress across the Pacific, here is the link:

http://www.pangolin.co.nz/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=wdd9776

Please pray for encouragement, more fish, and winds and currents to go the right direction to help him to his destination.

Thanks

My Bonnie lies over the ocean

2011-12-28T21:47:00.000-08:00

Well, that song used to be really irritating to me when I was learning it for piano lessons as a kid. Strangely, I find myself singing it lately. It is simple and concise. Bring back my Brian to me!!
It's been a month since I wrote. Every evening after Eloise goes to sleep, I sit down and check weather, look up things Brian might need to know on the internet and then compose an email that is informational, and yet full of tidbits of Eloise's changes and her delightful ways. So, my writing is pretty much all for Brian right now.
To summarize the last month. Brian is still sailing the boat with his friend Jeff. They are still in the Pacific Ocean heading toward Kona, Hawaii via Christmas Island (the island nation of Kiribati). They are now in the north Pacific, having crossed the equator around the 15th or 16th of Dec. It has been slow, challenging and lonely for the guys. But, they have caught one beautiful Mahi Mahi, recently sailed out of the ITCZ (a zone of weather that is full of squalls, changing winds, rain, and difficult sailing conditions).

Eloise and I have continued to slowly move things into The Dome, the house we will be renting from my mom. Eloise had lots of fun learning mischief from her 3 older cousins over Christmas. She is learning many words every week and enjoys saying silly sounds, enjoys playing with washcloths still, and is incredibly social and compassionate. She was a present-opening machine on Christmas Day. She helped her aunt Brooke open many of Brooke's presents, as well as opening her own and mine. We are impatiently waiting Brian's return and may fly out to Christmas Island to see him when he gets there.

Thanksgiving an ocean apart

2011-11-24T21:46:00.001-08:00

Eloise and I enjoyed Thanksgiving day today in San Leandro with my mom, brother, and his family. Lemon sage turkey, homemade wild rice bread, cashew pea salad, etc. Brian celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday on the island of Wallis (of Wallis and Futuna) with Jeff Ault his friend and crew member. They ate a pressure cooker meal of chicken, potatoes, carrots, onions, etc. The recipe was taken from Michael Greenwald "The Cruising Chef" page 65.

We are very far apart and yet I am incredibly thankful that Brian is safe and has all that he needs to make the repair to the forestay that broke while at sea a few days ago. A broken forestay can sometimes lead to a dismasting or worse. But all it resulted in so far was an uncomfortable motorboat ride to an unplanned stop on a tropical island in the Pacific.

The consistent prayer I and my family have prayed for this passage is that Brian will have everything he needs for whatever he encounters. So far that has been the case. For example, the ship computer crashed. That's the way he communicates. But thanks to my mom asking me about it, while I was in New Zealand I loaded backup software on our laptop to allow Brian to use that computer for emailing while at sea. Without that, he would have had nothing. As it is communication has continued uninterrupted.

Here in Santa Cruz, Eloise is learning new words every day. I'm working a little bit to help my mom write a curriculum she's been hired to put together. Otherwise, Eloise and I are taking walks, re-connecting slowly with friends, and starting to get organized to move in to the dome up the hill from my mom. Eloise misses Brian and her Kiwi Nana and Papa. She talks about them, looks at their pictures in a flip book I put together, and watches the videos Brian made of him saying hi to her. And it looks like another four weeks minimum until we're reunited. This is HARD. I don't like it at all. I guess Brian has it harder. At least I'm not rocking around having to repair things, AND I get to have Eloise to snuggle with.

Here's one photo.

Brought to you by the letter "b"

2011-11-12T11:31:00.000-08:00

The last month of our lives can be outlined with words starting with "B". Incidentally these words are all the first of Eloise's word repertoire.

B is for Boat, Buoy, and Bye Bye (or "bo" "booya", and "bah bah" as Eloise says). Four weeks ago we were cleaning the boat, buying food for the boat, and doing chores and maintenance on the boat, as well as enjoying time aboard knowing that it was our last liveaboard time for a while. Musket Cove Bay and Vuda Point Marina were the key locations of these activities. Both of those were full of buoys. Every time we passed them in the dinghy, Eloise pointed and got excited. We would tell her they were buoys. Soon we heard an excited "boo ya" each time we passed one.

B is for Baa and Ball, other new words Eloise learned immediately upon arriving for a full 10 days of kiwi fun visiting John and Annette, fishing, packing, obtaining navigational charts, and playing with new toys. She learned about sheep and happily pointed and baaed at them when we passed by.

And again, B is for bye bye. It was sad to say good bye to the life of a threesome aboard. Even harder to say good bye to John and Annette (Nana and Papa -maybe the 10th and 11th words Eloise every learned) in New Zealand, and hardest of all to say good-bye to Brian at the airport when he returned to Fiji. It's been a sad separation. Every day, Eloise asks to see the videos Brian made of himself for her. she runs to the computer points and signs, "daddy". Brian is also sad without his girls and is busy busy (another B word) working with Jeff, his friend and crew member, preparing to head offshore for the month journey to Hawaii.

But luckily there are new good things on this end in Santa Cruz. Eloise is getting to sit on her Ama's lap, play with her cousin Elijah, swing on swings, slide on slides, and explore.

Pictures

2011-11-01T01:31:00.001-07:00

Three weeks since my last posting! We had two weeks of mostly hard work in the Lautoka area and are now in New Zealand for a fast trip to visit Nana and Papa Carr. Eloise has quickly learned how to say Nana and Papa and asks for them many times during the day. She is having a language explosion. She isn't learning any new signs (partially because I don't know any more words to teach her) but also partially because she is so busy copying words and noises to learn them. 'Brrrm brrm' is my favorite one. She has used it for cars, motor noises, and her stroller. "yoyo" (yogurt) is a favorite of Eloise's. She learned it yesterday.

I'm including some of my favorite pictures from the past month.

Leslie, delightfully sweet boy from Ono. His father disappeared a few years ago in his fishing boat en route from the capital city of Suva Brian and I in our Tongan outfits dressed for church on Ono Island.

Brian and I in Fijiian clothes on Sunday on Ono Island

Eloise signing 'baby' romping in her fuzzy pajamas before bedtime.

Eloise and I getting ready to dinghy out to Nomad

Bubu (which means Grandma and is pronounced, "boomboo") Tara who taught me to weave a mat for Eloise. It has her name woven into it! It still smells like the cooking fires in Tara's house.

Eloise

2011-10-13T00:07:00.001-07:00

Eloise's 15th month of life is in full swing. There is so much to say about her. Brian and I talk about her in the evenings even though we spent the whole day with her. She is a delight. Here are some highlights:

· Clothes pins continue to be a consistent favorite toy. She empties the whole bag and then sits surrounded by pegs which she then "sorts" into piles and readjusts and pokes into her shoes or other holes in the boat. When Leanne, a visiting YWAMer was aboard they sat for a very long time while Leanne had Eloise practice identifying the colors of the different pegs. Blue was the most successful color Eloise learned.

· Another way Eloise passes the time aboard is to sort clothes. She asks for shirts from her clothes bins. I pull out about five to ten shirts and put them in a pile for her. From there Eloise will collect the whole pile into her arms and take it to a different location, sit down and begin sifting through. She makes piles, inspects the various decorations or embellishments on the clothes, or piles them on her head. This morning, Eloise stacked three shirts on her head, stood up and started twirling around. A stack of clothes can occupy her for up to an hour.

· Eloise's sign language vocabulary is continuing to grow. She uses over 30 signs. "kitty", "poop" and "bread" are recent acquisitions. She now makes the poop sign often when she wants to be changed. She also says, "shh shh shh" when she is peeing in her diaper. Her interest and ability to communicate about this topic lead to a major milestone…..her first poop and pee in her own potty. The day before the big day she had given me the poop sign but I didn't believe her because I checked her diaper and it was clean. A minute later, it wasn't clean! I hadn't expected her to anticipate and know ahead of time. Well, on the big day, I heeded her when she told me she had to pee. I congratulated her and had the joy of seeing her be immensely proud of herself. She clapped her hands and squealed happily. Daddy showed up and she showed him and signed and squealed about her accomplishment. Only a few minutes later, I saw her "poop face" and said, "Eloise you're pooping." She got excited and I whisked her into the bathroom and we had success! More happy squeals and pointing and signing and clapping.
· OK, no more potty talk. Here's a sweet story. Yesterday Eloise and I were in a waiting room. She found some brochures and was sorting them and stacking them. As more people arrived, she started pretending to give them brochures, walking over offering them and then taking them back before the people could keep them. This is usually how Eloise "gives" things. However, a couple walked in with a tiny three year old girl that seemed to have some sort of physical disability or be in pain, a quiet unhappy girl. Eloise was her usual excited self when she saw the other "baby". She walked over and waved and smiled and tried to interact but the girl cringed away. Eloise came back to where I was sitting. I whispered to her that maybe the little girl wanted to have Eloise's flowers and she could give them to her. Eloise trotted straight over to where she was storing her plumeria blossoms and went straight over with outstretched hand to give them. But this was a real gift. She waited patiently while the girl grumbled about having her space invaded. The father of the girl received the flowers and smiled at Eloise. Elosie looked around and found a third plumeria blossom and went back to the girl and held it out again, patiently. I was very proud of her sweetness and humbled by her giving away something she really liked. It made me want to be more like Eloise, willing to give and be kind even if my offerings aren't met with thanks and appreciation.

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Goodbye Ono

2011-10-13T00:07:00.000-07:00

Nomad and crew made the 24 hour trip back to Lautoka and arrived yesterday. The almost two months of village life was a true gift to me. When I first arrived in Ono I was put off by a lot of features of the community. There are many rules and layers of rules that direct the structure of the community, its visitors and the roles of the people that live there. For example, a village is made up of a few different clans. Each clan has a different identity such as the chiefly clan, the spokesmen clan, the landowner clan, the fishing clan, etc. Children are taught as they grown up who they are, who the other people are. I don't completely understand it all but it's an example of how village life gives people identity. People know when someone walks past who their father, grandfather, and other ancestors were. They know the stories of that person's heritage. It doesn't stop there. In a village less than half a mile long and a quarter mile deep, houses sometimes 10 feet away from each other, Family strife can't be hidden, privacy is hard to come by. While I can see drawbacks to living like this, the sense of being known and integrated into the lives of other people is very real. When we walked through the village, we were known by every single person. Even if we didn't see someone watching us, or had never met them, they knew our purpose and that we belonged on the yacht parked out front of their beach, and they all knew Eloise's name. We were accepted to walk on their paths, eat their limes, papayas, pick up their seashells and do our laundry at their spigots. By accepting us, they accepted responsibility for Eloise, in the same way that every villager demonstrated responsibility for every child in the village. Eloise, and all the other children in the village, had a village full of aunties and uncles and older brothers and sisters. Again, there were some drawbacks to this (Eloise had her cheeks pinched about 50 times per day). But the feeling of being accepted, the gift of having other people responsible to watch my child, the sound of "come in for a cup of tea?" from a door as we walked passed, those are all good things. I will miss the village community and our friends there.

We have two more weeks here in Fiji. We will spend that time taking Eloise to the beach, provisioning the boat for Brian's passage to Hawaii, doing maintenance and preparatory projects for the passage, and hopefully Brian will get in a little bit of surfing as we are near to Cloudbreak, a well known surf break.

After that, we fly to New Zealand to see Eloise's Nana and Papa, John and Annette Carr. As our original plan had been to return Nomad to New Zealand this year, we have some unfinished business such as selling the car we bought and cleaning out the items that migrated from Nomad into their storage room. But Eloise has a few new skills she wants to show off as well. After the short visit in New Zealand, Brian will return to Fiji, meet up with Jeff Ault arriving from California and set off on their trip when the weather is right. Eloise and I will fly to San Francisco and start trying to adjust to life in a house again.

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Papaya

2011-10-04T21:30:00.000-07:00

Papaya,

It's Papaya season here on Ono Island. These papayas taste a lot more delicious than the things they call papayas in the California grocery stores. However, when it looked like we had 5 large specimens coming ripe all at once, I knew we wouldn't eat them all unless I took drastic measures. Out came the Edmond's cookbook. Two papayas made a delicious chutney (I modified the peach chutney recipe) to eat with the wahoo caught last Friday, and two more made a fairly passable jam. Suddenly however, we have three more fruits to do away with. Hmmm. Papaya bread?

It is our last week in front of Vabea village. Bubu Tara (Grandma Tara) and her daughter Vuta are teaching me to weave a mat. It takes time! Good thing it's a small one. Richard and Thelma are teaching and I'm trying to sit in on some of their classes. Brian is daily working on small projects that are preventative maintenance as he thinks ahead to the bash up to Hawaii. (Note: in my mind, a small boat project is one that takes less than a week from start to finish and doesn't require a large portion of the boat to be taken apart). Eloise is continuing to enthrall the village children. Today, Brian and Eloise were in the village playing. He heard the kids letting out from school and whisked Eloise into a house so she wouldn't get inundated by kisses and yankings.

This weekend we'll make the day trip up to the main island of Viti Levu. We'll anchor in Musket Cove (a cruiser mecca) and continue on projects, family time etc. while also putting Brian in the proximity of some surf.

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Back to Ono

2011-09-28T22:56:00.000-07:00

Back on Ono,

We've been back a week in Ono from our 10-day trip to the neighboring 40-mile long island of Kadavu. There's so much to tell about our experiences in Nabukulevuira village at the western tip of Kadavu. We met some delightfully generous people with interesting lives and ways of living. We were welcomed to an annual feast celebrating the completion of the planting of the yam crop. The welcoming included being dressed properly in the clothing expected of the event, and then given the clothing as gifts.

I'm sad to have gotten behind on chronicling these experiences but am eager to jump back to fill folks in on our latest time in Ono.

It has been raining for 3 days. We had been filling our 5 gallon jug daily at each village we happened to be in. Two empty water tanks and one almost empty one had us on short rations. But now we literally have tanks that were overflowing. We've filled all extra receptacles, done a load of diapers, given some delicious drinking water away, and still have an overabundance. The only drawback to the rain is that we had done about 3 loads of laundry ashore, the day before the rain came. Now the clothes are still not completely dry. Also, I've had to postpone my weaving lessons with a local grandma, Tara.

I'm also grateful for the last week of teaching at the Bible School which is in full swing. Cecil Lowe, a YWAMer from New Zealand spoke about how unforgiveness and distorted views of God keep us from fully accepting the love of a Father that doesn't have any of the hangups of our earthly parents. For example, if a child has an angry or distant parent, they feel insecure and perceive God as judgmental, angry and unreachable. This teaching has been refreshing for me spiritually, and challenging me to love Eloise with God's help. Here is a verse that Cecil used, "So you should not be like cowering, fearful slaves. You should behavie instead like God's very own children, adopted into his family - calling him 'Father, dear Father.' For his spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God's children. And since we are his children, we will share his treasures…" Romans 8:15 - 17

Speaking of children and treasures…Eloise is happily continuing to explore her world, find humor in people and things, and practice eating with spoons and forks. Her sign language vocabulary grows by two or three words each week. She's outstripped what I know so we are making up signs for her, or she makes up her own. Her spoken vocabulary now includes "pah pah" for papayas or any other round green fruit, and "hah" for hot. She sings every day as she plays or sometimes in her bed. She's absolutely delightful. I'm looking forward to people back in the U.S. getting to meet her. The entire population of about 100 children in Vabea village know her name. Sometimes a child we've never seen before will ask us where is Eloise, or call out to her as we walk past, "Eloesi, Eloesi." If we are walking without her, the children want to know where Eloise is and when she is coming to land. She doesn't even know that there is so much fuss over her, and squawks if more than one or two kids surround her or try to corral her for kisses.

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A Plan

2011-09-22T00:07:00.000-07:00

We have a plan! And we have plane tickets to prove it, thanks to our sister-in-law, Brooke.

Nomad will be heading toward Hawaii in November. Brian and his friend, Jeff Ault will leave Fiji and travel 2800 miles of an unconventional sailing route to get Nomad closer to Santa Cruz. This trip should take close to a month. They will pass over the equator, possible hitching a ride east on the equatorial counter current, then pass the Line Islands up to the Hawaiian Islands. Once in Hawaii, Nomad will await our return in early summer to sail him to somewhere between Alaska and Portland (we haven't decided yet) and then down to Santa Cruz.

While Brian and Jeff are sailing, Eloise and I will fly to California and busily attempt to get our new home set up before Brian gets there in December. "The Dome" is where my Grandma Krake lived before she suddenly ended up in nursing facilities before her death. We have many good memories of sitting in the living room with my grandma playing the piano for us. The dome belongs to my mom and is only about 300 meters up the hill from where her driveway starts. Renting this place makes us very excited because it is in a beautiful setting for Eloise to explore, it's a short walk down to visit Mom, and I can garden to my heart's content.

Returning Nomad to Santa Cruz also makes us excited because he needs some cosmetic projects and other projects done, and we like sailing with our friends aboard. It also puts us in a good position to do short trips into the Pacific once Eloise is old enough to be a helpful mini crew member.

So, that's the current plan. Eloise has no idea that her life on a boat is soon to be over. This makes me sad. There are so many things that she knows and understands already that would be irrelevant to a child in a house. For example, today she looked out of the cockpit onto the side deck, saw Brian's handline, and made the sign for fish. She knows that a coil of plastic line can bring a beautiful flopping creature aboard. She also knows those creatures are yummy. Or, when the sound of an outboard approaches, she knows it is a boat with people in it, and waves, even if we are inside and she can't see them. She also can distinguish when that outboard belongs to our dinghy or an unknown boat. Eloise also knows that when we're in the dinghy, if she peeks over the side while in my arms, she can see coral and fish while we're moving. She likes to do this. I know that the transition to a house will be hard on her. She'll have to re-learn routines and people and rules. It's a good thing she has a trusty (crusty) blanket and me to hang on to during that month without Daddy, in a new bed, new house, etc.

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School started

2011-09-08T23:11:00.000-07:00

Eloise is happily playing with some fabric scraps on the floor. Rain is pouring steadily into our two blue buckets from our awning. A winter day aboard Nomad in Fiji is cold enough for hoodies and pants and bare feet.
A short while ago, Brian put on his foul weather jacket and went ashore to look at the school's generator. He's got quite a reputation already. He and Richard did a common sense maintenance program on the village generator and now it runs. He's been called in like a visiting doctor to make pronouncement on a dead chainsaw,
attempted to resurrect a broken washing machine and asked to repair a TV. But most of his time has been on the village generator, or setting up tents for the male students to live in..

Tomorrow is the first day of teaching ashore for the Discipleship Training Course. The speaker arrives on the ferry today. I just saw a longboat (aka skiff) head out from the village toward the bay where the ferry pulls in. All the students have already arrived from other villages or were from this village. 20 in all. They have been getting to know each other under the leadership of Richard and Thelma and doing work chores. Tuesday was a love feast which was supposed to be for students and their families. It turned into a feast for the entire village. Over one hundred people ate and enjoyed the pig, chicken, cassava, taro root, fish and taro leave pudding. The pig and root veggies were cooked under ground in the traditional lovo of hot coals and rocks covered by palm branches and old flour sacks. I watched three men hack a recently living pig into pieces while the village dogs lay panting nearby, eyeing the offal.

My contribution to the feast was to cook a triple batch of my mom's chocolate cake recipe and a double batch of coconut cookies. Eloise's contribution was to take a three hour nap so that I had time to do a baking frenzy.

And now on to Eloise…
She's a toddler for sure. I was surprised yesterday when I saw her crawling. But then I realized she was crawling backwards to climb down an edge. She has been sick since about the second day that we arrived here at the village. Fijians have a cute custom of kissing babies as soon as they see them. They are continually nudging their children toward Eloise saying, "give her a kiss". This is pretty cute until the face of the child that is approaching my child's face is slimy with large snot trails. So Eloise has had a cold, pinkeye, and some sort of diarrheal joy. On top of that, she started working on producing a new tooth.
Despite the sickness, Eloise is still learning and changing. She learns new signs every week. "sleep" and "baby" are her two newest ones. She enjoys taking lids off of tubs or jars and trying to put them back on. Hide and Seek makes her giggle. She is an avid reader, turning pages in her books, pointing, signing, talking, and flipping to find favorite pictures. She also tries to make the crowing noises of the village roosters. She had liked roosters for many months, ever since we started reading her Richard Scarry's "The Rooster Struts". She can even strut, and does so when asked!

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Everything I Need

2011-09-02T22:49:00.000-07:00

My Grandma Krake spent the few weeks of her life with a six-foot long strip of paper taped to her nursing home wall. It had "The Lord is my shepherd, I have everything I need," printed on it in bright blue ink. I made that for her because she told me about a vision of seeing those very words from Psalm 23 floating in front of her. She described the color of blue in great detail. She was quite taken with the color blue that year, the year of being passed from one Medicare-covered nursing facility to the next. Many of her dreams were in blue, or of blue things. She talked it over with a visiting chaplain who asserted that blue was a heavenly color. That pleased her. It pleased me for her sake because if I had to lie in a bed with tubes stuck down my throat and nose for a number of months with one visitor a day I'd be needing to see heavenly visions to want to keep living.

During the last few months of Grandma's life, the tubes were out and the State found a place in Santa Cruz for her to move to. The place was cheerless. I don't remember a single pleasant nurse, possibly because it would be difficult to work there and remain pleasant. Regardless, Grandma believed she had everything she needed. And she really did. A day or two before she before she died, Grandma told a visitor her life story. It was full of gratitude to God for his kindnesses to her. After the visitor left, I asked Grandma what it felt like to be so close to seeing God after all these years. Her tired eyes closed and she shook her head gently back and forth on her pillow. "Peace, peace, peace," she said with a wide smile. She was brim full of the last thing she would ever need in this life - peace with God.

I used some Tapatio hot sauce and was reminded of my Grandma's verse today. We ran out of Tapatio sauce some time in 2009. With Mexico 6000 miles, Nomad was not bound to have any of this tasty condiment gracing his shelves any time soon. Or so we thought. A couple of months ago, in Tonga, a person on a charter boat dinghied over to see if we wanted their leftover food because their charter trip was over. That's where our bottle of Tapatio came from. We also acquired a roll of plastic wrap in this manner. I don't use the stuff so I wasn't sure whether to keep it. But we needed that plastic wrap last week. The 10 used 20-liter vegetable oil containers Marine Reach was given for transporting the outboard fuel from Lautoka to Ono Island didn't have gaskets. Brian discovered this when filling them the evening before we headed out. Without gaskets in the lids, the fuel would either slosh out under way, or get sea water inside. Plastic wrap was the simple solution.

So, a bottle of hot sauce and a roll of plastic are good reminders to me this week that with God as my shepherd, I have everything I need, and more!

A few days later….Eloise got pink-eye! I was trying to think what I might have in my medical kit when Brian reminded me of the drops he used when he rammed his open eye into the end of the dinghy anchor in New Zealand. He had quite a flap on the eye and Annette used her many connections to have some antibiotic eyedrops delivered directly to the boat (Thanks Bill and Noelene!). The dropper bottle specifically says, "for the treatment of bacterial conjunctivitis." One more example of having what we need when we need it. Thanks Brian! Thanks Annette! Thanks God!

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Eloise in Ono

2011-08-26T16:15:00.000-07:00

Eloise promptly caught a cold upon our arrival in Ono. After 13 months with only one tiny weekend sniffle, this was a big deal for Brian and me. We were searching our baby books for explanations of her sick baby noises. Let me just say that sick baby noises are much more frightening than grown up ones, especially at night. So we laid low and read many many of Eloise's books which she was quite happy to do when snuggled in my lap or right next to me. The snot sucker (I think it's officially called a nose bulb or some other pretty sounding name) has gotten a full work out. Dr. Auntie Kristin and that snot sucker have been the two biggest helps during this past 3 days. Eloise is coming out the other side already. Even though her eyes are a bit red-rimmed and she's still more clingy than usual, she's smiling more and getting back to her independent self.

Here are some of Eloise's milestones in the past week or two. She has created two legible sign language words by herself. (toothbrush and washing). She regularly asks to brush her teeth during the day now. Also Eloise has started pretending! I pulled out a digital thermometer which didn't work. So I let her hold it while I used the functioning thermometer. Almost immediately she put it up to her ear and started babbling loudly. Then she looked at me, smiled, and started talking again into her improvised phone.

Other things going on in Ono are continued preparations for the Bible Course which starts next week. The staff are still unpacking and setting up cooking facilities, praying daily for the students that are coming, and settling into life in a Fijiian village. Brian and Richard have worked on the village generator for the last two days. It's been non-functioning for many months and they got it running and diagnosed an alternator as needing further repair.

One interesting event happening in the village is that, for the first time ever, the village has hired an experienced drum maker to come to the village from the Lau Group of islands to build them a drum. He has his own work area and has been working for three weeks, carving and scraping.one solid piece of orange-colored hard wood into a Polynesian drum. Do not imagine a circle with canvas over it like in the U.S. It looks more like a rounded, full- bellied watering trough. It's about four feet long, two feet wide and about two feet tall. The walls are two or three inches thick. When it is even lightly tapped it is loud and resonate. I'll send a picture when I can.

And last but not least….HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ELOISE'S GRANDAD! Happy Birthday Bob. We love you.

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Arrival in Ono

2011-08-22T15:34:00.000-07:00

Hello All.

We took the long way around the entire island of Viti Levu, up the west side, across the top, down the eastern side and the down to Ono. This was about 170 miles instead of the 115 mile straight shot south east from Lautoka directly into the wind. The first two days were pleasant and in protected waters. Two nights ago we entered into open ocean and had a few ill people that didn't think they needed seasick meds because it had been so enjoyable up to then. But Brian took care of the boat and the people and I took care of Eloise. We happily pulled into the southwest corner of Ono island just at sunrise yesterday morning. Tom, the pastor, that invited Marine Reach to come lead the Bible course, had been watching since before dawn. Before we could anchor he came out in a longboat (looks like the Mexican pangas)to greet us and start unloading the goods for the school.

We palangis (white folk) had to stay on the boat until it was time for the sevu sevu ceremony in the afternoon. That allowed time for Brian to take a much needed nap after staying up all night. The sevu sevu ceremony consists of formally offering a gift to the chief or village elders after which they formally welcome the visitors and offer access to their village and friendship. Tom and his older brother were our representatives and conducted the ceremony in Fijiian so I have no idea what was said except for a lot of "Vinaka" which means thank you. We attended two of these ceremonies right in a row because there are two villages right next to each other. Marine Reach's gift was a tank of diesel fuel and a tank of premix gas/oil mixture used for outboards.

A 12 year old girl happily carried Eloise around and played with her during our attendance to these ceremonies. It was an odd feeling for me to know she was being cared for but to have no idea where she was for short periods of time. Eloise is a big hit on the islands. They like her blonde hair!

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Eloise likes hats and hammocks!

2011-08-18T16:53:00.001-07:00

Busy in Fiji

2011-08-18T16:39:00.000-07:00

It’s only been a week since we officially checked into Fiji. On Sunday Brian dropped Justin, our nephew, off at the airport. He did a great job as crew from Tonga to Fiji. It was great to have him aboard.

Since then, we’ve been busily reprovisioning to head out to a village on the outer island of Ono. Two years ago, we had the pleasure of meeting and volunteering a little bit with Marine Reach, a branch of Youth With a Mission (YWAM). Since then, we’ve stayed in contact in the hopes that they might be able to put Nomad to use. They can! The timing has turned out perfectly. We knew we’d arrive in August and they are starting a new venture of bringing 12 week Bible Training Courses out to remote villages. In the past, if a person wanted to attend these courses, they had to leave home for 3-5 months to attend a course in the big city of Lautoka. Nomad’s job is to transport 100 kg of flour, 50kg of split peas, boxes and boxes of other foods, and 5 of the staff that will be running the school. We are excited that our heavy weight sturdy boat is up to the challenge. We are also hoping to be able to volunteer and help however needed once we arrive at Ono. Yesterday, the goods were brought to the marina where we are moored, and dumped on the foredeck. Today, I’m slowly finding nooks and crannies to pack the boxes in. Eloise has taken it all in stride with her usual friendly self, interacting happily with the new people and enjoying the new climbing structures the boxes have created. Her favorite discovery was three bright green plastic bowls. She thinks they are hard hats, another of her favorite discoveries in Fiji.

Tally Ho

2011-08-04T16:25:00.000-07:00

Based on weather reports we've received, tomorrow morning the wind will have switched to the SE. That means it is time to leave Tonga. We checked out officially from Tonga two days ago but the weather didn't suit so we have spent the time doing chores, visiting beaches, visiting a local couple on the island of Lape, snorkeling, and trying to catch the spits of rain and funnel them into our water tanks. I've been planning meals and baking bread to freeze for easy snacks en route.

Our nephew, Justin, arrived on Monday and will help us cross to Fiji. In exchange, we're hoping to provide him with some fun kiteboarding when we arrive, and some good sailing experience. We are very very thankful to all family and friends that generously filled Justin's bags with things for us. Malo! (thank you in Tongan)

Kolio and Tala, a warm friendly couple from Lape offered us papaya, bananas, drinking coconuts, and some delicious breadfruit chips to send us on our way. I baked them rolls and chocolate cookies as a thank you. I wish we could adopt them as an extra set of grandparents. They were very sweet with Eloise. Tala gave her a bracelet, a bikini and grass skirt, head band and lots of smiles and cuddles (as much as Eloise would allow). The items were all made out of hibiscus fibers or another plant called ruakao.

More details later.

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Life in Vavau

2011-07-23T18:14:00.000-07:00

July 21
We are currently anchored on the north side of Nuku island where the sand is clean and soft, and the water turquoise. We anchored last night right before 5pm which is usually the start of our pre-bed baby hour. We've been in Neiafu for two days to buy groceries, extend visas, use internet etc. but there is no clean water, no beaches, and only grimy sidewalks and restaurant patios for Eloise. Our times in Neiafu are cooped up times for our energetic goer. So, we quickly rowed ashore to Nuku so Eloise could have some clean fun. She was ready for it, reaching for the beach as we rowed closer. She played happily by herself with us watching for about half an hour. She finds small crab holes to stick her arms down, sorts seashells at the high tide line, picks up sticks and broken coral, stands up and claps her hands, then crawls to the next interesting collection the high tide has made and then starts again. It is a huge relief for me whenever there's a mosquito-free play area like this for Eloise. She excels. I relax from the constant vigil on the boat or in town of redirecting her to good play areas.

Last night she took another step unaided. This morning on the beach again, another unaided step and a two legged stiff hop.

Last night while nursing, Eloise asked me a question, "Daddy outside?" using sign language. Yes he was. She asked again. I answered and explained he would see her in the morning and then she relaxed and kept nursing until she waved good night to me, her hat, the fan and other interesting objects and I placed her in her bed. Sign language has been a joy to experience with Eloise. Her pointing finger is deft and her "uh uh uhing" is easy to understand. But when she squeals and signs, "bird" we can engage in a conversation with her about the birds she sees. Her spoken language is limited to ma and dada but we are gradually learning more about our little girl's needs and interests through sign language.

In other news, we are excitedly awaiting the arrival of Justin, our nephew. As soon as he arrives in Vavau we will show him a couple of our favorite spots and then check out of the country to head to Fiji. Once we arrive and complete formalities we hope to make a trip down to Ono Island inside of the Astrolabe Reef. Marine Reach, the organization we volunteered with last time we were in Fiji, is setting up a 3-month miniature Bible training school on Ono Island. It is quite remote, despite its location about 90km from Fiji's capital city, Suva. The only means of transportation to Ono is by boat. It's exciting to us that we can use Nomad to help our friends at Marine Reach.

Another exciting development is our acquisition of another gecko. When we crossed the Pacific in 2009, we had a gecko from Panama, all the way to New Zealand. It was entertaining when he/she occasionally hunted fruit flies on our ports in the mornings. So far, this Tongan gecko is not as cute as our previous hunter but we are not interested in cute, we're interested in the depletion of our small beetle proliferation. They are about the size of small ants, but they had been exploding in population. I put out a call on the cruiser's radio information net that runs daily that I would trade a batch of cookies for a gecko. An employee of one of the restaurants overheard my request and collected 4 geckos for us that night. They arrived in a Nescafe can with holes poked on top and large beetles inside for the geckos to eat! Brian selected the smallest of the geckos and tipped out the others on land. We have no desire to run a gecko breeding program aboard. One hungry bug eater is all we wanted.

A few days later….July 23
Eloise had a play mate yesterday and the day before! Hurray! When she sees pictures of kids or passes kids about the age of 6 and down, Eloise squeals and squirms and tries to get to them. She has a favorite picture of her cousin Naomi before age 1 that makes her squeal also. So, it makes me happy when Eloise meets a real kid to play with. Alex is about 4 years and from another cruising boat. He didn't hold still and didn't seem interested in interacting with Eloise except for his two quick kisses offered when his mom told him to say hi to her. But Eloise enjoyed chasing him and climbing the large mound of sand that was his sand castle.

Then yesterday, outside of the town of Nuapapu we passed a bright eyed, smiley boy on a horse with his dad, collecting firewood and coconuts. Later, we stopped at the grassy lawn in front of the Wesleyan church so Eloise could stretch her muscles. The same boy looked over from the gate of the house next door. I waved him over and he came. We recognized him as one of the children of the primary school we visited 3 weeks ago. ?He recognized us as well. Instantly Oneone was crawling around herding Eloise, chasing her tickling her and doing all the things a good big brother might do. At 6 years old, he's an experienced big brother with an 18 month old sister, and a 6 month old brother. By the end of their play time, Oneone and Eloise were standing next to the wooden pew on the cement verandah of the church, banging banging banging. I wanted to hug him for being such a good playmate. I look forward to the time in Santa Cruz when playmates will be easier to find, and Eloise's cousin Elijah, just a short drive away.

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Birthday Baby

2011-07-09T16:14:00.001-07:00

As Kaleidoscope, my favorite store for buying educational toys and books, is far away in Capitola CA, I made Eloise two string dolls for her birthday. Her other birthday present was an afternoon at a beach resort.

After we landed the dinghy on the beach at Ika Lahi Resort a few days before the birthday, I saw into the lodge through multiple open French double doors. I saw a few large wooden sculptures, one or two strategically placed couches, and a floor that looked easy to clean. The double doors opened out onto a wooden deck only a few feet above the sand beach, and a green lawn to the side. "This looks like a perfect place to have Eloise's birthday party," I said. And indeed it was. It had everything we needed for a successful party…lots of places for Eloise to climb and crawl and stand, no other restaurant goers to irritate, lots of fish items on the menu, shade, breeze, animals to chase, and a birthday cake with a #1 candle on it. .

Other than Caroline and Steve, the owners, we were the only people at the resort. Nevertheless, we were treated with warm hospitality and served with thoughtfulness. We ate smoked marlin pate and homemade sesame crackers; mahi mahi fritters with papaya mango chutney, Thai Beef salad and three different kinds of dessert…make that 4! Caroline brought out a heart-shaped birthday cake decorated with pink hibiscus flowers for Eloise after we had eaten the other three desserts (passion fruit custard was my favorite). The afternoon was relaxing since I didn't have to cook or coordinate anything. We ate a course, took pictures of Eloise and walked her around with our fingers, ate some more, took more pictures of Eloise, watched her, chased her, ate some more, then sat around talking to Steve and Caroline while Eloise played with a large bucket of clothespins Caroline got out for her. Then it was past bed time for our little one-year-old so we scooted home in the dinghy.

One other highlight is that Eloise took her first unaided steps. We knew it would be soon but Brian and I both missed seeing them L Luckily Caroline saw and announced it. Eloise had been standing behind my chair and then toddled 3 steps toward something on the ground before going to a crawl. Today, she took two more unaided steps and we got to see them.

Tongan Food

2011-07-03T16:37:00.001-07:00

I first heard the term spoken with full nuance by Ane as we flew into her home country. She wasn't going to eat any of the KFC chicken she'd brought from New Zealand for her husband because she was waiting for some Tongan Food. If you grew up in a home like I did in which the preparation of holiday family meals is a ritual of delicious anticipations and the preparation of far too much food for the number of eaters, then the term Thanksgiving Dinner might conjure up similar fullness, similar home comforts as the term Tongan Food seems to do for Tongans I have met.

In the Ha'apai Group of Tongan islands we were repeatedly asked if we had enough Tongan food. By this, the asker meant items such as cassava, limes, coconut, cassava leaves, taro leaves, canned corned beef, papaya. When invited to the umu at Lucy's house on Ha'afeva, we had a combination of all of those items. Here is the menu, apart from the lime drink, all items were cooked in coals in the buried half of a rusty 50 gallon drum.

Lu
Hefe
Lemon Drink
Tongan Bread
Cassava
Lu is a dish in which any type of meat is mixed with coconut cream wrapped in many taro leaves, and then baked in an underground oven. We have eaten canned corned beef (very common), salted fish, chicken, and sorme sort of gristley pork all prepared this way.
Hefe is the closest thing to a potato that grows here, except it grows on trees.in husks akin to chestnuts. After roasted a long time in the umu, the husks are split off and out comes a roasty, firm potato tasting item.

Tongan Bread Recipe:
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup coconut cream
As many pieces of shredded fresh coconut as you like
Sugar

Beat this together into sticky dough and place into the empty halves of coconut shells. Bake in the umu until the moist and dense bread is lightly brown on top.

As can be imagined, smoke is a necessary condiment for almost all Tongan food.

One other umu dish we had on a different day was papaya chunks, onion, coconut cream, wrapped in aluminum foil and baked for an hour. This might have been my favorite item.

As there was no refrigeration on Ha'afeva, Iwas told to "eat like a Tongan." If food is prepared, it has to be eaten that day because the humidity, heat, and small ants destroy all food over night.

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Strings

2011-07-03T16:37:00.000-07:00

This week Brian sat in the cockpit sewing webbing onto the end of Eloise's safety netting. The strings on that netting feel like small threads to hold in this life that we love so much.

The safety netting will be hung on the lifelines of the boat…more strings to hold her, and us, in.

From sails to halyards, from engine hoists to electrical wiring, so many of the securities of this boating life are fabricated with strings and cords and threads. This reality occurred to me this morning after a night of nursing a sleepless baby with tummy troubles. My sleepiness makes the frailty of our tiny floating universe more salient. None of those lifelines would have made a bit of difference if Eloise had been quite ill.

Nomad is 45.something feet LOA (length overall). The fiberglass, brass, bronze, wires, hoses, paint and strings that move us through water and time are tended to daily by Brian. That's how boats are. That's how all of life is, it tends toward decay, even if we fight to maintain. A vivid example: we hiked up to a resort touted as an "excellent dining experience" in one of our cruising guides. All that we found were two cement water tanks and a small slab of tiled cement with a toilet sitting on it, entwined with vines, overgrown fruit trees, and spider webs. That resort used to be someone's livelihood, now it is almost gone, destroyed by the jungle.
These structures we entrust our lives and our family members' lives to - whether boat or house or other establishment- are easily overrun, easily taken from us. Some days they feel fragile, these safety catches, and other days we rest in them confidently as if they would last forever.

Two days ago, Brian assisted a sailboat with engine trouble as it was towed into harbor. He came back and said, "I guess we're pretty lucky that hasn't been us yet." It's true, Nomad has crossed the Pacific easily, with much good weather, and minimal breakage to parts. When we sit around with other cruisers comparing crossings, broken gear stories, etc, we very much realize that our journey to this point has been unusually simple. It could be luck, but luck is also a frail, unreliable safety net.

I have come to believe that the prayers of our friends and family are more powerful than the strings, the fiberglass, the luck. Not because we are special, not because we deserve it, but because people have asked God on our behalf for safety and for him to take care of us, he has. I'm grateful today for the continuous kindness of God and for the ongoing prayers of our friends and family.

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Neiafu, Tonga

2011-06-27T16:20:00.000-07:00

Many people on sailboats come here every year, or stay the year round. They have a cruiser's radio net here on channel 26 every morning at 8:30. In this quiet town with many businesses specifically catering to the needs and whims of cruisers, we can find pretty much anything we want (BACON!), if we're willing to pay. Flat anchorages, internet, laundry service, groceries, fresh produce are the things we've enjoyed so far.

The Vavau group of Tonga is a cruiser's playground. Only about 20 x 20 miles square, there are 40 anchorages (according to the Moorings charterboat literature) in a variety of settings. Not only that, there is a surf spot, humpback whales and babies to see, flying foxes (aka large fruit bats), coral reefs to snorkel, tropical green islands and coves, and plenty of Tongan handicrafts to purchase.

Eloise has enjoyed the large variety of street dogs to wave at and talk to (from a distance), the pigs and chickens wandering around, and the clerks at one of the whale watching shops who like to hold her. She has mastered almost all of the climbing necessary to get to any place in the boat...adding to our need for vigilance. Oops, she's awake.

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Ha'afeva

2011-06-15T21:18:00.000-07:00

I pulled out my final supply of a dozen eggs this morning and they are all mouldy on the outside of the shells. Provisions are getting low. Sugar, flour, rice, lentils, nuts now eggs are down to the final meals. The small yellow stifling box of a building run by a Chinese man had little to bolster the missing items. Some weevilly flour in holey plastic bags didn't appeal but I bought 6 eggs for 6 Pa'anga (3 US$) and some breakfast crackers. We have plenty of starchy roots: cassava, "yam", and potatoes, and breadfruit (not a root). So, we can eat like the locals eat which is not what I'm used to but should be just fine. except that with Toby aboard it's humbling for me to not have interesting, appetizing meals every day. It's something I have taken pride in for our entire cruising life, that I can (if not seasick) whip up a tasty treats out of simple ingredients. Things are getting a bit on the skimpy side however, partially due to my new reticence to purchase and eat items from cans. The lining of tin cans is usually made from polycarbonate (Plastic recycling #7). "Polycarbonate plastic is made with bisphenol A, which can leach….especially when heated. Bisphenol A [a.k.a. BPA] is a homone disruptor, linked to early onset of puberty, obesity, recurrent miscarriages, and decreased sperm count, and is associated with breast and prostate cancers." (Slow Death by Rubber Duck, p. 272-273).

So, I didn't stock up with the usual standbys of canned soups for health reasons, but it sure is cramping my meal prep style.

Meal prep for Eloise is still pretty simple. If I don't want her eating what I make for the grownups, I can scramble her an egg or steam her a carrot. She also has been nursing frequently because of that lower right molar that just keeps growing under her gums.

In other news, the island of Ha'afeva has been enjoyable. There's a ½ mile walk into town from where we are anchored on the west side of the island. We pass young cows, taro and cassava farms, mango trees, pigs, and the frondy trees that are used for weaving mats and numerous other handicrafts. Eloise waves at every cow, points and waves at each pig and squeaks and points when she sees something particularly interesting.

Lucy is a local lady with six children, an industrious husband and a bedridden father. I had been hoping to meet someone to hand off some of Eloise's outgrown clothes and found her in Lucy. Lucy has also been eager to meet cruisers to make them handicrafts, do washing or provide traditional Tongan meals. She told us she doesn't want to charge money but just to have people trade whatever they think they want to give her. Her kind offerings to make Eloise numerous woven items made us want to give right back to her.

Lucy's neighbor, Peter, on the other hand, with his repeated requests for money, petrol, etc. is not so easy to befriend. I can show up at Lucy's house and visit with her and her kids and ask questions about their culture, take pictures of her kids being cute, etc. With Peter's constant opportunistic mindset, there's no relationship, no sign of interest in getting to know one another, as with Lucy. They each see palangis (foreigners) as a means to improved lives but the difference is in the approach and how they treat the palangis.

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Ode to Nappy Liners

2011-06-05T15:04:00.000-07:00

Another rainy day, another day to wash diapers, and to collect 50 gallons of rain to fill our port side water tank.

So, a nappy liner (aka bio liner, diaper liner) is about the same feel as a dryer sheet, without the perfumes. When poop is deposited into the diaper, it does not smear into the cloth diaper. Instead, the liner contains all consistencies of poop. Changing the diaper consists of lifting out the diaper liner from both ends, dumping it into a garbage can/toilet, and then tossing the diaper into the laundry. No smeared in feces, no scraping with spatulas, etc. A slight poop discoloration is easily rinsed out. These make cloth diapers very practical.

More on the Nomad adventures to come....we are currently in a holding pattern as the
weather is blowing! we've been waiting to head to the Haapai group for the last 4 days and won't be leaving today or tomorrow. Last night 4 of the boats in this anchorage were driving around in 35/40 knot gusts cuz of anchors dragging. It was not a happy sight. We thought highly of our 1300 dollar anchor chain at that point. Eloise missed all the excitement and slept right through the jet turbine noises gusting over the boat.

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Boat projects in tropical place

2011-06-01T15:10:00.000-07:00

"Cruising is repairing your boat in exotic places" is a well worn cruiser joke. It's so well worn because it's quite true. Brian has rigged a tarp on the top deck, has the mainsail down and is replacing the grommets that are used to attach the sail to the mast. We have a more than 10 year old sail so it needs constant attention.

Yesterday was our 9 year anniversary! It needs constant attention, also :) We spent the day doing a variety of things. we cleaned the boat, we each ran around the island twice (took me 20 minutes per lap), and we took Eloise boogie boarding before her swim lesson. Since the only waves were the 3 inch wake from the fishing boats that motored past, the fun thing to do was to position Eloise on the board and give it little pushes back and forth between Mommy and Daddy in one foot of water. Her happy smile and attentive pose showed she was enjoying her new experience. She needs all the distractions she can get right now, as she is working on pushing out two of her molars.

We are working on a couple of projects and waiting for the weather to switch around before heading up to the Haapai group of islands to the north. (it is still part of Tonga, they just break up their country into groups).

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reunited.

2011-05-28T13:42:00.000-07:00

Ane had Eloise in her arms within 60 seconds of my arrival at seat 26F. Seated in 26D, a Tongan living in New Zealand, Ane was on her way to Tonga to visit her husband for a week. She played peek-a-boo with Eloise in her lap, she let her play with her necklace, dug in her purse to pull out a wad of keys for Eloise, and offered her lollies.
Half way to Tonga, Ane told me that if there was room in the car when her husband picked her up, they would give me a ride to the wharf where I was hoping to see Nomad moored.

Eloise was fascinated by the busy ants crawling around the base of the gear shift on Henry's car. She also was fascinated by the trees and houses and people flying past the open window as she sat in my lap en route into Nuku Alofa. After visiting the 4 different customs and immigration and port authority offices to determine if Nomad had arrived and cleared customs, I thought we should try to located a VHF radio to attempt a call to see if they were close to port. By this time, Eloise was in the back seat with Ane and Ofa who were tickling her and playing with her. It was a great adventure and she was still smiling and squeaking and playing peak a boo despite having been awakened at 3:30am that morning with only an hour nap on the plane.

I spotted a sailboat tied up right next to the main road and had them pull over. I approached the boat and told the crew my situation and asked if they could hail Nomad on the radio for me. They had to dinghy to another cruiser's boat to do so because their VHF was not functioning properly. Meanwhile, Ane had pulled out two boxes of cold KFC chicken she'd brought from New Zealand. The fuel shop guy next to where we were had pulled out a card table and two plastic chairs and put them under a shady awning for us, and then brought out a quarter of a watermelon for us to share.

When Greg returned 10 minutes later, he had good news. Nomad was within a mile of the wharf. I should see them coming any minute!

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Position Report from Nomad

2011-05-23T00:59:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to see where in the Pacific Brian, Tracy, Nomad and Uli are. We talked this afternoon on the Single Side Band radio (SSB). It was a poor connection but still wonderful to hear Brian's voice saying, "All's well" and to give us tidbits of news.

http://www.pangolin.co.nz/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=wdd9776

Nomad is Famous in Warkworth New Zealand

2011-05-20T16:22:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to an article in the paper about us. It gives some background to our connection to New Zealand.
http://www.localmatters.co.nz/Mahurangi+Matters/News+-+May+18+2011/Exchange+leads+sea-faring+couple+on+world+odyssey.html?__utma=1.298264738.1305863668.1305863668.1305933702.2&__utmb=1&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1305933702.2.2.utmccn%3D%28referral%29|utmcsr%3Dlocalmatters.co.nz|utmcct%3D%2FMahurangi%2BMatters.html|utmcmd%3Dreferral&__utmv=-&__utmk=156395452

They're off

2011-05-20T00:36:00.000-07:00

Nomad is currently carrying Brian and Tracy Hollister on a heading of NNE en route to Tonga. Eloise and I will fly up next week, hopefully my arrival date and theirs are close.
The last month has been busy. Eloise is busy climbing, crawling, laughing, waving, crowing, clapping, teething, pushing, and exploring. At the same time, Brian spearheaded many upgrades aboard Nomad. Cooling system flushed, wind generator repaired, stanchions rebedded, combings painted, dinghy repaired, brand new anchor chain purchased and installed, hawse pipes fabricated and installed, cutlass bearing replaced, whisker pole repaired and retrofitted, mainsail repaired, and many more things that I might not even know about. My main job has been to purchase food and keep Eloise out of the way of tools and small boat parts. Our good friends, John and Annette have helped us in countless ways, painting, driving us to Auckland, feeding us innumerable meals, doing laundry, and providing us always a spare bed for when the boat was full of fumes or too noisy for Eloise to nap.

Here are some recent photos of our cheerful child and our cheerful helper, John.

Spring Cleaning

2011-04-28T00:28:00.000-07:00

April should be the time for Spring Cleaning, except for one small detail...we're in the southern hemisphere. It is cold, rainy full-fledged fall weather. Nevertheless, Nomad is being fussed over. I'm going through cupboards, evaluating my organization (or lack of) for a range of items as varied as cooking dishes and medical supplies.

Brian has, in between rain showers, removed the stanchions and the caulking behind them. Sanding, Filling and paint prep have him checking the rain forecast for a prediction of 4 days of fine weather. None in sight. Once the combings are painted, the stanchions can be rebedded and decked out in their new lifelines and safety netting. This is just one of the many projects Brian is juggling as we prepare Nomad for the upcoming passage to Tonga. Please pray for a good weather window some time between May 10 and May 30. That's when Tracy Hollister from the Gorge will be here and available as crew on the passage.

Eloise has projects as well. Her number one project is consuming large amounts of food at frequent intervals throughout the day. Just two days ago she figured out how to use a footstool as a walker and spent the next 45 minutes walking around Grandma Shiela's living room with me jumping in every few moments to steer her away from tables chock full of glass figurines. Yesterday, she figured out how to climb down steps using her feet first. We've been modeling and helping her do this since we got back to Nomad, in the hopes of avoiding any major nose landings. We are very proud of our daughter who at this very moment is making banshee impressions.

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Seasons changing

2011-04-22T21:37:00.001-07:00

When we left New Zealand in late February, the humid hot days ended around 9pm. Now, cool winds, intermittent blue skies with showers and early sunsets remind us that winter is acoming.

Other things have changed. Eloise now feeds herself with a great deal of success, will have almost nothing to do with pureed foods, and crawls anywhere she pleases. In just two quick months her bursts of developments remind us that she is other than us and wonderful and unique. We watch her as we have watched sunsets in the past, oohing and ahing about subtle and rapid changing details - colorful and irreversible. Except that she is the opposite of a sunset, she is a sunrise.

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Hokey Pokey Biscuits

2011-04-22T21:37:00.000-07:00

125 g butter (approx. one cube)
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp golden syrup
1 Tbsp milk
1 1/2 cups Edmonds standard plain flour
1 tsp Edmonds baking soda

combine butter, sugar, golden syrup and milk in a saucepan. Heat until butter is melted and mixture nearly boiling, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and allow mixture to cool to lukewarm. Sift flour and soda together. Add to the cooled mixture. Stir well. Roll tablespoonsful of mixture into balls and place on ungreased oven trays. Flatten with a fork. Bake at 180 degrees C for 15-20 minutes.

From: Edmonds Cookery Book, "part of New Zealand's Heritage since 1879"

I made these yesterday and they were soft and butterscotchy when baked to pale and not golden brown. YUM.

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Time is swooshing past

2011-03-25T10:38:00.000-07:00

Eloise wriggles, explores, eats, crawls, talks, and sleeps through every single day. Busier than the hungry little caterpillar. On top of all of her activities, we've been visiting with my sister and her kids, my brother and his wife, and Brian's parents all at various times. In between all the visiting, I'm teaching an Educational Psychology class at Bethany on the weekends. It's enjoyable to be keeping my teaching skills in practice and to be meeting new interesting upcoming teachers. My favorite book these days is Smart Moves: why learning is not all in your head by Carla Hannaford. I've incorporated all sorts of ideas from that book into my Psych class, passed ideas on to my father-in-law, and applied certain concepts to Eloise activities. It's fun to learn things that apply to my real life.

Brian has been busily teaching 4 days a week in Salinas, working one day a week in San Jose, selling eucalyptus firewood, and rebuilding a deck on a house in his after hours. It will be nice to have him back when we get to New Zealand!
Here are some pictures of fun times with family.

Santa Cruz

2011-02-28T10:19:00.000-08:00

Eloise is over her jet lag. A few nights of wanting to be awake from 10pm to midnight made the adjustment a little rough for us but so did her complete disinterest in food for the entire airplane journey and the following two days. It made her a needy nurser and her mommy a bit concerned. All's well, however, she greedily is consuming the carrots and oatmeal and squashes I concoct for her. I bought beets at the farmer's market to prepare for her but luckily came to my senses before preparing it for her. Beet juice stains all over my clothes and hers doesn't sound fun.

Eloise remembers her Grandma and happily plays with her and asks her to pick her up. This makes me happy. I want my baby to know that her family loves her.
She contracted a brief case of stranger anxiety for about a week at the beginning of February. I was sure we were in for some tough times when we got home to a slew of new people for Eloise to meet. However, she recovered quickly and already reaches to have people hold her after only short interactions.

In fact, on the airplane, Eloise was making quite a scene at one point. We were just getting settled into our seats and I was holding her and standing until the last moment, I realized Eloise was looking around at the sea of faces behind us. A few people were smiling at her. She selected a couple and started flapping her arms, squeaking and crowing with her wide open mouthed smile. This delighted the row of people behind us and even a few further back. All of a sudden Eloise had captured a crowd of admirers. Her flapping and crowing increased. She was so excited, I had a hard time holding her and rested her on the back of my seat facing backwards. This exacerbated the delightful interactions. It was my favorite part of our trip home, watching the array of cultures represented by the people around us, all with smiles and shiny eyes, just because of my friendly child.

The family that plays in the rain together.....

2011-02-25T13:41:00.000-08:00

Courgette Cake yesterday, Tomato Relish today

2011-02-15T13:53:00.000-08:00

Tomato Relish

3 lbs Tomatoes
1/2 lb. sugar
2 Tbsp curry
1 lb. onions
2 heaped Tbsp cornflour
1 dessert tsp. mustard

Cut tomatoes and onions into separate dishes and sprinkle with salt. Leave overnight. Pour off the brine. Barely cover with vinegar. Bring to a boil and add sugar and boil for 1/2 hour. Thicken with cornflour and a little more vinegar. Add curry and mustard

The day is fast approaching when I will not be able to sit Ello on a blanket with a selection of toys while I cook. She is mobile to about 2 feet radius, getting ready to run. In the last week she learned to pull herself to standing. A few days later, she figured out how to sit up on her own.....New things every single day. To top it all off, there are new smiles every hour.

30 degrees in the shade (Celsius)

2011-02-05T22:34:00.000-08:00

Well, summer here in New Zealand isn't exactly like summer in Santa Cruz. No fog here; bit more humid; 3 more tropical storms coming through than ever I've seen in a Santa Cruz summer. Cyclone Wilma hit us last weekend. Six inches of rain landed on us in a 12 hour period. We put on our foul weather gear that afternoon and went for a hike. We outfitted Tiffany, our Santa Cruz boat guest, with some foulies as well and insisted she come too. It's much less grumpifying to take hikes in the rain than to sit cooped up on a boat in the rain. Of course, the weather never stays around long. The next day was sunny again.

This past week, Brian has worked with few breaks on Eloise's bedroom. It's in the back of the boat next to our aft cabin, where the head used to be. It's got a pint sized bed that's cozy with a bright purple cordurouy lee cloth that I made for it. A fellow yachtswoman helped us give an appropriate name to this baby room aboard: The After Berth.

So much time aboard has not only skewed our humor but was keeping Brian away from surf. This week we're off to Ahipara for a camping/surfing trip. Then, only one week more and we return to Santa Cruz for six whole weeks. Hurray!

Progress

2011-01-26T13:52:00.000-08:00

I've learned that progress cannot always be dictated or forced to happen. This lesson was taught to my by Eloise. A couple of months ago I was concerned that her sleeping pattern wasn't right. Now I look back and wonder what "right" might have been. I thought I was doing something wrong because I wasn't getting the product I wanted. With 3 months more of being Eloise's mama under my belt, I realize nothing was wrong at all. She was progressing and developing at her own pace and it just so happened that that snapshop of her progress didn't match what the sleep book said. Fortunately for her, I continued to be consisted in how I put her to sleep. We have a short routine and some predictable times. I sing the same sleepy time songs three times per day and avoid singing them during waking hours.

Now, she has a sleep pattern that fits what I like and fits the sleep book. But I've realized that doesn't mean she's more successful than three months ago. It means that's where she's progressed to this far and next week it quite possibly will change. If I'm consistent and stay tuned to her cues, with God's mercy, I'll be able to provide her with what she needs to contine to progress and develop. As it is, she just slept through the delivery of a very large load of gravel deposited outside of her door, large truck brakes and everything. Much to my shock!

It's good for me to be reminded of these things because my tendency in all of my life is to see that things aren't how I want them to be and immediately begin casting my eyes around for what I need to do differently because surely I can force circumstances, myself, others to be different if I just do the right thing. I wonder how much personal growth and progress (in myself and others) I've shortchanged by not accepting a certain stage of development. Perhaps, in concern, I've changed healthy patterns and situations because I didn't like how things looked at the moment. Sometimes growth takes place without manipulation.

I know this principle in gardening. If I plant a seed and nothing has popped up in the first few days, I don't dig up the seeds to see what is wrong. Instead I consistenly water and remove weeds. I do that at every stage of growth. From seed to flower. But I forget that the universe is wired that way when it comes to other things in my life. I'm grateful for Eloise's reminder. I'm also grateful for her two two-hour naps per day!

Baby Cuteness

2011-01-20T17:48:00.000-08:00

Eloise plays peekaboo with herself! She covers her face with her blankie, then kicks and wiggles until the blanket comes off. She then repeats the procedure over and over.

When sitting, she has learned to scooch an inch at a time towards desired objects. And she still smiles like crazy when she meets new people or daddy makes silly noises.

The Great Barrier Island

2011-01-20T17:37:00.000-08:00

I learned how to clean scallops. Eating them was even more fun than cleaning.

We climbed a very steep mountain with a 360 degree view and raced back down the mountain so I could be reunited with my baby.

Great Barrier Island

2011-01-13T20:12:00.000-08:00

I don't even know how to summarize our experiences here. This large island is 33 miles from where we usually moor the boat. It feels like a sailor's playground. Dozens of coves face many directions and provide flat calm anchoring in any wind condition.

My favorite place so far has been Smokehouse Bay. Years ago, the family that owns the property ashore envisioned a place for boaties to build fires for smoking fish. The idea blossomed and grew into an area that has a bath house with a small woodstove outside to heat the water for a shower and a tub inside. There's also an outdoor shower/tub combo that has ho water plumbed to it. In the center of the clearing is a fire pit with picnic tables around it. On the other side of the clearing is the large fish smokehouse. Right next to shore in amongst some flax bushes are sinks with plumbed water and old-fashioned laundry wringers attached. Clotheslines are erected on a small rock outcropping nearby. Hundreds of people use the facilities here every week during the summer but, despite the absence of garbage bins, the whole area is tidy and well-kept.

Brian gave Eloise a swim lesson in the warm water of the outdoor tub a few days ago. She splashed and smiled and performed her drills with him quite happily.

Pictures are coming soon.

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My Baby is pretty darn amazing.

2011-01-02T21:10:00.000-08:00

Well, the world might be all excited about a new year. But, for me the fireworks should be for my little one's giant grins or her little milestones. Brian, Eloise, and I have spent the last couple of weeks aboard Nomad with only short forays ashore or to town. We go to the beaches around the area and have Eloise splash in the quiet shallow spots. It's a far cry from Brian's solo days of chasing surf, but this family life stuff suits.

The week before Christmas, found us down in the Coramandel peninsula region exploring anchorages tucked in cattle grazing lands.

We spent Christmas with our good friends John and Annette and their family. One of my highlights was seeing octogenarian, Grandma Sheila, sitting on the floor next to Eloise, playing and chatting with her.

With the new year we have a friend from Santa Cruz, Tiffany Harmon, aboard for a few days before she heads off to road trip through New Zealand. She brought us a fresh infusion of diapers! ... as well as a few other treats from home. We're also really grateful to have Tiffany teaching us how to teach Eloise to swim.

Eloise continues to be a very contented baby. Her first tooth is still working its way in and upsetting her nap schedule a bit but all in all, she is happy. She delights in splashing water so hard that it covers her face makes her sputter. She figured out how to sit up (when we place her) right before Christmas, and now she plays contentedly on her own, sitting with pillows around her under the galley table. She inchwormed herself one morning about 3 inches. That was a big deal to me. ;) In the cockpit, when she's on her back, she can push her self backwards a few feet. And she continues to delight in bouncing in all forms. The term "bouncing baby" really is accurate. But her biggest accomplishment is to charm the hearts of all who meet her. She spreads smiles wherever she goes.

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Food Log

2010-12-17T23:26:00.000-08:00

I never feel as if I've got a true mental picture of a someone's trip, whether to a restaurant or to a foreign country, unless I've heard what they ate. Here is a culinary image:

Fish Stock:
1. catch some fish (or have friends catch fish) and fillet it.
2. Save all of the viscera, bones, scales, entire head (including eyeballs!)
3. Toss the above parts into a pressure cooker and fill with water even with the top of the mess.
4. Optional: add a bay leaf
5. Bring the pot to pressure and cook for 20 or so minutes.
6. when pot is ready to open, do so and pour the entire brew through a very fine strainer.
7. Keep the juice and use as the base for soups and chowders.
8. Toss the particles overboard after picking through the head for choice scraps of very tasty meat.

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Life in New Zealand

2010-12-07T13:11:00.000-08:00

View on a hike from Lagoon Bay. We took a short dinghy ride from Scott's Landing to this bay.

This is Eloise trying out her high chair and wearing the excellent sun hat she wears almost every day.

John Carr frying freshly caught snapper aboard Nomad on Thanksgiving weekend

Newsflash: Eloise banished to mucky stable

2010-12-07T12:56:00.000-08:00

I’ve been thinking about Christmas from a different perspective lately. Though she’s only been in our lives for five quick months, Eloise’s presence has been life-changing.

Verses I’ve heard all of my life mean so much more. The idea of God as a Father has become three-dimensional. I wonder about the deep well of emotions that I have for Eloise. If I feel like this about her, does that really mean God feels that way about insignificant me? The delight I have when Eloise acquires a milestone as little as pushing herself up with her arms must equally translate to the God levelIf that’s the case, then he must feel that same immense delight when he sees EACH ONE of his millions of children developing as he planned. On the flip side, when the day comes for Eloise to first be cruel or hateful, I will be sad because I see her as a beautiful, perfect creature. I think about God carrying the weight of that type of sadness for all of us unique and individually created people when we choose to be hateful or choose our own path away from him.

Then images from Bethlehem pop into my head. The Son of God transmogrified from the celestial dimension into a grubby, murderous land. That would be far worse than if I decided to drop Eloise off in the home of known child abusers. How could God have been willing to rip himself apart like that? The only possible answer is that he so longed for the hearts of those murderous grubby people that he was willing to carry the sorrow of Jesus’ absence. And so God dropped his beloved Son off at a stable in a cold, tiny town in the middle of the night.

But the loving daddy in him couldn’t just leave it like that. He had to tell people about it. As any devoted father would do, God hired a choir and sent birth announcements to whomever in the area might listen. As it turns out, it was some shepherds and some “heathen” stargazers. They left their sheep and their telescopes and headed to visit the baby, bringing gifts. Reminds me a lot of the friends and family members who heard of Eloise’s birth and took off work and traveled to come ooh and aaah and take pictures.

So this Christmas I plan to make the effort to oooh and aaah over Jesus, take pictures. But that’s just the beginning. Many of those same people who came to ooh and aah over Eloise follow her life closely. They want updates. They want cuddles. They want to know every drooling detail. But really they want her to come home, because they love her.

There’s more to Christmas than the snapshot of a mucky stable. It’s really the on-going story of a daddy aching for each one of his kids to come home.

family life

2010-12-06T14:27:00.000-08:00

In the month since we arrived in New Zealand, Eloise has practiced sitting up, growing hair and getting to know new people who love her and treat her like she's just the cleverest girl ever. Brian and I have practiced cleaning out the boat's nooks and corners and sailing (did some zig-zagging across the Mahurangi harbour this past weekend), and we bought a station wagon, complete with a "baby on board" sign suction-cupped to the side window. Unbeknownst to us, the words "Subaru Legacy" are code for "break into me and steal me". A week after purchasing this 1994 wagon, it was taken for a joy ride and relieved of our belongings (they didn't take the car seat!). Thanks to friends and strangers, it's back on the road and we're being careful to remove all objects of value before parking it anywhere.

My favorite times of the day are still the moments when I peel back the blanket over Eloise's bed. Her face lights up and her whole body wriggles with joy. After the initial reaction, she sometimes pulls her crocheted snuggle blanket over her face and then peers out again with that same enormous gummy smile.

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pictures

2010-11-21T18:59:00.001-08:00

Just thought I'd share a few photos.
I never thought I'd have to store my baby under the galley table with the bags of flour but that's actually been a really great place to prop her. I can do my kitchen work and talk to her and keep an eye on her. pretty soon, I'll need to place a barricade across the entrance but even then, it should be a great spot.

All in all, Eloise is still a very smiley girl who likes people and gets quiet and wide-eyed when we take her outside. She's started reaching her arms out for things or people she wants. She has warmed up very quickly to her Kiwi Nana and Papa, John and Annette. She is still drooling and showing no teeth for all the effort. We keep checking!
Here are a few pictures to show her in her daily life.

Sheep

2010-11-15T16:28:00.000-08:00

I find it appropriate that my first entry in New Zealand made mention of sheep. This one does as well. Sue greeted us as Brian and I pulled in to John and Annette's driveway, "oh good, you can help us with the sheep." They needed the Ute (translation: pickup truck) we've been borrowing, to pull a trailer with Annette's sheep in it to the butcher's. Except the five sheep weren't in the trailer yet. They were baaing around in the tiny paddock (field) below John and Annette's house. So I climbed into the field with Sue and John to herd the sheep toward the gate. Brian backed the Ute down to the gate entrance. On our second try, we got the sheep in the pen next to the gate. John began wrestling each one onto its bum. Once on their bums, sheep become calm and he was able to drag them through the gate and place their front feet on the back ledge of the trailer to boost them in. Brian operated the gate, and assisted with sheep boosting. Sue and I stood at the back of the pen's short gate to intimidate the sheep from jumping back over into the paddock.

Eloise slept in her car seat in the Ute this entire time.

Next, Sue and I hopped into the Ute and drove the sheep to "Dr. Hud's Killing and Processing" operation out in Kaipara Flats. I was surprised to see genuine redwood trees on the side of the road up to Dr. Hud's. The sheep were unloaded and marked and Sue drove us back to the house. On the drive we passed the farm she co-owns. I learned all about share-milking and a bit about dairy farming.

Eloise slept almost all the way home.

She is teething and it appears as if all that drooling and frustration requires extra sleep.

Our bonnie wee lass

2010-11-11T13:31:00.000-08:00

Our welcome to New Zealand was an hour and a half later than expected due to a delay of our take off in Sydney. Since then, however, nothing has been slow. We had one day of puttering around the Carr's house and then the next morning we hopped into the dinghy with Eloise in her bright yellow and red life jacket on. She was completely relaxed and snuggled into my lap all the way down the river to Nomad. Once on Nomad, I made her a nest under the galley table and laid her down for her nap. Her acceptance of new experiences with equanimity has been a wonder and a relief. She only woke up when Nomad's motor turned off after an hour and a half of motoring to the Warkworth Cement Works (there's a great view of this site on Google Earth if you want to see where we're berthed).

Eloise has seen sheep for the first time, been a bit curious about the accents of people around her but mostly pretty much her usual self with some extra snuggling required.

Her Christmas gift from mom and dad is early. We bought her a sheepskin of her very own yesterday. It will be her mattress on the boat. Annette made it a great slip cover. Tonight is the test run sleeping on the boat. We'll let you know how it goes.

I knew I was in another country this morning when John was sitting around sipping coffee with his two co-workers at the kitchen table. One of them, Phil, looked over at Eloise sitting on Annette's lap and said, "She's a bonnie wee lass, isn't she?" I glowed!

Sleep 2

2010-09-29T15:11:00.000-07:00

So, I shouln't have crowed so quickly with delight after one success. That was the only success with that method. That gimmick included waiting outside of the sleeper's room, watching until the first signs of early waking, dashing in, nursing/soothing the child back to sleep before she woke up. This is not the solution I needed. I needed something that didn't require me to re-sleep her half way through each nap.

The good thing about that original dud was the idea of lurking outside the room right around the time of the early nap awakening. I used that strategy to see that Eloise was startling herself awake. She looks like I might look when I have falling dreams. This triggered me to remember that the nap strike began around when I decided she was too wiggly to swaddle any more. So, I've resumed a semi-swaddle technique that seems to make her feel safe and keep her from startling. Longer naps have been the joyful result.

Sleep

2010-09-17T20:48:00.000-07:00

the simple entity I have enjoyed for so many years without giving it much thought has now become a prize to be pursued. I knew that it would because I've watched other parents wrestle with how to provide this gift to their children and to themselves. That's what it has become for me. A needed gift that I want to give my little girl. When her dark eyelashes close delicately on her porcelain chubby cheeks I feel the same satisfaction as when I hear her rhythmic gulping at my breast. I am providing her with the means to her brain growth, cell growth,and emotional well-being when I provide her with sleep.

The various books, the websites, the questioning of friends and doctor are all worth the effort if I gain a nugget that leads to sleep for Eloise. The problem with all of that information gathering is that, as with all things "baby", the study of sleep is rife with opinions at odds with each other, at odds with my specific child's behavior.

But today there was a breakthrough. For some reason about 3 weeks ago, my little darling decided to go on a nap strike. That's right. No signs, no memo to announce the radical change, just one day she slept for only 45 minutes instead of the usual 3 hours during her morning nap time. Not only did this throw off all the other naps of the day it disturbed my heretofore gentle grinning baby. Since that day, she hasn't slept for more than one hour at any of her nap times unless I decide to wear her in the carrier for her entire nap time. I have done this many days because after a 45 minute nap, she was waking up yawning, nervous, unwilling to play on her own, and much more clingy. I was sad. I wanted to read her Sandra Boynton books instead of trying to convince her not to cry.

But, as I said before, today there was a breakthrough. I read one of my books and it had a suggestion for my exact situation. I performed the suggestion, albeit skeptically. It worked. She slept 3 hours again. I had to keep checking on her to make sure she was ok. But what a relief. The reward for all that sleep? A cheerful enormous smile when she eased back into waking.

Esther

2010-08-25T14:25:00.000-07:00

Esther was alive for 16 years. and some might say that's it, it's over. But as her family posted this morning, "We are convinced she is more truly alive than ever but still our hearts are breaking... " They also wrote, "now she belongs to the heavens." I believe and I think they would agree that she has always belonged to the heavens ever since the Creator imagined her to life. As we all belong to the heavens.

Right now I'm very grateful for my little Eloise so that I can feel more deeply the agony the loss of my cousin's daughter.

I feel the 12 pounds of solid aliveness as I hold Eloise and listen to her grunts and squeaks. When I laid her down to her nap just now I imagined how it would be to lay her down only one last time, her peaceful face a farewell visage. It breaks me. The hopes Esther's family had, the joy they had in her quirky spunky self. Esther steered our boat once, half of her life ago, before the cancer. She hopped right up to the steering wheel and took a turn, no worries about how her efforts would turn out, just a curiosity and excitement to try her hand at a new thing.

She has many new things waiting for her in eternity.

Here are her feelings from a couple of weeks ago:
http://www.youtube.com/user/cookie4monster4#p/u/4/fa3XHeMtY3s

growing

2010-08-11T18:13:00.000-07:00

Eloise is now 11 lb. 4 oz. only 5 weeks after she arrived at 9 lbs. She still feels quite tiny!
Recent joys have been:
Eye contact
smiling games
dimply hands
and much much more.

Next Chapter

2010-07-29T16:40:00.000-07:00

Eloise arrived 3 weeks ago. All 9 pounds of her.
I started reading 9 months ago in preparation for coming and realize now that I could never have prepared completely. But, I swung through books as a child on monkey bars swings from one crossbar to the next. The Girlfriend's guide to Pregnancy was superceded by Dr. Sears' "The Pregnancy Book". Next came "Childbirth without Fear" which was in turn left behind for Dr. Sears' "The Birth Book". Thrown into the mix were the pamphlets from the medical world and google searches when nothing else answered my questions.

Now I've swung on and "The Nursing Mother's Companion" truly has been just that. The ubiquitous Dr. Sears and his "The Baby Book" is just coming in to view and sits on the coffee table, right now open to Chapter 1. Many of the books along my journey have raised concerns, caused anxiety, reduced anxiety, comforted me, puzzled me, or lead me to further inquiry.

But most delightful of all the books I've read, all the resources I've gone through along this ride, is Eloise herself. I never guessed that learning to read my daughter would be the most important joy of all. She has already taught me how to read her hunger signs, her happy sounds, her upset sounds. She has already in her short life caused anxiety one moment and then comforted me in the next. She certainly requires further inquiry for many more years.

Baby Eve

2010-06-26T22:11:00.000-07:00

No, that's not the baby's name. That's just what day it is, or feels like. Today, the official due date, has only two more hours in it but there are no indications of imminent labor. Which is just fine because I feel pretty nervous about the whole thing.
Feels like a gale is brewing and we've done all the battening of hatches and reading of storm guides. All that's left is to see what it's really like in real life. I know we can't put it off forever but one more quiet walk with Brian around the Santa Cruz harbor, one more day of just deciding what I felt like doing when I wanted to, restful and pleasant, without factoring in the needs of a little one, made me grateful.

And just like all the gales we've been through on our sturdy ship, Nomad, this gale of labor and adjusting to a new life as 3 will soon be a part of our shared story, part of who we are and who we're becoming.

4 more weeks

2010-05-31T15:08:00.000-07:00

In the last two months I've gained 15 pounds, (and no, I still don't think it's very kind for people to tell me how large I'm getting), checked off a long term goal of visiting Victoria Canada's Butchart Gardens with my mom and sister, finished my semester teaching at Bethany, met my new nephew Elijah (born a week ago), continued my very helpful prenatal yoga classes, planted a veggie garden, and made a long list of things I want to accomplish before the baby gets here.

More than ever pregnancy is reminding me of the cruising life. The unknown and the uncontrollability is difficult to accept. I want my labor and birth to go a certain way, but I can't make things happen. Just like picking the 'perfect" anchorage based on books written a few years ago. Many times, tired and ready to rest, we'd pull in just before sunset, looking forward to stillness and the ability to relax, only to discover a rolly anchorage, untenable anchoring conditions, or onshore winds. We would have to leave, or if it was too late, we'd have to keep anxious night watch.

Many times I wondered about my ability to handle what the sea or the weather might hand us. Similarly, I've wondered many times whether I'll be able to meet the demands of motherhood. On the sea, we took each moment as it came, reefed down if we expected poor weather, slept and prepared food when we could so we'd be prepared for times we couldn't sleep or eat easily. I suppose we'll do the same as we set sail into the sea of parenthood. We'll have family around us that love us and support us, and more books than we could ever read on the various subjects of child rearing. So, I'm practicing not being anxious about the unpredictable unknown future.

one adventure to the next

2010-03-25T10:04:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been feeling a bit like a traitor. This blog started out as travelogue of Nomad and her crew preparing to go off shore and their adventures thereafter. Nomad has safely voyaged about 7 or 8 thousand miles and is tucked into a small bay in the Mahurangi Harbour of New Zealand. So where does that leave this blog? No ocean or boat-related adventures, no blog? I think not.

I've realized that this next chapter of our lives, preparing for a new member of our family that isn't made out of fiberglass, is providing us many similar experiences as did our cruising days. Let me list a few comparisons:

1. Just as going to the specialty boat stores and reading the word "marine" printed on a package immediately increased the price by double, equally true in the world of special "infant" or "maternity" items. For example, even though they weren't even infant or maternity items, I willingly, albeit in a state of shock, paid 50$ for a few bottles of natural/paraben-free shampoo and other products. All for the baby's sake. It was the same with Nomad. If we needed a specific item that other stores didn't sell, plop went the money.

2. GADGETS. Think of boating and think of gadgets. You need this tool, that tool, this monitoring device for the bilge, this other one for your wind speed and direction. But you don't really need all of the gadgets that the marketing people and the cruising magazines say are "must-haves". Really, all you need is a solid sea-worthy hull, a good set of sails and rigging, a way to provide yourself with meals, a good GPS and some paper charts, and off you go. Sure, there's lots more icing you can put on that cake to make it easier but at some point if you keep buying gadgets, you either don't have money to leave the harbor, or you have to buy a bigger boat to put the extra gadgets in.
BABY GADGETS. Ditto the above paragraph, except for the must-haves are the baby, diapers, means of feeding it, cleaning it, clothing it, and a safe way to transport the little thing. Again, there are a plethora of items to be had that claim to (and some actually do) make life with a baby more simpler, but at some point, a person would need to buy a bigger house or garage in order to house all the items "needed" for the small 10 lb. human.

3. The Unknown. In cruising there are many simple unknown things like looking at a pen drawing of an anchorage and its hazards but not knowing what it's really like for our specific boat, the current weather conditions. Reading vague references to anchoring "between the white two story house and the yellow buoy" but knowing that was written three years ago with two hurricane seasons in between is exactly like the many "baby guides" written. A person can read the experiences of others but so much is different for each family. There are the little unknowns like gender, eye color, temperament, etc.
In sailing there are large unknowns also. Hurricanes blow in suddenly, mistakes (very rarely) end boats up on reefs, crew members abandon ship, gadgets malfunction... the list is endless. Entering life from the birth canal immediately exposes each of us to very large unpredictable unknowns. As the captains of our little baby's life it will be our job to be as prepared with gadgets, knowledge, experience, and wise supporters to help him or her navigate into adulthood and all the challenges in between. It's daunting, just as leaving California on a 42 foot boat was daunting. But, with God in the heavens and guiding us we made it. We can only pray the same is true of our next venture.

Health Care "Reform" sounds like hostile take over

2010-03-16T12:17:00.000-07:00

I haven't researched all of the items in this list but some of the things I already knew. It's even worse than I thought! Even if 25% of the items on this list that a practicing M.D. wrote up, are true, us regular people are going be left holding the short end of the stick. I'm writing my representative today!

Page 22 of the HC Bill: Mandates that the Govt will audit books of all employers that self-insure!!

Page 30 Sec 123 of HC bill: THERE WILL BE A GOVT COMMITTEE that decides what treatments/benefits you get.

Page 29 lines 4-16 in the HC bill: YOUR HEALTH CARE IS RATIONED!!!

Page 42 of HC Bill: The Health Choices Commissioner will choose your HC benefits for you. You have no choice!

Page 50 Section 152 in HC bill: HC will be provided to ALL non-US citizens, illegal or otherwise.

Page 58 HC Bill: Govt will have real-time access to individuals' finances & a 'National ID Health card' will be issued! (Papers please!)

Page 59 HC Bill lines 21-24: Govt will have direct access to your bank accounts for elective funds transfer. (Time for more cash and carry)

Page 65 Sec 164: Is a payoff subsidized plan for retirees and their families in unions & community organizations: (ACORN).

Page 84 Sec 203 HC bill: Govt mandates ALL benefit packages for private HC plans in the 'Exchange.'

Page 85 Line 7 HC Bill: Specifications of Benefit Levels for Plans -- The Govt will ration your health care!

Page 91 Lines 4-7 HC Bill: Govt mandates linguistic appropriate services. (Translation: illegal aliens.)

Page 95 HC Bill Lines 8-18: The Govt will use groups (i.e. ACORN & Americorps to sign up individuals for Govt HC plan.

Page 85 Line 7 HC Bill: Specifications of Benefit Levels for Plans. (AARP members - your health care WILL be rationed!)
Page 102 Lines 12-18 HC Bill: Medicaid eligible individuals will be automatically enrolled in Medicaid. (No choice.)

Page 12 4 lines 24-25 HC: No company can sue GOVT on price fixing. No "judicial review" against Govt monopoly.

Page 127 Lines 1-16 HC Bill: Doctors/ American Medical Association - The Govt will tell YOU what salary you can make.

Page 145 Line 15-17: An Employer MUST auto-enroll employees into public option plan. (NO choice!)

Page 126 Lines 22-25: Employers MUST pay for HC for part-time employees ANDtheir families. (Employees shouldn't get excited about this as employers will be forced to reduce its work force, benefits, and wages/salaries to cover such a huge expense.)

Page 149 Lines 16-24: ANY Employer with payroll 401k & above who does not provide public option will pay 8% tax on all payroll! (See the last comment in parenthesis.)
Page 150 Lines 9-13: A business with payroll between $251K & $401K who doesn't provide public option will pay 2-6% tax on all payroll.

Page 167 Lines 18-23: ANY individual who doesn't have acceptable HC according to Govt will be taxed 2.5% of income.

Page 170 Lines 1-3 HC Bill: Any NONRESIDENT Alien is exempt from individual taxes. (Americans will pay.) (Like always)

Page 195 HC Bill: Officers & employees of the GOVT HC Admin.. will have access to ALL Americans' finances and personal records. (I guess so they can 'deduct' their fees)

Page 203 Line 14-15 HC: "The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax." (Yes, it really says that!) ( a 'fee' instead)
Page 239 Line 14-24 HC Bill: Govt will reduce physician services for Medicaid Seniors. (Low-income and the poor are affected.)

Page 241 Line 6-8 HC Bill: Doctors: It doesn't matter what specialty you have trained yourself in -- you will all be paid the same! (Just TRY to tell me that's not Socialism!)

Page 253 Line 10-18: The Govt sets the value of a doctor's time, profession, judgment, etc. (Literally-- the value of humans.)

Page 265 Sec 1131: The Govt mandates and controls productivity for "private" HC industries.

Page 268 Sec 1141: The federal Govt regulates the rental and purchase of power driven wheelchairs.

Page 272 SEC. 1145: TREATMENT OF CERTAIN CANCER HOSPITALS - Cancer patients - welcome to rationing!

Page 280 Sec 1151: The Govt will penalize hospitals for whatever the Govt deems preventable (i.e...re-admissions).

Page 298 Lines 9-11: Doctors: If you treat a patient during initial admission that results in a re-admission -- the Govt will penalize you.

Page 317 L 13-20: PROHIBITION on ownership/investment. (The Govt tells doctors what and how much they can own!)

Page 317-318 lines 21-25, 1-3: PROHIBITION on expansion. (The Govt is mandating that hospitals cannot expand.)
Page 321 2-13: Hospitals have the opportunity to apply for exception BUT community input is required. (Can you say ACORN?)

Page 335 L 16-25 Pg 336-339: The Govt mandates establishment of=2 outcome-based measures. (HC the way they want -- rationing.)
Page 341 Lines 3-9: The Govt has authority to disqualify Medicare Advance Plans, HMOs, etc. (Forcing people into the Govt plan)

Page 354 Sec 1177: The Govt will RESTRICT enrollment of 'special needs people!' Unbelievable!

Page 379 Sec 1191: The Govt creates more bureaucracy via a "Tele-Health Advisory Committee." (Can you say HC by phone?)

Page 425 Lines 4-12: The Govt mandates "Advance-Care Planning Consult." (Think senior citizens end-of-life patients.)

Page 425 Lines 17-19: The Govt will instruct and consult regarding living wills, durable powers of attorney, etc. (And it's mandatory!)
Page 425 Lines 22-25, 426 Lines 1-3: The Govt provides an "approved" list of end-of-life resources; guiding you in death. (Also called 'assisted suicide.')(Sounds like Soylent Green to me.)

Page 427 Lines 15-24: The Govt mandates a program for orders on "end-of-life." (The Govt has a say in how your life ends!)

Page 429 Lines 1-9: An "advanced-care planning consultant" will be used frequently as a patient's health deteriorates.

Page 429 Lines 10-12: An "advanced care consultation" may include an ORDER for end-of-life plans.. (AN ORDER TO DIE FROM THE GOVERNMENT?!?)

Page 429 Lines 13-25: The GOVT will specify which doctors can write an end-of-life order.. (I wouldn't want to stand before God after getting paid for THAT job!)

Page 430 Lines 11-15: The Govt will decide what level of treatment you will have at end-of-life! (Again -- no choice!)

Page 469: Community-Based Home Medical Services = Non-Profit Organizations. (Hello? ACORN Medical Services here!?!)

Page 489 Sec 1308: The Govt will cover marriage and family therapy. (Which means Govt will insert itself into your marriage even.)

Page 494-498: Govt will cover Mental Health Services including defining, creating, and rationing those services.

slippery slope

2010-03-06T13:30:00.001-08:00

Well all that nesting has kept me away from the keyboard. OR maybe it's just me keeping me away. Life has felt like one of those ill-designed water slides where there's a really steep fast corner that opens to an almost flat spot that requires scooching to reach the next steep spot. During the scooching part though, there's that panicky urge, "I'd better move quick or the person behind me is going to catch up and mow me over in this dead spot." However, in my situation, the slow scooching parts aren't long enough. Even with the panicky urge that I'd better get in gear and get all the things done before my next Ed Psych class looms... or before I'm too huge to dig that hole for the azalea... or before THE BABY COMES...
I want to linger in the slow times, taking walks with Brian smelling the smell of redwood soil and the daphne plant blooming. Puttering in our room also calls. Anything with a slow rhythm calls, like the satisfied mooing and bell-clanging that call peace to hikers through the Swiss alps.

This long water slide will drop me, drop Brian and me, out into the sudden splash of an infant into our lives. I keep waking up in the mornings, leisurely enjoying the feel of the sheets and the sun peeking in the window. Then I look over at the cradle next to my side of the bed and the reality of peaceful mornings is contrasted with the upcoming urgency of an infant's needs. And that infant will be ours. That infant's needs will be our responsibility. Wow.
It feels like more of a change than getting married did.

Nesting

2010-02-08T12:13:00.000-08:00

The cold, dusty box-filled "new basement" (aka storage room)as it has been called since the mid-90s when my mom and dad built it, is our nest. The rat-chewed boxes of my preacher grandpa's commentaries have been discarded and their contents tucked on shelves. The forgotten antiques have seen the light of day are being prepared to be displayed. The 400 lb. capacity Toledo Ohio meat packing scale will be our baby changing table. It's free and we can't buy that type of changing table at Toys R' Us anyway.

So our nesting continues. A bit of paint on this tacky chest of drawers, a brass boat lamp hung on the support post, our basement home is becoming cozy. Next, I'll plant ferns outside our window and sew some matching curtains. Hmmm what next?

introvert

2010-02-01T16:17:00.000-08:00

Since I have been sharing the very intimate personal space of my body with another being, albeit tiny, I have been less interested in socializing. A definition of introvert is someone who is rejuvenated through solitary activities and drained by social activities. Talking is harder work than ever before. Why this is, I don't know. Blame it on Baby Thom. Or me being awash with different chemicals in different combinations than ever before.
For some strange reason puttering around our little apartment or in the garden is much more appealing than in the past. Or maybe I just miss the rhythm and seclusion of our little home on the sea. It's simpler that way.

To top all of this off, I have always believed that people's belly's were part of their personal space. So, now my personal space is announcing itself to people in a very obvious fashion. Thereby inviting conversation about it, and PATTING of it. Maybe I should invest in a T-shirt that says, "Do not touch". Or maybe I should try to be less prickly. But, it is my body after all. I guess I could stay home for the next 4 months. That should cure my introversion and the belly patting. It would like when Frances the badger loves jam and so her mother only feeds her jam and toast. Frances starts not liking jam so much. hmmm.

grass of the field

2010-01-22T20:43:00.000-08:00

In a crazy time of transition it's good to remember that Jesus said that God clothes the grass of the fields. They do indeed look well-dressed with sparkling raindrops on their heads these days.
Some time in early December something happened that made me start worrying about Brian having no jobs lined up and me having only two small teaching gigs lined up. What were we going to do about all the maternity clothes and baby STUFF we'd have to purchase, and what about this and that other thing we'd have to pay for. Luckily, I didn't follow this train of thought as long as I have in the past. I decided that if Jesus said not to worry, then I wasn't going to try to figure it out on my own, I'd have to actually act as if I believed this person actually meant what he said. So, whenever the urge arose to pine about what we didn't have figured out yet, I told myself, "God knows what we need better than I do."

Christmas Day in Santa Cruz, my best friend showed up with a sack of maternity clothes for me. It almost made me cry. What a waste of time it would have been to have worried all those weeks. Other things have arrived as needed. So, I might not be quite as well-dressed as the green grass with diamonds in my hair, but I know I'm loved and we have all we need for each day.

veritas

2010-01-22T20:39:00.001-08:00

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
-U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights, Amendment 1

I still remember a display my students and I saw at San Francisco’s science Exploratorium a few years ago. It was entitled something like, “Is seeing believing?” When I pushed the button, a picture of a sedan parked in front of a small storefront appeared on the large screen. The instructions were to watch the screen to see if any changes occurred. The picture started flashing and continued for about 30 seconds. At the end, the slide held still and observers were asked if the original picture was different from the final picture. The picture had the same elements of a car in front of a store front and the color schemes seemed right. After some time, the original picture appeared next to the final picture. They were completely different! Stucco siding had changed to brick. The make and color of the car were totally different. Items in the glass window of the store had changed. The store sign had changed.

The display next to this one was similar and even more startling. Again, observers were instructed to watch a screen of two basketball teams. Half of the players were dressed n all white and the other half were dressed in all black. We were to watch the basketball carefully. At the end of the 60 second “game” we were asked if we saw anything unusual. Nope. Boring game, no one even made a shot. Watching the same video clip a second time but not focusing on the ball, I was shocked. Moments after the scrimmage began, a person in a black gorilla costume entered the game and wandered around between the players slowly and then eventually walked off the other side of the screen. How had I missed something so obvious?

The follow-up information to these two displays explained various things about vision and the brain, how they work, and why it was easy to present such obvious changes right in front of us without us even detecting them. What we sensed and perceived was not what was truly happening. The things that were happening were right in front of us and able to be detected if we could have only slowed down the video or taken time to compare each slide side by side.

It’s startling to me how pertinent these science displays are to the events in our nation. Breaking news flashes at us from almost every electronic device we own. We are told what the problems in our nation are. We are told what is necessary to solve them. There’s no time to compare today’s information with last year’s events or ask questions. But if we look at the picture today of our nation and compare it to the Constitution or Bill of Rights from a century ago, there are significant differences. The news flashes and security bulletins keep flashing and keep slightly changing the view. Ten, twenty, thirty years ago people would have been aghast to learn of full body scans at airports. A full body scan means that any official behind the screen can see your body fully naked despite the clothing you’re wearing. (Here’s some links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOrkZOX2ufk&feature OR http://www.informationliberation.com/index.php?id=28437 Or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA4-A-mzoWY&feature=related ) Yet, I have heard no outcries. Why aren’t we asking questions? Who really benefits? At what cost is this security? Is this really security? Our belongings and bodies are more violated and intruded on at the airports than anywhere else in a public venue. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5fSnDAno84&feature=PlayList&p=508864BA3B5FB09D&index=30) Why aren’t we insisting on our rights guaranteed to us by the founding fathers? Truth can withstand questions and inquiry. Smoke and mirrors (as seen at the displays in the Exploratorium) only withstand intelligent observation and inquiry for so long.
Another example, the security watch list we hear referred to obliquely on the news. Which committee picks the people on it? How do they select the unlucky listees? Is there a rubric? Are there checks and balances so that the Red Scare days aren’t repeated? Can a person contest their place on the list? What rights of theirs are stripped without any due process (such as legal charges)? For example, Brian and were checking in at San Jose airport’s American Airlines counter to fly to Kansas. We tried to use the electronic check-in and it directed us to see an agent. When we spoke to her she said there was a security hold on Brian. ????! When I asked her what that meant she sad she couldn’t tell me what the security hold was about. I pressed her to give me examples of why a person might have a security hold placed on them. Nope. She wasn’t permitted to tell me that either. I was able to find out that the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) is given names by the government to put on its security hold list.

Piaget talks about how people adapt to or assimilate new information into how they view the world. We have a choice to assimilate these happenings and view them as “just another security measure...they’re just doing their jobs, just a harmless mistake.” Or, we can start asking questions. What is true here? How is it that a man with no criminal record, without ties to any criminals, and with appropriate documentation can be placed on a security check? More importantly, what recourse does Brian have? As it stands now, there is no recourse. We don’t know how to vindicate him. We don’t know his supposed crime. But this isn’t all that surprising. Last year, a bill was passed that gives the government permission to label any person, U.S. citizen or not, as an enemy combatant without evidence or legal process. If a person is labeled an enemy combatant, they may be put in prison with no charge and no rights to a trial.

This is not the nation we tell the elementary school kids that we live in. A gorilla has come in amongst us and we don’t even notice it because we’re told to watch the news and listen to what the government is doing to protect us. But the gorilla is the government and it is not protecting us. It is protecting itself and its agenda and the powers it keeps taking away from us in things like “The Patriot Act” and now the Environmental Bill it’s working on.

Here is an item part of the existing innocuous sounding Clean Water Act:
The jurisdiction the Federal Government currently has over “navigable waters” will be changed to “waters”. This may seem innocuous. But, if you have a pond, or a tiny creek or a well, even large irrigation ditches on your property, it would be no longer under your jurisdiction. That would mean, they can decide whether you get to use your pond to water your garden or not. It could mean that they decide who gets use your water on your property or not. In essence, they would own it. (http://www.resistnet.com/group/watchdogonthefederaldeltasmeltplancalifornia/forum/topics/congress-wants-to-control-the AND http://www.nationalcenter.org/PR_Clean_Water_Restoration_Act.100907.html )
What about my friend, Connie? She’s already been paying taxes for two years to use her own well dug on her own property many many years ago.

This Act would completely go against Amendment 5, which says:

"No person shall..." and then describes who can be held and tried how many times in which court for what. When we get to the last two clauses of the amendment we read (remember it starts: "No person shall..."): "... be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Notice in that first clause, called "the due process clause," that property is put on a par with life and liberty. The government cannot kill us or put us in jail or take our property unless it follows specific legal procedures. The second clause ("eminent domain") declares that the government cannot take our property unless it pays us for our property and unless it puts that property to public use.

Furthermore, the word "nor," the first word of the eminent domain clause, is meant to be inclusive. In other words, the government must follow the strictures of both the due process clause and eminent domain clause before it can take private property.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/04/privacy_and_property_rights.html

One more example of something that in general concept is a good idea, “accessible health care for all” has turned into a monster bill that would make it illegal to not have health insurance. Firstly, we don’t really need health insurance we need accessible health care. Secondly, to make something like this illegal is preposterous. Scott Lazarowitz who writes for American Thinker has this to say about it, “With our inalienable rights to life and liberty, one might assume that among our unenumerated rights would also rest the rights of voluntary association and contract (such as the relationship between a doctor and patient) and the right to not buy insurance if one doesn't want it, as well as the right to opt out of a government health scheme. One might also assume that individuals have an inalienable, natural right to not report their medical status to the government.” To read the entire thoughtful article, click here: http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/01/health_care_and_our_inalienabl.html

Let’s keep asking questions and let’s remember that it’s our responsibility to look behind the scenes, and to think for ourselves about what is important, instead of waiting to be told what is important and told what we need.
If something is true, it fears no inquiry. Even Paul, the preacher in the Bible gave accolades to the people of Berea for this trait. They listened to him talking and went away to study the scriptures on their own to see if he was telling the truth. If we’re being told the truth, there’s no harm to dig into learn more. If we aren’t being told the truth, it’s important to know who would be harmed if we found out and were outraged.

Wealth Care Reform

2010-01-17T18:26:00.000-08:00

One major reform about this bill is the requirement that all people have health insurance. It would be ILLEGAL not to have health insurance. We'd be required to pay for premiums. This strengthens the big insurance companies, guarantees them millions of more paying customers, and gives the Fed even more excuses for printing more paper money not backed by any thing real.
Check out this article from http://www.informationliberation.com/index.php?id=28421

Economist: Health Care Bill "Is Just Another Bailout Of The Financial System"

...And yet hoards of gullible saps think the government is just going to hand them something for nothing.

"If the government is big enough and strong enough to give you everything you want, it is big enough and strong enough to take away everything you have.”

(...in case you didn't know were in the 'take away everything you have part.')It is obvious that many republicans oppose the proposed health care bill. But many liberals and progressives oppose it as well.

For example, economist L. Randall Wray writes:

Here’s the opportunity, Wall Street’s newest and bestest gamble: there is a huge untapped market of some 50 million people who are not paying insurance premiums—and the number grows every year because employers drop coverage and people can’t afford premiums. Solution? Health insurance “reform” that requires everyone to turn over their pay to Wall Street. Can’t afford the premiums? That is OK—Uncle Sam will kick in a few hundred billion to help out the insurers. Of course, do not expect more health care or better health outcomes because that has nothing to do with “reform” ... Wall Street’s insurers... see a missed opportunity. They’ll collect the extra premiums and deny the claims. This is just another bailout of the financial system, because the tens of trillions of dollars already committed are not nearly enough.

Wray points out that - with the repeal of Glass Steagall - the financial sector and the insurance businesses (the "f" and "i" in the "fire" sector) are somewhat merged.

Wray is no conservative. He is Ph.D. is Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Research Director with the Center for Full Employment and Price Stability and Senior Research Scholar at The Levy Economics Institute - which focuses on inequality in the distribution of earnings, income, and wealth.

Dr. Andrew Coates describes the bill as "a guarantee of insurance industry dominance and the continued privatization of health care in every arena.”

Dr. Coates is no conservative. He is a medical doctor, a member of the Public Employees Federation, AFL-CIO, secretary of the Capital District chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program, and teaches at Albany Medical College.

And - as I have previously pointed out - progressives such as law school professor Sheldon Laskin, anti-war activist David Swanson, and Miles Mogulescu are calling the bill authoritarian and unconstitutional because the government cannot legally force people to buy private health insurance.

Indeed, given Wray's point that this is just another bailout in disguise, the bill should more properly be called a "wealth reform" bill than health reform legislation.

Haiti, a little historical perspective

2010-01-17T18:22:00.000-08:00

http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=28530

together

2010-01-17T18:02:00.000-08:00

This weekend I've been sitting around a table or the living roome with sister, brother, mom, husband, other sister (in law), aunt, and 2-year old niece. Little N tells me, "Megan, I like you." from time to time in her voice like a red-winged black bird, high, reedy and lilting.
Having N and her baby brother around is like planting a row of snow peas in the garden and then heading off to the farmer's market to buy a bag of the same. I'm getting a taste of things to come. The tears, the late nights, the unexpected sweet questions, the snuggly little bodies, all give me a sample of what is in my future. I don't feel ready.
But Brian is back from Kansas. It's good to be together and remember that he's in this whole new venture with me.

Green is good

2010-01-08T21:53:00.001-08:00

Yippee, a new look for a new year. I love this color. Makes me feel as if spring is already here. I'm not the only one that seems to feel that way. This morning, walking up the hill I saw a patch of fragrant narcissus in FULL BLOOM on the ditch side of the road. Not far after that, across from the Perry's old house, the snowdrops were just beginning to tuck their delicate heads above their stems. I'm so glad I don't live in Maine. Spring doesn't start until April there.

Kansas

2010-01-03T10:12:00.000-08:00

Rambunctious nephews, a tiny niece, talks with sisters-in-law, walks in sub-freezing weather, tasty meals with relatives, shopping with Erica for maternity clothes at Goodwill's dollar day, and lots of visiting. These things are the highlights of my time in Kansas.

Kristin, Brian's sister, doctored him very well. She removed the cast a few days ago and the stitches came out yesterday. He's still in pain from his support muscles and tight tendons. But, he's not using crutches anymore and looks much better than he did at the airport in New Zealand. The nephews have enjoyed playing with them and swinging around the house in them. Before she left, Kristin wrote out a list of physical therapy exercises and a ten-day prescription for antibiotics to keep away any infections while the wound is still healing. He was in good hands!

This morning we presented a slide show and a talk about our sailing journey at Brian's parents' Sunday School class. This was really special for us because this group of people have prayed for us since before we left California. Many from the group knew Brian as a child who scavenged cookies from their classroom snack table. We are so thankful when we look back on our trip and remember that it was not just our own skill or the equipment on Nomad that took us safely across the Pacific. When people ask, "What was the most dangerous part of our trip?" Brian likes to answer, "we don't know. The most dangerous things are the ones we bypassed without knowing, the things that were averted without our knowledge." Even seeing Brian in the emergency room in New Zealand with a 3" x 3" bloody gap peeled open on his leg made me thankful. That injury or worse could easily have happened while we were under way and I would have been stuck trying to patch him together. We are grateful for the hands of God that cared for us on our trip.

Prayer for the new year

2010-01-03T10:02:00.000-08:00

Avinu Malkeinu (Our Father, Our King)

sung during Rosh Ha’Shana (the Jewish New Year) this prayer is a supplication to God to treat us with kindness and generosity, even when we haven’t always lived up to His ideals for us.

English translation:

Hear our prayer
We have sinned before Thee
Have compassion upon us and upon our children
Help us bring an end to pestilence, war, and famine
Cause all hate and oppression to vanish from the earth
Inscribe us for blessing in the Book Of Life
Let the new year be a good year for us

If only we all (world leaders, parents, employers, friends, media, church-goers and non church-goers) would start the year acknowledging our weaknesses and submitting our lives to the compassion of God. We don't really need mandated social programs, they don't change our hearts and eventually don't even change our actions.

sitting in LAX

2009-12-24T09:59:00.000-08:00

The eleven hour flight from Auckland would have been more enjoyable if I'd been less grumpy about all the futile phone calls I made to two airlines over three to try to get Brian's seat upgraded to a first class seat so he could keep his leg elevated. It all turned out fijne, though.

His surprise the day before we were scheduled to come home got all stitched up finally on Tuesday morning. They kept him in the hospital until Wednesday. It was a miracle no bones or nerves or tendons were cut. The hospital staff were incredible. They foresaw all we might need before during and after the trip. Then, we were on our merry way.
So, it's in a back slab from above the knee to the ankle to keep the stitches from tearing out of the muscles. He entertained airport goers by using his crutches as ski poles to push himself along in his wheelchair.

A new chapter

2009-12-20T20:14:00.000-08:00

It doesn't seem possible that four and a half weeks have passed here in New Zealand. Of course, it still doesn't even seem real that two years have passed since Nomad left the Santa Cruz harbor. Our time here in the land of kiwis has been a good limbo time of packing Nomad away, enjoying our friends, taking a road trip, and pondering what next year might hold. We've both realized that cruising just for the sake of cruising was enjoyable but not as rewarding as we would like. We visited Marine Reach offices while on our road trip and spoke to them about using Nomad to deliver small medical crews or supplies to remote islands in the Fiji groups. They are interested and we plan to stay in contact while we're away. This breathes a spark of newness and renewed purpose for Nomad for us.

Another thing we've been working on is acquiring a third crew member for Nomad. With our crossing of the Pacific behind us and possible work with Marine Reach ahead in 2011, we felt it a good time to add a member to the crew. He/she is due to be born at the end of June. So, as one chapter of our lives is closing, a new one is beginning.

Nomad getting loving care

2009-12-09T12:49:00.000-08:00

Last week, we took Nomad over to Kawau Island again and tied her up to some posts next to shore during high tide. When the tide went out we (mostly Brian and John) got busy on her bottom. Two years of scrubbing algae and barnacles and other creatures off the bottom had left her anti-fouling paint looking pretty sparse. Some water blasting and a couple of layers of very expensive paint and she's ready to sit out the next year or so. Not only that we covered up the "white" waterline stripe that has plagued us by looking sort of greenish and speckled with the hull paint showing through. Nomad looks much tidier.

While the boys were doing that work, Annette and I polished stainless steel fittings all over the boat and removed rust stains with some near-miraculous enviro-friendly goo she brought. When the painting started, unfortunately, so did some rain. Annette was on the top of the boat plugging scuppers with rags and bailing out the collection areas so the water wouldn't run down onto the bottom where the boys were rolling the stuff on. I was down below, futilely trying to dry up the drips that escaped the scuppers. In between that, I was stirring paint and keeping roller pans filled. All in all it was an enjoyable team effort with a great result. We celebrated with burgers in the Kawau Yacht Club that evening while waiting for the next high tide to come in so we could get off the poles and back into the water.

Two days later we motored down to Gulf Harbour Marina a couple hours away. We needed some electricity for Nomad's next beauty treatment. Two years of pounding through waves and flexing from heat and cold had worked open some leaks. Not a good idea to leave a leaky boat unattended because it would make more work for when we return. So, we pulled out the leaf-blower. Yup. the secret to finding the leaks in the caprails and around fittings is a leaf blower. Imagine trying to find leaks in an inner tube. You blow it up so there's some air pressure inside and then you squirt the outside in a methodical fashion with soapy water. Where there's a leak, you see bubbles. That's exactly what we did to Nomad. We taped up the known airways and vents, hooked up the leaf blower on full blast and started around the whole boat with squirt bottles, rags, tape and pencils (for marking the leaks). This was an all day process but quite successful. I have never heard of any other boat owner attempting this so maybe Brian will patent his idea some day :) We have also cleaned out the water tanks and washed foul weather gear so they aren't grody when we get back. Brian has painted our anchor, caulked, moved outside gear for storage inside the boat among numerous other details.

Now we're back in Warkworth and Brian is getting in a few days of work with John while I wrap up paperwork and repair jobs on small boat parts. Saturday, we head off to Raglan for a camping/surfing trip.

New Zealand Pics

2009-11-29T15:44:00.001-08:00

snapper for breakfast!

Brian, John and Annette in the Bay of Islands

Nomad at the Quarantine Dock waiting for officials to clear us in to the country. Note the proud New Zealand flag flying!

Luxuriating

2009-11-27T17:35:00.000-08:00

It's been 4 nights of sleeping in a bed in a house with a real flushing toilet and as much hot water for showers as we want. Aaaah. John and Annette Carr joined us in the Bay of Islands and took the two day sail from there down to Kawau Island where we were met by other friends, Bill and Noelene Brown in their power boat tooting their horn and escorting us in to the moorings at their yacht club. We ate burgers and chips in the club and were joined by a "special guest". A well lubricated local decided we were his new best friends and plopped his drink onto our table and his body into John's chair and made himself at home during our whole meal.

After the night in Kawau, we motored the hour and a half past a few islands and around a headland up into the Mahurangi Harbour (note the British spelling) and onto E38 mooring buoy, Nomad's home for the next few months, while we're home.

John and Annette have arranged innumerable details for our stay on the buoy and our visit here. She organized Thanksgiving dinner (I made apple pie and cornbread stuffing), has made countless phone calls about supplies we need for Nomad, and driven me to buy bottom paint for our haulout this coming Thursday (she scheduled that for us, also). John has taken Brian with him to work for the past three days and is paying him! We are truly grateful for these kind friends who are fun to be with and incredibly generous.

There's more work before we leave. We have to pack the sails and external gear into the inside of the boat, empty the fridge, get the anchor chain galvanized, take a surf trip to Raglan on the west coast, off load a few items to John and Annette's garage for storage, pack everything we need to take home, fill the fuel tanks, clean out the water tanks and plumbing, etc.

Arriving in New Zealand feels a bit like graduating from college. I remember it had been a goal for so long and then as it approached, I wanted to backpeddle. Life after graduation seemed like a no-man's land. So much energy and focus had been spent on finishing school that I hadn't thought much for what would happen afterwards. Arriving in New Zealand has been our goal for about four years and now here we are. It's a satisfying, relieving feeling but is leaving me wondering, "What's our next 5-year goal?" I've decided not to worry about it but to focus on the things we know we have to do right now and trust that God has plans ahead that he'll reveal as needed.

First Impressions

2009-11-20T19:34:00.000-08:00

We pulled in to New Zealand's Bay of Islands on Thursday, November 19 after sailing through a gale the night before. Needless to say, the waves were steep and I was seasick. But, as it eased, we turned on the engine and started motoring West, past the beacon on Cape Brett, into the wind but willing to put up with the wind chop because the end was near.

The sun rose and misty arms of hills surrounding various inlets, coves and islands shifted from charcoal grey to green. Cozy New England style coastal towns filled pockets between hills and boats of all types sailed and motored past us. Our friends, on the boat Red Herring, sailed toward us with arms waving wildly. We hadn't seen them since Apia, Samoa.

We found the Quarantine dock, pulled in and cut the engine. Soon a launch of 3 officials came over, filled out paperwork, went through our food stores and confiscated a few things (we were expecting more than they actually took). Then we were here.

It's been two nights of full sleep and no seasickness and I'm more and more excited to be here. We know many cruisers anchored in the bay and have gotten in plenty of socializing along with walking around, washing laundry, and buying fresh groceries. I've already consumed 6 kiwifruits in 2 days. YUM

Some images of our first few days...
large orangey brown jellyfish pulsing by in the tide. they have small brown circles polkadotting their tops
hugs from Marion on Balu, and Karen on Red Herring
quiet boat, no slapping or rocking
piney forested hills with green hills rolling between
tui birds piping in the tree foliage
not worrying about being robbed
wobbly legs from 8 days of disuse
sunsets at 8pm
coooolllld! shivering at night, wool caps in the day, it's not quite summer here.

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making progress

2009-11-16T14:28:00.000-08:00

Well, we finally were able to tourn the engine off lst night at 5:30. The wind has rejoined us and we made 130 miles in the past 24 hours. This is encouraging progress. We've been making only 100 miles per day for the last 3 days. Looks like we may be pulling in to the Bay of Islands on Thursday. Only two more nights!

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Betrayed by Facebook

2009-11-14T17:57:00.001-08:00

First off, WHY Facebook? So I can see what people I knew 10, 20 years ago look like now? OR so I can find out their favorite video games, political causes, or what they did with their kids that day? That's it? What about the people I think I know now? If my only contact is through Facebook, pretty soon those relationships will be past tense as well.

I feel betrayed by Facebook. It claims to be a social networking site. It implies renewed connection between people. That's where it misrepresents itself. Or maybe the idea of connecting with a person doesn't mean what it used to.
As kids, my brother, sister and I eagerly sorted the mail each day, looking for Real Mail. Real Mail never had a plastic window on the front. It never had typed address. Real Mail was hand-addressed and sometimes even had a colored envelope. It always had a person as the sender and a specific person as the recipient. Each sorting of mail resulted in an announcement, "TWO pieces of Real Mail!" or a disappointed, "No Real Mail." These special pieces represented the connection I'm talking about. One person thought specifically about another person and reached out to just that one person in a personal, time-consuming way. That's why I send postcards. They are obsolete, I know, and the information I send in the note is (heaven forbid) two or three weeks old by the time my friends and family receive them. But they are a desire for connection. They're my way of saying, "I want to connect with you; you're valuable to me." That's the purpose of Real Mail.

Even emails (old-fashioned as they are) can be Real Mail, Real Connection. It takes time and emotion to compose an email that tells how I'm really doing, what I'm thinking, and goes beneath the surface of what I did today or what YouTube video I thought was clever. Facebook has taken those things which are the beginning of relationship, the safe and the mundane things of our lives and turned them into the only way in which most people connect. I don't care that someone took her kids to McDonald's yesterday. But if I knew she'd had a frustrating, disappointing day, the kids were being terrible and she couldn't stand the thought of cleaning the kitchen; if I knew the context of her life and her needs, then I would care about McDonald's.

Beyond a shadow of a doubt, some or most people that are prolific on Facebook have worthwhile, connecting relationships outside of Facebook. But the betrayal of Facebook is that it replaces time spent on making phone calls, visiting friends, writing Real Mail, and personal contemplation (the ultimate connection - connecting with oneself and with God) with time spent writing soundbites, quips, being clever, and being superficially curious about other people's lives. It's easy, it's safe, and not at all like real relationships which are messy, take commitment, and are immensely rewarding.

All this being said, I can see a valid use for Facebook as sort of an interactive address book using friends of friends to help you find your other friends. I found out the email address of a college roommate and was able to make contact with her, thanks to Facebook. It made me happy to connect with her again. I still don't know what her favorite YouTube video is, though. But I do know what she's doing in life and how she's feeling about it. That's valuable to me.

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correction

2009-11-14T17:57:00.000-08:00

Well, I should have known better than to report on scientific facts while still seasick. LATITUDE lines are the same distance apart no matter where you are on the globe. LONGITUDE lines get closer and closer the further away from the equator you get because they meet at the Poles.

One thing I can be accurate about is the temperature. It's colder. (See how accurate that is? I do myself proud) To be more specific, I had to wear a fleecy beanie and 3 layers of long sleeves last night to stay warm. Brian has pulled out his foul weather gear and worn it a few times at night. It's been almost two years since these types of measures were needed, way back in Baja Mexico. We're heading into the Spring season of New Zealand where in some places there is still snow falling. I'll have to find some pants to wear.

Brian really enjoyed his fried flying fish from yesterday and hopes another one volunteers itself soon. There was a 3-inch squid this morning, dried onto the deck. We didn't eat that.

Our estimate of eight days under way is being lengthened. We've had little to no wind for two days and are motoring at just around 100 miles per day. We go much faster under sail. At least it's calm, and I guess we'll have more days to eat up the food the NZ biosecurity people would confiscate when we get there (eggs, fresh produce, cheese, not sure what else). In light of food confiscation, we've been going through cupboards, reorganizing, throwing out old mothy bags of cornmeal, bags of melted fruit jellies, and similar delicacies. We have much more room and are enjoying the clean shelves.

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life under way

2009-11-13T16:06:00.000-08:00

Brian is frying up the 10 inch flying fish Nomad caught last night. The only way to catch these creatures is to buy a boat and drive around in the ocean. Never heard of one biting a lure before. Up till now, we've only seen 3 - 4 inch long ones so this one is almost a meal size.

We're just about half way to New Zealand now. The first two days were rambunctious and fast and I was flat on my back sea sick eating crackers and mashed potatoes. The last two days have been a bit better with me being able to get up and do small tasks. Brian has been a good caretaker.

We're at 25 degrees South. Fiji lies at around 18 degrees south and Opua New Zealand is around 35 South. Even though we're "'closer" to Fiji in latitude numbers, we're half way because the latitude lines get gradually closer and closer together the further south you go.

We're looking forward to seeing the green hills of the Bay of Islands and meeting up with our Kiwi friends John and Annette. They'll get on board and travel from Opua to Warkworth with us, showing us the nice places to stop along the way. It's scallop season in New Zealand and they know where to get em. Yum.

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Under Way!

2009-11-09T12:44:00.000-08:00

It's 5:30 am. Brian started pulling up the anchor about an hour ago. We're under way down the coast of Viti Levu, still in protected waters. Fifteen miles to Malolo Passage out into the great Pacific. Then, 1100 miles (more or less) to Opua, New Zealand. The last few days have been filled with cleaning the boat, inside and the bottom; cooking meals ahead for the beginning of the passage when we don't feel like doing anything; wrapping up the table top refinishing project at Marine Reach (they look great); and saying goodbye to friends.

We've encountered just in the last few days some new things. One is cumquat limes (they are small and when overripe they look just like orange cumquats) that are sweet and limey mmmm. Another Fiji novelty is "bele" which is the Hindi word for a green maple shaped leaf that is cooked like spinach. Not too bad. We have handfuls of it which Rakesh picked for us from his garden, along with long beans, corn on the cob, and eggplant. We went to church with the leaders of the Marine REach base on Sunday. The building is a flat roof with posts holding it up from a cement slab. One side of the square is walled up to about 3 feet with cement blocks. Otherwise, it's open to the cool breeze. There were about 25 of us there of all different races. At one point the pastor said, "ok, let's all pray for Brian and Megan for 60 seconds, out loud, very forcefully." This, was a very new thing for us. But it felt amazing. I felt like we were wrapped in a cocoon of loving prayers from many different languages. I couldn't stop smiling. It sure helps my pre-voyage nerves to know we have prayers like that carrying us.

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waiting

2009-11-05T14:22:00.000-08:00

Well Brian and I are now waiting for a weather window to head to New Zealand. While waiting, Brian has taken on some small fix-it jobs at the Marine Reach office. He's helped to hang some shade sails, started refinishing two table tops, and installed a new door handle. I've been doing some last minute shopping, organizing paper work for entry to NZ, and reading. (Not very challenging) This past weekend we spent 4 nights at Vuda Pt Marina taking on fuel, water, propane, and cleaning Nomad. IT's been nice not to have major overhauls to do. I guess all the time spent working in Panama and Mexico have paid off.

So, we're praying for a passage with good weather, and are excited to finally get to New Zealand.

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More pics from Kids Club

2009-10-26T20:19:00.000-07:00

Lautoka Market

2009-10-26T20:17:00.000-07:00

Ladies weaving palm baskets in the market. They fill them up with cassava root to sell.

Lautoka pics

2009-10-26T20:09:00.000-07:00

Pictures from Navikai, working for the elderly Indian couple. The young girl with the baby is named Koma, she's trying to leave her abusive husband but has no where to go.
The train is the sugar cane train that goes through Lautoka.

scenes

2009-10-24T00:52:00.000-07:00

Auburn haired mongooses are shy and quick. Imported many years ago to control Fiji's snake population, they rustle into foliage at the first sight of a human. They're cute but are known to steal chicks and eggs from the hen houses. When I see them, I think about brave Riki Tiki Tavi, the story of a mongoose in India.

Also the mynah birds. Their bright yellow beaks striping back to their yellow eyes are creatures from Riki Tiki Tavi, as well. They were an exotic creature when I read about them as a child. But they are ubiquitous in the Pacific Isles. In Fiji, there is a second type of mynah that is mostly black with three tiny feathers sticking up above its beak, like a mustache.

Yesterday, we went to the Indian squatter camp outside of Nadi (pronounced "Nandi"). It's been there for a few decades. Navakai is the place we went on the last tsunami scare. We were going to dig out the ditch behind the house of an ancient couple when we heard the warning. We left with promises to return. And we did. It was much better organized this time. We had more strong males, more shovels, supplies to patch the corrugated tin roof, and Rena was with us to translate. All Fijians over age 5 speak English but also speak either Hindi or a couple dialects of Fijian. Most are more comfortable in their non-English language.

When we showed up, the ancient Indian couple was not home. We were surprised because we'd called ahead. Nevertheless, we set to work. Brian, a boy from Kid's Club, and another lightweight young man went up on the precarious roof to look for leaks. The whole structure could have been pushed over with the strength of one or two men. The rest of the crew went out back to start digging. At first, a handful of neighbors gathered to discourage us from digging the ditch. Luckily, Brian had warned the team about this very possibility.

Because I had planned to be in the house with the couple, helping with inside projects, I didn't have anything to do. So I designated myself team photographer. After some pictures, a very curious and chatty neighbor called me over to sit next to her house to talk. Soon, it was myself and about 5 neighbors asking me questions about why we were there, what group we were with, where I was from, life on the sailboat, etc. The fact that the YWAM crew were volunteers providing the supplies with their own money made a big impact on one man.

A young woman called me over and put a chair next to the outdoor cooking fire. She proceeded to tell me her story. told me about living with her in-laws who hit her, her husband hits her, and she wants to leave but has two young girls and can't support them. He wants her to leave, also but let him keep the girls. It's not like at home where you can find ways to work if you have kids. The mothers are dependent on the men. She used to go to a Christian church but married a Hindu man and he won't let her go to church. There are so many needs. It makes me feel tiny. I guess that's good. God wouldn't want us trying to put our fingers in the God sized holes in people's lives. All I was able to do was pray with her, encourage her there were people to help, and put her in contact with Rena's church which is nearby.

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Counselors going to Samoa

2009-10-20T20:59:00.000-07:00

Seven or eight trained biblical counselors will be flying to Samoa and American Samoa within the next week to offer grief counseling to the Samoan villages that were worst hit in the tsunami. Losana, one of the gals hoping to go was telling me that some villagers are still living up in the jungley hills of Samoa in tents. They are still afraid of returning to the low lands where their village was.

If you would like to help pay for the airfare of any of the Personal Transformation Center counselors, write them: ywamptc@yahoo.com

If you want to check out more information about PTC, here's their website:
http://ptcfiji.com/index.html

Marine Reach

2009-10-20T15:04:00.000-07:00

Imagine seeing your grown children for the first time in many many years, or receiving glasses that made your previously blurry world, clear. Or, think about having severe tooth pain for months, unable to go to the dentist. What joy you would experience if a dentist arrived at your village by ship to relieve your pain for free. Marine Reach is a branch of YWAM that makes things like these happen. They use ships to reach remote islands, and 4 - wheel drive "mercy trucks" to reach remote inland villages with mobile medical and dental clinics. Marine Reach strives to meet people's medical, physical, and spiritual needs. While people wait all day to see the doctor, members of Marine reach listen to them, pray with them, and perform evangelistic or health-related skits. Dental chairs have been set up under mango trees, eye testing and glasses fittings under coconut trees. Members of teams have repaired outboard motors for local fishermen to be able to continue their livelihoods, other teams repair people's homes, unload medical supplies sent in containers from other countries, or build medical clinics, playgrounds, and install water tanks.

The thing that draws Brian and me to this organization is its hands-on, practical approach to loving people. From 2002 to 2008, 30,121 people were treated in the islands of Fiji. This includes dentistry, ophthalmology surgeries, optometry (people given glasses), health education for entire villages, Bibles distributed, etc. Many other Pacific Islands as well as places in Asia, South America, and the Mediterranean received similar help. All services are provided for free.

We have been welcomed by the Marine Reach base here in Lautoka. It is a multi-ethnic group: Indians, Fijians, New Zealanders, a Korean and a Filipina make up the staff. This base will be hosting at least 12 short term (two weeks) land-based outreaches in 2010 with different medical focuses. One 5-month Discipleship Training School (this is the same school I attended in South Africa in 1999) is also planned. If you are a nurse, a dentist, a doctor, eye doctor, have other practical skills, or are just willing to help out, feel free to contact Marine Reach. They will put your skills to good use! If you are interested in attending either of their two Discipleship Training Schools next year, or becoming staff, contact them.

When I asked Richard, our main Marine Reach liaison here, what their needs/prayer requests were, he gave me the following list:
1. Doctors, nurses, surgeons and dentists are needed for short but preferably longer term basis. It's volunteer, and you pay for all of your expenses.
2. Financial support for the staff: Rakesh and Rachel, Richard and Thelma, Rena, Barry and Beryl, Ben and Kaba, and Lusi. They do not have paying jobs but they work hard leading groups, taking care of needy kids, starting a church, training volunteers, etc.
3. Ben and Kaba have four children of their own and are housing Kaba's sister and her six kids. They will be receiving 3 more small orphaned children in December. They need a larger house! We saw their shack and it is about as roomy as Nomad is.
4. The Marine Reach base in Fiji is looking to buy a property that would be set up to train 40- 50 students at a time, as well as be the headquarters for organizing the many outreaches. One million Fijian dollars would do the trick.
5. They have donated their current ship, M/V Pacific Link to the Marine Reach in Australia and are looking for a larger ship that could house two separate surgeries at a time (Pacific Link could only do one at a time).

Web Site: www.marinereachministries.com

Email: info-fj@marinereach.

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Naviyonga

2009-10-16T21:39:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, we visited Ben and Kaba at their village, Naviyonga. They had asked us to come to "tell stories and get to know each other". When we arrived, Ben was cutting a piece of wood to add to the newly built cooking shed outside their house. Kaba and her two sisters were sitting on the pandanu mat inside the house, kneading dough and placing it in washed out tuna cans. Kaba shooed us outside and Ben placed a plastic tarp on the ground under a mango tree for us to sit on together. Kaba came back out with changed clothes, apologizing profusely. Soon a little girl came out carrying a tray with glasses and a pitcher of Tang (or some equivalent). We spent most of the next 4 hours on that tarp sitting and talking. Ana, Kaba's sister brought us the homemade buns that had been baked in the tuna tins with fried eggs tucked inside. Those buns were about the best homemade bread I've ever had. That was our lunch. We talked about the children in the village, looked over the photocopies from 'Where there is no Doctor' I'd brought them. They devoured the information. pointing out things to each other in Fijian. The 2$ scabies medicine I'd brought for their nieces that live in their house was much appreciated. I showed them in the copies where it talked about the treatment. I had also copied a couple pages from the book that talked about malnutrition in kids and beneficial LOCAL foods to combat it. They were surprised that cassava leaves were high in protein. Kaba said she'd heard of people eating the leaves but hadn't eaten them herself. Cassava root is the mainstay of their diet. It's starchy and filling and easy to plant but the village kids need protein. Hurray for a local plant that provides free nutrition.

After our visit to their "farm" it was back to the tarp to have lemon tea made from the leaves from a bush 10 meters away. While we drank the water from the green coconut Ben cut for us, Ana brought a plate of fried cassava out for us and we pulled out the graham crackers we'd brought to share. We told them stories of life at sea. When it was time to go, Ben walked us through the village, over a narrow cement bridge NOT built by the Army Corp of Engineers into the next village where we waited for a taxi to take us back to Lautoka.

The hardest part of the whole day was sitting around visiting in the middle of the day. It's just not part of my culture to "visit" until evening. Even so, we felt humbled by their generosity. We carried a large plastic bag of cassava and some green beans they'd picked from their garden for us, as well as 4 more of the delicious buns we'd eaten at lunch.

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Sugar City trail of scents

2009-10-16T21:39:00.000-07:00

Many mornings we walk from the wharf to the PTC. The scents of the town change as we go. With the sugar refinery on the edge of the city, the air is often filled with the smell of mild molasses. Other smells contribute to the story of the sugar industry and the life of Lautoka, the self-proclaimed "Sugar City". Smoke fills the air from September to November as the workers burn the cane fields before harvesting. The fires remove the extra leaves and allow them to chop faster, machetes unimpeded. Even though Nomad is half a mile from shore, the ash from the fields and from the sugar plant covers the decks and cockpit when we come back in the late afternoons.

Every day we dinghy across the main channel, pass the wharf with the containers, large cranes and container ships, and tie up the dinghy at a cement wall. When we leave the port security gates, we walk past the "hot bread and milkshop" (they don't sell milk. I asked.). The smell of bread and hot grease trickle out the door and mingle with the smell of pine sawdust from the mountain of wood chips at the lumber yard behind the hot bread shop. This side road goes to a roundabout where we turn left into the city and pass the sugar mill with trucks and drivers waiting across the street to deliver their loads of sugar cane. The diesel fumes and molasses mingle together all the way up the street and past the carts of cane loaded and waiting on the narrow gage rails for the sugar engine to bring them to the plant. We turn right at the post office and head up the street, passing under the fragrant frangipani tree which covers the ground with white blossoms. For about a mile we walk up an inclined main road and diesel fumes spew out of the open windowed buses and mix with the scent of cut grass. Many parks and large trees line this walk. Every day, men with weed eaters persistently cut the grass one section at a time. We have yet to see a lawn mower. At the top of the hill we turn left into the Simla neighborhood which contains more parks. Here, the cut grass smells are sometimes mixed with the odor of curry wafting out of the houses. Then we cut across a park and arrive at the gates of PTC's driveway.

In the town, the smells are curry, hot bread, grime, diesel, and that peculiar odor of its multiple grocery stores: dry goods, meat, and produce mixed together into the air conditioning.

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Kid's Club pictures

2009-10-15T21:30:00.001-07:00

time flying

2009-10-15T20:45:00.000-07:00

The last week has been full! We sailed to Musket Cove, a cruiser's mecca on a nearby island. We relaxed, met up with another sailor we'd met before, met a new couple that are former YWAMers, took a hike, barbecued at the large outdoor pit on a tiny island, and Brian kiteboarded. Since we're both introverts, it was good to get away from the many people-oriented activities we've been doing. We sailed back to Lautoka on Monday in intermittent rain. We caught about 25 gallons of rain for our water tanks.
Tuesday, Brian finished working on the cupboards at PTC, we had lunch at Marine Reach and we learned more about what they're doing. Wednesday we had our dental hygiene talk at Naviyoga village (same place as the women's group). Hmmmmm. How do describe that. We brought 50 toothbrushes and there about 80 kids. There were about 80 kids. All hyper, not all understanding English. We had a lot of shushing sessions. Even Doctor Rabbit, the toothy bunny puppet wasn't distracting enough to hold attention. But we pushed through. Proper brushing, flossing and nutrition were our topics. When I asked for 'one more thing that helps your teeth stay healthy' a chorus of "gum" was heard. GUM? Where did they hear that? When the presentation came to an end, it was time to hand out toothbrushes. We decided to give 2 brushes per family. So they were told to sit in sibling groups. We were to give two per seated group. This only worked for the first 10 groups. When the other kids saw groups getting stuff that they weren't getting, the groups dissolved into thick clumps standing around myself and Brian. Toothbrushes gone, I decided to take pictures instead. It seemed to make them happy. All in all, not a totally rewarding experience. We learned things we wouldn't do in the future, though and realized first hand the frustration of not being able to solve all the world's problems with THINGS.
My favorite part of the evening was when a little girl was brought to us. The aunt showed us the girl's wrists covered with pimply sores and scratched bumps. They itche her all the time. I didn't know what to say at the time but I went home and read my book, "Where there is no Doctor" which has a skin condition diagnostic section. Scabies. I bought the ointment to treat it yesterday and we brought it out to Ben and Keba (pronounced kambah) with instructions. It is a relief to have the information to help people take care of themselves.

We spent 4 1/2 hours at their village with them, going over the "Where there is no Doctor" book, telling stories, asking questions, eating cassava and delicious homemade buns. We saw their cassava farm, with bananas and sweet potatoes and pineapples planted in between the cassava patches. A truly cross-cultural experience.

treasures

2009-10-08T17:40:00.002-07:00

Its back looked as if God had pulled out the Sunday School arts and crafts box to decorate it. About ¾ of an inch long, in the shape of coat of arms, if he hadn't been slowly walking across a child's notebook I would have thought he was a toy. But no, the red sequin and careful glitter green X across the beetle's white back were real. Along the sides were stripes of bright blue and though I don't remember where it was placed, I remember a small patch of cheerful yellow.

Brian had just gotten back from the boat after the tsunami scare and I was getting ready to hug him when the creature caught my eye. A walking whimsy of God on a day when thousands of people had prayed for safety and been spared. We'd heard the radio announcement in a squatter settlement of Indians. A tiny ancient couple needed a drainage ditch enlarged and we 5 grownups and two kids arrived, greeted them with shovels in our hands, and walked behind the corrugated tin shack to survey the ditch. That's where we heard the announcer, "….the 8.0 earthquake that hit Vanuatu this morning has produced a tsunami….predicted to arrive at the Western Coast of Fiji at 11:40 this morning. All people in low-lying areas are urged to move to higher ground." I looked at my watch. It was 11:00. We had a hasty meeting, went to the car to listen to the radio for confirmation, told the Indian couple we'd be back another day and headed back to Lautoka. Brian wanted to get back to the boat and Lena and Mere were worried about their children. During the 25 minute ride back to the city across low lands, they urged Brian to go faster and to turn up the radio. Traffic was increasing and we passed many uniformed school children walking along the roads, released from school. At the turn off for us to go up to the base, Brian turned the driving over to Dave, hopped out and hailed the bus that was behind us. It was 5 minutes until the tsunami was predicted to hit but we hadn't seen the tide sucking out so Brian believed he could make it to Nomad in time. We kissed each other hastily, and as I looked into his eyes, I thought of Joan and Danny. They didn't even have a chance to say good bye to each other. Somehow, I knew everything would be Ok but I still didn't like seeing Brian heading toward the water.

The moment Brian hopped onto the bus, the radio announcer spoke, "...to inform you that the level of the tsunami warning has been raised from 'moderate' to 'high'." There was nothing I could do except pray. We headed up to the base and passed the park out front. The shade patches under the park's giant mango trees were packed with school children. Teachers had walked their classes up the hills to this park for safety. Streets were jammed with cars along the edges, waiting. At PTC, I could see the ocean was at an extremely low tide with mud flats extending from the islands. But I couldn't see the waters off of the main port where we were anchored. I felt relief anyway because I knew there was nothing severe happening. Within an hour the radio and the internet declared the tsunami warning cancelled. Streets started clearing; children dissipated. I checked my email and was happy to see Brian had just sent me an email that all was well at the boat. He would come up in time to help at the 3:00 Kid's Club.

Kid's Club had it's share of little jeweled creatures, as well. After I told the Bible story and the memory verse, it was time to bust out the arts and craft box. Brian was given face paints and brushes, I had a box of beads and stretchy shiny string. We were surrounded in moments by 5 - 8-year-olds. Jima had another box of beads and string for the older kids. For an hour, Brian painted crosses, flowers, bumble bees, stars and a few spider webs onto cheeks. I helped make bracelets and necklaces.

It was a full day in which we felt vulnerable and yet received many treasures of memories and joy.

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Personal Transformation Center

2009-10-08T17:40:00.001-07:00

For those of you wondering about this place where we are volunteering, I'd like to describe it. It is a part of a world wide mission organization called, Youth With a Mission (YWAM). When it was started 50 years ago by an American couple, it was geared for young people, hence the "youth" in the name. Today, people of all ages participate. YWAM is made of "bases" all over the world. Each of these bases is unique and, though they all are non-denominational and agree with some fundamental beliefs, they have different vision statements. The Personal Transformation Center (PTC) here in Lautoka has two focuses: 1. offering courses and practice in biblical counseling and providing that counseling to their community. Yesterday I accompanied Lo to Tilak high school where she counsels students two days per week. We met with a Muslim girl who was abused by her boyfriend. Lo was trained at PTC in a 5 month course, and now offers her services free of charge. 2. Another focus at PTC is supporting the birth of a new base in China. They send groups to this base every year and are training them how to build their own counseling center.

Other bases have different focuses. Some offer schools of journalism, others teach dance, others offer courses in primary health care for remote areas. All of the courses offered at all of the bases all over the world are part of a world-wide University of the Nations whose motto is, "to know God and make him known." They believe that all disciplines can be used to communicate and demonstrate the gospel in all nations.

PTC is an active place. There are about 15 full time unpaid staff members, some with kids and some single. They coordinate the applications and preparations for the schools; they run the schools. In between the schools they maintain ministries. Lo's ministry has been doing high school counseling at 3 different high schools. Jima organizes kids clubs in the afternoons and in the mornings visits the parents of the kids that attend. Kafi runs the community preschool. Vini manages the base and does counseling. Meme co-organizes the single mother's group with Kamba from another base. Sisa is the base leader and coordinates with community leaders and other pastors. Others visit the hospitals weekly to sit with and pray for patients. The whole base turns out on Monday mornings to rake and clean the large park in their neighborhood. The list goes on. These people are actively compassionate about Fiji and their city. They receive no money for what they do and trust God to provide their needs. He seems to be doing a good job. They have food, clothing, and an ample building.

We have left the remainder of the school supplies our friends sent with us for PTC to use at their preschool, in their kids clubs, or to use as Christmas presents for the large kids' Christmas party in December. But there are more needs. I've decided to list them so that if you wish to help or pray, you know how.
1. Full time staff members, especially an office worker to manage finances.
2. an updated, more user-friendly website.
3. The monthly costs to run the base (rent, utilities, office needs, food, etc) is 4000 Fijian dollars per month
4. They're hoping for 200-300 community kids to attend the Christmas party on December 10. For decorations, food, gifts, etc. they have a budget of 2500 Fijian dollars.
5. School here in Fiji is not free. The staff members who have children pay for their fees. Sisa has one son enrolled in a Christian school which charges 1200 per quarter. Even the public schools charge various amounts.
6. Bibles in English or Buan (the national Fijian dialect).

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Danny's final passage

2009-10-08T17:40:00.000-07:00

This is the message we received from Joan today, the 8th of October.

My dear friends,
Danny will be taking his final passage from the village of Pago Pago, American Samoa on Thursday Oct. 8th. Wade, Cole, and I will be leaving the harbour at 9:00 am (5:00 pm EST) with our newly found cousins, Evelyn and her husband, High Chief Lilio, Xavier, son of Wyatt Boyles and his wife Melake and also a pastor from the Congregational Church in Fagasa who will be leading the ceremony. Once we are 3 miles offshore, Danny will be returned to the sea that was his passion with those who love him watching in his wake.
Join us at 5:00 p.m. EST in a toast to celebrate Dan's life. Share your fondest memories of Danny and love the one you're with. Laugh and smile and remember that life is not measured by how may breaths we take but by the moments that take our breaths away. (thanks Nancy) Once we come back into the harbour we will be gathering on the Malaloa dock with all of our
American Samoan friends and fellow cruisers.
The people of Samoa and Fagasa Village have opened up their hearts to us. I will be eternally grateful to my cousin Evelyn, her husband Lilio, and nephew Xavier who have welcomed us into their village that was heavily damaged in the tsunami. They have planned a farewell my Danny would have loved.
Please remember the village of Fagasa and the Samoan Red Cross. Donations in memory of Dan can be sent to: High Chief Lilio, P.O. Box 3423, Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799 or to Samoan Red Cross, General Delivery, Pago Pago, American Samoa, 96799.
We love you all and have been nourished by your many e-mails. Joan, Wade, and Cole Olszewski

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Single Women's Club

2009-10-06T20:47:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I entered the town hall of a Naviyago village surrounded by sugar cane fields. Some women from the YWAM base where we are volunteering run a weekly single mother's group. If this type of thing were to happen in California, it wouldn't look like yesterday. There were women with two or three teeth in their mouths, 75-year-olds and 30 year olds sitting on a pandanu leaf woven mat with a few infants at breast and toddlers walking around. In fact, single mothers is a term that includes widows with dependant children of any age, grandmothers raising grandchildren, and women whose husbands are often away working, as well as those whose husbands have left or died.

As far as I could tell there was no agenda. Sara, one of the YWAM leaders asked myself and two other new women to the group to share something with the ladies. I introduced myself, Rena introduced herself and then Leda introduced herself and preached a mini-sermon. Then it was over, or at least that's what they said. But really it meant that it was time for us to eat the cakey rolls spread with margarine, and the fresh roti rolled with coconut cream, and drink the tea and juice the ladies had made us. I was confused. What was the purpose of this meeting?

Kamba, the YWAMer who lives in this village answered my question later. These women work all day long in the homes caring for their disabled grown children or their grandchildren or their children. To leave and sit together and meet "strangers" is large moment in the drudgery of their every day lives. To sit and visit and have people to encourage their faith in God is a gift.

While sitting and munching, I remembered the gallon-sized ziploc bags in the back of the minivan outside. Two years ago our Bible study had packed these homeless care bags to give away to street people in Santa Cruz. Soon after, we left on our boat journey bringing 10 of the bags with us. Never used, I decided to bring them along to the women's group in case they could be of use. I noticed there were ten ladies present. Ding Ding, the bell went off in my head. I asked Kamba what she thought and went to get the bags. As I passed them out they were polite and excited and started to poke around inside. Each one held a bottle of water, a dish cloth, a granola bar, a bar of soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, small daily devotional booklet, and bandaids. They wanted to know if the water was from the U.S.A. When I said yes, some of them wouldn't drink it. They wanted it as a souvenir from America.

YWAM has been working with this village for some time. They have brough health workers to talk to the women about reproductive cycles, HIV. Also, they have had classes in flower arranging, baking (saves money not to buy store bought bread), and other topics.

It was a joy to be with them and humbling to eat the treats they shared out of their almost nothing.

hola

2009-10-04T21:22:00.001-07:00

Hi,

just wasting time in the internet cafe that's located in the chinese restaurant. this morning I helped the people from the base rake the mango pits, leaves, grass clippings, and tamarind pods up from the football field sized park in front of their base. hot but satisfying work. Brian spent the morning organizing construction tools and assessing what supplies are already available at the base so he can begin building the cabinet doors they need on some hallway shelves. We ate lunch with them and then off to the the Marine Reach headquarters to meet with Richard. Marine Reach is the branch of YWAM that focuses on medical and dental and mental health issues. They not only use ships and boats to bring care to remote places, but use mobile truck clinics to bring care to villagers inland. I'm excited about what they're doing and how we could be a part of it. Richard has long wanted to use cruisers to transport workers out to remote locations where their large ship can't reach. He is a Kiwi with a lot of knowledge of sailing and his enthusiasm for what he's doing and how we could be involved was quite encouraging. I'll be posting some more detailed descriptions of what they do.

more about Pago Pago, Samoa

2009-10-02T16:07:00.000-07:00

This is Danny and Joan at the top of a hill we climbed together in Bora Bora. Our last time together.

Below are three articles about the incident.

http://www.learnativity.typepad.com/ (this is the best written one, with the most details) We actually are friends with Wayne on the boat Learnativity. Glad he is ok and able to help out with Joan.

href="http://www.noonsite.com/Members/sue/R2009-09-30-1"

http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/st-petersburg-native-is-swept-to-his-death-in-pago-pago/1040858#

loss

2009-10-01T15:36:00.000-07:00

Last night, we received news from our friend Joan on the sailboat Mainly.

We had quickly become friends with their family, Dan, Joan, and Cole (their grown son), in the Marqueses. Dan and Joan treated us as if we were their kids. We have been doing hikes, snorkeling, and socializing with them since. On our passage from Bora Bora to Samoa we were within few miles of each other for the passage and in contact twice a day. We were both headed for Apia. W. Samoa. On the last night out their main halyard chafed through, as it was a roudy passage. They were forced to pull in early to Pago Pago, American Samoa. We continued on. They were preparing to depart for Fiji in a few days after repair were finished. Pago Pago bore the main force of the tsunami created by the 8.3 earthquake on Sunday. Unfortunately, what we gather from the email is that Danny went down to the boat, or was still on it when the water started to go out. He was loosing the lines on the dock. Then the water came back in. She said he didn't have chance...

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