I love early mornings, especially that time of day when the sun is just making the darkened sky rosy and the tree frogs are making that wooden trilling sound - their rolling croak coming in from every upstairs open window while everyone is still snug in their beds... well, except me since Asher woke me up at 5:20am. <sigh>. But i paused a moment after re-settling him to savour the sounds and sights of an early sunrise on the Madagascar high plateau, reveling in the view from the huge open screened windows between his room and mine. I do confess that i've been dreaming of the day we move back to Manitoba and attempt to become 'normal' people again... But then i look out our half-wall sized windows, open to the tropical air and garden and i wonder why i would ever think that moving to Manitoba would be a great thing. alas.

It's been a rather fantastic yesterday/week, for me at least, someone who - unfortunately? - hears love more clearly through the giving/receiving of gifts. I received a package in the mail from Lithuania yesterday, in a big festive squishy bag, stuffed with soft gold:

Josh the smart-butt asked me when i intended to wear the woolen mittens. ANYways, i love them and will stash them away securely for the time when/if we ever visit colder climes. The socks, however, will serve us well during Madagascar winter which will decend on us in May. Good thing we're planning to flee the country for warmer temperatures in June/July.

One of the other expressions of love was the arrival of an anniversary gift from my lover of 8 years. It was totally unexpected - i had supposed that he was building something secretly at the wood shop, because he had told me that the gift would be late (as would his gift be... still is). I hadnt even considered the fact that a returning Canadian pilot would be arriving in February with a gift in tow. Anyway, Josh got it last night, wrapped it up over drinks at the neighbours and brought it over as i was researching online courses. An E-Book Reader! ACK! I'd done some research on e-book readers a few months ago, but had given it up as something Josh would veto in favour of other more worthy reasons for spending money. Ha. I thought it a very thoughtful and surprising gift. Two things that make it a great one! Now if only i could find some time for reading! haha. I continue to battle the idiosyncrasies of Malagasy culture in my quest for Josh's gift's completion. Alas. If only i had thought of the idea of importing from Canada via Canadian pilots! (can you imagine the poor guy bringing in two gifts, each a secret to the other. haha).

Our secret fort is rising, slowly, out of the dirt.
          

    
Can you see (above) where the fort is being built? It's in a secret place. haha.

This is the view from the fort area towards the deck, although you cant see the deck because the fort is in a secret place.

Helping to carry the bricks to the backyard in preparation for beginning construction.

This is the first day (last Saturday after the last day of school) - mapping out the general outline of the house.

 
Here it is in construction this last Wednesday. We're going high-class on this fort with bricks. Haha. Isnt that funny how a Manitoban would think that bricks are too high end for a fort while in Madagascar bricks (made of mud) are cheaper than wood. Solo is using mud as mortar instead of cement. I suspect that's how they make their homes also. Josh is just now on reconnaissance at Madachine (madaschlope?) for some opaque plastic that could serve as roofing and thus let in more light than a tin roof would. Ingenious isnt it. I thought of it myself.

Whilst the house is being built we are spending our days also relaxing. Sleeping in (bliss!) (well, i should clarify, Judah sleeps in and i dont have to get up if i dont need to attend to Asher, who, as i mentioned earlier, woke up at 5:30 this morning. gah!) Judah is playing Leapster and fighting off his brother's tech-envy. We're watching movies and enjoying play-dates with friends. The cyclone has created not as sunny weather for playing outdoors so we've done also a lot of inside activities like colouring and home-school work.

The Easter Lilies in full bloom out front.

Cyclone season has started in earnest, so it seems. So it seems by the evident absence of Josh from our household now every day ALL day (ie. very early in the mornings until after normal dinner time hour)! And his higher stress levels. And the fact that we're stuck inside most of the day most days because of the incessant rains... and the subsequent higher moldy smell in our house. When i check email in the mornings after breakfast the cyclone/weather websites are still open, giving evidence of Josh's awareness of what's coming up on the horizon. We'll keep the news to ourselves this time though, the sharing of cyclone warnings to our gardener last week just seemed to cause him more stress than the bliss of ignorance. Unfortunately for most Malagasy with rice fields still in the ground, the inclement weather isnt great for harvesting.
(photo: pierrot men, sahakevo. 2009).

I can confess that mostly i dont like the distracted air Josh has most of the time during this season of the year, the constant phone ringing with people calling to make plans or change them, plans tossed about at the whim of the weather. I dont either like to hear him declare as we sit down to a rare breakfast together as a family that "today is going to be a very stressful day!" But i am also encouraging him to share more verbally, so i guess i'll take the bad with the good He told me last night that i should write a blog entry about the sacrifice i make in being a MAF pilot's wife during this time of year. I think he was feeling guilty about his long days and never seeing his family. Truth be told, however, i've learned to expect this sort of thing by now during these months of the year. It's the reason why we'll never furlough in February until early spring (can you imagine being only one pilot left in the program at this time of year!? gah! ...incidentally, there is only one pilot in the program right now at Helimission. Ack! poor guy... poor his-family! ) I know that it's the intense time and that a lot is going on. I know we (MAF) benefit from the flight hours and the people need the aid. I have faith in Josh's flying skills and his wisdom in knowing when things are too hairy and the risks are too high. And i also have faith in the Almighty God to carry the plane in the palm of his hand, and in the prayers of the Saints who uphold Josh and the other pilots during this time of high winds, high stress, high need.

Judah is still on school holidays, in case you've forgotten. That's probably why i havent been blogging. I'm enjoying the sleeping in and the relaxed hanging out at our house these days. Solo is hard at work on the Secret Fort, which i will post photos of in the near future.  My friend Tanja told me of a very funny story of Judah and his friend - and her son - Fanilo who were playing together at his house this last week: they were reportedly fighting over a stick or something when Fanilo shouted at Judah something to the effect of "dont you know the Bible says...." and proceeded to throw scripture at Judah to, i assume, get him to hand it over, when Judah responded, "but the Bible also says...." and shouted back some other verse supporting his position. Haha. What missionary kids! I'm certain they were reciting Boys Club verses at each other because i cant see where they would have the knowledge to quote with authority anything else (although Judah can very easily now tell the general overview of the Old Testament from Genesis to Kings due to Josh's reading to him of the Bible every day and a weekly review of what's happened).

Asher is getting to be a big turkey recently. argh! his eating has also just dropped off dramatically in the last 2 days... i'm hoping he's not sick, but i'm at a loss as to his teething habits, since he hasnt popped any since October-ish and it always seems like he's exhibiting teething symptoms. bah. He's growing into the capabilities of being able to REALLY frustrate Judah (he just ran crying upstairs and i can hear him yell out his irritation in his room because of Asher's pestering [actually, now it comes out that Asher has 'porridge hands' and Judah doesnt like being touched by them. haha] ) and his parents, truth be told.

A really neat and creative representation of our beloved home country. Check it out.

From my upstairs window i can see the line of women out front planting grass in 30C weather, with small girl and baby in tow. The children hang out all day in the front, sometimes sitting in the shade of the mango tree to cool off. They're almost done planting the front communal grass area and then they will be moving on, hopefully, to a new job. It has been difficult, these few days, to watch them do such backbreaking work, listening to that sweet baby cry most of the day, being bounced on small siblings' backs. But i continue to remind myself that this is simply normal life in this country - only jarring in that it's here so close, in my comfortable compound, juxtaposed against my white, plump children of privilege, entirely at liberty to play what they want whenever they want. Will i miss that constant reminder of my relative wealth and life of luxury when/if i live in Canada where such harsh realities are glazed over by television ads, vast arrays of convenience products and seared sensitivities?

We (josh and i) were just at the French Elementary school this morning to meet with the Director with regards to Judah's enrollment. He's a very nice man and can even speak English for the times when my french lapses. ha. We'll know by March if Judah gets in, but i dont suspect there will be a problem. Unfortunately, as i referred to in a post a few days back, due to the economic issues that many are struggling with i reckon many national students who would have gone to the French school wont be due to the higher cost of tuition than other schools. Josh pointed out that a mark in Judah's favour for being accepted is that we're in the 'international' category for tuition rates, which means that we'll be paying the highest amount. ha.

Asher is continuing to grow like the proverbial weed. He is currently 14 months and has now learned to walk backwards, which he enjoys showing off to anyone who will watch; eat on his own, which his parents dont generally allow him to do very often due to the mess it creates; and push chairs towards where he wants to climb up on things. Uh-oh! The challenge therefore is to protect the things he thinks are climb-up worthy, namely the computer, tv, and various other non-toddler-friendly items. He continues to love talking on the cell phone whenever he can get his hands on it. He puts it to his hear (or lower neck) and jabbers on, walking around the room like he's obviously seen his parents do. How cute... except when he stashes my phone in places where i cant find it. His favourite food is homemade mac&cheese, of which he can eat huge bowl-fulls. He sleeps mostly well during the night, going down with a milk bottle (which i KNOW is bad for his teeth, but nevermind! he brushes morning and night most days) and still takes 2 naps a day for between an hour and 2.5 hours at a time. Recently, however, he's been bucking the afternoon nap with a vengence and the other day catapulted himself out of his crib, following his teddy-bears, blanket, bottle and mobile animals which he likes to throw vehemently out of crib. He loves being chased, playing in the truck, playing in the sandbox and playing with little cars, which his brother never did like doing. He's also been putting things into his mouth, which judah never did and thus i became not as vigilent with keeping small items out of reach, but last Wednesday at the Superbowl party at a friends' house he was (thankfully!) walking past me and choking on a plastic bottle cap he had found lying on the floor. Egad! It gives me the heebie-jeebies just thinking about how, in that room full of people watching a loud football game, he could have choked and no one might have noticed!

Today is Judah's last day of school before (Valentines day?) school holidays. I dont know why there are holidays just now... it's not because of Ash Wednesday because that's in March... and we've also got another two weeks off in April over Easter. Yikes! We're planning on building a secret fort these holidays in the back garden area, behind the bushes. Stay tuned for photo status-reports.

Recently there has been a pop up of new Madagascar Lotteries billboards come up around the city. They make me exceedingly angry! Here, while the ______________________ government has been the cause of the economic crisis in the country, they now have the gall to create a lottery program whereby they rob the poor to feed the rich, so to speak. The government needs money so they bring in a system to give false hope: free money! to the poor in order to pay for the huge budget items the rich government officials are struggling due to their own poor choices. gah! I wish i was stupidly courageous enough to print my own posters to pin up under the billboards declaring the real reason behind these flashy new signs. Doesnt the government know that the price of being in power means using your OWN money to pay for the things you cant afford?! if only. >> "Société d’Exploitation de Loterie is a quasi government-owned entity set up to operate, or contract with third parties to operate, lotteries on the island."  Society of Exploitation indeed! GAH! Go pick on someone your OWN economic level!

I'm currently working on the second volume of the MAF Inflight Magazine. It's not very fun... either that or i've gotten used to not doing office work and am chafing at this new job. Thus the long blog entry whilst i should be working. haha.

This morning dawned golden, clear and glorious. Despite the beauty of the morning, however, this cyclone is brewing just off the north east coast of Madagascar and will come for a visit this weekend, most likely. From the other website it seems as though cyclone season may truly be in the wind, as it were. Time to stock up on candles i guess.

Judah had his school program this morning. It was said to be a 'carnival', but there was nothing carnival-esque other than the usual long program of dances, poems and too-quiet individual children reciting whatever it was they were supposed to say. My kid, unfortunately, decided to skip the instructions about what his class was to say and upgraded himself to the grade 1 level by telling us all his name, age, and that he was a boy... all in English. Whew! he is SO smart!! haha.

The best part of the day, however, was his costume, which i had been somewhat concerned about for the last week or so since he was supposed to come dressed in Asian costume... After searching the internet for inspiration and wondering how i would get him to wear anything like that with a happy attitude i came upon the brilliant!! idea of putting on "Kung Fu Panda" movie and pointing out to him the finer points of costuming. While prepping his will with movie excerpts in order to wear what i would come up with i perused Josh's closet for something that might look sort of Asian... and came up with this:

when we tried it on two days ago the ladies saw it and laughed out loud in delight. I then hurriedly explained to him that they were laughing because his costume was so great! I was afraid that he would interpret their laughter as directed at him and subsequently declare that he was NOT going to wear this to the school program! Then i told him to go to the guard shack and see if Solo could identify what his costume was. He also laughed. haha. But said Judah to look like someone doing kung fu (yes!). Our next stop was the Canadians next door, to whom i sent Judah to 'trick or treat'. Haha. He not only got a sucker, but the men graciously identified him as a samurai/Manchurian warrior. So. Voila! No sewing required and he had probably one of the best costumes, according to this rather biased judge.   We were originally going to have Judah wear the hat-basket-lid, which is shaped like a cone, but the ladies declared that they knew of another lady who could make a hat by Wednesday morning and, sure enough, this morning it arrived just on time for us to leave for the fete.

these two photos (above and below) are to show you the size of my 'easter' lilies. They're hard to see against the green background, but they are as high as judah's shoulders (below) and over his head in the photo above. in the next few days their trumpets will be opening and i'm sure i'll get a photo of all of them blooming at the same time.

This is Judah's class (some of them). The girls are from pre-k and Judah and the boys are in the equivalent of Kindergarten (here it's known as Grand Section/ GS). They have a mixed class. That's their teacher/maitre in the dark and white striped shirt taking a photo. I asked one of the parents of Judah's classmates from GS where they would be sending their boy next year, since it's a concern of mine where we're sending Judah and i was wondering if anyone was considering going to the French Elementary as we are. But the lady i spoke with said that the tuition was too high for her to send her kid there and i suspect that most of the boys in judah's class will have the same thoughts. alas. so i reckon if we do go to the french school he will be making all new friends again.

As you can see if you watch the video, Judah doesnt really know what he's doing. alas. He really does love to dance, but i reckon he doesnt love as much to follow a set choreography, especially when dancing with a whole entourage of kids who are basically just jumping around. the kind of moves he comes up with on his own after dance class day is quite impressive, however, and i'm proud to say that he wont be growing up with ethnic inhibitions in regards to dancing like his parents did.

I found myself on this site last night and it inspired me. There aint any space in these houses for hoarding much of anything, i could see that straight away. haha. Take a look at the houses listed under 'tiny' (65-140 square feet). heehee. Wouldnt that be an adventure of counter-cultural living! egad! I had Josh help me measure out some of the 'larger' small homes yesterday (i especially like the Whidbey at 557 sq ft or the Sebastarosa at 807 ).

Josh is out on a trip to Fianarantsoa. He wished me happy anniversary this morning at 4am... i'm hoping that he did that because he didnt want to forget to wish me happy anniversary tomorrow when it's actually our anniversary. :-S It's our 8th on the 8th! Wowie! As i read on a great devotional blog, recommended by a lovely friend, 'the days are long, but the years are short'. It is more true the older i get, which is what everyone over 30 says i guess. Last night while we were walking briskly home from an impromptu Sunday afternoon visit at friends and the night snuck up on us before we were all the way home i was marveling at how big our first born is already, and how quickly they both will grow up no matter where we find ourselves living (or in what size of house... although i reckon a 'tiny' house may make the boys seem bigger than they really would be. ha) - and how long I've already been married to that guy i used to play nerf gun wars with in the basement of my parents house when we were in high-school. yikes.

Judah is off to a birthday party this afternoon at his 'french friend' 's house. I wrapped the gift this morning (a head-light for the often times we have power cuts these days) and thought it needed something. I was reminded of this tutorial where i learned how to make a gift bow from paper. Clever, huh.

It's been a bit 'chilly' today (i use that term lightly during the month of February when usually Northerners are 'enjoying' sub-minus30C temps... although not now, so i heard!) with very gusty weather, which induced a cuppa of my favourite Cornelia Bean tea, brewed in my Brewt with some litchi honey. Yum. I love that Brewt, i tell you. It's so clever.

We've got a litchi theme going on here at our house. I finally opened the litchi soap i bought at Ivahona at Le Gare a few weeks ago. So yummy!

This is a photo i took of Asher having his morning nap. i snuck in and opened the curtain a crack to let in the light so i could take a photo, and then the camera light (not flash) shone in his face while i took it so i made a hasty exit before he woke up entirely. Hence the blurry picture. Taking a photo while he was sleeping may not have been terribly clever. He slept another hour and a half, so it was ok. I took this photo for my mom, so she could see the love between boy and bear/dog.

We've got some kind of water leakage problem in our truck. Because of the heavy rains recently and the fact that there is a mysterious hole somewhere in the truck there is water sloshing about under the floor mats on the driver side of the truck. For this reason we often leave the doors open during the day to dry it out, which suits Asher just fine since the truck is one of his favourite play places.

a big and excited thanks to auntie lisa and family for the fun package (wow, it was HUGE!) and all the goodies therein!! Judah was pretty impressed first with the size of the package and then with the thumb-print art book. He's saving the lego for putting together when Josh gets home. He was also quite jealous of Asher's Lightning McQueen cars! Good thing they're brothers and can share. Pretty stoked myself about the teas and we're all impatiently waiting for Josh to get home to see what he got!

This is a photo of my domestic prowess. i need to document it for posterity. That there is the pumpkin spice icecream that tastes like pumpkin pie with whip cream on it but in icecream form, peanut butter icecream, and fresh vanilla bean icecream which goes with the baked-that-afternoon apple pie. whew!