This is the group we went with. If we fill the plane (10 people over 2 years old) then it's WAY cheaper to fly than even with Air Mad. The only bad part is finding a weekend that isnt booked with other clients. It's an exercise in patience and flexible last minute planning.

Josh and a few others walked across while Heather and i pirogue-d around the island to take a look at one of the hotels we'd visited on our very first trip to Ste.Marie, Lemuriens, which had been all but demolished in cyclone Ivan a few years ago. The owner has rebuilt and it's very nice (not as nice as where we stayed ) although it's lovely to be a brand new place. Lemuriens has A-frame cabins with only a double bed. No toilet/bathrooms in the room, but shared among the cabins.

Morning nursing with my cuppa by the front beach area. You can see the tide is in now in comparison with earlier photos of the same location. <sigh> So nice.

It seems Xanga thinks i've uploaded too many photos today, so you'll have to wait a bit longer for the rest of them.

Another successful weekend at Ile Ste.Marie with our 'private' plane, good friends, great food, gorgeous sunny weather (although not too hot), whales, soft white (tasty) sandy beaches, snorkeling, strolls across the island, pirogue rides, morning coffee looking out over the tropical paradise, playing in the sand... it was entirely lovely.

Asher's first time on the sand was remarkably different than his older brother's first experience at the same age on the same beach. Where Judah was afraid of the sand, Asher dived in with both fists and immediately started sampling the goods.

Asher (above sitting in the dining room and below crawling on the front deck) on early mornings (ca. 5:30) with dad. A fantastic time of day to be up, but some of us didnt sleep as well as others and needed to catch up on some rest.

We stayed at the place where we always stay when we go for our annual weekend to the coast, at La Petite Traversee, owned by a South African friend. He has, by far, the best chef on the island and we enjoyed his meals the whole weekend. What I appreciate about this location is that it's a tropical paradise without being commercialized like other destinations like Hawaii and many Mexican resorts.

Beach at sunset.

The boys.

Crayfish. Oh. Yum!

That's Ockie, the proprietor, and his chef Oliver at our dinner table.

Best friends. They played so nicely together the whole weekend. How fun is that to be able to take a weekend vacation with your best friend's family, traveling together on a small airplane piloted by your own dad!

This was our front yard area where we would sit in the morning and intermittently throughout the day watching the kids play in the sand. The lower sand area filled with the sea at high tide. It was a great spot for the kids because we didnt have to walk anywhere to get to sand or water. I could sit and enjoy my cuppa overlooking the ocean and still keep an ear open for Asher sleeping in our bungalow. This picture is taken from the common area near the dining/deck area. The cabins are to the right.

Same spot looking from the other side, towards main dining area. The cabins are to the left.

Once we got there and remembered how great it was (we usually go once a year, but because of our furlough last year we hadnt been for 2 years) we immediately started to reconsider our travel plans for December when my parents get here from doing a road trip to returning here for a few days. My brothers and their wives are also considering joining us for Christmas. Wouldn't it be lovely to spend Christmas at a spot like this with +33C temperatures? (i declare that it would! )

Well, i have so many photos to upload and i suppose it's taking too much time since i do have to get back to real life (aka, feeding my children myself instead of just lolling about and waiting for the food to appear on the table ) Stay tuned for more pics soon!

Chameleon pipe-cleaner pet.

Judah finishes his morning cartoons just as i'm starting to get rolling with my "work" on the computer and declares to me, "what are we going to do for craft today?!" Ha. His imagination these days works overtime in creating grand schemes for fabrication. I remember having similar problems correlating what i could create in my head with what was plausible to create with my hands. Well, we do what we can i suppose. One of my great sources of inspiration is the Martha Stewart website, where you can click on crafts for kids. That's where we modeled our pipe cleaner pets after. Josh reckons i should create an album of all the summer winter holiday crafts we'll do this year. I suppose he's getting a kick out of seeing what we've come up with every day. I think today though the activity-of-the-day will be to make some Rice Krispie treats to take along on our coastal adventure.

This is supposed to look like a tiger.

Apart from crafting, i've been battling the mom-of-an-infant fatigue syndrome. Asher has been recently getting up again every 2-3 hours during the night, which doesnt make for a good rest for me, obviously. Two nights ago we let him cry it out though, since i was so exhausted i felt i couldnt even get out of bed. This last night therefore was so dreamy: only one wake up within Asher's 12 hour sleep. Hopefully this trend will continue through our beach vacation!!

Paper plate mask modeled after photos from our google search.

Despite the lack of sleep, however, the last few days have been much better than most of June for me. We had a pastoral couple visit the MAF program the first weekend of July. Their parting words at the International Staff meeting on Friday were balm to my soul. He spoke on Transitions, which is something all of us families are experiencing right now, not to mention the program as a whole and the country as well. He told us that during transition we must let go of the old order, embrace the new order and, in the between stage there is what he referred to as "crazy time". That's what we're experiencing right now, essentially the flux stage between the old and the new. He also told us that this period in between, when the new is not yet, is when most people want to opt out (ahem). But that we must just persevere. One thing we discussed was that if we did opt out during this stage there would be a constant feeling of never having closure, of always being unsettled thereafter. <sigh>. I know. Anyway, the speaker also told about how transition in business (or wherever) has the same stages as that of bereavement: 1. denial, 2. Anger, 3. Depression, 4. Bargaining, 5. Acceptance. I suppose that we're both in the 'depression' stage at this point. Depressed about all our friends leaving and about the prospect of starting over again with a new program. I realize we must dismantle the old order, as it were, in order to put the new in place. And then, once the new is in place we must have some stability for a while in order to finally settle in the new order instead of constantly being in a state of change, as we have been for the last year and a half. Thankfully, as it was pointed out, the constancy of all time, over all change, is that God is preparing in advance the things that are to happen, that he is with us and able to give comfort and peace in amidst the hectic-ness of our lives. I, for one, however, am looking forward to that period of stability once everything has settled into the new order.

Tuesday our friendship group surprised Rhonda, my Canadian neighbour and fellow MAF wife, with a day at the spa and lunch at the new Thai restaurant on our side of town. It was really a lovely time together. We planned to do this to spend some special time with Rhonda now before the hectic-ness of her life gets more hectic as she packs up and prepares to leave Madagascar. While the other friends waited at the spa, Heather and i knocked on Rhonda's door with video camera rolling and blindfold in hand. Heather took her in her truck on a round-about drive to the spa. We all were able to get something done (mani, pedi, or head/facial massage) and had a good yak throughout. LOL. I got my toes done in preparation for our beach vacation this weekend.

Since Rhonda is leaving and packing up her house (just imagine that stress after living there for 6 years! ACK!) she's downsizing and trying to get stuff out. I am the fortunate recipient of one of these pieces: their bookshelf, which is now serving as my kitchen open-shelving. (see photo, on right side). I admit that these kinds of additions to my house are a mixed blessing. I've found that over the last 4 years i've accumulated (with confessed glee on one hand) the furniture and decor items of many friends who have left the country. It is a bittersweet gift, to be sure, since as i live with these pieces in my home i am reminded of the friends who housed them before me. <sigh>. They are nice reminders, to be sure, of friends from years past. Thankfully in this instance, Rhonda and Matthew are people we're quite sure to see again in the future. (Especially if they end up in Wpg. heehee!)

Our activity of the day today: making Rice Krispie Treats. And, for posterity's sake: a photo of our new kitchen set up taken from the dining room. My dream is to have new counters made and also a raised island type of place where i can use bar stools to sit at. Something higher to work on than the below-the-hip height counters and tables we've got currently. It continues to amaze me that the improvements we make in our house make both Josh and i feel more at home here and more capable of facing the next term with it's transitions and re-settling.

Yesterday was such a nice sunny day that Josh suggested we get out of town for a picnic. We ended up at the exact place we picnicked the last time (Mother's Day 2007 LOL.) down a random dirt road on top of a hill. It was nice to get out of the compound and enjoy the beauty of the countryside. The only tricky part is that it's a difficult place to find a flat place for Asher to sit and not roll down the hill.

We've been hearing from friends of ours who were just at Ile Ste.Marie, on the east coast, that they saw lots of whales and some only 100meters from the beach! Josh and Judah are getting increasingly excited about our vacation next weekend to the same place. Hopefully we'll get nice weather there. This last week our friends reported it was cool enough to wear long pants and jackets. Brrr. Here in Tana it's also quite cool, which i dont mind actually. I'm enjoying the wearing of jeans and sweaters for a time.

for the sake of school holiday sanity i've been trying to have an activity of the day. The life-size Judah drawing was one. Here's the photo of the finished product. That's the paper person's tea and tea pot to the side.

we took a trip to Jumbo Digue the other day to buy groceries we can only get there. we've been working on not whining for things (toys, treats) while in the store, but rather having an idea of what we want to get before we get there. that particular day we didnt have anything on our list to buy for Judah, but we negotiated a ride on the Ride outside the shop once we'd made it through the store without whining. Once we got there though we realized that the workers, lounging in a truck right next to the ride, were on lunch break (a break from lying around and doing nothing, apparently) and would not budge until 2pm. ARGH! I felt bad then, since Judah had been so good in the store and his reward was now moot. On the way back home though i saw a man selling sling-shots on the road. Judah had been attempting to make his own (one attempt with cardboard [!], one by gluing three sticks together to make a Y shape...) anyway, so we stopped and got one of these as compensation.

On Judah's origami calendar this last week we came upon a newspaper hat. We had to scrounge for some newspaper after Judah excitedly mauled the Shoprite flyers i had brought home for that purpose. <sigh> but in the end we got two "pirate" hats out of that day and an eye patch made with mommy's headband.

Last night Josh made Judah a big fort within which they both watched a movie and then slept through the night in. Whew! Josh has more commitment than i do for a crummy night of sleep, that's for sure. Mind you, i reckon i probably had a more sleepless night than he did. Alas.

The boys are playing increasingly well together.

Flashback...

Have you ever suddenly realized amidst a terrible time of life that God is very present, and is using this dark night of the soul to shape you for His good purpose? If nothing else, a quick glimpse of such a truth can give hope to endure the remainder of what may otherwise seem to be a never-ending battle with the worst enemy of all, that which draws breath with my self same lungs. To be sure, no one wants to read blog entries about depression, general anxiety disorder, or similar malaises of the mind. I know that full well. Unfortunately, amidst such a battle it's difficult to write about anything else with much passion. But, for my own sake as much as to witness to the glory of God, I can say within this darkness and struggle that the Enemy CAN be beaten back, if only a small step at a time, and he seems to make the mistake of pushing too hard for too long, which can only push a child of God towards Life rather than away from it. I like to know that my enemy makes mistakes.

What amazes me in times such as this (although the Enemy uses this same point at times to cause doubt) is how and why the Lord Almighty would choose a broken person such as myself to serve overseas in His name. Overseas where the struggle can undoubtedly be harsher if only due to its foreign nature. The fact that i am here, someone who battles mental illness at times, doing what we're doing in a strange and foreign land only attests to the Truth that with God all things are possible. That God has chosen the foolish and weak things of the world to confound the wise and the things which are mighty. (1Cor1:27) And he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.(2 Cor 12:9).

That said, we could all use your continued prayers. For Josh who must somehow help his wife fight battles he cannot see nor understand. For the boys who are robbed of a mom living at full capacity. I reckon a new phase of life with uninterrupted sleep, great health, and warmer weather will do wonders in bringing things back to 'normal'. 

I'm not the only one in the blogging community taking leave of the written word these days it seems, but i suppose that's not any comfort for those readers who come to check for a new entry on a daily basis. Sorry.

It's the first day of summer winter holidays from school today. I've committed to preparing myself to do a 'project' with Judah in the mornings when we dont have other things planned. Today we made a life-sized paper-Judah, which i was hoping would take a very long time to colour. I'm going to have to start doing some internet research on homeschooling type activities we could do. I also will carpool with the other MAF family who has preschool aged kids to the preschool for winter holiday play days.

Josh is on a longer trip today, which means i'm off the hook for Monday-Big-Supper. We've fallen into a habit of having a larger meal made by me on Mondays (since the weekend usually is small meals or takeout) with leftovers on Tuesdays. This last Saturday though we had filet for dinner because we hosted the MAF pastoral couple for the day. We took them downtown to the Colbert for icecream (to celebrate Judah's last day of school) and then, after a nap all around, we had filet, fries, two-seed dressing'd salad and nanaimo for dessert. So yummy, but so very easy (for me )When i made that nanaimo for Canada day i thought for certain it would dissappear immediately, since it's made in a puny 8x8 inch pan, but it lingers a long time i guess, which is terrible for everything but my tongue. If i wasnt so exhausted all the time i'd be more assertive in forcing my girlfriends over to help me eat it. Reinier took a good stab at it yesterday though after a bit of a bat. I also feel guilty when i eat it because i know i'm too tired to exercise the next day too. :-S Terrible.

Asher, although he's standing up more confidently and now using the stool/coffee tables as a makeshift walker (with help), still thinks he needs to wake up 2-3 times per night and then again for the day at 6:30. <sigh>. I'm just telling myself that this stage will pass and 'soon' we'll look back on it with fond memories of how cute and cuddly he was. But i tell you, it's exhausting, and my back/neck are hurtin' units because of the strain. If i wasnt so exhausted i'd go for a massage. Ha.

I think i failed to write on the blog about how Josh's favourite GAP pants were stolen from our laundry line the other day. They must have been swiped during the night because there's no other explanation of how they've just disappeared. It's truly a shame because they're Josh's best pants and now we've got strained relations with the security, who Josh has confronted with the problem. Unfortunately for our house lady, whom we trust explicitly, the security is taking their stress out on her and claiming that she's the one who is somehow to blame. Argh!

Canada Day was last Thursday, as you are probably aware . We got together with the S's for the last time for Canada Day. We pooled our Canadian food items for a very fattening supper: Manitoban pork sausage and noodles with schmont fat gravy (a la Josh), french fries from Aero Pizza with gravy for the poutine contribution and nanaimo for dessert. Yum. I'm sure i'll be very homesick for Canadian celebrations with the S's next year when they've been gone for almost a year. <sniff!> Check out the photo of the Canadian kids in Rhonda's blog entry.

As i mentioned, we tagged along with Josh on his overnight trip to Fianarantsoa. It's been a long time since we've gone on a trip with him... probably over a year ago and we most likely went to Toliara (as usual) that time. Fianarantsoa was nothing like Tuliar. LOL. It's colder there than it is in Tana right now, so we were forced to pack lots of warm clothes and blankets for Asher. I wasnt sure what kind of hotel we'd be staying in, so we brought the pack-n-play bed. In the end we didnt need most of the stuff we lugged along (shame, i really detest over packing!) because the family room at the Soafia hotel had 2 beds of 2 single beds and it was nice and cozy warm. Asher and i had one big bed and Judah and Josh the other. Although I had to wake up more often, i reckon Josh had the rawer deal . Judah has all the unfortunate sleeping habits of all his relatives rolled into one: jimmy legs, snoring, gritting teeth and talking aloud. Isnt that how it goes that the most disruptive sleeper gets the best sleep though. Ha.

Anyway, it was nice to be in a place where we werent going to get heat stroke. Unfortunately i still got stomach sick, which of course made me worry that i would puke all the way home again en route. blech. Alas. Tagging along on a trip with Josh may sound exciting, but i've been reminded again why we dont do it very often: sleepless nights in a terrible bed, cranky children bored with nothing to do for entertainment, and stomach yuckiness. Shame. I think once my boys are old enough to leave behind perhaps it'll be more fun to go along without them.

We did have some good parts to the trip though. I was very pleasantly surprised with the hotel room. I'd been preparing myself for a dodgy place with cockroaches in the bathroom, dirty carpets and bedding... But it was nice and clean and large, so there was room for the boys to play. We also had a tv for Josh to watch the World Cup Soccer game. The Salon de The on the hotel grounds was also a highlight. They had the most lovely cappuccinos with rich whipped cream on top and some lekker almond croissants. Yum! As an added (and much appreciated) bonus, the 5? ladies who worked there all thought Asher was the cutest thing, so they whisked him away to play behind the counter as soon as we would come in for a snack. Gotta love Malagasy service. Also, Pierrot Men's studio was on the same property, which was fun to visit. Josh said he wanted to invest in some prints of his before we left this country (at some point). I was reminded of when Pierrot came to our house for lasagne. Unfortunately he had just left on a trip of some sort that same morning, so Josh couldnt say hello.

We went for a nice walk to the train station the afternoon we arrived. It was nice to see some of the town, but frankly, there's not much to see there. It's 'just another dirty city', as someone so eloquently put it. Apparently if we'd had a car and the inclination to do some driving we could have gone to see the tea farms or Le Lac Hotel, which presumably has something interesting to look at. It was also nice to watch Josh in action again. It's often easy to forget what we're really doing here since i'm at home most of the time doing normal life kind of things (running the house, school runs, meetings and grocery shopping). Josh's clients on this trip were three nuns. On the way back we had three extra Swiss guys - our IT civil servants - who had been on vacation traveling around the country for the weekend.

It's Canada Day today. We've put out the flag and us Canadians in the compound are getting together to eat a Canadian themed meal together. Nanaimo bars, poutine, Manitoban pork sausage with noodles and schmont fat. Yum. Perhaps we could also celebrate by staying up past 9 like we would do in Canada at this time of year... but... nah.

Currently i'm working at organizing the hosting schedule for the pastoral couple for MAF arriving tomorrow and staying a week. I'm getting the impression no one wants to be pastor-ed though... hm.

We're leaving on "vacation" in two week's time for the coast, as per usual at this time of year.

I'm suffering from winter blues and post-traumatic-stress. I realize this is a delicate prayer request based on the desires of some people back home, but i could really use some prayer to be content (happy would be even better) here in Mada right now and until the end of our term here. I've been struggling a lot recently with wanting to just throw in the towel and move back to Canada. Things are difficult here these days and i'm definitely tired of the higher levels of tension that i sense in the undercurrents of the current political climate. I dont want to give in to what i presume is a barrage of spiritual attacks aimed at sending us home. We've committed to this term at least and it would be terrible if i had to battle through the whole time. Ironically, the location for our ocean side vacation was the location for the terrible news i hinted at a few weeks ago the hearing of which i'm quite certain was the last straw that broke this camel's back, as it were. So, instead of being a time for rest and relaxation it will inevitably be cause for some serious mental battles instead. Alas. In retrospect, i'm really wishing i would have decided to go back to Canada for my brother's wedding because it would mean i would be leaving in a few weeks' time. But that boat has left, so to speak, and i'm left trying to "snap out of it". Shame.

To be honest, when i wrote that title i was thinking about our trip tomorrow, but then thought, wouldnt it be great if we were leaving the country all together?! Can you tell i've had it up to here with cultural fatigue? How is it that Madagascar winter time always brings this discontent and seemingly harsher spiritual attack? Always.

Anyway, we're off with Josh on an overnight to Fianarantsoa tomorrow morning until Wednesday. I hope it'll be chaos-free. LOL. Stay tuned for photos.

Yesterday evening we had a Madagascar Independence Day party in our compound hosted by our neighbours. We lit our lanterns and loitered around on the grass and on the driveway enjoying the sight of the bobbing globes in the dark. The boys lit fireworks. Judah is the boy in the hoodie, if you can see him. I've got Asher in the baby carrier.

Friday afternoon was holiday for most offices and schools. Our house cleaner brought her four children to play with Judah. She wants them to practice more english and i want Judah to spend more time with Malagasy and also speaking French. They had a great time together playing. It's just a shame that Judah cant see how much they enjoy playing with all his very nice toys and things because they havent got such nice things. He, in his spoiled brat kind of way, declared after playing enthusiastically with the children for 3 hours that it had been all quite boring. Bah.

Recently i've noticed that Shoprite gives out boxes to carry out groceries if i ask for one. Since Judah's new favourite things is playing with cardboard boxes i usually try to get one or two each time i go there.

 
Bought another pumpkin and 'put up' the whole thing into baby food (ice)cubes and 1-cup portions which i've been using to make pumpkin bread oatmeal, which is our new favourite weekend breakfast, and pumpkin bread. Yum! The Ikea plastic kids cups i've got make for excellent one-cup freezing molds. Just makes me feel so domestic. LOL.

Since Canada Day is in winter time over here i reckoned that maple leaf shaped gingerbread cookies was an apt way to be patriotic and cold-weather-friendly at the same time. Now that Madagascar Independence Day is over i'll take that flag down and put up the ol' Leaf in it's place. I have hopes of making Nanaimo bars to celebrate. and maybe poutine? does anyone know the best kind of cheese to make a poutine-like experience? perhaps it'd be Canadian to pull out a link of Manitoban sausage too while we're at it.