Never a Dull Moment

I had originally thought of naming this post "Settling into a Routine", but then I thought better of that.  There's never really a true routine here.  Every day is different and brings something new: a new sight, a new friend, a new experience, a new thing learned, a new adventure, even.  That said, I thought I'd simply catch you up on some of the "new" things happening this past week.
Missionary friends of ours working in Fada (halfway between Mahadaga, where we are stationed and Ouagadougou, the capital) have decided that God is calling them home and are finishing up their last term in Burkina in November.  We are sad to see them go and will miss them so much!  With their leaving, however, we've had the opportunity to acquire their motorbike: a Honda 250.  Like the Yamaha Rhino we had shipped over on the container when we first arrived, it is strictly for ministry purposes, of course!;)  Seriously, though, during rainy season especially, motorcycles are such a convenient way to get around the rural Mahadaga area to visit clients.  So we are blessed to have the use of a well-taken-care-of, fairly powerful bike.
[caption id="attachment_691" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Business use only, folks...really!"][/caption]
We've decided to start our own garden in our backyard.  In the past we had been sharing a garden with the Walsh family, but we felt we needed a little more space and we thought we might do a little better job at actually taking care of our garden if it was in our own backyard.  So, we've started the process of prepping the ground and outlining the site for the garden, hoping that Dale can transfer a few of the tomato and pepper plants he started in "recycled" tin cans.  After finally agreeing on which corner of our yard would work best for a garden, we also realized that we would need to have one of our trees cut down in order to allow for enough sun in the garden.  We hate to cut any trees down around here, but we want to give our garden the best chance we can at succeeding, so we finally decided to bite the bullet and have it done.  There is actually a chain saw somewhere on the station, but it is not very big and none of our Burkinabe helpers know how to use it, so the tree had to be cut down the old-fashioned way.  They lopped off all the branches, then got about halfway through the trunk and then they tied some rope to the top of the trunk and attached the other end to the winch on the front of the Yamaha Rhino.  If we get a chance to in Ouaga, we'll try and post some video of it, but suffice it to say that it came down loud and hard, but it was pretty cool!  And I have to salute the guys who worked so hard to chop through that trunk, and then chop it up again into smaller pieces.  Now they've spent the last two days digging a crater in our backyard in an effort to get the trunk and roots out of the ground!
[caption id="attachment_689" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="It only took them about 30 minutes to get this far into the trunk with the puniest little ax I"][/caption]	[caption id="attachment_690" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Another 30 minutes of tying the rope to the tree and the winch, then gunning the rhino and the giant finally toppled. "][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_700" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="I can't believe they actually managed to pull that thing out of the ground! It's a monster!"][/caption]	[caption id="attachment_703" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="There's the hole that monster was in!"][/caption]
The highlight of our week was a trip to one of the nearby waterfalls.  The four of us hopped into the Yamaha rhino and drove it about 4 kilometers before turning off the main road and weaving along a bunch of donkey-cart paths through the cotton, millet and corn to the lower of two waterfalls.  I can never really figure out how Dale remember where to turn or how to get there, but somehow we find it every time.  Once at the lower waterfall, we had to continue on foot.  We skirted around to the right side of the pool at the bottom of the falls and then climbed up through towering weeds to the top of the waterfall.  Then came the treacherous part: crossing the top waterfall in order to continue on up along the stream bed to the upper falls.  Besides a little scary and dangerous, it was hot and sticky going, but when we arrived, it was worth it.  The upper falls don't get much "traffic", so we had the place to ourselves, and the waterfall is beautiful.  Perhaps if you show up for a visit sometime, we'll take you there!
[caption id="attachment_698" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The boys are piled into the Yamaha Rhino, ready for our trip to the waterfall."][/caption]	[caption id="attachment_697" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="This is THE Mahadaga bridge. Looks like the donkey isn't too keen on crossing it. Glad I was riding a Rhino instead of a donkey."][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_694" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Driving along the donkey-cart path to the lower waterfall, we came up on this "road block" - a donkey cart full up with freshly harvested millet. We had to drive through their millet field to get around it."][/caption]	[caption id="attachment_696" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Turn left at the next corn field and voila! There's the lower waterfall!"][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_709" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Had to carry Joel through the tall weeds...we woulda lost him otherwise!"][/caption]	[caption id="attachment_699" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Through the jungle of weeds and out we come at the top of the lower waterfall."][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_687" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="It may look like a simple matter of wading across, but the rocks underneath were very slippery, and just behind Dale was..."][/caption]	[caption id="attachment_688" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="...the edge of the waterfall! Slipping really isn't an option."][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_686" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Caleb had fun looking for monkeys with his binoculars as we tramped up the stream bed toward the upper falls."][/caption]	[caption id="attachment_702" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="After a long, sweaty climb, the reward is in sight."][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_701" align="alignleft" width="214" caption="Beautiful!"][/caption]	[caption id="attachment_693" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="After crossing the lower waterfall and wading through the stream, our socks and shoes needed a little drying out."][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_695" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Yes, folks, I did it. I carried Joel on my back the whole way back down to the lower falls. AND I was wearing a skirt."][/caption]
Today the mason crew finally arrived to begin work on our kitchen expansion/renovation project.  I'm so excited!  Not to complain too much considering that my neighbors usually cook outdoors, but I've been feeling a bit cramped in my little kitchen for the last 3 years.  Actually, cooking outdoors (at least when it's not raining) doesn't sound half bad.  At least there I'd have some space!  But then, I guess I wouldn't have cupboards and counter tops within easy reach.  Not that I do now.  So, this lack of storage space and work space has finally driven us to bite the bullet and invest in a kitchen upgrade.  We are basically planning to double the size of our current kitchen (which is only 8x12 at the moment) by adding on a 2nd "room".  At the moment, I can't even fit the fridge and freezer in the kitchen, so they are sitting in our dining room.  The addition will allow us to move the fridge/freezer into the kitchen, add a 2nd utility sink (which will be really helpful for laundry), add more counter space, and add a bunch more cupboards and shelves for storage.  Considering that we generally only go grocery shopping every other month, you can imagine that I usually bring back quite a load of canned goods whenever we return from one of these shopping trips.  Finding space to put it all away can be challenging.  And then there's the problem of finding storage space whenever I start canning.  So, today they started digging the foundation, and maybe in two weeks or so they will have the outer shell (walls, floor, roof) completed.  After that, it's painting and installing cupboards and counters!  I might actually have room to do some real Christmas baking this year!!!:)
[caption id="attachment_692" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="It may not look like much, but it's a start!"][/caption]	[caption id="attachment_716" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="By the way, thought you might be interested in seeing what a \"septic drain\" looks like here. We dug this one behind where the kitchen sink and laundry area will be."][/caption]
In other, not so fun news, Joel is sick.  He started with fevers and vomiting Sunday afternoon, and has had the low grade fever off and on ever since.  The vomiting has turned into diarrhea, and since he seems to have suddenly developed an aversion to disposable diapers, we've been having a lot of "fun" dealing with the aftermath of that.  So, some new experiences out here have nothing to do with living in another country, I guess!  Little boys are always an adventure!  And for those who are wondering, I did go have him tested for malaria, and the test came back negative, so at least we can rule that out.  Now if we could just know what it is!  Joel is not one of those cuddly, sleepy patients, so it's trying and interferes a lot with Caleb's schooling.  We are planning a trip to Ouagadougou, leaving this weekend, so if he's not better by then, we'll be able to take him to a doctor next week.  And, we should have better internet access, which means we should be able to skype with any of you who might be interested in doing so!
Until next time, may your adventures draw you closer to Him!

September 2010 Prayer Letter

Please click on the link to view the prayer letter pdf file.

September 2010 prayer letter

After a momentous month for the Johnson clan that found us in New York, Casablanca, Ouagadougou and Mahadaga, we've finally managed to put together a prayer letter.  We've survived the first month of our second term, moved back into our house, and started home-schooling the boys.  So there are plenty of ways that you can pray for us.  Thank you so much for your prayer support, and we hope that these letters can continue to be a useful tool for you to know how to pray for us and our neighbors.  Let's make an impact in Mahadaga together.

Love,

Dale, Florence, Caleb and Joel

School Days and MKs

This week I started homeschooling the boys.  They're only 2 and 4, so it's only preschool, but I wanted to capitalize on the progress we'd made with Caleb when he attended preschool while we were in the US.  If you heard any of our presentations while we were home, you'll know that we were looking for a teacher to come and teach our boys so I wouldn't have to do the homeschooling myself.  I've been a bit nervous about it, knowing that I'm not the most patient person in the world, tend towards being a perfectionist, and Caleb seems to have inherited my independent (and somewhat stubborn) personality.  Choosing our home school curriculum before we left was a bit of a project.  For one thing, I felt overwhelmed with the many possibilities and a bit stressed out as I was trying to figure out how in the world I was going to help my children "keep up" with the American education system.  It seems like we're pushing our children to learn how to read and sit in school at a younger age than ever.  Not that I doubt my little boys' geniuses, but behaviorally, I'm not so sure they're ready for all these advanced programs and options!  Of course, they aren't growing up in the structured environment most of their American counterparts are growing up in.  They have a lot more freedom here, and honestly, I'm kinda glad I'm raising my boys in this context, despite the lack of resources and diminished exposure to so many "modern" things.  After all, I want what most moms want: for them to have fond memories of their childhood.  That starts in the home, of course, and we work at creating a loving environment to the best of our knowledge and understanding like any other parent does.  But I like to fancy that they'll have the kind of childhood memories that you read about in books like Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn - the part about spending hours out of every day outside, climbing mango trees, exploring, pretending to hunt wild lions, and playing king-of-the-hill on the sand pile.  So what if they don't ALWAYS wear their shoes, or if I have to change their clothes three times a day and give them at least as many baths.  They're boys!

And they're MKs.  Having been one myself, I have some idea of what goes on in those little heads and hearts.  Maybe they don't have the same access to all the educational privileges they might have back in the US, but they've entered the school of life at a much earlier age than some.  "World views" was a class I remember taking in college, but they're in this class every day.  Philosophy.  World religions.  Interpersonal Communication.  Cross-cultural communication.  Foreign languages.

So, in the end, we chose our preschool curriculum based partly on recommendation, partly on what sounded "doable" to us, partly on the flexibility of the program, partly on its Christian base, and partly on the breadth covered.  Yeah, you got it.  We pretty much closed our eyes and jabbed our fingers at one of the options and picked that one.  Well, maybe that's stretching it a little, but having all these misgivings about teaching my own children, it felt that way.  I've taught Sunday school classes and Spanish elementary classes before, no problem.  I'd even say I could have been pretty good at it if I'd chosen to be a teacher (well, if I could get my impatience under control, anyway).  When I was 5, we had a dress-up day at school where we were supposed to come dressed like what we wanted to be when we grew up.  I remember wearing my hair up, a pair of my mom's high heels, a long pearl necklace, a skirt, and a big pair of "grandma" glasses in an effort to look like a teacher.  Twenty-seven years later, though, faced with a small class of two, toddler boys, and I'm having anxiety attacks!

Well, despite the aforementioned inner drama, the first week of school has come and gone and, surprisingly, it hasn't been too bad.  We all need to get used to this new routine.  I gotta get used to my boys' attention spans - what they can't really handle and where they need to be "pushed" a little.  They need to get used to mommy as teacher - what they can get away with and what is now a new boundary.  But, despite the somewhat unscientific way of choosing our curriculum, I really rather like it.  It suits my style (very hands on) and takes a lot of pressure off of the boys to have to sit still for too long at one given time.  And it's flexible enough for daddy to step in and rescue the situation when I have just had it.  Unlike teachers in a "real" classroom, I can just re-shelf the book when I'm fed up and let Dale pull it back out when he gets home from his work at the Center.

It's only been a week, but I have already run across a few scenarios that make homeschooling (with an American curriculum) in an overseas context unique.  For example, this week's unit in our Bernstein Bears' Book of Science and Nature is all about winter.  Talking about snow and cold temperatures and when the first day of winter is and the changes of the season.  Well, seeing as how there are only two seasons here (wet and dry), this is proving to be a hard lesson to do "hands on".  Fortunately, we have lots of pictures from the wonderful blizzards we had last winter while we were in the US.  And we've improvised some, too.  A trip to the Mahadaga market produced two long-sleeved pull-overs (we forgot to bring any with us) that turned out to be ice-hockey shirts, so we could talk about winter dress and winter sports.  The freezer doubles as a glacier.

I've also been working through a "perceptual growth" workbook with Caleb that is supposed to prepare and test for school readiness.  Most of the exercises have to do with eye-hand coordination, fine-motor skills, visual memory, association, ability to distinguish between similarities, etc.  One of the exercises had a picture of a pile of leaves on the left, then two pictures of a house to the right, one without a tree, and one with a tree.  Caleb was supposed to pick the picture with which the pile of leaves should be associated.  Considering that the last time he saw "Fall" in the US he was 8 months old, he doesn't have a very strong association for this (though he could associate the idea of a tree with leaves).  Later on in the same exercise, the picture on the left was of a fork.  The two on the right were a soup bowl and a knife.  We never give our boys knives to eat with, we rarely eat meat here, and when we do, it's always ground beef, so we don't have to cut it.  Most of our neighbors eat with their hands.  So, again, the association between a fork and knife wasn't quite as "simple" as one might think.  Of course, once we talked about how you can't use a fork to eat soup, Caleb got it, but he has to make the association by eliminating the other option, not because the two ideas "belong together" in his mind!

Well, as usual, I'm getting long-winded as I muse on these things.  Hey, it's my blog...I can rant a little if I want!;)  But I'll leave you with a few pictures of the first week of school for your amusement.

[caption id="attachment_678" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Making cookies after reading the story "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.""][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_675" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="After reading "Jack and Jill", we filled our own pails with water and found ways to amuse ourselves, including "water painting" on the patio behind the kitchen."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_674" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="After reading the story "George shrinks," we dressed up in daddy's clothes and talked about what it would be like if we shrank, too!."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_673" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The beginnings of Burkina Faso's first-ever ice hockey team."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_672" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Playing with blocks of frozen cheese and ice as we talk about winter and cold."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_676" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Back in the classroom, daddy talks to us about the calendar."][/caption]

Mud Bath

[caption id="attachment_668" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The morning after a long muddy trip through a rain storm"][/caption]

That was definitely one of the craziest trips I've ever taken!  I had to go to Diapaga (about 30 miles away) to pick up some guests at the bus stop.  Almost half-way there, the skies opened up and it just poured!  I had to make most of the trip in 4-wheel-drive.  The entire road was a bog.  There was one stretch where the road was completely covered for almost 1.5 miles.  Normally, I would play "dodge the potholes".  But all I could do was keep the truck going down the middle of the river (road), and hope I didn't get stuck.  At several places, I was just slogging through foot-deep mud.  It was crazy!  I also had to get out and help push two cars (2-wheel-drive) out of the mud.  So I looked kind of like the truck when I got home.

The Passing of a Great Man

Yesterday morning we heard the news that Bilempo Yonli passed away during the night.  Bilempo was a very pillar of the church in Mahadaga.

In the afternoon I went to the burial service, noticing that there was no sound of beating drums to mark the man’s passing.  The family would not want to confuse their neighbors – this family is Christian, and the traditional animist rituals have no part here.

I stood in a tightly-packed crowd of over 300 people surrounding the freshly dug grave next to the family’s compound.  People had come from hundreds of miles away to attend on a moment’s notice.  We all stood beneath several mango trees and watched as thunderheads passed overhead…passing by without soaking the crowd.  There were two veritable parking lots of bikes and mopeds, and people had brought several dozen benches from the church for people to sit after the service.

We sang a few hymns in Gourma, and then no fewer than 4 pastors gave eulogies.  Fortunately, my friend Ounteni translated some of the messages for me.  What I learned was amazing.  Bilempo (88 years old this year) was the first Christian convert in this entire region.  He was instrumental in leading many of the first believers in this area to Christ.  Bilempo was among the first few men from this area to go to SIM’s Bible school, about 200 miles away.  He came back to Mahadaga and served as a pastor for several decades.

[caption id="attachment_665" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The Yonli housefold - the funeral was held off to the right of this picture"][/caption]

Bilempo not only preached God’s Word…he lived it.  For example, he adopted a young orphan girl named Anna and raised her as one of his own.  Anna is now the Walsh family’s beloved house-helper.

His youngest son, Tajua, is a teacher at our school at the CAH.  Tajua is respected by his peers for his strong faith and his maturity.  Another result of his father’s example?

Bilempo is survived by an incredibly large family that is very active in the church.  He had 9 children, 59 grandchildren and another 9 great-grandchildren.  I think that most of his family will see him again in heaven.  That will be some family reunion!

Settling In

I realize the point of a blog is to post things fairly often for people to follow and we're not exactly doing such a good job of this.  I guess I'm still a bit behind the times...I'm stuck on the old ideas of having to write something clever that has a point and is complete.  If I try to do that for every blog post...well, you see why I struggle to get one written often enough.  Anyway, I'm working on it.  In the meantime, I thought I'd just copy and paste an excerpt from an email I wrote to Dale's mom this morning.  It was meant to be a little newsy, so maybe it qualifies as good blog material, though it's not particularly witty or deep.  If nothing else, it may give you some idea of what we've been up to this past week!

"Caleb does seem to be doing better, by the way.  He took his last dose of the medicine yesterday morning.  Still has diarrhea, but only went twice yesterday, which was a lot better.  Also had a lot more energy and a better appetite.  After the diarrhea Sunday morning, Joel seemed to be fine again, so I guess it was nothing.  I just wasn't sure what to think when they both woke up with it that morning!  And Joel had it 3 times within a little under 2 hours, so it was a little concerning.  He still has some rather loose BMs, but he's going pretty regularly, too, and not complaining of any other symptoms, so I think he's probably fine.  Thank goodness!  I'll be glad when this is all over.  At the moment Joel has a fat lip as Caleb tried to "help mommy" last night by "making Joel stop playing with the light switch".  Joel was standing on the piano bench in order to reach the light switch, and Caleb pulled it out from under Joel, causing a fall that had Joel landing his mouth onto one of the legs of the bench.  If those two survive childhood being brothers and all...!

Julie started "school" with Thomas and Meya (Matt's younger sister who's staying with them) yesterday, so I guess I better start thinking about that soon, too.  We are all unpacked and pretty much all organized, too.  I think I'm pretty close to catching up on all my major cooking projects as well.  I always like to have certain things on hand (like the bread, granola, pancake mix, etc.).  I should be able to get into a routine now of doing that sort of thing on Saturday mornings anymore.  I talked to Julie yesterday and I think I will be taking over as guest house hostess and everything else I had been doing for the station on September 6th, so I have almost two weeks left.  I know the women at the church would like me to start coming back to choir and think about another Bible study.  We shall see.  The choir is not a bit deal since it only meets Sunday afternoons for a couple of hours.  For the Bible study, I am thinking of a new format that will place the women into small groups of 2-3.  Each will receive the materials I had been preparing for them ahead of time and they are two work together as a group to discuss, study, answer the questions.  The idea is to try and get them into accountability/discipleship groups and also to give them the opportunity to include or involve women who might not attend our church or who might not be able to read or write as well.  If I do this, then I would probably only meet with them twice a month to "teach" and wouldn't spend as much time going over the specific answers to their worksheets since they will hopefully have discussed this well amongst themselves.  We'll see what happens.  The other side benefit, of course, would be the fact that I wouldn't have to meet with them as often, though I expect I'd still have to put my fair share of time in preparing for each lesson.

We're ordering some of the materials for our kitchen project today, so hopefully they'll get here Thursday and we can have them start digging the foundations.  During rainy season it's always hard to get things out here, but I hate sitting around and waiting for things like this to start.  We've got a big pile of sand and a smaller pile of gravel sitting in front of our house now, though, so I guess that's progress.;)  I think the project may end up costing us double what Dale had hoped.  Not expensive by standards back home, but not exactly money we have sitting around.  Oh, well.  We'll see what happens.  We may just have to ride the account on red for a few months, or pull something out of our savings back home to cover it.  We've kinda set our hearts on it, so I guess we'll go through with it regardless.  Besides, it's one of the last major things we've been wanting to do to the house since our arrival in 2007 to make us feel fully settled.  The only other thing is a bathroom make over and that would actually be a smaller project and is not quite as bothersome as the kitchen has been.  I suppose, though, if we start having guests, we may have to think about doing it sooner...

Well, the boys seem to be awake now, so I should think about wrapping this up.  We unbunked their beds shortly after we got back.  Their room is tiny, so the only way we could get both beds to fit in the same room was to fit them in an L-shape.  It isn't exactly aesthetic, but it is a lot more practical.  I was thinking at the time that this might make it easier to work with Caleb on night-time potty training.  But it's also much easier to make their beds.  And now Joel can climb over into Caleb's bed and they have grand ol' times playing before they ever get out of bed in the mornings.  At the moment, I believe they must be playing with their stuffed monkeys because I'm hearing lots of monkey sounds.  It has been a bit surprising to watch Joel now that we've been back and to realize how much he grew up while we were home.  Of course we knew it, but it's most obvious here where he was still a non-talking "baby" who clung to mommy's skirt a lot and pretty much stayed in the house.  Now he wanders all over the station with Caleb and is learning all the proper greetings right alongside him.  People often ask, when I make postings on facebook regarding some of my crazy projects, what I do with the boys during those times.  I wonder if they remember how it used to be in the US back in the days when women were doing the same sorts of things, like I read in the old "pioneer" books.  And we don't even have winter here to interfere with that.  They can simply play outside to their heart's content...climbing the sand pile outside our dining room window, digging in the dirt with the plastic shovels we brought for them, playing soccer under the mango trees, chasing the cat or the chickens, and when they get tired of the outdoors, there's a room full of plenty of toys that entertain them plenty, too!

I gotta run now.  I started the oatmeal and am now just remembering it!;)  Some things never change!"

[caption id="attachment_659" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Joel loves cucumber salad!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_661" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Dale has spent some of his time the last couple of weeks trying to get a garden started for us."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_660" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Tessa, Caleb, Joel and Thomas have great fun climbing the sand hill sitting in our front yard, waiting to be used in the kitchen expansion project."][/caption]

We made it! But it was no cake walk.

After 9 days of travel (including 5 days in Ouagadougou), we’ve finally arrived in Mahadaga.  It wasn’t easy.  For a really fun play-by-play, you have to read Liz’s blog post about our travels out here.

Check out:  http://themahadagaroad.wordpress.com/2010/08/09/on-the-road-again/

It gives a pretty good picture of what we went through to get here.  Truth be told, just about everything here is as crazy as that story, so we don’t even think about writing stuff like that anymore.  It’s great to have Liz around…she’s a great writer, and she can still see stuff through American eyes.  I’d be tempted to just write, “we finally arrived in Mahadaga”, and leave it at that.

Caleb is especially excited to be here.  He remembers it well, and feels right at home.  But he’s scared we’ll leave again.  He says, “Daddy, can we stay here now?”  Poor kid’s been on the road for 8 months.

So far, we’ve been visited by most of our friends, neighbors and acquaintances.  It’s been a busy time around our house, answering the door, shaking hands, accepting chickens, remembering names, etc.  It’s been tough to deal with the boxes of stuff in storage or transported across the ocean.

“Florence, where’s the silverware?!”  You get the idea.

Oh, and not to rub it in, but we’re so glad we came to Burkina for the weather!  While most of our friends and family are sweatin’ it out in PA, we maxed out at 75 degrees today…that’s right.  Cool and rainy.  But what that means for us solar-electricity users – no sun = empty batteries.  So, we chose to have our spaghetti dinner by candlelight.

[caption id="attachment_652" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="A nice, quiet dinner by candlelight"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_653" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Liz wasn't happy about the death of our left-rear tire"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_654" align="alignleft" width="300" caption=""Le Gourmand" (the glutton) - From his car seat, Joel could help himself to 3 baguettes of bread that were meant for Mahadaga"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_655" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="A Welcome-Back present - he's escaped twice, but he's tied up now in our chicken coop"][/caption]