Anybody Still Reading?

Well, I wouldn't be surprised if you have given up on checking this blog for updates, but we are still here and gradually adapting to life in St. Louis. Classes and studying haven't killed Charlie yet, and he is encouraged and energized by much of the material. I have almost given up on the last of the unpacking and deep organizing, and am just focusing on establishing and maintaining the daily and weekly routine, skirting around the remaining boxes and piles.

This past weekend we had some banner events for the children. First was the opening of the children's art show at the Francis Shaeffer Institute on campus. The call for art from the children of students, faculty, and staff of Covenant Seminary went out about a month ago, and our kids had been planning and creating here and there ever since. Thomas submitted a paper and duct tape rhinoceros sculpture. Paul had to give up on his castle made of a cardboard box--it was too big to hang on the wall. He eventually made a big map of an imaginary kingdom. Elise did one of her horse pencil drawings, and Madeleine adapted a print she had made in art class last year. The seminary is really thoughtful about including children in the life of the community.

Also on Saturday was the girls' first 5K race (that is a little more than three miles). They originally signed up to run with encouragement and coaching from Charlie who found that he couldn't get in shape in time. By the second week of classes I was in charge of their training and Charlie had moved to an advisory capacity. Well, the girls had previously only run the one mile in the Larchmont RAT Race, and Elise never seemed to have the stamina to finish our three mile practice without stopping to walk for the last mile. Imagine the thrill of the whole family when Elise with a time of 25:39 finished 3rd in her category (women 19 & under) and Madeleine came in 7th with a time of 30:01! We were just hoping to finish without walking! The next day Madeleine was barely sore, and Elise was hobbling in pain every time she had to do stairs, so that tells you who is really driven by athletic competition.

Perhaps a compounding reason why Elise was so extensively sore was that she also wanted to run the half-mile race with her brothers. This was 45 minutes after she finished the 5K. As they warmed up for the race, Elise kept saying that she was just going to take it easy and do it for fun. Wellll, halfway through the race Madeleine spotted Elise in 3rd place...but by three quarters of the way she had stopped to walk out of sheer exhaustion. When she passed me close to the final stretch, she stopped to walk again, gasping, "Mom, I can't go anymore!" I told her to just finish at a jog and then realized how competitive I am, when I added, "and maybe pass one more person!" as she ran off. Elise might have thought she couldn't run anymore, but I think she found that she couldn't jog or walk either. She threw herself into a sprint, finishing in under three minutes with the top ten or maybe even five.

What about the boys? Paul finished the half-mile race so close to Elise that Charlie, who was hugging her, actually missed his finish altogether. Paul had passed me with an awful grimace of exertion and determination on his face (you can still see it in the photo even though he is done running) and a little smile in his eyes. He ran faster than he ever had in practice and knew that he had done well. Does anybody remember Baby Paul who was not yet crawling at one year old and not yet walking at 17 months old? Paul was crushed to find that the kids' "fun run" was not timed or awarded, and that therefore, he didn't have a category, place, or prize.

After spotting Elise halfway through the half-mile race, we were surprised to pick out Thomas, in his red shorts, continuing his strong start and ahead of the main body of runners! By the time he passed me, he was pouring on the steam as he eyed the bigger girl to his side. This was astounding to me, as he had mostly jogged and walked during practice! Thomas finished at around 3:15--I couldn't believe my eyes. I still wonder if I saw the clock correctly or if the race was accurately measured.

What about me? Having never been an athletic child, I was so surprised and pleased to see my kids enjoy and excel at a sport. I found that I yell a lot more than these suburban mid-western moms--or am I just louder or do I just have more children to cheer on?? Apparently I also have a competitive streak that surfaced as barely checked indignation that the kids' times hadn't been recorded. The whole experience was totally invigorating. And what's funny is that we had thought we needed to pump them up by watching "Chariots of Fire" and "Miracle" ahead of time...

Thanks for reading!

New Address

Right now, this very moment, please update us in your address books! Here is our new contact information:

412A Covenant Lane
St. Louis, MO 63141
cnrgibson@gmail.com
(314) 576-3742

Please also forward our info to anyone you think would like to keep in touch with us. We don't want to miss any birth announcements, family letters, change-of-addresses, wedding invitations, etc. If you are driving through the country, give us a call--we'd love to see you and we have room for guests!

From the Middle East to the Mid-West

+=The post below has been updated, so even if you've read this there's stuff below you may not have read.=+
We pause in the Israel travelogue to announce the end of our journey! We arrived in St. Louis at Covenant Seminary on Thursday evening. We set out Wednesday morning accompanied by our very good college friend Mike (whom we were shocked to realize we've known for half our lives now!) He kept us awake, intellectually stimulated, and cheerful. We were warmly received by our dear friends, and now across the hall neighbors, the Woottons. All our stuff is moved in--it fit!--but not unpacked. We are still working on getting phone and internet access. Our address here is 412A Covenant Lane, St. Louis, MO 63141. We are sobered and concerned by the news of the earthquake in Peru and also grieving the loss of Charlie's uncle two days ago. Thank you for your prayers and support. Classes start in a couple of weeks. We'll be in touch.

A Time To Move

We are on the road to St. Louis, staying over at the Huntington, WV Super 8 Motel, but I thought I'd summarize our trip to Israel with a few stories about my time with our children.

Madeleine is rapidly approaching thirteen, her appetite and wit increasing noticeably. Not only can she eat as much as I can, (which is saying a lot), but she is definitely growing in knowledge, deductive powers, and a desire to contribute to adult conversation. On one particularly scorching day, the five of us were wandering around an unlabeled archeology site, trying to figure out on our own what type of ruins we were stepping on. Attempting to be an active, engaged, home-schooling mother, I was fanning myself in the shade while analyzing the voluminous dried poop pellets scattered at my feet. I thought it surely must be donkey scat because the only vegetation in sight was thistle (out of which the boys were busy constructing shields, spears, and bombs). Elise thought it must be rabbit poop, or maybe seeds? I really thought some smart animal had been enjoying the shade, but told Elise she could try breaking the pellets to find out whether or not they were seeds. Madeleine walked up and immediately pointed out, "Mom, you're standing under an olive tree..." FYI, olive pits look a lot like rabbit poop.

As for Elise, she will attempt to climb anything where she can get three points of contact, whether it's a tree, an aqueduct ruin, or a pole in the airport. Also, she has a natural teaching streak that was very entertaining to observe as she gradually pulled out the stops trying to convince Thomas that he was capable of swimming in the deep end-coaxing, bribing, begging, manipulating, threatening, scolding, even baiting-and-switching.

Like his oldest sister, Paul has been sharpening his powers of observation. Upon encountering a hoopoe, an unusual looking bird with a small, dark "hat," Paul remarked, "I think I just saw a Jewish bird..." A couple of weeks ago, upon our return to the States, listening to me recount the agonies of bargaining in markets where the quoted prices were anything from doubled to quadrupled got the entire family riled up (again). My father and brother tried to comfort us with, "You have to think of it as a game..." Paul's response: "Well, it's not a very fun game. I was standing right behind her the whole time..."

Thomas is definitely the "un-baby" of the family--keeping up on sweaty hikes, sitting through late suppers, snorkeling even after being stung by a sea urchin, climbing through dark places and encountering bats! He did hang back a bit at the pitch black descent down a spiral stone staircase, saying he would go down last with me. I told him this was a good idea since, in case everyone had to turn around and run back up, we would be in front. He gave me the same hesistant look that he had had when we were starting out on an overgrown, shady forest path beside the zoo in Haifa and he asked where we were going (he never has been very gung-ho on hikes through the woods--an unspoken fear of wild animals) . I told him it was where all the animals that had escaped from the zoo lived. He got me back when I asked him what he would like for a souvenir (all the other kids had been asking for stuff throughout the trip and Thomas had yet to ask for much), and he selected an elaborate silver wine service.

In closing, some of the most amazing places we experienced were Masada, the Mount of Olives, Tel Dan, Hezekiah's Tunnel in the City of David, and snorkeling in the Red Sea. Favorite foods--hummus with hyssop and olive oil, schnitzel, falafel, fried cheese sandwiches, and schwarma.

Lastly, to close off our travels I'll ask you this. What would you say if a Tel Aviv airport official attempting to open one of your well-taped boxes before checking it in asked you, "Do you have anything I can use to open this?" I did suppress the urge to smirk, "What? Like a box cutter?" I felt sorry for her as she was trying to cut through the tape with a ballpoint pen and her keys. Apparently, when they tape boxes back up for customers, they use their teeth to cut the tape!

I also want to tell everyone that once you have kids this age traveling with you, you never have to worry about spotting your luggage on the baggage claim carousel again! Thanks so much for reading. We've loved sharing out travels with you and hope you enjoy the photos as well. We'll be posting updates of seminary life from time to time if anyone is interested. Love and misses to all!

Jet Lag Again 08/10/07

Day Five in the U.S. It's strange but good to be "home." We fell asleep on the airplane saying "shalom" and "toda raba" with shekels in our pockets and woke up at JFK airport where you don't have to hold down the flusher the whole time you're waiting for your stuff to disappear. Red-eye flights--a jolt to the system physically and mentally.

Except for Charlie, who got sick with allergies immediately upon leaving the Richmond airport, we have all been asleep and awake at basically the right times. Whether or not we've been alert and productive while awake is an entirely different matter. "What day is it?" has probably been the most commonly asked question. We're enjoying the comforts of plentiful AC, Mom's cooking, dinner with good friends, meeting the newest nephew, and really looking forward to the whole Tan clan gathering tomorrow. Trying to ignore how fast it will all be over and time to leave again.

We never had a dependable internet connection after the first couple of weeks in Israel and often found that once able to establish one, we needed to focus on planning, researching, bill-paying, etc. rather than communicating. So, we are really behind on email and blog-reading, and some blog-worthy stories have gone by the wayside. Hopefully, the photos will suffice.

Soon: summing up the trip, our favorite sites, how to get through the Tel Aviv airport, and photos from the rest of the trip

The end of an ulpan

Today was the final day of my 6-week Biblical Hebrew ulpan and it was very sad to say goodbye to Kibbutz Tzuba and to my fellow students (and teachers). I've had a great experience here and would highly recommend this school to anyone who really wants to acquire fluency in reading the Hebrew bible. We will spend the next week taking day trips around Israel from Jerusalem then fly back to Richmond on Monday the 6th.

I think one of the strangest things about being here has been how disconnected I have been with everyone back in the US. Being busy usually makes staying in touch difficult but it's been so much harder to stay in touch here with the added stresses of travel and internet problems (my connection is sort of working now). We're all looking forward to getting "home" soon. Shabbat shalom.

We finally have Internet...but now the computer isn't working

I am writing this from an internet kiosk at the hotel across the street from our apt in Jerusalem. I hope to have the problem fixed before I return to the kibbutz for class Monday morning, but for now we still have very limited e-mail access. I thought Peru was supposed to be the third world part of our adventures. Once we're back on I'll get our latest photos posted. Rae and the kids came with my class on our trip to the north (Megido, Jezreel, Sea of Galilee, Hatzor, Dan, Golan Heights, Mt. Gilboa, Bet Shean). Because we're studying Hebrew we visited sites corresponding to our Old Testament readings (Solomon's fortified cities, Naboth's Vineyard, the death of Jezebel, Jeraboam's gold calves, the death of Saul, Gideon). The best thing about the field trips has been how they have impressed the geography of the Bible on my mind. Other than the geography there is really not much to see here from the days of the Judges and Kings of Israel. It is all buried under more than 3000 yrs of Persian, Greek, Roman, Crusader, and Turkish history. This is interesting in itself but not really why we came here.

Internet Connection at the Kibbutz is Still Difficult

We're saying good-bye to Tel Aviv where the kids and I have spent weeks 1,2, and 4. We've had a great time at the beach and the pool as well as seeing a bit of the city: Joppa, playgrounds, architecture, and the Eretz Israel Museum, a fantastic campus of exhibits including outdoor trails, hands-on historical recreations, and great indoor museums...kind of like Jamestown.

We've had terrific food from Argentinian pizza to schnitzel and falafel, and splendid accomodations, thanks to our very generous and hospitable hosts. Along the way, I'm pretty sure we've entertained a few folks as well. Four kids is an unusual sight in any city, whether it's New York, Lima, or Tel Aviv. And with all our chattering in English and antics, we've drawn plenty of stares ("Get up, go, go, this is our stop! Everyone off the bus--now!") As much as the kids miss their cousins and friends, I have to say they've been great companions for each other, sometimes completely losing themselves in their own world, whether it's hide and seek, building sand castles, this-jungle-gym-is-a-pirate-ship, or I'm-driving-this-"taxi"-and-you're-hijacking/fleeing-robbers. I have been able to do some reading and thinking in the meantime.

Week 3 in Haifa was lovely. We saw the splendid Bahai terraced gardens, where I turned the camera over to the girls. We went to the zoo--forgot to bring the camera--and the Museum of Japanese Art--CF card was full and battery low. Sorry. Elijah's cave, impromptu hiking, and the Maritime Museum were also covered. Here we learned how to take the city bus, an important skill we tried out when we returned to Tel Aviv.

We've learned a few things about ourselves and others. For starters, I don't really care for the public beach--everyone running around in their underwear gets old day after day. Also, until this morning, the boys thought that the kibbutz was the "Kibbuts'," someone else's house that we were going to visit, like the Longs' or the Browns'. We've met plenty of friendly, helpful people, seen more than a few loud, public arguments or scoldings, been scolded ourselves by artists and craftsmen who don't want us to watch them work or handle their work even though it's for sale and they're exibiting at a craft show, and been told by cab drivers that the address we're requesting is not an actual residence or not where we live.

One driver stuffed the five of us into the back seat and took another passenger in the front and then proceeded to insist that the address and name of the building I requested were not the same place. Which did I want--the address or the named building? I argued a little, since I had already lived at the address and building for two weeks, then settled on the building name when I realized he wasn't going to listen to me. I thought I got him back by paying him the grossly overcharged fare of $10 entirely in coins (over 30 of them--all that I had), but then realized that he got the last word by dropping me off at the mall entrance to my building, refusing to understand that with a large suitcase and four kids with backpacks, I was not headed shopping, but instead wanted the residential entrance to the apartments on the other side of the building.

Well, we'll be at the kibbutz with Charlie for a couple of days this week, joining his class field trip to Galilee for three days and two nights. That's week 5. Week 6 we'll be staying in an apartment in Jerusalem while Charlie has his last week of classes. Then week 7, we'll sightsee together before returning to the States. Sounds like a plan. Or something!