it's about to be a beautiful storm. the wind is cold and there are a few leaves blowing- like the fall in new england. the far sky is a dark smokey grey and the left over light close by looks like the light in winter- filtered and quiet and about to be overtaken. i love these transitional moments most of all.
there is something about being outside that i need. something in the sounds and the space - it's life giving and freeing, even in the heat, or cold, or the rain.
today was filled with more good things. bryn got a reading award at school,
we celebrated the opening to the library mike designed,
and zoe and i had a good morning at the orphanage. (oh do i love those littles).
the library opening was a big deal. it is a project that has been in the works for 5+ years from beginning to end- and it came with much work in both fundraising and design. it is mikes biggest and best work, but what's more, it's what he's most proud of- because it's where his heart is.
“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” buechner.
this project exemplifies this. being here, is the place.
there were many 'big wigs' at the event, and in typical ugandan style it was full of food, pomp and circumstance, and ceremony. i love this about uganda. i do. at every celebration or even meeting it seems there is a formal opening, by a designated MC. the beginning includes announcing several people and welcoming several more and not leaving anyone important out. people matter more than time (not a very US concept). there are many speeches, much applause and a formal closing. often things start and end late- and that part was a little hard to adjust to, but today, everything ran on time.
it was lovely- the building is fabulous, people were impressed, all were happy and thankful and mike felt very appreciated and honored to have designed such a major building at the university. i would guess it was a high point in his career.
and then we came home. to a funny, but low point of our parenting career.
the boys had spray painted orange everywhere. on the porch, the porch furniture, each other's hair and arms, zoe's shoes, judes shoes, even my new boots!. the side of the house had a giant line of orange paralleling the ground- it was on the posts, on the bushes- everywhere. it looked like that scene in 'the cat and the hat comes back' when they get pink everywhere before their mother comes home.
let me explain about the orange paint. to be fair, it is washable, water based and meant for temporary costume hair color. because this weekend is halloween and i have three eager american children who are bound and determined to celebrate it, even though they live in africa where no one celebrates halloween. zoe and i are going as two of the three powerpuff girls. she'd decided to be blossom who has orange hair. now the problem with celebrating halloween in uganda is the costumes and lack there of. but, i must pause to share some halloween baggage.
when i was growing up, i trick-or-treated every year since age six, with one of my best friends, erica. in general this was a great experience except for the few years there were rumors of razorblades in candy bars or injected poison and we had to painstakingly check all the candy for small holes in the wrappers prior to indulging. the only problem with trick-or-treating with erica was the costume differential. erica's dad started working on their amazing homemade-better-than-store-bought costumes, in august- fo' reals'. i mean, these things were incredible. a giant dole banana costume, a TV set, a robot. these costumes were large and complicated and had harnesses inside. i had my fair share of planned costumes, one year i was a caterpillar- made of felt, once i was a bag of chocolate chips (a painted 30# dog food bag)- but many years i was whatever i could scrounge together that week or even that night before we went to get our candy. i'll never forget the year that we went house to house and were greeted again and again with "OH! a Heinz Ketchup bottle! how cute!! and what are you dear?" "i'm a hobo" i said. my costume consisting of a hat, some mismatched clothes and rouge on my cheeks.
you might think the appropriate response to my inferior dress up experience would be to retaliate with my children's costumes- to make them the best ever, the most well planned, but instead i seem to prefer the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants approach. this might have something to do with the fact that the only thing i really like about halloween is the candy- and even then, really , only the reese peanut butter cups and snickers. i mean, if i'm honest and willing to be unpopular, i don't like being scared, and i don't like carving pumpkins.
this halloween bryn wants use his power ranger costume from last year (score!), jude says he thinks he wants to be a vampire, and zoe wants to be blossom, the powerpuff girl with orange hair. i was in town trying to buy vampire teeth (no luck), face paint (yes! located) and hair color spray. i eventually found it, but it was ~$12- which i thought was outrageous. ps- it was really the only thing i was purchasing for halloween. anyway- i couldn't buy it, but then in typical fashion- regretted it when i got home. today my friend was in town and picked it up for me- sending it home with the boys after school.
cut to scene arriving home from highlight of mike's career, library opening.
so there we were- one boy covered in orange paint- another one who had clearly eaten the canary- and the hairspray paint can now empty. that was the part that got me mad. mike jumped into full dad mode and talked about vandalism and consequences and while the boys were scrubbing the walls and shoes and everything else insight and lamenting loosing their friday 40 cent cinnamon bun allowance for the next 10 weeks to pay for it, mike and i had to laugh about the highs and lows of our days. about how quick are the moments of glory- and how fast the reality of life in all it's painted glory settles on us.
but all those moments, like the darkening sky before the storm, are beautiful just because they are.
there is something about being outside that i need. something in the sounds and the space - it's life giving and freeing, even in the heat, or cold, or the rain.
today was filled with more good things. bryn got a reading award at school,
we celebrated the opening to the library mike designed,
and zoe and i had a good morning at the orphanage. (oh do i love those littles).
the library opening was a big deal. it is a project that has been in the works for 5+ years from beginning to end- and it came with much work in both fundraising and design. it is mikes biggest and best work, but what's more, it's what he's most proud of- because it's where his heart is.
“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” buechner.
this project exemplifies this. being here, is the place.
there were many 'big wigs' at the event, and in typical ugandan style it was full of food, pomp and circumstance, and ceremony. i love this about uganda. i do. at every celebration or even meeting it seems there is a formal opening, by a designated MC. the beginning includes announcing several people and welcoming several more and not leaving anyone important out. people matter more than time (not a very US concept). there are many speeches, much applause and a formal closing. often things start and end late- and that part was a little hard to adjust to, but today, everything ran on time.
it was lovely- the building is fabulous, people were impressed, all were happy and thankful and mike felt very appreciated and honored to have designed such a major building at the university. i would guess it was a high point in his career.
and then we came home. to a funny, but low point of our parenting career.
the boys had spray painted orange everywhere. on the porch, the porch furniture, each other's hair and arms, zoe's shoes, judes shoes, even my new boots!. the side of the house had a giant line of orange paralleling the ground- it was on the posts, on the bushes- everywhere. it looked like that scene in 'the cat and the hat comes back' when they get pink everywhere before their mother comes home.
let me explain about the orange paint. to be fair, it is washable, water based and meant for temporary costume hair color. because this weekend is halloween and i have three eager american children who are bound and determined to celebrate it, even though they live in africa where no one celebrates halloween. zoe and i are going as two of the three powerpuff girls. she'd decided to be blossom who has orange hair. now the problem with celebrating halloween in uganda is the costumes and lack there of. but, i must pause to share some halloween baggage.
when i was growing up, i trick-or-treated every year since age six, with one of my best friends, erica. in general this was a great experience except for the few years there were rumors of razorblades in candy bars or injected poison and we had to painstakingly check all the candy for small holes in the wrappers prior to indulging. the only problem with trick-or-treating with erica was the costume differential. erica's dad started working on their amazing homemade-better-than-store-bought costumes, in august- fo' reals'. i mean, these things were incredible. a giant dole banana costume, a TV set, a robot. these costumes were large and complicated and had harnesses inside. i had my fair share of planned costumes, one year i was a caterpillar- made of felt, once i was a bag of chocolate chips (a painted 30# dog food bag)- but many years i was whatever i could scrounge together that week or even that night before we went to get our candy. i'll never forget the year that we went house to house and were greeted again and again with "OH! a Heinz Ketchup bottle! how cute!! and what are you dear?" "i'm a hobo" i said. my costume consisting of a hat, some mismatched clothes and rouge on my cheeks.
you might think the appropriate response to my inferior dress up experience would be to retaliate with my children's costumes- to make them the best ever, the most well planned, but instead i seem to prefer the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants approach. this might have something to do with the fact that the only thing i really like about halloween is the candy- and even then, really , only the reese peanut butter cups and snickers. i mean, if i'm honest and willing to be unpopular, i don't like being scared, and i don't like carving pumpkins.
this halloween bryn wants use his power ranger costume from last year (score!), jude says he thinks he wants to be a vampire, and zoe wants to be blossom, the powerpuff girl with orange hair. i was in town trying to buy vampire teeth (no luck), face paint (yes! located) and hair color spray. i eventually found it, but it was ~$12- which i thought was outrageous. ps- it was really the only thing i was purchasing for halloween. anyway- i couldn't buy it, but then in typical fashion- regretted it when i got home. today my friend was in town and picked it up for me- sending it home with the boys after school.
cut to scene arriving home from highlight of mike's career, library opening.
so there we were- one boy covered in orange paint- another one who had clearly eaten the canary- and the hairspray paint can now empty. that was the part that got me mad. mike jumped into full dad mode and talked about vandalism and consequences and while the boys were scrubbing the walls and shoes and everything else insight and lamenting loosing their friday 40 cent cinnamon bun allowance for the next 10 weeks to pay for it, mike and i had to laugh about the highs and lows of our days. about how quick are the moments of glory- and how fast the reality of life in all it's painted glory settles on us.
but all those moments, like the darkening sky before the storm, are beautiful just because they are.
2 comments:
Too bad no picture of the orange paint!!!!!!!!Or are there????
Happy Halloween belli! We miss you !
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.