earthsedge

Wow, it has been a while! But according to Google Analytics, there are still quite a few people stopping by the old blog, which makes me feel bad for how infrequently I post.  Thanks to all our faithful readers and hello to all our friends and family in far corners of the earth…

Here’s some news/pics from the last few months.

First (and most importantly ) I am now the proud owner of a bass boat:

My brother-in law and I went in on this beauty. Lets just say it is worth what we paid for it, and we didn’t pay very much! But it’s a great little boat and we’ve had fun taking it out on various fishing excursions. So far I think we’ve had the best luck with catfish, but there’s also been lots of  bass, stripers, bluegill, and crappie. By far the most interesting thing I’ve caught was this spiny softshell turtle:

We took it out this morning and had some luck:

Striper

Flathead catfish

Double header (two fish at the same time)

Of course, it was very kind of Becka to let me buy this, especially since we don’t even own a car yet. And it is also very kind of my parents to let me use their Jeep to pull this baby around.  I was thinking today about the ironies of owning a boat before owning a car. What can I say? Priorities, Priorities. Random history: Becka owned an S-10 before we were married, but we sold it right after our honeymoon as we were preparing to leave for Australia. The only other car we’ve owned was an old Toyota Corona (yes, Corona, not Corolla) that some friends in Adelaide gave us. It was probably worth about a case of Corona, but it was a fun little car that got the job done. I somehow managed to lose the only picture we had of it, but this is a pretty good likeness, except ours was faded yellow with rust highlights.

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I’m still looking for a job, which is about as fun as you would expect it to be. I was feeling pretty good about my resume, but there’s just not a whole lot out there right now, especially if you limit your search to one geographic location. After a few months of  spending hours every day looking at various internet postings, I can confidently say that truck drivers, RNs, and not a whole lot else are in high demand. But it has been an interesting process, thinking about what I would enjoy doing out of what is available, and what the criteria should be (money? geographic location? future advancement? vocation? grad school compatibility?) Is it unreasonable to expect to find something that pays well,  I enjoy doing, is close to family, and would allow me to study? Probably. I would have to get extremely lucky. And as the weeks pass, it seems like I will likely have to take whatever I can get if I limit my search to one area. Of course, the irony in all this is that I could walk down to McDonald’s and take the lowest paying job and still make twice what we were making before. No exaggeration. I would probably be miserable and slip into a coma of existential despair, but still.  It’s a good reminder that I would much rather be making this transition now, rather than five or ten years down the road. We’ve been through enough changes over the years that I know that it’s the in-between stages, the transitions, that are always the hardest. And I also know that this progression (which hopefully has meaning and is leading somewhere), at least for us, would be impossible without the help and support of family. I’m always aware that our lives would be very different if we didn’t have their love and support, and it’s been nice to be home without a ‘departure date’ to some distant land looming in the near future…

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Aidan is enjoying all the possibilities that summer has brought his way. Riding his trike, swimming, building marble towers, and playing with his cousins seem to be his top priorities these days. A few pics:

Giving cousin V. a lift:

Falling asleep reading his favorite fire engine book:

Helping mom in the garden:

Summer boy:

Aidan had quite a traumatic moment the other day when the ‘Touch a Tractor’ event at a local park was canceled due to rain. He had been looking forward to it for a long time, and he took it pretty hard. Now one of the first things he asks when he wakes up is, “Mommy, will we touch a tractor today?”

Becka has been busy with various projects, and has been dutifully going to all the local garage sales to find things we need to set up house. (Our Dutch friends would be interested to know that the street sales that happen on Queen’s Day in Amsterdam happen all summer long…but on a garage-sized scale.) All in all a great summer is underway!

We’re enjoying the beautiful weather and stunning colors of spring in central Illinois.

Aidan with his new trike:

Outdoor boy:

With cousin V.:

I even got the old rods down and have been out a few times at some local ponds. It’s going to take some time to build up my tackle box again, but for now a  Texas-rig and Senkos have worked pretty well:

…piled up in our room. We leave on Thursday! It’s that time again…to say goodbye, to organize, to cull through whatever material things we’ve accumulated, to reflect on the experiences of the last three months. Although, truth be told, we haven’t had much time for reflection! So here are the facts:

-The FIS lecture phase went really well, I think. It certainly had its challenges, but I can’t imagine a more quality bunch of people to work with. I’m very interested to hear what kinds of things the students will do in the coming years. This final week is a preparation week for the ‘practicum phase’ of the school. One team will be working with an immigrant community in the UK, and the other team will be working with various ethnic communities in Amsterdam. After that, they’ll scatter to various parts of the world. Some will return to their projects at home (UK, Amsterdam, South Africa, etc.), and others will be moving on to new locations in the Middle East, Europe, etc. It was a great experience, and I’m thankful that our team here was finally able to pull it off! Many thanks to those of you who prayed for the FIS and have supported us so we could be a part of it.

-Becka had a great experience leading her TESOL practicum and loves teaching English as much as ever. I handed in my thesis, defended it, and now I am waiting for my final grade. It will probably take a few months to process everything, but from our side we are finished with this part of our education. It’s a good feeling…it’s been a long journey. For me, this process goes back nearly 10 years!

-We are going to miss Amsterdam and all our friends and colleagues here. We had pretty much decided before we came that we would only be staying for three months, but now that the three months have come and gone, it’s a bittersweet feeling. We are excited to be moving on and it has become increasingly clear that this is the right decision. But it’s still sad to say goodbye to our team and all our wonderful Dutch friends. (You guys better come and visit us!)

-We are returning to our country of origin for an undetermined amount of time. Yep, we are actually going to live in America! (At least this is the idea that is currently in our minds…although it is hard to imagine giving up traveling so I hope I don’t have to eat these words later.) The next year will no doubt be one of transition. What we are transitioning to remains to be seen. But we’ve known for a while that we want a change. More stability…physically, financially, emotionally, etc. Maybe not a ‘normal’ life (whatever that is), but something a little closer to it than we have had in the past few years. We are ready for something new. Something that still has purpose and mission, but is more consistent with the people we have become and want to be. I know that’s a little vague, but it’s vague for us too. For those of you who live on other continents, you can continue to keep up with us here on this blog.

So there you have it…back to packing now. Again, a big thanks to all of you who have prayed and supported us over the years. We’ll be sending out a final newsletter sometime in the coming weeks with a closing report on our activities in Amsterdam.

This weekend we caught a train to Brussels, Belgium. We weren’t sure how it would go…budget traveling with a two-year old during the rainy season is a risky business but we were pleasantly surprised. Aidan loved it (his highlights were the three hour train ride; riding in a red double-decker tour bus, eating chocolate and taking a LONG bath at the hotel room) and we found a decent, cheap hotel for the night; the weather was even mild and sunny. Here are a few pictures:

Aidan loved the train ride…

Grand Place was indeed grand…

Just in case you were wondering, “Why visit Belgium?”, there are the obvious answers (the architecture, rich history, Trappist beers, chocolate, Manneken Pis, Grand Place, Mediterranean-style street markets). But the real reason became obvious after we had been in Brussels for a few hours: the waffles. They are amazing; soft like a sweet roll and golden brown. If you’ve never had a Belgian waffle before, then maybe you’ve never had a waffle before!

A few more pics:

The famous Manneken Pis (not sure what the attraction is really).

Atomium

Chris also enjoyed the amazing selection (over 400 varieties) of Belgian beer at the Beer Temple, including some of his favorite  Trappist brews:

Aidan’s favorite song these days is ‘Nothing Man’ by R.L. Burnside. He regularly shouts, ‘I a nuffing man!’ at random intervals during the day. Here’s a video of him dancing to it: