Topeka!

Visiting Topeka really felt like home. We were happy to be back and enjoyed catching up with people, though it seemed it was never enough time! This is also where we did most of our business, medical check-ups, shopping for supplies, etc. etc. That part of it all was really exhausting but necessary.Here are Greg, Kristy, Amanda, Jesse & Carter Hiebert at whose new, beautiful home we stayed our last several days. They graciously allowed us to spread all our stuff all over their basement floor to sort, pack and weigh everything for the trip back. They fed us, entertained the kids (and Gerald - they have an indoor basketball court!) and kept us from going insane during this time!

We got to spend an evening with Crystal and Aaron and their three boys - a very busy and happy place indeed!
With our friend, Steve whom we ate out with and got to see our one movie of the summer - "Prince Caspian" yeah!

Riding bikes with the famous "MUD" who is the most vocal of this blog's readership! These are recumbent bikes that we got to ride around the lake. They are a bit tricky to get started, but very relaxing once on the road. Dennis made sure to feed us as much barbecued meat and pork as is humanly possible! It was amazingly delicious and we benefited a little too much from staying with them . . . Of course, they spoiled the girls silly in their role as the Topeka "Grandparents."
I had the privilege of teaching a few years ago with Barb (Dennis' wife) who has now retired and, among many other things, teaches cake decorating classes. Here are two of her admiring pupils getting carried away with icing! Barb and Dennis also hosted a gathering teachers I worked with. It was so great to be able to see these good friends all in one place. I tried to get a picture of their house, but I just couldn't capture it. One side of their living room is all windows facing the woods (yes, this is still Kansas). The view is rather like being in Oregon - I'm not kidding! It's just when you step outside and are covered in sweat in 2.5 seconds that you realize you are not, in fact, in Oregon.
Our beloved Miss Bessie - who was just across the street from us the nine years we lived in Topeka. She was like a grandma to the girls and her home was always a place of respite and relief to me. She and her energetic neighbor, Tonia, hosted a gathering from our old Hillside neighborhood. We sat on their back porch on a perfect evening of visiting with the people who made our neighborhood wonderful!

And there are many, many more people that we got to see and spend precious time with. It's just that by this time, we had used up all the muscles in our picture-taking fingers and stopped carrying our camera around :)

I tried to get a picture of our church on here, but I couldn't get it on, though I will keep trying. Picture or no picture, they were amazing. Gracious, welcoming, and loving - they opened their arms to us and we loved being back with them! We got to speak at our church (where the multi-talented worship team learned "The Lord's Prayer" in Arabic to sing with us), had a book discussion meeting and a wonderful picnic at the lake the night before we left. We stayed for over a week with our pastor, David & Emily Buller and their two kids (and one who will be arriving in very soon). They provided childcare, cars, food, and lots of encouragement while we ran around in a frenzy of business. Wow!

How can we possibly thank all these fabulous people?

Kristen's wedding & family time

Here is my beautiful cousin, Kristen and her brand-new husband, Stefan. Stefan is Sweedish and the girls were enamored with the sing-song sound of his language. Kristen and Stefan met while working in Cambodia and are back there now already. She works at a shelter house for former prostitutes and he works on de-mining issues . . . very heavy stuff. But the day was light and wonderful - the lovely & simple wedding outdoors near a lake next to my unlce David's house. Katrina didn't think it could possibly have been a wedding since it didn't last all night!
My Uncle David & Aunt Lorma's family after the wedding. Here they are with their three kids - David, Eric & Kristen - and their families. It was quite a big family gathering with my Mom's side of the family well-represented. Many of us crashed at their house the next day - including the bride and groom. We had a wonderful time together and of course we ate curry and rice!
We dressed in Indian saris or something similar since my Mom's side of the family grew up in India. Because we were held up by road construction for over an hour on the way, we barely made it on time. When we finally arrived, I ran into the house where my aunt Esther was staying and she wrapped me up in a sari in record time. I felt like a toilet-paper roll getting put back together (it's 5 meters of cloth)! It was quite hot during the wedding since we were in the sun, but I decided that's what you are supposed to do in a sari - sweat!
Here are my sisters-in-law, Helen, Nancy & Laurie . . . and Katrina's dress blowing in the background.

We were so delighted that my brother Daniel and Helen with kids Emily, David and Timothy came down to the wedding from Winnipeg. My nephew Andrew was sadly unable to come. By this time Brad was back in A. and so Nancy and kids came down too. Add that to Ron's troop and ours and this is what you get!

It was really fun to watch the girls interact with their boy cousins who sling them through the water, chase them savagely, carry them on their shoulders and inspire games that do not involve princesses! The girls are not used to this because all their cousins in Morocco are girls as are almost all of our neighbors.
After the wedding several of us families went to the amazing Omaha Zoo. You have to go if you are anywhere in the area! This chimp was trying very hard - painfully hard - to get some of the water we had!
Daniel, Mom & Ron

My cousin, Shiela, caught the wedding bouquet, so I explained to Katrina that she would be the next to get married. An hour later we went to a park where a wedding was being held. "Oh!" exclaimed Katrina, "There's Shiela's wedding!"

Indiana

Next, the girls stayed with Grandpa and Grandma while Gerald and I went to a conference in KC which was both intense and wonderful. I was able to do a talk on raising kids overseas which was really fulfilling. By the end of the time, we were exhausted but renewed. Then we stayed a few days with our dear friends Robert and Verla Dick in Topeka where we debriefed and they listened - what gracious friends! During that time we went through our storage. Happily for you, we did not take pictures of all our boxes!

Next, we drove up to Indiana with Gerald's parents to enjoy a lovely Clemmer family reunion for a few days (Gerald's Mom's side). On the far right is Galen, Gerald's cousin. Next to him is his wife Eileen and then their brood - Michelle, Julie, Sherri & Jeff with their families. This is the family that hosted us. They did an amazing amount of cooking, planning, hospitality, etc. etc. We are soooo grateful to them!
Gerald's cousin Martin & Tracey with kids Eric & Erin - all the way from Pennsylvania. We tried to talk Martin out of his white socks, but to no avail :)
Then there's Rodney and Bonnie with their kids - Krista and "little" Rod (who has obviously outgrown his title) and their families. The little girl was practically glued to her grandma the whole time!

Who could this coordinated red-and-blue family be?
Here are Gerald's uncle's four boys. This is definitely the side of the family Gerald resembles! The younger three brothers all came from PA. (Vernon and Karen didn't have their daughter and family along so I don't have a picture of them by themselves.)
Here's what is on the other side of all these pictures! We played, ate, splashed in streams, ate, swam, ate, played kickball (girls against boys -of course we let the guys win to help their self-esteem), ate, threw water balloons at each other . . . well you get the idea!

Meade!

And after the NW - at last to Grandpa and Grandma's house - where there's lots of love and lots of good Mennonite cooking! Eating corn in the Reimer family is very serious business. Everyone gets silent so as to focus properly on the corn. And then we begin. Butter and salt. Silent, happy chewing. But what is this? Julie puts pepper on her corn? Scandalous - but they still accept me. Seventeen ears of corn later, we are done. Mmm. When Troy and Gerald were little, they had corn-eating contests - Gerald went back-and-forth and Troy went around and around. It it still unclear as to which way is superior - it just depends who you ask!
Ready for church where we got to speak in the evening. It is always so good to be in Meade to see much of the Reimer clan and many friends.
Nothing like a ride on the 4-wheeler with Grandpa!

We got to be in Meade over Mom Reimer's 75th birthday! Although it looks like Gerald might be threatening his parents, he is actually showing the spatula he used to cook his famous biscuits and gravy for breakfast.
What would a trip to SW Kansas be if we didn't visit the Wizard of Oz museum? We had a fun tour but later Katrina worried quite a bit about tornados coming to get us!

Just a few minutes ago, Katrina and Kendra were talking in what sounded like an attempted Kansas drawl. I asked her if she was talking cowboy talk, and she said, "Of course! I'm from cowboy country!"

NW Reimers & Janzes

After being with the Friesen tribe, we traveled up the coast to see Troy (Gerald's brother), Emily, Ben, Jon, Lucy and Matthew just after they moved to Abbotsford, BC - about an hour away from Vancouver. Here are the cousins at Queen Elizabeth (I think) Gardens in Vancouver. The three little ones are all 5! The cousins caught up on some long-awaited play-time while the adults - you guessed it, talked . . . which was long-awaited as well!
Everywhere you look in the NW is a calendar picture! Here is a view Mt. Baker a few minutes from Troy & Emily's home. Together we got to see some lovely parks, a wonderful tree-top rainforest adventure, and the gorgeous Queen Elizabeth Gardens.

On the way there, we all crashed in on the brave and hospitable Joel & Lucy Janzen - Emily's parents - and I finally got to see (some of) Emily's stomping grounds. We also stopped by Mt. St. Helens, but it was covered in clouds so you'll just have to take my word for it! Here we all are - trying very hard to stay on the paths, out of the ponds, and close to the potty!

H&R Friesens

Who are these people, and why am I in this picture? Oh wait, this is my family!
After the big reunion, the Herb & Ruth Friesen tribe got together in a cabin on the Oregon coast for a wonderful, and of course, crazy time together. As Mom says, "Why can't we just take a normal picture?"
See Mom, we can! (Almost) Back row - Ron, Daniel (represented by the Nike ball - sadly he could not be there), moi. Front - Brad, Mom & Stan.
Driving on the Oregon coast, visitng waterfalls, playing the sand, exploring . . . and mostly - trying to get the chance to talk to all these dear people and find out how life is going!

Friesen Reunion

Oh dear - this is the only remotely groupy shot I have of the Friesen reunion! It's just not possible to capture 102 people all at once (though there is a picture floating around out there somewhere). Yes, 102 were there out of over 200. I think about 169 of us are direct descendents of my grandparetns, Jacob and Kathrina Friesen, and the others are the fortunate ones married to us...

We were able to rent out a Christian retreat center near Salem, OR for three-and-a-half wonderful days of catching up, eating, playing ridiculously silly volleyball games, swimming, chasing after kids, etc. etc.

Here we are singing around a campfire one evening right before a gorgeous sunset.

And here are the remaining brothers singing (Paul, Marvin, Jake, Frank & Calvin - John was not able to come). All these Dad carbon-copies give great hugs and tell fun stories about him.

Looking around at the reunion, I kept thinking of what wonderful relatives I have - godly, loving and whole - evidence of faithful, praying grandparents and an amazing God!

Time Change

Back in June Morocco decided to do a time change for the first time in 30 years. We were told about this three days before it happened and wisely stayed off of all public transport the next week when everything was mayhem. We were to go back to normal time at the end of Ramadan (the month of fasting from food and water from dawn to dusk), but Gerald predicted there would be protests and it would get changed to go back to normal time so the sun will set earlier so people can eat earlier. Sure enough, last week we were told the time would change before Ramadan starts. And so now the sun sets around 7:00 instead of 8:00. Whew!

Yes, Ramadan has started. My neighbor is pregnant and I suggested she not fast and make up the month later. "But I'm still making up from my last pregnancy!" she replied despondantly. Another neighbor has a migrane from going off of caffine and can't take anything for it. I asked her how long her body will take to adjust and she said about a week. Sigh.

It's hard to see our friends hurting and suffering so much.