"Perspective..."

I was walking to the shower room the other night and happened to look down on the window ledge and saw a cockroach sitting there.  Now my immediate thought was not....AAAAHHHH A COCKROACH!!!!... it was more...oh, a cockroach.  My reaction got me pondering about perspectives.

While living in the United States, I tend to like things clean, orderly, relatively bugs free, so my reactions would have been rather different and much more intense than they are now.

*Cockroach...."MIKE...THERE IS A COCKROACH ON THE WINDOW LEDGE!!!!" And he would come and dispose of it rather quickly.
*Rats/Mice...."MIKE...THERE IS A RAT/MOUSE IN THE HALL"  And he would set a trap and remove the remains, rather quickly. (As a disclimer-I would not have cockroaches, mice/rats in our house to start with!)
*Mold in the shower..."MIKE...WE HAVE MOLD GROWING IN THE SHOWER"  And he would get some super strong cleaner from "Home Depot" and redeem the shower of the minor mold growth.
*Power just goes out..."MIKE THE POWER IS OUT..SHOULD I CALL THE POWER COMPANY?"  Mike says:  No, it will come back on quickly.
*Water/Internet goes off...Well that one does not happen.

I think you now get the general idea of my reactions.

Now that we have been at Appelsbosch for almost 4 months, my reactions have changed a bit.
*Oh, a cockroach.
*Oh, a rat/mouse.
*Oh, mold everywhere  (Not kidding on the everywhere!)
*Oh the power is off...again.
*Oh, the water is off...again. (The main question is, for how many hours/days)
*Oh, the toilets don't flush...again.  (Bucket flush again...)
*Oh, the internet is off...again.

It amazes me how we adapt to the situation we are in.  The alternative is to be miserable and complain about it...but really, what does that accomplish but make everyone else miserable.  Then we just feed off of one another.

I leave you with this thought from Joshua.  We were driving down the road the other day and Joshua says rather matter-a-factly...like he sees one every day:  "Oh, look a Zebra."   Perspective...it is really what we make and what we do with the situation.

"Decorating..."

It is always difficult to be away from family and friends during the holidays-so we try our best to celebrate as an extended crew family.  The other night, the crew staying here at Appelsbosch, got together coloured ornaments, strung popcorn garlands, cheerio garlands, and made paper chains.  All this to prepare for tree decorating.  Earlier in the day, Jesse and other crew members went and cut some pine tress branches and fashioned them into trees.  Since we are lean on Christmas supplies, many of the tress decorations were handmade this year.  They looked wonderful!  Donovan, our managing director, ladled out home made eggnog made by his wife Mae, and the galley made homemade fudge!

Donovan giving out homemade eggnog...

Joshua decorating homemade ornaments...

Alisia colouring her ornament...

Is this garland long enough?

Anna and Lyn decorating a tree...

The finale...

"Fear Not Factor..."

On Friday Night, after a week of intense practice, the kids from pre-school to grade 12 participated in an all school musical entitled "The Fear Not Factor".  The musical was see through he eyes of the angels who delivered the news about Jesus' birth to Mary, Joseph, and the Shepherds.  The kids did a marvelous job memorizing dance sequences, songs, lines, and Sign Language to accompany a few of the songs.  The highlight of the show was the finale where the kids were on stage with white gloves and black light signing to Chris Tomlin's rendition of Joy to the World.

Opening song "Fear Not..."

"Attention All Angels..."

A High School "Muscial-ish" version of "Bring it On..."

The whole Jr./Sr. High...

Alisia, Alanah, Bess, and Josie dancing as angels...

Manger scene

Black Light to "Joy to the World"...

Thank you so much teachers for making this a memorable program not only for the parents, but for enabling our kids to climb to new levels!

"Update..."

Mercy Ships state-of-the-art hospital ship, the Africa Mercy, has almost reached the end of ship yard work in Durban, South Africa. Built in 1980, it had become essential to replace the onboard power generators. The new generators will be mounted in such a way as to cause minimum vibration, as any vibration transmitted to the operating theaters could make the surgeons' task more difficult.

The Africa Mercy entered dry-dock on Saturday, September 25 th . Approximately 40 shipyard employees are working on the ship.

The workers cut a hole in the side of the ship and removed four old generators, replacing them with new ones.

There are roughly 80 Mercy Ships crew members still living on the ship working simultaneously on other projects. The ship being in the ship yard created an opportunity for the crew to repair areas that cannot normally be worked on when the hospital is in use. Projects include replacing the Main Engine Control System, doing a Main engine overhaul and painting in the dining room. There are also some hospital modifications being done. When the project is complete, Mercy Ships will be able to reduce its fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by 20%. It will serve as a substantial cut of annual fuel costs.

The photos below show the new logo installed on the funnel as well as our URL painted in much larger font on both sides of the ship.

Copied from the Schwebel's Family Blog.

"Dumazulu Village..."

Over the weekend, we decided to take a weekend away from Appelsbosch and have some much needed family time. The whole purpose of the weekend was to have some family time and to have some much needed relaxation time.

One of the things we did was go visit a traditional Zulu village. A recreation of a Zulu village from the time of King Shaka. We did notice how different than the village was set up to that we see in West Africa.

This is a traditional Zulu hut.

This is the gate where we had to speak a Zulu greeting in order for us to be able to come in.

This is a traditional Zulu man.  He is the head of the clan-he has 5 wives and 25 children.  He said Mike has more problems with one wife than he does with 5!

Alisia beating on the drum, asking if it is okay for us to enter the village.

Josh is holding a traditional Zulu shield. It is made out of cow hide and is really flexible. Since it is really heavy the Zulu warriors would roll it up and use it as a pillow, and stick a long stick through the back to make it more rigid.

The ladies of the tribe weave baskets and make clay pots.

The younger women work on bead work.  Alisia is holding a Zulu love letter.  Each colour of bead represents something.

Inside of the traditional Zulu hut.  The men sleep on the right and the women sleep on the left. 

The medicine man performing his dance.

Young Zulu men performing their dance.

 I was a very interesting time visiting the village.  There is a lot of cultural differences from South Africa to West Africa.

"Sports Day..."

On Friday morning, the Academy Jr. and Sr. High students put on a sports day for all the elementary students.  Originally it was planned to be outside, but the weather decided not to cooperate and it was moved to the gym.  Thankfully we had more than enough space to put all the different sports stations.  There were several different stations ranging from ball toss, high jumping, hurdles, sac races, and many more.  The time ended with the whole Academy putting on an amazing gymnastics routine.  Then after lunch, the Jr. and Sr. High competed in a basketball game.  Fun was had by all!

Alisia and Joshua...#1 kids!!

Bess and Joshua with the sac race...

Alisia showing Andre how to do the boss toss...

Alisia doing a vault/handstand for the gymnastics routine...

Joshua doing a vault jump for the gymnastics routine...

"Flag Animal Farm..."

 One of the fun things that our school kids have been able to do since we are inland, is visit all sorts of interesting places. One outing that we took the preschool and first grade children to was the Flag Animal Farm. Now, for most kids this probably would not be all that interesting. However, for many of our kids any kind of animal is interesting and fascinating...since we are not allowed any on the ship. We had a wonderful day petting the animals, milking a cow, riding a horse, and of course feeding the animals.

Milking a cow...

Petting a calf...

A turkey...just in time for Thanksgiving!...

Holding a rabbit...

This chicken needed a time out!...It kept trying to sit on our chairs while we were eating lunch...so it was placed in a "time out chair"...

Feeding a horse...

Feeding goats...

Riding a horse...

Goats feeding on us...