Zekes big day...

It has been just a little over a week since we had Zeke's big 2 year bash. We had a wonderful time and even managed to wear Zeke out by the end of the day! Zeke got really into the festivities this year by being able to open his own presents and get in on some of the games. He has even spent the last week singing his own little version of the birthday song. We feel really blessed to be surrounded by such good friends and family that made for such a special day. Scott made a video that sums up all the fun...

First day of school

Scott’s Two Cents

What an experience I had the other day! As part of our language learning program, in lieu of a formal track specifically for foreigners (which doesn’t exist in this country), our team has been finding creative ways to get deeper exposure to the language. Some of them started attending local grade schools, so I asked our neighbor, who is 11, if he knew of one I could attend in our neighborhood. I was aiming, with the many local adults who haven’t finished school, to join an adult night school program. Instead, the neighbor’s 16 year old brother came over and offered to ask his principal if I could join him. Sure enough permission was lined up and at 7:50 this morning, I became an 11^th grader again! Katie couldn’t go as schools here are separated by gender. After I thanked the principal, we marched up to the second floor of the 3-story-tall high school. The first class was math where the students learned all about mean, median and mode: nawendi, nawrasti and baw. It struck me, as I caught bits and pieces of the lesson, that I learned these things in 6^th grade in the States. These kids only attend school 4 hours a day, and that in shifts—some in the morning, some in the afternoon—and they cram in 13 subjects. To make that work, they have each subject maybe once or twice a week, and since each class lasts only 40 minutes, you can see why just now these 11^th graders are learning about basic statistics. My conclusion is this: there are more schools and many more teachers needed!

After math came Arabic. Now, this might come as a shock to most of you, but I’m not, nor was I ever, what you would call “cool.” I still wear shirts I got 10 years ago (fortunately here they’re just coming into style). About half my jokes flop, and what I saw usually comes out fairly jumbled unless it is simple: me hungry, me tired, etc. But, I realized in Arabic class that I was becoming the buzz of the classroom in a good way. I remember in my high school the foreign kids kind of being made fun of. Of course I never did this, but it happened. So being wary of this reality, I tried to ignore their comments and listen. Meanwhile the entire class was talking over and generally being disrespectful of the teacher, who was growing angrier by the minute. He really was an angry guy. In our language there are a few ways to politely ask someone to be quiet, but he was saying to the class the equivalent of “SHUT UP!!” about every 2 minutes. My neighbor, who was sitting a few chairs in front of me saw me mouth “he’s really mad,” but didn’t understand what I was saying. So he got up to find out and when he sat back down, the teacher asked what I said! I could have slugged him, but my neighbor told the teacher that I thought he was really mad. The teacher was ready to slug me then, so he tried to embarrass me by trying to get me up in front of the class to speak in our language. I thanked him and said no, and then he came to where I was sitting to have a nice little talk and explain why he was angry. “If you’re not angry, they’ll eat you,” he said. I told him I had insulted him and apologized several times. Then after class I walked with the teacher a while and re-apologized. He wanted to know why I would sit in an Arabic lesson if I wanted to learn our host language (95% of the Arabic lesson was not in Arabic). I might skip next week and spent time with the principal instead.

After that, we were supposed to have a computer class, but a really nice and good teacher grabbed us and said, “Come to my history class.” He had me share a bit about me at the beginning and then did a 25 minute lecture on the 10 eras in local history. It was really informative and the students really respected him, in stark contrast to the Arabic teacher. After this was a cake walk for me as we had English. I did well in that one! Getting some new words and being able to affirm the teacher were highlights. Then we had “werzish,” or sports, class. My popularity soared and I felt like the Fonz! These guys gathered around me almost like they were going to gang-beat me, but were really nice and wanted to talk and joke around. The gym teacher was standing in the doorway with little concern for organizing anything so I asked if they wanted to play basketball; that was a dumb call on my part. They wanted to play full court but 3-on-3. I was a bit winded after the first minute of chasing these kids. I am a bad-to-average basketball player, but these guys were all in the horrid category. I felt pretty good out there—at least my missed shots were hitting some metal instead of air. Then we went inside, sweaty and hot, for another section of English. Afterwards they all were asking what I do so I told them about the LIFE Center. They brow-beat me with questions, and many were interested in coming to register—interesting when they hardly remember anything or show interest in their FREE English class at school. But after talked about the LIFE Center a guy asked me if I am Muslim or Christian. When I told him Christian, he asked me what is becoming a more common question, “Why wouldn’t you become Muslim?” This question has bothered me ever since I was asked it in a store down the street. My gut response is the opposite, how could anyone not want to be Christian? When I respond saying I have many reasons, they tend to revert to the defense they’ve been told all their lives. Who can blame them? I grew up with the societal right to choose, and I chose Christ for many, many reasons. And while my upbringing gave me the opportunity to choose Christ, He drew me to Himself. I am finding more and more that our host culture does not accept change in this area; the barrier isn’t so much with what to believe, but the acceptability of believing it.

A good month

We have had a busy last few weeks. We have had a ton of opportunity for practicing our language and for investing in new friendships. First, a few weeks ago, there was a big holiday here to celebrate the end of Ramadan, the month where the people here fast from food and water during daylight hours. Its an exhausting time for many so they are very ready for some fun times with family and friends, and of course, lots of food! We did a marathon of visits during the week and even enjoyed lunch with two different families. Zeke was great and fully engaged in the visits through trying to help serve tea and getting into everything he possibly could! The good news is that the people just eat up everything that he does! Through this week we also got to visit two different family friend's of ours who recently had babies. It was great to be able to congratulate them during such a joyous time in a family's life. I had forgotten just how little newborns are and just how much work! It is good for us to see, once again, what we've got coming up! It was also interesting to see Zeke, who is usually so independent, both interested and jealous of me holding a baby!


We've also been able to have some general visits these last couple weeks. Our house has been very busy as we've had multiple families over. Our neighbor's children all came over (spanning from age 12-24) the other night and played video games and had pizza. Its all boys except for one girl and her and I, though difficult at times, we able to have a very nice conversation. We also had some good friends come over for dinner last Friday. I made them sweet and sour chicken, with a cherry pie, along with a few of their own cultural traditions. I could tell it was different for them, but they seemed to enjoy it. I was so exhausted after the whole week that I actually dreamed all night in the language we've been studying!

We have really come to a point where we are getting more comfortable with many of the friendships we have built and are really enjoying these social times. It took some time to figure out what was expected of us when we visit someone, as well as how to make them comfortable when they visit us. Now that we've got a few of these things figured out we have really been able to enjoy ourselves and get to know our friends better. We really feel like this is home and are glad to be here!

Everything is going well with the baby. I had a check up last week and our little guy is measuring right on track and is as active as can be. I love being able to feel him kick and spin around, especially while he still small enough that it doesn't hurt! We are just over half way now and are really getting anxious to meet him. Many people ask me if Zeke gets that he's going to have a baby brother. He can answer the question "where is mommy's baby" by pointing to my stomach, but I'm pretty sure that its all pretty lost on him for now. Fortunately, once the baby comes I'm sure it will kick in pretty fast! This Friday we are also very excited to celebrate Zeke's 2nd birthday! We are celebrating two days early since Fridays are the best for any sort of party. Considering all of our teammates, the short term team that will be out visiting us and all of our invited guests, its looking like its going to be a pretty big bash! We were able to find Zeke an amazing birthday present that we cannot wait to give him...more to come on that, along with pictures, after the big event. For now, have a great week!

An unforgettable homecoming...

We have been back home and settled in for about a week now. We had some pretty major jet lag to overcome, but with time and commitment to not letting ourselves sleep much during the day, we pulled through it around day 5. We are happy to be back home, in our own beds, and back with our friends here. We have started back up with our language studies and have hit the books with a renewed vigor! After saying all that, I wanted to share a bit about our process in getting back here last week.

We arrived at the Chicago airport during the evening only to find the unexpected...no lines! We walked right up to the counter and handed over all of our passports. Scott asked the guy who was helping us "I'm sure there aren't any more available, but if possible could we get a bulkhead seat..." When we tried to set this up in Jordan, the night BEFORE our flight left, we were basically laughed at. However, to our great surprise and joy he told us there was one available. Plus, our flight that could hold about 250 passengers was only bringing back around 80! We were thrilled that it would not be like our packed out flight coming. So, we got through security with relative ease and started making our way to the gate, with only about 30 minutes of our 3 hour wait having passed. As we made our way down the corridor we found the most wonderful thing....a little play area for kids! It was one of these areas that teaches kids about the dangers around them, but it had lots of things that he could touch and play with, plus it was a contained area, so we could just sit and watch him play. After a little while another little girl came with her mom and the two of them played together for a little bit while us parents talked.

Finally we boarded our very empty plane and settled into our wonderful bulkhead seats. After a nice chicken dinner they gave us a bassinet for Zeke to sleep in. He was too big for it so we put it on the floor and he settled into it with his legs hanging out the end. He likes to be contained, though, so it wasn't too long before he fell fast asleep. It was probably about midnight central time. Zeke stayed down for about 4 hours and when he was awake he was happy to sit with us or play on the floor. The time passed quickly and we even made it in half hour early!

So, after our wonderful flight we were getting our baggage when an airline employee came and asked us if we were transit. We told him yes and he promptly escorted us to a counter where we could recheck our bags for the next mornings flight AND escorted us to a shuttle that took us to the hotel that we would stay at overnight for free! The hotel was a little creepy, but clean enough and comfortable. Zeke and I were up most of the night, but survived on snacks and Thomas the tank engine videos. Our short flight the next morning was just as uneventful and we were greeted at our landing by our friends Darrell and Cheryl.

Our friends drove us home only to discover that someone had been in our house...doing all sorts of improvements! Our fearless leader, Darrell, had put his handy man skills to use while we were gone by installing towel bars, a lattice for our grape vine, and even covering up some ugly cement in our bathroom with nice white paint. There were several other wonderful things he did and it was a wonderful way to come home! We are very blessed to have such good friends here and it made us feel as though we were missed and they wanted us to come back!

The only small downside to our homecoming was the discovery of a new tenant in our home....a mouse! He came across the floor as we were cooking dinner and we have yet to track him down! However, he will be dealt with in good time. Overall we are thrilled to be back and have even had a few catch-up visits with a few friends, including one who just had a baby about a week ago. So, back to the grind of real life and looking forward to our next adventure...our next baby! Who, by the way....is a boy!

R&R in J

We just completed a week of rest and relaxation in the beautiful Petra, Jordan. It was a much needed break for our greater team (from 5 different areas we all gathered) and a good time of spiritual, emotional, and physical renewal. We had friends from Lancaster, PA join us to bring the Word, encouragement as well as share their many talents with us, and we also had friends from Sheboygan, WI join us to help do a vbs for our kids and help with child care. The week would have been very different and definitely not as fulfilling if all these folks hadn't come, so thank you to all that came and those that supported them and made it possible!

We had a great time filled with laughter and tears, and many good memories were made. Each morning we would come together for fellowship and a message, then most afternoons were fun in the sun and for the evenings we would have activities like the talent/no talent night, survivor and other fun and games. I've included a picture of Scott dressed as a woman for a challenge in our survivor game! We also had a great time catching up with friends that we only see once a year. Overall it was a huge blessing. The kids all wore themselves out through play with each other and having lots of fun activities during their vbs time.


Last year we went to this same location and Zeke was terrified of the pool. This year we almost couldn't keep him out of it. He was still somewhat hesitant at times, but overall enjoyed splashing around and playing with the other kids in the pool.


Another funny experience was that Zeke was once again very comfortable with the local people. The funny part is that he thought they were the people from our area so he kept speaking our local language to them instead of arabic. They kept asking me what he was saying! Another interesting thing was that we discovered that Zeke has an amazing memory for names! He learned almost all of the kid's names and would use them whenever he saw one! Not bad for being just shy of 22 months! Zeke made friends with the man who ran the bar by the pool and was able to scam juice for not only himself, but for his little friend B as well!

I think a fun thing to do, when possible, is to go from one amazing time to another...and we get to do that be heading to the states! My brother is getting married so we will head back for that as well as some connecting with friends and family. It will be a packed time, but I am so glad that we had this first so that we aren't showing up to our families as completely wiped out people! I will try and blog once or twice while we are there, but I promise nothing! We will be back in action by mid-September, so if you don't check back here often plan on checking back in at that time and I'm sure we'll have lots to share!

loose ends...

We are currently trying to get ourselves organized and tie up all loose ends as we prepare to travel to Jordan for a week of relaxation and recuperation with our larger team before traveling on to the states for some time with family and friends. It was been a good, but long summer and we are definitely ready for some
get-away time. Zeke has been without some of his little buddies these past couple weeks and I think he is ready to have a whole hoard of
playmates as our team is inundated with children!


This summer has been full of busyness and adventure. We have had the pleasure of going on several picnics, we have connected with new friends, hosted events with our short term workers that were here for the summer, prepared our new center location and much much more! Oh,and we've studied some more language!







Our short termers were a great help as they pretty much ran the courses that we offered at our center and freed us up to study and just connect with this class of students. Coffee shop nights were packed out and laid back this summer, which made for fun Thursday nights. Zeke enjoyed running around all evening during them and getting his fill of cake and soda. We hosted our very first girls only event where we played games, ate yummy snacks and learned to make a bracelet. I think it was as much a blessing to us as it was to the women we invited. I have a hunch that there will be more events like this in the future! We also had a group of 3 men come from Oregon specifically to help with some minor construction on our new center. They have been a huge blessing and have prepared the way for our big move to the new building at the end of this week. We will have our first set of classes beginning at the end of Ramadan. We couldn't have done it without helpers like these!

Zeke made the most of the summer by running around as much as he could ( and getting as sweaty as he could in this heat ), playing in the water every chance he got, eating fun summer treats like ice cream and icees, playing on his horsy and getting as much attention as he possibly could from our neighbors and friends! One night at coffee shop when the eletricity went out he showed off his command of the language to everyone as he shouted out "karaba niya," which means "theres no electricy." Everyone got a good laugh out of it. Ah, what a kid!

So its been a full last few months for us, and we continue to be excited about what God is doing here. After we get back from the states we begin our last year of study and look forward to another full year here of building relationships, diving deeper into this crazy language and into 2010 welcoming a new addition to our family! Thats right...baby Wiggins #2 is expected in late February. So we have lots to look forward to as God leads us and shows us each step that He has for us as we do our best to walk in obedience to His will!

Finally...all about Zeke!

Wow...where does the time go? I can't believe that we are already into the month of July! As promised, I am finally getting around to the previously mentioned blog that will be all about Zeke and what he is up to these days. So, here we go!


Zeke has been a great fit for these people and this place. He goes just about everywhere we go and does everything that we do. He is such a trooper! He totally dives into the culture here, even if an all day picnic causes him to miss his afternoon nap! He is quick to bounce back and has proved to be the most flexible child I know!






Zeke also makes friends everywhere we go. He is definitely unique here with his blond hair and blue eyes, but his outgoing personality also sucks them in and makes it so that they remember HIS name even when they don't remember OURS! This picture is him with our neighbor, who routinely comes over with his brother to pick him up and bring them over to their house to play. Often while there he sneaks a sugar cube or two from them, which they think is hilarious.











One blessing that we have received while here is another American family who has a boy within two weeks of Zeke's age. Together they are learning about sharing and being kind to one another (a harder lesson for the other boy since Zeke is the bigger child!). Zeke has a blast with his friend and even seems to have a little crush on his older sister since he is constantly saying her name!





Zeke seems to love everything about summer. He loves playing out in the yard with the hose and playing in his little kiddie pool. He gets a real kick out of trying to get me and Scott as wet as he is and often turns our driveway into one big slip'n'slide. He is so into playing in the water these days that I can hardly put water into a bowl or pan for cooking without him wanting to splash in it or even put his little feet in!











He also loves that summer comes with eating ice cream cones out in the yard. When we first hand him the cone he always informs us that its cold, but then dives right in and enjoys every single bite! He seems to have quite the sweet tooth...hmm, wonder where he gets that from:-)








Zeke is also a great eater! We have very few struggles at meals because he is happy to dig in whether its American food or local cuisine! He has recently started tell us when he is "hungies" and wants a snack. Fortunately he likes both sweet and nutritional foods so we are able to get a balanced diet in him without much if a fight. He has also recently gotten into asking for "boose," (juice) and has discovered that I am adding water...when he catches me he is sure to let me know that he was asking for the real deal. He has also figured out how to open the fridge himself and routinely tries to help himself...this has resulted in spilled honey mustard and milk all over the kitchen floor!







Another thing Zeke loves to do is pretend to drive. It seems everyone here is happy to let him play in their car and push all the buttons. Here he is in the neighbors car having a great time. Anything that has buttons and produces some kind of sound or light is loads of fun for Zeke. We're having a hard time keeping him away from electrical sockets here which have a little switch that turns them on and off and has a little light...they're just too tempting for a little guy to stay away!











Zeke is also trying to help around the house. Here he is throwing all the clean, folded clothes all over the bedroom. He often will pull clothing out of the washing machine and also loves to help stir while I'm cooking!









Zeke has recently gotten more into videos. For a long time he was completely incapable of stopping long enough to watch something, but he seems to be lengthening his attention span these days to include videos and books. Here he is enjoying a baby einstein video which he managed to get through entirely that day...a much needed break for a tired mommy and daddy.






Zeke is also really getting into trying to be like us and do everything we do. Here he is wearing daddy's baseball cap. He loves to stroll around the house wearing our shoes and clothes and if he sees us doing something interesting he definitely wants in! His mimicry also includes tons of language and we are shocked sometimes at the things he is picking up even when he only hears it once or twice. He is also speaking a fair amount of the local language, much to people's delight! Its tough for us to understand at times because its hard enough understanding baby language in your own native tongue, but then you add two languages and it gets much more complicated. He is making two-word sentences (in both languages) and seems quite pleased with himself and his ability to get what he wants!





Here is Zeke in daddy's shirt, checking himself out in our bedroom mirror. He loves mirrors and often dances on our bed where he can see himself in the dresser mirror. He is such a funny little boy...he's always ready to make us laugh or to laugh with us!








I have mentioned before that Zeke has this little scam with the reality shop next to our house. He goes in, waves at the guys, says "ewe ta" which means "I want that one" while pointing at the candy dish and then sits with them for a few minutes before coming back outside to me or scott. I was thrilled to have the camera this day and catch him in the act. It has become a regular routine and they are always happy to invite him in, give him candy and water, and to send him on his way. We can barely get out of the house without having to make this stop!


As you can imagine, Zeke is quite the little character! He is such a joy in our lives! God gave us a little boy that couldn't be more perfect for our family. We still can't believe how he has gone from a tiny, little baby to the toddler we see running around our house and running our lives! We love to watch him learn and grow and can't wait to see what else God has in store for his life! We thank God everyday for our little Ezekiel...how Good is God!!!

free at last...continued!

We now have reached the two week mark from the completion of our home stay. This time has allowed us an opportunity to process what we learned while we were there and to remove some of the emotional aspect that had jaded our view of the experience for a time. So, now is a healthy time to express what we learned through our time with this family.

It is challenge, for most everyone in western culture, to stay for an extended period in someone else’s home. We had the advantage of having built an already somewhat deep relationship with the family that we stayed with. I believe that this pre-existing relationship allowed us to go deeper in a three week period then maybe even a years worth of visits might have done. I am going to categorize our lessons learned in four sections: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.

The Physical Aspect: we went into our home stay somewhat exhausted from months of language study and a recent period of having many guests to entertain. We were excited to get started with our immersion experience and were in need of a break from our normal routine. We definitely got a physical break. We learned that as a culture these people have some physical tasks and then they spend the rest of the time socializing and doing as little work as possible. Some of the physical tasks included daily cleaning (these folks REALLY have something to teach us about house keeping!), cooking (which includes picking up the fresh supplies needed for that meal) and shopping. I include shopping on this list because if you ever get a chance to come out here and see our bazaar you will realize that maneuvering through all the ups and downs of that place leaves you quite exhausted! So we learned to do each of these tasks along side of the family. For me the most profitable thing was the cooking! I learned a ton of new dishes that are all fairly simple (although PACKED with oil and salt) that I can now use for my future guests. Also during our stay, we shared a room with Zeke and he would wake up earlier than usual each morning and the family would sleep in the living room until 10am, or so, so we were trying to entertain our busy toddler without waking everyone up, and after three weeks of that we were pretty tired and ready to go home!

The Mental Aspect: we knew before this time that spending time in this language is very mentally draining. Well, in a live-in situation that exhaustion was magnified. I would find myself starting to check-out, mentally, by early evening because I could hardly process any more! Also, we learned something about this family that we hadn’t picked up in previous visits and that was that they mix a TON of Arabic with the local language! All people do this to some extent, but this family did it more than any others we’ve met, so in some ways it felt like starting over with many new vocabulary words. They also come from a city a few hours away and therefore have a different accent, so I found it particularly challenging to understand them. I really had to humble myself and accept that they thought I knew nothing and remind myself that my value is not found in what they think about me!

The Emotional Aspect: this aspect was probably one of the toughest. One reason for this was that because of the mental and physical exhaustion we were more prone to attack in the emotional department. In this culture, if they think something about you there is no sugar-coating done in telling you about it, therefore you can undergo what feels like an attack on anything from your appearance to your intellect or even simply how you do something. Because we knew this family well I think they felt more free to let loose on us than maybe a family that we were just meeting would do. We received daily “suggestions” on how to be better parents, how to study and learn this language properly and much more. Because I am struggling to learn this language more than Scott is, I was told I was stupid and didn’t study enough and that I didn’t understand anything. Now, I have to say, the family didn’t mean to be insulting…these things are culturally acceptable and we have worked on toughening our skin against comments like these. However, hearing this day in and day out for three weeks did reduce us to tears a couple of times (when we were alone), but also gave us great insight into where people are coming from and what they have to deal with.

The Spiritual Aspect: this was a very interesting area for us. The family we stayed with had some very interesting views and we were able to have many amazing conversations with them. We discovered just how much superstition is wrapped around ever aspect of daily life here. Many of these practices don’t make any sense to us, logically, and we asked ourselves over and over “how can they believe this???” However, we kept coming back to a recurring theme throughout our time and that was that when one has a hope to hold onto, even when it is a small, hard to believe hope, they cling to it with all that they are. These people have only known one belief throughout their lives and don’t know that there is so much more for them. We learned so much about how they see God, what prayer is to them and about how they make daily decisions. We realized how much Zeke is observing what is around him because after a couple weeks we spotted him playing with water coming from a faucet and as he played he washed his feet, then his hands and then his head, which is the way these people ceremonially wash themselves before their daily prayers! We were reminded over and over of the strong hold on this place and also reminded over and over of why we were sent here.

An experience like ours is bound to have its positive and negative aspects. We were definitely ready for a break when it was all said and done, but we choose to take the good that we learned from it, leave the bad behind, and move forward with our life in this place. I know that God can use this experience in our life and I look forward to seeing what all He has planned for us! Coming up….I’ve decided to write a blog all about Zeke….he has changed so much in the last year (almost) that we’ve been here, so we want to do a highlight of the little man in our lives that has changed us forever! Watch for that to come soon!