Rain with Kids in Tow= GOD HELP ME!

Camino Day 11- St. Irene to Santiago
22 km

How many adjectives do you know for rain? Pouring, pelting rain and we had to bike it. The trouble with Auberges is no matter what you are out at 8am so they can clean. In Galacia the province at the end of the camino they say it rains every 3 days at least. So far we are 2 out of 3. In fact if you do some you tubing you will find that all the horrendous weather photos are from Galacia. In our experience most of the ill vibed peregrinos and dirty aubergies are also here. Today- 20 km’s of downpour with rain ponchos that we bought from the Chinese import store, Kathryn’s was pink, and then the blue children braced for the wind, cold and sideways sheets of rain.

Not quite the way one wants to enter the Holy City but so it was. We were singing “just keep biking, just keep biking” a la finding nemo, and it actually got us through. Entering Santiago is mainly downhill. Which in this kind of rain meant that Rob had to slow his bike with his foot because his breaks had total failure. Finding our place to stay was also a bit crazy in this much rain.

We went all the way to the Cathedral but it was closed because Mass was in progress. So we took the shivering kids and searched for a half an hour for an auberge. It was raining so hard you couldn't bike near the buildings because it rain from the rooftops would knock you off your bike. It was not my best of half hours but “we just kept biking." Well we found the hostel which is an old seminary that has 800 beds! Panic sets in as we imagine the kids waking up 795 hostile people. We whisper a prayer,'god please let them have private rooms!'

We squeaked up 6 flights of stairs. That is the number of flights required to assend to the third floor when you have 20 ft ceilings. It is quite the place they have running and yet we still didn’t have our own room but had to share with a less than happy French man who did not want to be sharing with a family…can you blame him?

This trip has had so many see-saws. My derriere no longer screams from getting on a bicycle each day but I’m so done with public toilets without toilet paper, oh wait, aren’t I about to head to Africa?
I also feel like we’re just beginning to explore and adventure as a family, this nomadic life, and yet the kids also need routine, school and rooms that they don’t have to share with twenty people; we haven’t had enough time with Ruth or had enough time to contemplate or “just be” on this Camino because so much of our life has been about daily survival. So now we will take some time to hang our clothes one more time. To eat, sleep and figure out how we will get our bikes back to Madrid. Now for a hot shower!

Santiago in the Sun

Sept.2010 The end of the Camino.

Here I am. Arrived at this city on what would have been my Grandma Kerr’s 102nd birthday is she were with us. I just had a moment. I woke up to a sunny and gorgeous Santiago today. It looks a lot like Florence with its white houses and red roofs. We paid for an extra day at the massive pilgrim dorm so that we could have one day without having to move our stuff and the ability to dry out. We walked to the city around tenish moseying through a great market on our way. My kids liked the Octopus.

We didn’t get our Compostella Certificates because the line-up was too massive. Instead we had a café-con-leche and then went to find some shoes for Kathryn because hers were still soaked form yesterday. We were pointed to the Spanish version of Toronto’s Yorkville with 89 Euro leather boots for toddlers, so we quickly hi-tailed it for a local dollar store for mini-mouse flip-flops.

We had two funny conversations today. Rob talked with a pilgrim from Uganda who was a lawyer whose husband was running for political office. She said she had to walk the Camino or lose her mind;) She was inspired by what we were doing and said God would answer all our needs because we had made such a long journey. Rob said he didn’t know God was into sacrificial bartering.

Then we got stopped in the middle of the street by a German man who crossed the street to shake our hands in congratulations. He had literally been on the Santiago path all the way from leaving his front door in Germany! And yet, he was shaking our hands because he thought that what we had done was unbelievable.
We had lunch on the steps of Santiago Cathedral with donairs and falafel in hand. We got to meet up with a lot of pilgrims who made it here today. The Germans with the bloodblisters had to make their last section on the bus.

The old lady from Chicago who walked all the way from France at eighty-five, The Parisian man who pinched my kids cheeks and called them “pere-kids” for the first time, the retired couple from Germany who are trying to figure out what to do with their retirement, Jules, Paulina, Ashley from Australia, so many wanderers who shared a part of their lives with us over these past ten days. Yesterday I just had my fatigue to offer, but today all I can offer is thanks.

When you think you should stop....go further??

Camino Day 10 Melide-St. Irene
26 km

Sept 2010
Left our hovel of an auberge at 9:30 after breakfast of bread and chocolate and then hit the road. Biking today was painful. Ruth had a bad cold but was bearing it silently and we had to take the trail because the hiway was too intense and full of transport trucks. The trail was beautiful and had a series of Eucalyptus Forrests which made me miss Israel. We were happy in the forrest but then the rain came. It took us out on our last 17 K’s with no aubergue’s in sight. We stopped for lunch in Arzua which is known for it’s soft white cheese which I was the only one to appreciate. There was a big town square where a big band played to my Dancing Cammie’s heart’s content. We felt good but then…17 K’s later we were back on the bikes and ended our journey on the side of the highway and the rain started. The choice was go back, or keep going till the next auberge.

5 km didn't seem like much at the time. But judging by our fatigue it was actually monumental. We kept asking, 'how much further.' RAIN. 'not far', the answer. Which when your tired and wet and the kids are cranky in their trailer.....not far is definitely too far. Eventually we would find a tiny municipal auberge in St. Irene because the rain was pelting down so hard. We would have rather packed it in the and continue on the mud paths. Final mind game was making it to St. Irene’s and fortunately it was all downhill!

This auberge was great and only 5 Euro’s! We surprisingly met our British friend Jules there who had done 95 K of walking in the last two days! He and ruth were exchanging recipes’ for cold medication which was healrious. We talks to people from Spain and Stockholm and had some good talks about “the way” and the rhythm of life it requires from you.

We’re kind of all in shock that tomorrow is the end. Trying to let it not end to soon and yet there is always that pull to “just get there.” 'For the walkers who have been out now for 5 weeks following arrows the end is both a relief and a shock. To have now slowed life to this pace and then suddenly...'There is a flight on Wed.' 'I am back to work the day after.' What a shock. What a horrible way thing to suddenly be faced with the lightning speed of reentry into life. Even for us we feel this after only 10 days. How will we be when this is all over? Tonight though is a fun night, full of camaraderie hanging out wet clothes and sleep! Sleep comes quickly to everyone.

5 Truths about Caminos

Camino Day 9 Portomarin-Melide lunch in Palas de Rei

Sept 2010

41 km

5 Truths of the Camino:

1)You will drop 2 belt sizes while consuming a diet of bread, chocolate and coffee
2)After biking for 6-7 hours a day your children will melt down and when you get into your aubegue and a Spandex clad Italian biker yells at you because he has to share his room with your children, YOU will melt down.
3)Ruth will save your life on many and various occasions. From trading bikes to making your daughter a purse, to making dinner and helping with laundry and laughing with you when you want to cry. What a gift.
4)You will have financial stress and the banks will not be open when you do!
5)You will have to repack, get dressed, get kids dressed, eat breakfast, clan up breakfast, get bikes, check bikes, put kids on bikes, take kids to the bathroom again all before 8:00 AM in the dark!

Mixed Messages- camino meditation

CAMINO
sept 201o

no joke here is the sign post we had to follow. this is only one of a number of times during the camino that we found signs that left us thinking.....which way? On closer inspection it is clear that bikers should go around. From further away it looks like a choice, or at least a mixed message.

It reminds me though of sometime when God seems to not answer our closed door blessing. You know the God if you don't want this then close a door. More often than not it is as if God says, 'choose.' In this case it meant the road, or an enormous number of steps. On closer inspection you can tell which way makes more sense. I think the same is true with following God. Choose, and on closer inspection one might just be better than the other. The great news is that when God offers options, He is fully able to make either work.

Camino Day 8 Sarria-Portomarin
sept...2010

23km
We woke up slowly this morning. It’s been a week of biking everyday and we are starting to feel physical and emotional signs of fatigue. Ruth feared that she had lost her wallet so she searched the hostel inside and out while I found an internet Café and found out that one of my best friends had her first baby! It was a hard day for homesickness.

Ruth didn’t lost her wallet which was a great thing because locating where to send her new visa etc. would be difficult in our nomadic state. We eventually found our way out of Sarria and did a series of tough hills for 15 K before taking a break at a stingy grocery shop with just a few items on the shelf. We then found a gorgeous trail that made me feel like I was on my way out of Hobbiton. This kept my romantic self happy until we encountered the gravel path of doom where we had to CARRY the chariot up hill for a Kilometer with Simeon sleeping inside! We met Keith our friend from Scotland on the path and then a South African family who offered us free accommodation but we wanted to reach Portamarin where the Cathedral was rebuilt stone by stone on the top of the hill because a Hydro dam was going to flood their town.

The best was that we stopped at a little restaurant at the foot of the Chapel where the crazy Brazilian pilgrims wouldn’t stop kissing my children. It was hilarious. They took Rob’s bike and trailer for a spin to see what it would be like to tow such a load and the rest sat around kissing Cammy and Sim for a good hour. We were celebrities. I also bought Kathryn and Sim a plastic Shell on a string for one Euro and you’ve never seen happier children.

We’re now at a pretty great hostel (Priavate room with a curtain and no door so you can unfortunately still hear the snoeres) and everyone is captivated by what we’ve done. They’ve nicknamed our children “Pere-kids” instead of peregrino’s. People keep taking our picture every two minutes shocked that we’ve come this far.

Dinner was sandwiches outside and speaking with a Parisian who has tendanities because he was trying to out-run the never ending planes, who informed us that the two rules of the Camino are:
a)You need to allow yourself solitude on the Camino
b)You need to carry your own backpack

Well, with kids we have possibly lost the time for silent reflection but we’ve made up for it with carrying more than our share of backpacks!

Small steps and great views.

the hard part of climbing a mountain is....climbing.

the best part is going down and if the weather is good.....the view.

common ruthie....you'll get there.

I think one thing the camino has taught us is that when people say, 'it is impossible,' it usually means 'i don't want the struggle, or effort.' Really anything is possible, sometimes you need help, but most things can be done in small steps.

Breaks are burning but the view is amazing!

Camino Day 7 O’cebreo-Sarria
32km by lunch + 12 after

I never thought I would say that climbing the mountain of death yesterday was worth it, but…it was worth it. Seriously, you remember in the Two Towers when there are the vistas of the mountains? I experienced that on a bike…sans snow of course. To descend from the top of the mountain on a gorgeous clear day and descend for twenty minutes with out using the breaks in a soft sloping ride was one experience I will not quickly be able to top; this was quite rewarding after yesterday’s endurance race requiring a basic will to live. We had our lunch of baquette and yogourt in the Monsatic town of Samos and then continued on to our final destination of Sarria.

It was our longest bike ride yet of 41 K’s but it doesn’t really count because 20 K past so easily down the mountain. We found a great auberge run by a little Nonno and Nonna who fed our kids grapes from their grape vine and put a fire on for us in an indoor firepit where they lent us their guitar and Kathryn decided she needed to dance. I then went to find peanut butter which was a hilarious mime experience that did not end well. I had to buy Nutella instead. They also had a great hiking store with every book on the Camino you could ever want in an assortment of languages. We bunked with an Australian and a polish guy who learned to speak English in Ireland so understanding him was entertaining. A great day.

Crosses and Caminos

Crosses actually go hand in hand with any journey. You know those times where you get to a place where you realize, ' i should probably leave this behind.' Not just excess luggage, but burdens. Grace I believe is the thing that allows us the ability to take it off, bury it. Probably the most powerful experience of the camino was contemplating this cross. Here people have nailed, hopes, dreams, repentances, things that they would like to leave behind.

It is as if to say, "Jesus you died for me, and told me to bury my life with you, to leave my sin, my hurt, my past here with you. I can leave this thing here for you."

The crazy thing is that in this random place in the outback of Spain, people pray, and lighten their load. It reminds me of the scripture that God would be praised to the ends of the earth. I wonder where else there are crosses?

A Nacho to the Rescue

Camino Day 6 Trabadelo- O’cebreiro
17 kms ALL UPHILL

Today was cold. A ‘Scotland in the morning’ cold; a see your breath and wish that maybe you had brought your mittens cold. Kathryn was turning purple so Ruth pulled out wool socks that her mom had bought in Ireland and Kathryn wore them on her hands. We stopped at an amazing artisan bakery in the morning where we had chocolate buns and hot-chocolate and it took us a really long time to leave because it was so great. A pelegrino who we had met at the hostal in Ponferadda who I know only as “Miriam’s Friend” rubbed Kathryn’s hands until they warmed up, so sweet.

We entered this day with forboding because we would be climbing to O’cebreo…the highest incline of the Camino. All we could do was keep going not knowing how the day would turn-out but I can admit that after climbing up to Foncebadon I was facing the day with fear. We biked a huge climb and took a break in La Faba where we ate with an eighty-year-old pilgrim from germany. On the wall beside us it advertized that if we wanted to take the next section by mule it would provide the way…(To get your pilgrim passport at the end of the Camino the only three legit ways to get there are by walking, biking or Donkey!)…we knew we were in trouble. Then we tried to climb and it was completely impossible. We looked in Ruth’s guidebook and it warned “Beware the road to La Faba” which meant that we had to backtrack down 2K’s to find the next steep route of death.

Oh, if only we had found a mule. Instead we were climbing in the mid-day heat up a mountain that deserved the fear we had projected. The elevation was steep enough that we all had to walk our bikes and the incline kept going up and up and up. Just when we thought we couldn’t do it we were saved by Miguel and Javier. They were two Spaniards who got off their speed-bikes to walk my bike and Rob’s bike for about half-an-hour. When they were spent we thanked them and told them we’d buy them a drink at the top. We had another angel of mercy in Spandex offer help. This guy was right out of the tour de France with the no-body-fat biker build and made biking that mountain look possible. We had just had help from Javier and Miguel so we told Tour de France man that we were okay, and even though he pleaded to help us we sent him on his way and took a break with the kids under the one shade tree to have some lunch. We prayed that Simeon wouldn’t careen down the mountain ledge.

We had just started our slow and cumbersome ascent again when we saw a truck coming down the mountain. The truck slowed down and out jumbped the Tour de France guy! He took my bike, put Kathryn on the back and biked her up the steepest part of the mountain for 10K’s! I rode Ruth’s bike up and Ruth pushed Rob’s trailer as he biked. We found out from Kathryn that Tour de France man’s name was “Nacho”. You could hear them counting from uno to dos in spanish each time the incline got unbearable. We got up the most difficult part until Nacho reached his bike again. We all took pictures and Kathryn yelled “I love you Nacho” as Nacho pedaled into the distance.

We finished the ride up to O’Cebreiro with Kathryn singing “She’ll be coming round the mountain when she comes” on repeat. Was it worth the trip up O’Cebreiro? You’ll have to ask me when I can move my legs again…but to be on the top of world and see the view of your life and be surrounded by little thatched huts that are dug into the ground like hobbit’s homes was pretty incomparable. Dinner was also great. Salad, pasta, pork chops, fries and wine for 9 Euro’s. The only problem is we are now in Galacia. Tuna fish country!

Camino Day 5

Ponferrada to (lunch in Villafranca) Trabadelo
Sept. 28
Kms 33 6 hours

Kathryn blew kisses as we passed our Castle on the way out o f Ponferrada. We picked up café’s and groceries for lunch. A typical lunch for us is a baguette, some type of protein (either peanut butter and jam or cheese and ham, water, apples and maybe yogurt.
As is a daily occurrence we got lost. An older couple behind a massive gate with a pet shizu dog directed us to the correct path so that we no longer had to bike along Spain’s equivalent of the 401. We had our lunch in the beautiful Cathedral City of Villafranca where there’s an amazing park right infront of the Cathedral. It was also crazy because the Catheral FOR REAL offers indulgences! Luther would be rolling over in his grave. The kids played at the park and we had Café-con-leche’s and then continued on our way.

About 10K’s later we stopped at a beautiful Romanesque church and met up with Paulina. She is a friend who Ruth met before we arrived in Leon who is a professor of linguistics in Prague. My kids love her, especially Kathryn who held her hand up one hilly section of the journey so that I could drag up the trail-a-bike with less weight. We arrived in Trabadelo which is a tiny town with one auberge but it was a beautiful bike ride through trails and woods to get there. We met up with the Brazilian’s in the hostel and there was a playground for the kids to play at while I did laundry. Rob splurged on some ice-cream bars and the kids were in heaven. We also met an older Dutch man at the hostel who had been biking for five weeks where he biked out his door from the Netherlands! He had a very neat trailer that held his essentials so that he could bike without panniers. He would be travelling right to Gibralter and then taking a bus home. We asked him why he wouldn’t be taking a plane home and he replied that after doing such a long journey to just arrive home instantaneously would feel too much like time-travel.

Community Farming

From life in zambia

Trans Africa Theological College, where we are staying, has about 3 hectares under agriculture production as a demonstration farm. We currently have a grant from CIDA to do this. My challenge is to help out in every way possible to get the farm to be profitable in the next 3 years. That is why I am here, but the farm itself is really a side story. Since beginning the demonstrations last year we have trained 150 community people. These community leaders are learning conservation agriculture techniques. Every week they come to see how we do it, in exchange we are giving them their own land that they can farm.


Outside our college and between us and the nearest compound Racecourse, there are plots where these people are practicing what they learn. The place is mind blowing with its potential. The place is transformed. Imagine your neighbours coming to your house to learn something and then you all going into business together. This is what this is like. The amazing thing is it is going to change the way agriculture is done in this region. Racecourse is a shack town. Very few houses have water or sewage, the kids play in the garbage dump. One of our workers left work early because his roof blew off the other day. He is lucky most have bags covering holes in their houses. The land we give them to farm is going to provide extra money for these people. The things they learn are going to produce more food for their families. This is what our agriculture project is doing in the short term.


This year the goal for the program is to begin setting up community farms on the traditional land in front of the college, starting a seed bank to provide quality seed for the people who need it. We will also be investigating starting a co-op to buy back the harvest this year to see if we can get a better price if we farm together. Our community classes will also train another 200 people.

kate bungi

Hick town

From life in zambia

To say we are in a hicktown would be relatively well defining. The grocery store is usually a place where one can buy the things that you may need for say baking. However our store carries some produce when it comes in. They carry it….but only when it is in. Case in point, brown sugar we can get, but only 1 week a month. The good thing is that if one shops around at the other lesser known stores, that cater to the muzungu (aka whites), we can usually, with a little driving get everything we need. The danger of driving is of course driving.

Potholes and speed bumps here are known as the silent police. They keep drivers honest. There are other hazards of course like the taxi buses that stop randomly to let passengers on and off. Of course the biggest obstacles on the roads are the broken down transports that block roads sometimes for days at a time. The major highway in town here had a lane closed for 6 days before it was towed.

Being part of a hicktown isn’t all that bad. It is kinda fun to see the kinds of things one can pick up in random ways. I had a guy last week approach my car to sell me stuff and he pulls out a brand new iphone selling for- $150. Solutions have to be creative here. When you have only rocks to scratch together to make money people here get very creative, and very simple in their approach to business. In this sense business is booming in Kitwe. From leather belts, to street grub and even the occasional iphone people will sell and fix almost anything for very little. The opportunity for us as westerners isn’t just to pump badly needed money into the economy simply by buying groceries, and knockoff watches from street vendors, but also in the very simple expertise we bring to business.

One of the great privileges of teaching at the college to the students and the community leaders is the opportunity to encourage people to branch out, try new things, test niche markets, sell their produce at higher market prices. All of the basics of small business that in very life changing ways make a difference. This week I showed someone how to double their profits. By teaching good agriculture practices farmers this year will be making 5 x the profits from last year. Change comes slowly but the good thing about being in a hick town is you can see it changing.

Knights and Bikes

Camino Day 4 – Foncebadon to Ponferrada
Kms 27

The dark morning is cold here in the mountains. Frostiest morning on a more or less hot trip. The downside of our private space in the Yoga studio was that well, there was a Yoga class in our bedroom at 8:00am which meant we had to feed the kids and get them packed and ready to bike by eight. Wow, we’re getting better at this! We had to hurry it out by the light of the moon. I have mentioned of course that the moon is up until 9:00? We then had granola and yogurt with the hippie’s who were listening to Bob Marley of course and then we were off.

Off meant down the most beautiful descent but it was pretty scary. It felt like we were going down the incline of a black-diamond ski-hill only we had to stop often to cool our breaks. It was literally like descending the alps. Steep, waterfalls, tiny mountain roads and very intense while Kathryn was having the time of her life. There was literally 2 hours with no pedaling.

Lunch was by the river in Maconda where my children tried to swim in the freezing ice-water of the mountain stream. We arrived in Ponferrada to a very welcoming auberge and a great town. They have a castle from the era of the Templar Knights and we had an excellent dinner in the plaza overlooking the town and then the kids climbed olive trees until and then we watched a make-shift theatre production in by the Castle that never started until 9:00 pm so whe had to leave for the kids bed-time.

We put the kids to bed and then I went downstairs and shared a snack with Ruth and Jules, Miriam and her friend. Jules is from Britain and has to have a surgery in a few months on his back and they told him he had to get his body-weight down for the surgery so he decided to walk the Camino to accomplish this. The dedication of those that walk the camino is unbelievable. Miriam is from Belgium and in her early thirties. Her husband could not get the time off work so she is walking the Camino alone. She’s kind and takes an interest in the kids. Ruth and I went back upstairs and passed the chart showing the inclines of the the days ahead. We gulped, shook our heads and went to bed with visions of mountain passes in our heads.

Ponferrada has a great hostel and is a definite stop to see the sites in this medieval town. The books all warn you about directions and well….they are all true. Be prepared to ask for directions on the way in and out of town.

DONATING

People have been asking how to donate to us. Here is a detailed pictoral help guide and description. Sorry this is so confusing. It would be easier if someone wanted to set up a charity for us :). As it is we are using 3 or 4 organizations to get donations. The good thing is that once you donate 100% of the funds are going to the projects you donate to.

100% of your donation

goes to the project.

Here is how to donate:

1. go to http://www.loadsoflove.ca/

2. select on the left hand side the icon for 'canada helps'. this organization allows you to donate to charities online

3. the page should look something like the image below.

4. then on the canada helps page there are 4 things to do.

fill in your donation amount

select john and ruth kerr zambia as the missionaries

then add a note saying what the donation is for.

if the donation is for rob and kate 'community developmnet/rob and kate

if it is for one of our projects select 'community development/trees or playground

always it should say community development if it is for us.

A photo journal of life in Zambia

We thought the best way to show you what life was like was in pictures. Here is some photos of what life is like.

Camino Day 3 hippie goat town

Astorga to Foncebadon
Sept. 2010
Kms 26

We woke at 7:30 in the Spanish dark. It really doesn't get light here till after 9am-very weird. Breakfast of oatmeal and hot chocolate and then we gather the kids and gear and are out the door by 9:00am. Travel is not easy. Ruth took the bikes to the bike store to get our tires pumped up and I went to the grocery store that smelled like octopus and bought a new stash of diapers and wipes- wince -it would be a few more days before we enter civilization once more.

Today was INTENSE!!! The first half was fine making it to the village Rob thought we would be at our final destination for the day by lunch time. Pride cometh before the fall. We ate outside a tienda with local Grandma’s and the owner gave Sim and Kathryn some banana’s. Afternoon was climbing a mountain. Did I say mountain? Yes. A mountain with Kathryn & I on the trail-a-bike, Rob with the chariot LOADED DOWN with gear and Ruth carrying tents and panniers full of stuff. We are getting used to walking uphill. It was a five Km steep turnpike ascent up what I lovingly call the mountain of death.

Definitely the closest I’ve ever come to complete physical exhaustion. So so tired. Slowly and with great pain we eventually made it to the village of Foncebadon which is hilarious. All I can say are two words: Yoga and goats. We found a little auberge that gave us great hot chocolate and let us sleep in their yoga studio so we wouldn’t have to share our kids with the community of snorers. I literally feel like Mary & Joseph as we park our bikes and head back between the goats and mules to make our bed in the yoga studio. This is so surreal! Tomorrow though, is downhill!

Till then watch your step!

Camino Day 2 biking to Astorga

Sept.24 Camino Day 2
26km

All I can say is that if your doing long distance biking without wearing spandex underneath your pants, you aren’t going to make it. All day was spent biking the beautiful backroads along the last section of the plains.

We left our less than stellar campsite and the Norwegians by around 10:00 am. Laundry was still wet and the unfortunate thing about spain is that you can still see the moon at 9:00am which makes it hard to get up and get moving in the dark. We had six hours of biking ahead with huge hills and I was trailing Kathryn who likes a lot of brakes. She’s doing amazing for a six-year-old with only minimal “I’m tired mom” breakdowns. We saw the longest and oldest bridge in spain and had café and lunch beside it. The afternoon is always the hardest leg in the journey because the physical stamina is waining. We met a nice friend of Ruth’s from Brazie outside the Guadi Museum on our arrival in Astorga. He had been travelling all the way from France and said that for him what separated the Camin from other vacations was that it cleansed your soul. I think his Camino didn’t include having to stop pre-schoolers fighting over blankets in a bike-trailer!

The auberge we stayed at was great! I got a massage for six euro’s and our laundry also dried! The sleeping? Well, however nice a place is, sleeping in a room with 100 other bunkmates is still going to result in a lot of people snoring. We had put the kids down earlier though, so they weren’t phased by it at all. All I can say it that along with spandex, earplugs are a must for any camino venture. The thing that saved our kids was finding a quiet back corner. Tommorrow or the next day we will finally hit....the mountains that have been looming in the distance.

52. Sept.24 Camino Day 2 tenting-catherdral City of Astorga
All I can say is that if your doing long distance biking without wearing spandex underneath your pants, you aren’t going to make it.
We left our less than stellar campsite and the Norwegians by around 10:00 am. Laundry was still wet and the unfortunate thing about spain is that you can still see the moon at 9:00am which makes it hard to get up and get moving in the dark. We had six hours of biking ahead with huge hills and I was trailing Kathryn who likes a lot of brakes. She’s doing amazing for a six-year-old with only minimal “I’m tired mom” breakdowns. We saw the longest and oldest bridge in spain and had café and lunch beside it. The afternoon is always the hardest leg in the journey because the physical stamina is waining. We met a nice friend of Ruth’s from Brazie outside the Guadi Museum on our arrival in Astorga. He had been travelling all the way from France and said that for him what separated the Camin from other vacations was that it cleansed your soul. I think his Camino didn’t include having to stop pre-schoolers fighting over blankets in a bike-trailer!
The auberge we stayed at was great! I got a massage for six euro’s and our laundry also dried! The sleeping? Well, however nice a place is, sleeping in a room with 100 other bunkmates is still going to result in a lot of people snoring. We had put the kids down earlier though, so they weren’t phased by it at all. All I can say it that along with spandex, earplugs are a must for any camino venture.

Camino Day 1 Leon-Villadangos del Paramo

Sept.23 2010

Day 1
23Km, 4.5 hours

First time ever biking 23 km.....yeah!!!!!!!
We didn’t make it out of Leon and we’re lost. The kids played with dogs and sat on cobblestone paths as an older gentleman tried to tell us where the best places to eat in Leon. Ruth’s pilgrim guide warned us of well meaning locals, who will send you in the wrong direction. Thanks ol’ man- we are going this way! The number 1 rule of camino we will learn….follow the yellow arrows and sea shells….and hope they don’t point different ways at the same time (they will). We learned to always follow yellow arrows and sea-shells-not people in berets.

We finally found the right path and met real Spain. We had café con leche’s and an omelet that came with fries and hot dog for lunch…weird I know. We ended up in Villadangos del paramo. A kind of two bit town that promised a caravan park with a pool. They lied. The pool was closed. Rob went on a random search for food while we set up tents and I tackled laundry. We ended up having lentil soup over the campstove, but Rob forgot the lentils at the store! It rained and so the laundry didn’t dry, but we collapsed in bed by 8:30.

happy

In the Book of the Dead

Sept. 14 2010

Today we went to Edinburgh Castle. While the kids sat on cannons and climbed the ramparts I pursued the museum. At the top of the castle the Scot’s have turned the chapel into a war memorial. I decided I would hunt for my Uncle who was killed during WW2 a few days after D Day.
What I came upon startled me. In one of the many great volumes of names was my own. Even my initials.

D. Robert Hall.

It hit me….He died (my namesake), in a war because he loved his country, and I trust the cause. It is a somber thing to think he died, voluntarily, willingly. He at some point put his name on a piece of paper knowing full well he may die for having signed it.

I prayed that when and if I needed to do the same, I would have the same courage. I pray that I would have the conviction to put my name in on things that I believe to be right-even though I too may suffer.

Breaking camping rules

sept.11 2010


Frigid Temperatures and a deluge of rain, thunder and lightening. Have to go to the bathroom. Oh no, the rain has started. Really have to pee. Now Kathryn and Sim have to pee…..but every time we’re about to try and go the rain starts harder. Desperately I find the umbrella-eventually.

I am breaking all of my camping rules (Camping is for people who don’t enjoy sleeping by the way),

okay back to my rules:
a) Never be cold
b) Never have your hip bone in the ground
And my two new ones
c) Never be wet
d) Never be smushed between children
So, I had blatantly broken all of my keys for Camping success and yet I couldn’t stop smiling. I am so happy to be here, to have “action living” as I used to say is, to be living this dream with my family. I am utterly alive and so wrecked for normal life.
We woke up to drips landing on our heads. Time for a new tent!

BE A ZAMBIAN HERO- PLANT A TREE

The rate of deforestation in this country is ALARMING! We see evidence of land burning and trees being cut everywhere. The question I heard a missionary raise lately was, ‘I wonder if anyone is planting trees to replace them?’ The question stuck in my head. The likelihood of a trees being planted somewhere in my experience seems absolutely remote. It has been the hardest thing to try to teach people to value trees- why? Well because in a culture that doesn’t expect to reach old age they have never seen the value of a tree grow. Never appreciated the shade a planted tree has brought. In a culture where everything is about surviving today, a tree that will produce fruit 6 years or shade in 10 years is just too low on the priority scale to notice. I came up with this slogan and I want to make it into a t-shirt, ‘be a hero plant a tree.’
I don’t just want to plant a tree though. I want to plant 1000 trees. 1000 trees in the next 2 years. This year’s goal is 500, next year I want to have started a nursery to plant the rest. You can see the pictures of the farm where we are developing. I notice 1 thing……where are all the trees? When I see people wilting in the hot sun I think, ‘where are the trees?’ When I see a malnourished baby with a distended belly just outside our gates in a country that has trees that can produce fruit 365 days of the year, ‘where are the trees?’ I want to pack every available space with a tree, for soil conservation, for shade, for water retention, and for fruit! A tree costs $3. Help me plant some trees, buy the whole orchard and I will name it after you. The nursery that we begin this year will become a seedling bank and enable us to get trees to vulnerable families.

100 orange trees
100 banana trees (300 more next year)
100 papaya trees (which will produce fruit this year)
50 mango trees
30 avocado trees
50 guava trees
70 ornamental trees (maybe some grapes if I can find them)


Donate Today: click here and designate for John and Ruth Kerr c.o. community development project.

October Update from Rob and Kate

October UPDATE from Rob and Kate
________________________________________
Greetings, from the supplier of your household plumbing: Kitwe, Zambia. It is great to know that we have contributed here to such a basic and essential thing in your house…..your copper pipes. Kitwe’s only claim to fame is its massive production of copper. The mines have been booming here since copper prices have hit an all time high. Unfortunately for the local Zambian this hasn’t trickled down into jobs for the average worker. Unemployment is high, and poverty is everywhere. Having said this I am amazed at how different life here is, 10 years after our first visit. The shops have food and clothes, supplies are coming in all the time, small business is everywhere. It is a good season for Zambia and for us.
We are feeling more settled in Zambia as we near our first month anniversary. We jumped right in with teaching classes, preparing the farms for the rains (which came today YaHH!!). What has complicated things is Cameron getting malaria, which has taken 2 rounds of medicine to cure and Simeon spreading Impetigo to all of us, who incidentally are benefiting from topical antibiotics. It takes a lot of energy battling stuff like this so far from home. As for work, there is no shortage of things to do. Training in just basic things is so badly needed here. I can’t tell you the number of pipes held together with rubber bands. Picking your battles and being at ease with the fact that everything will be just a drop in the bucket, makes life bearable and sleep possible. As we begin to figure out what it is we really need to do here, there are a few holes we feel really need to be addressed and we need your help to do it. There are 3 projects we would like to begin as soon as possible, which is when the funds come in.

The TTC playground: Operation get the kids off the water tower.
I feel so Canadian realizing that my first pet project is a playground. In North America we have privatized play. Many people I know don’t even go to public parks, but have the play grounds in their own backyard. This makes play safer, convenient and very different from here. In Zambia every toy is precious, especially for us because we didn’t bring any. Toys are shared and fought over. There often aren’t many to go around. You can imagine when every extra is going into paying for education our family students there isn’t a lot of toys at home. What’s more is that most kids are just left to make play for themselves. It isn’t normal to play with kids, to make an effort to notice them. Our kids are making do with what they find, which unfortunately is a leaky water tower and our farm equipment- the tractor is a favorite.
On our grounds there are several families that are studying here, at present that accounts for 20 kids. This has provided an instant play group if not a constant one. Imagine 20 kids in a small area sharing a few toys-crazy! Or 20 kids with no unsupervised safe place to play….no backyard, except an equipment yard- Dangerous! The number of kids swells at conference time and our training classes. We would love to make some simple structures, a swing, a monkey bar, a slide. This is about more than just play space it is also to help the families here imagine and model play with their kids. It is an opportunity for them to turn towards their kids and focus on them. Our goal is to look for recycled materials, and creative things that can be reproduced in the slums that surround us.
Playgrounds are places to earn your stripes as a kid-they are places to imagine and dream. It is on playgrounds that adulthood is formed. We in a very, very small way want to help model this here. If you would like to help we are trying to raise $2000 to build a sweet structure that will also employ some people. Better yet come and help build it. Hopefully this is the first of a number of structures we can build here and in the surrounding neighbourhoods.
BE A ZAMBIAN HERO- PLANT A TREE
The rate of deforestation in this country is ALARMING! We see evidence of land burning and trees being cut everywhere. The question I heard a missionary raise lately was, ‘I wonder if anyone is planting trees to replace them?’ The question stuck in my head. The likelihood of a trees being planted somewhere in my experience seems absolutely remote. It has been the hardest thing to try to teach people to value trees- why? Well because in a culture that doesn’t expect to reach old age they have never seen the value of a tree grow. Never appreciated the shade a planted tree has brought. In a culture where everything is about surviving today, a tree that will produce fruit 6 years or shade in 10 years is just too low on the priority scale to notice. I came up with this slogan and I want to make it into a t-shirt, ‘be a hero plant a tree.’
I don’t just want to plant a tree though. I want to plant 1000 trees. 1000 trees in the next 2 years. This year’s goal is 500, next year I want to have started a nursery to plant the rest. You can see the pictures of the farm where we are developing. I notice 1 thing……where are all the trees? When I see people wilting in the hot sun I think, ‘where are the trees?’ When I see a malnourished baby with a distended belly just outside our gates in a country that has trees that can produce fruit 365 days of the year, ‘where are the trees?’ I want to pack every available space with a tree, for soil conservation, for shade, for water retention, and for fruit! A tree costs $3. Help me plant some trees, buy the whole orchard and I will name it after you. The nursery that we begin this year will become a seedling bank and enable us to get trees to vulnerable families.
100 orange trees
100 banana trees (300 more next year)
100 papaya trees (which will produce fruit this year)
50 mango trees
30 avocado trees
50 guava trees
70 ornamental trees (maybe some grapes if I can find them)

Come and be a part of our SKILLS TRAINING
We have a building currently under construction that will house what will be a new shop for trade development. When someone says to you here, ‘I know how to fix that-car, a bike, a leaky tap’-BEWARE! We know as Canadians duct tape can fix anything, but should it? By early next year we hope to have begun training in a variety of simple trades each of the 200 bible college students. We hope that all of them graduate knowing how to exegete scripture and work with their hands. Everywhere around us though is opportunity to pass along help. I asked a group of adults, ‘can you tell me what compost is?’ NO ONE could. The wealth of knowledge we have as Canadians is unbelievable. You could be a help in many, many ways…..so come!
Just to encourage you more. We could use:

• plumbers
• carpenters
• farmers
• concrete guys, tillers
• nurses/ doctors/ nutritionists
• food service people
• friendly people
• pastors

What could this look like: We can accommodate people coming on short term teams-anytime. Guests would stay with us on the college campus and get a feel for living in semi rural Africa. Depending on your skill and what you would like to do we can customize an amazing, life changing trip for you, or your team.
Spend time here training the future church leaders of Zambia at the college. Bring your skills to the people in greatest need by training community and business leaders from the poorest neighborhoods of Kitwe. Go off in your downtime and visit rural churches, or head out to the lake to fish, and when you are totally spent- head down to the Zambezi River and visit Victoria Falls, or head to see some animals on a safari.
If you want to think about coming, let’s start talking and planning. Send us an email.

Keep up with our travels on our blog: www.withkidsintow.blogspot.com

PLEASE NOTE: If you would like to contribute to us or the projects we want to get started:
We have streamlined our donations to Loads of Love. Loads of Love is the Canadian Charity that is directly involved with this project in Kitwe and will transfer funds directly to us.

www.loadsoflove.ca
please designate all donations to: Kitwe Zambia Community Development Project.

setting up tents in the dark.

Sept. 12 2o1o

We moved from the tea-room to a taxi owned by a man with a sweet disposition and a brogue I can’t quite understand. He has a wagon and has crammed all of us in. It is now 9:30 p.m. and pitch black as we climb a hill with chariot, packs and kids in tow. An older couple with a broken down R.V. are ahead of us occupying all of the caravan park attendant’s time so we get to our campsight by ten and then I grab the kids and haul them into the bathroom while Rob sets up the tent.
In the dark. Without tentpegs. (Guess what happened to my toothbrush holders?)
Without a flashlight.
Oh, and guess who dropped his one and only remaining soother on the way to the bathroom?
Screaming, crying tired kids, frustration and anger, we were all beyond our worst and I pity the poor people trying to tent near us.
And then the rain started.
Tonight was the most stressful experience I’ve had since…well, Paris to Scotland, or being homeless in Edinburgh was pretty bad, or maybe the train to Taize, or how about…never mind. Is there perhaps a travel theme here of biting off more than we can chew?
In the depths of stress beyond understanding God had pity for on the way back from taking out my contacts which had turned to stone, what did I see twinkling in the moonlight?
Cam’s solitary soother. Whoever is struggling with the concept of divine intervention, there’s your answer.

Bus to Oban......is that a woolie cow?

Friday Sept. 10

Cameron decided to lose both his soothers behind the bunk-beds that are nailed to the wall at 6:00 am. Luckily the cartoons were in English. After showers and packing up we went downstairs for dormstyle Scottish hostel breakfast. We are getting good at this one night stand-pack your luggage in the AM routine. Note to self: don’t order coffee in Scotland (especially if you have spent the last few weeks in France).
We left at 10 am and wandered in the pouring rain to get bus tickets. If you are trying to get places in Edinburgh we highly recommend the tourist office on Princes St. Often it has a huge line but they can book anything you need anywhere in the country-very knowledgable. We discovered through them we could travel for 35£ per person (we paid tickets for Kathryn because they were 1/2price and kids under 5 free) anywhere we wanted for 3 of 5 consecutive days with Citylink. Enough time to get us to Iona and back.

Since our bus didn’t leave until 3:00, we bought Kathryn a new raincoat and a sleeping bag and then went for fish and chips at a very cool pub that even Tolkien would be proud to frequent. We then went on a fruitless search for toques because Scotland is FREEZING!

City link bus route- Edinburgh-Perth (or Glasgow)-Oban (4.5hr)
To go to iona- oban ferry to (isle of Mull) Craignure(50min)-bus Craignure to Finnphort(45min)-Finnphort ferry to Iona (15 min)

On to the bus headed to Perth. Cameron slept on the sleeping Robert, Kathryn slept in her own seat and Simeon talked to me non-stop for two hours! Then we boarded the bus To Oban and I am now seated with the under-the-weather Kathryn who is requesting stories from when I threw-up when I was a little girl. Sim is telling Robbie that he wants to climb all the mountains we are passing and Cameron has switched from yelling “Moo” out the window to “Baa”…we are in Scotland after all.

Leon- camino day 1 photos

Camino Day 1 Leon- but first RUTHIE where are you???

Sept. 22 2010

It was almost midnight when we had arrived in Leon after the worst travel experience of the trip. We were told by bike spain we should be okay getting our bikes on the train......don't try it. All trains accept 3 bikes....we took all three, but the conductor did not want to let us on. If it weren't for some very supportive bystanders we would not have got on the train. They complained and held a mini boycott on the platform or we would still be standing there....after all that stress Cammie cried for 3 solid hours till we pulled out the stroller and put him in it.

In the dark of a foreign city we biked until we found our hostel (which Rob had pre-booked praises be) and we found out that our hostel had no windows and that they were two ajoining rooms not one room for all of us. It did however overlook the most incredible Cathedral that was lit up in the night and the wonderful thing about Spain is that everyone is out on the street with their babies at midnight so they didn’t think that we were up for the worst parents of the world award.

I brought the kids downstairs to find breakfast while Rob had gotten on the bike and decided to see if he could find Ruth somewhere in the city. The best is that while the kids and I were downstairs who should come through the door, but Ruthie! So amazing to see family in the middle of our adventure.

Rob eventually showed up and we ate a raisin bun and café-con- leche’s outside underneath the gaze of the Cathedral. The kids were so happy to have someone to play with besides us, and we met all kinds of interesting “peregrino’s” from all over the world and even one man from Etobicoke. Small, small world. After breakfast and check out and speding time in the cathedral we biked to get our pilgrim passports which prove that you are legit to all the pilgrim hostal’s on the way and then we headed out for day one of biking the Camino!


adios modern transport.....hello biking...and walking (the first hill was a doozie.)

Falafel in Paris- little middle east

So we were winding our way down a small alleyway in Paris, taking the scenic route back home. Strangely enough I started seeing Hebrew lettering on the storefronts. We kept going and I saw men dressed in black and wearing keepah’s and suddenly I was back home in the middle east. We couldn’t resist the 3 falafel shops in a row. Sure enough, best falafel this side of Jerusalem was had in Paris.
We confirmed we were in the middle east, because 2 guys start fighting over a motorcycle, till mama comes out of a shop and beats the 2 grown men with her cane……ahhhhhh the middle east.

Businessmen and Baguettes

Sept 6 2010

Yes, accommodations may be less than desirable for the young family trying to stick to a budget, but I really do love Paris. I love that men in suits have a cellphone in one hand and a baguette to take home in the other. I love that the café’s are lined with tables looking out on the street and that every table is taken. That there is a love for good food, friends and café crème. It is also so beautiful. The attention to detail and beauty makes me think the line of kings couldn’t have been all bad…well, except for Marie Antoinette.

I had brought Dickens’s A tale of Two Cities to read with me on the plane and was so glad I did. We were staying in the “Bastille” district map(which perhaps explains why our hotel was less than stellar) and it was making me a little squeamish reading Dickens’ account of the French Revolution at the same moment as I was walking Parisian streets where so much blood had been shed.
What a history this country has.

Floating down the Seine

Sept. 6 2010

We weren’t planning on taking one of those tourist boat rides down the Seine but as you know by now the Louvre was closed. So, since Cameron kept yelling “Boat, boat, boat” with every sea-vessel that passed his gaze we decided why not comply?
I don’t know why Paris doesn’t have water taxis. In my opinion it would be a great step up from the larger crafts that circulate up and down the Seine. Most are rather tacky and not all that cheap or user friendly. Best advice on picking one is decide what it is you want to see- do you need it to stop?
Ours was just a straight tour that showed mostly the underside of Paris’ bridges. Yes, we had to sit in plastic row-seats and the aisles were covered with plastic poinsettias- I don’t know why. A big plus was the busload of Seniors from Spain-- you’ve never seen my boys so happy and to pass each bridge in Paris by water and be told their history and significance was really fun. Also, you are told about the places you wouldn’t see in a guidebook and to look at the Eifel Tower from the water is even more spectacular than being under it.

The seniors from Spain turned out to be highly entertained by my children. This meant that Simeon got a lollipop and was able to monologue to some grandmothers who didn’t speak English but thought he was so cute. With the kids occupied and contained Rob and I….were able to relax and have a nap.

'CN Tower-Eifel Tower..'

Sept 6 2010

We took the kids to see the Eifel tower- aka ‘the trinket trap.’ We decided it was easier with the stroller to take the bus. I think we were right, but it did take 45min from the Bastille. I have to say the best thing about the tower was the Merry-go-round at the bottom. As it turns out the kids really did remember and enjoy just seeing it. In preparing the kids for the trip the Eiffel Tower was one of the things that would define for us, ‘ when we are in the world.’

On the way home Simeon came up with an awesome song he wishes to share. Sing with Simeon “C.N. Tower, Eifel Tower” now repeat this in a loud voice for two hours straight throughout the streets of Paris and you will see the impact that Mr. Eifel had on my young son.

70 Euro in Paris gets you.....

A room that you’re scared to sleep in. We are once again on a train. Our luggage system has been streamlined and each trip we find more organizational resources within ourselves to keep our luggage to a minimum. We still look like the traveling circus but we are now travelling with eight bags instead of eleven. We arrived in Paris tired and crusty and in major need of a place to stay; which meant that following our favourite tradition of inability to plan because of lack of internet and phone, we were walking the streets trying to find a place.

After staying in Taize for two weeks, we were a little shocked that the places below a one-star where you are sure that only cockroaches would want to live cost 70 Euro a night, but it’s true. Since Paris is the most visited city in the world it is little wonder that beggar’s can’t be choosers.
So, we settled for the room we were scared to sleep in and left as soon as we had dropped our bags. I should also note that there were no bathrooms in the hall but that there was one bathroom for each floor and that their entrance was on the winding staircases with steps just large enough to make Simeon plummet down them every time he had to step out of the washroom. Oh joy.

Wandering Madrid

Sept.20 2010

We love Madrid! It is a beautiful and incredibly vibrant city. People from Barcelona say, ‘why have a museum when you can have a beach?’, but walking through Madrid tonight seemed to generate a party within my tired bones. We went to sleep with a mariachi band singing in Sol after a long night of walking the city. Sol is a massive square that seems to generate the energy for a lingering and late, night life. The photo at the top is a photo of a church that we just happened upon. It still seems unfathomable that a church like this can just be ‘happened upon.’ Madrid is full of wonderful cathedrals and is steeped in all that is Spain.

For those travelling, Madrid is a easy city to find a hotel, or better ‘hostal’. These are typically cheaper hotels that perch themselves on the upper levels of the downtown buildings. Not being large hotels some of the perks may be missing, but they really do put you close to the action. Best thing to do is plan to have some time to walk in the neighbourhood you want to stay and simply check some out till you find one that works. If we go back to Madrid, I think that we will simply try a different neighbourhood to stay in because they are really very different and all seem very lively.

After walking for a few hours we found a tapas bar and had some authentic Spanish salami and bread, some salad. This was an amazing imersion in spanish culture and a great way to gear up because tomorrow we pick up our bikes and then........ THE CAMINO!!

Carry your own @#$@# luggage....inspiration to travel light.

Have you ever wondered what you would do if all you had on earth were the possessions you could carry with you? What would you keep? What would you get rid of? This trip has been a living lesson and our answer.......take less. Enjoy.

Improvising Tent Pegs and Budget Travel

Scotland,Oban

September 10 2010

That’s right, that tent peg is a tooth brush. The other one is a tooth brush holder. We got in at 10pm the night before-walking the nearly 500 meters from the front of the trailer camp to our campsite. Set up in the rain and dark. We keep saying that this has to stop. I suppose we aren’t the only ones who would like to control the weather. As for the set up time, we have realized that most travel and budget travel in particular isn’t geared to children.

EasyJet one of Europe’s biggest discount airlines only travels at off peak times-early mornings and late in the evening. It is for us with 3 kids as hard to think about getting to an airplane at 5am, as it is to think of the wailing it would take to leave on the last plane at 11pm. This is just a reality check to the budget family adventurers. The thing we realized is we would rather take a night train than try to shuffle kids around past bed time. Plan your trips well. You may have to take hit on some connections just for the sake of your sanity.

As for the tent pegs- well I just couldn’t find them in the dark. While Kate went to take kids pee and brush teeth I improvised with the toothbrush holders. It was amazing that the ground was soft enough to place a peg almost 1inch in diameter with very little effort.

Late Late and more Late

This is the theme of our trip from Madrid to Zambia. We nearly missed every flight and every connection. The flight from Madrid to Heathrow was actually forced to sit on the runway till we could haul 3 kids from one end of the airport to the other.....Never fly IBERIA. However, 3 flights, 3 trains, a bus and a car ride and 24hrs later......Ndola airport.

Fortunately we had a bit of reprieve in the Kerr pool. They took us in for the weekend. Now some more humble dwelling at the Transafrica Theological College.

We had an awesome time in Spain biking the hilliest country in Europe. We could not believe how challenging and rewarding it could be....I don't want to give it away, because we will be blogging about it shortly.

After Europe Zambia is a bit of a culture shock. In our first 2 days we were faced with the death of 2 people via Malaria. It is hot....we are dirty, the shower doesn't work, the kids are sleeping in a tent because there are no mosquito nets, but we have already begun building, networking and kate is teaching English. There is a huge crunch to get some plants in the ground here too because there are 3 weeks till it rains.

More to come soon.

R

Fixed hour prayer

Sat. Aug. 28th
Every day the rhythm of life here revolves around the communal prayer that is the heart of Taize. It is unbelievable to gather with 7000 people kneeling on a simple floor of a church and singing scripture passages and then reflecting in silence together three times a day.
Every time there has been something that has spoken to me. Rob’s revelation was that “if you don’t deal with your baggage before you come it will be an even bigger burden as you try and travel.” This is said both spiritually and practiacally as we pack and re-pack our bags to try and get rid of excess luggage to which I reply “back off, I just sold everything I owned to do this I’m allowed to carry too many bobby pins. They’ll be lost by the end of the week don’t you worry!”
Then there is the study of the prodigal son. We are both relating to the younger son because we have left our life and wonder if we are squandering our birthright. Yet, I am mostly relating to the older son in the story. The one who has always done the right thing, obeying the letter of the law but not being “home” with the father but rather feeling like one who is a worker operating out of duty. It hit me what a spirit of love the prodigal has towards his home when he returns from wasting his inheritance and how the older son did not recognize what he had. I feel these thoughts in the silences as I sit in the services at Taize and then the voices begin to sing:

Let all who are thirsty come,
Let all who thirst receive
The waters of life
Freely.
Amen.
Come Lord Jesus,
Amen, come Lord Jesus

Amen.

Kids Camp at Olinda

Fri. Aug. 27th

Little did we know we set up camp in the wrong spot. Friday to Sunday had us landed in the beautiful village of Olinda just a five minute walk from Taize. We packed up our luggage and made another treck past horses (Cameron was in his element) and fields of lavender (Kathryn was in hers) and Simeon had old stone walls to climb so all the children were joyous despite their time-zone suffering.
Olinda was exactly what we needed to recuperate. They had a park for each of our children’s age groups and programs for each of the kids in the mornings. They also had a drama and bible study of the prodigal son story in the afternoon.

While the kids had their program in the mornings we had a teaching around the prodigal son story as well and then a group time with parents who also spoke English. Our group leaders were Andrew and Anna from England with Brigitta and Aiden their children. Brigitta became Kathryn’s “best best best best friend” [Emphasis hers] and Simeon and Aiden spent most of their shared time arguing about who was bigger.

Olinda has an incredible chapel in the cellar of the home they had us staying in (Yes, a week without a tent;) And we met a most amazing family from France as well.
So thankful to finally feel like I am able to breathe.

Chocolate for Breakfast

Thurs. Aug. 26th
If there has ever been living proof that the feeding of the 5000 was possible it seems that Taize has made it a mandate to show that it can be done. For some reason the adult section did not enjoy our young Cameron waking them all up at 6:30 with his jet-lagged “hellooo” and informed us that there is a “family” village ten minutes up the road. Before we decided to relocate we had the Taize breakfast which is the same everyday. It consists of a hot-dog bun sized crusty bun, more like a baguette really, two pieces of chocolate, a stick of butter and hot chocolate.
“Chocolate for Breakfast mommy?” my children’s eyes sparkle.

Don't freak out. we are telling stories that have happened a few weeks ago. we are currently in spain. Hopefully it will all make sense soon.

A warm welcome

Wed Aug 25th 5.30pm

Travelling with little sleep to places you have never been tends to both be tiring and stressful. Being tired alone has a tendency to make you emotional. Arriving at Taize after such an ordeal might explain my emotional sensitivity. As I dropped my 70pd pack, I almost fell apart and worked at holding back the tears as I was greeted in English and asked, ‘would you like some tea?’ and she added, ‘and maybe a cookie?’

Miele was from the Netherlands, come to pray and given the task of greeting volunteers at the welcome centre. The welcome centre greets every newcomer in the same way, tea and cookies. Under a large outdoor shelter small groups of teens, and elderly are greeted in their own language and oriented to the stay at Taize. They are given maps, prayer times and a place to stay.

I think the welcome hit me so hard because I realized, I think for the first time, that this trip was not just an adventure in France, but an adventure for me. I think I had thought going into this that, ‘it would be great to go to Taize-to check it out and what it is all about.’ But being handed tea in a bowl in the French countryside after a stressful initiation and a long, long journey I realized….this tea was for me and this pilgrimage was for me.

We pee everywhere

Aug.25th
(macon train station.....pitstop)

When it was a miracle that you got your 3 year old potty trained before a trip like this. You are just thankful it wasn't in his pants.

we have peed in the busiest trainstation in paris

in fountains,

in front of 100's of people,

in lakes,

BUT rarely in pants.

thankyou jesus.

See you in Geneva

Wed Aug 25th 3.30pm

See that luggage. That is the luggage sitting on the high-speed train platform at Macon Loche. About 2 minutes before the train stopped we had 3 exhausted, sleeping children. I said to kate, ‘quick wake up the kids.’ I ran upstairs where most of our collection of luggage was strewn over 3 different racks. As the doors flew open I threw the stroller on the deck. One two, three black bags flew onto the platform as I run up for more. By this time the kids have been rudely awoken and are all somewhere between crying and screaming. The chimes sound for the doors to close and I still have 2 trips upstairs to get more bags. I have visions me screaming ‘I love you’ to my crying kids from the window on the second story of the train as it moves along to the next town- Geneva, and my kids left crying lost in France on a train platform in Macon Loche.
This could be a good time to bring up the fact that when you are in an eddy in life, a place where people and things are moving along around you at high speed and you are sitting still, you are in constant worry of being a casualty of speed. As the train prepared to move along, at its normal speed, it was about to rip my children from me without realizing it. Be warned you could be causing casualties of speed.
This is thankfully not the end of the story. A nice old French chain smoker stood in the doorway, saying nice things to the conductor in French , as I make a dash for the last of the bags……or so I thought. We actually forgot the diaper bag on the train.
As we sat as casualties of speed trains on the platform, huddled and hugging each other till the crying stopped and Sim realized he had to pee. A nice French woman helped carry our luggage to the bus station and translated for us and we sat waiting for our 1hr bus ride to Taize. Yes, the day had not finished….there was more to come-there always is.
Thank God for people who care, who notice and who pick up speed casualties like us.

Don't be confused. We are publishing past stories to get people caught up while we are in spain. enjoy.