Boys Being Boys
We have had some interesting experiences with our boys in recent days, but mostly with one. Blake has not lost his zeal for life or his propensity for finding trouble. I got to go visit the school headmaster three times in one week due to mischief. A couple of times he was just being too silly in class and didn’t know when to stop. Nothing too serious, just Blake being Blake, but it was disrupting the teacher and he wasn’t obeying her. The third incident was also in good fun but caused a bit too much disruption as well. Blake had some of his school items taken from school while he was out of the class. They were things like his ruler, pencil sharpener, and eraser. It was frustrating him that his classmates were taking his things, which we believe birthed his idea for fun. Blake first began taking other people’s items as well and would let them look for some time and wait for them to get frustrated before revealing that he had it and then return it. Then he began to take items from one child and place them in another child’s backpack or pencil pouch. When the student with the missing items would begin looking for his things, Blake would tell them that another student had taken them. One girl, who was being made to look like the “taker”, was emphatically denying taking anything. Blake and his friend Musa said, “look in her pencil pouch, we saw her take it”. She opened her pencil pouch to reveal her innocence only to reveal the missing items. She was so disturbed that she began to cry and sob bitterly. The teacher had to intervene and discovered that Blake and Musa were involved. Thus, the third trip to the headmaster. I think that he now realizes that there is a time for fun and a time to be serious and that this was inappropriate behavior.
Blake also broke off one of his front teeth this week. It was a tooth that was previously broken and repaired in the States. He had been really good about being careful not to bite down on hard items, but he forgot for a moment while eating a sucker. He doesn’t like the way it feels or the way it looks, but it will still be a few more days until we can see a dentist. We know a good dentist here who was trained in the UK and have seen his work. However, he is out of the country until March 7. We hope that he can repair it properly. Interestingly, he broke his tooth the day after nearly losing an eye.
Blake and Collin both play very rough with our dog Paska and get too close to her face while playing. I have warned both of them repeatedly that they are going to be bitten. They keep telling me that Paska won’t bite them. I then tried to explain that dogs sometimes bite by instinct when someone gets in their face and that I know many people who have been bitten by their own dogs in the face. Well, Blake was wrestling on the ground with Paska and was right in her face. She nipped at him and caught him right around his eye. Two of the teeth marks missed his eye by just a few millimeters. He has a black eye and a cut. It isn’t too bad, but could have been quite serious if she had hit his eye. While explaining to Blake that he needs to heed my advice and to be thankful that he hadn’t lost his eye, he began to argue with me that losing an eye wouldn’t be that bad. When I said that he wouldn’t be able to play baseball or football with one eye, he said that he thought that he could. When I told him that he wouldn’t look as good with just one eye, he argued about that. Anyway, the next day he lost about 2/3 of a tooth and was terribly distraught about how he looked, which is nothing compared to losing an eye. I told him that I believed God allowed it to happen because he did not have a teachable spirit when I was trying to explain about his eye and warning him not to play in a dog’s face. Hopefully, he learned this lesson too.
Blake is still having much more trouble adjusting to life in Africa than the other boys. He was far more upset about leaving America than the others and was the only one who cried. He misses his friends very badly. He sleeps on the bottom bunk of a bunk bed and has his friend’s pictures taped to the underside of the top bunk. He talks about them all the time and keeps asking if they will be able to come visit. He often asks if we will ever live in Niceville again and if my company will take me back. He says that if we ever go on furlough that he will hide until the plane leaves for Uganda. We really want him to enjoy his time here and to learn what God wants to teach him. He is not having constant problems, but they occur fairly often and all appear to be coming from not liking it here. By the way, I asked for Blake’s permission before writing these stories and he replied, “sure, tell them about everything.” Those who know Blake can probably here him saying it.
Collin was shooting a bow and arrow the other day that our helper Micky made for him and Blake. Micky knows the boys’ propensity for trouble, and so he made the arrows very light and without a point. It is a good thing. Collin fired an arrow from about six feet away and hit Christian between his eye and his eyebrow. At this range, it would have caused serious damage even though the arrows are not true weapons. Again, we thank God for his protection. Collin is doing very well here and stays happy most of the time. He is our most content child and likes living in Africa. He has a melancholy personality so he still pouts and whines often, but he would do that no matter where we lived. Collin is having trouble learning to read, which seems to come very easily to the Ugandans (while math is easier for our boys). Please pray that his reading skills will increase.
Addison nearly spent the night sleeping in the back of our car last night. We had dinner with a missionary couple that we recently met and arrived home around 10:30 pm. Collin and Addison had both fallen asleep in the car even though it is less than 10 minutes away. We woke both of them up and opened the back hatch for them to get out. We locked up the house and proceeded to bed. I had put Collin in bed and was waiting to pray for Blake when I realized Addison wasn’t in his bed. I asked Pamela where he was and she said that maybe he never came in. I went back downstairs, unlocked the gate and went outside. There was Addison, lying in the back of the car with the hatch open, sleeping soundly. I wonder when or if he would have woken up and what he would have done. Addison just enjoys life and people. He doesn’t see skin color and hugs and climbs on everyone, which makes building relationships easier for our family. Everyone, no matter how little we have known them, is an instant buddy to Addison. Addison is struggling with is temper and anger and needs to learn more self-control. He is also very close to asking Jesus to be his savior and I expect that it will occur in the near future.
Christian, though only 22 months older than Blake, seems to be many years older in size and interactions. He has grown at least two inches while we have been here and also lost a few pounds, so he had thinned a little. He is about 5’7” and weighs about 145 pounds. His voice is changing and he has shaved a couple of times. He has gone from a size 11 to a size 13 shoe in the six months that we have lived here. He is fairly content, though he would prefer to be in America, too. He, like Addison, also needs to get self-control of his temper and anger. It is quite convicting to see how the sins of the father are passed to the sons. I struggled greatly with anger and a temper at his age, and continue to struggle with it. Christian also interacts very well with the Ugandans and meets people of all ages everywhere we go. His best friends at school are the teachers, and they all enjoy spending time with him. He will talk to anyone and loves to tease the Ugandans. I have had to warn him repeatedly to quit scaring Ugandans with chameleons because they think that they are poisonous.
Now that March is here, it means the start of baseball season in America. I am missing it already. This would have been a special year because it would be Christian’s last year of Little League since he turns 12 next month. He is a very good pitcher and this would have been a fun year for him. Blake’s 10 year-old buddies have an incredible team and will be very competitive come tournament time. I wish that he could have shared it with them, and I will miss seeing that group of kids play this year. Addison and Collin got to play on the same team last year and I would have enjoyed watching Addison advance to machine pitch. Collin is our most natural baseball player and he loves playing. I will miss seeing him with a huge smile on his face while in the batter’s box and then watching him slide into each and every base after he gets a hit.
God called us to lay down several things in order to come to Africa. I had to leave my job, we sold our house, we left our community, church and friends, and we left our family. Still, leaving sports remains one of the most difficult. I wonder if God will allow us to pick it (sports) back up someday. We don’t want it to ever be an idol and distract us from serving God. However, we love the ballpark and watching our boys play. We miss the interactions with the parents of the other players, who have now become our dear friends. I loved knowing almost all of the kids and watching them progress, especially this year’s group of 10 year olds. They are a special group and I believe that they will accomplish great things in this year and years to come.
I am trying to maintain some baseball skills by throwing and catching and doing some hitting. It just isn’t the same thing as being at the ballpark with your friends, though. Last year was crazy with all four boys playing. We had kids playing at three fields, and many times we had to go to all three on the same day. I went directly from work to the ballpark, which usually meant that from the time that I left for work in the morning until I returned home was 14 to 15 hours. We ate on the run, and sat in the cold during the early part of the season and in the heat for the latter part. Dinner was either pizza or hotdogs at the field, or something quickly assembled after getting home at 8 or 9 o’clock. When the after-season tournaments started, we were gone everyday for both practice and games. It was exhausting and I was always glad when the season ended. But, I really wish that I were there for one more season and ready to do it all over again.
March 6th will be our six-month anniversary in Uganda, and I will post a thorough update of our progress so please stay tuned….blessings!
We have had some interesting experiences with our boys in recent days, but mostly with one. Blake has not lost his zeal for life or his propensity for finding trouble. I got to go visit the school headmaster three times in one week due to mischief. A couple of times he was just being too silly in class and didn’t know when to stop. Nothing too serious, just Blake being Blake, but it was disrupting the teacher and he wasn’t obeying her. The third incident was also in good fun but caused a bit too much disruption as well. Blake had some of his school items taken from school while he was out of the class. They were things like his ruler, pencil sharpener, and eraser. It was frustrating him that his classmates were taking his things, which we believe birthed his idea for fun. Blake first began taking other people’s items as well and would let them look for some time and wait for them to get frustrated before revealing that he had it and then return it. Then he began to take items from one child and place them in another child’s backpack or pencil pouch. When the student with the missing items would begin looking for his things, Blake would tell them that another student had taken them. One girl, who was being made to look like the “taker”, was emphatically denying taking anything. Blake and his friend Musa said, “look in her pencil pouch, we saw her take it”. She opened her pencil pouch to reveal her innocence only to reveal the missing items. She was so disturbed that she began to cry and sob bitterly. The teacher had to intervene and discovered that Blake and Musa were involved. Thus, the third trip to the headmaster. I think that he now realizes that there is a time for fun and a time to be serious and that this was inappropriate behavior.
Blake also broke off one of his front teeth this week. It was a tooth that was previously broken and repaired in the States. He had been really good about being careful not to bite down on hard items, but he forgot for a moment while eating a sucker. He doesn’t like the way it feels or the way it looks, but it will still be a few more days until we can see a dentist. We know a good dentist here who was trained in the UK and have seen his work. However, he is out of the country until March 7. We hope that he can repair it properly. Interestingly, he broke his tooth the day after nearly losing an eye.
Blake and Collin both play very rough with our dog Paska and get too close to her face while playing. I have warned both of them repeatedly that they are going to be bitten. They keep telling me that Paska won’t bite them. I then tried to explain that dogs sometimes bite by instinct when someone gets in their face and that I know many people who have been bitten by their own dogs in the face. Well, Blake was wrestling on the ground with Paska and was right in her face. She nipped at him and caught him right around his eye. Two of the teeth marks missed his eye by just a few millimeters. He has a black eye and a cut. It isn’t too bad, but could have been quite serious if she had hit his eye. While explaining to Blake that he needs to heed my advice and to be thankful that he hadn’t lost his eye, he began to argue with me that losing an eye wouldn’t be that bad. When I said that he wouldn’t be able to play baseball or football with one eye, he said that he thought that he could. When I told him that he wouldn’t look as good with just one eye, he argued about that. Anyway, the next day he lost about 2/3 of a tooth and was terribly distraught about how he looked, which is nothing compared to losing an eye. I told him that I believed God allowed it to happen because he did not have a teachable spirit when I was trying to explain about his eye and warning him not to play in a dog’s face. Hopefully, he learned this lesson too.
Blake is still having much more trouble adjusting to life in Africa than the other boys. He was far more upset about leaving America than the others and was the only one who cried. He misses his friends very badly. He sleeps on the bottom bunk of a bunk bed and has his friend’s pictures taped to the underside of the top bunk. He talks about them all the time and keeps asking if they will be able to come visit. He often asks if we will ever live in Niceville again and if my company will take me back. He says that if we ever go on furlough that he will hide until the plane leaves for Uganda. We really want him to enjoy his time here and to learn what God wants to teach him. He is not having constant problems, but they occur fairly often and all appear to be coming from not liking it here. By the way, I asked for Blake’s permission before writing these stories and he replied, “sure, tell them about everything.” Those who know Blake can probably here him saying it.
Collin was shooting a bow and arrow the other day that our helper Micky made for him and Blake. Micky knows the boys’ propensity for trouble, and so he made the arrows very light and without a point. It is a good thing. Collin fired an arrow from about six feet away and hit Christian between his eye and his eyebrow. At this range, it would have caused serious damage even though the arrows are not true weapons. Again, we thank God for his protection. Collin is doing very well here and stays happy most of the time. He is our most content child and likes living in Africa. He has a melancholy personality so he still pouts and whines often, but he would do that no matter where we lived. Collin is having trouble learning to read, which seems to come very easily to the Ugandans (while math is easier for our boys). Please pray that his reading skills will increase.
Addison nearly spent the night sleeping in the back of our car last night. We had dinner with a missionary couple that we recently met and arrived home around 10:30 pm. Collin and Addison had both fallen asleep in the car even though it is less than 10 minutes away. We woke both of them up and opened the back hatch for them to get out. We locked up the house and proceeded to bed. I had put Collin in bed and was waiting to pray for Blake when I realized Addison wasn’t in his bed. I asked Pamela where he was and she said that maybe he never came in. I went back downstairs, unlocked the gate and went outside. There was Addison, lying in the back of the car with the hatch open, sleeping soundly. I wonder when or if he would have woken up and what he would have done. Addison just enjoys life and people. He doesn’t see skin color and hugs and climbs on everyone, which makes building relationships easier for our family. Everyone, no matter how little we have known them, is an instant buddy to Addison. Addison is struggling with is temper and anger and needs to learn more self-control. He is also very close to asking Jesus to be his savior and I expect that it will occur in the near future.
Christian, though only 22 months older than Blake, seems to be many years older in size and interactions. He has grown at least two inches while we have been here and also lost a few pounds, so he had thinned a little. He is about 5’7” and weighs about 145 pounds. His voice is changing and he has shaved a couple of times. He has gone from a size 11 to a size 13 shoe in the six months that we have lived here. He is fairly content, though he would prefer to be in America, too. He, like Addison, also needs to get self-control of his temper and anger. It is quite convicting to see how the sins of the father are passed to the sons. I struggled greatly with anger and a temper at his age, and continue to struggle with it. Christian also interacts very well with the Ugandans and meets people of all ages everywhere we go. His best friends at school are the teachers, and they all enjoy spending time with him. He will talk to anyone and loves to tease the Ugandans. I have had to warn him repeatedly to quit scaring Ugandans with chameleons because they think that they are poisonous.
Now that March is here, it means the start of baseball season in America. I am missing it already. This would have been a special year because it would be Christian’s last year of Little League since he turns 12 next month. He is a very good pitcher and this would have been a fun year for him. Blake’s 10 year-old buddies have an incredible team and will be very competitive come tournament time. I wish that he could have shared it with them, and I will miss seeing that group of kids play this year. Addison and Collin got to play on the same team last year and I would have enjoyed watching Addison advance to machine pitch. Collin is our most natural baseball player and he loves playing. I will miss seeing him with a huge smile on his face while in the batter’s box and then watching him slide into each and every base after he gets a hit.
God called us to lay down several things in order to come to Africa. I had to leave my job, we sold our house, we left our community, church and friends, and we left our family. Still, leaving sports remains one of the most difficult. I wonder if God will allow us to pick it (sports) back up someday. We don’t want it to ever be an idol and distract us from serving God. However, we love the ballpark and watching our boys play. We miss the interactions with the parents of the other players, who have now become our dear friends. I loved knowing almost all of the kids and watching them progress, especially this year’s group of 10 year olds. They are a special group and I believe that they will accomplish great things in this year and years to come.
I am trying to maintain some baseball skills by throwing and catching and doing some hitting. It just isn’t the same thing as being at the ballpark with your friends, though. Last year was crazy with all four boys playing. We had kids playing at three fields, and many times we had to go to all three on the same day. I went directly from work to the ballpark, which usually meant that from the time that I left for work in the morning until I returned home was 14 to 15 hours. We ate on the run, and sat in the cold during the early part of the season and in the heat for the latter part. Dinner was either pizza or hotdogs at the field, or something quickly assembled after getting home at 8 or 9 o’clock. When the after-season tournaments started, we were gone everyday for both practice and games. It was exhausting and I was always glad when the season ended. But, I really wish that I were there for one more season and ready to do it all over again.
March 6th will be our six-month anniversary in Uganda, and I will post a thorough update of our progress so please stay tuned….blessings!
posted by Ironside Tribe at 6:30 AM
6 Comments:
Ironside Tribe, Praise God that no body got hurt! Sounds like ya'll have had some spiritual issues going on! I will be praying for the boys that they can see God in all things. Lisa K
I cannot believe Christian is taller than me! His feet were larger than mine when you left but still! And shaving?! What?! You should take some pictures of him shaving, it must be a silly sight. Blake's antics are funny even when they get him in trouble. I read this blog to the family and we all got a good laugh about Blake's eyeball arguement. Tell Pamela I miss her.
Love you all, Katie
Yes, good summary. Please let Pamela know I got her letter. :) Keep an eye on the mail because I just sent one out for her today. Love ya'll,
Katie
Hi Ironsides! Baseball is in full swing and we just finished a tournament in Pace. We really miss y'all and will keep you posted on the games. We read about you and the kids and Tyler esp. likes hearing about Blake and his friend! We are praying for your family, The Heads
Hi Christian! Your ironside stories are interesting! I can't belive that you are that tall and you shave i would like to see that! What is your email so i can send you pictures? God bless you! Andrew Smith!
To christian: my e-mail is thedude288@hotmail.com
please write me! Andrew Smith!
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