Leaving Kenya

Well, looks like we left everybody hanging off on the edge of Uganda in our last blog. We've long been home, resting, recovering from our exciting trip and taking care of a million details of everyday life along with getting back into our groove. But now - back to our trip!

Monday, Feb. 23, 2009-

We were up early this morning with the goal of leaving by 9 am from Hope for Children Center. (Ha!) Packed up our stuff and then we presented donated school supplies to the whole assembly of children and teachers. The students sang beautiful songs to us - such lovely voices! Esther was sick this morning so I presented a scrapbook that was made up with pictures and letters from past years' visitors. Brigitte filled in for Esther by giving the "snow" talk - showing pictures of snowy scenes, snowmen, snowplows and a picture of John and I at our mountaintop wedding. We mixed up a couple pans of artificial snow (that someone had donated to teach the children about snow) and all the children filed passed us, running their fingers through the snow - pinching it and taking a few grains with them to investigate further this unique substance.

John and Slawek (pronounced Swavic, a Polish teammate) packed the Toyota Prado. They spent a long time on it - making sure that it wouldn't move for anything. A beautiful job that they were quite disappointed to learn was unnecessary since we weren't going all the way to the border (like they thought). We were just going to the next big town to catch a matatu ride.

We tried to spend as much time with Boaz and Everline as we could but packing days are always a bit hectic with running around, packing and wrapping up inevitable last minute details. We would chat with them for a minute or tease them or tickle Everline which would make her giggle. I found some slightly squashed/melted M&M's during packing that I gave to the kids for them to enjoy and a kitty cat poster that I had forgotten about and gave it to Everline. Then she just hid behind her poster - she was having a hard time with us leaving - she was disconnecting, not responding to us or smiling like usual. It was really sad.

Boaz asked if they could go with us to catch our matatu ride. I didn't know if that would be possible but said I would ask. After talking to Maurice, who was a bit concerned about what the teachers would say - they had been out of school a lot while we were there (of which I was TOTALLY unconcerned, how often does this happen?? lol) - he agreed! This was great - a little more time with the kids!

We were finally underway after 12 pm! Partly because of us and partly due to "Africa time". One of the older girls also joined the group for a trip into town so that made nine people stuffed into a hot crowded landcruiser. Three in the back, John, Boaz, Everline and I in the middle, Esther and Maurice in the front. Good thing the kids were small! :)

We had our first (and last) flat tire of the trip - pretty good considering that we were in Africa a month! John had warned Maurice about the tires - they were totally bald, and no wonder from the washboard roads. We had to flag down a bus and then a truck to help us - we didn't have a lug wrench but the men were very kind and helped get everything shipshape. The truck driver had an extra lug wrench that he was willing to sell so now the vehicle had everything it needs (minus a spare tire at the time). Then we were back on our way!

We arrived at the stage (matatu area) in the early afternoon. It was very hot with lots of hounders marketing their wares. Maurice went off and negotiated a matatu for us and then it was time for us to leave. Everything happens very quickly once a matatu is arranged - lots of hurry and worry as luggage leaves your hands (we always carried our own backpacks) and goes flying through the crowds. We always tried to have someone at the matatu and someone with the rest of the luggage until the final piece made it to its new resting spot. I said goodbye to the kids but unfortunately things happened so fast that John didn't get to say goodbye before the kids disappeared - they must have went back to the car with the older girl after I said goodbye. It was very sad for both of us, me because I felt bad for John.

No sooner than we got seated and we were whizzing down the road with the wind in our faces off to the "Pearl of Africa" - Uganda here we come!

Last Days in Kenya, Next Stop UGANDA!

Sweet Teeth:

We had our first sugar cane! Two girls from Glory Center, Naom (short for Naomi, on the left in the picture) and Rachel, took John and I to the river that goes through Glory. It was a beautiful rushing little river that we crossed by a narrow split log. We followed the river to the fresh spring where everybody gets their drinking water. All the kids were delighted to see us and absolutely LOVED getting their picture taken. They were such hams – as soon as we pointed the camera at one group, a bunch of kids would jump into the picture! So much for a photo op….LOL We still got great pictures though.

After that the girls pulled us away from the rest of the kids and we went down to another crossing to go back to the center. Some fine looking neighboring cattle passed us on their way to the river and we continued up a dirt path through bright green fields. Toward the top, a man was cutting sugar cane and he gave several long stocks to the girls. Sugar cane is a long, round ribbed green stalk with a very tough protective outer layer. To get to the sweet stuff you have to strip off the outer layer to reveal the white inner core. The girls just used their teeth to tear off the outer later. I tried that and gave up right away. My teeth weren’t strong enough! Rachel laughingly took my sugar cane and stripped it clean with her teeth.

The inside was great! The white core is VERY fibrous and juicy. As we bit into it, the sticky juicy would run down our hands. Then you chew the pulp until you get all the sweet juice and then you spit out the tough fibers. And for all you fiber lovers out there, let me say now, it would be IMPOSSIBLE to swallow all that fiber! LOL But it is a bit funny to be spitting out big chunks of white fiber all over the ground. But we really enjoyed eating the sugar cane! What a wonderful sweet refreshing treat. I couldn’t eat a whole stock but I ate until I couldn’t eat anymore.

Education Matters:

At Hope for Children Center we have been very pleased with what we’ve seen in regards to education. The kids love to study! Every evening, when the generator comes on the kids go out to the school and with the light from a single bulb they study for at least two hours. They are studying chemistry, biology, physics and English among other things. A single bulb light doesn’t give a lot of light but they persevere. It would hurt my eyes if I tried to study the way that they do.

All the students share text books and their notebooks are full of detailed illustrations, diagrams and notes – practically a text book in its own right! There is little to distract them from study and they are hungry to learn as much as they can with what they have.

Mama Grace:

On Saturday, we went to meet Mama Grace, Boaz and Everline’s mom. She lives a short distance away from Hope Center about a 10 minute drive or an hour by foot. The house was small and clean with a metal roof and with smooth dirt walls and floor. I was very pleased with the condition!

Mama Grace was outside cooking when we arrived. Boaz and Everline were already there as they walked over earlier that morning. Grace is a lovely lady and I was happy to see that she looked well. She is blind in one eye do to the medications that she is taking and she said that she isn’t very strong at times. She’s a slender woman but not too thin and just a little smaller in height than me.

Grace prepared sweet fresh pineapple for us and then went back to cooking a wonderful meal of scrambled eggs, stir-fried kale and ugali. We had just eaten lunch before we came over to see her so unfortunately we only could eat a little bit.

Grace is a quiet lady and we talked a little through an interpreter (Pastor Maurice). I gave her the bag that mom and I had fixed up for her. She didn’t look inside it so I don’t know what she thought about the things we brought – but I trust that she will be happy with it all. It was so nice to meet her after sending support for the last four years. We stayed for about 40 minutes and then we took the kids with us to Good Samaritan for an afternoon of outdoor games.

Good Samaritan:

We spent the rest of the afternoon at Good Samaritan. Brigitte and I taught the kids a bunch of different games. Red Rover, Duck Duck Goose, Simon Says, Follow the Leader and Flying Dutchman.

We all had such a good time. John did a lot of watching and picture taking and resting in the shade – it was quiet warm in the sun! He did join in on some of the games; the Flying Dutchman in particular was great. In this game, he was paired up with a young boy and the goal was to get back to their place in line before the other team got there. Johnny was so CUTE! I wish I had a picture to capture the look on his face as he went barreling around the circle with his team mate. They didn’t make it so then John got to pick the next opposing team to run against. John thought he was being so clever when he picked a large boy with a small boy. He thought surely he’d beat them back in line. I was watching as Johnny and his partner took off running and then the big boy picked up his partner and took off running like crazy! The shocked look on Johnny’s face was priceless when they crossed paths and he realized that he had been outsmarted!

Boaz and Everline:
We really enjoyed getting to know our kids! On Sunday, the last full day that we were at Hope Center, John taught them perspective - by drawing a house with a landscape and then we learned to draw a portrait. Boaz found his initial drawing to be “a disaster” but he was a good sport and kept trying. Both kids had a lot of fun with that and it was a treat to draw with them.


Dust, Dirt and Starlight:

Sunday evening we walked over to Good Samaritan which was about 2.5 km from Hope. We had to deliver a package to one of the children at GS so we had a good long walk together. We tried to learn some words in Luo (pronounce – Loo Ow) as we went. Erokamano (pronounce – eRO Karmo) – means Thank you. Idhinade (pronounce – Idheea nado) – means How Are You? And you would reply, Adhimabei (pronounced – adhee ma bear) – which means I am fine. I must say, I didn’t pick up the language very well. L But I had a great time trying.

It was getting dark by the time we got to Good Samaritan and as soon as the kids caught sight of us they started yelling and running to us. After greeting us, we presented Rose with her gift and then the kids sang to us before we left. They all walked us to the gate and one of the older boys escorted us a ways before he when back home. We walked the rest of the way in the black night with our two head torches (headlights) with Boaz and Everline. We were very glad to have the company. At one point, a group of boys followed us as they were on their way home too and enjoyed using the light we cast.

We turned off the lights at one place along the way to see if we could walk in the dark like others do. It would be possible but we’d most likely stumble a lot over the rocks and ruts. But turning out the lights we noticed the STARS! We took a moment to take in the beautiful skylights before finishing our journey.

We got home at last and then it was UNO time! After the games I brought out the school supplies that we brought for them. They were really happy to have new pencils, pens, rulers, sharpeners and erasers - I wish I would have brought more for them! We really enjoyed our last evening together.


In the picture you can see the headlight we used - it came in SO handy! We played games by this light, interviewed kids, even took pictures using the light! And of course to go to the loo. :)

Shopping the African Way

What a surprise! We're back in town with a little bit of time. :)

Market Days:

For the last three days we've been shopping - or at least, trying to shop! Wednesday, when I last posted, we were supposed to purchase bales of clothes for the children at the orphanage and at the gate children (those that don't live at the orphanage, that come for food and often don't have parents).

But, they didn't have what we needed. So, we had to go in on Thursday to a different town farther away (one and a half hour drive). John and I were in-charge of the money - a bit stressful carrying around so much money that wasn't ours! But, all was successful. It was a huge market spread out over a couple acres. The bales of clothes were close to the road and Maurice (pastor and director of the Hope for Children Orphanage) made the negotiations. We got 8 bales of clothes and each weighed at least 100 lbs! All of this got put on top of his Toyota Prado (land cruiser). The poor roof was squeaking and sagging a bit. It had us all worried as we went down the rutted roads. We also picked up a bunch of medical supplies and I managed to spend all their money I had in my possession plus some.

But...I wasn't able to do my shopping - the prices were too high. I wanted to pick up things for my kids and so that is why we're here today! So, on my list is: two mattresses, one iron box (for Boaz to store items in - Everline has one) and hopefully some balls. I'm looking forward to getting these things for them. We're going to see their mama, Grace, who is sick (we also support her) sometime this weekend and we'll take Boaz and Everline with us! Sure looking forward to meeting her.

Praying On The Road:

We got home safely yesterday - it took us 2 hours because we had to go so slow. Oh, and something else I forgot to mention about driving - the vehicles are all over the road as they try to avoid the deepest ruts. So sometimes we're driving on the right side and then when the driver sees someone approaching they scoot back over to their side. And then, there are the break-downs. This happens on almost every trip, which is not surprising considering the roads. Then we sit and pray. Every ride is a most excellent adventure! Ha ha!

Sunset & Silly Kids

Last night, even though we were exhausted from a long day in town, we went over to Good Samaritan orphanage, which is not far from Hope Center. What a greeting we got!! It just lifted our spirits as the children ran to us laughing and calling out greetings, giving us hugs and all of them shaking our hands at once! They sang for us - such beautiful voices! We did a quick tour of their place, taking pictures everywhere. They have a beautiful place, the dorms are clean with new sheets and curtains. The grounds are beautifully kept also. It's a small orphanage of about 56 kids so that makes it easier to keep things tidy.

We had a great time with the kids. They were all hamming it up as we were taking photos of them - it was almost impossible to make them stay STILL! We also had very little light because the sun was setting as we got started and was totally down before we finished so we had to use the flash on the camera. But I think we still got good pictures.

Late Night Chats:

After we got home, we went to the school and sat with the secondary students who were studying by generator light. They love to have us spend time with them and they ask millions of questions about everything under the sun! Religion, science, age, skin color, music, relationships, marriage, health, education and many other such things. We really enjoyed our time with them and are looking forward to talking with them more tonight. We slept VERY well last night - we were TIRED!

Clothes Up To Our Noses!

We still have a lot to finish up before going on to the next (fourth) orphanage. Today all the clothes were sorted, counted and hauled to the assembly room. Today and tomorrow we will be distributing clothes to the children, supplies to teachers, finish the last minute interviews (there are ALWAYS last minute interviews - lol), visiting with the kids in the evening answering questions, visiting mama Grace and spending more time with my kids. We should be leaving to the next place on Monday....

Ok...better get off the Internet now, it's been 2 hours! And we need to get to shopping - hope Maurice shows up soon!!

Love, J&J

African Time

Wow! So much to tell you all! And where to start?!

Right of WAY:

There is no right of way except for buses! Everybody is expected to move out of the way. Everybody walks in the road, hauls goods in handcarts, on heads or on bicycles - there are no lines and half the time there is NO road! It's like driving down a rough river bed, with rocks, ruts and goats. A regular washboard. Some roads are good and we really enjoy the smoother ride for the short time. The bus we were on didn't have shocks so we occasionally bounced completely off our seats. Rock and roll Kenya style!

A Joyful Noise unto the World:

The orphans are wonderful. We came in late at night after an exhausting and bumpy ride and we were greeted with shouts, screams of delight and laughter. Their little hands outstretched to touch us. Everybody wants to shake our hands. After we got our stuff put away we were welcomed with BEAUTIFUL songs that echoed through the hall and into our hearts. Welcome to KENYA!

Climate Control:

We're below the equator and we're really feeling the HEAT! The first 5 days the weather was comfortable but now the sun is RELENTLESS! We're wearing our Air-flow Tilly hats, sunscreen and drinking lots of bottled water. Sometimes it seems that we can't drink enough water - it goes in and comes right back out on my skin! Fortunately, there aren't too many bugs and only heard one skeeter buzz past my ear. They do have HUGE bumblebees and a huge cricket like creature that John disposed of quickly. And it's so VERY BEAUTIFUL here in the countryside. So green!

Night as Day, Day as Night:

I thought we were doing well with the eleven hour time difference. But our bodies were really feeling it for the first week. Thankfully we took some naps in the afternoon and now we are pretty much on Kenya time - but we really enjoy taking a siesta in the afternoons when the heat knocks us out, if we can.

It cools off in the early morning hours as the donkey brays, the roosters crow and the children prepare for school. We relish our cool quiet time before facing another busy day.

Fruit-a-licious!

The food is AWESOME! We're getting a good variety of different African fare. One of my favorites (don't know what it's called), is a potato dish with a delicious sauce that you eat with rice or ugali. A note on ugali: not our favorite but fine with spicy vegetables and sauces. They make a great bean dish too, with chapatis. A shaved cabbage dish with tomatoes and a sauce is super!

But, the best food of all, is the FRUIT! Mangos, passion fruit (not John's favorite), papaya, oranges, bananas, avocados and tomatoes. And pineapples like you've never tasted before! We eat pineapples all day long. No wonder we run to the loo so much!

The one difficulty with meals is the late breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Breakfast is around 9-10 am, lunch around 3 ish and dinner around 9:30 or later. The dinners are so good but we just can't eat that much at that time of night but we sure try!

The Real Looky Loo!

The loos are great and with very little smell! They have walls and a roof and a door that usually shuts. The first toilets were about 7" round hole in the floor. It took me a few days to get my aim right - but now I am quiet

proficient and a happy camper. The latest toilets are bigger and there is even a throne! They come complete with tiled floors and a leaky water bucket to flush with. Ok, now we'll move on to better subjects.

Starlight Shower, a Milky Way Delight:

The stars are amazing here. So bright and clear! And even more special when we're taking a bath outside underneath them! We



are serenaded by the millions of crickets and peepers. Blissful! The donkeys haul up river water and after heating it the workers bring it to us in big 5 gallon buckets. Even though it's brown river water we still feel cleaner after a bath than we did before it.

Boaz and Everline:

We've met our kids!!! Boaz and Everline are very special. They are 14 and 11 yrs. old respectively and quite shy. They were very happy with our gifts that we brought and we've been playing Uno in the evenings together. I have a hard time holding a conversation because they are so shy but I can see how happy they are to be with me. We'll probably be leaving when we finally get comfortable with each other.

African Time:

Will drive you nuts if you're trying to get anything done! It's hurry up and wait. So we relax, nap or talk until it's time to go. It doesn't bother me to much unless I'm expected to have an certain amount of students photographed and interviewed.

The interviews have been going pretty good. We start by hand-sharpening a hundred pencils and organizing our list. Then we wait until our helpers round up the kids for us. By that time it's hot outside and we're tired. LOL But we plug along and make sure each student is photographed and helped with their questions. We struggle with understanding their accents and they struggle with ours. But with persistence and great helpers we finally get the message.

We have the most amazing helpers! We couldn't do all that we are trying to do with out them - interviewing over 600 children just couldn't happen by ourselves within the time frame that we have to work with.

The kids LOVE to crowd around us as we take pictures. We constantly have to draw a line in the dirt to keep them at bay. And that doesn't always work either! :)

We are with a great team and each have unique skills that complement us all. Andrew and Sasha (his son) just left after two week of carpentry and handman projects. Esther, Brigette and Slawek are the other team members. We will be leaving next at the four week mark.

Dr. Jenna Msngu (white man):

For the last few days, I've been bandaging up cuts and scrapes on the younger kids. They now know where Dr. Msngu "treats" patients and more and more come everyday. I must say, I'm really enjoying this "job".

John and I are so glad that we came to Africa and could help out. There is so much need here.

We're missing you all and are looking forward to coming home and showing you pictures!

Love, Jenna & John~

Nairobi!

Feb. 6th,

We're in Nairobi!!! We got in last night around 9:50 and then stood in line for our visa's for a LONG TIME. :) We finally got out of the airport around 11 pm. It was warm and balmy - which felt good. We met up with our friends and then settled for the night. Got pretty good sleep using ear plugs - the train woke us up around 4:30 am - it was very talkative! The city wakes up early! Ha. We feel pretty good today, we'll be leaving for the orphanages shortly, a long bus drive coming up. I can feel it getting warmer but it is still comfortable. (Picture to the left is the view outside our hotel. The internet cafe is right across the street where I wrote this blog!)

I'm at the email cafe right across from our hotel. It's the first time I've been out, there are shops all along the building and people coming and going. It doesn't smell here. (Picture to the right - luggage brought by the team members. / Picture to the right - the guys were loading all our stuff on a truck - there was twelve boxes plus four suitcases/backpack from Esther, seven suitcases/backpacks for us, and several bags/backpacks for the other team members - a LOT OF STUFF!)

John & I are doing good. I think we've adjusted to the time change pretty well but we may have to see how we feel after today. :) It's eleven hours difference from the west coast. (Picture to the left - John & I in the back of a very OLD beat-up taxi with other team members leaving our hotel and on our way to the bus stage.)

Ok...that's it for now. Will write when I get a chance. Thinking of you all!

Sunny Smiles,

J & J~

London, Baby!

Feb. 4th, 11:36 pm:

We're in LONDON! The flight was smooth though a bit cramped for sleeping. We got in around 12:25 and after we got to the hotel we crashed until we woke up to Sara's call. We didn't get our money exchanged at the airport - how foolish - so after searching for a currency exchange at a bowling alley and another hotel we finally had to hop on a free double decker bus back to the airport. Finally got that situation straightened out and then we hopped onto the tube for an hour and half ride during rush hour to meet up with Sara.

We had a great Asian dinner with her and then stopped in at a local pub for the atmosphere and soda. We brain-stormed ideas for our Great Britian excursions when we return after Africa. Some of Sara's work friends stopped by and we got to meet them. We headed for the tube about 9:15 pm and got back to our hotel an hour later. We're quite comfortable with the tube system - NYC taught us a lot! Looking forward to coming back and staying a while!

We head out for Africa tomorrow morning at 10:05 London time.

Ok...that's it for now!

Jen & John

Feb. 3rd, 5:30pm:

We're here at the airport waiting for our flight. It was delayed about 50 minutes. Check in was a breeze!! I could fly international ALL the time! All four big bags were within the weight allowed so no shuffling! Special thanks to all of our friends, students and strangers that donated so generously, in such a short time. We are looking forward to seeing the happy grins on the children's faces as they see their new schools supplies.

Our flight leaves in about 2 hours then London here we come!

Off to Africa!

January 31, 2009

Amazing news everyone! We’re going to Africa!

On Friday January 23, John and I were asked to go on a mission trip to Africa to help out at five orphanages! A lady that was scheduled to go had to bow out at the last minute because of a family emergency. The Hearth to Hearth Ministries organization desperately needed another person to go in her place and John and I have decided to go! We're going to visit five orphanages (toddlers through teenagers) and their three schools in Uganda and Kenya. I have two children that I’ve been supporting in Kenya for the last four years that I will get to see and hug for the first time! We will be in charge of interviewing and photographing up to six hundred children. We'll stay four weeks in Africa. We are so excited!

We spread the word to friends and students that we were taking school and art supplies with us for the schools we’ll be visiting. There was an amazing response with such a short notice! John and I are so happy to be taking needed things to the kids.

It was real funny how this all came about. Just last week, one evening John mentioned how neat it would be to do something like Habitat for Humanity and wondered what I thought about that – I thought it would be great! Then the next day we were at the library and I was browsing through the travel section and found a book called, The Way of the Traveler. The next day as I was reading it, I kept taking it over to John for him to read little excerpts that I found fascinating. It talked about how to address/overcome your fears, how the universe opens up and provides your needs as you travel and how travel is the symbol for the “inner” journey. A wonderful little book! Well, that night my Mom called and said, “How would you like to go to Africa?” Wow, talk about the universe throwing the doors WIDE open! I shook with nervous energy for about 2 hours – John was as calm as can be. Ha!

We only have 10 days to prepare for this month long trip! What a crazy week. We expedited our passports on Monday, got our tickets on Tuesday, picked up our passports on Wednesday and got our immunizations, and Thursday we got our medical check-up. We’ve made multiple trips to Bellingham and Seattle all week and put our art classes on hold for the next six weeks. And we've been working every spare minute to get everything ready for our departure. We leave on Tuesday – just two more days!

We will stop for one week in London on our return trip to visit Scotland and/or Paris. We haven’t even had time to plan that part of the trip yet. Guess where we will be planning that part of the trip? On the plane!

John and I will try to post some blogs whenever we can from Africa and London over the next six weeks. So keep checking back or sign up on our blog site to get the new up-dates to automatically pop into your email box (see the Subscribe link at the top of the blog, on the left).

Ok, that’s it for now! Off to go pack 8 bags worth of stuff!

Sunny Smiles,
Jenna & John

From Camano Island to Manhattan Island!

January 31, 2009

Just a day after getting home from our week in the mountains, John got a call from his brother that his step-dad was dying. He passed away a few days later so we had to quickly make decisions about flying back to New Jersey for the memorial and funeral.

This would also mean that I would be meeting John’s WHOLE family – all 7 brothers and sisters plus nieces and nephews! Quite a prospect for a girl that comes from a small family!

We landed in NJ, Thursday, Jan. 1. Not everybody had arrived so I got to meet the family slowly over the next three days. It was wonderful getting to meet them, even though it was a sad time for them.

On Friday, we took the train into NYC with John’s youngest sister and her family. This was my first time to NYC and I was so excited! And guess where we went first!?! The Metropolitan Museum of Art!!!!!! It was amazing. John and I lost our group because we decided to stop outside and get pictures of the beautiful building and pictures of us too.
We were amazed at how many people were there! It was so packed that you practically had to crawl through the crowd to get to the entrance lines. But once through, the crowds dispersed through the acres of floor space and rooms. We had a wonderful time wandering around for the next 2 hours. We especially loved the sculptures, the huge 10-foot by 20 foot landscape pictures of the America’s by various artists. We saw paintings by Klee, O’Keeffe, Mondrian, Signac, Van Gogh, Matisse, and jewelry by Calder. It was really special to see the artwork of the artists that we had been studying in our art classes.

After two hours of walking around we were ready for a break and lunch. We headed outside, grabbed a pretzel and knish (a mashed potato pie with mustard). We walked in Central Park while we ate, visiting Jackie Onassis Reservoir, the Egyptian Obelisk and took pictures of the Belvedere Castle. By then we were so cold (it was in the 20’s) that we headed back into the Met. Museum until everybody was ready to leave.

Next, we caught the subway to the Rockefeller Center. By then it was dark and again, super crowded! But the musical snowflake light display was fun to see and the buildings were wrapped in bows of light. The highlight was the skating rink – it took us awhile to make our way to the lookout but it was worth the effort. By then, we were all exhausted so we headed back to NJ. A great day in NYC!

Saturday was the memorial and funeral of John’s step-dad. It was held in their childhood town of Montclair, NJ. It was a beautiful ceremony and later there was a military honor guard that played taps and presented the flag to his daughter. Then everybody gathered for lunch/dinner, talking and sharing memories or getting reacquainted with childhood friends. It was a beautiful day with the whole family.
Sunday was another day in NYC with John’s brother Frank and his sister Cathy. The mission of the day was PIZZA – the best pizza in NYC! But first we headed down to lower Manhattan and got off at the World Trade Center’s site. We visited the oldest church in NYC that is right beside the WTC site. It was very moving to walk through this beautiful little church that was turned into a rescue relief center for the firefighters and rescue workers. They had several memorials set up with lots of pictures. George Washington used to go to this church and they still had his chair that he sat in!

Then we were off to Battery Park. We could see the Statue of Liberty! It was a beautiful sunny day and we took several pictures of the statue, the park and us.

Wall Street was next. Frank, John’s brother, had worked close by so it was fun to have someone that was familiar with the area. We saw George Washington’s statue standing boldly overlooking all the people that passed by. We passed one of Trump’s buildings too – it was big and bold like all of his buildings.

Then we were off to the Trinity Episcopal Church. Remember the movie, National Treasure? Well, this was the church that was in the movie! From the outside, you can see the doors in the brickwork that the camera crew used for filming. But the highlight was that in the cemetery- one of John’s ancestors was buried in 1764! Frank had seen the grave when he had been through NYC on another trip but couldn’t remember where the grave was in the cemetery. So we were off on a hunt and scattered all over looking at the different markers. Some of the grave stones were so weathered you couldn’t see any writing on them – we were afraid that would be the case for the Dalzell grave stone since it was from the 1700’s. We had just about given up when I finally saw it! It was a big gravestone right at the entrance. The inscription read:

Mary Dalzell
Here lies the Body of Mary wife of James Dalzell of this City
who departed this Life March 20 1764 aged 28 Years 4 Months & 17 days.

After we found the gravesite, we went into the church. It was BEAUTIFUL, inside and out!

By this time it was early afternoon and we were all getting hungry. So off we went to find the best pizza in NYC! I had directions printed out from the Internet so we hopped on the subway and got off at what we thought was the right stop. We followed the directions on the map, found the right streets and walked up and down and all around trying to find Grimaldi’s. We finally figured out that we were on the wrong side of the East River! It had the same street names on both sides of the bridge! So we hopped on the subway again (good thing we bought a fun day pass for the subway! Unlimited rides for the day.). We finally found Grimaldi’s! It was just a little place that was PACKED with people and a line outside the door. It took us about 20 minutes to get in but it was worth the wait! Fresh, thin crust pizza baked in brick ovens that were oh, so good! I forgot to get a picture of the pizza before it was devoured but you can see from our happy grins that we had a good time.

By now it was dark, and we were headed into Grand Central Station! What a cool building. The ceiling had the different constellations painted on it, the bull, the crab and others. There were big beautiful chandeliers hanging on either side of the huge room. We walked around outside, getting pictures of the station, the sculpture at the top of the building and pictures of the Empire State Building all lit up.

Then we were off to Times Square where we got off briefly to have a look at all the crazy billboards and lights, and to take more pictures of the Empire State Building. And somewhere along the way we dropped into the “BIGGEST” department store in America! Ten floors of non-stop Macy’s shopping at everybody’s finger tips! We walked through the men’s department and they had rows of men’s ties sorted BY COLOR! And talk about color, they had oranges, purples, reds, blues and a multitude of other colors all in order of varying hues of a single color. Hundreds and hundreds of ties! And the big main room with the pillars, all festooned in red ribbon, fruits and bows. It was just like the movies!

Finally we were off to Penn Station to catch the train back to NJ. We were dog-tired but so happy with all the things we got to see. NYC was a lot of fun and we packed a lot into the two days that we were there and it was extra special going with my new family.

We left early the next morning to catch our flight back to Seattle and got home in time to get what we needed for our children’s drawing class. What an amazing and unexpected honeymoon we’re having! Looks like this will be a wonderful year of adventures! But wait until you hear what happened next!

Jen & John

Icing on the Cake

January 29, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,
It’s been a month and nine days since our wedding! So much has happened and changed (for the better!) in the past two months that it’s a bit mind-boggling!! I LOVE married life! It’s the BEST. Naturally, since I’ve got the best man on earth! But I’m getting ahead of myself – I need to start from the beginning. That would be about four days before our planned wedding day.

It was to be a lesson in flexibility! It all started with a huge dumping of snow in the middle of December covering NW Washington. We had 8 inches right here on our side of the island! Other places on the island got up to 12 inches, a friends place in Stanwood to 28 inches and Mt. Vernon got 18 inches. And because it was so COLD we also had ice to deal with. We did want a snowy, winter wedding but maybe we over did the positive thinking part!?

Then about 4 days before our wedding we heard about a BIG storm coming our way. And it was scheduled to arrive on Sunday, our wedding day! By Thursday, a flurry of phone calls started between our officiate, the guide, friends and the two of us, on what was the best option. We decided to move the wedding up a day, to Saturday, Dec. 20th. I thought I was doing pretty good with my packing and getting things ready but moving the wedding up put us in a crunch. By the time I finished all the things that needed to be done and had finished packing it was 1:30 AM Saturday morning. Talk about tired. I got a few hours sleep before heading for Mt. Baker around 6:30 am. Thankfully John had got an extra hour and half of sleep so he could handle the driving. I was so exhausted that I fell asleep for part of the way.

It was 7 degrees that morning right here at home! Amazing for Camano Island. We were right on schedule when we discovered that we had forgotten to BRING money with us! We were 15 minutes from home when we had to turn around to go back home for the money. But everything still worked out fine and we arrived just a few minutes after everyone arrived at the cabin that we were staying at in Glacier, WA. The roads were really good to us and Mom and Dad gave us a wonderful wedding present of four studded snow tires for our car. The new tires made us feel safe driving in all that snow and ice!

We threw our snow gear into our guide’s car and took off for the wintery Mt. Baker slopes. We arrived at the ski lodge around 9 am and got all our extra gear on. It was painfully cold – must have been around zero degrees. It was a BEAUTIFUL clear sunny day. We wore facemasks and that made John’s glasses fog up so for a while everything was fuzzy to him.

It was wonderful snowshoeing! The path started out well packed with a gradual incline then turned into fluffy powder. John & I tended to fall back because we were taking pictures and then we’d race to catch up. We all stopped for a snack about halfway up. Our guide, Ken, from the Bellingham Mountaineers, was 71 years old! I had no idea that he was in his seventies. He loves to snowshoe and was willing to volunteer to guide us up to Artist Point. He moved right along and we had to work to keep up with him. What an inspiration for all who thinks getting older means sitting in a rocking chair!

We took turns breaking trail and there were a few steep inclines to work our way up. Then, suddenly we were at Artist Point, with the most beautiful view stretched out before us. Mt. Baker was standing clear and bold, blanketed in a thick white mantle. Mt. Shuksan was gorgeous, its peaks dancing in the bright sunlight. We decided to have our ceremony right there, in-between those two lovely mountains.

There was just the four of us at our little ceremony – nobody else was around. We were going to have two friends come but one got sick and the other couldn’t get up there early enough. She came later that night, which was wonderful!

Ken, Barbara, John and I had a snowshoe dance as we packed down a circle for us to stand in. The poles got stacked in the center of the circle. John and I put on our tartan hats; Ken was in charge of pictures, while Barbara performed the ceremony.
The ceremony felt a bit unreal – Barbara got started then John interrupted her to explain the camera to Ken. I pronounced John’s last name wrong which I promptly corrected and we all had a good laugh over that. John and I read the poems that we had picked out for our friends to read, both lyrics to songs that had meaning, Come Away With Me by Norah Jones & Call of the Search by Katie Melua. The first poem we alternated lines and the second poem (after our rings) we read in unison.

We took our gloves off to use the tartan scarves to handfast, winding the scarves over and over to bind our hands together as we promised to “honor and respect, to share each other's pain and seek to ease it, to share the burdens of each so that our spirits may grow in this union, and to share each other's laughter, and look for the brightness in life and the positive in each other.”

As we stood handfasted we said our vows to each other – it was SO special! John had tears running down his face as he said his vows to me, such a sweet guy!

From this day on I choose you, my beloved
to be my life partner and my one true love
to live with you and laugh with you;
to stand by your side and sleep in your arms;
to be joy to your heart and food to your soul;
to bring out the best in you always;
and, for you, to be the most that I can.

To laugh with you in the good times;
to struggle with you in the bad;
to console you when you are downhearted;
to wipe your tears with my hands;
to comfort you with my body;
to mirror you with my soul;
to share with you all my riches and honors;
to play with you as much as I can;
until we grow old, and still loving
each other sweetly and gladly,
until our lives shall come to the end.

After that, it was time for the rings we got from Scotland, our hands fumbled in the cold as we got them out of the boxes. There was a blessing of the rings and then we exchanged them as we spoke more words of love and dedication. Then the pronouncement and the kiss to seal the deal!

We were so happy and had big silly grins on our face. We got a few more group pictures – poor Ken’s hands really got the worst of it with all the picture taking. Our hands were very relieved to get back in their gloves and poor Johnny’s ears had been left hanging in the cold because his hat didn’t cover them. It took a while for them to warm up but we were happy.

We headed back down right away, the ceremony took about 20 minutes so we needed to get moving. We wish we could have stayed to take in more of the beauty but at least we have pictures! A young couple with a dog had just come up as we were leaving and Ken told them we had just been married. They were amazed and congratulated us, the guy appreciated my “wedding dress” and “wedding veil”, reminded him of the Sherpa’s of Nepal. That was fun! We received various congratulations from people we passed on the way down.

We finished the day by having a small party at the cabin with my friend who came all the way up from Stanwood just to be at my wedding and missed it for all that effort! But it was wonderful having her. We had sparkling cider, three different cheeses, smoked salmon, crackers and of course cake! There were toasts, a lot more pictures taken, and signing of the wedding certificate. Everybody left about 40 minutes later. John and I were exhausted – we cleaned up the food and crashed.

I had a really hard time giving up “my planned” wedding day because I had my heart set on the 21st but it turned out to be the best! We were married on Winter’s Eve! It didn’t snow Sunday like we thought but it was cloudy and gray. We would have missed out on such gorgeous views if we had waited until Sunday to be married! So the change turned out perfect! Besides, we will get to have a two-day anniversary every year since we got married one day and we celebrated the next day!

On the 21st we went out to eat at the wonderful Italian restaurant Milano’s. Getting back up the ½ mile driveway to our cabin was real tricky. We were fishtailing and sliding all over the place, even with chains! Once we got safely up there we decided that we weren’t going back down until we were headed home.

We spent 5 wonderful, lazy, snow-filled days at the cabin. We snowshoed for all but one day, read books, completed a 1000 piece puzzle, watched a movie every evening and slept! There was no phones, TV, or Internet to disturb the quiet. It was a very special time and place for us – something we’ll never forget.

By the time we left for home, we had 30 inches of snow! The bulldozer that was to clear the road was frozen up, so we snowshoed a path for the tires. But the snow was so powdery and deep that it kept raising the front end of the car. We must have dug out at least 7 times. But it was a fun ending to a wonderful week.

So that is week one of our married life….but that is certainly not the end! Wait until you hear what happened next!


Sunny Smiles,

Jenna Delzell

I Do...I Dare

Thanksgiving Day 2008

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, another year has gone by and so much has happened since I last wrote. I hope you all are doing well!

So…for starters and the biggest news flash in my life ---- I’m ENGAGED! The girl who declared she was never marrying and was going to live a single, scot-free life has fallen in LOVE with me!! The love of my life is Jenna Marie Barton. She has such wonderful energy… an artist herself, a nature enthusiast, fun-loving, caring and understanding, a great listener, and an absolute joy to be with. Did I mention her cooking? YUMMM….. And she loves cats (and all other four footed creatures) - Sedgie is in seventh heaven!

We met on the porch a year and a half ago at my neighbor’s place. I needed help with my art business and starting art classes for children and adults. She wanted lessons and a chance to fulfill her creative calling. We have worked together since then, a beautiful friendship that turned into love.

We have such a wonderful time together. We love taking long hikes in the Cascades, playing card and board games, doing puzzles, painting, drawing and teaching together, watching movies, taking beach walks with the dogs she pet sits and, of course, talking up a storm.

This year we did a lot of hiking in the Mt. Baker and Cascade Mountain Loop areas. Our first big hike was climbing to the top of Mt. Pilchuck – Jenna underestimated the degree of difficulty and we had rubber legs about two-thirds of the way up and that continued all the way down! We ate at the top in the lookout tower and then took pictures of the beautiful views of Three Fingers, White Horse Mountain and the Islands to the west. I have already made several paintings from the photos I took. Check out the last blog.

We loved exploring the Mt. Baker area – our last hike of the season we walked three trails covering 15 miles in one day! The last trail was at Artist Point and from there we could see some of the other trails that we had walked – such a great feeling of accomplishment!

Of course, art is a big passion for both of us. We love working together on projects, whether it’s drawing, painting or brainstorming artistic ideas. We have a large mural that we are doing for the local elementary school, Utsalady, on Camano Island. The eagle is their mascot so we designed an eagle mural for the entry wall space. We’re planning on painting this project during Christmas break.

Art classes have been going great. We have three children classes and two adult classes. We teach drawing and acrylic painting and work together designing lesson plans, advertising and teaching. This experience has given Jenna a strong desire to become a teacher and continue to work with children.

I also substitute teach in the Stanwood-Camano School District. Jenna has been volunteering at the different schools, helping out in the classrooms to get experience in her future career. She’s looking forward to working with elementary or middle school children and having the summers off to “travel the world” with me.

Here’s another news flash!: I am changing my name back to my birth name: John Scott Delzell. I've been thinking about changing my name for a while and this seemed to be the perfect time to do it. A new start to an exciting life! I'm very excited to get back to my Scottish roots. And Jenna, literally, will NOT be ‘scot-free’ anymore!

The story of the name Delzell is quite fascinating: Way back in 842 A.D, in a battle in Scotland, King Kenneth McAlpin’s son had been captured, stripped naked and hung. The King threw out a challenge to anyone who would dare to bring back his son’s body and my ancestor said, “Dhail Zhail!,” which means “I Dare”. The mission was accomplished successfully, and the man was made an Earl. Dalziel is the original spelling that eventually became Delzell - there are about 6 different spellings for Delzell. Originally it was pronounced De’EL, but in the U.S. it’s commonly mispronounced with the “z”, the z is silent in the Scottish language). Since I’ve learned this, I’ve decided to go with the original pronounciation being simply De’ EL.

Jenna’s mom and dad are delighted to have me as a son-in-law and are very excited about our marriage. Right now, we’re busy making plans for the wedding. We’ve decided to have a unique wedding – we’re going to snowshoe up to Artist Point, Mt. Baker! And we’re hoping to add some Scottish elements to the wedding ceremony. We’re going to do a traditional hand-fasting which is literally “tying the knot” with the Delzell clan tartan. Our rings are being made in Scotland and we hope they arrive in time! Another Scottish tradition is the honeymoon, which means having a little honey wine every night for a full moon/month. Maybe we’ll do the sparkling grape juice with honey version! And of course, there is the traditional Scottish oatcakes to enjoy after the wedding if we wish. There are lots of tradtions to choose from- quite a process!!

We met a wedding officiate on one of our hikes this summer who is happy to perform the ceremony on snowshoes. It’s a 5.5 mile roundtrip hike to Artist Point and we have a guide who is willing to take us up. We’ll have the ceremony up there with a few friends (hardy souls indeed!), or if the weather is too daunting, we’ll have the ceremony on a lower trail. We have just decided on the date – December 21! We wanted to have the wedding during winter break so that we’ll always have these two weeks off for our anniversary in the coming years. So much to do in so little time but thrilling, too!

We will let you all know how the wedding goes and post more pictures later in January.

May you all have a wonderful Holiday Season! John