Out with the Old and in with the New

Happy almost New Year to everyone:
It has been an eventful year for everyone. Two new little ones, an engagement, lots of travel, some health issues and just the day to day happenings of this special family.

To close out 2010 here is the list of Who had Who in the 2010 Christmas Sock Exchange. I, personally, can hardly wait for the 2011 event. Now if I can just remember who I have...

2010

Grandma had Tim G

Grandpa had Tim S

Kat had Bruce and Bella (Kat did an excellent job of sewing stockings for them)

Tim S had Pamey

Vicki had Kate

Hannah had Auntie

Andrew had Charles

Erik had Sarah

Samuel had Cassi

Ember had Brisco

Peaches and Divinity had Clara

Randy had Hannah

Pamey had David

Charles had Grandpa

Clara had Tom, Noel and Mathilda

Ez and Longstreet had Granger

Dan had Andrew

Sarah had Mary

Brisco had Peaches and Divinity

Kurtis had Chris

Mary had Adelynn

Granger had Connor, Amelia and Shona (very nice wrapping by Granger)

David had Dan

Cassi had Grandma

Adelynn had Vicki

Bruce and Bella had Ember (who knew that they could write poetry so well)

Tim G had Erik

Auntie had Samuel

Kate had Kurtis

Chris had Randy

Givan Canines had Ez and Longstreet

Givan Felines had Kat

Oh, the Givan group volunteered to shop for Olivia. What a hardship that was!

Again, Happy New Year and may we all remain close in 2011.

Love

Auntie

Hello All:

Tim has traveled to Boston for administration meetings. He has traveled to Chicago to support a Southwestern alum who received an award from the Midwest orchestra clinic for teaching orchestra 30 years. He was also able to hear the boys' concert which went very well. He was at the rehearsal where one of the board members announced to the students that all 20 judges picked the East high tape as their first choice of orchestra's to perform! Southwestern has finished their semester and had some very nice concerts. They continue to recruit students for the master's program.

Vicki has been counting new insurance policies and calling past due folks so that we are able to have enough policies that we will receive a bonus from one company. The other major company looks at the number of claims also so the September hail storm ruined that one:) We had a nice Christmas lunch last week.

We are all "gathering" stuff for the Africa trip. Tonight we see how it fits in the suitcase! Andrew has made a couple of more "could you bring" requests so space is shrinking:)

I'm sure we will have more interesting news after the trip. So for now - Merry Christmas to all of you! We love you.

Update from TZ

There is little news here in Tanzania, especially in comparison to the news that has been coming from the states! Congratulations all around for the new additions to the family!

I believe my last post was pre-election cycle, which went off without too much fanfare, at least in my part of the country. The northwestern parts saw some election violence but fortunately nothing very interesting happened in my neck of the woods. The president was reelected as expected, but the results were surprising as he won by a much larger margin than expected. I had my long break from mid-September to mid-October and generally hung out around my site. There was certainly an uptick in hikes as I have climbed multiple mountains. Included in that break was a trip to Matema Beach, our beach front resort on Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi). After break, I have continued to teach classes, despite my relatively empty schedule. I also presented my first presentation, which was on sleep, and had a good response. The students asked intelligent questions and I think those that were there through the entire presentation did take some valuable information away. Currently, the form 6 students are working on their mock exams to prepare for national exams in February. My form 5s are in integration, which is going slowly, but we are ahead of schedule so I can’t be too worried.

The past several months have been a time of change here in PC TZ. The health and environment volunteers left around August and were replaced shortly after by a new set of volunteers who have been settling in over the last three months. In November, the education class ahead of us began to leave the country and just about 3 weeks ago, we got our new education volunteers. Besides the fact that it is strange to be considered the upperclassmen, for lack of a better word, it is sad to see those who we got so close to leave without knowing if our paths will ever cross again. It is a challenge to see new people with totally unbiased eyes and I know it is even harder for the Tanzanians to avoid comparisons. One of the health volunteers who left in August was one of those life-of-the-party, makes-everyone-feel-included, generally uplifting people, in addition to the fact that she was a model volunteer, as she had fantastic Swahili and several successful projects on her resume. While her site was not directly replaced, someone was placed essentially within the same village and the expectations of her are a challenge for even the best volunteer. However, that’s the problem with success in a system like this I suppose, it builds expectations in a situation where expectations can create disappointment and frustration very quickly.

I wish I had more news to tell, but nothing is coming to mind. As always, feel free to check out my blog entries at andrewshooktoafrica.blogspot.com. I’ll leave you with some pictures of my activities recently. Since the beginning of September, I have hiked the tallest mountain, Rungwe, twice, the second and third tallest peaks, Mbeya and Loleza respectively, once, and the dormant volcano in between the three, Ngozi, twice.

Here is the campaign rally by Kikwete the day after my last post. All my students were required to attend which lead to several hours of sitting in the sun waiting for the president.

This was our first hike this "fall" to Ngozi. This was the first time I had climbed down into the crater which was a lot of fun. Here we are at the summit.

Here is the bamboo section of the hike on Rungwe, my second time up. It's amazing how the surroundings change, from ridiculous jungle at the bottom to treeless grasses at the top. The bamboo shows up in between the trees and the shrub sections.

Tanzania has trouble producing enough electricity to keep the lights on 24/7, so here is my room on one of the nights when the umeme is off.

Just this last weekend, we did a hike over the peak of Loleza to the peak of Mbeya mountain. It was by far our most ambitious hike yet. Here are Theo and Letty in the early morning climbing Loleza with Mbeya city in the background.

Here is a cool view from just below the summit of Mbeya Peak. The rocks right at the front are Mbeya Peak, while the first mountain in the background is Ngozi Crater and the mountain in the background, partly covered in clouds, is Rungwe. From up on the mountains it was easy to see all four major peaks in the area.

And here is a picture of Mbeya Peak on our way down. This is about the time where I had to refill my water bottles in the creek because I hadn't rationed well earlier in the hike :P

Thankful Times

Dear Family,

The last few weeks have been very fulfilling here! We have a new granddaughter, a neice engaged, my on-line classes are done, and good family time was spent at Thanksgiving time. What more can you ask for :)!! You will all be receiving our Christmas letter some time next week so I'm going to just post some of the pictures from the joyous times of the last few weeks! Here they are:



Adelynn ready for her dedication - October

24, 2010.












Olivia Imogene Rivers - November 21, 2010.



Great- Grandma and Grandpa meeting Olivia for the first time. - November 21,2010.



Enjoying time with Hannah - November 21, 2010.













Thanksgiving Day November 25, 2010.




Enjoying the granddaughters!






Remember to always enjoy the time you have with friends and family! It is so much a part of all of us. Thank you all for being such a special part of our family!

Introducing Olivia Imogene

I thought we needed a formal announcement in our blog: 
Welcome Olivia Imogene! 
Born November 20, 2010 at 11:32pm.  She was 7lbs 8 oz and 20 in long. 

Yes, she does have Grandma's name as her middle name.  This is for several reasons, but first and foremost because Grandma means a lot to me.  She has a sweet, caring ability and makes everyone feel welcome.  And she is very patient.  Growing up, I have many fond memories of my time spent with Grandma.  We did lots of art projects, played dress-up, tea party, went on walks, sewing projects, and did so many unique Grandma things.  I hope that Olivia gets to experience what a fun family we have!  The second reason she got the middle name Imogene is because I like the name.  And we have gotten many compliments on it since Olivia was born.

Gobble Gobble!

Surprise! Your guest blogger is coming to you from chilly Minnesota this Thanksgiving!

By now you've all heard (and probably gotten to see) the new kid on the block...I talked to Sarah on the phone a couple days ago, and I'm really excited to see Olivia! This blog-post won't really compare to her, I can't compete with a baby! I love babies! And away we go.....

I arrived in Minnesota at the end of August. Everything was green, the weather was hot, and people were always outside, in fact- it looked just like every photo in the "Visit Minneapolis" magazine I ordered....well...things have changed.

There wasn't much of a fall season, mostly it went from t-shirt weather to coat weather in one weekend. Luckily, I've been winter-phobic since I got here and have been purchasing sweaters and blankets at the thrift stores at every opportunity.

I am three months into my year-long internship (aka Vicarage) at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, MN. Its about a 15 minute walk into downtown. A little about the place: Its about 1/3 African American, 1/3 Caucasian, and 1/3 (Native American, Asian, Latino, African Immigrants, or Other)...which means its probably not like any Lutheran Church you've ever seen before. I know it was pretty new for me! We don't use any of the three hymnals I actually know...I have to say the prayers of the people extemporaneously, theres plenty of clapping and "amen!"s, and we aren't too rigid about the service (one Sunday we accidentally skipped right over the Lord's Prayer...woops!)

Let me just say this: Minnesota Lutherans are odd. For starters, there are more Lutherans in the Minneapolis Area Synod (District...St. Paul is its own as well!) than there are in all of Kansas and Missouri combined! My church is small compared to some of them. We worship about 60-100 on a Sunday, some of them have membership in the thousands. So, its sort of a bubble here. Its good to experience, but things just are different in other parts of the country. For example, my area of town is being praised for having ecumenical (between churches) relationship with our Episcopal, Methodist, and Presbyterian neighbors...which is something that has happened in Austin for YEARS. Also the church just got a new roof...my apartment is in the white building across the street (I have a futon and a spare room for when you come to visit!)

So far this year, I'm leading two weekly Bible Studies, leading the confirmation class once in a while, preaching about once a month, getting involved in what's happening in the neighborhood community, and helping with administrative and organizational sorts of tasks (I set up a small computer lab in the library and I'm working on a website overhaul). So things are busy and good. But enough about church.

This Thanksgiving my pastor-friend Tim from Kansas City asked if I wanted to meet up in Des Moines, Iowa since it is about halfway between the Twin Cities and his place. YES. So we did, without much of a plan, I searched for a truck-stop for us to eat at but none had open restaurants. So...we drove around for a while and found a Chinese Buffet located in the otherwise closed mall. The buffet even had turkey (it was not fantastic).

So now I'm back in Minneapolis, ready to start waiting in Advent! I have nine more months before I will move on to the next place (wherever that might be)...some of you know how long that is ;) Until then, please know that I think of all of you often, and hope you know that I am deeply thankful for the blessing which you are in my life. I hope your holiday was as enjoyable as mine!

Until next time,

Go in peace, serve the Lord!

Thanks Be to God!

Amen!

Isn't much Anyway

Well, first off I would like to apologize for the lateness of this post. I'm sorry.

o.k. on to the story. Well not much has happened lately their are only two things to note that have happened or are about to happen that are the main stories of this post. First is that the last Saturday/Sunday were probably the most hectic days yet this year. Second, both days were when East was hosting an Ultimate Tournament. There were five teams not including us. K-State's B team, their second and not the best team, Fayetville HS(yes Arkansas), Andover HS, Junction City HS, and worst of all Sweet Justice. They're from Nebraska, and they are the worst people. They have bad sportsmanship but I guess that's just how it goes some times. Well the tournament the first day was a Round Robin which is where all the teams play each other to get ranked for the next day. So for Sun. we ended up in the number 1 seed after playing Fayetville. But we ended up losing to Sweet Justice in the final round which was during the Youth Symphony Concert.

Speaking of the Youth Symphony concert, it went pretty good. We played the Dance of the Comedians by Smetana, and the 1st mov. of Beethovens 5th Symphony. Last night my band Anti Gravity played our first show in the basement of Hesston College's Northlawn Music building. That was best fun out of this past week I would have to say. We played 11 songs, two christmas, and had a crowd of around 50 people which is probably a little more than we were expecting honestly. The crowd was mainly Hesston people but family of Nathan and I came. You are probably wondering who is in the band. Nathan Thurnau plays guitar/vocals and I know him from our church. Jon Geidel is the drummer and from Hesston, KS. We know him because Nathan met him at a District church retreat. Well we went out to eat afterwards and cleaned up for quite a while because there were about 70 couches in the room. That's all that's happened that I can think of for now.

Sincerely,
Samuel/Sam/Samu/Sam'l/any others I have forgotten
Shook

Waiting

     I thought the appropriate title for our blog this time might be...waiting.  That's what we are doing now.  The next week has very few commitments as does the week of Thanksgiving (for obvious reasons!).  But we are getting excited and I have Dan on his toes with a fully charged cell phone.  My friend, Sara, had her baby yesterday.  I'll be watching Alexander in the New Year a few days a week.  This, I am sure, will create many fun stories since our children will be close in age! 
     I have been wrapping things up at work and finished this up yesterday with the transfer of my last two families to their new primary coaches.  Thank goodness the one family was finally home and I held my 4 or 5th visit of the year with them.  Bless Brenda for taking them.  At least they always called to cancel (flu, scabes, throwing up, doctor appts, etc.)--they always had an excuse.  If I'm still around Tuesday, I get to visit the mouse house.  I have been asked multiple times if I'd come back and when and if I'd consider doing training or consults so we'll leave the options open.  For now, I am looking forward to the opportunity to stay home.  In my free evenings I have been organizing, cleaning, and getting to the YMCA.
    Dan has been busy with website redesigns and tweeks at work.  Check out the latest fun piece on the KWCH weather site--it will tell you what your hair might do with the weather for the day!  He's also in the process (again) of working on a mobile phone app.  Dan played his last gig for the year with Lobster Adoption last night.  And has at least a TV appearance left for Threads of Three (Dec 2 in the am) scheduled on KWCH.  We'll send more information out.  Dan has also been working out at the Y, writing songs, and playing on the computer.
     Brisco is looking forward to celebrating his 4th birthday on Monday.  He's got plans to chew on some links, a bone, eat treats, and open a few presents.  He is also hopeful that we will turn on the heater soon.  We probably should make that a goal this weekend since it is 57 in the house this morning.

Well, we look forward to introducing you at some point in the next two weeks to Baby Rivers.  Don't forget to get your guesses for actual birthdate and the baby's gender in at: theriverscurrent.blogspot.com  or send us an email.  :)   

To talk to someone...its an important human need

Greetings members of the Kinast family. It has been a whirlwind of busyness around Manhattan, Kansas for me as of late. Per Auntie's request, my entry will be primarily about what I've been doing since last you heard from me directly after our train trip.

Let me give you a quick update.

August was filled with many an activity. Primarily it was prepping for a full semester. I worked furiously on getting ready to teach Public Speaking for K-State. I worked furiously on analysis for the production I was going to be directing before auditions happened August 24 and 25. Then getting ready for class and trying to maintain a personal life....such a task. Not really when viewed separately but when viewed together it was crazy. But you'll see that as a theme during the next couple of paragraphs.

So, fast forward to end of August. The show I was directing was cast, school had started and I made it through my first week of teaching classes and started to get an idea of what the semester would be. Mark this being the last weekend I was home in Hutchinson until the current one. Thus started my craziness. I settled into a regular routine that pretty much was class (for three straight sessions) a slight pause, office hours and then a class and then rehearsals. I was generally appeared at school at around 8:00 am and when home around 10 pm. There was several weeks of this. And after these several weeks I've decided that I have to be less busy somehow. I started taking better care of myself.

AND I'M BACK!

Sorry that I didn't meet my deadline. If you couldn't tell, I'm on a very busy schedule. Teaching has been the plague of me for the past week because I've been grading and grading and doing more grading. My hope is to get it all done tonight. I think I can do it pretty easily. But it just piles up.

After dealing with the show and school and teaching, it is fair to say that I am pretty tired and worn out. But in addition, I have one more activity on my plate.

I was recently elected President of the fraternity that I am a part of. The fraternity is Delta Lambda Phi. This fraternity is the premiere progressive fraternity in the country. I was initiated in December of 2009. It has been a very good thing for me. My brothers in the fraternity are some of my best friends here at KSU. I am very thankful for their presence in my life. I've kept this one under wraps because a lot of people call this fraternity the "gay" fraternity. I know that my sexual orientation has been a struggle for the family and for that I am truly sorry. But it is so much a part of me and I've struggled through so much, I feel like you all deserve my full disclosure and truth from me. I'm very proud of my involvement. It is a great thing to have in my life, although it is sometimes very stressful.

Other than that, I am back to working on everything it seems. I've got papers to grade, plays to read and things to memorize.

Always know that I am willing to drop everything to be with you. It may take a bit for me to find a time for you...but you will always be my priority. It goes God, Family, Friends, School and Work for me. Never forget that I am always here.

All for now,

Charles

FYI: From the Rivers

Figured I'd post a little invite here and send an email too.  You can check out our family blog at:  theriverscurrent.blogspot.com   I just posted a little contest for guessing about Baby Rivers.  Prize to be awarded--of course!!  We hope you'll drop by periodically to see what is happening...  :) Sarah

Dear Family: I think Tim and I are writing this one together. I shall begin. Well, as many of you have discovered I’m the new blog writer reminder. However, I think I should have had someone remind me that it was our week. Several times I almost forgot…. Life is much quieter at 408 E 13th now with both Kate and Chris gone. However, we are not alone as the pets are alive and well. For all of you wondering, Tommy can and does get through the corner of the fence to go in and out of the backyard. It was a point of discussion earlier in the summer how he was doing this and then lo and behold Chris and I have seen it done. He must turn his head sideways and then he kind of pops his hips through. It is an interesting thing to see. Now the poor boy has a skin condition and is rather bald on his tummy, and head. It isn’t a pretty sight.

. Miss Shona misses her master and some evenings just seems to mope around the house. Other times she is being very ornery. We now have a couple of holes in the backyard, she carries rocks around and dumps them in various places and earlier took it upon herself to pull out the water plants from the water garden. Amelia is alive and getting around pretty good. Connor is still the worry wart, although he is being pretty friendly with Shona. Noel, aka pretty girl, misses Chris terribly. Tim and I just don’t pet her the same. She hasn’t learned to fully appreciate Shona at all. We seem to have acquired a flock of cardinals. There have been up to 10 males at the feeders this Fall. It is fun to watch them and woe unto any pet that catches one.

My work has been rather slow. My co-workers have provided some entertainment though. A couple weeks ago they were experimenting with a new explosion in Dr Goddard’s lab. Basically, they ended up making a pipe bomb, putting a hole in the plexi glass and sending one of them to the ear doctor for possible hearing damage. The ears were okay but we have had a good time teasing them about it. Last week, I managed to drop my keys down the bathroom sink (attached to a lanyard) and get them stuck at work. I wasn’t too worried until I went to pull them out and they stuck. I grabbed them with my fingers and pulled again only to have the lanyard come off. Now I’m stuck in the bathroom holding onto the keys with one hand and wondering what to do. I know if I let go they will go down the drain and possibly clog it. I was thinking of yelling for the guys in the office but wasn’t sure if they would come into the women’s bathroom to rescue me. I had just decided I would use my cell phone to call someone when the keys gave and popped out of the drain. Good grief only to me would this happen. We have both taken trips this Fall. I went to Indianapolis to spend time with Jeni and her family. Jeni and I have been best friends for 37 years. We toured Indy, went to Jeni’s Bible Study, Rusty’s (Jeni’s son) cross country meet, watched movies and just had a relaxing time.

Oh, I did get my first pedicure and rather enjoyed it. A trip to the Half Price Bookstore was great. I would recommend it if you have one in your area. One night we watched Jeni’s favorite movie which is “Tea with Mussolini” and the next night we watched Art’s which was “Beautiful Mind”. Both were good and if you haven’t seen them you might give them a try. As Rusty said “Jeni’s movie is about feminists and that should be no surprise” Enough of my adventures…I’ll let Tim share about his trip to New Mexico and Nevada.

Early in October I flew to Denver to take my Mom on one of her bucket trips. It was kind of a two at one time type trip as we went to the Albuquerque Balloon Festival and to Las Vegas NV to visit her college roommate who is in a nursing home. We drove to Albuquerque on Sunday (stopping briefly in Santa Fe—neat place, gotta take Laurie there some time!) and then Monday we went to the Balloon Festival. This was one of their “slow” days, only launched 150 or so balloons that morning! We got their pretty early, about 6:30, shortly before sunrise and watched them inflate and fly the balloons. You can walk right into the area that they are launching the balloons. You can relax, sit on benches and watch the balloons fly around northern Albuquerque. The reason they like Albuquerque is that the winds there allow them to fly in a box so they land back where they started.

There are balloons of all shapes; traditional tear shaped and lots of specialty balloons in different shapes. My favorite specialty balloon was Darth Vader but the cow balloon was pretty cool too. The festival is like the Kansas State Fair going through two weekends with the best launches on the weekends. I gather they were launching over 800 on the weekend before. They had to launch in shifts as there was not enough room at the park—which is huge. On Thursdays they launch only the specialty balloons and have a “rodeo”.

The balloon festival is an amazing sight and I highly recommend going if you ever have a chance.

We were done by 10:30 that morning, so we took a ride up the tram at Sandia Peak above Albuquerqu. It is quite impressive to go up about 4,000 feet above the city and be able to look out over the Rio Grande Valley. On the back side of the peak is a ski resort. I guess a lot of people ride up to ski for the day then ride the tram back down in the evening. I would like that.

On Tuesday Mom and I drove to Las Vegas via a short stop at the Grand Canyon. That was a long trip but really neat. Mom had never been to the Grand Canyon before so that was special since it was her 80^th birthday. We also stopped in western Arizona and looked at the stars. It was a beautiful moonless night and we could see the Milky Way very clearly. Very very awe inspiring. God has certainly made a beautiful place for us to live in.

On Wednesday Mom visited with her roommate, Helen, who lives in a nursing home. I went to the Hoover Dam and explored it and the new Pat Tilman Memorial Bridge which opened a week later. I had fun sending picture e-mail to Chris and Laurie showing them where I was at. Mom and I never did do any gambling in Vegas even though we stayed in a casino and Mom had a role of quarters in her purse. Just never had time to sit down at a slot machine as we were both tired that night.

Thursday we drove to Salt Lake City and were able to visit Kate for a couple of hours. We had not originally planned on stopping to see Kate but the Center for Change had said it was ok to visit. Kate really enjoyed our visit and we were pleased to be able to see her.

Friday morning Mom was anxious to get home so we were up and moving at 5:00 AM. We drove through snow and rain into Wyoming and into Denver into rush hour traffic. Mom was glad to be home. We drove just a few miles short of 2300 miles in six days. We saw lots of pretty scenery and friends and family. Mom can now cross three bucket list items off her list.

The traveling has been fun, but home is still the best.