EDGE to Ethiopia
Several weeks ago our caseworker was over for a visit. She had recently visited Ethiopia and we were comparing our travel experiences. Though she stayed at a different guesthouse, she had visited the place where we stayed. At one point she said “I give you credit for staying at the guesthouse you were at. I don’t know if I could have done it.” Apparently, her guesthouse was a little “cushier” than ours!
Now the funny part about this conversation is that our accommodations in Ethiopia never really struck me as that bad. Okay, so there was no carpet in the house. And it was quite cramped with three of us in a pretty small bedroom. And the guesthouse experienced some plumbing issues that week forcing us to share the bathroom part of the time. And the water wasn’t always warm. I guess the more I started to think about it, I realized that our little guesthouse probably would seem a little “quaint” to the average traveling American.
But, you see, I was not the average traveling American. My expectations have been completely warped by several years of volunteering for EDGE–our church’s high school youth ministry. Through many mission trips, weekend retreats, and sleepovers, I’ve been well-conditioned to endure less-than-four-star accommodations.
So without further ado, I thought I’d have a little fun here and present a list:
“The Top Ten Ways Youth Ministry Has Prepared Me For Ethiopian Travels”
- I’ve been awakened by many odd occurrences while on youth group trips, including mischievous teenagers (or was it their leaders?) spreading peanut butter on my face. So waking up at 3 AM to roosters crowing in Ethiopia didn’t really strike me as too odd.
- I’ve grown used to odd bathroom situations, especially on some of the trips I took with the great Niekerk youth group. On several retreats, middle-of-the-night potty breaks would require a trek to another building. On another mission trip, the “shower” was a choice between sticking our heads under a sink inside, or taking our chances outside under a water hose with a thin shower curtain hanging precariously from metal rods to protect our privacy. Our private shower in Ethiopia—though not always warm—seemed perfectly lovely!
- The noises of giggling and chattering from teenage girls have kept me awake ‘til the wee hours of many a morning. Good preparation for the dog fights and street dancing I heard while in Ethiopia. (I’ve learned that withholding Mt. Dew after 9 pm somewhat alleviates the problem of giggling teenage girls… I’m doubtful that strategy works for Ethiopian dogs.)
- In youth ministry, I’ve slept on camp beds, air mattresses, gym floors, and rocky mountaintops under the open air. Simply having a bed in Ethiopia seemed impressive to me.
- On many a youth adventure, I’ve been pushed to the extremes of exhaustion. And, ironically, I also have a horrible time getting to sleep. All that sleep deprivation, while trying to keep up with teenagers, was great training ground for the lack of sleep I had in Ethiopia, this time while trying to keep up with a new daughter!
- Directly related to #5: My faithful fuel for every youth group adventure has been coffee. Ethiopia—coffee’s birthplace—also fed my caffeine addiction so that I could survive the week. With proper caffeine consumption, I can forgive nearly any inconvenience. Sidenote: Does anyone know if there’s a way to get an IV drip of caffeine?
- I’ve scratched my head and struggled to understand teen lingo many a time during youth group trips. (And I’m especially clueless about all the texting abbreviations they use!) Trying to understand the youthful version of English was just training ground for the challenge of deciphering the heavily-accented English of our Ethiopian hosts.
- Through youth ministry, I’ve grown accustomed to the “cozy” transportation method of packing people into a van. On one trip, my seat was actually a 24-pack of water bottles wedged between the real van seats and the side door. The taxi vans we shared with other adoptive families in Ethiopia seemed downright spacious in comparison. (Of course, I will add that the driving of my fellow youth leaders has never made me as nervous as that of our Ethiopian taxi driver. And our youth group has never come within 2 inches of being run over by a steam roller.)
- When teenagers get a little tired and cranky, you can usually brighten up their attitude with some sort of food. A similar strategy works for Ethiopian one-year-olds.
- Here’s the part where I get a little serious: In youth group, I’ve had the pleasure to serve alongside many wonderful people—both adults and teens. Good preparation, I’d say, for the amazing people we spent our time with while in Ethiopia. I know our guesthouse accommodations were modest—I’m not sure they’d earn even one star on the American rating system. But give me good people over the Ritz Carlton any day of the year. (I wouldn’t know how to behave in those fancy restaurants anyway.) I’ll never forgot our incredible Ethiopian hosts–Nesibu and Birtukan–and I would stay at their guesthouse again in a heartbeat, just to savor being around their beautiful hearts.
I truly feel blessed by all the many adventures God has put in my path, both in the U.S. with our youth group and abroad to Ethiopia. I still shake my head at God’s sense of humor: How he took an uptight, anxious, type-A planner like me and plunked me into high school ministry several years ago. . . I can only imagine how the heavenly hosts got a laugh out of that one. And the way he’s constantly challenged me to hand over all my plans, fears, and insecurities to him over the years—without those challenges, I don’t think I’d have ever been able to face the uncertainties and surprises of our Ethiopian adoption journey.
Of course, it hasn’t always felt that great to have God chipping away at my edges (honestly, at times it was more than I wanted to bear). But in the end, I’m grateful because they made it possible for me to be a little more care-free, a little more adventurous, and (I think) a little more fun. And ultimately, it all led to a little girl named Annie. My daughter. My girl. What a ride. I can only imagine where it will go from here.
Lancaster (Lan-Cast-Er, as us Michiganders Say)
This week we’ve been vacationing in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania area. It’s been our first real vacation in nearly two years, and we’re all feeling refreshed. We’ll post some pictures and videos after we’ve had a chance to sort through them all, but here’s some highlights in the meantime:
- The Choo Choo Barn - After years (literally) of watching Noah’s “I Love Toy Trains” videos, this was a sort of home coming. Lots and lots and lots and lots of toy trains. Just do a search for choo choo barn on youtube, and you’ll get a taste for the place.
- Hershey’s Chocolate World - Candy! And more Candy! And finally… Candy! The Chocolate World is basically a free 7 minute ride wrapped in an overpriced food court and overpriced Hershey’s candy. But it was still a lot of fun. And we truly enjoyed the trolley tour. It was eye opening to see the Milton Hershey School, both for it’s beauty and vision. The “free” candy on the tour didn’t hurt, either.
- Outback Toy Store - Hands down the most awesome toy tractor store. Ever. We all had that deer-in-the-headlights look when we walked in. Incredible. We’re lucky we only walked out with one new tractor.
- The Strasburg Railroad and Museum were stops on our last “day way” trip. I think the museum was a better deal (especially for the price), but riding a 100 year old steam train was pretty cool. All Aboard!
As Noah would say, “we’re a little sad” to be heading home, but we’re very thankful for family time we’ve been able to enjoy. See you back in Michigan!
Some More Websites: Life Action and AWM
Back in November I blogged about a few websites I helped produce. We got a few more out the door in December:
Life Action Ministries strives to bring personal revival to Christians around North America. They publish two magazines, a great newsletter for pastors, and the Infuse Podcast. From a programming perspective this was an incredibly fun project: LAM wanted to inter-relate all their content together (blog post to product, product to article, article to podcast, etc.). The final solution works well, and I think it’s a great example of why the web is such a rich medium: you can’t do that sort of cross-referencing in the real world. We also incorporated some “geocoding” technology: the site automatically finds your longitude and latitude, and shows you LAM’s nearest conferences. LAM is a great ministry to work for: they get the web, and they’re really passionate about their ministry.
Arab World Ministries works to spread the gospel among the Arab world. (see how their name explains what they do? Nice and memorable, eh? 
This was another fun project due to the international flavor: we needed to support English, French, and Dutch — and eventually Arabic as well. They’re another great group of people, and it was a pleasure working with their staff on both sides of the Atlantic.
And the winner of the Tol Bowl is…
Brian!
Brian’s Maplewood Crushers topped Amy’s Mommy’s Little Helper’s 113 to 100.
Click the image below to see the box score:
(Although, can you ever really win when you have to beat your wife to do it? I don’t think so…
It’s gridiron has been kind to Brian this year: he took the championship in his other league as well, thanks to the last minute pick up of Derrick Ward.
Some new Websites that Brian Worked on.
Ok, so I get negative points for the title of this post. Meh.
But seriously: tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and one of the things I’m very thankful for is gainful employment — especially in this tough economy. 5Q has been extremely blessed this year, and I’ve really enjoyed being part of a talented web agency again.
We’re producing some great work, and some of it just came out of the shop in the last few weeks:
Joni and Friends Radio is the new radio ministry website for Joni Eareckson Tada’s ministry. They have a great group of people over there, and I think the site turned out great. It features Joni’s daily radio program, along with their free offers.
Coram Deo Fellowship is a church fellowship of Christians in Oregon. These guys where a hoot to work with, too, and I think Paul hit a home run with the design. The site has a blog, podcast, and a fun little online enrollment tool.
If all goes well, I should have a few more websites to talk about next week, too. Keep your fingers crossed.
Oh, yeah, and Go Maroons!
Where are the Tols?
So, yeah, this blog has been quiet for a while. And we’re sure you’re in withdrawal from our family wit and obviously talented storytelling ability. (I’m guessing, however you’re not missing our humility. Ahem.)
Rest assured, we’re around. We just have, you know, stuff going on. Like work. And Church. And making sure Noah learns the finer points of human interaction, like it’s not nice to steal toys from people younger than you in nursery.
And raking leaves. Picking apples at Crane’s Apple Orchard and enjoying some of their fine, fine apple donuts. Creating soon-to-be award winning websites. Or at least websites…
Freelance projects. Conducting training with 9 people in four countries in our socks. Small group for church. Youth Group for church. A funeral. Watching airplanes take off.
Making sure Amy crushes the fantasy football competition. Alden, we’re looking at you.. Wednesday night stuff at church. Continually filling a tire with a small leak that still has good tread. Going through the Holland Tunnel. (No, the one by the airport, not Tunnel Park. Thank you very much.) Playing kickball with the youth group kids. (That’s Noah, if you’re curious. …ok, and a little Brian, too)
Baking cookies. Going to the ER at 1:30am and watching back-to-back-to-back “Sanford and Son” reruns. Best. Theme Song. Ever.
Preparing for the last Gospelcom Conference. Writing spec chapters for a book about Hebrew and Greek words. Remodeling a bathroom. Repairing tires that get punctured while driving to airports to watch planes take off. No, it’s a different tire. Yes, it’s equally annoying. Watching youth group kids make profession of faith.
Watching the debates. You betcha! Meeting Jason and Steph’s new dog via Skype.
Playing Cars. Preparing to be an aunt, uncle and cousin for the third-time. Actually, there’s not too much to that one…. Celebrating 80 years of live with Grandpa and Grandma TerVeen. Enjoying the 2nd season of Mad Men. Don Draper, who are you? Preparing for two Youth Worker Conventions and two trips to Chicago.
Watching Curious George on the TiVo. Memorizing Curious George, whether we like it or not.
And, last but not least, winning the “Best Post” award in the extremely difficult and crowded “Obligatory, Too Busy To Blog, Blog Post” category.
Colorado Stories: The Wake Up Call
Time for yet another Colorado Story:
You can file this one under “Funny. And by Funny, I mean Awful.”
So, you know how some events are really annoying when they happen? But then, with some time and counseling, they just seem funny? Well, this might be one of those for me… someday. But not yet. Frankly I’m still a bit annoyed at some Hoosiers for this one. Maybe you’ll agree at the end of this little tale.
First, some background. You might recall that we stayed at Quaker Ridge, a Christian camp north of Colorado Springs. Lovely place with a awesome view of Pikes Pike.
Not quite as tall, but much closer to Quaker Ridge, is Soldier Mountain, roughly 9,200 feet above sea level. More importantly to us, it’s about 1,000 feet above Quaker Ridge, and a hike from Quaker Ridge to the summit is about 4,000 feet.
That’s right: 4 feet forward, 1 foot up. Not a walk in the park. And, actually, the last 300 feet are more like 2 feet forward, 1 foot up.
On loose rocks.
The view, though, is worth the work. Here a view from the top. Click the picture for a larger version.
This picture was obviously taken during the day.
The rest of this story takes place a night.
For, you see, one of the “perks” of staying at Quaker Ridge is sleeping out, under the stars, at the top of Soldier Mountain… and I can’t emphasize enough how much “perks” is in air quotes. Big, giant, raise-your-hands-above-your-head, stand-on-a-chair, air quotes.
Now, for the record, I like camping. Did it most of my life growing up. I don’t mind tents, I don’t mind sleeping out underneath the open air. I don’t mind hiking, or climbing, or sleeping bags. I enjoy waking up to a great sunrise.
So, I really like the theory of sleeping out underneath the stars at the top of a mountain in the middle of the Colorado wilderness.
But, as Jan L.A. van de Snepscheut said, “In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is.”
First of all, it’s camp tradition to leave around 11:00 pm to sleep at the top of the mountain.
So, let’s keep track of this all: 1,000 feet, loose rocks, 11:00pm. We actually got off a bit late, like 11:30. So, 1,000 feet, loose rocks, 11:30pm.
On the hike up our youth group quickly diverged into two teams: the quick team, and the not-so-quick team.
Amy and I were in the non-so-quick team. Team Quick made it to the top of the mountain by Midnight. Team Not-So-Quick got there about 12:35.
1,000 feet, loose rocks, 11:35 depart, 1 hour hike.
And, because there is no Soldier Mountain Hilton, you need to — literally — dig in once you get to the top. Oh, and being, you know, a summit, there’s not a lot of level ground up there. So you want to make sure your head is facing uphill, so you don’t pass out.
Let me tell you: you haven’t lived until you’ve tried tried to make 6 feet of semi-level ground by pulling out roots and tossing rocks. In the pitch black.
1,000 feet, loose rocks, 11:35pm, 1 hour hike, roots & rocks, face up hill.
All told, we actually did a fairly good job getting settled in. The kids were real troopers, and Keith, our more experienced youth leader, made sure we were far enough from the edge as to not fall in.
I’m pretty sure everybody was asleep by 1:00… or so. Ahem. Alden, I’m looking at you.
Well, our group was asleep. Little did we know that, just a few short hours later, another group would be waking up.
For you see, around 4:00am, the group from West Lafayette Indiana was waking up.
To climb up the mountain.
To watch the sun rise.
—
Recall, if you will, Team Quick. Their time up the mountain: 30 minutes. Our Hoosier, er, friends, also had a Team Quick. A very “joyful” Team Quick. And by joyful, I mean highly annoying.
Team Quick Indiana made it to the top of the mountain around 4:30am, and decided they needed to encourage their follow group members. So, they started yelling, in words seared into my memory, “Way to go guys! You can do it! Woohoo!”
I’m not 100% sure they knew we were there at first. We were only 20 feet away, but it was pitch dark.
However, I’m fairly sure they saw us by the time Team Not-So-Quick Indiana made it to the top around 5:00am.
And I’m down-right certain they saw us by when Team Really-Slow Indiana finally showed up around 5:30am.
1,000 feet, loose rocks, 11:35pm, 1 hour hike, roots & rocks, face up hill. Dumb Indiana kids yelling at the top of their lungs at 4:30am.
Now, it would be one thing if they kept moving up the mountain. There was, after all, an extremely nice spot about 150 feet beyond us that was wide open and perfect for a group their size.
But, no. Instead, they decided to mill about, among the sleeping bags, talking about how dumb it was to get up at 4:30 to watch a sun rise.
—
So, two groups of tired, annoyed people milling about at the top of a short mountain in Colorado.
What could go wrong?
Well, maybe, perhaps, one of our kids might have suggested that Team Indiana move along. I’m sure he was polite.
And, one if their leaders, mistaking our kid for one of his own, might have suggested our kid go take a long walk off a short pier.
Tired and annoyed had turned into a big pile of awkward.
And thus, we waited for the sunrise.
Which, in hindsight, was totally not worth it, because the sun comes up on the other side of the mountain, behind some trees. So it’s not really a sunrise, as much as a big bag of bright.
—
After a while, our Indiana friends tried to do some devos. And we packed up our gear and started back down the mountain.
1,000 feet, loose rocks, 11:35pm, 1 hour hike, roots & rocks, face up hill. Dumb Indiana kids. Pile of Awkward. Another 1,000 feet.
On the way down I happened to pass the leader who had suggested the pier. Despite the situation, I felt bad we had given them lip. So I decided some peace pipe was in order, and I apologized on behalf of our group.
He mentioned something about “yeah, I didn’t know it was your kid” (as if it was ok to suggest peirs to his own kids?) and that was that.
But, right as I turned to continue down the mountain, he made the offhanded comment: “You know, if I learned anything tonight, it’s that you shouldn’t sleep so close to the edge of the mountain.”
—
And that, my friends, is why West Lafayette Indiana is no longer welcome in Holland, Michigan.
5 Questions
The big changes keep on rolling along here at the Tol house. Last week I (Brian) accepted a position at 5Q Communications, a small firm specializing in website development and optimization. I (Brian) will be leaving Gospel Communications at the end of the month. My new title is “Software Developer” which is only slightly less opaque than my current title, “Manager of Property Development.” At least, I don’t think the International Facilities Management Association will be hitting me up for membership anymore. Ahem.
First, a bit the move in general: It was an incredibly hard decision to leave <a href=”http://www.gospelcommunications.orgGospel Communications. It’s a great ministry with a great group of people doing some incredible things. However, after four years it was clear God was leading me to be more in the development side of things.
Secondly, a bit about 5Q: The name comes from 5 questions about website development:
- Who’s your audience?
- What primary action do you want visitors to take?
- Does your design and text communicate effectively?
- Are your systems integrated and compliant?
- How do you measure success?
(This is basic web strategy 101, but it’s amazing how many companies don’t bother to ask them.)
Besides an effective name, here’s some other facts about 5Q:
- They’re completely virtual. I’ll be working from home, dramatically reducing my “commute” to a walk up the steps. I’ll probably see my coworkers once or twice a year face-to-face. What a world, eh?
- They do a lot of work with ministries like The Listeners Bible, First Fruits, Inc. and Kids in Focus. So I’ll get to apply a lot of the ministry knowledge I’ve acquired over the past four years to some new challenges.
- They’re always looking for great new clients, so if you need some help with your website, give us a call.
Some Christmas Time Fun
Hey everybody! Season’s greetings from the Tols. Here are some video highlights from our recent trip to Chicago. Enjoy!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmWkKDvr_H8]
Of Strawberry Shakes
Ah, the joys of Summer: Sunshine, playing in the park, eating fresh fruit, catching the drips from your ice cream cone. Is there anything better?
What about being air-conditioned comfort, enjoying a strawberry shake from good ‘ol McDonalds? Yeah, I thought so, too.
Nojo thinks that a pretty good plan, as well. He recently hijacked my shake, and much enjoyment followed:
[youtube http://youtube.com/watch?v=PUoaIWLWM5E]
For the curious among you: The video was made with Apple’s excellent iMovie program, and the music was sampled from their Garage Band tool.