Chris Loehmer Kincaid's Blog, page 129

things that pop up

I wasn’t going to write about this – I don’t like sharing my personal life that is about people in my life unless they live or have lived under my roof – but then something popped up on Facebook tonight. 
An article that Pete Seeger, age 94, had passed away. In truth, he passed away two years ago on January 27. But if you are on Facebook much, you may have noticed that things pop up from who knows where or when. This particular snippet, however, was sent directly to me for this express purpose of this blog.
Pete Seeger, for you younger folks, was a folksinger in the 1940s and 1950s, writing songs such as “If I Had a Hammer” and “Where Have All the Flowers Gone”.  His song “Turn, Turn, Turn”, based on the book of Ecclesiastes, helped to inspire my memoir, “A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven”. But he was also a rebel for his time, protesting war and admitting to being a communist. We think sometimes we live now in times of protest and rebellion, but it has been going on for years, and people like Pete Seeger led the way.
But that’s not who I’m writing about. Thinking about Mr. Seeger, naturally reminded me of Woody Guthrie. Which of course won’t mean much to many of you. Woody Guthrie, born in Oklahoma in 1912, was the original American folksinger and a friend of Seeger's. He would travel throughout the country during the 1930s, writing countless ballads about life in the Dust Bowl. His most famous song, “This Land is Your Land”, was sung in lots of elementary schools during my childhood, I don’t know if it still is.
If anyone reading this, remembers Woody Guthrie, you may or may not know what claimed his life at the young age of 55. Huntington’s Disease. I won’t copy and paste, so you can read about it here.
The personal part is that my Uncle Bob died from it in 1978 and my cousin Phil in 2000. And yesterday, Phil’s beautiful 30 year old daughter, sweet Erin went to be with them.
Sometimes, Lord, things just don’t make sense.     
Uncle Bob and Aunt Helen's wedding in 1942 Philip and Erlene's wedding in 1979 Erin at her sister Sara's wedding in 2015

Building

1 Unless the Lord builds the house,    the builders labor in vain.Unless the Lord watches over the city,    the guards stand watch in vain.2 In vain you rise early    and stay up late,toiling for food to eat—    for he grants sleep to those he loves.3 Children are a heritage from the Lord,    offspring a reward from him.4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior    are children born in one’s youth.5 Blessed is the man    whose quiver is full of them.They will not be put to shame    when they contend with their opponents in court. (Psalm 127 New International Version)

Though last Sunday I wrote about Psalm 22, it’s been a while since I shared a Psalm without adding my arbitrary thoughts or odd-ball interpretation. So I thought I would randomly pick a Psalm which I haven’t shared before, and this is what bounced up. Nope, can’t think of a thing I need to add. Except, of course, a picture. Clark Tower in Winterset, Iowa, built in 1926 and visited by me and the hubby in 2001

Happy Belated Birthday to My Son

Oh, Nicholas, don't be crabby. I am sorry that I didn't wish you a happy birthday last week here on my blog. But better late than never. Hard to believe this baby boy is 30 years old!
Here are just some of my favorite pictures of you. 




Have a great week, Kiddo. And hope to see you soon. Love, Mom

Vote for Your Favorite Photo

Tonight I was working on a powerpoint presentation and ended up looking up some old pictures from Kenya. I found a few of my favorites from when my daughter Val was there for six months back in 2010. Looking at them, I realize that the three times I have been to Africa, for two weeks each time - well, that is not enough. Man, how I wish I could stay there for a couple months at a time.
 "Two Friends out for a Walk"I don't even know where Val took this picture at, but it just cracks me up, two animals who were told they couldn't be friends, yet here they are out for a walk.   "I am Spiderman"Most of the kids clothes are donated, but who donates a spiderman costume to a needy child?   "Sunset"Sunset at Saikeri, no words needed.  "Beach Scene"This is at Diani Beach, off the coast of the Indian Ocean.  "Momma's Favorite" Momma loves the bird, the dog, my baby-girl full of hope and expectation. I love it. 
There is still time to donate towards our next trip, taking place the first two weeks in April. Go to our GoFundMe link here, or our website tumainivolunteers.org  . Or mail your check to PO Box 726, Wausau, WI  54402

Suffering

 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?    Why are you so far from saving me,    so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,    by night, but I find no rest. Psalm 22:1-2 (NIV)
Several of my extended-family members are suffering from debilitating diseases. I don’t feel it is my place to share any details, but these ailments are causing great physical distress. Not only that, but the emotional and mental anguish on both the patient and their immediate families are taking a toll. These people are all believers and have all been praying to God for relief – any kind of relief – but they are nearing the point of questioning their faith.
They ask each other, “Why doesn’t God answer our prayers?” No one ever wants to hear the answer, “God always answers our prayers, but the answer isn’t always the one we want.” So if that’s the case, why pray at all? And if we ask that question, the next one would be, why then do we believe in God at all?
That’s a slippery slope. We believe because we do. We just do. And sometimes it doesn’t make sense and we just don’t get it. We crumble to the ground, crying in grief, falling into despair. Then we realize – hopefully, prayerfully – that there is no place else to turn. We pray to God for help, for relief, for peace. For peace. Because there is nothing else to do when life has pulled us so far down.
It reminds me of the story of the man looking back over his life and there were two sets of footprints in the sand when life was good. And God told the man, that’s when I was walking by your side. But when life was not good, there was only one set of footprints. And God said, that was when I carried you. I recently read an addendum to that. There was also a place in the sand that was all messed up, with no footprints. And God said, that’s when I dragged you, coz you were fighting against me, but I wouldn’t let you go.
For He has not despised or scorned    the suffering of the afflicted one;He has not hidden His face from him    but has listened to his cry for help. Psalm 22:24 (NIV)

Feathered Friend Friday

 Whenever you travel with someone, you always find out something new about them. When I was in Kenya last October with my friend Denise, I learned that she fancies herself as a birder – trying to seek out and identify as many birds as she can when she travels some place. Which of course meant that I would succumb to this whim while on safari with her.





 The easiest bird to identify would have to be the ostrich. Obviously he is the largest bird, but also the most well-known. Perhaps less well-known is that, just as with many other species of birds, the colors of the male stand out more than those of the female. Even though he is black, he is still more noticeable than the female.
 Next well-known is probably the stork. Not that this is the picture of the stork we usually have, thinking instead of the Vlasic pickle stork, or the bird who delivers babies. Or maybe he does. 









The rest of the birds I took pictures of were of species I was clueless about. Until I did a Google search of “birds of Kenya”. This beauty was the first to come up. He is the lilac-breasted roller. The reason he pops up first in my search is because he is the national bird of Kenya. Who knew?
The lilac-breasted roller is found over a large range and has a stable population, thus he is easy to spot. And obviously easy to identify. His picture on the internet looks exactly like this one.

This little guy is the green bee-eater bird. They eat bees, apparently, and unlike the ostrich or many other species, the female is just as pretty as the male.



On the other end of the colorful scale is the fork-tailed drongo. He’s still pretty, though, don’t you think? Kind of like how every woman needs a plain black dress. Always elegant.   Without even looking up this bird, I would call it a partridge. I thought it might be a stone partridge, but his feathers aren’t quite right or the way he holds his tail. Further research, and I think he might instead be the red-necked spur-fowl. See that small spot of red under his chin? But what do I know?





And last but not least, another guess. I think this is a pair of Egyptian geese. Though Egyptian geese originated in Egypt (hence the name), they are found throughout all of Kenya except for the far north and west. I can’t say for certain that this is what these guys, but they do look like it.
I’d love to hear your thoughts. Especially Denise’s. 

Our Team

The plane tickets have been purchased and our four volunteers are excited to head to Africa in the Spring. Let me introduce you to our team which will implement the first chicken project of Tumaini Volunteers.


Our team leader is our founder and president, Valerie Kelch. This will be Val's fourth trip to Kenya. Since 2006, she has spent a total of nearly ten months in Kenya and has traveled throughout the country volunteering in schools, orphanages and medical clinics.









Denise first went to Kenya last October and the country made such an impression on her that she couldn't wait to return. She works as a certified medical assistant, but has traveled all over the world.



Nick has never been to Kenya before but worked in Ghana, Africa, on two trips with Engineers Without Borders while he was in college. He currently works as an electrical engineer.















Matt has also never been to Kenya, but a trip to Africa has always been on his bucket list, though he has also traveled extensively. He has a degree in film production and will be joining the team to make a short documentary of the work that Tumaini is doing in East Africa.





I think this is a well-rounded team and that each of the members brings to the table their own unique interests and skills. Help me in wishing them the greatest success as we launch our first official project in Kenya, providing the people living there with sustainability.

Twelve-Year-Old Jesus

Though we are well into January, I wish that Christmas was still on people's minds. Maybe if we can't think of baby Jesus anymore, we could at least think about what He was like as a twelve-year-old.
When it was over and they left for home, the child Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents didn’t know it. Thinking he was somewhere in the company of pilgrims, they journeyed for a whole day and then began looking for him among relatives and neighbors. When they didn’t find him, they went back to Jerusalem looking for him. (Luke 2:43-45)Can you imagine how Mary and Joseph must have felt when they realized their Son wasn’t with them? It wasn’t only their Son whom they had lost, but the Son of God. Did they panic, fearing the wrath of God, or did they understand that God was looking out for His Son?They had already journeyed out of Jerusalem for a day. Now they had to turn around and go back to look for Jesus. Surely, they turned this problem over to God, asking for His guidance and provision.Have you ever lost a child or someone you were with while in a store? You looked up and down every aisle, worried that something had happened to them. You may have gotten to the point of contacting store security. Hopefully, about that time you found your child hiding under a clothing rack, or your friend coming out of the restroom.What thoughts went through your mind while they were missing? Did you pray that God would keep them safe and return them to you? Did you praise God when they were found?
(From "The Early Life of Jesus in 40 Days")

Flashback Friday and Fate

Last night, as I was about to sit down at my computer to write, I noticed a mouse (not the rodent, the computer kind) in the box of old notebooks and such under my desk. I picked up the mouse, wondering how it got there. In amongst the notebooks and such under the mouse was a box labeled “old pictures”. I knew what was in there – old pictures, duh. But I still pulled the box out and took a look. A few old pictures, a few medium old ones and some from just a few years ago, a stack of maybe 15 or 20. In amongst the pictures was a letter to my mother from a cousin of mine written in 2006. The cousin has since died and I hadn’t seen him since I was a kid. At the end of the two page letter was a simple family tree of his kids and grandkids. I just went, “huh, when did my mom give me this and how had I missed it?”
I immediately went on-line and started stalking.
I know my mom’s family pretty much inside and out, sometimes too much information. But my dad’s side of the family has always been vague. His one brother and wife lived in town so we saw them fairly often. Another brother and wife lived an hour away so we visited a few times a year. Dad’s sister? She lived all over the place so sometimes, when she lived near, we would see her a lot, then she would move back to Chicago, or somewhere, and she’d fall off the map. And once that generation passed away none of the cousins stayed connected.
I always felt bad for my aunt Clara. She lost a son in Vietnam and a daughter to cancer. She was married twice, and I’m still working on what happened to her husbands. This is the only picture I have her, with her daughter Frances and husband Tony and her niece Jean and husband Walt. (Jean's daughter was my best friend in grade school, by the way.)  My other cherished picture would be the only one I have of my dad with his brothers Fritz and Frank. Don’t they look like they should be part of the 1960s Rat Pack? (Even though the picture was taken in the early 1980s?)

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - Tumaini Tuesday

So that I can end on the positive, let me start with the Ugly.

Kibera Slum in Nairobi. Very little good to say about that, mostly just lots of Ugly.

I guess that these fall under Bad because I believe that there is hope that these bad situations can change.

Such as a lack of water at Saikeri.

Or lack of quality housing at the SIDP camp at Maai Mahiu.

Or lack of school supplies at Southern Cross Academy at the SIDP.

But even in Kenya, there are stories of Good, successful programs which still need support but which are making a difference.

The Talia Women’s Shelter, rescuing girls from horrific situations.

Compassion International, raising children around the world from poverty, but in my little corner of the world, giving this beautiful child hope for a better future.

If you are in northern Wisconsin and want to hear more stories and see more pictures, I will be giving a presentation titled “A Trip to Kenya: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” on Sunday, January 31, starting at 10:15 am at St Paul Lutheran Church downtown Tomahawk. Post a message if you have any questions or want me to give a presentation for your own group sometime.