More Training Opportunities

One of the many great things about working with Liberian teachers is their enthusiasm for professional development and teacher training!  Our once a year workshops are just not enough to satisfy their excitement for learning new classroom techniques.  Fortunately we have found that networking with another US-based teacher training group can help our friends in Liberia get at least two workshops per year.  Liberia NOW is a Texas-based group whose training team regularly travels to Liberia in June to deliver quality professional development workshops.  LOEP and Liberia NOW have partnered in developing training programs in the past year.  This month our friends at New Life School (pictured above) are attending Liberia NOW workshops on Critical Thinking Skills, Professional Ethics, Developing an Administration Team, and Guided Reading. 

New Life School was established by a local church in answer to their community's need.  We have featured pictures of New Life on this blog in the past.  The small stick-built building is a heavily-used facility with more than 500 children using it all day for school and adult literacy students attending class in the evenings.

More than 80% of Liberia's schools were rendered useless during the war and re-building is an enormous challenge.  More than half of children in Liberia do not attend school because there are simply not enough schools for them.  Community schools and mission schools such as New Life stand in that gap, trying to meet the needs of their community's school age children.  Reports from Liberia are that teachers and administrators from New Life are getting the most out of their professional development workshops this month!


 

Andrew William Iden

Introducing.......Andrew William Iden. He came into our lives on September 10, 2010. He weighed in at 7lbs 15oz. and 21" tall. As you can cleary see he is perfect in every way. Mom, dad and little Andrew are doing well in Winchester Medical Center and hope to be settled in at home in a day or two. So what do you all think? Perfect, isn't he???

More New Chapters

How exciting to report (to the very few who may not know by now) that Win and Kris ae expecting a baby in September! The first of the next generation for the Browntown Wood-Idens is coming along and more changes too.

Little Caroline Elizabeth or Andrew William will be a Shenandoah Valley native as Win and Kris plan to move to the Warren County area. If all goes as planned, Win will begin working at the Northern Virginia 4-H Center where he first began his 4-H camping career as a 7 year old camper! Win is returning to his roots and Kris is putting down new ones as they come back to the Valley and begin their lives as parents.

Needless to say, Gary, Beth and Grammy are over the moon about these wonderful changes.

Updates from Browntown

It's been quite awhile since I posted any news here. It seems like Facebook is now the place for sharing news. MUCH has happened in the past few months, the MOST exciting news is that Win and Kris got married! Most of you are aware, but some may not know. It was a very nice affair, and in true Win fashion, the ceremony took place on the grounds of the 4-H center in Abingdon, VA. It was a beautiful day and we are thrilled to welcome Kris into our family. Here's a small preview of the pictures that are posted online at the link below.



If you want to see more head on over to my Picasa shared photo album (there are lots of other pictures there as well besides the wedding photos) Here's the link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/www.loeproject.org/Win_KrisWedding#


Have a look around and enjoy !

Mom and the LOEP team are hard at work preparing for their next trip to Liberia next January. The team will have a different make up for the next trip. Phyllis won't be making the trip as she is in a new job position in Richmond. While she won't be there 'with' the team, her presence will surely be felt as she is contributing to preparations and training. Welcome new 'trainer' Karen Garner who will work with hearing impared children and such. Mom will fill in the details as time permits either here or on the LOEP Blog. Stay tuned!

Another major change in the last few months is that Aunt Ginger and Uncle Rich will be moving to Florida! Wish them luck as they begin this new chapter in their lives. They have wanted to move south for some time now. Most of you know they've wintered in Florida for several years. They will be in the Jacksonville area which is closer to Gina, Thomas and sweet sweet Remi! Lucky them!

Several weeks of major travel have soured me on airline travel. I won't bore you all here with details, but just know that I've been successful in pursuading Agfa that "work from home" makes so much more sense. I begin the pilot project very soon. It's so nice working here in Browntown. No one can see the 'bunny slippers' Just kidding, I don't REALLY wear them, but Duke is constantly by my side which is just fine by him and me.

Write/post when you all can. And send a shout out to Win, Kris, Aunt and Uncle as they all begin new chapters in their lives.

Family Photos

Well, Dexter has a new cousin and Duke has a niece. Molly came home today. All we have so far are blurry phone pics, but here they are.

 

  

  

She's still getting used to things, and the cat is trying to adjust.  Molly's a sweet girl, resting on the couch now...but she needs to learn how to walk on a leash, never having seen one until a week ago.  We'll take better pictures soon!

Happy "Gottcha" Day to Dexter

I'm reminded that today is the 1st Anniversary of the day the Dexter came into our (and by "our" I mean Andrew and Emmalee) lives. Happy Gottcha Day Dex!!!

Home Again, Home Again...

As you all know, we arrived home safe and sound. Took Em to the airport to go to Atl. this morning and she has arrived there by now. Everything is now back to normal - "All in our places with bright, shining faces," as we used to say when you all were little.

The house and garage look kinda funny with the pine trees gone from the side yard. They have been there for more than 30 years. Grammy planted them all those years ago for a wind screen from that north side of the house. Guess we will plant something else there now.

Duke was glad to see me and sniffed for a looongg time. The hot shower was really good and it was nice to be in my own bed. Dad and I are sitting here watching the news waiting for the roast chicken to be done for supper and tomorrow I go back to work.

Already planning for the 2010 Africa trip!

A Picnic in Liberia

Today we are going out to view the property where CRM has begun clearing to develop their residential/agricultural program. It is a distance from the city and we will take a picnic so we can lunch there.

Our time is growing short now and we are beginning the process to sort out for packing and leaving behind. Lots of training materials, supplies we brought and items we have no need to carry home will be left here for others who come to work on short-term projects. Emile's living arrangement here is well-suited to hosting small groups in a building separate from his house (only steps away, literally) and I expect he will have others coming to work here who may have need of some of the supplies we brought. Others who came before us have done the same and we have been well-stocked with necessities.

We do not feel ready yet to leave. There is so much yet to do.

Wind & Tree Damage

 

As bad as this looks it could have been so much worse.


 



 


Amazingly Phylis's car sustained no damage even though it was under all of this mess.


 

The "silent" victim in all of this was poor Duke. He was home all by himslef because I was out of town the night they blew old Browntown down.

The trees have been removed and things are getting back to normal. I'm hoping all traces are cleaned up before Mom returns from Liberia on Monday (2/23).

Our last Week Here

This is our last week here in Liberia! So sorry to have to leave (although I would like to be home for a bit to check up on all there - just don't want to leave).

Just in case you all check in here I need to let you know this Liberia trip may be an annual thing! So much to do here and so many opportunities to do it!

Looks like your really enjoying this adventure. As Gary says, you must feel quite proud of your efforts. I know we are all very proud of your wonderful contribution to a very worthy cause.

Love to all

Rich and Ginger

Daily (Almost) Posts from Liberia

Mom & Emmalee are doing a stellar job of posting to the LOEP Blog daily. If you have time, head over and read some of their posts. There no pictures yet as the internet connection is extremely slow. They promise to keep trying. Training gets underway on Monday (2/9) at LCMS. Visits to the orphanages will happen soon after. CRM and AAMOM being the two they plan to visit. Fellow LOEP board member and good friend Brenda Bernard arrives in Liberia on Sunday (2/8) to join Mom, Emma and Phylis. Brenda will accompany the the ladies to CRM and AAMOM and serve as a guide and driver, along with her husband. Much thanks to them for being there. Brenda, for those who don't know, has lots of family in and around Monrovia and travels often to see them. I'm sure there will be time for Mom et al to reunite with "Mommy" (Brenda's mother) and Peaches (sister) both of whom we met in Atlanta before they moved back to Liberia.

Ok, for all of you who have time, head over to the LOEP Blog and check it out!

On The Ground in Liberia

Well it's been a long time in the planning stages, but today, at approx. 2:00pm EST Mom, Emmalee and Phylis landed in Liberia. They called my cell as they were being driven from the airport to the Lot Carey School where they will begin teacher training on Monday morning. The trip went well and there were no issues with oversize baggage (we sweated that). All luggage made it from Dulles airport to Brussels and finally to Liberia. Amazing when you think about it. Mom has promised daily phone calls (she is armed with an international cell phone thanks to Joy Hancock, a young woman who made hers available on loan). I will update this blog as time permits. Of course I urge everyone to visit the LOEP blog where mom will post messages from Liberia when she has Internet access. She's promised pictures too! Please them in your thoughts and prayers as they continue on this most excellent adventure. There is a link to the LOEP blog on the homepage of this blog. Check it out.

Off to Liberia!

It's been awhile since I updated the blog I know, but things have been quite hectic with the holidays and all. Thanks for reading. The time is almost here. It seems like ages ago that Mom, Emma and Phylis decided to go to Liberia, but it's almost here. They plan to leave on or around February 3 for Monrovia. They will be gone for 3 weeks. The planning has been quite extensive as you can imagine. They will be conducting teacher training at Rev. Emile Sam-Pele's school and plan to visit Sam Cargbo at CRM also. I will be posting more as the trip gets underway and there is now a LOEP Blog which will contain postings as often as time and internet connect permits while they are in Africa. LOEP Blog will take you to the new site. Check often and don't be shy with your comments. They will love hearing from everyone, just as we'll love hearing from them. Remember, if you're not sharing, you're not caring! Thanks to all who helped make this trip possible.

Oh, oh, Mexico

Kris & I have returned from our Mexico trip. We spent 9 days near Playa del Carmen, at the Iberostar Paraiso Maya. Here are some of the pictures we took: