I'mmmm Baaacckkk!!

Well… has it ever been a LONG time since my last blog or what! I won’t bore you with all the details of WHY I haven’t done a blog post in seven months – ok… maybe I’ll bore you just a little, but needless to say, it’s been some CRAZY months!

When I last left you, we were trying to get the “Campus” (that’s what we are calling it now – not “Compound”but “Campus” and as hard as I try… beautiful downtown compoundland is still my name of choice) whipped into shape, and I must say things are coming along swimmingly.

We were also celebrating the fact that the two containers left Little Rock, and we were praying for them to arrive by mid-August… ok… we are now rethinking OUR definition of mid-August, and the shipping company’s! Clearly their calendar and ours are different… like THAT matters… they showed up here mid-October. Another lesson learned. Whatever they say… double or triple it! The shipping company did agree to hold them under lock and key until we got back in country, which we did on Monday night, and they TELL us they will be here on the campus by late tomorrow or Tuesday – we’ll see! And I just pray the under lock and key was a promise kept as well!

The campus does look great though. If you remember, I left TCBITW here for two weeks, and came on home without him (because we just KNEW the containers were going to show up in that two week time frame – ha!). Well… he went a titch crazy with the paint cans! We now have, not only Rwandan flags painted on some roofs, but also the biggest American flags as well. He did abide by my request to paint the tops of the residential houses a nice green color – most of them. He painted one yellow and one bright blue! At least all the rainbow buildings are at the front of the campus and to his credit… everyone else seems to love all he’s done… me?, I’m still adjusting! But all the flowers we have planted have really taken hold and the campus is bursting with color, as are our gardens. We are still trying to convince the Rwandans though, that lettuce does NOT need to grow to 4 feet tall and produce flowers on top. They simply DO NOT grasp the concept of picking something when it is “so small” as they say! Same is true for the basil… it’s all a learning curve, and well, I guess lettuce and basil are pretty steep ones!

Getting back into the swing of things here has been a non-issue really (other than the jet-lag, and man oh man does jet-lag ever play a number on this old broad). Being home in Little Rock this fall was such a complete blur of craziness – for so many reasons, and I had someone tell me, “it sure doesn’t seem like you’ve been home four months”… well, that’s because I’ve only seen you TWICE! And that’s just the way it was… we were on the go from the minute we hit the ground. We worked harder on Rwanda in the states than we do in Rwanda - or that’s at least how it felt!I hadn’t been home three days before Russell calls to tell me that the Minister of Education was in Little Rock to meet with some of the Rwandan Presidential Scholar students, and that I needed to pretend I was him (Russell) and attend everything that was related to his visit, and help him understand what all we were doing here… ok, sure… at this point, I don’t know my name because of the jet-lag. I was getting up at 3 am and wanting to go to bed at 3 pm, but I smoozed and introduced and mingled and explained till I was blue in the face… guess it worked! He told someone he liked “that woman” that lives in Musanze. The week after he got back he became the new Prime Minister… that’s me, Cheryl Rainey, “that woman” that lives in Musanze, with friends in high places J. Maybe I should smooze in a jet-lagged state more often!

A few weeks later we also hosted the Rwandan Minister of Infrastructure, who spoke at the Clinton School of Public Service, the Rwandan Ambassador to the US, and the Rwandan Commercial Attaché to the US for six days. Oh, the details and planning that went into THAT as well. They met with everyone from the Governor to top business leaders. A very successful trip and on a subsequent trip to DC, we met with the Ambassador and Attaché again. To none of these meetings, might I add, was I able to attend in my yoga pants, fleece pullover and trail runners – my dress of choice when back in the states! SUCH a bummer! I own exactly one nice pair of black pants and boy oh boy did they get worn out… and as time went on and those breakfast, lunch and dinner (not to mention in between coffee and after dinner dessert) meetings started to catch up to me on the scale… sheesh… 15 pounds people – FIFTEEN pounds… that’s what I gained in 4 months! That is just plain ridiculous – I was VERY thankful those black pants have a little lycra in them. But, hopefully, as has been in the past, it won’t take me long on the “African diet” to lose it all plus some! HOPEFULLY! But at least I brought back several pairs of new yoga pants!

All that to say… we spent much of our time casting the vision of the Musanze Opportunity Center (MOC), and we have had the incredible support of our entire board who puts as much time and effort into all of this as we do… our goal is to raise a million dollars by next April. We have a nice start, but if any of you hit the lottery…we have a backhoe and other construction equipment we could sure use over in these parts!

We did get in a few get-away trips. RR spent some time in Jackson Hole backpacking with Josh, and I spent a few days in Destin with Brit and her husband, Kelly. We also spent a weekend in Naples, FL with my very bestest, Kathleen, and her husband (after she spent a few days in LR with me), and I went straight from there back to Destin to spend a week with my mom and dad! I did a girls weekend with my “Wolf Pack” girls in Memphis, and as previously mentioned, RR and I spent a few days in DC in meetings and hiring an Executive Chef for the MOC. He and his family will be moving here in late spring. I also got in a trip to Vegas with my mom and sister, and Josh was able to come down from Jackson to meet us, so that was nice! Christmas was great this year, since Josh’s girlfriend of four years, Kathi (who is German and lives and goes to school in Germany) was able to come to LR for 10 days. First time all six of us have been together, and it made my heart soar! That honestly is the still hardest part about living here… being away from family and friends!

But, it’s been awesome getting back to baby Elizabeth, who isn’t a baby any longer. At 19 months, she is walking and talking (in English – YAY), and as stubborn as ever – that’s my girl! All of the staff is making great strides in English, although we are still working on getting some phrases out of their vocabulary. For example, instead of “little by little” they say “slow by slow”, and for “last night”they say “toooo night”. It cracks us up! And the teaching continues!

Our car is finally in the process of getting fixed because we lugged six trunks – most of them with car parts – back with us! The funny thing is, when the mechanic went to do a“test drive” yesterday, one of the tires was flatter than Flat Stanley, and off he goes… while three guards were watching… I literally chased him down to stop him! You know it’s bad, when I am the one giving car advice – EEECK!! Frasier Crane is fine and dandy and still stalking people… and I mean… follows you around and spreads his wings when you don’t pay him attention! But, his plumage is really getting beautiful!

In the next seven months we have LOTS of visitors coming and people moving in… Frances, a Canadian teacher, and the new head of our English Institute, and her husband are now on campus. We have a chiropractor that is trying to get that going here in Rwanda moves in next week, and then we have some folks that will be joining us for a few weeks or months at a time. We have several different sets of business folks coming and Fellowship Bible is sending a mission trip over in June… SOOO, things are hoppin here at the MOC and, God willing, will continue to do so.

In closing, I would like to say that if I didn’t get to see you much (or at all) while we were home, I am truly sorry. I even got a few “oh, hi, I’m Brittany… are YOU my mother?”from my very own child! I never would have imagined that this “let’s move to Rwanda to help as best we can, for a YEAR OR TWO” thing would have turned into such a large scale, over the top, will only happen if God shows up BIG TIME, kinda project, but it has, and the only thing Russell and I know to do is to be as faithful to that as we can. Anything other than our very best just isn’t acceptable. I hope that next fall we are able to find more of a balance between work and down time. I honestly don’t know if we (or at least I) can keep up the pace we kept this fall… but, since we are all in, I’ll let you know how that goes! And if you didn’t get a Christmas card and letter this year… don’t feel slighted… for the first time in 27 years, I didn’t get one out… THAT is how busy I was! Oh, the shame!

I’ve included some new photos of the campus (and the rainbow roofs), along with Elizabeth and Frasier. We would LOVE a visit from any and all that want to come! Our door (or gate as it were) is always open – not really, it stays closed and locked, but we’ll keep the lights on for ya!

The Campus with the new green roofs

Mama Bear's new pink/green minky blanky - thanks to my kids!

Ahhh...William Sonoma Hand Soap & Lotion

A little taste of home along with the other comfort items - I just love the "Gone to Wal-Mart" sign - I wish!

Our living room/dining room area

Our Bedroom - tent included!

The front of the campus with the Rwandan flags painted on the roofs!

The flower bed in front of our house!

Yellow Roof!

Frasier Crane!

Our ornamental lettuce!

The biggest American flags EVER!

The peppers are looking GREAT!

As is the califlower!

That would be the "Frasier Crane look"!

My favs - the hydrangeas

And this would be the "Elizabeth look"

Mt. Muhabura as seen from our house!

Mt. Sabyino as seen from the north side of the campus!

And WHAT is a Southern girl to do without her Tervis Tumblers??