Invisible Babies

Have you ever seen children playing and wondered where the ideas and imagination comes from and where is goes as we grow up? How something invisible and unreal can be so completely real to a child?

Here on the ship, some of the younger children have created the 'invisible babies.' Last year sometime, some of the girls decided that they had 'babies' out on Deck 7. They would how their arms as if they had a baby, take them in and out of the strollers out on deck, take them for walks and even tell me that their babies are crying or hungry or tired -- but nothing was there. I think the thing that made me smile the most was the 'stealing' of the invisible babies. One girl would walk over to another girl, grab a handful of air - the baby - and then run away laughing saying that they had the baby. The first girl would then proceed to cry and scream and say that someone had taken her baby. Then I was left to deal with a girl crying about a handful of air. I tried to tell her that all she had to do was fold her arms like she had a baby and tell the other girl that she had missed the baby, but I think that was a little beyond their understanding :)

On the first or second day of school this year, the invisible babies made their debue. When we came in from outside, about half the class came in with their babies. Realizing that if these 'babies' ended up with us sitting on the carpet, there could be problems, I told them that they would need to have their babies sleep in their cubbies. A couple girls looked at me like I was crazy - put their baby in with their bags and papers!? Was I crazy?! I finally got all the kids to do it and the rest of the afternoon went fine. As the kids were leaving, I overheard one of the boys getting a little upset in the hallway because he wanted to come back into the room and get something. His mom was saying that he should probably just leave it in the room, thinking that he was talking about a toy or something. When I suck my head out and asked what he was wanting to do, he said he had to come in and get his baby from the table. I let him come in, he walked to the table, picked up a handful of air and then walked out of the room completely happy. I said to his mom 'invisible baby' and she just nodded knowingly.

Ahh, children.

Enjoying the Differences

Life on a ship is not always perfect. There are many things that some people never get used to, but sometimes God can give you the grace not just to live here but to enjoy the differences. Someone here on the ship wrote the following piece and I thought I would share it.

No Place Like Home
Think outside the box for a moment . . .

You live on a cruise ship.
You sail every 10 months.
Your roommates are from the other side of the world.
When you’re sick go down the stairs, there’s a hospital.
When you’re hungry, go up the stairs to the cafeteria.
If you love coffee, take to minutes to get to the Starbucks café.
If you want to go to church on Sunday, go up the stairs to the International Lounge.
If you’re hot, climb the stairs to the top deck – there’s a swimming pool.
Do you need a haircut? Turn right from your office – the hairdresser waits.
Bored? Love to read? Take a one minute walk to the library.
Do your kids need school? I suggest you walk up the stairs, there’s a sign ACADEMY.
Need council? The chaplain’s office is next door.
You never know, you might meet your future spouse.
Bored with your clothes? Go down the stairs – there’s a sign BOUTIQUE.
If you need toothpaste, there’s a ship shop next to the café.
If you need to withdraw money, there’s a bank next to the post office.

You live on a hospital ship.

God has had a way for people from over 30 nations to make a difference in Africa.
For missionaries, you have everything you need.
God has blessed you with food, shelter, air conditioning and electricity.
You don’t need mosquito nets.
You sleep on beds and not grass mats, no rats to chase.
Crew together from all over the world are thrown together on a Mercy Ship.
You begin to think outside the box.
Culture shock becomes a cross cultural experience.
Passions and desires are put to the test.
Seeing transformation in others gives you a purpose.
Goals begin to change - they start to steer towards making a difference.
Everyone becomes a piece that fits the puzzle.
Everyone on board Mercy Ships brings hope and healing through their gifts.
You leave home, get picked up at the airport,
You climb the gangway . . . You are onboard the ship.

Welcome to your new home, it’s a different journey.
A journey that has made a difference in over a thousand lives –
Lives including your own.

Written by Esther Biney

Summer, Texas and the Return

This summer has been busy - I wish I could say that I just did not have time to write, but really, it was more laziness than lack of time :)

Anyhow, for those of you who I was not able to see while I was in Ohio for a whole 2 weeks, I was in Ohio for a week in June, flew to Texas for Gateway training in July and then back to Ohio/Kentucky for about 5 days before I headed back to Africa. A busy summer, and not so much relaxing vacation, but still a good time and it was good to have a break from ship life. Although it felt really good to come back after six weeks away.

Gateway was fun - it is a month long training that Mercy Ships has started to try to get everyone on the same page as far as philosophy and goals. We spent a week on spiritual warfare and faith foundations, a week on conflict resolution (very important in a small community!), a week on worldview and how it affects relief and development actions in other countries and then the last week was spent working on 'Basic Safety Training'. I think for most people, this last week was the most fun because we had some time in the classroom learning firefighting and sea survival, but also a pratical test putting out fires and having fun in a swimming pool. I don't know that I will ever really be a true sailor or be able to be on a firefighting team here on the ship, but it was still good information and will help me to understand what other people are doing better. In both fire and sea, we had suits and equipment to use - see attached pictures. The boots, pants, jacket, hood, helmet and gloves needed to be put on in one minute and the red 'gumby' suit in two minutes. Once you got all the fire stuff on, it was hot, but luckily there was a little bit of shade near where we were working. The gumby suit was fun because it makes you float like a cork in the water - the only problem was that they did not really fit properly, so it was a bit awkward moving around.

Anyhow, it was a good summer, went by way too quickly and now I am already getting ready to teach again. 10 crazy preschoolers - yikes! I am actually really looking forward to being back with this group again - most of them I have worked with sometime in the past year. It was nice to come back last week and have parents and kids be excited that I would be teaching. Pray for me the rest of the week. Tomorrow is the last day to prepare, Thursday we start and Friday we try to get settled in. Hopfully it all works out :)