Stories from Josh & Carrie

montague book mill

2010-03-06T16:44:00.000-08:00

Back for a whirlwind visit to mass. Wonderful to see family and some friends. Realizing how different are lives are her in California verses MAss. We have 20-something years of relationships, connections and communities there, here we are still just in the beginning stages.
It was especially wonderful to visit the bookmill, with it's grassy green tea, huge windows by the rushing sawmill river, and all the history whispering in it's walls. yes and sit there reading over all the good books..sigh, life is good.

Parents

2009-05-09T16:16:00.000-07:00

Here is just a few photos from my parents visit in April.......

Josh's homebrew fridge!

2009-03-04T14:35:00.001-08:00

Josh found this great "homebrew fridge" from the 1930's that still works beautifully! Josh sanded it down and we're just waiting for a sunny day to finish the painting and rewiring!

BE MY VALENTINE

2009-02-14T13:42:00.001-08:00

Tahoe

2009-01-18T20:30:00.000-08:00

Just got back from Tahoe today. Josh's boss paid for the Santa Rosa and the San Diego office's to go, stay in a mansion, with 2 days of skiing/snowboarding. Friday Josh and I with a group of people took snowboarding lessons from this Kiwi dude who was pretty rad but kept telling stories involving tips and him being poor, think he may have been dropping hints, but still not sure. It seems these days one is expected to tip for everything, but not actually tell you this is customary.....However, lessons were great! Toatally beat my highschool days of flying straight down the mt not knowing a thing, heading straight towards the woods. We started the day off in a group of 6 from the office, I was the last girl standing until I landed on my coccyx pretty hard, then I spent the rest of the afternoon iceing my butt in the snow. Josh as usual did amazing, picking up the sport pretty quickly and somehow on his second day of snowboarding ended up on the very top of the mt (only for experts), contempalted life and death, then boarded his way down the mt.
HIw boss took all 20 or so of us to dinner sat. night in heavenly village, which was all lit up like it was still christmas, complete with outdoor skating rink covered in light up stars roght outside our restaurant. There we were educated in all thr different types of sake,
hot sake=(get me drunk quick)
cold unfiltered=milky and sweet
cold filtered=different variations, sweet or more bitter but always smooth
and I tried a raw quail egg sushi with fishroe-I'll try anything once (it was actually quite good)
Here's a few pics of Tahoe

napa and san fran all in one day

2008-12-03T14:18:00.000-08:00

Rombauer Vineyard, Napa Valley

2008-11-20T18:18:00.000-08:00

Rombauer has the BEST buttery chardonnay and their Merlot 04 is amazing!

Santa??????????

2008-11-11T16:15:00.000-08:00

It's November here and I am becoming a Cali wimp. I start bundling when it hits 60 and is cloudy! How did this happen???? I am affraid I very well may die of cold in December when we head back to MAss! But even if I die of cold, it will b worth it, can't wait to see friends and family! We'll be home December 18-30th!!!!!! Party on Wayne!!!!! Party on Garth!!! (speaking of in seattle my #1 fav costume was a couple dressed as Wayne and Garth, I kept staring at Garth, he was totally acting like him all night and never quit for a moment! Second fav. costume was Santa at the bar)

Santa?????????????

Seattle

2008-11-05T15:30:00.001-08:00

josh and I had such a blast visiting kyle and hanging out in Seattle!

America's next top American Bulldog

2008-10-06T14:53:00.000-07:00

Beau posing on the front step (look at the wreath I made!)
href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ihPv5h8hGUA/SOqLVSK2-JI/AAAAAAAAAPs/pZTBQr_MGBc/s1600-h/IMG_4846.JPG">
Beau lounging

Frisky Beau (he dragged the toilet paper out the bathroom door and started chewing on it)

Sleeping Beauty

Beau pondering the meaning of life

Monterey sea Kayaking/camping trip

2008-09-24T16:40:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we explored Monterey CA with some of our new friends Bethany and Nathan. They as well, have recently moved to Cali, so it's been fun to explore together with them. We went to the Monterey Aquarium, had a campfire on the beach, had our campsite invaded by a pack of racoons, and put on wetsuits and ventured out to sea for some great kayaking. kayaking pics are to come but for now....

Meet Beau!!!!!

2008-08-25T15:32:00.000-07:00

I FINALLY GOT MY PUPPY!!!! Beau is american bulldog/lab black brown pup that we rescued form an animal shelter an hour away. He's 3 1/2 months old and weighs 23 llb, but seriously grows everyday about 1/2 an inch. Everywhere we take him we here a parade of "awwwwww so cute!!!!!!!", These pics do not do him justice, so more will be coming! I am trying not to spoil him too much, now I understand the phrase, "Don't give me those puppy dog eyes!" Tommorow we will take him to KinderPuppy class again. Josh loves him and has made up a special rap song for him, it's very cute! I will secretly try and record it for ya'll!

A few Great Mass People

2008-08-14T16:00:00.000-07:00

Luther Burbank Garden, Santa Rosa

2008-05-13T14:12:00.000-07:00

great pics!!!!

2008-05-05T09:03:00.000-07:00

Hey all check out my girl's photography!!

http://www.ambercurciophotography.org/

magical ocean

2008-04-29T13:22:00.000-07:00

So there's this song by switchfoot, that lately I can't get out of my head. I haven't listened to it in a while, but the words I like to think about often to gage where I am at. It's simple but the questions are good. I think sometimes we must return to the basics.

"This is your life, are you who you want to be
this is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be
when the world was younger and you had everything to lose "

I like that both Josh and I when we were younger thought about living in the bay area of CA, but never really talked about it, or pursued it, but it happened anyway somehow. We were talking about this at the beach the other day as we watched the sunset. It was so nice, after work, we hopped in the truck and caught the sunset together. I've decided there is something magical about the ocean, and this place. It's hard I miss my BFF's (as Jes's kids like to say) but it's been good here to live in the sun, to spend more time together, to be more active and green.

Armstrong Redwood National Forest

2008-03-22T22:13:00.001-07:00

Josh and I went hiking around here today. It was so beautiful! Just amazing to see how old some of these trees are, were talking pre-Columbus sailing the ocean blue! Some of the trees were Kebler elf living like!

fish on the doorstep

2008-03-18T17:03:00.000-07:00

Will the person who left a fish swimming in a bag on my doorstep, please say "I"?

I know this guy crawled up my window, but the fish did not hop over to my place!

I grew this one! It's my jade plant!

Road Trip Part 2 KS- South Cali

2008-03-07T21:29:00.000-08:00

and still more trip

2008-02-20T14:21:00.001-08:00

more road trip

2008-02-20T14:07:00.000-08:00

A bit of fog , eh?!

more info

2008-02-20T10:12:00.000-08:00

more trip

2008-02-20T09:20:00.001-08:00

So this is actually a tower of trucks-pretty crazy

2008-02-19T17:04:00.000-08:00

Hey Ya'll!!! Bloging is back and we are on the other side of the states!!!

2008-02-19T16:19:00.000-08:00

Here are a few of the first of many pics starting from back in MAss.

So yeah, we have arrived and it was a long crazy trek! Here was the itinary:
February 3rd= Amherst, MA to Columbus, OH
February 4th= Columbus, OH to Columbia, MO
February 5th= Columbia, MO to stuck in KS with ice packed roads , high winds, snow
February 6th= Still in KS to Westminister, Co to see Melody!!!
February 7th= Westminister, Co to Flagstaff, AZ (had to go South, north was a complete whiteout)
February 8th= Flagstaff, AZ to Sacramento CA to pick up Beno!!! Yeah Ben and Jess they are the bestest. BFF!!
February 9th= Sacramento, CA to Santa Rosa, CA--home!!!! and happy bday to melody!

we're home!!!

2007-08-30T19:43:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,
Well after a week of travelling, including a couple of days to relax in England, we have arrived and are now back home. Thank you all for keeping up with our blog this summer; it has proven to be quite the experience at the end of which 435 families have a home, a village now has 5 bridges, the famlies have been trained in Health and Hygiene, and Carrie and I were able to experience it all. Here are a couple of pictures from the summer that Carrie and I really have enjoyed:

orphan family

2007-08-12T06:09:00.000-07:00

dancing lessons from Nafisa

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

hanging out on our front stoop

No, I am not pregnant, my shirt is just funny
sorry all those hoping

girls school

2007-08-06T09:45:00.000-07:00

Visited an Afghan girls school that has 2,000 students. Many classrooms were just tents, others just had chalkboards, some with rugs, some without. All the same, it was wonderful to see so many girls with the freedom and desire to learn.

This is why I married this man

2007-08-03T05:35:00.000-07:00

Health and Hygiene Program

2007-07-30T05:05:00.000-07:00

This class is taught in one of the shelters that just needs some last touches before the refugee family moves in. The teacher has become a good friend of mine. She is about my age, bilingual, and is in med-school to be a surgeon. Quite the modern Afghan lady, yet still holds traditions, ie., asks her father before coming to our place for lunch, wears a burka in public.
The class is going quite well. Many women thank us for coming. We go to all the villages where we have built shelters and then teach health and hygiene classes. We teach about personal hygiene,basic sanitation,Pre-Intra-Postnatal care, diseses, and nutrition, to sum it up.
(the women hide even though I had their and their husbands permission to take photo's for modesty, honor, shyness, ect.)

hubby with beard

2007-07-27T10:10:00.000-07:00

As requested a pic of my beautiful hubby with his new look. Also check out the wooden beamed roof.

One of the shelters for the refugees

Afghan women & kids

2007-07-20T10:24:00.001-07:00

These pics were taken at a women's NGO that was running a fish farm. The fish farm consisted of one 4 ft by 2 ft murky "pond". They are one of the many women NGO's we have been checking out. The women were very poor, but even still offered to kill their only chicken in my honor for coming to visit and taking interest.

Bonhoeffer

2007-07-16T06:04:00.000-07:00

If we do not give thanks daily in which we have been placed, even where there is no great experience, no discoverable riches, but much weakness, small faith and difficulty; if on the contrary, we only keep complaining to God that everything is so paltry…then we hinder God from letting us grow. –Dietrich Bonhoeffer (with my small revisions)

In Afghanistan I have discovered Bonhoeffer. I have read him before, but never really had the energies and time to meditate on his words. The past few years I have been stuffing and reserving much brain space for things such as EKG rhythms and signs and symptoms of different types of shock, ect. It is quite refreshing to have the brain power to be able to handle Bonhoeffer.
For me the above passage (which with my revisions I may have massacred-sorry Mr. D.B.), has been so helpful. My expectations sometimes far exceed my reality. Sometimes this causes me to be scared to hope, expect the worse, and if it turns out better I’ll be even more excited. But life without hope is dull and depressing. Sometimes I take the opposite approach, get so so so excited and when reality comes to pass, I complain that it has not lived up to all I have hoped for.
What I think big Mr. D.B. was getting at was we should take neither approach I am usually accustomed to choose between. Instead, we should be thankful to God for every good in every situation. BUT we should also not accept mediocracy and overlook the changes that need to be made. “We should work for change and improvement, but we will only do this effectively if we are thankful for the good that is already there.”

Soraya-jon

2007-07-12T05:39:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!
Josh and I miss you all so much! We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends. Thank you for all your comments and support, it means a lot.
Today I went to the village to visit our little patient Soraya. We call her Soraya-jon. (When u add jon to the end of a name it is like “dear” or a term of endearment.) Marigold Fund has been helping this little 8-year-old pay for the removal of a tumor in her cervical spine area. Typically, this would leave her as a quadriplegic; however she has feeling from her breast line up, and has been working hard with exercise to use her hands. I have seen her hands go from being fists mostly, to today being able to blow bubbles on her own! Holding the bubbles in one hand, dipping the stick, and bringing it to her mouth. I have been treating her bedsores she got while in the hospital in Pakistan. Soraya gave me an afghan name of “Perry” which means like a fairy. Her family is poor but so kind and giving. Today they gave me a beautiful head scarf that they made; u can see it in the pic. Also there is a pic. of Soraya’s younger brother, he is so cute. Please pray for continued healing for this little girl. She wants to go back to school badly and seems very smart. So many women here are uneducated; it would be wonderful to see her grow in strength and knowledge.

Deaf School & Donkey Riding!!! Yee-haaa

2007-07-11T07:52:00.000-07:00

I got to ride a donkey. I got to ride a donkey. donkey dance-da-da-da-dauh-uh-uh-uh-donkey. I had been telling our main translator I really wanted to ride a donkey and we just happened to be in this village where the bridge is that Michael helped build, and there were lots of lovely donkeys.

Bridges: Old and New

2007-07-10T06:42:00.000-07:00

The next three pictures are from a Marigold Fund project that finished up this past fall. Some of you may recognize it as it is the bridge that Michael Greene came out here to work on. It is a very beautiful bridge that covers a river that rivels with some white water rivers I have been down.

The last two pictures are of the same bridge and overall project. This bridge is a 1 of the 4 sub-project of the overall Shelter for Life-Taloqan current project; the others are hygiene eduacation, 435 houses, 435 Latrines. 4 bridges in total are being constructed. All of the construction (houses, Latrines and Bridges) are being built by the families and villages that will be using them on a daily basis.

Lving in Taloqan

2007-07-01T08:32:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,
We have now been in Taloqan for 4 days now and it is going well. After settling into both ours and Shelter For Life's (SFL) newly construced room, we are starting to get into the swing of what we will be doing during our 2-month stent here. Carrie has been monitoring a hygiene program that is run by Care for Afghan Families (CAF) becuase they are the sub-contractors that SFL hired on to carry through the project. Yesterday I went out to a local village to look at the progress, and discuss what is going to happen, with 4 bridges that are being built. The current bridges consist of logs, mud and grass with mud filled bags on each side as supports. The new bridges will be concrete, entirely. These bridges are between 10-15' long and are generally 5' above the water.
Here are some pictures of our drive through the Hindukush moutain range, there is a more specific name however I dont know it and I much less know how to spell it.
talk to you later
-Josh

Drivng around Kabul

2007-06-24T08:57:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,
Here are some pictures of Dan Terry, Carrie and I driving around Kabul.

Kabul, Afghanistan

2007-06-19T07:04:00.000-07:00

We are finally here in Kabul after 22 hrs of flying and a night stay in Dubai. Can u say JET LAG. The time difference here is 8 1/2 hours ahead of home.
We flew from Boston-London-Dubai-Kabul. On The flight to London I met a Muslim girl about my age and we spoke about her worldviews, christianity and Islam. I watched her dedication as she did her cleansing and prayer rituals at all the right times.
Dubai was such an intersting clash of cultures,such a broad spectrum of modern to traditional, and all seemed to center around money. For pretty cheap american money we stayed in a beautiful hotel there. The temperature in Dubai was HOT!!!! My jaw dropped open as we left the airport and went into the outdoors. I have never experienced heat like that ever before-muggy and hot!! In Dubai's airport-where people do not believe in lines and you must pay for going over in baggage weight before you can get your boarding pass, Josh & I made some friends going to Kabul who invited us to tea and coffee while we waited for our plane to board.
Kabul's airport consists of one small building. The luggage conveyor belt was broken so bags were brought in by hand and mounds of people swarmed to get their luggage. I sat back giggling guarding our few bags while Josh jumped in to get the rest.
We are currently staying with Dan Terry (Anneli & Sarai & Hilja's dad). Took my first bucket shower this am. Plums and cherries are delicious, and the place is very nice. We will leave for Taloqan in a few days with Gary. We are trying to learn a little Dari,touring the city, eating lots of nan, and trying to absorb it all while keeping our eyelids held open.
Kabul is very much war torn, but very beautiful all the same.
We have been taking many pictures but are unable to load them at this time. We will try to write again soon and put pic's up. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers-we love you