Due to our traveling life style we knew we couldn’t take Nathan’s full acoustic drum set with us. After much research we bought a new electronic Hart Prodigy drum set from Musician’s Friend and a used Alesis DM5 drum module (the brains of an electronic drum set) off of ebay. Although it all breaks down to fit in one suitcase, it is still too much to carry around to our next adventure (TBA). Given that this has been used for about a year, we think $700 is a fair price. The Electronic adapter has been modified for European plugs. Here is a youtube video of a guy playing with the same setup that we have except that ours has black mesh drum heads.
Monthly Archive for January, 2008
This is a picture of one of the Iraqi boys who had heart surgery recently in Israel and in now ready to head back to Iraq. He lives near the Iran border and speaks Kurdish instead of Arabic. Despite the language barrier, nothing brings on a temporary smile like a banjo. His smile lasted through his first lesson, but by the time he was playing solo, I think he was ready to be done with that bright obnoxious bluegrass sound and get back home to familiar music. Hopefully there was enough demonstration of love given by Christians in Israel that he will someday be receptive to the gospel of Yeshua, and obtain a smile in his heart that never fades.
This past Sunday, the director of “Shevet Achim” (www.shevet.org) invited me to travel with him to the main Gaza crossing to pick up a child with heart condition for surgery in Israel. On the drive from Jerusalem to the Erez Crossing, Alex told me more about Shevet Achim and how they work to locate and support families who will be medically served by “Save a Child’s Heart” (www.sach.org). 
Today’s child, a 6 year old that I’ll call Amy, came accompanied by her grandmother. It must have been frightening to enter Israel given the culture of hatred Gaza expresses toward Israel. They sat quietly in the back seat. Even though they neither spoke English, I was sure I could rely on my years of teaching elementary school to draw out a smile. Fortunately, Alex speaks Arabic, Hebrew, and English. After some small talk I played my harmonica but, to my surprise, Amy showed no spark of interest. No songs, no smile. The grandmother pulled up Amy’s coat sleeve to reveal a withered right arm ending with finger nubs at the elbow. Continue reading ‘Repairing a heart from Gaza’
Danny and his family can’t seem to make enough money to make ends meet during the great depression. In search of a job, Danny’s father leaves. While he’s gone they struggle to retain their good humor and family pride. With Danny’s mom pregnant, Danny is finally forced to do whatever he can to make enough money for food, That could mean shinning shoes, helping his mother with the laundry business, or even begging.
very cleverly written and fun to read, its one of my favorites.
The following is a paper I wrote for my Advanced Composition class.
In the schools of wealthy first world countries teachers usually implement expensive computer labs for the furtherance of technological education. Low budget schools in third world countries rarely have this opportunity because of cost issues. Linux Operating Systems along with LTS (Linux Terminal Server) technology offers a low cost solution. Linus Torvalds along with other programmers around the world developed this multi-user, multi-tasking OS (operating system) as a free alternative to major commercial OS’s. LTS allows many people to simultaneously use the same computer processor. Because a Linux Lab provides low-cost, low-maintenance, and long lasting solutions, schools should implement this framework for the most efficient use of resources. Continue reading ‘Loving the Linux Lab’
Just Nichols flashes back to the 2000 -2001 school year when our traveling adventure started with a Fulbright Teacher exchange to Colombia, South America. That exchange placement could have been nearly anywhere in that enormous country, but on the outskirts of Bogotá, population 8 million, Nathan and Dad were placed in a private bilingual school within a 20 minute walk from the only school for missionary kids in the country. We could not ignore the providential provision and so Karen volunteered to help teach and we enrolled Justin and Renae. The following year, Dad was granted an extended leave from public teaching and volunteered to teach at the school for MKs, where Nathan moved into the 5th grade. The amazing experience led to a career shift whereby, during a two year return to the USA, Mom got her masters in teaching Spanish and Dad eventually resigned from teaching in public schools in order to volunteer overseas. Destination unknown. Future secure.
Inspired by a poster, here is Justin and Dad playing “Oh When The Saints” in the Paris underground.
Renae filmed. Mom turned away in embarrassment. Nathan smiled politely.
I saw a poster of Jakie Chan in the subway, and I had my Chinese yo yo with me, and one of my tricks is called the Jackie Chan, so…