Couch’s chairs

On average, my friends bring my coolness way up, and this is especially true of Justin Couch. Ever since our wedding, Danielle's dad asks how Couch is doing ... "He is one interesting guy."

Around 2004, Couch left his home in Georgia heading for the 'Frisco bay, which I understand is San Francisco. (As a matter of fact, I missed an SFO connection once and was graciously hosted at his brother's dinner, his favorite coffee house, a bayside tour, and his home.) Georgia Tech for Couch was industrial design, so San Francisco was a venue to test the waters and build a portfolio. Having tested those waters, Couch came back.

Now, Couch is testing new waters in Washington DC. As another matter of fact, he's making a few waves this time. Couch's work has been featured in the Express, the Washington Post's free daily that every living soul reads on the metro in the morning. In the pictures below, his chair and table were selected as the #1 style pick, and also, they called his District Table an irreverent approach to home furnishings, which I guess is good.

I love the way Couch has been designing furniture. For one, he's been poor. You've got to start there as a dreamer/artist. So how can you create and experiment with no money and no equipment? On top of that, could you even add in some time to invest in community and give to others? Yes. As Artist-in-Residence, Couch has been working with inner city youth at Off The Block Artisans Program where he teaches woodworking skills as well as job-related and life skills. In his free time, he can use all of the woodworking machines to do fancy designer things like above. He gets paid a little, he gets design time a lot, and he gets to give a lot. That's about as good as it gets, or at least until the next door opens for his creativity. Right now, that door looks like it may be Barninger & Couch. I've met Barninger, he's wonderful, and so I think this might go well.

Loyalty Class

Merry Christmas and thank you to the Loyalty Class! We received your card about five minutes ago.



Friends we have never met read along about our savings program and then sent a card of encouragement and support. That is a very sweet Christmas gift. To the Loyalists, as I now refer to you, please post one of your emails in the comments (I will keep it private and not publish that online) so I can send a personal thanks and an update on how we use your contribution.

For others that might be like you and want to contribute, I plan to put up a permanent link on the sidebar, but until then feel free to visit these HOPE links:



A note on gifts:

Yesterday I was talking to a Rwandan church partner about economic development and women's empowerment. He said that if you give a widow some food or money today, she will come back next week and ask for more. The vision of microfinance is not to give money to the poor today and give money to the poor tomorrow, we want to give the poor the resources to end their own poverty, for today and tomorrow. Your giving goes towards the training of local leaders to empower their communities to save, build wealth, gain insurance, generate income sources ... but also to work together, reconcile communities, build confidence, and restore people to their created purpose, vocation, and identity as people of worth. Thanks for giving!

Kiesshauer’s music

Ryan and Bethany sang at our wedding (and Neal). They sang at many of our friends' weddings, I'm just glad they did ours before they become famous and inaccessible. One of the Third Day guys went to CCF, too, but does he respond to emails? Ryan still responds to emails, for now.

Ryan quit his job doing Techie computer stuff so that he could work for himself and do Techie computer stuff, but this time he would make his own hours and devote many hours to writing his own music. So now it has happened, Ryan has now made his final demo mix and sent it off to Ed Cash. If you know Ed Cash, put in a good word. I don't know him, but with a name like that he's got to be legit.

Here's a guy (Ryan), married to a great woman (Bethany), and they're both willing to forgo normal income in order to make music. It's hard to do that as a young married couple, other couples don't do that. Luckily Ryan is very talented and gets more Techie business than he can handle, so they've not been out on the street, but here's another couple of friends not afraid to dream and shake their lives up to make their dream happen. One of his songs has already become famous among a very large group of friends, it is a memorial to Pa Harper; you'll want to hear it at your own funeral one day. As soon as his music is publicly available, I'll let you know. If you want to read more about his process, Ryan blogs.

On a personal note to Ryan:

Ryan, we raced Mario Kart together … don't forget me.

On an impersonal note:

Third Day is a very successful group of Christian music artists, and if anyone knows Mark Lee, please ask him to give Rick a call. Rick would love that. Rick is very sorry he didn't think you were good enough for the CCF band.

Rachel’s beans

Many of our friends do very cool things, so it's a pleasure to share them with friends and family. Rachel, one of Danielle's bridesmaids, moved to Colorado where she uses her Georgia Tech Industrial Engineering degree to count beans. I am IE'00, so I know something about bean counting myself.

Actually, I'm sure Rachel is a much better IE than me, and I'll be excited to share what her next steps of IE and helping the world will be, but for now, she is helping poor women in Colorado gain self-confidence and work skills to turn their lives around. Here is their video, a PBS report: Bean Project Helps Poor Women.

Tatum’s 100

My friend Jason Tatum has lost 100 lbs this year! I have shared that story with some friends and family because I am so proud of the tremendous accomplishment, but here are the pictures to prove it and here is a story to boot.

Your first thoughts: camera tricks and a haircut. The truth is that I have read everything he's eaten and every time he's exercised for the last year. Actually, hundreds of people have read everything he's eaten and every time he's exercised for the last year. I am one of many who receive the Tatum Daily Update.

Jason is losing this weight to become mission-field-ready in order to join the campus ministry startup in Birmingham, England (a ministry with a fantastic start, so far). To me, the weight loss is the side story; the main story is an incredible young man leaning on community and pursuing his dreams. Mr. Tatum is very talented, and his mind is endlessly focused on others, on ministry, on justice, on stories, on grace … he has limitless creativity and it's all focused on being a light in the world.

Losing weight is more than an exercise; it is a spiritual journey of identity, fear, and discovery. The discovery for those of us who support him in his future ministry is what calling and purpose await after such a difficult road.

[Note: today we are at a negative 108.2 lbs. As Tatum would say, "fist pump." Also, I think I hear that he'll be working at CCF some while fundraising, that's great.]

Expatriate Christmas party

Eating, caroling, and glad-handing expatriates. It was actually quite a neat experience to celebrate Christmas carols with a room full of people we don't know who are also away from family and also doing work in Rwanda that is pretty strongly influenced by this baby Jesus we kept singing about.

Favorite carols this year: O Come, O Come Emmanuel and Little Drummer Boy (Johnny Cash version).

In the background of Danielle singing carols you can see Phil and son Sean playing guitar. Phil directs World Relief Rwanda, and Sean is finishing a policy master's at Duke. We see them both at St. Etienne's and we sing with them and Phil's wife Becca in the Christmas choir. Also, note the Christmas ornaments that we bought earlier today and brought to the party; they're in the background of the songbook shot below.

Babies for Christmas

I love Christmas, so Christmas is what I'm writing about once a day until the day. Today, it's babies and Christmas. That's what Danielle wants, but I was thinking a necklace or something. Seems like all of our friends are having babies, at least two of them (who blog about it):

jesse & keight plus one. Does Keight spell Kate like "K" and the number 8? Yes. Keight is what I consider a Christian with Turret's syndrome, so I expect wildly blunt and overly detailed descriptions of what pregnancy looks like. Hilarious.

The Del Angel Family. Tiffany posts monthly mug shots of her belly. I particularly like the sonogram of Madison throwing up the peace sign. They should soon be getting a pink baby blanket on the way from Rwanda via Pennsylvania.

Danielle is not getting a baby for Christmas this year, maybe on layaway. But what I can do is preview some potential Hartley baby names. Also, feel free to use these names, I have no problem with our children having the same exact names and growing up best friends. I think that's great. Merry Christmas Danielle [revised 12/27/2008]:

Elijah Paul (Eli)
Frederick Norris (Rick)
Joseph Elliot (Zeph)
John Francis (Jack)
Moses Oliver (Moses)
Luke Thomas (Luke)

Emma Catherine (Lucy)
Eleanora Mae (Nora)
Mary Alice (Alice)
Gabriella Ruth (Gabby)
Margaret Ansley (Maggie)
Evelyn Esther (Evie)

Our Christmas playlist, what's yours?

Thanks to Krista Greiner, I recovered my Christmas playlist that we made for our Christmas wedding 2 years ago. That makes Danielle and me pretty happy to hear those songs in that order. It also makes me happy to hear that Krista and also Marisa/Justin are still listening to those songs in that order.

Being far away from home, we would love to know what Christmas music you are listening to. Here is our list:

All I Want for Christmas is You - Mariah Carey
Sleigh Ride - The Ronettes
Run Rudolph Run - Chuck Berry
Jingle Bell Rock - Bobby Helms
Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree - Brenda Lee
This Christmas - Donny Hathaway
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - Darlene Love
Merry Christmas, I Love You - James Brown
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Barenaked Ladies
Please Come Home for Christmas - Eagles
Winter Wonderland - Bing Crosby
The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Lou Rawls
It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Andy Williams
Baby, It's Cold Outside - Dean Martin
Carol of the Bells - Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Wedding season

Two big wedding announcements: my cousin Nicholas Baranco & fellow CCF intern alumna Malissa Jones are getting married.

Not to each other, though that would cut down on gifts and travel for me.

Nicholas & Ellie

Malissa & Winfield

This is wedding season in Rwanda, too. Every week in church there are 6 to 10 wedding announcements, but sometimes they are announcing the same wedding. I found out last Sunday that if you want to be married in St. Etienne's (which a lot of people do, it's big and beautiful), then you must be announced three Sundays in a row. These announcements give the church opportunity to speak now or forever hold our peace; we are encouraged to speak with a pastor privately if we have reason they should not be married. Every week couples are announced, they stand, and we all check them out. I try to decide if they look good together and would make good babies, but so far I have not had reason to speak with the pastors.

This is my final announcement for the weddings above. I hope you approve.

Happy 90th Aunt Mae!

90 years, 100 grandbabies

Ok, not that many grandbabies, but when you sit in Aunt Mae's living room, you feel like a grandbaby.

I remember once visiting Mae and AJ with my friend Josh, and I warned him: they'll both hug you, both kiss you on the mouth, and somebody's going to ask about your relationship with Jesus. I was a solid 3 for 3.

The first time Danielle met Aunt Mae, we saw a picture of the two of us on her mantle. We had taken the picture earlier that week, and I still don't know how it got up there so fast.

Aunt Mae is one of the warmest, most prayerful, and dearest people in my life. She has meant a lot to my mom in particular, and that alone has shaped me a lot. What has shaped me the most is how I have always been so welcome in her home, so loved, and so prayed for.

Thanks Aunt Mae, happy birthday.

Church in Kigali

St. Etienne Cathedral
And the Prince of Peace Choir

Our first Sunday, I think we’ve found our new church home. English service starts at 8:30 am, Kinyarwanda service follows afterwards.
This week Pastor Sam Mugisha preached and Pastor Adriaan Verwijs read scriptures and made announcements. They began with some of our favorite contemporary worship songs – Blessed Be Your Name – along with the very lively and young Prince of Peace Choir.
Our friend Diana sings, and I love this guy Eddie who sings and plays the keys (I have another favorite Eddie that played keyboard at Tech, so I like new Eddie all the more). This choir and band is very talented – apparently they travel and do appearances that pay, which makes it possible for them to travel and perform at orphanages and other pro bono concerts.
Between worship songs, Adriaan read scripture as the band played softly, and the scripture connected the meaning of the previous song with that of the next, and it was all rather beautiful. Formal scripture was read from the lectern after the contemporary music and then we sang some hymns.
I think Adriaan and Sam will be friends. Adriaan and his wife Lisette took us to an expatriate Bible study that afternoon, and just yesterday evening Sam dropped by our porch to visit and welcome us again. Sam invited us over to his home with his wife Jackie and 3-year-old Iris.
Sam is 38, Rwandan, and along with marrying about 3 couples a weekend plus funerals and baptisms, he is excited about another degree in business administration. Sam hopes to expand his ministry into something more, something that engages people outside of church walls and enters into a public context: education related, young people, professional people, microfinance maybe.
Adriaan is Dutch, and he and Lisette have served the Anglican Church in Columbia and the last 4 years here in Rwanda (and also in Holland). Adriaan speaks Kinyarwanda very well. They have two boys in school at the Rift Valley Academy in Kenya, and one boy in university in Holland.

One church we look forward to visiting:

Congregation of the Blessed Mango Tree
And the God Help Us Choir
Reverend Nathan Amoti, Administrator for the Kigali Diocese and a very funny man, asked the Archbishop – who is also Bishop of Kigali – for permission to start a new church. Nathan wanted a new church building. His grace, the Archbishop, was more than happy to endorse a new church, but why start with a mortgage. His grace recommended beginning the new church under a mango tree. Rev. Nathan actually liked that suggestion, so that’s what he did. I’m not sure how good the God Help Us Choir is, but I think they have their theology right.

New friends in Kigali

Jean-Pierre
This new friend runs a shop downtown called Objets d’Art (a common name but an out-of-the-way location). Danielle found a red woven bowl that is beautiful, and now it is ours. It cost 4,000 RWF, so about 7.30 USD. We will probably return for jewelry, too – very beautiful jewelry and priced right for a certain anniversary coming up (December 16). Jean-Pierre speaks “petit francais” and “petit, petit English.” Danielle told him goodbye in Kinyarwanda, “murabeho,” and he repeated it back for us with better emphasis. He then taught us “mwakoze cyane” or thank you very much. We then thanked him very much, and said goodbye again. That’s called speaking the language.

Charlie, Adam, Scott, Roger
These guys are filming a travel documentary in Rwanda; we met at Bourbon Café (drinking coffee, not bourbon). They’ve been in Rwanda before and mentioned some favorite dining spots like Republica and India Kazana (sp?). They have shot some film here before with Right to Play, a great NGO that uses sport to invest in children and unite communities. I’m hoping to meet the Right to Play people and maybe volunteer to play on the weekend. I have the right to play, too, right?