Running: From Dread to Love!

 I remember being in PE class and dreading Friday. That was the day we had to run an entire mile! I really disliked running and I was painfully slow, which made it that much worse. Slow = more time running.

Then I graduated, got married and started a family. No more running right? While expecting our first son, I gained a lot of extra weight. I was young so I didn't expect it to be difficult to lose the extra after giving birth. Man was I wrong! I had developed some really bad eating habits and combine that with no regular exercise; I couldn't lose a single pound. I tried halfheartedly to jog in a failed attempt to lose weight. Still really hated to do it and to make matters worse we lived in a small college town. How embarrassing to be out in my over-sized sweats and t-shirts jogging ever so slowly. It didn't work and to be honest I didn't really give it much of a chance.

Skip ahead a few more years…now I had three little boys and some better eating habits but still not enough energy to keep up with them! Three toddlers made it hard to get out and exercise so we got a treadmill. It was one with a CD player and came with some preprogrammed routines. I started with just walking. Slowly but surely it turned into walking with some short jogging. Before I knew it I was running more then I was walking!

At this same time my father in law, Jack was into running. He was a really big encouragement to me and the reason I did my first official race. Well that my friends was the beginning of the end, so to speak. I participated in several “short” races and even a recreational triathlon (decided to stick with just running after that one J). Somehow I had fallen in love with running!

For years I had thought about doing a marathon but just didn't have the courage. So, after our first stint in Liberia I came home and a month before the Bellingham Bay Marathon I took the leap and signed up, it only took me a short 10 years to muster the courage! I had been doing lots of running but didn't really train for it. It was a great experience (although painful) and left me feeling like I could do better. As soon as they opened up registration for the next year’s race I signed up. Well, God had other plans and we found ourselves once again packing in a hurry and heading back to Liberia! I decided it was a bit too long and expensive of a commute to fly home to run.

I got my chance to try again back in August. True to form, I decided at the last minute to sign up. I wasn't sure after spending 5 weeks back home, if I would be up for a marathon. I also was a little nervous to run on the streets of Monrovia. But I just couldn't help myself; I knew I could improve on my time. Despite starting in the dark, rain, and some pretty good hills I wasn't very prepared for, I finished my second marathon and improved my time! The best part was I really felt good when I finished, so much better than my first one.

Running has become more than just a way to manage my weight. As my family has grown it has become my alone time, time to talk to God and enjoy his creation. Now I have the amazing opportunity to combine my love of running with the reason we are in Liberia. Being a mother of six limits my time to volunteer and feel part of the SP team. My desire to serve God and contribute to our team here is coming together in the London Marathon. So, over the next several months I will be training (for a change) and raising money, money that will go to SP Liberia and a couple of projects here. I am so excited to get to raise money for the hospital project! 50% of all the money we (Joni, Kendell and I) raise will go toward the hospital. It is my hope and dream that this will be something big. Please pray along with me that God will be glorified!

If you would like to donate in the US/Canada:

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/jamielaird/londonmarathon

Or in the UK:

http://www.virginmoneygiving.com/JamieLaird

Thank you for your support!

Team SP Liberia:

 Joni, Kendell and I just before a long run.

Not the best running weather!

Our support crew Blessing and Bev doing a great job!

Still smiling about mid point.

Nearing the end!

We're back...and so is school.

The combination of a busy summer, the loss of our website address, and a busy summer means we have not posted anything in about 4 months. Well we are working on getting the web address back but for now you can just use the blogger address.

A few years ago a bunch of generous friends helped us with money so we could help a number of Liberian children attend school.  We sent out an appeal to largely the same group and were able to raise enough money to pay for all or most of the school fees for 30 children.

In Liberia there are very few "free" government schools, and even the ones that are "free" have expenses associated with them that make it difficult for poor families to send their children to school.  Even if there is no cost for tuition there are still fees for school uniforms, shoes, supplies, transportation, and illegal requests by the teacher or the school for additional fees.  Then with private schools you have all those plus tuition, which usually runs from $100-$300 per year.  A typical family that makes $100 per month really has to scratch and claw to come up with the tuition and fees to ensure that their children get an education.  And I ain't gonna lie, most schools suck and do a pretty poor job of teaching their students, but the alternative of getting no education, and having no diploma, is still far worse.

So we were not able to get pictures of all 30 kids, but here are the smiling, grimacing, and scowling faces of some of the children that your generous donations were able to help.

This is our former security guard Morris' wife and family...along with Grace and Kasen.  We were able to help 4 of his children attend school.

More to come...soon.  Keep praying for Emmanuel and his heart surgery...hopefully we will have good news in the next week...

Liberian Art for Sale

We will be coming back to the States for our vacation in the next couple weeks.  Over the years Jamie and I have made a habit of purchasing paintings when we go on vacations to remember our trips.  When we got to Liberia we were able to connect with a couple of remarkable young men who support themselves through painting.  Below I have taken pictures of paintings by Sam Hwisedeh and Wilson Fallah.

Sam is a self taught artist who started painting in 2005.  His paintings are colorful depictions of Liberian life.  If you came to our house while we were back in the US in 2010-2011 you probably saw some of his work on our walls.  All of his paintings are listed below with the price and sizes.

After Sam's paintings the next 10 are Wilson Fallah's.  You can read a little about Wilson in this Washington Times article from a few years back.  As the article mentions, Wilson was one of Liberia's many child soldiers.  At the age of 9 he was conscripted into fighting in Liberia's bloody civil war that ended in 2003.  So many former child soldiers can be seen around Monrovia begging (and worse), still hooked on the drugs that their warlords fed them during the war. Not Wilson though, today Wilson is an energetic young man who has taken to painting as a means of supporting himself.  

If you are interested in any of these paintings please either comment below or send me an email at rustylaird at gmail.com.  We will bring back with us any paintings that people would like to purchase and all the funds below go directly to the artists.  If you are interested in a painting please let me know as soon as possible.  There is an art show at the US Embassy on June 8th so Wilson and Sam will probably have most of these paintings at the art show if they are not already spoken for and may be sold there.

Jazz - $200 5'x2.5'

Sisters in Unity - $200 5'x2.5'

Market Day - $250 5'x2.5'

Evening Meal - $150 3'x3'

Dan Mask - $50 2.5'x2'

Basket Maker - $50 1.5'x2'

My Sister & I - $50 1.5'x2'

Musical Couple - $50 1.5'x2'

To the Farm - $50 15"x21"

Night Fall - $50 15"x21"

Liberian Music - $50 1.5'x2'

Fruit Sellers - $50 1.5'x2'

Fetching Water - $50 1.5'x2' 

Fish Market - $50 1.5'x2'

Sande Dancers - $50 1.5'x2' (I didn't write down the sizes for these last 4 but I'm pretty sure they were about 1.5'x2')

Liberian Instrumentalist - $50 1.5'x2'

Sande Dancer #2 - $50 1.5'x2'

Sande Graduate - $50 1.5'x2'

Sam with some of his paintings

Below are Wilson's paintings.  They are all about 18"x24" and $30 each.

Family Pictures

Family pictures are never an easy task with 6 children.  It was hard enough with just 3 boys trying to get them to look at the camera.  Thank you to the world famous Joni for coordinating with the sun to make these happen.

Side Projects

With our free time here we are always keeping busy working on projects and new ideas.  Here are a few things we've been cogitating:

A solar fruit dehydrator.  We'll see how it works in our climate, but I'm hoping it will be a good tool to allow Liberians to dehydrate mangoes and other fruit to save and sell.

Our guard never likes it when we leave chairs on our front porch at night.  So we made a concrete bench (actually a couple, this is just the first one).  At probably about 200 lbs., I'd like to see the rogues try to cart this one off!

My biggest project, building a barbecue and smoker.  I started a couple months ago but there are a few things I need from the states so after we come back from our home leave in July we'll try to finish it up.  More pictures to come when we're done...

Our Flintstones gym.  There is a store in town with a nice weight set for about $1,000, but we decided to use some 1-1/2" galvanized pipe, various sized buckets and concrete to make our own weight set.  I think our guards like to "eat iron" and use them more than the boys though.

Christopher couldn't let an opportunity to buy a couple rabbits pass when  someone came by selling them.  In a couple weeks it will be a rabbit skinning and cooking project.

One small snafu when we made the weights.  To keep them from falling over we braced  them with the motorcycle.  Unfortunately I think the heat was effecting us and we braced it by running the pipe through the handle bars and foot rest...now I guess we get to cut it off. Or ride around with a weight attached.

And our most recent (and last!!) pet.  The boys bought two but either one escaped or the dog ate it within about 12 hours.