Baseball and football

Sorry to say, the Texas Rangers are now out of the running for a spot in the playoffs. My rabid-fan son, who bought playoff tickets from Ethiopia, will have to try to get his money back. The tickets came in the mail just today:



I will certainly be following the playoffs and the World Series, but it won't be as fun without the home team there.

I suppose that means it is now time for football. But I don't like football very much. I came to the conclusion some years ago that I was just too stupid to like football (but when I look at some of the people who play it, I'm not so sure I'm the stupid one). I mean with baseball the action is pretty much linear. You just follow the action where the ball is. But football! Everybody is doing everything at once--how am I supposed to keep track of what is going on? It would also be easier if they color-coded the defense and the offense or something like that. There are just too many people doing too many things at once and WAY too many rules to learn about whether they did it right or not. No, baseball is a much more sensible game.

Sorry, Rangers. Better luck next year.

Top 10 places my cat likes to sleep

I suppose there comes a time in the life of every blogger when he (or in my case, she), writes a blog entry about his or her pets. With my nest being empty these days, my cat is getting more than her fair share of attention. Her reaction to all this fussing over by me: sleep.

1. Inside the dresser drawers - if you leave it open, she will come
2. On top of the dining room table - Bad cat!
3. On the telephone stand
   
4. In the car - one day I found the cat in the car when I returned from a meeting in the hot summer. We nearly had cooked cat for dinner.
5. On the bed
   
6. Inside the bathroom sink - this is when she's waiting for you to turn the water on so she can get a drink of fresh water
7. Inside the bathroom cupboard - snuggled behind the pile of clean towels
8. Inside the dryer
   
9. Inside a cardboard box
10. On top of one's laptop, near the polar bears
    

Fixing up my blog

I spent some time over the weekend remodeling my blog. I wanted to keep the images from the original site, but I didn't like the double commenting system and I wasn't clever enough to remove one of them. So I thought I'd try a new look. I don't know very much about HTML, but by slowly trying to figure it out, and getting a little help from G., I was able to add my images into the new template. Then today I decided to get even more clever and add a counter. This counter lets you customize it a little, so I chose for it NOT to count any of my own visits to my website. And I changed it from black to red. Whoo-hoo. Now to wait and see how long it takes to get to 2.

Compost

A few posts ago I told how I didn't like to waste things. One thing I don't like to waste is all the organic matter in my kitchen that we don't eat. You know, all the potato peelings and dead lettuce and apple cores. Several years ago we started a compost pile, and now it is a dandy. I make daily deposits of vegetable matter but I also include meat scraps and bones. Some people object to animal products in the compost, but I once heard a compost expert say that you could put anything in the compost pile that was once alive. As a side benefit, I've found that by not putting previously-alive things in the garbage, I only have to set the garbage can out once every two weeks or less for pickup, and it never smells bad.

Today was a good day to harvest the compost pile, and it's also a good way for me to get some exercize. So I took the wheelbarrow and shovel and got to work sifting the compost. I shoveled scoop after scoop of raw compost onto the compost sifter which sits on top of the wheelbarrow. This clever gadget was hand made for me by my dear husband for Mother's Day one year--isn't he romantic?? My work was made easier by the nocturnal visitor who has been coming for the last couple weeks--an armadillo who seems to like the compost pile almost as much as I do. He (or she?) has been digging around out there with its very strong and sharp snout, breaking up the clods and saving me the trouble. The pile is full of yummy grubs.

I almost gave up before my job was finished because I ran into the mother of all fire ant nests on one side of the compost pile. They came after me with a vengence for disturbing their massive array of tunnels. The gound was undulating with swarms of angry ants, each one trying to carry a white egg sack to safety. Luckily, I only got bitten two or three times.

The five wheelbarrows full of sifted, rich brown dirt were deposited on top of the flower garden by the front door. (This area is also the cat's favorite "box.") Times like this I ask myself why I don't have a vegetable garden. But I know why. Except for the dirt that comes from my compost pile, the rest of the ground here is made of white chalk.

"A triumph for globalization and the internet"

That is what A.'s email to me today said. I quote: "Are you having any luck with Rangers playoff tickets? I am in the virtual waiting room in another window on my internet browser now, hoping to get some. Wouldn't that be a triumph for globalization and the internet, if I could get playoff tickets in the virtual waiting room from Ethiopia!"

And then another email dated an hour later:

"Hi mom and dad,

The triumph of the internet is complete. I got eight tickets for the first Rangers home playoff game. They are in the third deck on the second row, two thirds of the way down the third base side. I really wish I was home to go to the game.

Why don't you invite *** and see if *** wants any of the tickets. I know he is a real fan. Maybe *** is/could be around and would want to go. You can use the tickets however you want. If there seems to be no one interested there is always eBay."

This child is crazy. He is a real fan. Anybody need tickets to the Rangers' playoff game 1? Wait, do we even know if the Rangers' are in the playoffs yet?

The Bible

Today my 80+ year old former coworker came to my office and told me to get myself over to the museum before the Bible exhibit closed. I'm glad I did. It was cool. The display, (completely unguarded and I admit it was hard not to touch*) included a cuneiform tablet, a snatch of scripture on papyrus, an OT leather scroll, a sheepskin parchment, an early Hebrew codex, individual leaves from the Gutenburg, Tyndale, Coverdale, and Geneva bibles, and a complete KJV from the early printings. There was also a working replica Gutenberg press.

Here's a little blurb about it:

The exhibit, entitled “His Enduring Word,”
contains numerous other biblical artifacts. An
actual first page from the first book printed
with movable type, the 1450 Gutenberg Bible, will
be on view. Manuscripts in Hebrew, Greek,
Ethioptic, and Latin, including early Christian
papyrus (AD 250-450), and a complete Jewish Torah
will be available for examination.


“Steps in the Story,” a collection of leaves
(pages) from actual biblical publications by
reformers such as Martin Luther, William Tyndale,
John Rogers, Miles Coverdale, and John Calvin,
will be displayed. The exhibit also contains
leaves from the first Bibles produced by the
English Catholic exiles at Rheims and Douay.


“Many people, including Bible scholars, do not
know the basic story of how we got the Bible,”
explains F. J. “Rusty” Maisel, exhibit curator.
“But, seeing it laid out and explained as a
simple narrative has helped many people gain a
better understanding of the book they have been
reading for years. They say that what they have
learned from the exhibit also helps them respond
when friends ask about the Scriptures.”


Maisel is a graduate of Dallas Baptist University
and pursued graduate study in ancient history and
archeology at the Center for the Study of Early
Christianity (now University of the Holy Land) at
Hebrew University in Jerusalem.


A recognized authority on the authentication of
rare Bibles, Maisel says that, for most of his
life, he has had questions about “The Book.” His
search for answers has led to over 25 years of
studying and collecting original documents
throughout America, Europe, and Israel.


“The Bible itself tells us that God will preserve
his Word. To say I believe that is still an
expression of faith. But the years I’ve
experienced investigating that subject have only
strengthened my belief in the validity of the
scriptural texts,” states Maisel.


*I guess they think Bible translators respect both the form and the meaning when it comes to Bibles.

Bloggers in Pajamas

The TIME magazine that arrived today did not have obscene art on its cover. But it did have an editorial about how blogging is changing the mainstream media. Rather thought provoking. I guess bloggers will make the professional journalists a little more careful.

Of course, my blog isn't likely to challenge much of anything since I neither express many political thoughts nor explore many revolutionary ideas. No, I just talk to myself because my nest is empty.

p.s. It seems like Blogger.com should update its spelling dictionary to include the word blog and its deriviatives. Is that a revolutionary idea?

The Most Powerful Woman in America

is Condoleeza Rice. (At least that was the answer to the question given to the top five Miss America contestants last Saturday night.) D. called on Sunday to say he shook hands with her after church on Sunday. (And also with Bill Frist.) His impression of Ms. Rice: "She's pretty short."

My Chickadee in Ethiopia

We recently got letter from A. in Ethiopia. He enclosed his new business card:



Cool, huh?

I don't think the email address shown on the card actually works yet, but the phone number does. But it can cost up to $1 a minute. I did find a cheaper phone card for about $.21 per minute. He does have email access from some internet cafes for $10/hour and I think it is dial-up, so pretty slow. He said there is not one ATM machine in the whole country, and no place to use a credit card.

Back Home

I made it safely back from OKC. Thanks to anyone who prayed for me. I did get pretty drowsy after the first 50 miles, so I stopped to buy some lime diet coke. I got back on the road, took one drink, and proceeded to knock the rest of it over on the floor of my car. I guess the shock kept me awake until I got home.

G. was mowing the driveway when I drove in. That is his way of raking up the leaves. He stopped and gave me a sweaty kiss and then went back to mowing.

My time with R. was pretty good. A couple little disagreements, but not too serious. She is working very hard on her project, and over the time I was there she finished three-quarters of the part that has to be turned in Sept. 23. I helped her find stuff in the 25 books we had, then I photocopied them. After she read them and highlighted them, and summarized them in a written document. I punched holes in them and put them in a binder. We both worked on the bibliography which has to be in APA style.

R. has a nice little printer which cost less than $100 last fall. Not only does it make b/w and color copies, it also scans and, best of all, it makes b/w or color copies. So all those 25 books we were able to photocopy right there in her room. I was able to refill the ink cartridge, too, so that made it fast and cheap to make the necessary copies. And she has a nice, heavy-duty 3-hole punch (thank you, K :-) which served us well in getting the copies into the required binder. I also reformatted her flash drive and made backup copies of her working files, so now she is set. She still has a lot to do on the project, but not so much to do before next Thursday.

Looks like she may try in late November to take the last of 3 standardized tests toward her teacher certification. If she fails, there would be time to retake it in February so that she could begin job hunting during spring break. Yikes! that sounds soon! Lord, guide her clearly and give her wisdom about the choices surrounding future employment.

Dorm life

I spent last night in R.'s dorm room. This year, her 5th and Lord willing her last, she has a private room. So that means there is an empty bed where I can sleep. Sure beats trying to sleep on the floor like I've done in years past.

I've been trying out the dining hall food too. Way too many choices, IMHO. And way too expensive and wasteful. They have a decent salad bar, which I like.

I'm helping R. with a project for her Contemporary Social Issues class. She chose a good topic for an Education major: literacy. Really, it should be called illiteracy. I was able to bring a bunch of books to her from our library at work. I'm also doing motherly things like her laundry, vacuuming her floors, changing the sheets, and giving her advice about all the cute boys.

Diving to OKC

If anyone reads this today, please pray for my safe travel to Oklahoma City. I'm driving back home Saturday evening. I don't like driving by myself, but, alas.

I'm a Conservative (take 2)

I bet you thought I meant a political conservative. What I really meant is more like "I'm a conserver." I don't like to throw things away. No, I'm not a pack rat. I don't like to throw things away if they can be reused, or better yet, repurposed. I don't like to waste things

My favorite cookbook has a section in it called "Gather up the fragments." This, of course, refers to Jesus feeding the 5000. He didn't want to waste things either.

Here is a list of things I do or have done to not waste things. Can you add others?

• My son wanted to throw away a hooded sweatshirt that he had torn. I washed it, repaired it, and will add it to the winter coat drive when the weather gets cold.
• The boys in this house are too lazy to use their coins, so I counted them and put them in rolls, and deposited $22.50 into R's account "for free."
• I save the broken tortilla chips at the bottom of the bag, then use them to top Mexican casserole.
• If I accidently take too many napkins from McDonald's, I bring them home and use them.
• I aways tear the dryer sheets in half so a box lasts twice as long.
• A few years ago, I found a discarded evening gown so I remodelled it into a prom dress for my daughter.
• Today I spent the afternoon refilling ink jet printer cartridges.

Done with my editing

Finally I finished my second set of pages to edit. I found it went faster by wearing one of G.'s pairs of glasses over top of my own. Then it was both in focus and big enough to read. G. is in his office doing statistical comparisons of how many errors were found per page per editor. Each page was independently read by two different editors, and amazingly the overlap in mistakes found by the two different editors was not very great. This does not inspire confidence in how error-free the final product will be. But the nature of this book is one of tiny detail, which comes from many different sources at many different times, compiled by many different people. It is no small task to make it error free in either content or presentation.

I learned five new words while editing:

• swidden
• massif
• canton
• riverine
• transhumance

Editing continues

Today was the due date for the 30 or so people to turn in their editing assignments. I got my 33 pages done by 10am. Lots of people did turn them in, but not everyone has yet. And one person gave up on it, so now I have 20 more pages to do :-( That is NOT what I wanted to be doing this weekend. But G. has been working like a dog on this, so I guess I shouldn't complain too much.

Son D. phoned this morning from DC with good news/bad news. The good news: he gets a pay raise before his first week of work is over. Apparently he gets $2,700 per year more than they told him because he has good grades. "'Bout time those A's did you some good," I told him. The bad news: "I don't get my first paycheck until October 10. Can you send me some $$?"

Yay! Copy Editors!

They came. Lots of them. G. was so happy because many colleagues responded to his plea for copy editors. We may get this thing done by Friday yet. I myself haven't gotten very far on my section, but I will keep plugging away. All 32 sections were claimed. Thank you, Lord.

The evocative nature of music

I'm thinking particularity of church music here, but of course any kind of music can cause one to be reminded of an event in the past, a feeling, a happiness or a sadness. Two Sundays ago I wrote in my blog about a song that was sung at church that evokes lots of bad memories for me. Today it was different. The music was "Shout to the Lord." The song is kind of worn out from overuse, but really this song almost always makes me cry because the first time I heard it my girl was standing in front of our little church, doing sign language to this song. That may not sound like such a big deal, but it was for her: she was never that good at performing in front of others, and she was never any good with things that involved physical movement. But she was beautiful and graceful in this performance and it blessed me when she signed and sang this song. I will always remember that feeling of pride and joy in her and feel drawn to the Lord whenever I hear that song.

Copy editors needed

I keep mentioning personnel needs for my husband on the off chance that somebody reading this will decide to become a missionary when they grow up. Or, failing that, at least give a few spare hours to the cause.

Today he's looking for copy editors. Well, proofreaders, really. Lots of them. He has 558 pages of minutia that needs to be close to perfect by Friday Sept 10. Not just read once, but read twice (that is, each page needs to be edited independently by two different people. This is for the Ethnologue, our flagship publication that comes out every four years. It is a detailed listing of the 6,911 languages that exist in this world. And it is easy to make tiny mistakes when telling all the details about these languages. So we need help to get it right.

He is passing it out by geographical area, finding a colleague who worked in Colombia and begging them to take the Colombia section. We have a friend from Indonesia whom he's trying to get me to call and beg. I guess he thinks that as long as he doesn't have a life, so one else should do anything fun over the long holiday weekend either.

Well, I've taken the first 33 pages of the Africa section, so I'd better get started.

Update! I had barely pushed the "Publish" button when the phone rang. Somebody came and took 34 more pages of the Americas section. Yay!

Whoops!

One tow truck--$50
One new battery--$100
One new alternator--$200
labor to put them in--$200
learning to turn the headlights off--priceless

The fog is lifting

I think I'm about over my week of sadness. I guess one of the worst parts about the kids leaving is the anticipation of them leaving. Once the stressful time leading up their departure is over, and then I know they have safely arrived at their destination, then I start feeling better. It did make me feel better to reorganize some of the house; a friend told me that psychologists sometimes prescribe closet cleaning as a way to restore order to your life and by analogy, to your mind. I'm grateful for friends to talk to also, for the nice weather, and especially for God's love that never fails me.

D. should arrive in DC later tonight. He will have one day to organize himself, then his job at the National Cancer Institute starts on Thursday with a departmental retreat in the Shenandoah National Park. That sounds like a nice way to start a job, huh?

Lord, bless them all as they start new jobs, new school year. Help them to find the friends that they need and to find opportunities to grow in your grace.

I talked to all my kids today

A.'s friend found a cheap* calling card to use to call Ethiopia which I finally got to work today after four tries. It was good to hear from him, he's doing well. He was all excited because he got to meet Joseph Stiglitz and had him sign his copy of Globalization and its Discontents . Stiglitz is the 2001 Nobel prize winner in economics and was at some conference that A. managed to get invited to. On top of this, we said he is trying to wrangle an invitation to some other thing tomorrow so he can meet the US ambassador to Ethiopia.

*I say cheap, but it is still like $.16 per minute. I talked until the $10 card ran out. He's still not clear where he will live, whether Addis or Awassa, but he said he's tired of living in a hotel.

R. called too. I've been trying not to talk to her much. But she wanted to talk because she was sick. She confessed to staying up too late and that probably got her off schedule, then she got a migraine headache for two days with vomiting, etc. I trust she will soon learn her limits and be willing to live by them so she doesn't get sick and does go to class.

D. is on the road today, sleeping at Taylor to visit his old friends in the dorm. Tomorrow a long drive to DC.

As for myself, I'm starting to compile, with help from my friends, a Top Ten Ways You Can Tell Your Nest Is Empty list. Stay tuned.

Perl programmer needed

Now G. says he needs a Perl programmer. D. had been doing it over the summer, but now he is gone. As D. was getting in his car and leaving for DC yesterday morning he confessed to his dad that he had taken his Perl book. G. reminded him that this particular copy was an autographed gift copy from Larry Wall himself, so plan to give it back. (Larry and G. were schoolmates at Seattle Pacific College. In fact, G. gave Larry his first programming job in the records office of the college. G. also talked Larry into attending SIL where he studied a semester of linguistics. Larry claims that the study of linguistics somehow lead to his creation of Perl, and he wrote a nice note to that effect in the front of this copy of the Perl book that D. stole.)

So anybody know a Perl programmer who wants to work for missionary wages? The pay is bad, but the fringe benefits are great :-)

Just the cat

is left for me to fuss over. And this particular cat plays the part well. It won't even drink water from a bowl, it only drinks from a running faucet. This cat has me trained to wake up when it scratches on the door or the window from outside. And it needs fresh food, not food from hours ago, it its bowl. I draw the line on letting it sleep in our room because it will nuzzle up against you and then act offended if you roll over.

Well, D. left minutes ago. If I had a digital camera I would post a picture of him driving off in the rain. I did take a photo, but it is the old-fashioned film kind.

For the next few days I will clean and pack and sort and repack as empty nest therapy. I'll probably make two empty bedrooms over into guest rooms. The third empty bedroom we'll keep for R., for at least one more year. Sometimes it is nice to have guest rooms, but there is also the possiblilty of turning one end of our house into an apartment to rent to students, and then we could get some income from it. It has been several years since we did that, so it would take some effort to move my stuff out and return it to rentable condition. But maybe it would be a way to help pay for R.'s last year at college. We'll have to give that some thought.

A week of tears

This has been a hard week for me. A week ago tonight I cried at a wedding, and not just for the reasons that women cry at weddings. Then I cried during the stress of packing up one child and then I cried from the sadness of her leaving. Then I cried during the stress of packing the other kid up and then I cried from the sadness of him leaving. And don't forget crying from the sadness of having the other kid thousands of miles away. (And then there's the crying from feeling stupid and selfish for crying.)

Yes, all the kids leaving makes me sad. But other things make me sad too. In fact, I feel like I have a long list lof things making me sad right now. One of the is the feeling that I am invisible, like no one* really cares about the sadness I feel.

And really, why should they? I'm the steady person who helps others, not the person whom others help. I'm the person who serves others, not the person whom others serve.

I really shouldn't post this. It is truely stupid to wallow in self-pity, but that is indeed how I feel at the moment. I feel sad and invisible.

*I am lucky, I realize, to have a husband who tolerates all this crying and self pity of mine. He doesn't exactly empathize, but neither does he criticize. He listenes to me complain and doesn't, for the most part, get upset. He'll never get an award for World's Best Family Counselor, but at least he doesn't reject me and he takes my grievences seriously, while pointing out the other person's side of the story. I am blessed to have his steady agape love.

A perfect mother

would know the perfect balance between being involved and leaving alone--according to the need of each child (for indeed this illusive perfect balance is different for each child). And a perfect mother would have the will power to put that knowledge into practice.

I am not a perfect mother.

R.'s last year of college

is about to begin. D. and I will drive her to OKC tomorrow, leaving at 6am. I am feeling kind of sad. Not just about her leaving, but also because in another 2-3 days D. will also be leaving. But then, this is the Empty Nest blog.

R. has had a good summer for the most part. She is feeling pretty good about facing her last year of college. It will be a challenge with student teaching in the spring and one more standardized test to get her teaching certificate. It is probably too early to worry about it yet, but finishing college means getting a job, and if she were to actually get a teaching job for next year, those applications would need to be made during the spring too. She has to think through where she wants to locate, if she wants to move back to Texas and try to get a Texas certificate after having an Oklahoma one. We have to decide whether we would want her to live with us after she graduates. Turning the end of our house into a separate apartment again is a possibility. We don't need to think too hard about these matters at the moment, but they are in the back of our minds.

And for her, she has to emotionally be ready to take another step of independence. She has fears of living alone but where she lives will have a lot to do with where she gets a job.

Lord, these are concerns on my heart. Take care of R. Help her in the immediate days to transition into a new living situation without a roommate, with new classes. Help her to find a job that suits her. Help her to find the friends that she needs, even though many of her classmates have already graduated or changed schools. Help her to trust you about having or not having a boyfriend. I know she is at the age and place in life that she wants to get married and have a home of her own. Many of her friends will be getting engaged or married. Help her to trust you with this aspect of her life. Bring the right man to her at the right time--may he think of her as a precious gift from you and love her without hesitation.

Lord, help me too. I'm feeling sad. I'm happy that my kids are all doing so well, that they all love you. But I'm sad because I miss them and I have to let them go. Help me to trust you for their well-being.

Victory in Jesus

I hate that song. I refuse to sing it. They sang it in church this morning, so I just stood there and remembered all the bad things associated in my mind with that song. How I trusted him, how I listened to him, how I did what he said because he was my pastor. How he would play that song on his accordion.

He failed me. He failed his wife. He failed God most of all. That's why I hate that song.

Cats and Dogs

Someone I know is like a puppy dog:
happy
adoring
not worried about what people think
forgiving
stupid
too eager to please
nondiscriminating

Someone else I know is like a cat:
aware
cautious
smart
counting the cost
sedentary
aloof
secretly enjoying the attention

Cats and dogs can't get along together, can they?

Linda, this is God talking

I love her more than you do. I will take care of her. I will take care of her better than you can. I actually know what is best for her, I know better than you. You need to trust me on this one.

Love, God

p.s. I love you, too.

And further down

I did go shopping with R. on Wednesday and survived. By some miracle we found a pair of jeans that fit in a record amount of time, as well as a pair of khakis. We didn't stay as long as she wanted and she dropped her shopping list somewhere on aisle 9, so we need to go again. Maybe Saturday? Lord, help her has she emotionally and mentally prepares for a transition back to school. Strengthen her, help her to trust you in all areas of her life, fill her with your joy. Thank you for a good summer for her.

D. is starting to get ready to leave too, but he doesn't want much help. He put new speakers in "his" "new" car, and blue lights inside. Now that the MCAT is over he is reading things like journal articles called "Three-Dimensional Electron Microscopy at Molecular Resolution." He's supposed to be doing some programming for G., but I think his car speakers are drawing him away. Lord, help him as he prepares to leave home and start a career. Help him to trust you in all areas of his life, to love you, and to love others.

Summer winding down

We are starting to think about and work toward the fall moves for R. and D. R. is finally doing the homework she was supposed to do all summer, and she's begging me to take her shopping (I hate shopping). She's had a good summer, with 2-3 notable bad times, but good for the most part. She hasn't been too stressed and she's made some new friends and she's had some new experiences. She heads back to her last year at college, with its set of challenges, next Wednesday.

We've made some decisions about D.'s move to DC. He decided to drive the "new" car. They have all but finalized his approval to live in the Presbyterian house. He will leave Aug. 29 or 30. He will move in on Sept 1, and his job starts Sept. 2. Lots of changes in store for him. The Time magazine that arrived yesterday had a picture of a colorful fat molecule on it--"That's what I'm going to be doing at my new job--making these kinds of pictures with an electron microscope."

Lord, help me as we start another time of transition. Help me to know how and when to be involved, and how and when to back off. Take care of them as they leave again. Draw them close to yourself as they start the next phase. Help me to cope with my empty nest.

Phlebotomy

I wonder if I spelled that correctly? We will visit the medical vampire this morning. Until then, no food, just water.

We usually do physicals every year, but I think we skipped last year. Mostly it is the same report: you should eat less, exercise more, but other than that you are in good health. We'll see what they say this year. I'm a little bit concerned because it seems like I've been noticing my heart beating in recent months. Yeah, I know, it beats all the time. But I don't usually notice or feel it beating. My mom has had heart problems--both my mom and her mom have pacemakers. Hmm...I guess I'm ready to die (though I did want to see my grandkids first...). But I can't get morbid yet. Today is only the blood-letting; the physicals are three or four weeks away.

Emaciated? I don't think so.

What Famous Leader Are You?
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College Bible study

Last night was the final meeting of our summer college Bible study. It lasted for 8 weeks, on Friday nights. We studied the Gospel of John, and "read" the text via a movie made from the TEV version of the gospel. G. lead the study for all weeks except I did it once when he was away. His approach was to study the major themes presented in John and show how these were manifested in the OT. The themes for the eight weeks were Christ is :

1. The Word
2. Living Water
3. Bread of LIfe
4. Light of the world
5. Lamb of God/Good Shepherd
6. Truth
7. Unity
8. The King

The whole idea of having this study was mine, but I was happy that G. liked the idea and was willing to put in the time of study and preparation each week. He did a good job.

After the study, there was a time of games and food and socializing. I used this as a time to observe how twenty-something young people iinteract with each other. It seems this group had more than its share of intelligent introverts. They like to socialize too, at least a little, as long as someone else initiates the interaction.

All in all, it was a good time. If I had it to do over again, I'd do a couple things differently. One thing, I would not worry about how big the house was and open it to all post-HS kids. I think some kids got left out who would have liked to come.

Java programmer

G. needs one. He says they're a dime a dozen coming out of college, but scarce as hens' teeth in our organization. He also needs a Cocoon programmer. (I don't really even know what Cocoon is, but I guess it is a programming language.)

No cooking tonight

Yay! I didn't have to cook dinner tonight. Why? you ask.* Well, D. and his "friend" decided to make dinner. I'm all for that! He went to the store and bought a few ingredients and they made tacos, Mexican rice, and heated some vegetables. Not bad. And--the best part--they cleaned up the kitchen afterwards.

I say "friend" because it is probably too early in the relationship to say "girlfriend." I pray that the Lord will lead them clearly and they will honor him in their relationship. D. has a lot of years of education ahead of him if he wants to become a doctor, so I don't know how that fits into the equation either.

R. is saying goodbye to one of her friends tonight. They have gone to Bible study. He "doesn't date," so there was never any need to worry about what to call him :-) He has been a good friend to her this summer--made her get involved at church--and I think she has helped him to broaden his horizons a little too. They just drove off to Bible study with her driving--this might be only the second or third time she's driven in the last 6 months. Lord, keep them safe! He did say a funny thing to her early this summer (well, at least I thought it was funny) "I don't want to spend time with you because then I might like you." He would make Joshua Harris proud.

*I use the pronoun rhetorically, since I have no evidence that anyone reads this. I know a couple people have read one or two entries in the past, but I suspect no one reads it regularily.

Overbearing nag

That's what I am. I expect too much, I demand too much, I ask for too much. At least that is what I'm told. I guess the only thing I'm doing right is making sure they get an education so they can get a job that pays enough that they don't have to live with me forever. And when they leave, they won't have to listen to me anymore. I'm not saying this with anger. I just saying it factually. I believe that if they live in my house I get to set the rules about curfew, regardless of their age or educational status. If they pay the bills in their own homes, then I won't have anything to say about what they do, when they do it, or with whom they do it. Or what time they get out of bed.

No thanks

Twelve people enjoyed it. One person said thank you. Perhaps I expect too much.

An answer to prayer?

I've been praying for D.'s housing situation for some weeks now. He needs to find housing in the Washington DC area for at least the next year, maybe two years. We don't know many people there, and we've been so busy with A. that we haven't yet put much effort into helping D. find anything. But we've started working on the problem today. I hung up the phone after talking to D. about the topic and found an email in my inbox. It was an invitation for D. apply for a spot in a residential Christian leadership training program intended for people with full time jobs in the the DC area. Lord, show him if this would be the way you want him to go.

35%

of the world's languages have one book of the Bible written in them.

That fact is brought to you from G., who came home at lunch today and said, "I might be the only person in the world who knows the answer to this question: what percentage of the world's languages have at least one book of the Bible written in them? Then he went on to say, "Well, in the next hour or so Ray will also look at the data and he will know that too."

How did you get that information? "I ran a query."

The next edition of the Ethnologue is due out soon.

The well-loved, love well

I can love because I am loved.
I can love you because God loves me.
I can forgive because I am forgiven.
I can forgive you because God has forgive me.

The story that never ends

Tonight we had Bible study again. Our group was a little smaller than usual because a few kids have had to leave Dallas. We have just two more weeks to go to finish the Gospel of John. I think next week we are going to have a cooperative pizza making party after the study.


After a couple hours of card games, the group decided to do some kind of cooperative storytelling. One person stared with a few sentences, then on to the next person to add a couple sentences, and so on. It was pretty funny to see the difference between the kinds of story elements the boys bring in (bows and arrows, blood) and the ones the girls bring in (conversation Valentine hearts). But really, I don't think this story is ever going to get to the "they lived happily ever after" part. It just keeps going and going.

Oh wait, it just turned one minute after midnight, and they did end up living happily ever after. Yay! I love happy endings.

Be careful what you say online

because it might catch up with you. Tonight I was browsing through a copy of Boston Magazine (we get a free subscription which I usually just toss), and found my son's name in it along with a quote he made on the Kennedy School of Government's electronic bulletin board.

I need a day off

I need a day or two with no one around to think. And maybe read a little. Or maybe I need someone to talk to.

Well, Mr. Blog, I guess I talk to you.

I have a couple questions for you: Is she boy-crazy, or just plain crazy?

Another question: If a chickadee is doing exactly as I could possibly wish, why am I so sad?

And another: Do my prayers do any good?

"Have a good life"

That's what G. said to A. as he hugged him in the security line at DFW today. I couldn't say anything because I was trying to not make a complete fool of myself while crying. He said, "I love you" then handed the security worker his computer and off he went.

I had to laugh the minute before that. When he took his bags to be screened, he must have set off some bells (maybe that trip to Afghanistan?). They opened his suitcase of books and removed ALL 42 of them (I counted) and leafed through EVERY one. They went through his other suitcase, a cool new rolling duffel bag that friends bought him, just as carefully. There were about 10 more books there and the guy said, "You sure like to read, don't you?" Finally, they let him go. Good thing we weren't in a hurry.

He didn't do a very good job of packing up his room, so that will be my project this coming week.

G. and I spent a moment in reflection this afternoon. We talked of how he has now really left the nest, this isn't just another short trip to another exotic place; this is the start of his career.

Lord, he is going to be in for a lot of changes, starting in less than 24 hours. Give him strength, help him to get off to a good start, help him to find some good friends. Give him wisdom beyond his years.

Empty Nest attack

Tonight my feelings really do relate to my blog's name. I'm starting to feel sad about A. leaving. I'm really starting to feel sad about him getting ready to leave.

Today he had a chat with one of our colleagues who lived in Ethiopia. A. came back from this chat overwhelmed and said, "What were they thinking?? I have no idea what I'm doing!"

This is some of the advice he was given:
--No respectable man shows his elbows. Wear only long-sleeved shirts. No matter what the weather.
--Have your leather shoes shined every day by one of the street shoeshine boys.
--If you learn Amharic, your street value will increase.
--Yes, there is malaria.
--If you can pronouce peoples' names properly, your street value will go up.
--Grow a beard.
--When you are asked to give someone's nephew a job, say you need to first check with your boss.
--When asked for a television, say the television might get broken when you tried to carry it over to them.

Yes, he is in over his head. Lord, help him.

Oaf son

I am laughing now. 
 
D just came home from Organic Chemistry class.  Well, he didn't come straight home.  He came in and announced:  I've just been on a date.  But I didn't know it was a date until she gave me her phone number!  Oh, don't worry, mom.  She's my lab partner.  We've got good chemistry.

Pensive

I'm in a thinking mood right now. We went out to dinner this evening to meet up with a group of friends from our old (now-defunct) church. Most of them I see occasionally, but tonight there were a number of people there I hadn't seen in ages. When you don't see someone for a long stretch, then you do see them, it gives opportunity to reflect on the changes you see over the interval of time.

Some of the kids from my daughter's peer group were there. One with a two-year old, livewire of a son, cute as anything, but with no father. She was there with a guy from that same group, actually someone she had dated four years ago. Yes, I think they should get married.

Another interesting thing was to learn one of the married couples from this now-defunct church has decided to become Roman Catholic. I guess in some ways it isn't a big jump for them because he attended a Catholic HS many years ago, and in recent years they became Episcopalians (after the church went defunct). Being Episcopalian was fine until last summer when the Episcopalians decided to ordain gay clergy. I'm not sure what I think about this.

I'm also feeling a little sad because of A's pending departure.

Ears to hear

Tonight was the fourth meeting of our college Bible study group, fourth out of a planned eight. We had a good sized group, 14 or 15, with 4 more people coming for the game time after the study. Several of the regulars were absent, but five new people came.

I was disappointed because a couple people I had asked to come didn't. I mentioned that to Gary and he gave me some good advice: don't be sad about who doesn't come, but be happy for those who do because they will have ears to hear. Our lesson kind of fit with that paradox of the senses too: we talked about the blind who can see and those who think they can see are really blind (John 9). Jesus often talked in riddles, with figurative language or with double meanings. Not everyone who listened to his words actually heard them them.

Lord, give us ears to hear.

No internet??

Most of today our internet connection was down. It seems we can hardly live without it.

Spiderman

When D. got back from the theater he told me Spiderman uses the same quantum mechanics book as he did at Taylor.

Life can be short

I hardly knew him, though he had been at our house not so long ago. I just know if he were my child, I would be devastated. Lord, take care of that family. Help them to love you though they must be hurting so much. Glorify yourself--though from my point of view, you could have thought of a better way to do so. Sorry, I shouldn't be insolent. You know more than I do.

Medical school

D. applied to medical school yesterday. He finished the process by borrowing my credit card to pay for the application--almost $400! It is a joint application for all schools and will be followed up by shorter applications to specific schools. He is looking at Ph.D./M.D. programs, and not all medical schools have them.

We've been offered a free car by friends who are getting a new one. I wonder if D. could take it to D.C. for his job there in September? Funny thing, the car they are offering is only one year older than our newer car.

Conversations

Heard around our house today:

Setting--D. walking repeatedly back and forth from one end of the house to the other carrying a floppy disk.
Me: What are you doing?
D: File transfers.

Setting--I'm giving the last stir to the the stir-fry for dinner.
Me: D., put the rice in a bowl.
D.: I can't. I'm applying to medical school.

Setting--A. getting his Harvard transcript in the mail.
A.: Look missa! I'm a straight up B+ student. Yes!

Setting--Cleaning up the kitchen at 7pm, listening to my new "stereo" system (speakers from my computer strung into the living room)
R. Mom, turn your music down. I can't sleep!

Someone to talk to

I feel like I need someone to talk to.

People are talking to me, but that's not what I mean. I mean I need someone to talk to.

Lord, are you listening?

Gmail

I opened a gmail account tonight, just for the fun of it. If you are reading this message, send me an email to my new gmail account: linda.sim***@gmail.com I need to see if it works. (You know what to substitute for the asterisks.)

Horses and roller coasters

She: I just got off the roller coaster, but I want to get back on.
Me: Don't be too agressive.
She: If you fall off a horse, you need to get back on.
Me: But don't be too agressive.
She: Just someone to talk to.
Me: How can you have a DTR if there isn't any R?
Me: AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!

School bills

Ugh--I just did the math and siged the papers for the 10 months of payments for R's last year of college. Lord, you are going to have to provide for this somehow, since we don't have that much per month.

Church was good today. Nothing special, really, but my heart is drawn to God when I sing and participate in praising God with my fellow believers. I enjoyed hearing my family and friends sing around me. D. visited another church in town, then we picked him up for lunch at Taco Bell. He doesn't feel very connected at our church any more.

Coffee

I don't drink it myself, though I do like the smell of it.

This week R. learned to make coffee, though she doesn't drink it either. That is now part of her job description at the office. She made coffee at our house last night, too. It smelled strong to me, but everyone drank it.

And I learned something about coffee this week from D. and A.: Folgers is old people coffee, while coffee in small foil bags with flavoring added is young people coffee.

One way ticket to Africa

Today A. got word that he will fly to Nairobi one month from today. That seems soon. But we were that age when we left for the middle of nowhere, and we took the only grandbaby with us--who is now doing the same thing. But it was a little different for us: we had each other. I just wish he weren't going alone. Lord, take care of him.

R. had lunch with her friend Jessica. Jessica is about to go to China for a year. She is going alone too. Her mom is probably sad too.

Reading and swimming and working

R's plans for a regular reading night each week have fizzled, but she has found a book she likes (and it isn't a dating advice book this time!), so she is reading anyway. Good for her! She's acting determined to do some exercise too, so we've started swimming laps during the lunch hour. Her job has started, kind of, but we haven't yet had a typical day. If we can get it going it will be good, but it is a job that depends on me putting in some time to keep her busy and to supervise her. The pay is about three times what she's ever been paid at any previous job, so if we can get a system going smoothly, there is hope she could actually make some money towards her school bill.

And speaking of working, it looks like A. will leave for his job July 22 or 23. Now he's getting visa photos, making an appointment for a yellow fever shot, trying to get into the dentist, making plans to fly around the country to visit all his friends, and of course, going to some more baseball games. His dad got mad at him today because he bought a plane ticket to NYC to go to a Yankees-Mets game this weekend with a friend who invited him. I thought it was a silly thing to do, but I know he is a very social creature and saying goodbye to his friends is important to him.

Making plans to leave already

A. has only been home a few days, but today he got his marching orders from SP. SP's East Africa director phoned from Kenya and talked for an hour. He told A. how he was leery of him and his abilities, until he learned he was from Taylor U. and also got a personal recommendation from a mutual friend (his Harvard credentials weren't necessarily in his favor :-)

So it looks like he will leave at the end of July. He's going into overdrive now to do the things he loves to do before leaving: see his friends and go to baseball games. He's on the phone at the moment buying tickets to the Rangers' game for tomorrow night--a date with his little sister. And he just bought plane tickets to go to NYC for the weekend since a friend bribed him with Yankees-Mets tickets. And then a trip to Kansas city to see old college dorm friends and to St. Louis to see the girlfriend who never was. He just can't sit still.

He has to get yellow fever immunization, and cholera too if he hasn't already had that. And malaria pills. He's already been told there is bad phone and internet service (and you get thrown into jail if they catch you with a satellite phone)and common supplies aren't that easy to get either.

I think I'm starting to feel sad.

Doro's last night is a nightmare

When we got home from DFW last night there was a small copperhead snake blocking the door to the house. The car headlights lit it up clearly, so we were in no danger. The push broom was right handy so I shoved it off into the grass amid cries that I should kill it. Then Doro had a nightmare about it.

She had lots of friends come say goodbye to her early this morning. She is like a people magnet. Now that she has gone, our phone will probably never ring again. She got checked in at DFW with no problems at all, but she did miss her flight out of Atlanta due to bad weather, so that meant also missing her flight to Hamburg.

I spent the rest of the day rearranging our rooms and our lives to make space for A. and D. and all their stuff. Now I'm pooped and I still feel unsettled.

Cemeteries on Sunday

We got to church early this morning, so I went for a walk in the cemetery next door. It was an unpretentious cemetery, with lots of room for new folks. The only thing I didn't like were the artificial flowers on some of the graves--too bright and too perfect. I mean, people have nice bodies for a while and then they die, and their nice bodies decay; flowers should do the same. A particularly loud bunch of colors caught my eye but when my nose caught a whiff of fragrance, I realized these were real flowers. The nameless grave was only a day old. The flowers were starting to die, but many of them were still beautiful. As I meandered through the rest of the cemetery I found a few wild flowers; they were the best of all.

Come to think of it, last Sunday I was in a different cemetery after church. That cemetery was very pretentious with signs and warnings and no flowers--fake, cultivated, or wild. It was full to the brim with Paul Revere, Mother Goose, and Ben Franklin's folks, among others.

Homemade pizza

I've been feeling kind of down today. I really don't know why and I don't think I have any good reason to be down. I'm annoyed with my computer at the moment, but I'm going to try to talk D. into reinstalling the OS on Monday after Doro leaves. It seems to be full of junk. Another thing that made me sad was R. and I decided to have some reading time together--that part made me happy. But when she tried reading a CS Lewis book, The Problem of Pain, she had to give up because she couldn't understand the big words. She has never been a good reader, and I do admire that in recent years she is trying harder to read more, but it isn't easy for her. That makes me sad. Sometimes life seems unfair.

She's so good with Chimbai, however. He comes by often, as do Michael and Ebenezeer. Late this afternoon R. decided that she and Chimbai would make homemade pizza. I gave some help, but really the two of them did most of the work. She is so patient with him, and he responds well to her. She is generous with her time and her love and the pizza too! She's giving him a bunch of it to take home.

Lord, bless her for the good she does. Help her to trust you, to love you, to want to know you more.

End of the week

R. sort of got started at a job this week. I say sort of because the person who is paying hasn't gotten back to us with any more details than, "Sure, go for it." So we got her started, and just hope we are going the right direction. The job is scanning language materials to be added to the Rosetta Project, a somewhat eccentric project to preserve language data for the long haul.

A.'s 13 boxes arrived today, so there is absolutely no space left in my formerly empty nest. Doro returns tomorrow night, then A. returns on Sunday night. But Doro leaves on Monday to return to Germany, so then A. will have a room.

D. says his two classes are too easy. This week he dissected a cat and made banana oil ester. He's picked out 6 med schools to apply to, but is only choosing ones that have Ph.D/M.D. combined programs. We'll see if he gets in to any of them.

Our plans for hosting a college-age Bible study this summer are coming along. We've decided to make a rather open invitation, so it will be interesting to see how many kids come. Lord, bring just the right people who can benefit from this time of study and fellowship.

I got one RSVP to come to our Bible study (it starts next Friday) from a boy who is interning in the SIL software development department. (Our family has an interesting history with the gentlemen who have interned in that dept.) The parents of this young man we have known for more than 15 years.

Commencement week at Harvard

Monday--We're home, always good to come home. Tonight I sleep in my own bed :-) R and D did not kill each other off, nor did they starve to death--though I am worried about scurvy since all the vegetables I left for them were still here when I got back.

So my summer break is over. Now back to work and trying to get into a comfortable routine with a nest full of chickadees and all their stuff.

Lord, thank you for your gracious care for all of us. Take care of the needs in our hearts and help us to love you more.

Commencement week at Harvard

Sunday--We got up fairly early to attend services at Park Street Church. The young couple who were the greeters were Taylor grads. The church isn't that big, but it was cool. The choir was well above average, good pipe organ too. Outside the door was the cemetery where Paul Revere, Mother Goose, and victims of the Boston Massacre are buried.

After church we walked some of the Freedom Trail, toured Old Ironsides, and ate lunch at a little place nearby. Then got a different train back to Harvard, arriving just before 3pm.

I don't know if A. is generous or just lazy--he basically decided to give away his stuff instead of trying to sell it. While G. And A. moved stuff, I scrubbed the disgustingly dirty bathroom, swept his room, and washed a few walls. Somehow they have managed to live here without basic cleaning supplies for two years :-(

We declined a dinner invitation because we're too pooped. Besides, the conversation will all be in Spanish.

Commencement week at Harvard

Saturday--A. came in at 6am from his party, slept a little, then we met his Taylor friends, who have spent the last two years studying at Gordon seminary, for a goodbye breakfast. Then we got serious about packing, and by 3:30pm had 13 boxes to go to the UPS store for shipping home (so much the first taxi refused to take the stuff!). We found a drawer full of A's change and picked out the dimes and nickels to buy several drinks from the vending machine--too bad it won't take pennies and foreign coins.

Commencement week at Harvard

Friday--Today was quite pleasant with other things to do now that graduation is over. We had breakfast with friends who happen to be in Boston this week, then Gary had a working lunch with the director of the Forum of Bible Agencies. Then it was serious packing followed by an evening at Fenway where the Red Sox won. Then we went to bed and A went out for an evening of saying goodbye to friends and salsa dancing.

Commencement week at Harvard

Thursday--Today Andrew graduated! Yay for him. Now he is a Master of Public Administration in International Development. Now he owes a gazillion dollars to somebody for his education. (But at least he has plans for staying in the Loan Repayment Assistance Program.)

The graduation ceremonies here were elaborate, to say the least. They take pomp and circumstance very seriously here. But the weather was terrible, so that made it less fun. Andrew started the day with class pictures at 7am, the first phase of graduation started at 10, the second phase started at 12:30, then fancy box lunches. We were so tired by the time that was over we didn't even go to the third phase, so Kofi Annan had to speak without us.

The evening was spent trying to help Andrew figure how to deal with all his stuff: pack it to be mailed, or put in a suitcase for the plane, or decide how to get rid of it. The program here has a room for donations to next year's incoming international students, so he will put all his furniture there.

Commencement week at Harvard

Wednesday-We had a busy day today. We got up early and went downtown for breakfast at Au Bon Pain then a tour in a WWII amphibious bus, on land and into the Charles River basin. Then we went back home and Andrew updated and uploaded his resume his potential employer was waiting for. Then a speech by a Nobel prize winner, class skits, fancy reception, then dinner at a Christian millionarie's house. Now I need to iron Andrew's graduation gown.

Commencement week at Harvard

Tuesday-we arrived on time, Andrew met us, we took a taxi to his apartment, then off to the awards ceremony. Andrew's award was for "outstanding committment to International Development." He seems to have lots of interesting friends here; the Latina girls all flirt with him because he speaks their language, the girl from Afghanistan is beautiful, and an interesting bunch of kids from Turkey. His program is "overrepresented by minorities," as someone lampooned during the satire skit at the awards ceremony. Then about half of the MPAID (Masters of Public Administration in International Development) jumped off the foot bridge into the Charles River. I hope my photos turn out.

Her voice

Sometimes she sings, but doesn't know I'm listening. Sometimes she sings to the Lord. Sometimes it makes me stop and thank God for the beauty: of her voice, of the meaning, of her.

Marshmallow memories

We had friends over the other day for grilled hamburgers, followed by smores and tales of roasting marshmallows over candles when one couldn't find a campfire. Last night we had a storm and the power went out so I had a chance to use all those candles that people keep giving me for gifts. While sitting around the candlefire and telling stories there was suddenly a desire for roasted marshmallows. Have you ever roasted marshmallows over a candle?

Things I saw on our trip to Indiana

1. A billboard along the highway that had the 10 commandments on it, but the writing was so small it would have cause a wreck if anyone slowed down to read it.

2. Trees. Lots of trees. We don't have enough of these in Texas.

3. Rest area with automatic hand washers. Insert hands, down comes 3 drops of soap, followed by water, followed by warm air.

4. Thanks to Caleb, we noticed the odometer with this reading:

5. Another billboard advertising DNA testing: Who is my daddy?

6. A "cemetery" full of small crosses to protest the innocents lost to abortion.

7. A gigantic cross, 198 feet tall, at the intersection of IH 57 and IH 70.

Interminable graduation

That's what it felt like last night. 640 names is a lot of names to listen to. We amused ourselves by sampling how many could be done in a minute then extrapolating how long the whole affair would take. At one point, somewhere around the G's, I looked over at G and he said, "Hey, ya wanna make out?" I replied, "Well, that would be less boring than this."

Then after the graduation it took almost as long again to find our graduate and get her to stop taking photos long enough to get her in the car. The dessert with friends after that was nice, then the graduates left for an all night party.

This morning when we got up to go to work we found a strange body asleep on one of the couches, too tired to drive home after staying up all night. Turns out she was a former gf. Now they're "just friends." Hmmm...

Crossed wires

Literally. Something weird, very weird is going on with our phone this afternoon. The phone rang and it was a wrong number. It rang again and the same guy calling. I asked him what number he was trying to reach and it was no where close to our phone number. It rang a third time, same guy. He said, "Sorry, but my wife watched me dial and I dialed 555-5555." I asked him who he was trying to reach. When he told me Mr. X, a name I recognized as someone in our neighborhood! So I called my husband at work and told him to call me back. When he called me, Mrs. X answered from down the street! Yes, the X family and we have somehow switched phone numbers!! Mrs. X called SBC and they said they would send somebody out before 7pm tonight. So if you want to call me today, dial Mrs. X and I'll answer.

Blown head gasket

To be truthful, I don't even know what a head gasket is. But I know blowing one is not good. So today we have to decide which is cheaper: getting the old car fixed or buying a new old car. Of course, this happens just when my empty nest is crowded and all the chickadees want to drive somewhere. But as G says, "Eh, it's just money." And of course he is right. The problems in life that can be solved by money are the easy problems.

Go R!

Yay! R checked her test scores online when we got home and she passed the second of three standardized tests she needs for her teaching certificate. She didn't pass by much, but I guess that doesn't matter. She scored the highest by far on the essay section. Thank you, Lord, for helping her.

The nest is getting fuller

We are safely home from our trip. We did the college thing and drove all night instead of paying for a couple rooms at a hotel on the way home. D and his friend Caleb did most of the driving, which was great for me. We are all in some discomfort from the sunburns we got during the graduation ceremony.

So now D and all his stuff are home for the summer. It will take some time to get reorganized and get his stuff all out from the middle of the living room. He will need to think about repacking with putting some stuff into storage for when he moves out in late August. Wow, he is about to start a new phase of his life. I will no doubt be blogging about the sadness of losing my kids later in the summer; for now I have to deal with a nest that is getting full and by the time A and all his stuff arrive in June, will be bursting at the seams.

Things I've heard about from R on this road trip

1. Cloud to ground lightning
2. Cumulonimbus clouds
3. 41st known Mersenne prime
4. Spectrophotometer

If you knew R like I know R, you would laugh too.

Road trip

I've been working pretty hard the past three or four days to get ready for driving to Indiana for D's graduation. I haven't put any clothes in the suitcase yet, but most other things are done. It took a long time to organize the one-page itinerary. It takes some effort to figure out the schedule and collect all the phone numbers, etc. I'm a believer in spreading information around, so hopefully somebody can find it when an emergency arises. Lord, keep us safe while traveling, help me not to get lost, or at least not to get frustrated when I do get lost! Keep the drivers awake.

We will be leaving our house with "strangers," Doro and her real mom and sister. We will also leave them with our second car. Lord, please keep the car running and keep them safe while driving it.

G gets to do this trip by airplane--lucky! But in exchange for that, he has to sit in boring meetings in Waxhaw for 4 days. Ugh. A is flying in from Boston too. We will have a mini family reunion with our family and also with my sister, her family and my brother. We were all together recently for Grandma's funeral so it is very unusual to see them twice in one year.

We are very proud of D. School and life have always been easy for him, but still he works hard and doesn't sluff off too much. He has grown up too over these past three years, and we're very proud of him. Lord, bless him, take care of him, guide him in his future. Draw him close to yourself and protect him with your hand.

Hormones and pheromones

I had not had a period for three months. I am, after all, an old woman who is quickly approaching menopause (I've already hit "mental pause.") Then a certain person, I won't mention who, came home with PMS and two days later my period started, as did hers. What is up with that?? Actually there's a name for it: synchronous menstruation.

Sad

I've felt sad most of today. Even Chimbai, the 8 year old African boy who came by for his daily allotment of cookies, asked me why my voice was so sad. I can't hide things very well, can I? Lord, help me to trust you. Help me not to worry. Help me to be reassured of your love.

Not so empty nest

R got home safely yesterday from her 4th year of college. I'm proud of her for sticking with it and doing so well this semester. She's awaiting her grades, hopes to actually get all A's. We'll see.

She is fearful of job hunting. There is only one job she wants, and it will probably be several more days before she finds out if it has been filled. Lord, help her to trust you, give her the courage to deal with her fears.

Tomorrow Doro's mom and sister arrive for a week. That could be weird as Doro will have two mothers for a few days. Then I leave on Wednesday to drive to Indiana, leaving my house to strangers.

More cat hair

It is spring, so I guess I should expect the longhaired cat to be shedding her coat in preparation for summer. So I vacuum and vacuum again to clean it all up. Then today I had an idea--why not vacuum the cat herself, and see if that helps. Well, she didn't like the procedure, but since I'm bigger than her, she didn't have much of a choice. If I ever get another cat, I'll get a shorthair. Of course, in this case, I didn't make a choice, we just gave in after the poor thing spent three days outside our door crying to get in. I guess we're just softies for strays.

Lost mail

...has finally arrived. More than two months ago I mailed a fat envelope to R at her school. It contained a money order from the US Postal Service to pay for an exam she needed to take. When it didn't arrive a few days later, we had to go through the whole process again of filling out the test forms, getting another money order (they wouldn't take a check) and sending it priority (in order to make the deadline). Well, R took the test weeks ago, and yesterday the errant envelope finally arrived in her mailbox at school. Now I'm wondering if I can get my $100 back for the money order. I'm also wondering where that thing was for two months.

Mother's Day

I've had a good one. Nothing really special happened, but I do have a deep sense of God's goodness to me, both as a person and as a mother. Every Christmas my kids ask me, "What do you want for Christmas?" And every year I say, "Good kids." That leads to comments like, "What do you really want?" or "Well, that ain't gonna happen, so what is second on your list?" Thanks be to God, I do have good kids. They all love him. Now I have to trust him to care for them as they separate from me and move further into their own lives.

Not everyone is as fortunate as me: in church today we heard of H's family yesterday shutting off life support and watching her leave this world, a week after a stroke. And sadder still, a mother younger than me telling that she doesn't know where her daughter is. They've asked the police to help locate her. And my own mom, grieving the recent loss of her mother, although grandma lived long and died short.

Mothering is a very strong instinct, in my opinion. What does it mean to mother? Bearing your own children is one thing it means, but even more so, I think it means taking care of things. No, it means taking care of living things--plants, animals, and especially people. I guess it also involves the concept of dependence; a mother is someone whom other living things depend on for their well being. Women who never marry still need to take care of living things.

D's new job

D finally managed to find time to phone and tell me the details of his job interview. He said it was a five minute walk from the hotel to the campus of the National Institute of Health. He said 15,000 people work there--I had no idea! His building, the National Cancer Institute, is three years old and six stories high. He said the building has eight electron microscopes in it, three in the section he will work in. He said the interview started with a cup of tea! I didn't even know D drank tea, but he informed he he learned to drink it during that semester in Ireland. The director's first question was, "If we offer you this job, are you going to take it?" Looks like they really want him. Amazing.

He said they showed him the projects they are working on, gave him papers produced there, and showed off all the cool equipment. I'm going to have to look up and learn about "electron tomography." The computer he will work on is some kind of graphics computer with 16 gigabytes of RAM. And there is also a room (?) of processors to do "parallel cluster processing"--I'm not sure if I got that right. He would spend 60-70% of his time with these imaging computers, and the rest in the "wet lab" to get experience with real chemical and biological samples.

He said money did not seem to be a problem, they have lots of it and get more when that runs out. They offered him $4000/yr more than he was expecting, but the total isn't a huge amount considering the high cost of living for the DC area.

Logistics--looks like he won't need a car because of the good metro system. They don't offer any help with housing, but they've directed him to a website for government workers looking for housing, and they told him if he shares with someone else, he shouldn't have to spend more than $700/mo on rent. They do offer health insurance as part of the deal. He starts right after Labor Day.

Cat hair

White kitty has been laying on top of a pile of floppy disks all afternoon. Probably not a good idea.

Another blog

I had an idea today to make another blog specifically for my family members. This way, I can tell my chitchat news but not have to write separate emails to everyone. I don't know if this will turn out to be a good idea or not, but I'll try it for a few days. If not, there is a nice DELETE BLOG button here somewhere.

When I tried to set the new blog up, I completely messed up the template. Then I had the idea to copy and paste from this one. That worked, then I removed a few things, but basically left the titles and commenting thing in place.

When an author writes, he or she usually has an audience in mind; with this blog, I'm still trying to figure out who I am writing to. I thought I was just talking to myself, but...

I also just discovered that Blogger works differently in Opera than it does in IE. Hmm, I'll have to investigate that a bit more.

Last payment, travel plans

Yay, today we made the last payment for Rachel 4th year at college. Two months without payments before we start them again for her last year. Next year will include her student teaching semester, and she has already been awarded a nice scholarship for that semester. Lord, thank you for helping her to get this far!

I also made hotel bookings for two rooms in scenic Marion, Indiana for the night before David's graduation. My sister and her family, along with my brother, will drive down from Michigan and join us for David's graduation. It will be a hectic time, but we will all get to be together briefly. My mom is also coming with us in our van and bringing along boxes of grandma's stuff to give to relatives in Michigan. Andrew is flying in from Boston, Gary is flying in from North Carolina. David's HS friend Caleb will drive up with me, Rachel and mom and he can help me with the driving--yay (since I hate driving).

And speaking of travel, D. flies to Washington DC tomorrow to interview for a job in Bethesda, MD at the National Cancer Institute. Wouldn't that be the coolest research job for a little punk like him? Lord, show him if this is the direction you have for him. And take care of him while he travels.

MKs

MK stands for missionary kid, if anyone reading this doesn't know. MKs are a great bunch of kids. And they grow up to be great adults too. (Of course, not all of them, but...)

There is a very active MK youth group here, one for Jr. High, and another for Sr. High. They meet together every Monday night with official leaders for accountability groups, singing, teaching, and fellowship.

Tonight was a special MK meeting to honor the MKs who will be graduating from high school in the next few weeks. It was a large group of seniors, over 12, I think. One of the staff members made a video featuring photos of these seniors from baby to now--it was a lot of fun.

Our exchange daughter was quickly accepted by this group last August, and her (considerable) social life revolves around this group. She fits in because she is a Christian, and because she is foreign, and because she accepts everybody (at least initially) without first deciding if they are cool or not. Of course, it also helps that she is the most outgoing person I have ever met in my life.

I have a lot of admiration for the staff who work with this group. It is a big organizational job just to keep all the activities going, but more to the point, they really love and care for these kids. Most of the staff are grown MKs themselves, or else are married to MKs. One of the younger staff members tonight told me he liked working with this group because he didn't have to explain himself--they already know what it is like to grow up in an exotic country and then to the USA. We weren't at all surprised about his desire to become ambassador to X one day.

Lord, thank you for this group of MKs. Draw the close to yourself as they transition into a new phase of life.

Broken hearts

No, not mine. My heart is fine. But one of my kids has just broken up and now has a hurting heart. I guess that makes it unanimous: all three kids have now had an official broken heart from a failed romance. Broken hearts hurt, I know that. But they have value too. They are a time to learn about oneself and about others. Lord, help my kids to trust you, to turn to you when they hurt. Help them not to lose hope in your care for them, nor lose hope that you will one day bring them into happy marriages.

Coming and going

Doro's foot is still swollen, but maybe a bit better. She doesn't want to go to the doctor.

A. just phoned and has accepted a tentative position for a job with a Christian relief agency. The job would start late summer, I think. The details still have to be worked out, but his first few months will probably be spent in a war country. Lord, take care of him. We're very proud of him, we're not at all surprised at this job. But it did make me think about this being another phase in my empty nest, one of the chickadees really a long ways away for a really long time. But he has been headed in this direction for quite some time, and I think it is where God wants him to be. Lord, take care of him.

R. phoned today, I hadn't talked to her in quite a few days. She had just turned in a project and was feeling good about having that done. One more big project to finish over the weekend and turn in on Monday. Then she will be mostly done, except for exams. Wow, the end of 4 years for her. Thank you, Lord. One more year to go.

Fire ants

Yesterday Doro got bitten by some fire ants on her feet. Today she came home from school with one foot really swollen. She seems to be reacting pretty badly. I gave her benedryl which made her take a nap before dinner and another one after dinner. If it isn't better tomorrow, maybe she needs to go to the clinic.

Speaking of Doro, I put some photos of her prom on my website. I decided to only put up three, but they are good ones.

Fixing up my blog

Well, I don't want to brag or anything, but I'm happy that I've figured out how to make my blog look a little better with some images from my website. I'm sure the html changes I made are not very clean, but they seem to work, so that will have to be good enough.

I've also updated my website with more photos from Grandma's funeral, Easter, and more wildflowers.

Ok, time to go to bed.

Nice weather

The last two days we have been enjoying the nicest weather. It was rainy over the weekend, and we needed rain, so that was good. But after the rain stopped, the weather has been perfect--sunny, warm but not too warm, and clear. I always tell my out-of-state friends that April and October are the best times to come to Dallas. April is actually better than October because of the bluebonnets.

G's wildflowers are in full bloom. Well, I can hardly call them wild since he tends them every weekend, but the seeds were called wildflower mixture when he planted them about 5-6 years ago. It is interesting to see how each year the mixture of flowers is a bit different. The first year was the very best, with a couple dozen varieties, I think. Since then it has been a botany lesson in watching which are the dominate species. But that balance is upset too because G pulls out the Mexican hats in order to let the other stuff grow. They are beautiful, and lots of people slow down and gawk as they drive by.

The fire ants have come out of the ground with a vengeance since the rain too. D seems to be quite sensitive to them and has several bites on her feet that look pretty nasty.

Bass Hall

After church today I went to a concert with my friend K. at Bass Hall in Ft.Worth. It was the first time I've ever been there. It was a cool place. Of course it was easy to make comparisons with the Myerson Hall in Dallas, but they are both cool places. The Ft. Worth Symphony orchestra played Beethoven, Prokofiev, and Brahms. We had nosebleed seats, but still the sound was so good. I did get a little sleepy, it was so relaxing, but I woke up when the last movement of the Brahms when I started hearing the hymn "We are God's People." The last line: O let us live transparently, and walk heart to heart and hand in hand.

The rain of the weekend has stopped and the sun has come out. We are having one of those beautiful spring days of April in Dallas. Soon it will be too hot.