Some Progress

An official name badge seems like progress, doesn't it? Rachel also made herself some homemade photo business cards to give to the school principals and secretaries. Her first attempt at handing one out (at an elementary that was on her way to a babysitting job) proved their usefullness. The principal asked her if she'd like to sub for Kindergarten on Friday.

In an unrelated note, I'm about 24 hours into a migraine, and it turns out that I need to drive to McAllen tomorrow. If you read this in time, you might pray with me that I will get a good sleep tonight and wake up early without a headache.

Separating

The title of this blog has to be reviewed every so often. My nest, at this stage of my life, is supposed to be empty. Since my boys are off, that just leaves Rachel, and she and we continue to try to figure out how to separate. Until now she hasn't had the financial resources to pay her own way, and that means she is still connected to us financially. That means she can't make all her own decisions about everything--that doesn't happen until there is financial independence. That is what we are aiming for, and what she is aiming for.

It is looking likely that she will get on the sub list for two big local school districts soon. It remains to be seen how often she will get called to come in. The pay isn't that great, but Rachel has reminded us that subbing is good experience for a teacher, and that subbing will make her more prepared and more confident to have her own classroom one day. She still has a number of babysitting jobs too, and that helps a little.

I am the impatient type, so it has been hard for me to have her so underemployed since last January. You can pray that God will help me to be more patient.

I think we may have come to a decent compromise that will help me to back off: we are going to ask Rachel to pay for all her own expenses (you know--car insurance, health insurance, phone, gas, food, rent, etc.) starting October 1. Up to this point she has been paying everything except health insurance and rent; unfortunately, adding those two will be a big chunk. But I just feel that she must take that responsibility upon herself. When she does that, it will be easier for me to quit "running her life" and for us to separate.

It will no longer be my concern that she get a job, or get a better job. It is her responsibility to pay her own way, including paying rent to us for our garage apartment. How she comes up with the money to do that is hers to figure out. (That won't stop me from praying that God will provide her with a good full time job that suits her and isn't too far away.)

I have hope that this new arrangement will improve our relationship. It will certainly give her the opportunity to take responsibility for herself, and not always have me telling her what to do. She will be independent because she is financially independent.

21 Seasoning Salute

If anyone out there lives near a Trader Joe's, how about picking me up a jar or two of their 21 Seasoning Salute? Mine's all gone.

The Hive is Growing Quiet

This afternoon Doro left to return to Germany after six and a half weeks at our house. Our house was a hive of activity with her here. I've never met another person as extroverted or active as she is--always having friends here or always going with friends there, or painting a picture, or remodeling the house, or sewing a dress, or talking on the phone, or swimming, or taking photos, or begging to go to Walmart, or, or, or. As a busy bee, and a beautiful one, she had various young men buzzing around too, though she is not ready or interested in having a bf at this stage of her life--she starts university soon (but has to pass the TOEFL test first).

Speaking of bees, they were very annoying at our picnic last night at Cedar Hill State Park. They seem to LOVE Dr. Pepper. Doro avoided that problem by drinking water. But alas, before the night was over, she was the one who got stung.

Then on the way home we all had a big discussion about the name of the stinging insect. Was it a honey bee, a wasp, a hornet? Rachel insisted it was a yellow jacket, and upon further Google research, I think she was right. Not only was it a yellow jacket, it was a German Yellow Jacket.

New Things I've Learned Recently

I had never heard of antlions until our someone informed us that is why our parched yard looks like the lunar surface.



Another thing I've recently learned is a new meaning of the word rifle--"To cut spiral grooves within (a gun barrel, for example)."

Lastly, due to all the red tape I do for Andrew, is the word apostille. To get one in Texas only costs $15 and takes 3 days, kind of like an international version of a notary public authorization.

Passable and Agreeable

"If a girl says, 'I don't care what I look like. If people don't take me for what I am, too bad for them,' is she being wise or is she being unwise?"

"No, women don't have to really be beautiful--all they have to be is passable (that is, not so ugly that you're embarassed to be seen with them) and agreeable (that is, someone you could actually live with)."

"I read a book about a young blind man who thought he could judge women better than his seeing peers. This was because he wasn't blinded by a woman's physical appearance--he could see past the physical and judge a woman for who she really was."

"You should not use outward aids to make yourselves beautiful, such as the way you do your hair, or the jewelery you put on, or the dresses you wear. Instead, your beauty should consist of your true inner self, the ageless beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is the of the greatest value in God's sight."

She Can See Clearly Now

Amazing! That piece of glass I ordered from somewhere in Kansas arrived at my doorstep in less than 24 hours! Unbroken! I was tempted by Ma Hoyt's comment yesterday to try to install it myself, and indeed I started the process. But Rachel objected, wisely so, when the insides of the door looked just a bit too complicated. I had gotten as far as taking the door panel apart and vacuuming up the rest of the glass inside the cavity. Rachel called a couple places and found someone only two miles away to install it for $50 cash, so she took it in. An hour later, she has a new door glass.

It was nice of the LORDSKNIGHT to volunteer to "return the favor," but hopefully his sense of chivalry will be subdued now that her car is again operational.

I should also say thanks to Marlon for giving us a lesson on how to use the tire guage and air compressor. Now her tires have more than 12 psi! The brakes are pretty squeaky, but maybe that problem can be solved next week.

Fixing Glass(es) X 3

I spent an hour at the optician office yesterday trying to get Gary's desperately needed reading glasses repaired, but with no luck. So I cannibalized another pair of reading glasses to fix them, at least temporarily.

Then there was the broken pane of glass in R's apartment, which, ironically was broken by a lovely stained glass cat as its chain broke and it fell.


Then there is the broken window in Rachel's car. We tried to get one at a junkyard, but no luck there. But one of the junkyard dealers told us to try the internet. I typed in the search criteria to a generic used car parts site, and within 5 minutes or so I had 10 emails from around the country saying they had it. So I called one place in Kansas and they said they would get it here in 1-2 days! If that really works, I'll have to find someone to install it.

Another Million Pieces

But this time the damage can be repaired with just time and money.


When we got home from church Sunday afternoon, we found someone had shot out a window on Rachel's car. There were two other BB indentations on the car too.

We cleaned up the glass in 105 degree heat. Have you ever vacuumed your street before? Neither had I. Then we walked around the neighborhood, and when I found that the neighbor's van window had also been hit, I took this accidentally artistic photo of it.

Rachel called a couple places and found it was going to be close to $200 to buy new glass, so the man who sold her the car suggested his favorite junkyard. That sounds like a good idea except who wants to send their daughter to a junkyard??

More Weddings

Today Gary and I attended a reception for Darrell and Sommer who were married a month ago in Michigan. Darrell used to work for Gary as a software developer; it was our first time to meet Sommer.

At exactly the same time, Chelsey and Chuck were being married in Denton. Chelsey was a friend of Rachel and David.

It is that time of life for my kids when all their friends are getting married. I pray God will one day bring the right person to them at the right time, and they will love and be loved without doubt or hesitation.

Clean Dishes

My life has hit a new low.

Tonight there was a cockroach half the size of Rhode Island inside my dishwasher. And the dishes inside were already clean. Now they're really clean since I had to run the dishwasher again.

Gary is never much help when I try to act like a helpless female around Texas-bred roaches. He just mutters something about "they're God's creatures too" and picks them up and throws them outside. Or sometimes he kills them.

Original Art

Rachel is fortunate to have these examples of original art in her apartment. All of them, except the pottery, started as photographs.

This is the Dallas skyline, from a photo Rachel took when she went to a Maverick's game with friends a couple years ago.

Everyone takes photos of bluebonnets.

Grandma Judy makes beautiful pottery. I love to give her pottery as wedding gifts.

Grandpa Wendell has taken up making stained glass, and asked for a photo of a kitty we used to have.

The last one is a woodburning, made by an MK friend. Rachel took the photo when she was a camp counselor a couple years ago.

Me and Baby

I know I said I wouldn't post any more Honduras photos, but I came across this one today when I was sorting some of my photos, and I just had to post it.

Another Empty Nest

You thought this was going to be another story about me, didn't you?

This baby cardinal fell out of its nest on Thursday. It hopped up to Rachel's glass storm door and started cheeping at Miss Kitty who would have eaten it if she could have opened the door. All the women in the house (me, Rachel, Doro, and a pile of Doro's friends) started clucking about how we could keep it alive, in spite of the fact that it already appeared to have a broken wing.

It only lived a day and a half in our care--we aren't very good bird mothers, I guess. And while we are sad, the mama bird has been distraught, flitting nearby and singing a plaintive song. She is sad because her nest is empty.

Silly as it may sound, this little episode is a good reminder of God's care of us. Imagine being loved by a God who is big enough to notice when every little bird falls out of its nest.

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Honduras Flowers and Plants

OK, maybe this will finally be my last Honduras post. (By the way, the "I was there" photos are on my other website Linda's Family News, in case you didn't already know that.) Tropical flowers can be excessively beautiful. (Click the photos to see a bigger version.)





A few houses still have thatch roofs.

It was interesting to see many of these epiphytes (also called aerophytes) growing on the wires.

And this last photo is for Ma Hoyt, who lives near other corn fields.

Another Breakup

Last night my daughter broke up with her "friend." It seems there wasn't as much emotional trauma with this break up as there was with the last one. Maybe that's because she was the breaker rather than the breakee; more likely it is because she had not invested as much into this relationship as the previous one. But I think this time she will be able to honestly still be friends with him, at least I hope so. I don't know how he feels about that possibility.

I continue to pray for my two kids who are yet unmarried, that God will bring the right person to them at the right time, and that they will one day love and be loved without hesitation or doubt.

Birds I Saw in Honduras

While at Macaw Mountain in Honduras, we saw many beautiful birds, but they were in cages.

I also saw a number of other birds in the wild, including these that familiar with: red-winged blackbird, some kind of eagle, some kind of woodpecker, some kind of egret, and a northern yellow flicker.

I also saw a few more exotic birds: frigate bird, black vulture, mangrove swallow, green kingfisher, and the unmistakable white-throated magpie jay. But the most exotic bird I saw was called an oropendula. It builds the most interesting nest, a long hanging affair with up to 100 in one tree. I took this photo while on a river ride.

Creatures from Honduras

You already saw my cool spider and bat photo a couple blogs ago. Here are the rest. This first thing is call a paca.

Next is a shy hermit crab.

A moving green lizard with a blue face.

A turtle who has seen better days.

And one of a line of ants that looked like we'd better not mess with them.

Which Is Better--Ethiopia or Honduras?

Andrew and Laura seemed to be doing pretty way in various ways, but in other ways, it didn't seem like they were quite settled or happy (at least it seemed that way with Andrew). I think he is finding his job rather more work and rather more stressful than it was in Ethiopia, though the job there had its own set of issues.

I made up this list from things he said and things I observed while we were there:

Ethiopia was better in these ways:

* Level of education of the staff
* Church
* Coffee
* Personal security
* English is language of business
* Overall level of job stress

Honduras is better in these ways:

* Food
* Driving
* Fewer beggars
* General level of economy in country
* Ease of visiting family
* Internet access

Are Some Sins Worse Than Others?

Big sins with our hands.
Bigger sins with our mouths.
Biggest sins with our hearts.