Old Family Photos

my parents' wedding, Lyle and Vivian Dennis, July 29,1952, Crystal, MI

I was so happy to get an envelope from my childhood neighbor with a handful of black and white photos of my family. Her parents had been at my parents' wedding, and Carol found a few old photos they found when cleaning out. I was happy to get them.

Haven't heard much from Andrew and Laura this week except that they got their contract signed in the town of Awassa and the TV reporters were there to film it.

Talked to David who has just finished his first block of classes (they have blocks instead of semesters). He gets some time off this weekend, but said it was too expensive to buy gas to drive home for a visit. He did buy a pass to the UT-Houston gym, so he can start working out a little bit. His girlfriend phoned from a borrowed cell phone the other morning--that made him happy.

Rachel continues to do scanning about 3-4 hours per day. We are nearing the end of the materials to scan, but it is good money while it lasts. She has joined the church choir and is attending two different singles' groups during the week. Her latest set of fingerprints were accepted by the Texas board of Education, but still no word on her Review of Credentials.

Gary is doing OK, except always always too busy. He goes to Michigan for a few days at the end of next week for a paid consulting job. It has been many months since he has had one of these opportunities.

True Love at Church

His 250 lb. wife is now pushing 300 with their third child--he looks at her and smiles.

His wrinkled wife moves over to let him in the pew with a giggle--he leans his grayed head over and kisses her.

His grouchy wife smiles in spite of herself when he takes her hand--he whispers, "I'm ga-ga over red hair."

A skinny, beautiful, young blonde woman sits all alone--Lord, won't you bring true love to her too?

Playing in the Rain

Who says you're ever too old to play in the rain??

We haven't had much rain this summer, in fact I think we're over 6 inches behind the normal rainfall totals. And it is still hot here, so playing in the rain was kind of like a warm shower.

Anatomy of an Apology

1. Acknowledge the facts. I cut you off in traffic. Don't include any but,... statements.
2. Admit you were wrong. I was wrong to do that.
3. Apologize. I'm sorry.
4. Ask for forgiveness. Will you forgive me?

No, I didn't write that because I'm mad at someone, or someone is mad at me. I wrote it to remind myself of the conclusion I came to several years ago when I thought hard about apologies. That situation came to mind due to some recent silly (and some not-so-silly) bickering on a forum I frequent.

Those many years ago, someone did something bad to one of my kids. (That's all the more specific I'm going to get and I will use all male pronouns when talking about the situation, regardless if the antecedent is male or female.) He tried to apologize, but he skipped directly to number 3, and could never come to terms with points 1 and 2. So in my mind, he never really apologized.

Of course, I am guilty of doing this too. It is hard to admit wrong, and it is easy to rationalize and make excuses. It is also, sadly, easier to observe these faults in others than in one's self.

Dirty Cat

Sigh. The bulldozer went through the woods yesterday, preparing the way for the drilling rig. I walked back there this morning and these words from the Prophet Isaiah came to mind:

"Prepare in the wilderness a road for the Lord! Clear the way in the desert for our God! Fill every valley; level every mountain. The hills will become a plain, and the rough country will be made smooth."

On my way back from my tour, I found my formerly-white cat following me.

Not In My Backyard!

This sight in one's backyard cannot be a good thing. But, at least we were warned. Presently they are doing preliminary drilling to determine the exact location of the escarpment. If we're fortunate, the escarpment will prevent building.

I Win!

The mousetrap even says so. The advice from MaHoyt and MoM did the trick!

My next question: Is there ever just one of them??

Outsmarted by a Rodent

When we went to Andrew's wedding we had someone looking after our house, but we decided the cat could live outside during the week we were away. While the cat was away, the mice came in to play. I'm assuming these creatures must be small, judging by the size of their calling cards (isn't that a cute euphemism?). And while cleaning a couple days ago, I found nine pecans in my sewing drawer. Did I put pecans in my sewing drawer?? I asked myself. Why did I put them there?? After considerable cogitation on this matter I finally realized that no, it must be a critter about twice the size of the pecan who put them there. What industrious creatures.

So last night I set a mouse trap. I used peanut butter and put one of those pecans beside it just to make it look even more appealing. Today the peanut butter and the pecan are gone, the trap unsprung. I'm a failure.

They Arrived Safely, But...

...not without problems. Andrew and Laura got delayed in Minneapolis due to the NWA mechanics' strike, thus causing them to miss their connection in Amsterdam. So they waited there eight hours, flew to Nairobi, waited there five more hours, then on to Addis Ababa. They eventually got to the baggage claim to find that their four bags had actually made it, but not before Laura's passport was confiscated. Andrew had thought she could buy a tourist visa in the airport in Addis, but they discovered you can only do that if you are from one of 23 countries, and the DR is not one of them. Pray for them as they return to Immigration on Monday to try to get things sorted out.

When Andrew phoned us this morning with this information I could hear Laura in the background asking how to turn the hot water on in the shower. I'm sure a hot shower felt good after all those hours of travel.

They're Off!

Andrew and Laura's last morning here went smoothly. They opened another bank account, made another trip to the drug store, said goodbye to two more family friends. We stopped at Taco Bueno for lunch on the way to the airport (we don't recommend their new potato skins), and they had no problems checking in. Their 4 bags each weighed just barely under 70 lbs so they didn't have to pay; starting tomorrow, the maximum weight is 50 lbs each before you have to pay. Good timing.

Our new daughter-in-law has quite a sense of humor. Here are some funny things we heard from her today:

• I know they're going to think I'm starting up a farmacia with half a suitcase of deodorant, three bottles of contact solution, two Epipens, ...
• He can buy his first Hummer when he has his first dictatorship.
• That pink suitcase is so bright it will show up on Google maps.

After we dropped Andrew and Laura off at the airport, we went to see a movie using the free passes I had gotten for my birthday several weeks ago (they expire tomorrow). We saw The War of the Worlds. My favorite line from the movie was:
"Rachel! Stop talking!"

Big Bug

Some things do grow bigger in Texas. We found this dead bug yesterday. I tried to look it up in my insect book, but couldn't identify it. Any ideas? And while it is large, it is considerably smaller than the rhinoceros beetles we used to have in the Solomon Islands. (Hmm, it may be a female Eastern Hercules Beetle. I found that info while using google images to look for a rhinoceros beetle.)

The power at our office is still out, and may be until Friday. Rumor is that $25,000's worth of copper cable has to be replaced. I used my unexpected holiday to organize and upload all of my photos from our trip to the Dominican Republic and Andrew and Laura's wedding. If you are interested in having a look, here is the link to my website. The four new sections of photos can be found under the link called "Some favorite photos."

Andrew and Laura leave tomorrow at 3pm. Pray for God to give them a safe trip and a smooth transition to their new life as a married couple in Ethiopia.

Forced Vacation

No trip to the office for me and Gary today, or for anyone else at our Wycliffe Center. The quad of offices are without power since yesterday, apparently due to a burned out power main or something.

The timing is good from my point of view, since David showed up late last night to spend a few hours with Andrew and Laura before they leave for Ethiopia. He will drive back to Houston sometime later today. Since he did so well on his first exam last Monday, I guess he thinks he can miss classes today. At any rate, we are glad he came home, even if he missed the reception last Saturday.

Andrew and Laura have to get serious about starting to pack their stuff up and I think they decided they need to start by buying another suitcase. Yesterday I started feeling sad about them leaving. Laura's mom and David are making plans to go to Addis Ababa for Christmas, so they should be able to have some family with them for the holidays.

Wedding Reception

Tonight we had a reception for Andrew and Laura. It was a lot of work, but I am so blessed to have wonderful friends who helped make it easy: Janet was in charge of the fruit, Marilee took care of the punch, Sharla did all the decorations, Rachel made the powerpoint of photos, and Joan took care of coffee. Each of them had other people helping, so it went together quickly and turned out great. My job was the cakes.

It was so nice to see old friends from Kimball Free Methodist Church, and a number of Andrew's old HS friends came by too, as well as a number of our Wycliffe colleagues.

The fruit stack was an absolute work of art!

Dinner Conversation

Last night one of Rachel's friends, just home from a year in China as a nurse, came over for dinner. Andrew and his new wife, on their way to Ethiopia, were there, too. During the course of dinner there were discussions about condom manufacturers in China exporting the quality products and leaving the rejects for local use, eating pig uterus after an abortion, child brides and female circumcision in Ethiopia, Oprah Winfrey's fistula hospital in Addis Ababa, and defacto polygamy in Latin America. Oh, and don't forget the report that the girlfriend of the young man Rachel sent to prison was not only a new mother, she was also a stripper.

What ever happened to "Dear, how was your day at the office"?

55 Years

I drove Rachel down to the court house again today and Andrew and Laura picked her up at 4:30 after the punishment trial had ended. (Yes, the newlyweds arrived late last night and will be here for 10 days.) It was sad to hear how much trouble a person can get into in 20 years, including drugs at 11, stealing a car at 12, up through armed robbery at 20, including over 100 other charges while a juvenile. The daddy of a baby born last Thursday will be in prison for the next 55 years.

I think this has been an educational experience for Rachel, and I know it has been an emotional one. She felt pretty stressed by the experience, but handled it pretty well.

She will probably also remember to check her purse more closely next time, since they confiscated an eyeglasses screwdriver and the file off of a large nail clipper. Whoops! Of course, those things had been in her purse through all the air travel to the DR a couple weeks ago, but nevermind...

Juror

Wouldn't you know it, she got picked. The trial is actually only to determine a sentence, not a innocent or guilty verdict. It will last 2-3 days. She's not allowed to talk about it until after the trial is over, so I better stop here (I sat in the court too, to pass the time waiting for her).

Vicarious Jury Duty

When Gary got a jury summons, I drove him downtown and helped him fill out the paperwork, due to is legal blindness (which, BTW, did not exempt him from serving we found out, although being deaf does). I sat there all day with him.

Now Rachel got a summons, and since she doesn't drive much, I'm taking her there tomorrow, to Dallas county criminal court in downtown Dallas. I'll have to be prepared to sit with her all day.

And, of course, I've done this several times for my own summonses over the years. Lots of sitting, along with one murder trial.

Preying Mantis at the Park

Last night we had a picnic at a local park to farewell a couple kids on their way back to college. It was a hot Texas night, but pleasant watching the golden sun set on one side and the full moon rise on the other.

The Poisonwood Bible

It took me nearly three weeks, but I just finished reading The Poisonwood Bible which I had been wanting to read for several years. I borrowed the fat hardback copy from the library and dragged it to the DR--always time to read on airplanes.

It is a book worth reading for any missionary, so many things will resonate. But the bad guy in this book, The Father, is an exaggerated caricature of a bad missionary--thankfully, I have never met a missionary as clueless as this character.

If I Only Had A Brain

While at Family Day at the Baylor College of Medicine, we were given an anatomy demonstration. Afterwords, they passed out gloves and invited us to come have a closer look. Rachel had a chance to see what a cerebellum looks like up close and personal and we were able to use a real prop to explain a bit more about her birth defect (cerebellar hemiatrophy).