Christmas Cards

Each Christmas season I tape all my Christmas cards on the wall around an open doorway. I took them down recently, and analyzed who sent these cards:

• local church friends - 4
• coworkers - 6
• financial supporters - 8
• relatives - 11
• faraway friends - 21

We also received 3 anniversary cards (30 years on Christmas Day), 3 cards from commercial interests, numerous Christmas letters, photos, and email letters. The loveliest were the handmade ones, but the ones with religious art were nice too. Two people loved us so much they sent two cards.

What makes a person count and analyze their Christmas cards?

Merry Belated Christmas

It was a bunch of work, but I mailed off 5 more Christmas packages this morning. These were the gifts that finally showed up inside the suitcase shown below. The smell of coffee in my office was getting to me, so I was in a rush to mail the bags off to their respective places--grandparents, friends, and parents of friends. Besides coffee, also included were baskets, shawls, and lovely silver Orthodox crosses.

The suitcase may have a permanent coffee smell, but that didn't seem to bother white kitty.

In other news, Rachel has applied for another job and has called a few more private schools and daycares to see if anyone is hiring. She is anxious to find some work, so pray that God will provide. We hope to soon help her figure out how much she owes Uncle Sam in income taxes, because after that she wants to see if she can afford to buy a used car.

We are still having very warm and very, very dry weather here. The grass has all died, I just hope the trees don't. Many places nearby have suffered wildfires.

13 Days Later

David's suitcase, full of Christmas presents, arrived at 10pm tonight, smelling like Starbucks. Like, what's the RUSH?? Notice the broken off ID tag, and original baggage tag missing.


But also notice the address and phone number sticker on the INSIDE. *takes bow*

Now we have to figure out who all these bags of coffee belong to, one of which broke open during the lonely trip to Dallas from Ethiopia with a long layover in London.

David, I Figured Them Out

David took these photos while in Ethiopia and told me I needed to figure out the names. I started with an online Ethiopia bird list, then cross checked with Google Images.

"We've Had a Hellish Week"

When the pastor starts his sermon with those words, you know it has been a bad week. His heart is broken for the sorrow and sin that he witnessed this past week, including a girl in the congregation (of course he named no names) chosing to have an abortion. This, in spite of him and his wife offering to adopt her child. This is especially hard because it was this church, many years ago, which started the local crisis pregnancy center (which is now supported by numerous churches in the community). He went on to say that he felt the blood of that unborn child was not just on the girl's hands, but on the hands of all of us who fail to reach out in compassion to those who are hurting.

Looking Again

Rachel had a sad experience yesterday. It turns out she wasn't able to do all the things her nanny boss wanted and needed, so she let her go. This was a disappointment to Rachel, not the least in that she had already grown quite attached to these three boys. So pray with us again that she will soon be able to find a different job.

Knockoffs

David found these on his trip to Addis Ababa.

Driving in Arlington

A couple posts ago there was a photo of Rachel by the Honda Pilot that she needs to learn to drive for the family she is now nanny for. I agreed to drive over there each day this week after I get off work and go practice with her. I'm happy to report that she has had two lessons and hasn't hit anything yet, and has only been beeped at twice. The goal is to help her become comfortable with this large car, and to memorize her way to the grocery store and back since she isn't so good with maps (but she does fine with the landmark-style of navigation).

Continue to pray for her strength and adjustment as she and the family get used to each other. There is no way she could really do everything the mother herself used to do, so they will all need to find a way to get the most important stuff done and leave the other stuff undone or ask someone else to help or something. In general, she seemed happier today than yesterday because she had gotten more sleep.

Last night she went to bed at 7pm she was so exhausted. But then at 8:30pm she was awakened because they decided to evacuate the house since a neighbor thought she smelled gas. That must have reminded Rachel of dorm life when someone pulled the fire alarm when everyone was asleep.

Speaking of being awaked in the middle of the night, this morning the phone rang at 5:20am. No, it wasn't Rachel. It was a guy from British Airways Heathrow airport in London asking if we were missing a suitcase. Yes, yes we are I told him, and correctly identified it. He said he would send it to DFW and they would deliver it. Good, I said and went back to bed. Then at 5:40 the phone rang again, again the guy from Heathrow. He needed a tracking number. I was getting a bit annoyed by then--didn't he know what time it was in America?--but then he said I was "brilliant" because I had put a sticker inside the suitcase with my name and phone number--the baggage tag and the ID tag were both missing from the outside.

It will still be days before we see this suitcase, since now David has to call them with a tracking number, etc. And he said he tried, but they are still on holiday. Hmm...

In other news, I spent time on the phone with the Embassy of Ethiopia, still trying to figure out how to get all the red tape taken care of so Laura can legally stay in the country. And I mailed David's backpack to him, since he left it here yesterday. And I mailed out tickets for Andrew's side job.

Good thing my nest is empty so I have time to take care of all these things, huh?

Driving in Ethiopia

Before David left to return to Houston today we made him give us a narrated slide show of the photos he took while in Ethiopia. I'm going to use a few of them on my blog over then next few days. Today we start with a series about driving in Ethiopia. Andrew has a nice ride. Of course, he has stories to tell about the red tape to import it.

It starts out like a ride in a normal city.

And they even give driving lessons at this driving school.



I think these are banana leaves.


A funeral procession.

Watch out for sheep and goats.

And cattle.

And camels.

Rachel Starts Her New Job Tomorrow

We've moved Rachel and a lot of her stuff to the home in Arlington where she will be nanny for six months. She will help to care for three preschoolers, help with meals, do laundry, and drive to the grocery store. The mom in this family has badly broken her leg and cannot put any weight on it for two months. She will be there to help Rachel, however. Rachel has a nice room and bathroom to herself upstairs, where the three boys also have a big play room. Her boyfriend set up her laptop so it is now working with wireless internet, so she is set to keep in touch by email and maybe IM. Not that she will have much time to communicate--she starts her day at 5am and ends it at 6:30 or 7pm, and the rest of the time she will probably be sleeping. She will get Saturday and Sunday off, and will come home then.



Please pray for her as she adjusts to this new job, particularly with the early hours and learning how to safely drive this big vehicle.

In other news, Gary wore his new outfit to church today, and thought his mom would like to see a photo.

News Flash

Rachel passed her test! Yay! (the first of two Texas teacher tests) Not by a lot, but a pass is a pass.

In other news, I got some Ethiopia photos out of my camera. I'll have to be posting a few of them as the days go by.
  

David is Home, Rachel is Working

Yay, David got home safely last night after a journey of more than 24 hours. But his luggage didn't. So he will have to try to sort that out today. Later today I hope to download all the photos he took while there with my camera, so soon I'll post a few of those.

Rachel's new job, which starts at 5am on Monday, is supposed to include driving a large SUV. She never was a confident driver in high school, then went off to college for five years and didn't drive hardly at all, so now she needs to relearn how to drive. We've begun practicing and there will be more of that today, in David's car and in our van too. I'll post more about her job after she's survived a couple days of it, but your prayers for her adjustment would be appreciated.

I am still working on getting my shiny new computer set up. I was happy to get a cheap yet legal copy of Microsoft Office in the mail the other day (there are some distinct advantages to being a "poor missionary") so now I have installed that.

Then Rachel introduced me to and helped me install a program to manage music on my computer, iTunes. I think iTunes was originally a Mac program, intended to work with those little iPod things. I'm now "ripping" the Christmas CDs--downloading them into this program--before I pack them away. The program makes a database of all your CDs and lets you sort them in multiple ways. It also lets you pick out a certain subset of songs you like and make them into a "playlist" for different types of music. You can make a playlist of songs for when you're happy, one for when you're sad, and--a perennial favorite--a set for when your heart is broken.

Shattered Dreams

 
I had hoped to get a new crockpot for Christmas, and my dream came true. But look what happened the first time I used it.

Please Pray for Rachel and David

I'm spending today getting reorganized--putting stuff away, getting groceries, doing laundry, etc. I didn't go to the office, but I don't think I'll be missed since large numbers of my colleagues are away between Christmas and New Years. (Many are busy with pious pillaging of prosperous patrons--formerly known as "deputation.")

Later today Rachel will be interviewing for a temporary nanny job. The husband and wife are both lawyers, but the wife quit working several years ago to raise three boys, now aged 1,3,5. The wife recently fell and seriously broke her leg, such that she cannot put any weight on it for 2.5 months--not easy to do when you have three preschoolers! So they are looking for live-in help, and they got Rachel's name via the church and office network of sympathetic women. This sounds like an ideal job for Rachel in many ways--she'll be great at the childcare aspect--but it will also require some driving for the family, and that will be more of a challenge. It will also require getting up EARLY--something she isn't so good at either :-)

Anyway, the interview will either be late this afternoon or tonight, depending on when the woman gets out of the hospital, and Gary and I will go with Rachel to meet this family. Pray that God will clearly guide as to the outcome, and, if she gets the job, that she will be able to quickly transition into it.

In other news, Gary and I started looking over the itinerary David left with us, printed directly from aa.com, and found something worrying. It said he was leaving Addis on Wednesday at 6am but we knew he really wasn't supposed to be leaving until Thursday am. So I called him in Ethiopia and tried to explain the problem. They said they had reconfirmed the flight, so they didn't know what the matter was. Then an hour later I got an email saying that when he logged onto his AA.com account and looked at the flight reservation, it looked just fine. But when you pushed the "Printable Version" button, the date changed--apparently a programming error. Let this be noted by any nerd, geek, or programmer who is reading this blog--do a good job or you may cause unnecessary maternal worrying!

The wayward golf clubs arrived in Addis safely, so that made Andrew happy. Pray for a safe trip home for David.

We're Back from our Christmas Trip

I'm pooped after a long day of driving, but just want to thank the Lord for a safe trip to south Texas and back for a short Christmas vacation with my mom. A special treat today was to stop in San Antonio and meet friends for lunch. This couple were the youth pastors in my childhood church, so we've known each other for a long time. They are missionaries to an Indian tribe in Venezuela, and have just been kicked out of the part of the country where they've worked many years. Sad tale there, but I don't like to talk about international politics, so I won't mention the country's president. :-(

There was a phone call on the answering machine for Rachel when we got home. I can't go into all the details now, but she has a job interview tomorrow evening, so please pray about that, if you see this blog in time.

The Oaf Has Landed

I just got a phone call from the secure part of the airport in Addis Ababa. Andrew talked the guard into letting him go in and rescue his little brother. David had arrived, but after 30 minutes had not come out of the secure area and all the other passengers had left (the plane arrived at 4am). Turns out he was waiting for the golf bag to show up, which it did not. After further research, it apparently decided to stay in London for a few days. They hope it arrives on the next British Airways flight. The other suitcase with Christmas gifts and my special present to Laura--my 30 year old cast iron skillet--got there safely.

So we thank God he got there safely.

In other news about Andrew, he discovered fraudulent activity on his bank account, so I got to call and sort all that out (I'm a cosigner on the account). And I'm still trying to get their marriage license translated, authorized, certified, verified, authenticated, stamped, sealed, signed, and delivered. Red tape is a favorite item in many countries. If we can manage to do this, Laura might be able to get a job in Ethiopia and stay there legally.

In other news, we are getting ready to make our annual trek to south Texas for Christmas in the Rio Grande Valley. I also think I should post a photo of the wreath I made earlier this Christmas season out of cedar/juniper trees I cut from the woods behind my house. I couldn't quite bring myself to buying one for $25 made out of real pine.

 

The Oaf is Off

 
We are about ready to leave for the airport with David. We went to aa.com to check to see if the flight was on time and they said it wasn't operating. Hmmm.... So a bit of further investigation shows that they changed the flight number and time, but didn't bother to tell him. (Or maybe he failed to notice when they did tell him.) Anyway, I've lent him my digital camera for this trip, so I won't be able to post photos as easily for the next 10 days, unless I borrow Rachel's camera. I hope he brings it safely back with some nice photos of his trip.

Pray for his safety and a good time of communication with all the people he will be seeing. He is due back here Dec. 29. 

Early Christmas

I know it is a week early, but we had our family Christmas yesterday afternoon. That is because baby David is flying to Ethiopia tomorrow to spend Christmas with Andrew and Laura. I have lots to do tonight to finish getting the luggage ready for David to take tomorrow, so I can't spend a long time blogging tonight. But I did want to show off a couple of my presents. Above, are my massaging slippers. Press the button and they vibrate. Cool. Even cooler, I GOT A NEW COMPUTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is going to take me a couple weeks to get it organized and my data copied over from my old computer. So far I just have a few programs running, including Firefox.

Thank you to Rachel for organizing this gift, and for all those who contributed toward it. I love it!

It's Friday

Well, another work week is coming to an end. We had a house guest Monday afternoon through Friday early morning, but she's an old friend who basically takes care of herself, so she was no trouble.

Rachel has started looking for a real job, but it doesn't seem like she's gotten very far. She applied for a teacher's aide job at one of the public schools, and filled in a general application on a teacher website. She's now starting to look at local private schools and preschools.



Gary had a work visitor here for two days, who is also a friend, and he will head out for home (Toronto) soon. Besides taking us out to eat at Ton's Mongolian BBQ last night, he brought us a couple nice gifts--now I just need to make waffles.

I just phoned David, he's on his way to Dallas from Houston, after taking exams this morning. He is only here a couple days before leaving for Ethiopia on Tuesday. It will be odd with two out of three kids away for Christmas; I guess this is just another sign of getting old.

We continue to have heating issues. A few blogs ago I told about getting a new gas tank. Apparently the pressure in the new one is different than the old one, and the new, expensive furnace is having trouble coping. A technician was here two hours yesterday afternoon, and now they're here again at the moment. It is cold here, but not life-threatening cold.

Our Sunday school class is having a Christmas party tonight. On Sunday morning the church choir, of which Gary and Rachel are members, will put on a special program. After that we have plans to go to Panera Bread for lunch, then have our "family Christmas" before David leaves. Seems way too early to be opening gifts, but it doesn't look like there will be too many to open anyway. As Gary says, "Those kids are getting too big for Christmas."

He sounds like a scrooge sometimes, but he will happily acknowledge that our anniversary is also Dec 25--30 years' worth.

You Read it Here First

Today the New York Times finally caught up with me. (Here's a link to the same article in a paper you don't have to register to read.)