new home. Monday, November 29, 2010      

    “… a radical life begins with the premise that I exist for God and for his purposes, not my own.”                     – Dan Allender This phrase caught my eye when skimming back through November’s journal entries. I could personalize it right now by saying, “I am in this country because I exist for God and for his purposes, not my own.” That is a great comfort to my weary heart this morning. The other enormous comfort is that I am sitting and writing in my own living room.  Yes, that’s right – after a nomadic month-and-a-half I finally have a living room again.  A whole three-bedroom apartment even.…

  south asian thanksgiving. Friday, November 26, 2010     Remember how I told you we were going simple for Thanksgiving dinner?  Well our South Asian friends showed up with a turkey!  It was amazing … cooked to perfection with stuffing and all.  After the boisterous, tasty meal, someone dared ask the question: “So … where do you find a turkey in South Asia?”  The response: “At the pet store.”  Of course.  When I asked the pastor how he could buy and have someone’s future pet killed, he said, “When you send your husband out to get something, do you want him to come back empty-handed?”  Hmmm.  Good point. We…

thanksgiving day. Thursday, November 25, 2010 We are beginning to set up our new apartment.  We hit the ground running and began some long days of shopping starting on Tuesday.  Everything takes much longer here … we go to lots of shops around the city to pick out and buy appliances and furniture.  They are delivered on a different day, then a worker is sent to assemble them yet another day (a different worker for each item). So on this, our first Thanksgiving in our new country, David will be over at our apartment accepting deliveries and overseeing installations of our air conditioning units and washing machine, trying to communicate…

    The trip was very long.  But it’s over.  It’s good to be on solid ground, and to have a bed to stretch out in at night. First impressions of our new city? It’s nIcer than Addis.  Maybe more like Nairobi.  Or parts of Barbados. I love the green.  Big, shady green trees.  Lots of palms. Green plants and bright, tropical flowers on balconies … hibiscus, bougainvillea, croton. It’s noisy.  And crowded.  And smelly.  You hear about the noise and the people and the smells, but nothing can really prepare you for it.  There are cows everywhere, meandering through streets, nosing through trash on the sidewalks.  You ride in…

    Well, if you are on Facebook, you may know by now that we arrived at the airport last night, had a wonderful, tearful send-off from church and family, went through security, only to find that our first flight was delayed.  And after two hours of waiting in lines (David) and chasing screaming kids around the airport (Julie), we learned our next flight isn’t until Saturday afternoon. When Judah found out we weren’t getting on a plane for South Asia last night, he threw himself on the ground and wailed at the top of his lungs.  Sometimes I think it would be nice to be a three-year-old. But God…

  sixteen months old. Tuesday, November 16, 2010      

  outside. Tuesday, November 16, 2010      

    Well here we are, friends.  Today is Monday.  We leave on Thursday.  Just three days left. In lieu of Multitude Monday today, I want to say that I am very, very grateful for the prayers of the saints – and that includes you – on our behalf.  That is gratitude number 306 through 1,000.  They are palpable in the air around us and in our hearts.  They are the only answer for the peace that inside of me right now and the fact that I slept soundly for eight hours last night and for the fact that when Judah saw his daddy pull out all the suitcases yesterday…

  family christmas. Sunday, November 14, 2010