Watch the Walk

My sister and I successfully surprised our parents with bringing her and baby Joseph for a visit before I leave. There's lots to the story, but I'll tell it in brief. Hehe. The setup: I told my parents that I needed to catch up with a friend after a meeting on Wednesday night. "You know how things go with Kami... it'll probably be late," I said. I did go catch up with Kami. I picked up a carseat from her, visited for a little while, then headed for the airport at 10:30 PM. Arriving at the airport about 1 AM, I met my sister and nephew, situated them in the car, and proceeded to drive through incredibly dense fog all the way home. Joseph alternated between sleeping (post-feeding) and wailing (any time he was returned to the carseat while awake). It was during one of those stops that I posted this status update :  We arrived home at 5:15 AM, and Joseph was asleep. So we parked, brought things inside, and situated R and J in the boys' room upstairs. Papa heard us...

Aside from the physical tasks related to getting ready for Africa, there's also the mental/spir'tual side of things. And a big part of this is being ready for culture shock. Culture shock : the emotional, psychological, and physical impact of learning to live in a new culture, that threatens unconscious assumptions and challenges a person's ability to flex to a new way of life.  The following is a list of various "symptoms" of culture shock. Take note though, it's not an exhaustive list: - Homesickness - Boredom - Withdrawal (excessive reading, excessive use of electronics, only wanting time with other Westerners) - Excessive sleep - Excessive eating - Irritability - Exaggerated cleanliness - Relational tension - Chauvinism - Stereotyping nationals - Hostility toward nationals - Loss of ability to work well - Unexplained weeping - Psychosomatic illnesses As you can see, it tends to manifest itself in various forms. From personal experience, I tend to withdraw,...

It's been barely a week since I transitioned from support raising to full-on Africa preparation. Hard to believe really; it seems more like a month. I've been busy finishing things up with work, making sure that things are ready to transition to a new person. I've also done a lot of sorting. There are clothes to get rid of, things to donate, items to store more efficiently. Everything is examined by these two criteria:      1) Is it something worth taking with me?      2) Is it worth storing for 2.5 years? If the answer is no to both of those, the final question is: discard, or donate? Fortunately, this process has been simplified by the fact that I've gotten rid of a lot of things with each transition back and forth between college, home, and Central America. Sorting as you go certainly helps when it's time to pack your life into a couple bags. So what do I still have to do? -- Sort some more. Still things to go through and deal with. -- Buy some...

I've got so many words, but very little order to them. 100%.  Fully funded. Wow. A million thanks to everyone who has been, is, and will be a part of this. You individually and collectively rock. PTL, I'm Africa bound!

It's pouring down rain outside, and today I'm sitting inside, nursing a mug of rooibos tea, supplemented by honey and lime. I had a cold this last week and lost my voice. Last night I had a meeting with friends in the Portland area, and by the end of it my voice was gone again. Tonight I've got another meeting, then another couple tomorrow. Please, please pr-y that my voice holds out a couple more days. I've got 90% of my monthly support now. With two days to go until the deadline, it's tight. But we serve the G-d of the impossible, don't we? I put a "shoutout" on Facebook this afternoon, asking if anyone had a question I should answer on my blog. This is the one that came in: How has my homeschool experience played a part in where I'm at today?  Man, that's a big question! I was homeschooled all the way from birth to highschool graduation, then after that I went to college. [And yes, the transition went well, I got good grades, and graduated.]...

I've got 6 days to go, and I'm at 78% of my monthly support, and 100% of my one-time expenses covered!  This means I'm still looking for $460/month in support. With all of the occasions I've had to talk lately, I'm running a little low on words. But I recently rediscovered the following book excerpt, so I'll copy it down for consideration. “There is an admirable air of humility about the statement that the truth is much greater than any one person or any one religious tradition can grasp. The statement is no doubt true, but it can be used against the truth when it is used to neutralize any affirmation of the truth .  How does the speaker know that the truth is so much greater than this particular affirmation of it—For example, that “J'sus Chr-st is the truth”? What privileged access to reality does he have?  In the famous story of the blind men and the elephant, so often quoted in the interests of religious agnosticism, the real point of the story is consta...

As I was wandering through a graveyard* the other day I told G-d, "If you're closing this door, you're really gonna have to slam it in my face instead of making things really difficult. 'Cause things getting difficult isn't going to stop me." The conversation continued and eventually I left for home. And then my support increased by 20%. Two weeks from my financial clearance deadline, I've still got $765 to raise in monthly support . But things are picking up, and it's neat to see how it all is pulling together. Oh, and when I mentioned in the last post that my support target might be higher than I thought?  It turned out to be lower. I'm still aiming at $2,085/month, but my one-time costs are actually $167 less. Surprise! This weekend I'm holding a fundraising dinner. In case you haven't seen the details on Facebook, here's the scoop: -- Time: 5:30-8:00 PM, Saturday the 21st -- Place: Willapa Harbor Community Center, South Bend -- ...