Monday, July 31, 2006

Home And Gone Again

O. got home yesterday afternoon from his conference in Delhi and leaves tomorrow night for another (shorter) conference in Goa. (Factoid: The word for "tomorrow" and "yesterday" in Hindi is the same - so you can only tell the difference by the verb tense.- weird)

Anyway, The conference he's going to is basically a gathering of Christian leaders in India with the goal of working together and making a plan to see India 20% Christian by the year 2020. Pretty cool. We're currently at 2%, only 18% to go. It's gonna happen.

We've recently become good friends with the director of an organization that has contacts with all of these different conferences. O. goes for free and traveling is paid for. Can't beat it. And they just love him.

According to O., at the last conference he was the youngest - by far. I wouldn't be surprised if it's similar at this conference in Goa too. He's 30 in an over 60 crowd.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

C. Stories

This is the actual instruction and warning label for a small toy C. got with a pack of cookies today.

"Flying Disc

Hold your 'Flying Disc' in one hand...to see it zoom & fly straigh ahead.

Caution: Not to be used to hit anybody."

Like that will ever happen.

I did read all the directions and tried it. I ended up flying the disc right into my neck.

The cookies were strawberry cream ones that C. loves. She only eats the cream. She brought me over a big plate of the cookies and said, "These are for you mommy."

I said, "Did you eat all the cream out of them?"
"Mm hmm."

Earlier today C. and I were going over everyone's names in our family. She was asking (even tho she knows) "What's papa's name?" "What's mommy's name?..." and I would answer.

Then she asked "What's C.'s name?" and I said "C. J. O." O. being her father's first name and C.'s last name.

She looked at me and said, "No, my name is C. J. Mommy!"

The Meeting

Here it is, the promised update.

Last night we had over 50 women come to the ladies ministry meeting at our church. The weather was gorgeous, we couldn't have asked for better.

I was very excited that women from at least 2 other churches were there and several unchurched ladies as well.

The message was annointed and at one point the speaker said she was going over time and I thought to yell out, "No problem!" - but I didn't. After the meeting was finished many ladies just gushed that the message was too short and wanted the speaker to go on and on. (She spoke for 45 minutes) So that was a good sign for sure.

She spoke on Why God made us women. It was a great message.

Thanks to all who prayed.

Some other updates: My itching is much better but i still have some resistant patches so i need to be more dilligent with putting on my medicinal creams.

I'm also having trouble checking any blogs on Blogger, including mine. I can post and I get the comments through my email, but I can't check anything. I think it's a weird thing with this computer. The phone in O.'s office is still not fixed, so his computer is still out.

Monday, July 24, 2006

Too Tired

Vinita and I have been out visiting quite a bit these past two weeks because we have another large ladies meeting tomorrow night.

Today was our last stop and it was in the slum area. You have to go there last because they can't read and don't really know what day of the week it is half the time, so it's good to go and say "tomorrow."

The entire area where they live, (about 10 yards from the railroad tracks) is full of water, so there are these makeshift walkways.

When we were walking there, there was a large dip in the ground with rushing water beneath it. Over the gap was a rickity "bridge." Two pieces of bamboo with some slaps of wood, most thinner than plywood, crossing them. It kind of reminded me of somethigng from a Tarzan movie or something, but without the ropes for handholds. Oh, even better, think: Indian Jones and the Themple of Doom. - but not that long.

Anyway, I said to Vinita and her 4 year old daughter, "You go first." No really, I weigh 50 pounds more than her.

In the end, I spotted a place where we could walk down and cross in just a few inches of water.

I could go on. I'll just say we arrived at "making dinner time" which means that everyone was cooking with damp wood inside their houses. By the 3rd house our eyes were watering so badly that even tho it was Vinita's turn to pray she had me do it. (That was at Shankar's house - remember kidney problem - I'll write about him later)

Anyway, the meeting is tomorrow. I hope everyone comes. I hope it doesn't rain. Rain could mean the difference between 15 or 50 people.

I'm very excited, but very tired. The speaker comes in tomorrow morning but I have 3 other guests I'm trying to move out in time to get the room cleaned - oh well.

I'll let you know how it all went. Good Night!

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment

Finished another book last night. "Maximum Ride" by James Patterson. Yeah, really really liked it. If you have read or plan to read this book you know - or might want to know - that it is the first in a series. I didn't know and was somewhat shocked to reach the end of the book and - well - it wasn't the end.

"Maximum Ride: School's Out - Forever" is the 2nd book in the series, currently out in Hardcover. Supposed to be in paperback by May 2006 according to Amazon. (Yes, that has already passed.) But I worked in B & N bookstores long enough to know - those dates are like - sort of.

SO, the dilemma: Buy it in hardcover. Wait for the paperback. It could come out next week for all I know. I'm gonna wait a bit.

About the book: It's classified: Young Adult. This is funny - and Mr. Patterson, please forgive me if I misquote you- but i read somewhere, maybe at the beginning of the book, that he says basically, I didn't really write this as "Young Adult Fiction" but since I omitted all swear words and sex scenes from the novel, it automatically got classified as young adult.

I think that's funny. As if a novel without swear words and sex can't be written for adults. Well, then again, maybe it can't anymore. Sad.

But, yes, no swear words and nothing sexual at all. Very very nice. The main characters are teenagers and children but I'm a 29 + 3 year old woman who enjoyed it thoroughly.

Now before you moms start pulling this out for your kiddies - let me warn you - lots of violence. Yep. Kids obviously can't take the swears and sex, but as we all know, kids reading or seeing people getting their throats torn out is O-K. Hmmph.

Nobody gets their throat torn out in this book - but they almost do. The bad guys are scary and me - who was born with a shockingly low amount of "fraidy" genes - actually had to sleep with a nightlite on last night. Yes, the bad guys scared me - they were almost demonic they were so evil - and so they should be - they're the bad guys. (I doubt they would have come after me anyway, being as I'm not genetically enhanced. - Least, far as I know.)

Let's wrap this up. 6 genetically enhanced kids (they have wings and can fly, among other things) on the run from the "bad guys" who created them. The main character and leader of the motley crew - Max: female, 14, 13 foot wingspan - is a wonder. I love a book if I love the characters and the length of this entry says it all.

James Patterson has also written 2 other books on a similar theme but with different characters. "When the Wind Blows" and "The Lake House" (Not the same story as the Sandra/Keanu movie of the same name currently in theaters.)

Once again I will attempt to quote Mr. Patterson from memory - sorry, again - apparently out of all the many big-title books he has written (Kiss the Girls, Along Came a Spider, etc.) "When the Wind Blows" was his biggest seller nationally and internationally of any book he's ever written.

He surmises that maybe it's because - we'd all just love to fly.

Everybody's Gone

O. left last night for a 10 day conference in Delhi called "Discipling the Nations." Sounds good.

Everyone else in my family is either at school or away on a "Youth Picnic" with church. This is one of those - very rare - times that I'm home alone.

Some catch up things: I can only post pix on O.'s computer and he uses a dial-up connection and that phone line has not worked for the last one week. That was a nice Indian English sentence. Let's just leave it alone.

So, we're hoping to have that up in a couple days.

I'm also having issues checking my blog or any other blogs on "Blogger." My computer is just not letting me go there. Weird. Once again, need O.'s computer.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Agnes Grey

I finished a book last night that was recommended on my friend, Elena’s, blog. "Agnes Grey." It was written by Anne Bronte of the Bronte sisters.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1420925512/qid=1153148002/sr=8-14/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i14_xgl14/102-5996866-4240110?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

I think if you are a female and generally like to read you would like this book. As Elena wrote, it eventually becomes a romance with a very godly and Biblical perspective.

One of the things I really enjoyed about the book was the juxtaposition of Agnes Grey’s life as a poor but contented girl working as a governess and that of her wealthy, beautiful and extremely vain charge who eventually ends up in wretched circumstances.

Read it.

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Whoohoo!

My internet is up and running and - miracle of mircales - it's fast!

Friday, July 14, 2006

Latin For Itch

SO, I've had severe itching all over my body for the last 4 months. At first I thought it was just because of the hot season but since hot season ended and I'm itching all the more, we decided that wasn't it.

Then, O. and my sister-in-law started itching too. We thought it was the water at our house. We thought a lot of things, but since O. has been itching the last few weeks too and he can't stand it he said I had to go to the doctor and figure out what this was.

I happen to love my dermatologist and so I went yesterday after my English class. I shared my symptoms and he asked if I had sores on my hands and I said, Oh yeah and he looked at them under his big magnifyer glass and then coolly proclaimed that I had SCABIES.

"You know what that is," he said, "you get them from rat fleas."

That's what I got. Scabies, Latin for "itch."

The doctor asked me how in the world I stood the itching for 4 months. I said, I thought it was because of the "hot season." Well, at least until I started to get the nasty, crusty blisters on my hands. Heck, I'm a mother, I can stand anything.

So, I come into O.'s office today to look up scabies on the internet. This is never a good idea.

Here's what I find: Scabies—A highly infectious disease of the skin that results in itchy areas with oozing crusts. Scabies is caused by mites, tiny arachnids that live in the skin as parasites.*

I was ok until I read the word "arachnids." That means spiders to you and me.

I'm like, you've got to be kidding me, I've got female spiders living under my skin laying their eggs in me and they've been there for 4 MONTHS! EWWWWWW!

Well, the doctor gave us special soap and lotions. The soap is supposed to stay on our skin for 10 minutes before we wash it off. That wasn't happening. 10 minutes in the shower. Uh uh.

Well, after reading about the spiders - Uh HUH! I'll keep that soap lathered on there for 20 minutes if I have to and just sit my soapy self down on the toilet to wait out the ten minutes. Believe you me.

*from ecohealth101.org

Where did we get it? Good questions. Well,when we moved into our present house from hell, the skeevy people building it were there before us. We cleaned everything before moving in but in the first week we killed a rat, probably left over from the skeevy people. No rats since then. I wonder tho.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Pictures Not Up

I can't win. The pictures are too big to get up right now so I'm going to try to have them shrunk down and try again later. I've also gotten so out of the habit of writing and there is just SO much to write that I'm not sure where to begin... I think I'm overwhelmed.

Where To Start

We're just going to have a random list of things that have happened in the last month that I haven't had time to write. Sit back, here we go... (Oh , and just like in my picture posts, - random order.)

1.Phoebe left for Bible College yesterday. It all came about suddenly in like less that a week. Martha and I cried. Phoebe will be gone for a year. It's a good opportunity for her.

2. The whole Phoebe going away to college thing came about because O. wanted to have girls study in our Bible College which I am firmly against and here is why:
A. It's not part of our vision - which is to train pastors to go into the field.
B. In my extensive experience, girls in India mainly study in Bible College as a way to pass the time before they are married.
C. Having girls would create a whole new set of expenses. Everything would have to be seperate.

So these are my reasons. And my example to prove my point - of the 5 women mainly involved in our ministry here in our city- only 1 has studied in Bible College. The other 4 of us never spent an hour in Bible College.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm all for girls studying and things like that - Bryn Mawr grad writing here. But it's all about zeal and not about passing the time.

Then I got a vision. This happens occasionally. I have an idea for a 3 month traing course for girls. It would include things like basic Bible, how to study the Bible for yourself, how to teach small groups, large groups, and children's Sunday School. Other things included would be marriage and family courses, basic healthcare and things like that. It would be heavily focused on particiaption and there would be required field work for at least a month at the end.

I haven't even had a chance to share it withO. yet, but I think he'll like it. The short duration of the course would hopefully weed out "time passers" and we would be clear that all duties(like cooking, cleaning) would be taken care of by the girls themselves. We'll see what happens.

*Ultimately, O. agreed with me about the girls and that's why we sent 4 off yesterday to a Bible College that does accept girls. We remain: all boys.

3. O. had a chance to visit one of our pastors in S. India recently and was blown away by%2

Oh Well

I lost part of that last post. I'll have to re-finish it later. Time to go.

Monday, July 10, 2006

Kat's Visit

Kat has gone home and it's back to life asusual. I'll be working on lots of posts over the next few days and maybe I can get some pictures up, (pause for hysterical laughter) too since I'm on O.'s computer. We'll see. I tried this morning and it's not happening. Oh well.

I start teaching my English class again today in the Bible College, so I'm off for that.

Back From Beyond

I'm not dead, just my internet. O.'s is up so I'm using his. Mine should be up on Wednesday, hopefully with some changes that will speed things up. Hopefully. Hopefully.

O.'s dial-up connection is very, v e r y, v e r y - SLOW.