Gone, But Not Not Bloggin’…

Okay, y’all…I’ll be leaving for awhile.  Ahhhh, don’t cry….    God willin’ and the creek don’t rise, I’ll be back after two months or so.  However, I figured out how to have my blog post in the future and I have written a number of posts that will show up automatically while I am gone.  So keep checkin’ in every once in awhile!  I’m posting this a little bit early so that you’ll have time to start writing letters to me!    HINT HINT HINT!!!

I’ll powering down my computer in a few days.  Good-bye IMs.  Good-bye MySpace.  Good-bye AOL.  Good-bye FeedReader.  Good-bye Blah Blah Blog.  And good-by telephone, cell phone, and Text Messaging, too.  (Good old-fashioned snail mail letters will be all it’ll be for awhile.)

Soon I’ll be off to Florida for Boot Camp, and after that….on to Sicily, for whatever God has up his sleeve!

I’m looking forward to all the great things God has planned for my team this summer.  And I’m looking forward to sharing them when I get home.  AND I’m looking forward to hearing all about what’s happened in your lives, too, in my absence!

And, PLEASE, feel free to write to me while I am gone!  Even if you don’t know me personally, I’d love to hear from you!  If you do know me, fill in my last name when you write…and I expect to hear from ALL of you!    I posted these addresses in my sidebar, too.  Sorry about the lack of order in them there, but you can make them out if you try.  Here they are, as they should look, though!

BOOT CAMP ADDRESS
(Write until June 17th)

Teen Missions Team 07004
Linda N., Leader
871 East Hall Road
Merritt Island, FL 32953
 

FIELD ADDRESS
(Write until July 9th)

Teen Missions Team 07004
Linda N., Leader
c/o Vicenzo Lorefice
Via Trapani 3
97014 Ispica, (RAGUSA)
Sicily, ITALY
 

DEBRIEF ADDRESS
(Write until July 24th)

Teen Missions Team 07004
Linda N., Leader
871 East Hall Road
Merritt Island, FL 32953

Also, if you’re interested, Teen Missions posts updates on each team on their website.  If you want to know how and what the Sicily team is doing, you can find out there!  Just go to www.teenmissions.org.   

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Preacher Man

Do you like a good sermon?  Ever have time to listen to one online?  Wellllll, I recently received a link to two messages that were preached down at Mariner’s Church in Newport Beach, California, at FUEL, the 20-somethings group there. 

The preacher?  My little brother, Low!  If you care to listen, here’s a link:

FUEL

Low’s messages are from 5/17/07 and 5/24/07.

My little brother is a preacher man.  Wow.  Five years ago if you would have told me he’d be preaching like this today, I would have probably scoffed.  My brother…a living testimony to the power of God in the life of man.  (Wow)

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“Thinking Blogger”

Larry of  the blog “Hallelujahs“ has awarded me a “Thinking Blogger Award”.  Thanks Larry!  Larry’s blog is one that makes ME think and I have enjoyed the cyberfriendship he has extended to me.

I now have the opportunity to bestow the same award on five bloggers whose blogs make me think.  This meme doesn’t have a time limit, so I think I’ll do this when I get home later this summer.  By then I’ll have lots of missed posts to catch up on and lots of thinking to do!

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Let Are Kids Walk

It’s too early in the morning for me to be reading online news.

The story isn’t particularly interesting…people protesting because they don’t get their way, basically.  But this time it’s Fort Worth high school kids protesting because they are not being allowed to get diplomas nor to be a part of the commencement ceremony as they haven’t passed a required standardized test.  One kid is upset because she carries a 3.5 GPA but flunked the standardized test.  (She’s not even upset that she’s not getting her diploma, she’s upset that she can’t be a part of the graduation, with her friends!)

What’s good about this particular story, and what I WANT you to see, is the the placard being held high in the picture that accompanies the story which loudly proclaims..

“Let ARE kids walk”

For THAT egregious offense against the english language ALONE, this girl shouldn’t be allowed to graduate.

(Kudos to the writer and photographer for writing the real story without saying a word…)

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A Simple Truth

I’m reading a really great book by Rob Bell called “Velvet Elvis“.  In it he discusses truth and how it can be found all over the place, even in places where we may not expect to find it.  Because Jesus is truth, and Jesus is fully God, and because God is EVERYWHERE, then truth, by extension can ALSO be found everywhere.

I was watching a TV show the other day and on it there was a card reading psychic.  She was talking about decision making.  While I’ve known what she said to be true, she put it sooooo succinctly.  When it comes to making a difficult decision you have two things to evaluate:

“What would fear choose?”

“What would love choose?”

The Bible tells us that God is not a god of fear, but is a God of love.  It tells us that perfect love casts out all fear. 

I’m not telling you this to give credence to psychics.  In fact I believe that because psychics get enough things right, and speak enough truth, people are drawn to them.  They are, however, not the good choice when it comes to getting guidance and hearing the TRUTH.  God IS truth and love, so why seek a psychic who only gets it partly right, and leaves the one true God out of the picture, or only gives Him lip service?  Why not go straight to the ultimate source?  No, I’m telling you this story to share with you from where our decision making should come.  It should not be born out of a spirit of fear.  It should be born out of a spirit of love.

When I look back on my life and tease out the really bad decisions I have made, I can directly link those decisions to fear.  The fear of one thing, instead of the love of another, was the basis on which every one of those decisions were made.

Now, go, and make good choices. 

And read “Velvet Elvis”, too.  It’s a super good book.

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This…Is…Jeopardy!

While channel surfing the other night, I stopped to catch some of Jeopardy.  I don’t know why I like the show, I feel hopelessly ignorant when I watch it.

Has this ever happened to you?  Have you ever been watching TV and seen someone you know?

Wellllll, he was 13 the last time I saw him 22 years ago, but the smile was unmistakable!  That smile belonged to a gangly kid who was on my Teen Missions team to Tasmania back in 1985.  And here he was, the returning Jeopardy champion!  In the introductions, his place of business and his job title was mentioned, so I did a quick internet search, and found an e-mail address!

I e-mailed him and I heard back.  It sounds like his life has turned out GREAT!  I cannot tell you how happy that makes me. 

Nice to hear from you, Marty (I guess you’re Martin, now!).

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Doïn Deïp Saïch Seõ An Toaøn Sau Côn Thieân Tai!

Do you get mani/pedis (manicure/pedicures)?  I used to.  I got them (including a “fill” on my acrylic fingernails) every two weeks.  It was one of my favorite rituals.  I stopped the ritual about two years ago.  My nails are currently in a state of “thrashed”.  I broke two nails trying to get into a patient locker at work today.  Jean (my nail guru for years) would be horrified if she saw them!

I recently received a link to a very funny video.  Stand-up comic Anjelah Johnson nails (pun most definitely intended) the experience that many of us have had when we go to one of those strip mall nail salons!

If you’ve ever been to one, you’ll crack up.

If you haven’t, well, you might find it mildly amusing.

Click HERE to watch the video!

(About the title of this post…I tried to find a translation tool to translate what the title of this post is.  The only free tool I could find has been “too busy” all evening.  So I found some text and just cut and pasted it.  I wanted it to say “So THAT’s Why I Don’t Have a Boyfriend!  What it actually says is “Clean Up Safely After Natural Disaster”.  Pretty close!)

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Tsk tsk tsk, Andy

I watched “The Bachelor” when it first started as a series, but then I stopped watching.  Because a number of my friends at work were watching it this season, I decided to watch it as well so that we could discuss each episode ad nauseum in-between patients at work! 

I really liked this bachelor, until the season finale last night.  Andy Baldwin, “Officer and a Gentleman”, told not one, but two girls, that he loved them.  He did this knowing that one of these women were going to be sent home.  Awwwww, Andy, you shouldn’t have told Bevin you loved her.  Why’d you go and do that?  Even if you weren’t sure which woman you were going to pick in the end, you shouldn’ta told them BOTH you loved them.

Bevin, I didn’t care for you all that much (nor did I care for Tessa), but you did show class after you were sent packing.  Andy shouldn’ta told you he loved you.  Not very gentlemanly, really.  You were baited and switched on.

(Why DO men tell women that they love them when they know that there isn’t going to be a future in that relationship?  Do men not know what it means to women when they tell them that they love them??)

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444 Days

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has lately had some pretty strongs words he’s put out there about the current U.S. President, George Bush, especially in regards to his international diplomacy.  He goes as far as to call the current president “the worst president in history” or something very similar to that.

Jimmy Carter won the presidency in 1976 (when I was in the 6th grade) beating out Gerald Ford.  My class closely followed and debated that election.

I didn’t take Jimmuh all that seriously then. 

I still don’t.

Things about the Carter Administration that I remember:

444  - Number of days Iran held innocent American citizens and diplomats hostage.

Not Even One - Number of days Ronald Reagan was the subsequent president before the hostages were released.

How can Mr. Carter blast ANYONE else for their international diplomacy?  Maybe if he would have done something about Iran back then Iran wouldn’t be enriching uranium and plutonium today and breathing down our necks with their nuclear breath.  Back in the good old days (that would be the Reagan years I’m talking about) Carter also strongly questioned Reagan’s strategy and approach to the Cold War…and well, we all know who ended up being right on that front.  And here’s the thing.  If you take a general stand against “pre-emptive war” as Jimmy has, all that says to me is that you sit back and wait until outright war is declared on you and your country has been invaded.  I just don’t see that as always the wisest choice.  If Carter was still the president, those people would still be hostages to this day.  And that is the best-case scenario.

Oh, and I think I remember that our economy was prettttty lousy back when Carter was president.  But I was only twelve to sixteen years old.  I could be wrong about that. 

No.  I’m right.  Double digit inflation, high interest rates (the prime rate hitting 21.5% in 1980), oil shortages, high unemployment, etc.  

I’m sure he (Jimmy Carter) did good things worthy of the presidency.  And I’m not saying that George Bush is a great president.  All I’m saying is that Carter’s presidency ain’t some big shining example of how it should be done.  And I’m saying he shouldn’t be throwing such big stones at the current administration.

And remember, the definition of peace isn’t always ”the absence of war”.

Jimmy must be on the circuit selling a book or something and trying to drum up interest any way he can. 

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Ispica, Sicily

Ispica, Sicily.  My home for a month or so this summer.  I don’t know how to pronounce “Ispica”.  I guess I’ll find out soon enough.  Here’s what I’ve learned of the place. 

On second thought, just click the links and you can read for yourself!   

http://www.ragusa-sicilia.it/english/ispica.htm

 and

http://www.lovesicily.com/general-information-about-sicily/ispica/

Also, I’ve learned that Sicily has a reallllly creeeeeepy looking flag.  Click HERE to take a gander at it.

Feliz Cumpleanos, Pedro!

Today is my cousin Peter’s birthday.  Well, my second cousin Peter, that is.  Peter is down in South America working with YWAM (Youth With A Mission).  He’s been down there since before the New Year.  We’re both on Skype, but I often forget to sign in when I’m online, and I when I do sign in I never see him signed in.  Chances are I won’t be able to call him on his birthday.  (In case you don’t know, you can talk to someone anywhere in the world in real-time on Skype and all it takes is a good internet connection.  Everyone should have Skype if they can.  Click HERE to go the Skype homepage and GET IT!!!)  And Peter doesn’t have the luxury where he is to just turn on his computer and have a connection.  He actually has to go somewhere to get one.  Want to read in Peter’s own words what he’s up to?  Click HERE for his blog.  He doesn’t get to update often, but he did update it a few days ago…

Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PETER!

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SoBe It!

While on lunch break the other day at work, I enjoyed one of my favorite drinks.  That would be a SoBe Cranberry Grapefruit drink.  Yummay!  I happened to notice writing on the inside of the cap.  I read it.  And I thought “Wow.  Now THAT’S the cruelest fortune I’ve EVER been the recipient of!  Often true, but still, come on!  Cruel!”

Then I noticed the “fine print”:  ONLY VALID IN THE USA.  Okay, so the choices I make OUTSIDE of the USA might NOT make me a loser????  Hmmmm.

I turned over the cap to see what the deal was.  It was a game piece.  Turns out I was a loser in this particular SoBe game.

But it still kinda stung.

I think I prefer Dove’s chocolate theology.

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Shoprite

Sounds kind of American, doesn’t it?  Shoprite is a grocery store chain in Africa.  It’s the only grocery store chain, as far as I know, in Zambia.

I went shopping there with Abner for the first time when we first arrived in Zambia.  Subsequent shopping needs were met primarily by Robert from the Teen Missions base in Ndola  (occasionally by Abner if he had to go to town, or we’d buy some things locally from nearby farmers or from roadside stands).  We’d get word to Robert via text message using Abner’s phone (though Zambia doesn’t have many phone lines in the bush, they are working hard at covering the country with cellular service and Abner could usually find a pocket of coverage where his phone would work) and he’d do our shopping and bring us our supplies when he’d come to drive us to our next rescue unit.  Hearing the truck approach was like hearing the jingle of the bells on Santa’s sleigh.  For the coming of Robert meant bananas, oranges, tomatoes, potoatoes, sugar, flour, margarine, oats, pasta, soda (for the “store”), green beans, onions, eggs, and MAIL!

(This is NOT a picture I took, nor is it of any of the Shoprites I shopped at.  This picture is from the Shoprite website.)

I’m sure Abner and I looked like quite the curiosity when we shopped at Shoprite.  Abner, a young and handsome Filipino man, and me, a middle aged white woman dressed in a chitenge over pajama pants with a slightly stained shirt to go with it.  And both of us wearing big ole’ work boots.  An odd and odd-looking couple, especially in the sea of brown faces.  There we were, each pushing a cart down the aisles laughing hysterically (but trying to stifle it so as not to bring too much attention to ourselves!) attempting to figure out how much to buy of this or that.  My first trip there was an absolute stress riot!  I’d heard that the food there was expensive, but nothing really prepared me for the actual cost.  How do people who make so little money afford to buy this food???  We were on a pretty strict budget by American standards.  A small bag of elbow macaroni cost over two dollars.  After much debate, Abner and I decided that it would take four packages of the pasta to make a main dish.  We had this same discussion over and over when it came to other purchases.  How many bottles of juice concentrate for a meal?  How many meals would 10 kilos of rice make?  How far would a can of jam go?  Okay, so then, how many cans of jam should we get?  Mealie meal is sort of inexpensive.  How many different ways can we prepare it without having a revolt on our hands?  (Turns out you can make a pretty good corn bread out of mealie meal despite its anemic appearance).  Anyhow, buying food supplies that first time out was further complicated by not having any idea how much the 27 of us would be eating!  We made our best guess, and laughed our way through that store and walked out with all kinds of things that I couldn’t believe were going to become meals in the coming week.   I had pretty much no idea what I was doing.  It was all an adventure!

The stores were very large, but there was little choice (most items only came in a single brand) and not very much consistency in availability.  You may be able to get an item one week, but the following week it would not be available.  Quite a challenge!  Something would make it onto the grocery list and I might or might not get it.  Or, I’d get whatever Robert thought was closest to what was on the list.  It sure made menu planning a bit of a roulette game!   

Turns out it DID take four packages of pasta to make a main dish for 27 people. 

(This entry is posted for Stephanie, the lady leader leading one of the TWO Zambia Foot Washing teams this summer!  Stephanie, you’re going to do GREAT!  No, you can’t bring your cell phone.  Abner had his as he was going straight on to Mozambique after our debrief.  You’ll need to come up with a different plan for getting your order in!)

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Ohhhh, boy… No boy!

I just got off the phone with Teen Missions.  No, my team hasn’t changed, but I learned something both exciting and terrifying.  My team still doesn’t have a head male leader.  And I found out a ”Plan B” for teams that don’t have male head leaders.  There is a good possibility that I, that would be ME, could very well end up being BOTH the head lady leader AND the head male leader on my team.  That’s the exciting part.  The terrifying part is that I don’t have a female assistant leader yet either.  I do have a male assistant leader, but he’s only 18 years old.  This could be one of those “unknown challenges” that I anticipated facing….being responsible for the all the cooking AND for the work project (in addition to the thousand a half OTHER things that have to be done!), allllll at the same time.  Sounds like a lot of multi-tasking! 

I better watch the construction CD they sent me.  I’m not sure that I remember how to properly lay out a building!

And I thought that this summer might be a bit of a break after last summer! 

Who was I kidding???  If I do end up as both, this could be the most challenging two months of my life!

I better take a nap now!  I’m tired just thinking about doing this almost alone! 

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Have Cat, Will Travel

I know, I know, I’m overly attached to my cat.  Be that as it may, the fact is, she’s awesome.  My Mom is in town this weekend for Mother’s Day.  So that I could spend more time with her, I spent the weekend at my sister’s house where my mom was staying.  So that the time there could be maximized without my having to keep running back to my house to take care of Mew Ling, Mew Ling was also invited to stay the weekend!  So, on Friday we packed up and drove out (about 35 minutes) to my sister’s house. 

Traveling with a cat is like traveling with a kid when it comes to all the accouterments (that actually is a correct alternative spelling to accoutrements) that have to go.  Cat bed…check.  Litter box…check.  Cat food and treats…check.  Bowls for food and water…check.  Scratching post..check.  Grazing grass…check.  Cat in carrier…check.  I got her all set up and settled in and by the evening she was ready to come out of “our” room to join the festivities.  She had already had dinner and used the cat box!  She was a great house guest, if I do say so myself.  She slept on the bed with me.  She used her box all weekend.  She followed me around like a dog, came when I called, and stayed off the counters and tables once she learned that they were a “no no” just like at our house!  And even though she refuses to drink water from a bowl at home (preferring to drink from the toilet as she was taught by Fritz) she drank from the bowl I set out for her!  Good kitty!  I guess I’ll be much more ready to travel with her and take her to other people’s houses (if she’s welcomed) without worrying that she won’t behave herself (or that she’ll get dehydrated!)!

Sooooo, feel free to invite the two of us to visit!  We’d love to see you!   

And I hope all the mothers who read my blog had a very happy mother’s day.  My Mom doesn’t know how to use a computer, so I know she’s not reading…It’s a good thing I was able to wish her a happy one in person!    We had a very nice weekend, including a really lovely luncheon that Diane put on for lots of mothers and daughters in her circle of friends (and a couple in mine) on Saturday.  AND a another great church service.  (Check out the 5/13/07 sermon using the WVC Online link on my blogroll…)

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Zambian Orphan Rescue Units, An Update

Teen Missions recently updated their website with recent reports (this month) from a number of the ORUs (Orphan Rescue Units) in Zambia.  Please take the time to read about all the good things that are happening at these units.  And you can read about some of the sad things, too.

Link to the ORU updates

And the Funda unit?  Well, (unless something has changed that I don’t know about) that’s “Connie’s Heart“. 

Link to the Funda Unit update 

MY heart is overwhelmed to read about children (and grown-ups, too) a world away whose lives are being changed because of Connie.  I will find out much more when I arrive at Boot Camp and talk to the Petersons who run the Zambian ministry.  It sounds like perhaps the Foot Washing team might be visiting “Connie’s Heart” this summer!  I can hardly wait to hear first hand what is happening there!

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I’ve Been To Cuba..

and Michael Moore, it AIN’T the place to go for top notch medical care.  You and those 9/11 rescue workers aren’t going to Cuba to try to get treatment that can’t be obtained in America.  You don’t really think I believe that you are going down there to make this little shockumentary to bring to light the problems of the American healthcare system.  You’ll fool a lot of people though.  But I bet if you ever come down with some sort of esoteric and obscure illness that you won’t be on the first boat to Cuba to get treatment.  No sir. 

I went on a medical mission and worked with a group of American surgeons and allied health care workers in the best hospital in Cuba.  They sterilised and reused urinary catheters until they fell apart.  They reused absolutely everything, even washed and reused surgical sponges.  Our team had to fix their sterilisation units as they were not working well and DID not adequately sterilise anything.  Their OR suites were not negative pressure ventilated.  Nurses were not pro-active.  They simply followed WHATEVER the doctors told them without question.  Physicians had weekend jobs as waiters as the pay as a physician is so poor that they need to augment their income.  The formulary of the pharmacy was so limited that we had to bring down our own antibiotics and pain medications and even ASPIRIN.  And there’s no such thing as a malpractice suit down there (and Michael, there aren’t malpractice suits NOT because there isn’t malpractice…it’s just not an avenue that’s available to Cubans who have been injured at the hands of physicians…)

Michael Moore is a shameless seeker of self-aggrandisement.  And he is a disengenuine misrepresenter and twister of facts.  Sure, he’s mildly amusing, but basically he is a talentless schlub who probably got teased beyond what he was able to handle when he was young.  And now he’s trying to get back at the kind of people he was, and still is, envious of.  And for some reason, he hates America and most Americans.

Cubans die trying to get TO America for things LIKE our healthcare system (despite its problems).  You don’t see Americans dying in capsized tin boats trying to get to Cuba for medical treatment.

Our healthcare system is not perfect, but to take a group of people and sneak into Cuba, FOR HEALTH CARE, is just a blatant attempt to further his personal agenda.  Period.  Going to Cuba to get the best healthcare available is like going to North Korea for religious freedom.  As a person who has experienced the best of the Cuban healthcare system first hand, I almost can’t wait for MM’s new movie “Sicko” to come out just so I can appreciate just how fully MM has lost his mind.

Michael Moore….Give me a break. 

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Mount Etna…Isn’t It In Sicily???

Yep.  It is.  And it has erupted three times since March.  From what I have read, it has been in a near constant state of activity since late 2006.  AND, it’s actually not that far from where I’ll be this summer. 

Does it sound weird that I hope we get to SEE it????  I mean, I think I’d rather see IT than the Colosseum in Rome.

Sicily isn’t that big.  I have put push pins on Mount Etna and on Ispica.  See how close it is to where I’ll be??? 

Mapquest says it’s 70.69 miles from Ispica to Catania.  Small eruptions only, okay????  Plzkthnx.  (Even I recognize the inherent danger of volcanic activity)…but so far, no real danger from these eruptions.  At least that is what THIS article says! 

We fly into Catania.  At least that’s the plan now.  I also read that the airport had closed once for two weeks because of ash, so we’ll see!  When we leave, we drive to Messina to catch a ferry to the mainland.  So, an opportunity to maybe see it from the air, and from the ground.   

As long as it doesn’t go all Vesuvius or Krakatoa on us! 

Hey Pops,  are you still glad I’m going to Europe this year??? 

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This Is a Joke, Right????

Look at what those wacky Austrian activists are up to these days…

I’m speechless actually.

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An Ewe Tinkus I izz Starnge!

I laugh and laugh and laugh every time I visit this blog!  It’s is off the hook funny.  I’m adding it to my blogroll.  If you like weirdness, and you like to laugh, and you are wearing diapers (just in case!), then check out

I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER?

The pictures and captions are funny enough….but the comments!  Goooooodnesssss GRACIOUS!      :-)

You gotta read the comments on this one!:

An E-bay seller!

Here’s a sample of an older entry:

Steelin Ur Waters

And another:

I Has a Corm

Hit the random button at the top and see what you get!

And, one last link….learn to speak lolcat as a second language:

Lolcat speekingz plzkthx!

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