Merry Christmas

My sister and I baked a ton of sugar cookies and invited people to help us eat them. Fun stuff.













We just found out that we will not be able to meet up with my parents for New Years' as planned. Their passports were enroute in the mail and got lost. No passports, no way to leave the U.S.. So, they are going to try hard to get here anyway, although maybe a week later. We had planned on 2 weeks together as a family, but as long as they are able to get things worked out this week, we should still get a week. It has been 2 years since we have been together for a family for longer than a few hours (a year-and-a-half ago we had a few hours together before my sister left for the U.S. and then my parents followed the next month).

Good Words

David Osborne said:

We try to use God to change our circumstances,
but God uses our circumstances to change us.

Quoted by Joel Hunter a couple months ago.

A Little Christmas Perspective

Check out this youtube video. Well done.

Anger Management

Wow, what gets your blood boiling? This week I have been alarmed at how angry I have gotten. Two things get to me: kittens and traffic. And as I thought about it, I realized these are recurring for me.

When I lived in Haiti, I had a sickly, whiny kitten that got me so angry I wanted to leave the country (oddly it didn't occur to me to get rid of him instead of me! ha ha). I can't think of any other time I ever wanted to leave. I also wanted to hurl the poor thing across the house. I thought, I could never have children! No wonder people abuse their children (I am probably blacklisting myself from babysitting ever again)!

So we have a new kitten. I think we finally decided to call him Frik. Well, Frik is a crybaby. Not just persistent crying, but a desperate, persistent meow. Several days ago my nerves got so shot I took him by the neck and was ready to strangle him to death. Literally. My mind went there, my hands were probably 75% behind it. I was shocked at how high my emotions were running, and I let go and started to cry. Poor Frik was scared of me for a while. If I could have screamed bloody murder I would have.

The next day I was driving to town in the truck. Mind you, the width of these roads were designed for motorcycles, not more. Everyone was on the road, kids walking home from school, using the road like it was a sidewalk. Motorcyclists were driving side by side, chatting. There was too much traffic on the road to pass anything. I nearly went through the roof! I thought back to Orlando, and remembered how I hated traffic. It was one of the most--if not the most--stressful thing for me living there.

So, yeah, been having anger issues this week. Earlier we were going to get rid of the cat, but I think I'll try him a little longer. I had a 2 day break from him while we were at camp, and he was more tolerable last night (or I was more patient--or maybe remorseful). Don't know if I should be posting these raw emotions for the world to see, but there it is, part of my journey.

Birthdy Madness

So on November 21 I turned 31.









My teammate made me breakfast and then later on that morning my neighbors called me outside "for something." I was suspiscious, so just peeked out, and there they were, hiding what I knew was eggs in their hands and pockets. I stayed inside, knowing they would not dare pelt me indoors, but then my teammate pulled me out and they did not throw. They smashed. Fortunately no flour or soy sauce was involved. Even the grandmas were in on it. I knew exactly who perpetrated the event, though, and went straight after her. She hid inside my neighbor's house (who happens to be her sister), but eventually I got her (click here for video). All fun and games, even though it took 2 washes (by hand, mind you!) to get the smell out of my clothes.

I was whisked away to camp after that where a Chuckish day awaited me. Unfortunately, the satellite internet was not working at camp, which threw the whole day out of order. Apparently my parents were supposed to be in costume on video skype as "the generals" to give me my orders for the day. Our team has recently gotten into the NBC series, Chuck, so the role play for the day was that I was like Chuck and supposed to be having periodic "flashes" which would guide the activities of the day along until I solved the mystery of the day.

Unfortunately the broken internet put a real kink in everything. But we had a lovely dinner together that night at a place I had never been and it was divine--complete with new passports and new identities for the evening. :)





After stuffing myself to death, one of my favorite cakes was waiting for me back at camp.





Throughout the week my roommate baked all kinds of goodies, including these yummy cinnamon rolls. Did a little exploring as well. That was my birthday!