11.21.2006
thanksgiving
I know there are other places I could go and I have had invites, but it's not the same. Plus I never liked Turkey, anyway.
But ever since I went to college thanksgiving break is so exciting cause all my cousins come home and we get to hang out and do fun things. This year is going to be esspecially fun. Tomorrow everyone gets home and we are going into the city for a flip cup tournament (which we will dominate at) and then spending the night at my cousins' apartment. I love hanging out with my cousins.
So that's my post - Heather gives me a hard time about not blogging regularly anymore so I'm trying to get back into the groove... please be patient with me.
11.19.2006
long overdue and so not worth it
I am not even sure what to say because I feel like my life is so boring. I already told all of you about my many jobs, all of which are going well. I started coaching basketball in the begining of the month. That has been really fun. I love my team. I started of really nervous, thinking "what did I get myself in to?" but after our first game I am feeling pretty confident that coaching this team is so worth all the craziness. Our first game was an away game against a team who had already played three games. We lost, but played a really good game. I was super proud of them.
Things with Ari are good--he went hunting this weekend and will now be eating bambi for the next 11 months. Crocket is cute as can be. I get to babysit the boys all day monday and tuesday. Life is good.
So, Heather, is this satisfactory? my life is so dull right now.
11.18.2006
a conversation
"Monaca, try this jelly"
"I don't like jelly, mom... but this isn't jelly it's jam"
"Whatever, Monaca"
"ooh, mom, you should invest in jam-off"
"whats jam-off"
"its an AMAZING jam... wanna see a commercial for it"
"oh yeah... get out of here."
Jam-off
11.17.2006
11.04.2006
He never stops working...
.....
In the words of Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all doing direct the other way..."
You might want to get a drink, a box of Kleenex and get comfy, because this is an epic story!
On Tuesday October 17, we received a call from CAI to let us know that we absolutely had to have our account out of deficit by year's end. Many of our colleagues are, as we were, suffering financially, and CAI is not able to "float" all of us when that happens. We of course had already been working on fund-raising, but this put an extra amount of pressure on us. At that point, we believed we were about $8,000 in the hole.
It was a rainy, grey week, and our spirits took a real nose-dive. On Friday the 20th, we met with Nic's teacher and another woman who provides assistance to kids at the school. They expressed concern that Nicolas (who is definitely behind, having jumped into the British school system this year) might have some kind of learning delay or issue. Although on its own, this news was not terrible, added to the burdens of the week, it became the straw that broke the camel's back.
I think that Friday was the worst day we have experienced in
On Saturday, we sent out an email asking that you join us in prayer on Sunday October 22nd. We really did not know what God was doing, where He was leading. That evening, we had a service. At the end of the service, they kicked
Emails began pouring in, speaking words of encouragement to us. People were praying with us.We were certainly not alone. That Sunday we spent as a family, talking and praying and asking God to show us what to do. We asked God only that He would get our account back in the black by the end of the year. We made the difficult decision that if it was not in the black by then, we would leave
Then the financial commitments starting coming in. Some of them before we even asked; some of them after. All of them generous, one huge one from a man we have never even met before. Part-way through the process we found out that we were actually $12,000 in the hole after having paid for school this fall. Still, the emails kept coming.
As I write this, (between actual gifts and pledges) God has provided funds to wipe our deficit, pay for the next school payment in January, and begin to build up our required 2-month financial buffer. He has also sent $350 per month in new monthly support.
Needless to say, we are staying in
.....
Amen.