Our first week!

One week ago today we left snowy, frigid Chicago and after a very pleasant trip, arrived in our new city, right on time and with all our luggage. We walked out of the airport and started across the parking lot with all our loot just as the skies burst open and poured down on us. We were soaked to the skin by the time we reached the car! Rain is usually a sign of God’s blessings, so we took it as that I have a friend who I’ve known for more than 30 years who lives in this city with her family. They met us and we’re staying with them until we can find our own place. When Dave met us, he had bags of groceries in the car, saying that things were getting bad in the country and they were told to stock up just in case. Sure enough, just 2 days after we arrived, the president of this country was ousted from power and things went crazy here. The night that everything exploded we happened to have 12 adults and 3 children here in this house and because of a strict curfew put into place; no one could leave so they all spent the night. We first of all had a lovely dinner together, then a long time of prayer, then played a game of Settler’s, then watched a movie until midnight. As the helicopters roared overhead and gunfire burst all around us, we were all together having a great time of fellowship. When things quieted down in the morning, they all went home. Every day the curfew has begun at 5PM and lasted until 7AM. The pattern has been that things seem to be quite normal in the morning and people are out and about trying to get food, gas and other essentials. Darrell waited for over an hour in line to get bread yesterday. We have been getting creative in our meal preparation as we don’t have everything we’re used to! By mid-afternoon, things start to close up and the neighborhood “watchdogs” come out, wearing white shirts and carrying all sorts of weapons such as sticks, shovels, axes, shock absorbers, golf clubs, crutches, and an assortment of other strange things. The first afternoon when the government asked all citizens to do this in order to guard their neighborhoods from thugs that were going around randomly destroying & robbing people’s homes, our guys decided to get in on the action and put on their white shirts and joined them. They had a good time hanging out with the men & finding out what the talk on the street was. We haven’t been able to look for a house or do much of anything since getting here. One of the large, beautiful supermarkets here in town was burned down so we are disappointed not to be able to shop there now. Things have slowly started to open back up again but the lines to buy anything right now are very long. Nightly curfews are still in place and fighting down in the center of the city continues so who knows how long this siege will last? For the first time last night, we had a very quiet night. It was not so in other parts of the city evidently. Hopefully at the end of week #2 we’ll be able to report that we are settled into our own place. Stay tuned for more of our adventure!

Christmas & New Year's

Seeing as we only have 5 days until we board a plane for our new home in Long Beach (and that's not California!) I decided I'd better get this blog updated. Christmas has come & gone and more memories were made. Our son Glenn came home on the 22nd of Dec and daughter Rachel + husband Josh arrived on Christmas day. They were all home for a week and we spent lots of time playing games, watching movies, talking and eating. We went downtown Chicago early in the day on New Year's Even and visited Glenn in his studio apartment on Dearborn St. We walked to a lovely restaurant to eat lunch and on our way home we all got soaked in the the rain. We warmed up with a cup of Starbucks coffee and decided to get out of the city before the mobs of people arrived for the evening celebrations. We knew it was the right decision when we encountered thousands of cars entering the city as we were leaving! We spent a quiet evening at home with our daughter (her husband was visiting friends). Rachel & Darrell stayed up until after midnight but I crashed at 10:30. Early on the morning of January 2nd, we all headed for the airport and went our separate ways; they, back home to Philadelphia and we, to visit our son Nathan in the Caribbean for 4 days. We were met by Nate & his girlfriend (who was visiting form Chicago)and taken to the island on a private boat that Nate had rented. It was one of the funnest things I've ever done! The island is beautiful and the laid-back lifestyle is charming. As I write this, we are still here for another day. We have been wined and dined by many of Nate's friends, had a picnic on the beach with steaks on the grill, coffee on the porch, gone swimming in the pool and lots of other fun stuff. Tomorrow we will head back to the frigid north and begin the last-minute marathon to get ready for departure on Jan. 11th. Stay tuned for details of our new adventure.

plans...

I thought I'd wait and blog about our Christmas but will catch you all up on our latest news so you know what our plans are as of now. Darrell's brother will not be needing a transplant immediately as first thought, so we are going ahead with our plans to leave on January 11th. That means less than 3 weeks from now! When I first came to the realization that time was so short and in between there is Christmas and a trip to see Nathan (our oldest), I began to panic. I proceeded to make my lists and have been consistently crossing things off as I finish them. Looks like we'll make it after all. We arrived home a few days ago from a wonderful visit to Dakar, Senegal where we attended a regional conference & also got to spend 10 days with my two sisters and husbands. It was so fun to get up early and have coffee together and just talk for hours. What a wonderful gift from the Lord. Leaving Dakar at 85 degrees F and arriving in Chicago at 24 degrees was quite a shock to the system. Now we'll be going to a place that is more moderate certainly than Chicago. Last I looked, it was about 65 degrees. We are very excited about what God has in store for us in this new chapter of our lives. We also feel incredibly fortunate that we still have new challenges like this at our age. I'll be back in a few days to tell you about our Christmas. Here's our tree & the view from our front yard. Merry Christmas to all...

"home is where you hang your hat"

I never gave much thought to this old saying but I'm discovering that it's absolutely true! As I travel around, one of the recurring questions that I'm asked is "where did you like the best?" (out of the dozens of places I've lived) I honestly cannot answer that question fully because I have loved everywhere that I've lived. Another question that is repeatedly asked is "where's home for you"? I now know without question, that home is "wherever I hang my hat" at that moment. As I get older, I find myself longing for "home". It's not as easy for me as it once was, to move from town to town and bed to bed. Yesterday was my last time speaking for this home assignment. I tried to "stay in the moment" as much as I could but found myself saying to myself all day "I just want to be home." I don't know when I've experienced such joy walking into my own home and sleeping in my own bed. It seems kind of silly since I will only be in this house for another 7 weeks and then will move on to another country and set up yet another home. But I am quite sure that I will feel the exact same way about my new place, because that's where I'll hang my hat.

An undeserved honor!

Friday, October 8th was a day I never thought would really arrive. I had known for 5 years that the Nyack College School of Nursing was to have my name on it. But as time went by and permits were refused or delayed, I really didn't give it much thought, assuming that it would never really come to pass. When I received word that everything was in place and that the first class had already begun at the college, it still didn't seem real to me. I was asked to be the Founder's Day speaker which was a huge honor and quite scary! When a guy came and pinned a corsage on me, I began to feel like this was really happening. Speaking in front of over 1,000 college students was a challenge but I got good feedback and felt God's enabling. Then I had to rush up to the nursing center to cut the ribbon. I was standing with really important people and realized a bit more what a big deal this was. When I went into the nursing center and saw my name and picture on the wall, that's when it hit me that this was for real. I felt so humbled and unworthy. The attention felt uncomfortable. A beautiful luncheon was held for all the attendees of the dedication. I was presented with a beautiful plaque and asked to give another speech! It was all very overwhelming and now seems like somewhat of a dream. Many of my family members were present for the occasion: my mom & dad, both brothers and wives and kids, daughter & son-in-law, oldest son & girlfriend. It was fun to share the day with them. It is an unbelievable honor to have something named after you while you're alive; you're usually not living to receive such an honor. I certainly know that I am not worthy of this but I also know that most of what we receive from our loving heavenly father is totally undeserved. I just hope that somehow, he will get all the glory and that many young nurses will feel the call of God to go out into this hurting world and be the hands & feet of Jesus in a very tangible way.

Cool breezes are blowing

As we set out on our walk this morning, I realized quickly that I should have worn a jacket! It was actually quite cold. As I look at the temps of the place where we last lived, I see they are still over 100 degrees F and I look at the temps of where we're headed, it's still in the mid-90's. So, I'm trying to tell myself that this cold weather is a blessing and I should enjoy it while it lasts! But somehow it doesn't work like that; I am just a miserable person when I'm cold. Really though, today is unbelievably gorgeous with temps in the 60's and bright sunshine. I do want to enjoy it while it lasts because I know cold rain & snow are coming. Starting this Tuesday, we will be embarking on a busy fall tour. We will be home together once in awhile during the week which is a special treat. Mostly though, we will be flying separately, to churches all over the country. The task seems daunting; to engage & excite people about places they've never heard of & people who are worlds away from anything they can imagine. To motivate people who are extremely busy with their lives, financially stretched and weary of trying to get ahead and always feeling behind. Why can I expect that anyone would be interested in what I have to say?? Honestly, it blows my mind when I see people who become passionate about what I'm passionate about. I am completely flabbergasted when I receive a large check for my ministry and I know the sender struggles to make ends meet in his own life. It all comes down to one thing: God is up to something big in the part of the world where we live; his spirit is stirring up the hearts of believers in this country and my job is simply to present what I've seen & heard firsthand and let God do the rest. I need to get out of the way. He must increase and I must decrease! So, I give the Holy Spirit permission to use me as he'd like. May my messages not be so scripted that there is little room left for him to say what he wants! Ahhh, here we go once again on this thing called TOUR, the thing we love & the thing we hate. Trusting that our simple thoughts & words will bring much glory to God and fruit for his kingdom. That will make it all worthwhile! I plan to enjoy the cool fall breezes, the apple orchards & pumpkin patches & spice candles.

blessed!

I am feeling particularly blessed these days. We've moved into our son's beautiful home and are enjoying all the comforts of living in this land! Darrell has been working non-stop fixing up things around here. He does it with great joy since it's kind of an anchor for our family and a feeling of having a place we can call a "permanent residence". We've never had that in all our years of marriage & ministry! The car parked in our driveway was given to us to use for this 6 months by the men's group in our district. Yes, we are very blessed indeed. I recently celebrated another birthday and received about 100 greetings on Facebook from friends all over the world. We went out to a wonderful Thai restaurant and my son brought me flowers; carried them all the way from downtown Chicago on the train. What a sweetheart he is:) We feel totally unworthy of all God's goodness in our lives these days. Looking forward to a week at the beach with our daughter and son-in-law is another great blessing. All I can say is life lived with God is amazing and I feel sorry for those who haven't figured that out yet. I know friends and loved ones who are suffering right now and believe me, I've been around long enough to know that it's not all fun and games in this life! As the song says "He gives and takes away, my heart will choose to say, blessed be the name of the Lord."