Well, that got your attention didn't it? Yes, today we had the session where we learned about all the trouble with different types of food and the water supply....or lack thereof. It is amazing all the ways you can spell "really, really sick" that ends in "..tosis". It can be a little overwhelming sitting through an hour long session with the medical team discussing all of the ailments that can and probably will happen on some level because of different sanitation issues. But I am very grateful that they do all they can to keep us safe and healthy, we are well provided for and will even be given free water purifiers, counter top as well as a travel packs, by a sister organization.
They even had a cute little video clip that said you can't eat cow because of mad cow, you can't eat chicken because of the bird flu, you can't eat eggs because of salmonella, you can't each fish because of mercury, you can't eat vegetables because of the fertilizer, so I guess that leaves...CHOCOLATE!! That was about how I felt after hearing that talk.
We also had a great class on Culture Shock and trying to take care of ourselves in the middle of all this stress. This speaker is very good and also very funny, he has spoken to us before and he cracks me up! So that was a nice stress reliever even though we were discussing stress....if that makes sense. :)
After dinner we had Kid's Poster Night where all the kids from each quad got together to make a poster that represented their families. Ours has a huge OU on it and because we are trying to be kind "to the least of these" a Texas Tech logo, hopefully the Parsley family is not reading this!! The kids are at Open Gym night right now, they have started these where we can drop them off to play supervised and come get them in an hour and a half. They love it and it gives us a chance to catch up on our reading, paperwork and, ahem.....blogs!!
Marshall loves working on his power point presentation on the computer and Hudson is really enjoying his projects, the girls are all journaling and Haddon even got to make a small snowman with her class, they took a picture and gave it to us in a little card, so cute! Campbell has a little friend "T" who is going to Africa and she has been eating with us as much as she can, she's really sweet.
Time to pick up the kids, please continue to lift us up in prayer, we need all that we can get!! Thank you!!
Friday, February 6, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Too tired to think of a clever title!!
Well, today was cheery, that whole Malaria session was one exciting class!! Oh my, I learned more than I cared to and although it was necessary it was UGH to listen to. We will be required to take preventative medication for it and so we will be able to "try it out" while we are here so we can figure out if we will have negative side effects........uh, the example of what "could" happen in "only rare" cases was not a fun thought! Apparently one of the side effects more common is vivid scary dreams.......woohoo, where do I sign up?!! So just as an added prayer request, pray that we all get through that just fine.
It has been a typical busy week here and we have had roughly 15 hours of teaching on Sp. W--fare in the past three days. I would give anything for these sessions to go out to churches across America. You know, we think of that topic and often our mind goes straight to the sensational, creepy stories and while those do happen, everyday as a believer we deal with some form of this although we don't always recognize it. The thought was that sometimes what we are called to can be hard and difficult as we try to adjust culturally and learn the language so we may be tempted to make the "easy" choice and not go out and engage the people. We may decide to stay home more often and so then we become ineffective and not a threat at all, and then "s" has won. We also were made to be totally aware of all that it may cost to be obedient and we heard several testimonies of colleagues who have paid the ultimate price and then "the rest of the story" as we heard all that the CEO has been able to do through those types of events. Very, very sobering, but also very confirming that everything we may "sacrifice" is worth it in the end. Of course we would hope that would not be required of us, and it puts in in a different light when you consider your family, but I truly believe that we must be willing.
We were also challenged in the area of denying ourselves and our rights to certain comforts for the sake of the call. So do I let people be permanently separated from the CEO just because they don't use the type of toilet I do? Or because their food seems strange to me? Or because I don't have a washer or fridge as I am accustomed to? Or the worst.....they don't have Dr. Pepper, GASP!! How very spoiled of me to think my comfort would be worth that!
So onto lighter subjects, we had a Ladies Tea with several women from the company and it was a very special time......because they had desserts!! Hahaha Seriously, it was very special as we shared requests and had a great time lifting those up for each other. But we don't have dessert here other than fruit which is great but sometimes a girl needs her chocolate!!
Well, I need to run but that gets you a little caught up on our life. Blessings to you!!
It has been a typical busy week here and we have had roughly 15 hours of teaching on Sp. W--fare in the past three days. I would give anything for these sessions to go out to churches across America. You know, we think of that topic and often our mind goes straight to the sensational, creepy stories and while those do happen, everyday as a believer we deal with some form of this although we don't always recognize it. The thought was that sometimes what we are called to can be hard and difficult as we try to adjust culturally and learn the language so we may be tempted to make the "easy" choice and not go out and engage the people. We may decide to stay home more often and so then we become ineffective and not a threat at all, and then "s" has won. We also were made to be totally aware of all that it may cost to be obedient and we heard several testimonies of colleagues who have paid the ultimate price and then "the rest of the story" as we heard all that the CEO has been able to do through those types of events. Very, very sobering, but also very confirming that everything we may "sacrifice" is worth it in the end. Of course we would hope that would not be required of us, and it puts in in a different light when you consider your family, but I truly believe that we must be willing.
We were also challenged in the area of denying ourselves and our rights to certain comforts for the sake of the call. So do I let people be permanently separated from the CEO just because they don't use the type of toilet I do? Or because their food seems strange to me? Or because I don't have a washer or fridge as I am accustomed to? Or the worst.....they don't have Dr. Pepper, GASP!! How very spoiled of me to think my comfort would be worth that!
So onto lighter subjects, we had a Ladies Tea with several women from the company and it was a very special time......because they had desserts!! Hahaha Seriously, it was very special as we shared requests and had a great time lifting those up for each other. But we don't have dessert here other than fruit which is great but sometimes a girl needs her chocolate!!
Well, I need to run but that gets you a little caught up on our life. Blessings to you!!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Random thoughts and updates
I have found it increasingly difficult to find time to post on my blog lately. We have random wireless in our quad, it is actually not suppose to be in there but sometimes if you are lucky it shows up, the problem is you never know how long it will last. I have made it up to the computer lab a couple of times but with four kids with me I usually do what needs to be done and don't stay long.
Friday was Personal Retreat day and it was a wonderful time to be alone for a few hours and read what our CEO had to say to each of us and then we came back for a great, moving and inspiring time of sharing. Our director said before some of us even attempted our personal retreat we may need to get some rest......I took that as a sign that he was talking to me!! I was so tired and after a short nap I was able to focus so much more on what I was going to do.
Our class went longer on Friday but we had to leave early because we had a parent/teacher meeting with Hudson's teacher as well as all the other parents of 3rd and 4th graders. It was a great time of sharing about our child and hearing about the goals he had for them, oh, and we also heard that the guinea pig that they were responsible to care for had died! We joked about how they only took care of him for three days before he died but then found out he was old so apparently it was "Snickers" time to go. One of the boys went to go feed him and he came back and said, "Is he suppose to be still like that?". HAhaha Poor kid! I believe they are going to purchase a new animal for their class. They have quite a few animals in the school and even a talking parrot named "Richard", he says about 10 different phrases and is really pretty funny.
On a funny note, Campbell has a little friend and when she was telling us her name we couldn't understand her and Barry said, "Her name is Pez?", and Campbell laughed as Barry mimicked as if he was her friend "Pez" and flipped his head back and said, "Would you like some candy?"!! It was hysterical as she feigned being angry and we basically had fun at her expense!!
Saturday we slept in and then got some cleaning supplies from Target, we got back and had lunch while Barry had a meeting, he is on the "Ev" team. Later the kids and I went to the gym and played volleyball with another mom and most of the older youth. We were TERRIBLE, but we had a blast. Then in the evening we went out for Mexican with our MIR Mentors ("M's" in residence), they are from our assignment country so it was great to hear from them.
You hear many exciting and many sobering things while you are here but the most is that you are very aware of the importance of the work we have to do. That in the midst of all the hard changes and challenges there are great rewards for complete obedience to the CEO.
Today we are about to have our cell meeting and then we have what they call "Cultural Worship" this evening and we will experience how they do cells around the world. I am really looking forward to that. We may run into town with a few other families just to relax together this afternoon. I have a meeting tonight as my "job" is to get the class materials together and display books that relate to the speaker's topics, or if they have some that they are giving away.
I will leave you with a few bits of info:
There are 330 people attending classes at the farm,
160 of those are children,
60 of those are preschool or younger.
TCK's or Third Culture Kids are kids who have a home culture but live in another culture and so don't always fit into either so they develop a "third culture". For further information you can go to www.tckid.com/group/ the guy is not a christian but his site has some good info.
With a few exceptions for some singles who live in the dorms, we all live in quads with a common living room. Ours is a three bedroom apartment and we have two single guys, a married couple with no children, and another couple with a 2 and 5 year old who share our quad. We all get along great.
Have great day and know that we miss and love you all!!
Friday was Personal Retreat day and it was a wonderful time to be alone for a few hours and read what our CEO had to say to each of us and then we came back for a great, moving and inspiring time of sharing. Our director said before some of us even attempted our personal retreat we may need to get some rest......I took that as a sign that he was talking to me!! I was so tired and after a short nap I was able to focus so much more on what I was going to do.
Our class went longer on Friday but we had to leave early because we had a parent/teacher meeting with Hudson's teacher as well as all the other parents of 3rd and 4th graders. It was a great time of sharing about our child and hearing about the goals he had for them, oh, and we also heard that the guinea pig that they were responsible to care for had died! We joked about how they only took care of him for three days before he died but then found out he was old so apparently it was "Snickers" time to go. One of the boys went to go feed him and he came back and said, "Is he suppose to be still like that?". HAhaha Poor kid! I believe they are going to purchase a new animal for their class. They have quite a few animals in the school and even a talking parrot named "Richard", he says about 10 different phrases and is really pretty funny.
On a funny note, Campbell has a little friend and when she was telling us her name we couldn't understand her and Barry said, "Her name is Pez?", and Campbell laughed as Barry mimicked as if he was her friend "Pez" and flipped his head back and said, "Would you like some candy?"!! It was hysterical as she feigned being angry and we basically had fun at her expense!!
Saturday we slept in and then got some cleaning supplies from Target, we got back and had lunch while Barry had a meeting, he is on the "Ev" team. Later the kids and I went to the gym and played volleyball with another mom and most of the older youth. We were TERRIBLE, but we had a blast. Then in the evening we went out for Mexican with our MIR Mentors ("M's" in residence), they are from our assignment country so it was great to hear from them.
You hear many exciting and many sobering things while you are here but the most is that you are very aware of the importance of the work we have to do. That in the midst of all the hard changes and challenges there are great rewards for complete obedience to the CEO.
Today we are about to have our cell meeting and then we have what they call "Cultural Worship" this evening and we will experience how they do cells around the world. I am really looking forward to that. We may run into town with a few other families just to relax together this afternoon. I have a meeting tonight as my "job" is to get the class materials together and display books that relate to the speaker's topics, or if they have some that they are giving away.
I will leave you with a few bits of info:
There are 330 people attending classes at the farm,
160 of those are children,
60 of those are preschool or younger.
TCK's or Third Culture Kids are kids who have a home culture but live in another culture and so don't always fit into either so they develop a "third culture". For further information you can go to www.tckid.com/group/ the guy is not a christian but his site has some good info.
With a few exceptions for some singles who live in the dorms, we all live in quads with a common living room. Ours is a three bedroom apartment and we have two single guys, a married couple with no children, and another couple with a 2 and 5 year old who share our quad. We all get along great.
Have great day and know that we miss and love you all!!
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