Getting Caught Up and Getting a Kindle

I'm caught up on my blogging, including Day 42.  That's about my only accomplishment for the day!  I am really enjoying the discipline of writing on a daily basis.

But when I wrote about the Winnie the Pooh calendar I had used to paint a mural for Dats (now age 9) when he was a baby, it reminded me of an obligation that I had meant to fulfill over Christmas break and had managed to completely forget about (and now it's Wednesday night and we return to school on Monday!).  Melissa's cousin Angie had put me in contact with a sweet older couple who have found themselves in the position of raising their grandchildren - a boy and a girl.  This couple wanted someone to paint a mural on the wall of their little grandson's room to make it his own.  I've been to their house to see the space and get some ideas, but have not yet carved out the time to do the actual painting.  (We first talked about this mural before school started in August!)  The latest idea from the boy is characters from Toy Story ... but the grandmother would also like some Scripture verse tied into the scene!  Got any ideas for me?  ("And, lo, I am with you always... to infinity and beyond!"??) 

I've committed to doing this - and they are willing to pay - so I really need to get moving on it.  Maybe New Year's Day would be a good time to do it... that tends to be a pretty lame holiday. 

Speaking of Melissa's cousin Angie (and I was, a ways back), today she gave me the best present I got this Christmas:  her old Kindle.  Apparently her husband got her a newer model for Christmas.  (For those who don't know, the Kindle is an electronic device capable of holding hundreds of downloaded books.) 

Although I tend to be an old-fashioned kind of guy, there are at least four obvious advantages to having a Kindle:  1) It's compact (much smaller than a stack of books) 2) It's easy to read (you can change the font size if you need to) and 3) You can shop for books on-line and immediately download them without the time and expense of visiting a bookstore (and I can waste HOURS in a bookstore!) and 4) Downloaded e-books are cheaper (and more environmentally friendly) than paper books.  I've already sampled some books on learning Haitian Creole.

Here's a funny little coincidence.  I didn't fully explain this yesterday, but when Bob and I were talking about the book "Radical", he said he had looked at it in a bookstore not long ago and had almost bought a copy for himself because it was on a table which had a sign stating "$4.99".  But he was suspicious because it was the only copy of "Radical" on the table.  A salesclerk confirmed that "Radical" did not belong there; it costs $15.  So Bob didn't buy it. But I so wanted Bob to read the book, I gave him my copy, knowing I would get a replacement copy for myself, even though I knew it costs $15.

You know how much "Radical" costs for Kindle?  $5.00!

Thanks, Angie!  You made my day.

P.S.  Angie's Kindle came with a stylish leather cover ... in PINK.  Melissa suggested she would look on-line for a new cover, but I'm telling her not to do it.  I'm cheap and don't want to spend any unnecessary money.  I'm secure in my manhood.  Besides, this way I'm not likely to misplace it. 

Day 42 - Assorted Items (Throw)

I found a wooden Coca-Cola box in the garage full of mostly paper stuff.  I sorted through it and threw away 90% of it, including:

• Map of Pensacola, Florida
• Paperwork from "Share Jesus" week in Jacksonville, Florida, July 17-24, 1999.  (I was surprised to see that I was "Team Leader" - had forgotten all about it.)
• Warranty information for my Playstation ... that was stolen 10 years ago.
• Extra copies of our 2001 Christmas letter
• Some postcards from Saudi Arabia
• A print out of our bridal registry list
• An MLS printout on the house we ended up buying in Pensacola
• Several unused Veggie Tales birthday cards
• A handwritten chord chart from when my good friend (and roommie) Tim Price tried to teach me how to play guitar.  It didn't take.
• A listing of the 1994 summer staff of Lake Okoboji (Iowa) United Methodist Church Camp
• A Winnie the Pooh calendar  (CLASSIC Pooh - none of the crappy Disney stuff!  I used some of the pictures for reference when I painted murals on the walls of our first nursery.)
• Nametags for me and Melissa from the "Elevate" conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma

Day 52 - New Light Fixture (Give)

I got over to Rose Ellen's house this evening to take a light fixture.  It was still in the box.  I bought it originally from Lowe's as part of a two-pack of which I only needed one.  (I couldn't find the style I wanted in a single pack.)  It's been sitting in the shed for over a year - not sure what I was planning to do with it since we've already replaced nearly every fixture in our house.  But it was one of those things where you think, "I don't need this but I can't throw this away; it's brand new.  Put it in the garage."

It only took a couple of minutes to get the thing installed in Rose Ellen's kitchen.  I was hoping to get it there before she painted - I figured the brighter lighting would be helpful - but she was already done painting.  Still, it brightened up the place quite well and it looks a whole lot more modern than what she had.  If there's one room in a house that should have good lighting, it's the kitchen.  Am I right or am I right?

Day 51 - "Radical" (Give) and Gift Boxes (Give)

We got a visit today from our long-time friends, Bob and Jill.  They live near D.C. but have family in Indianapolis, so they were in the area for Christmas.  We had to pack over a year of catching up into a few hours.  They are about as far from ordinary as you can get - and their past year has been unusual even by their standards. 

At the start of summer, Bob's church position was cut due to budget problems and Jill quit her job.  They sold most of their possessions and travelled Europe for a month.  Now they are living in the basement of some friends' house while Jill has started work as a teacher's aide and Bob is preparing to become a school bus driver.  But the bigger picture is that Bob wants to become a missionary, so he is trying to raise support.

But Bob can't be an "ordinary" missionary to Haiti, or Guam, or Taiwan, etc.  No, Bob's dream is to become a missionary to America.  Right now he is trying to figure out just exactly what that means, what it looks like, and how best to convey his vision to others who might support him in this venture.  You should take a moment and check out his website at http://loveslabours.typepad.com/ .  Bob has been in ministry for years, and I never figured that he would settle into some traditional role within the United Methodist Church ... and he hasn't.  If anyone can figure out how to be an American missionary to America, Bob and Jill can.  I'll be curious to see how his vision grows and develops over the next few years.

So Bob and Jill were not in the least bit interested in taking any of our stuff with them since what few possessions they have held onto are in storage in a 10 by 12 foot room.  They are perfectly happy living the downsized, unencumbered life and they don't want our giveaways.  But there's one thing Bob can't resist. 

Books.  He had looked at "Radical" recently at a bookstore and put it back on the shelf because he figured it would "only frustrate him."  So I gave him my copy.  (Remember, this is the book with the subtitle "Taking back your faith from the American Dream".  Check it out here.)  It's not like it's going to challenge him - he and Jill have never bought into the American Dream - but it will frustrate him to read it because his mind is going to be churning the whole time about how to stir the American church as a whole to get "radical". 

I don't know that giving away "Radical" today counts officially in my downsizing experiment to Give, Throw or Sell something each day since I have every intention of buying another copy to replace the one I gave to Bob today.  So just to be on the safe side, we also gave a few more Christmas gift boxes to my aunt.  My aunt Lossie was hosting some extended family from out of town for dinner tonight and so we made the trip to Shelbyville this evening to see everyone.  Lossie goes nuts at Christmas time - she has an unbelievable Santa collection and at least three full size trees up.  She also wraps dozens of gifts every year for a large number of friends and relations, so we figured she might appreciate the gift boxes.

Day 50 - Devotional Books (Give)

"Laughter for a Woman's Soul" and "Through the Night with God".  I wrapped these with a little bow and took them to Rose Ellen's house while I ran a couple of other late evening errands (including finally getting some Christmas letters into the mail!).  I also took one of the Christmas letters, so she was the first to actually get one in hand.  I spent all day on those letters, so it was good to see them go. 

I didn't know Rose Ellen before the mission trip to Haiti in October (and I had never been to her house before).  She went to Haiti in order to cross "mission trip" off her "bucket list".  I think it's safe to say that God surprised her with so much more on that trip than she bargained for!  And the funny thing is, it seems the ripples from that trip have continued to grow in her life rather than diminish.  Only time will tell the ultimate impact of that week in Haiti for Rose Ellen.

I would have just left the books and envelope on her porch since it was already 9:30 PM, but since I had never been there, I wanted to make sure I had the right house.  Besides, there's still snow everywhere and her front step is not covered.  So I got to see her kitchen project.  She has cleaned out her kitchen in preparation for painting.  I think I might be able to help her out with a new light fixture and some aid in getting a bit more storage space built into her kitchen beside her stove.  She's a single mom and I imagine it is tough sometimes to get everything done around the house AND take care of the kids.  And nobody needs a kitchen project to take longer than necessary!

Day 49 - "Finding God in The Lord of the Rings" (Give)

OK, another book - I've got hundreds of them.  I saw this title and immediately thought I should tag this one for one of my Honor students ... I will call him Nerd Supreme here, since I don't want to publish his real name here on the internet for privacy reasons.  I don't think he'd take offense to the title of Nerd Supreme either, so don't worry - he's not going to get mad at me (I hope).  For one thing, he knows that I myself am a proud fellow nerd.  Besides, he is one of those rarest of creatures in America's high schools: an individual who relishes, even celebrates, his uniqueness and does not seem bothered by anyone else's opinion.  Now several other students in my classes would fit that description as far as it goes, but what makes Nerd Supreme unusual is that he does this in a positive, rather than negative, fashion.  (e.g. He doesn't dye his hair some funky color - He enthusiastically talks about the books - plural - he is currently reading to anyone within earshot.)

I figure Nerd Supreme would appreciate this particular book partly because, hey, it's about Lord of the Rings.  But also because NS has an obvious interest in church and spiritual matters.  I hope he finds something of interest in this book.

Here's a quote from the final chapter of the book that's worth a ponder.  But it's from C.S. Lewis rather than Tolkien (they were good friends, by the way):
"Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists.  A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food.  A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water.... I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probably explanation is that I was made for another world."

Day 48 - 1,444 Fun Things to Do with Kids (Give)

I got this book last spring and flipped through quite a few pages now and then.  There are tons of good, creative ideas in it which would apply to kids of varying ages.  But the book doesn't inspire me to do fun, creative things with my kids ... it just makes me feel guilty.  I mean, we don't even seem to have the time and energy to do even mundane, ordinary things with our kids.  We have a garage full of bicycles and how many times did we go for a bike ride together this past summer or fall?  Exactly zero!  Now that's not to say that we don't do things with the kids at all - we're a pretty active family - it's just that our family time ends up being "spoken for". 

So I've had this book for 8 or 9 months and haven't used any of the ideas yet.  Sounds like a good candidate to be given away. 

The only down side of giving a book to someone is that nagging fear that he or she will place it on a shelf and ignore it.  But I gave this book to Keri, our friend, neighbor and small group leader, so there's a very good chance this book will actually get used.  Keri homeschools her kids and she's really good at proactively planning activities for her kids - they are always going to visit a farm or help a neighbor with chores or something (and that was even before she started homeschooling this fall!).  When I stopped by her house and gave her the book yesterday (Christmas Day), she said that Melissa had told her about it when I first got it and she had almost bought a copy for herself at the time because it sounded like such a good book to have handy.

I figure this will be a win/win situation.  Our kids now have a better chance of benefitting from the book than if I had kept it here.  Here's how:  if I'm right in guessing that Keri will actually make use of the book and "test-drive" some of the ideas with her kids (who are roughly the same age as ours), then she's also bound to pass along the most enjoyable ideas to Melissa - and warn her about the flops - since they're always swapping stories over the phone. We'll get the ideas that are "keepers" without having to read the book ourselves!  Anyway, that's the way I'm hoping it works out. 

Pretty selfish Give, huh?

Day 47 - (Christmas Eve 2010) "Vintage" Garfield Painting (Give)

My little brother, Russ, made this Give easy for me.  He still lives in the house we grew up in and, in fact, is currently fixing it up to put it on the market in anticipation of getting married this summer.  I can only assume that somewhere in the midst of renovations and cleaning and tossing (much like we've been doing here), he found this portrait of Garfield which I painted as a kid.  (Garfield looks fat and sloppy in the painting because that's how Jim Davis first drew him, not because I was a bad artist.... just wanted to make that clear!)

So Russ thought it would be clever to wrap this thing up and give it to me for Christmas. We gathered the family together last night at another brother's house after the 6:00 PM church service to eat and exchange gifts. 

I have to admit, this Christmas has been a bit stressful with my current mindset of radical downsizing so that we can get ourselves ready to head to Haiti.  I keep thinking of December 25th representing two steps (at least) backwards as we are trying to reduce clutter AND save money.  I tried hard to find MICRO-gifts for the kids.  It was my idea to get Dats (age 9) the "spy watch".  (It was Melissa's idea to get Ida (age 7) the ginormous Nerf dart gun!)  Also, Melissa and I decided to do nothing beyond stocking stuffers for each other - which had the dual benefit of cutting down on stuff around the house AND cutting down on the stress of shopping prior to Christmas.

So when I unwrapped the Garfield painting, I was relieved to see something that could be immediately dumped in the trash without even making the trip back to our house!  But when I voiced my intentions, my niece, Lauren, claimed the painting for her own.  (Why???)  She said she liked "vintage" things ... or maybe it was "retro", I don't remember - all I heard was "ancient and tacky".  Well, it's hers now and that's kind of nice:  Great art is timeless and meant to be enjoyed for generations.

Merry Christmas!

P.S.  I was able to give the weird carved black thing (Day 45) to Russ and Alecia and all the adults gathered around (after the kids ran off with their new presents) and prayed for their relationship.  It was very meaningful - I am glad we took the opportunity to do it.  We don't pray often enough with extended family.  In fact, the last time I remember praying with family members (beyond saying grace at mealtimes) was when my Dad passed away over 7 years ago - Kristine (my sister-in-law) led in prayer as we stood around his bed just after he had taken his last breath.  It was a powerful and spontaneous spiritual moment and that prayer arose (I believe) not out of some sense of duty but rather out of a recognition of God's very real presence in that room in that moment. 

We should pray more.

Day 46 - Assorted Books (Throw)

I may have said this before, but it is very difficult for me to throw away a book.  I've been sorting through boxes of books from the shed. Most are going into one of three piles: 

1) Books to keep.  These are mostly books from seminary that may come in handy some day, but also some favorite books that are just hard to find - like my Adrian Plass books.  (I can't believe you've never heard of Adrian Plass!)

2)  Books to give away.  This is the type of book that was a good read, but once you've read it, you've read it.  No reason to hang onto it - but someone else may get some enjoyment or insight from it.  I have a small box that I plan to donate to the church library even.  I don't know if anyone ever uses the church library, but it would be a good place to store some of these books...

3)  And books to sell.  I love going into Half Price Books.  You take a stack of books in and they sort through them and then make an offer.  The down side is that the offer is never even close to what you think the books are worth.  I've now got a big stack of books to go to HPB, but I know they won't be worth much.  On the upside, at least if they do buy them, they buy every book in the box, so I don't have to deal with throwing away a book - which is a terrible thing to do.  It just seems sacrilegious or something.

But sometimes there are good reasons to throw away a book.  Here are some of the titles I tossed today:

*  Raising Kids Who Hunger for God – only because it had several large bugs squished between the pages.

Runner’s World Magazine - OK, it's not a book, but it's written stuff.  Why do we hang on to magazines after we've read them?

Fodor’s Scotland 1991 - now here's a good example of a book that is fine to throw away.  No use to me and no resale value whatsoever.

Frommer’s 2003 Portable Las Vegas for Non-Gamblers - same!  We got this book when Melissa and I got snookered into buying a timeshare because we were offered a free trip to Vegas for listening to the presentation.  I couldn't sleep for days after we signed that paper.  The timeshare is one thing I haven't yet talked to Melissa about as we look to the future.  Not sure if she will want to keep it or not.  I have no idea if we can get any of our money back out of it.  Don't get me wrong - we have certainly gotten some good use out of the deal.  We've been to some great parts of the country and we've had some very memorable times.  But it's a luxury.  The last time we sat through one of the presentations (and we sit through one with every vacation for the freebies ... we know how to say "No" now), the salesman actually tried to convince us that God Himself would want us to move to the next level (at an additional cost of $30,000!) because He knows we need to relax and He wants us to enjoy the beauty of His creation!  The guy was deeply offended when I laughed at him.  Seriously.

The First United Methodist Church in Pensacola … established 1821 - a history of the church I worked for in Pensacola right after Melissa and I got married.  Never read it.  Not much resale value around here.

Fresh Fire (When You are Finally Serious about Power in the End Times) - for a very short time I was into "end times" reading.  I'm pretty sure this author never thought his book would see the year 2011 anyway.

The Satanic Revival  - heard an expert on the occult speak once and for a short time I was also fascinated by the idea that folks would actually choose to worship Satan.  Who does that?  Anyway, this book seems to be a bit on the alarmist side - the back cover states:  “A resurgence of devil worship has exploded in virtually every region of the United States.”  Exploded!  Child sacrifices even...  Probably going on down the block from you...

Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life – a Chuck Swindoll devotional.  Here's one of the few guilt-free justifications for throwing away a book:  it's falling apart.

Day 45 - Weird Carved Black ... Thing (Give)

This is going to be a Christmas gift for my younger brother and his fiancee and it's something I was always supposed to give away.   Of all the things I have given away (and all the things yet to be given) this has to be one of the most "mystical".  For all I know it could be decades old and already passed through dozens of hands. I don't think my brother has seen this blog yet (at least he's never mentioned it), so hopefully I'm not spoiling any surprise. 

I have to tell you a bit about my brother because he is living a fairly miraculous existence at the moment.  His last twenty years have been ... how should I say this ... messy.  I wouldn't want to share in too much detail in a blog here... without his permission ... but I don't think he'd object to my saying that two divorces and a physical weight shooting well over 300 lbs would qualify as "messy".  And it wasn't just the bum relationships and the lack of physical fitness, either - he had drifted far from any belief in God. 

Then about two years ago (I think), in the midst of his second marriage coming apart, his life started to turn around.  Over the course of that year he dropped 140 pounds - and it wasn't some fad diet.  He lost weight the old fashioned way: ate less, ate better, and exercised more.  He started walking, then biking, then running.  He's even run a couple of mini-marathons now - in very respectable times!

And then a year ago or so came an even more important turn for the better in his life:  he rediscovered a faith in God.  He got involved in a local church and he seemed so much more open to the spiritual side of life.  The change in his spirit over the past year is almost visible.

Finally, just over the past few months the last piece of his transformation seems to have fallen into place.  He allowed a long time friendship (from all the way back to high school days!) to blossom into a romance.  His fiancee seems fantastic - a caring, godly woman with a good sense of humor - and she fits right into the extended family.  I think this will be the woman he grows old with.  They are planning an August wedding and he has asked me to give the message during the ceremony.  It will be an honor to do so.

So here's the deal with this black carved thing...  It was given to Melissa and me during our engagement by a young African guy who was working at a summer camp where we volunteered for a week.  I can't even recall his name now and I'm not even sure what African nation he was from, but he said this object held cultural significance.  It represents two people joined as one and it is supposed to be given specifically to an engaged couple.  When given, the groom-to-be is supposed to grip one figure and the bride-to-be is supposed to grip the other and then the giver prays over them both for their future as a couple.  Once married, the couple is to find another engaged pair to whom they can pass it on.  It's really a beautiful tradition and I've never seen anything quite like it. 

Anyway, this carving has been sitting on our shelf for over ten years now (whoops!), so it is definitely way past due to be given away.  I am wrapping it tonight (in another Christmas box which Melissa is willing to part with).  Hopefully Melissa and I will find some quiet time alone with the happy couple in the midst of our family gathering on Christmas Eve to pray for them.  I'm pretty sure the prayer is the most important part of the tradition!

Day 44 - German Tin and Random Buttons (Give)

A student came up to me at school today (our last day for the semester... yay!) and said, "You still got that Coke box?  I'd like to buy it for my mom for Christmas - she collects Coke memorabilia and she was born in Chattanooga."  So he gave me $30 for it... and that goes into a fund to get us to Haiti this summer. 

Tonight I found an octagonal tin from Germany (which came filled with "Nurnberger Oblatenlebkuchen").  For the last ten or fifteen years, though, it's been filled with random buttons (the campaign-style buttons, not the zipper-alternative-type buttons).  The buttons range from a vintage Nancy Reagan Era "Just Say No" button to a "Grundy County (Illinois) Corn Festival 50th Anniversary" button (September 23-27, 1998). 

I used Facebook to offer the tin to a former student who has taken several years of German class and the buttons to Interested Party #2 from last night. 

I need to start wrapping up some of my random possessions to give as Christmas gifts!

I've got a blog to recommend tonight:  mshaiti.blogspot.com.  It is posted by Matt and Stacey Ayars who oversee the Emmaus Seminary in Haiti.  You should especially read their post on "Haiti Fatigue" - it is excellently worded and very thought-provoking.  Check it out at http://mshaiti.blogspot.com/2010/12/haiti-fatigue.html !

Day 43 - Coke Box (Give... maybe Sell?)

As I write, this particular Give (maybe Sell!) is still in process.  I think I might have found a new avenue for my project to Give, Throw or Sell at least one item each day:  Facebook.  All the junk that I threw away yesterday (Day 42 - which I will get caught up on tomorrow perhaps) was contained in an old, flat Coca-Cola box.  It's a wooden box - the kind they used to carry 24 bottles in.  This one has markings on the inside which read "Chattanooga 1970". 

I guess I need to check on line to see if it has any value before I go giving it away!  (I'd hate to see it pop up on Antiques Road Show in a few months and be worth a couple of hundred dollars.) 

[Minutes pass...]  Whoops!  Just checked out Ebay and someone is asking $55.00 for one that is Chattanooga 1977! 

OK.  Now it's getting complicated.  You see, I offered it on Facebook as a give away and now I've got three people interested in it!  The first one (an old high school classmate) did ask how much I wanted for it.  The second one just wants it because it is free.  (You won't believe this, but she's the older sister of the boy who wanted my typo plaque a few weeks ago because IT was free - Day 16!) [Correction:  No, she isn't the older sister ... I don't know what I was thinking!  Her little brother is in the same class as the plaque kid, though.]  And the third is a junior high student whose dad collects Coke stuff - he was still looking for a Christmas gift for dad (although he's not planning on spending $55 apparently!).   He LOLed when I put the Ebay price on the comment thread.

I just dropped the Ebay price on Interested Party #1 - we'll see what her reaction is.  She'll probably LOL too.  Lately I find myself torn between giving things away and putting the effort into selling things.  Giving away things is fun and it is freeing (no pun intended).  It just makes you happy to make someone else happy - and who doesn't love to get free stuff??  On the other hand, we kind of need every penny we can get in order to get ourselves to Haiti - and some of our stuff actually has some worth beyond sentimentality.  Why not sell it and start using any funds raised to pay off debts?

IP #1 is suggesting I try putting it on Ebay.  (In other words, 'ain't no way I'm handing you more than five bucks for that thing.')  Let me ask the Boss what I should do ...

[Seconds pass...]  Melissa says Ebay it.  I need to tell IP #1 that I'm going to be an "Indian Giver" (although I'm sure that's a politically incorrect term nowadays). 

[A few more minutes pass]  IP #1 was very gracious about allowing me to back out!  I still feel guilty though....

Reminds me of a line from Emo Philips:  "Know what I hate?  Indian givers... no, I take that back."

Day 41 - Eye Glasses from Saudi Arabia (Throw)

I continue to be amused by the goofy things I hold onto.  I was getting the clippers to cut Caleb's hair when I realized there was a clear plastic tub of items on the laudry room shelf just below the clippers that I had not opened in years - items which obviously belonged to me.  So I pulled it off the shelf and sat on the living room floor and sorted through it... and tossed most of it.  Old eyeglasses (broken!) I had purchased in Saudi Arabia, a half-used bottle of Grecian Formula (from way back when my gray hair was just at my temples), a couple of hotel-sized bottles of conditioner, among other treasures.  I also threw away an old electric razor that wouldn't hold a charge anymore.  Sometimes I hesitate with certain items, thinking I should take them to Goodwill instead of throwing them out, but who would really want an electric shaver that had been on someone else's face?  Gross.

Anyway, nothing too exciting recently to write about, so I'm going to have to get on the ball and start parting with some of the bigger things soon.  Melissa and I ran into a realtor friend during the Nutcracker preparations this weekend and she had encouraging news:  several local companies are hiring soon and she expects the local housing market to pick up significantly at the beginning of the year!  We need to take some time over Christmas break to continue to shape up the house - and that bit of hope is just what I needed to hear to keep me going.

Day 40 - Christmas Box (Give)

Yesterday was kind of busy and the day got away from me and there was only one thing given away ... but it counts.  The three oldest kids and myself are in the local production of the Nutcracker ballet.  No... I don't wear tights OR prance around on stage.  We are in the party scene at the beginning of the show.  Anyway, last night was dress rehearsal and we had to be on site by 6:00 (the Drama Queen (age 8) didn't finish practicing her part until 10:30 PM!). 

In between the end of school and the start of dress rehearsal, we had a quick visit from Meredith, a young lady who is a missionary with OMS.  We met her just a few weeks ago and our little Princess (age 3) fell instantly in love with her.  So Meredith was on her way to Louisville to visit some family and on her way she stopped to have dinner with us and then she also curled the Drama Queen's hair.  Before dinner, Melissa gave Meredith a box with an angel ornament inside.



Some of the other gift boxes
which will eventually need
a new home!

 Now this was no ordinary cardboard box - this was one of Melissa's Christmas boxes.  They are meant to put gifts in (I guess), but Melissa uses them mainly as decorations, and never before has she given away one that she is attached to.  So that's why this counts as a Give.  (We've got several more that could go!)

I also use this as the Day 40 Give because it affords me the opportunity to tell you a bit about Meredith and to request your prayers for her.  She was all geared up to go to Taiwan to work at an orphanage as a fulltime missionary.  She spent the last five months or so getting ready for this big move and was supposed to go just three or four weeks from now but she just got word that her visa has been rejected.  She's not sure that it is worth the time or effort to appeal and try again, so she is currently looking around to see if there is some other orphanage in some other country where God might be wanting to place her.  She has a remarkably good attitude about the whole thing - she says the location wasn't the important thing, she just wants to share God's love with orphans.  Please lift her up and pray that God would reveal his will for her in an unmistakable way!

Day 39 - Christmas China (Give)

Years ago, Melissa bought four place settings of some Christmas china.  It's "country" and we've never really lived in a house where "country" fits.  To do "country" right, you have to live in a big old farmhouse (preferably) ... not some bi-level from the 60's.  Melissa may correct me, but I don't remember ever using this particular china.  I do remember carrying that heavy box from one place to another. 

Our neighbor and small group leader, Keri, is the proud new owner of the Christmas china.  I hope she enjoys it more than I did!

Day 38 - The "Dazzle" (Throw)

When I was in seminary I took a class that introduced me to video editing.  This was around 15 years ago and the school had one computer in a large closet hooked up to what was called a "video toaster".  It was a complex bit of machinery that was incredibly slow, but you could edit video tapes with professional looking transitions.  Plus you could speed the action up or slow it down or run it backwards, which was a lot of fun when working with footage from youth events.  I would lose track of time in that little room.

So later on, when I got my first PC, I also spent a bit of extra money on a "Dazzle" movie maker.  It plugged in to the PC and converted video taped material into a digital format.  And it came with software to then edit the movies on the computer.  And then it was SUPPOSED to transmit the digital film back out onto a video tape.  That's the part I could never get to work.  I spent hours messing with that thing, plugging various cords into various holes and just couldn't get anything back out of my computer.  And of course this was long before computers had the capability to crank out a DVD.  So after who-knows-how-much money and who-knows-how-many hours, absolutely nothing ever came of the "Dazzle".  (Turns out the term "Dazzle" was meant to be taken ironically.)

I was always going to give it another shot "someday"; thus it went into a box... until it was so outdated that it was entirely obsolete.  So I finally threw it away.

The crazy thing is that now I've got a digital camcorder, and a program on a relatively new PC that could do just as much or more than that "Toaster", and hours of amusing footage of my own amusing kids, and you know how many videos I have edited?  Yeah ... you guessed it.

Day 37 - PVC Cross (Throw)

I think I've been carrying this cross around for at least ten years.  (And I'm talking about a literal cross, not some figurative, spiritual cross ... it's been in a box.)  It's made of PVC pipe and it is designed to hold grape juice.  It was a prop for a mime skit that I used to perform in my youth ministry days.  It was a pretty cool skit and I would tell you all about it if I could remember how it went!  I do remember that one actor played the role of Mary and another plays Joseph and they open a gift box labeled "From God".  Inside is a loaf of bread which Joseph tenderly removes and hands to Mary who then wraps the loaf in a cloth and cradles it in her arms like a baby.  It's a powerful image, especially since the juice is in the cross awaiting the end of the skit, leading into a communion service which makes use of that same bread and juice.  I remember it being a quite powerful drama ... I just don't remember IT.

I'm sure there's someone out there who can remind me how the skit went exactly and what song we used as the background music.  (And even which youth group I used it with!)  Melissa could probably remind me, but she's busy right now and I don't want to bother her.  She will be glad, though, to see that the cross is finally gone.  I found it several weeks ago in the garage, brought it inside, and it's been floating around our house ever since... until she banished it to the back deck a few days ago.  I kept thinking, "I put a lot of work into this cross - making sure it was leak-proof and sturdy - surely I can find some use for it myself- or find someone who could use it..."  It's a shame to toss it, but that's the way it goes. 

What bothers me most about it is how bad it shows my memory to be!

Day 36 - Kermit Clein Poster (Throw)

Yeah, this thing is obnoxious.  I'm a big Kermit the Frog fan, but I have my limits.  I don't remember now if this poster was something I bought or something someone gave me, but ... what the Dickens??

This poster was first produced in 1994, but you can still get one on Amazon.com for $8.99!  ("Only three left in stock - order soon!")

When I rediscovered this poster the other day, my first thought was that I would take it to my classroom and hang it on the wall for a while instead of just throwing it in the trash and "wasting it".  But when I took a second look at it, I saw something that wasn't really meant to be some fashion statement back in the 90s, but now it is unavoidably conspicuous:  Kermit has DROOPY DRAWERS!  At least I don't have to see him from the back side, but if that much of his underwear is showing from the front, you better believe there's plenty showing in the back.  And the Droopy Drawers look is one of my pet peeves.

"Pet peeve" isn't even exactly the right term.   When I see a teenager who sports the Droopy Drawers look, I feel an odd desire both to pity and to mock said teen.  To intentionally wear a piece of clothing in the most uncomfortable way imaginable while causing yourself to walk funny, all in order to call attention to your underwear, seems to me to be one of the most pathetic displays of the power of teenage peer pressure imaginable. 

I, for one, will not perpetuate this travesty of fashion (and teenage self-esteem) by displaying this poster.  So droopy drawers Kermit goes into the trash.

Day 35 - Bill Cosby Tape (Give) and Day 36 - Goodwill Trip

I'm a day behind in writing and a head cold is dragging me down, so I'm getting caught up and then heading for bed.  Not much to report for Day 36 ... Melissa put together a couple of boxes of donations for Goodwill today, mostly Christmas decorations.  We've got more than enough decorations around the house and it's good to get a few to Goodwill with a couple of weeks yet before Christmas. 

Yesterday (Day 35) my Give was next to nothing, but it still counts.  My family and I went to watch a play in Shelbyville.  My younger brother, Russ, was assistant director and my soon-to-be niece was on stage.  Afterwards we all went out for pizza - my family, Russ, his fiancee, Alecia, her kids, my mom and several other family members.  Russell even picked up the tab!

Which made me feel a bit bad about giving the Bill Cosby tape to Alecia.  You see, she's still in the stage of the relationship where she's fascinated by embarassing stories about Russ.  So I gave her one.  On this old Cosby cassette tape was a little known bit he did years ago about a giant chicken heart (?!) which "is coming to get you."  When we were kids, my oldest brother, Ryan, used to do his own rendition of the giant chicken heart story and Russ would jump into bed and duck under his blankets in fear.  Russ was also convinced (by someone) that every police siren meant the cops were coming after HIM, that little boys were served up for Thanksgiving dinner when they turned six (or whatever his next birthday was at the time), and that his fingers might be harvested and turned into hotdogs at any time.

I told Alecia to play the Cosby tape for Russ sometime but to be prepared for him to wet his pants.

Day 34 - Train Set and Quilt (Throw)

Melissa and I have been getting the Christmas boxes out and the kids have been begging for the tree to be set up.  It's not up yet, but surely tomorrow we will get to to it.  The box it's in is sitting on the living room floor - so that's progress.  My first throw away for Day 34 was easy.  Years ago we bought a toy train that is meant to be set up under the Christmas tree so that the little engine and two or three cars would make loops around the edge of the tree skirt.  This was one of those rookie parent mistakes!  You think, "Oh, our little toddler will just love it."  And then you're surprised at how much your little toddler LOVES it ... and how he treats the things he loves.  And how difficult it is to get the engine and all the cars to connect and to line up on the track straight enough to actually move every time your toddler decides to pick up the pretty train (once every 39 seconds).  And it doesn't take long before your toddler has loved that train to death (less than one Christmas season).  So the only solution is to pack it away each year with the Christmas stuff, pull it out each December, look at it and think, "I'm going to fix that thing someday now that the kids are old enough to leave it alone," and then pack it away for another year.  This year I simply aknowledged reality and the train is now in the trash can. 

The second Throw was much more difficult.  A week or so ago, Melissa cleaned out the laundry room.  She brought me a quilt from the storage cabinet and asked if I wanted to keep it. 

"My Grandma Gross made that for me.  I used it throughout my childhood.  Of course I want to keep it."

That blanket kept me warm many winter nights in my drafty bedroom on East Hendricks Street.  It's really the only thing I have that reminds me of Grandma.  So for the past week it sat on the arm of the couch and each time I looked at it, I imagined storing it away for my kids as a memento of their Great Grandma Gross from South Dakota.  But the sad reality of life slowly crept up on me and I realized that my four kids simply never knew their Great Grandma Gross and they never will really know her ... at least not on this side of heaven.  And if I keep the blanket for them, would it provide any sort of true connection for them?  Will it help them know the feisty, lively, sweet woman herself?  All it will prove to them is that they had a Great Grandma who once sewed together a musty smelling quilt ... with holes in it (now that I look at it closely). 

It's not really that attractive either. 

Into the trash!

Day 33 - Rug (Throw) and Cross Magnet (Give)

Fighting a head cold tonight, so I need to keep this short.  Nothing too exciting to write about here anyway:  We threw away the rectangular rug from the upstairs living room.  The dog had made a mess of it over the last few years and it was dingy and worn.  The room looks better without it, which is good since that means I won't have to spend money on a replacement.

Getting rid of the rug was just one more little step in preparing the house for sale.  I hung the mirror in the bathroom this evening, so that project (painting, repair, trim) is about complete.  It looks good.  One room of the house is ready to sell!

The kids are also getting anxious about not having the Christmas tree up.  We usually put the tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving, so this is really late for us.  Personally, I kind of like waiting a bit.  If you have it up for over a month, there's no building of the celebration.

I also had a give away today - a very small one.  Dats and I walked down the street to pick up small Boy Scout popcorn from our neighbor.  Samuel is a sweet, polite boy and he's the same age as Dats.  They were actually in Scouts together for a while, but we had Dats drop out after a year because he just wasn't excited enough about it to commit as much time as it deserves.  Besides, the schedule clashed with soccer practice.  I gave Samuel a wooden cross magnet that I had grabbed at the last minute before we walked to his house.  (The cross is wooden and inscribed with Psalm 51:10, but you can only read the words if you tilt the cross just right - then the words come into sharp focus.)  It gave me an excuse to tell these neighbors about our decision to move to Haiti.  They were very excited for us.

Speaking of Haiti, please pray for the country as a whole since the election situation (especially combined with the cholera outbreak) continues to be volatile.  OMS runs a medical clinic there in Cap Haitien and apparently they are seeing quite a few cases of cholera.  They have successfully treated over a 100 patients over the last few days, but yesterday saw 4 deaths from cholera.  The doctors and nurses are exhausted and emotionally spent.  Please pray for them. 

Day 32 - Bible (Throw??)

I started sorting through a box of books I found in the shed (there are many more out there!).  I found some books from seminary days that I might want to keep.  One of the possible roles I could end up playing in Haiti would be a teacher at the Emmaus Seminary which OMS runs just outside of Cap Haitien.  I don't know if that will ever become a reality, but it's something I need to consider.  But it's been so long, I don't remember which of the books were really worthwhile and which could be tossed.  I guess I can flip through them and keep the ones with the most highlighted passages!  Of course, there's always the possibility that what I found dull or worthless back then, I might find profound and highly relevant today ... so it might take some time to sort through those.

I've come to the conclusion that at least part of the benefit of setting a goal for myself of throwing, giving, or selling something each day right now (even though it might be a year and a half before we actually get to Haiti) is the chance to stroll down memory lane with at least a bit of leisure.  If I waited until the month before moving, I'd have to toss things left and right without much of a glance.  Things that could be given away would end up in the trash.  And things that belong in the trash would go without any review.  As I have started to look over these things, I have come to a deeper appreciation of just how blessed my life has been!

Which brings me tonight to my first Bible.  It doesn't seem right to throw away a Bible, and yet I have collected numerous versions over the years and I can't keep them all.  (Melissa and I have a friend who apparently could use a study Bible, so I am going to keep my eyes open for one I can give her.)  Besides, this one is ratty and the pages are falling out.  Is there a proper way to dispose of a Bible?

There's no date in the front of this Bible - no indication that it was given to me by anyone in particular and, honestly, I have no recollection of how or exactly when I received it.  But it has a lot of passages underlined - very familiar verses now that were once brand new to me.  Many of the things I underlined are the more challenging bits of Scripture - the ones that got me fired up as a young Christian ... and which are only now becoming realized in my life! 

For example:
"I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.  I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ." (Phil 3:8-9)

My high school Sunday School teachers, Tom and Marcia Kuhn, were the first folks who personally challenged me to read my Bible on a regular basis - they suggested a chapter a day.  Before that, I had never heard talk of a 'quiet time' or 'daily devotional'.  They got me reading chapter by chapter through the New Testament when I was a junior in high school.  It wasn't long before I realized that the Bible wasn't just some dusty old story book, but rather a vehicle through which God could speak to ME, directly.  What a discovery that was!  (I had the same revelation ... a re-revelation?? ... on the trip to Haiti and I got all excited about Scripture again - like I hadn't felt in years.)

It was Hebrews 11:1 in May of 1985.  "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen."  Memorial Day weekend of that year brought news that a good friend of mine, Phil Palmer, had died in a car crash.  It turns out I had seen him just an hour or so before the accident.  He had driven past my house that Saturday night just as I was returning from a bike ride.  He rolled down the window and we chatted for a couple of minutes as I leaned on the handle bars of my bike.  Later, I tried to recall that conversation and I couldn't.  The only thing I clearly remembered was the last thing I said to him:  "See you later." 

Just minutes later, he was speeding down Old Cemetary Road, on his way home, when he hit a pothole.  As an inexperienced driver, he lost control of the wheel and plowed the car into one of the few trees along the road with enough force to literally tear the car into three pieces.

After hearing the news that Sunday afternoon, I went for a long bike ride, thinking and crying all the way.  After about two hours, my butt started to hurt, so I headed home.  As I was approaching the house, I found myself praying, "God, if Phil is really in heaven and if I will really have a chance to see him again, could you please give me some sort of sign?"  Please understand that my prayer was not questioning whether or not Phil was a believer - he was and I knew it.  My question really meant something like: "God, are you real?  Is there really such a place as heaven?  How can I be sure when I can't see you and I can't see heaven?" 

For several days I was questioning God - alternating between being mad at him and doubting his very existence.  I think it was a day or two after Phil's funeral when I finally felt ready to pick up my Bible to resume my daily chapter reading, and I was ready to read Hebrews chapter 11!  And when I read "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen", it was God's voice that I was hearing in my head.  I know it's a cliche, but I seriously almost fell out of my chair.  I had my sign.  I look forward to meeting up with Phil again some day.

This morning I was reading in Matthew and I came across an answer I needed.  Not an answer to a question I'm asking - an answer to a question I've been asked.  Several people have asked recently, "Why in the world would you want to uproot your family and move to Haiti?"  Because I made the mistake of letting God show me the people there!  And once you've seen poverty and minimal survival like that, it puts new meaning to Jesus' words in Matthew 7:12 - "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."  I see those faces in my mind even now and think, "If our places on this planet were reversed, whatever I might want them to do unto me, I guess I better do!"  There are still 1.3 million Haitians living in tents, unable to rebuild since the earthquake.

One Post Script to my story of God speaking to me through Scripture after Phil's death:  It wasn't too many weeks after Hebrews 11, that I was heading into James for the first time:  (Just as relevant now as it was then) "Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.  What is your life?  You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.' As it is, you boast and brag.  All such boasting is evil.  Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins."

Then there's always Luke 12:48 - "From everyone who has been given much, much will be expected; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."  I have been given much!

Day 31 - Popcorn Tin (Throw)

You'd think this would be a no-brainer.  I found an old popcorn tin (ugly as sin) in the garage and all it contained was some green Christmas garland and another momento of my childhood - a little Snoopy cut-out.  He's wearing a Santa hat and holding a Christmas ornament in his mouth.  It used to go up every year in the childhood bedroom I shared with my oldest brother, Ryan.  I don't remember who gave it to me or why I held onto it year after year.  I think it was just because it was cute.  And I used to like to draw Snoopy. 


I actually made myself throw Snoopy in the trash last night.  But I kept the popcorn tin.  I started to think, "I'll just take that to school and use the garland to decorate my classroom."  But I forgot to take it this morning and now I look at it and realize it just needs to go into the trash.  My classroom is already cluttered enough - eventually I will have to clean it out too!  Why shift junk from home to work? 


But here's why an ugly popcorn tin hangs around for ten years or more:  "I might find a use for that some day."  And every once in a great while, I actually find a use for something that has been sitting unused for years - but it's usually some leftover piece of wood and it certainly doesn't happen often enough to justify hanging on to so much stuff.  I don't have time or space enough to consider how I might make use of something "some day" anymore. 

P.S.  Speaking of Snoopy... If you know Ida (age 7), you might appreciate this observation.  Apparently his teacher recently showed his class one of the Charlie Brown videos and, in listening to Charlie Brown speak, got tickled and started laughing because (she later explained to my wife) she could swear it was Ida's voice coming out of Charlie Brown.  We watched the Thanksgiving special together a couple of days later and, sure enough, she was right!     Go to  http://www.wavplanet.com/wavs.php?cat=2&subcat=250 and listen to "I can't go to school in my underwear!"  It IS Ida.

Day 30 - 1999 Planning Calendar (Throw ... after a walk down memory lane)

It was my first full time pastoral job after graduating from Asbury Theological Seminary.  January 7th, 1999, I spent moving into the parsonage for the little United Methodist Church in Marietta, Indiana.  I was dating a girl named Kelli who lived in Indianapolis and she had just talked me into adopting one of her friend's accidental puppies.  She told me the pups were a "bull terrier" mix ("the mother is a bull terrier, the father is a fence jumper").  I adopted one of the cute little females, named her Tux (short for Tuxedo, because of her coloring), got her settled in to life in the parsonage, and then ... promptly got dumped by Kelli.  Not long after the dumping, I was telling a friend that I had this new puppy that was a bull terrier mix and my friend was shocked: "You got a pit bull??!" 

"No," I said naively, "a bull terrier."

"Same thing," he replied.

1999 didn't start off too well.

But it turned out great.  By the following New Year's Eve I had met the woman who would become my wife.  And Tux was dead.  (Long story... and it's not what I'm writing about tonight.  Just know that everyone was better off!)

So tonight I flipped through this calendar from 1999 and a couple of things struck me:

1)  I started the year keeping track of what was happening each day.  The first month has notes on just about every day with information about meetings and phone calls and errands.  The notes become more sporadic in February.  They disappear almost entirely by mid-March.  After that, only really big events are noted - like directing a church camp in June or attending the "Share Jesus" week in Jacksonville, Florida in July.  This has been my pattern with journaling in the past - start strong and then quickly lose the habit.  I have a lot of little notebooks around the house, on bookshelves and in drawers, with anywhere from 2 to 10 pages of writing followed by dozens upon dozens of blank pages.  When I was in Haiti, I started a new journal and wrote 57 pages during the course of the week.  And I've pretty much kept it up ever since.  Now this blog serves as my journal and I'm loving the discipline and the challenge of it.  I believe it's safe to say I have firmly established this as a habit - and I intend to make it a lifelong habit.

2)  There are names and events listed in this 1999 planner that are completely lost to my memory!  Honestly, until I saw the note about taking something to Kelli in Indianapolis, I had completely forgotten her name.  (It's true, Melissa, it's true!  You have made me forget about all the rest.)  [I know Melissa will read this - might as well take the opportunity to score some bonus points!]  If I don't write things down, I forget them.  One of my biggest regrets as a parent is that I have not captured even 1% of all the goofy, sweet, cute, profound or perplexing things my kids have said over the years.

3)  Maybe the reason I have forgotten so many of these events in my life isn't just because I didn't write them down.  Maybe I have forgotten them because so many of them just didn't matter that much.  (Note from February 7, 1999 - "12:30 Skating - meet @ parsonage (w/van)" )  I'm 42 years old now.  There was a time when I felt like I had all the time in the world ahead of me - plenty of time to squander.  The brevity of life is becoming more of a reality with each passing day.  With whatever calendar years still lie ahead of me, I want to accomplish important things, lasting things ... eternal things.  I want to do God's work.

Day 29 - Boomerang Soup Mix

Just to recap:  My wife and I are looking for God's direction as we make plans to move our family down to Haiti to become full time missionaries.  We figure our first step is to sell the house and then find a cheap, cheap apartment or mooch off a relative for the next year or so to pay off debts and have the time to raise financial support.  As part of this process, I have challenged myself to throw away, give away or sell at least one item from the house each and every day.  I make a record here of the items to help keep me accountable and because this process is getting me thinking about things in a new light and I know that if I don't write these things down, they will be lost to me forever. 

So it turns out that in Giving, Throwing and Selling, I am discovering just how complicated my relationship is with THINGS.  I started a month ago today and have barely made a dent in my possessions so far- plenty more shelves to clear and boxes to explore!  Today's entry is a bit different because it spans two days...

Last night Melissa and I went to our small group Christmas party.  We went out to eat with the four other couples and then went back to Karen and Jeff's house for dessert and a "white elephant" gift exchange.  So "white elephant" means junk around your house that you no longer want - so right up my alley.  Now usually, people are told "white elephant" and at least half can't resist going out and spending a couple of dollars on something that the other participants will actually want.  Not our group, apparently.  Each year we play the game where you can steal each others' gifts or choose to unwrap a new one; our folks brought the kind of presents this time that had everyone scrambling to instantly "regift"!  (The only exception really was a "coupon" for a lunch with one of the couples.)   Last night we drew numbers and then one by one unwrapped packages revealing used candles, old books, a dried up coconut, and some bath salts that carried a distinct "old lady" smell!  And that list doesn't even include the junk Melissa and I brought! 

I took some musical spoons - in their original box.  Undoubtedly a collector's item.  And we took a glass jar full of the ingredients for vegetable soup.  It's one of these deals where the various ingredients are layered real pretty in the jar and the whole thing is finished off with some blue gingham material over the lid and a wooden spoon tied on with a ribbon.  It looked so pretty we never did eat it. (I think it was a gift from Melissa's cousin, Angie.)  It was sitting on a shelf in the display cabinet in our kitchen, so it was a perfect candidate for white elephant.

Our small group leader, Steve, was the first to unwrap the soup mix at the party and originally he kind of wanted it.  Then he read the label stuck on the bottom of the jar:  "Best if used by July, 2008".  I maintained that technically, it didn't say it wouldn't be good to eat in 2010 or 2011, just that it was best in early 2008, but Steve decided to trade it away anyhow. 

Somehow, by the end of the night with all the gift swapping, the soup ended up back in our hands.  So while Lee was trying to sneak out of our hosts' (Jeff and Karen's) house without the bath salts, I went and left the soup mix on the kitchen counter.  Jeff was right behind me, though, and put the mix right back in my hands.  So when I walked out, I set the jar in a corner on the porch and Melissa and I made our way to the van.  Karen spotted it there, picked it up and came running after us.  I almost mowed down Keri as I burned rubber to get out of there.



Let me know how it tastes, Steve!

 But it was all for naught - this morning the soup mix was in our mailbox at church!  So as soon as I hit "publish" on this post, I'm going to drive it over to leave it on another porch - the one belonging to its rightful owner:  Steve. 

He opened it. 

It's his. 

How am I supposed to unclutter my house if stuff comes back to me??  Man up!

Day 28 - Sign from Saudi Arabia (Give)

During the summers of 1995 and 1996, I was working in Saudi Arabia.  The work I was doing there is nothing which I can describe openly on the world wide web, so if you don't already know, I have to leave you guessing here.  I wasn't working for the CIA or anything, and I would gladly tell you in person, but not here... who knows who might be listening in...

Anyway, Saudi Arabia is a fascinating culture in many ways, but the most striking - and obvious - culture shock for a Westerner like myself has to be the role and treatment of women.  Who decided the women should be dressed in solid black literally from head to toe in a country where temperatures regularly top out over 100 degrees?  The men, I assume.  They get to where white.  Also, the women are not allowed to drive and they are not allowed to speak to any men outside their family members.  If you asked a Saudi man, he'd likely tell you that these rules are in place because they put women on a pedestal!

So at the local mall in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, there is a McDonald's and it has several cash registers with a line formed of hungry customers formed in front of each.  But you don't jump into which ever line is shortest, you get in line for your order according to your gender.  The registers are labeled "Men Only" and "Women Only".  Likewise the food court seating is segregated as well: Men, Women, Famlies.  "Men Only" businesses are abundant.  We used to play laser tag at this awesome arena, but no ladies were allowed.  (The Saudi men were real easy to pick off as they ran around in their white robes ... under blacklights in an otherwise dark arena.  They were typically poor losers, too.)

So one of my souvenirs from Saudi was a triangular sign which states "No Women - Women Cannot be Seated or Served Here".  When I came across it the other day, I thought, "Now, who would really appreciate this sign??"  Eventually, it came to me...  Our son Dats' good friend, who also happens to be the son of our small group leaders.  To preserve his privacy, let's call him "Jelly Bean".  Poor Jelly Bean has three younger sisters - and no brothers!  He needs that sign.  So when we went to our small group Christmas party last night, I brought it along to give to Steve and Keri to pass along to Jelly Bean.  When I saw JB at church this morning, he told me that he loved the sign.  May he get many years of good use out of it!

Day 27 - Lamp (Give)

My wife's cousin, Angie, came by the house today to lend a (much appreciated) hand with all the work there is to be done.  Ida (age 7) has had some weird illness this week - with a high fever, loss of appetite, tiredness and sore throat but, thankfully, no puking - so we've had to make arrangements for care this week since he wasn't able to attend school since Tuesday.  Grandma Trudy watched him two separate days, I stayed with him on Wednesday, and Melissa stayed with him today.  I got a good start on our bathroom project when I spent Wednesday at home and Melissa has been working at finishing it up.  One of the walls needed patching, the tub needed caulking and the whole thing needed new paint.

So Angie came over to help this afternoon.  She's always been very supportive, but even more so since we started talking about moving to Haiti.  In fact, I had had hopes she would be a part of our team for the October trip, but it wasn't meant to be.  She did drive the team to the airport, though - we just couldn't get her on the plane!  Apparently her husband, Phillip, stopped by our house at some point today, too, and offered to work on reroofing our garage for us if we would buy the materials!  (Their teenage sons got volunteered to help, too.)  That's just incredible because it has to be done and left to my own devices, I wouldn't know the first thing about where to start (besides ripping the old roof off the rafters, I mean).  Melissa said Phillip's offer just about made her cry.

I guess in the course of conversation as they worked around the house after lunch, Angie mentioned that she has been looking for a new lamp for an office space, so Melissa offered up a brand new lamp that I had put aside for a stained glass project (which was fine by me!).  She just needs to get a shade for it.  They even made sure they got a picture, so Angie could appear in my blog!  So here's a great big "Thank You!" and a shout out to Angie (and Phillip (and sons)!).  The lamp is nothing compared to all you've given us over the years.

Day 26 - Outdoor Wooden Toy Chest (Throw)

I went out to get something from the garage the other day and noticed a situation that needed attention.  A few years ago when our neighbor across the street moved away, he left a big old aquarium (that he must have been using to house a lizard or turtle) right there on the curb in front of his house. I took it.  I admit that I too am a curbside collector!  I always wanted a big old fish tank, but they're so expensive - this one just needed a scouring pad and some elbow grease and it would be mine....  This thing had to hold 50 gallons or more!

Now I knew that our current house was much too small for an aquarium of that size, so the monster took up room in the garage with all the other "necessities" (We've never kept a car in there!).  This summer I pulled it out when The Princess (age 3) fell in love with a toad (named Sally, apparently) which we found in the back yard.  Continuing a Gross family tradition, we figured we'd keep the toad (for a while) as a pet. 

I lugged that fish tank from the garage and set it on top of the wooden toy chest beside the entrance to the garage.  We pushed all the pea gravel to one side so Sally would have a hill on one end and a pond on the other.  The Princess would pull Sally out every few days and play with her and, inevitably, Sally would make a run for it and disappear.  We'd find her again a few days or weeks later in the yard - surprised at how much she had grown ... or shrunk - and back into the fish tank she'd go.  Eventually we realized we were seeing two separate toads, so the second became known as Jumper.

Toward the end of summer, the toads no longer reappeared, but the fish tank, of course, sat on top of the toy chest.  We've gotten a lot of rain recently and that's what caught my eye when I walked out to the garage the other day - the tank was half full of water and the weather was cold enough lately that the water was starting to ice over.  It ocurred to me that the fish tank wouldn't last too long with ice expanding inside it.

So I bailed about half the water out with a small bucket and then decided it would be a whole lot quicker to dump the rest.  I tipped the aquarium up on one end and ... it went crashing through the top of the toy chest!  The wood was so rotten that it could no longer support the weight of that thing.  Fortunately, the crash happened in slow motion and I was able to prevent any damage to the fish tank itself, but the toy chest (and most of the long-forgotten toys inside it) went into the trash can for pick up today.

There won't be opportunity to spot toads for months to come now.  I hate winter ... and not just because it's toadless.  I know life in Haiti is going to be hot and sweaty, but I don't know how much I will miss the cold and snow.  While I was in Haiti, I kept thinking what a kick our kids would get out of chasing and catching lizards.  I suppose that would be a year-round sport there.  I would guess I saw about 20 or 30 lizards a day without even looking for them.  They ranged in size from two inches to two feet!

Speaking of Haiti... If you are inclined to pray, pray for the country as they try to sort out a very messy presidential election while continuing to deal with cholera.  And if you are inclined to pray for me and my family, here's the number one prayer request on my heart at the moment (because we'll have to start acting soon if it is going to happen):  Melissa and I would LOVE to take our kids down to Haiti this coming summer for four or five weeks.  We'd serve together as a family in whatever way we could there at the OMS compound in Cap Haitien.  On top of being a chance to serve, it would give us a great opportunity to introduce the kids to the country and the people and to see how the four of them cope.  The thing is, it would be an expensive endeavor, and at a time when we are trying to sell the house and pay off debts, we refuse to consider putting it on a credit card!  Would you pray for us that we would seek God's guidance on this ... and trust in his provision if, in fact, it is in his will for this to happen?  Thanks!

By the way, anyone want to buy a large toad habitat?

Day 25 - "The Bourne Identity" and a Clay Dinosaur (Give)

We had a meeting tonight at church - and by "we" I mean the folks who went to Haiti in October.  Three were missing: Steve is off hunting, Wayne winters in Florida, and nobody was quite sure where Rose Ellen was.  But five of us got together to plan our gathering this coming Sunday, December 5.  We are inviting folks to come hear about the trip (it's 4 to 5:30 at the church).

Anyway, I took the opportunity to take along a couple of items to give to Beka.  She mentioned last Sunday that she thought the Bourne movies were good, so I gave her the book.  I read the book recently and only then saw the first movie.  Loved the book.  Hated the movie!  It is nowhere near as good as the book, but the time constraints of the big screen preclude the possibility of capturing the full story, so I don't know what I was expecting.  Plus, I thought the final shoot out where Matt Damon falls several stories down a stairwell while riding a body and shooting at other bad guys as they climb the steps just completely jumped the shark.

Anyway, Beka had stopped at our house briefly last Sunday and had asked if I had any examples of my artwork around.  There's really nothing here but some of my stained glass pieces, so when I came across the clay dinosaur, I thought I'd give it to her.  I told her tonight that she has to pray for me and my family whenever she looks at it.  She decided to name it Walter.

Day 24 - Odds and Ends (Throw)

I found a round tin with a Norman Rockwell print on the lid and inside was a shrine of sorts to my childhood and teen years.  I couldn't bring myself to part with a toy car, a "God's Nightcrawler" patch, a Cincinnati Reds ring (which my Dad bought for me at a Reds game back when Pete Rose played for them - I remember sitting through a game where some drunk guy a few rows up from us continually yelled, "Pete Rose is a hamburger!" ... I never figured out if that was supposed to be an insult or compliment.), an old pocket knife, a wallet from the University of Aberdeen (Scotland), a little woven art project I entered in some contest when I was 14, and a button that says "Urbana '87".  The Urbana Conference I attended as a college sophomore was the first time I ever considered the possibility of becoming a missionary.  At the time it was just a thought ... a daydream, maybe.

Here's a list of other items from the tin that didn't make the cut:

• Various ink pens ["Outdoor Ministries", "Wabash College", "Newscenter 13", "Adam's Mark Hotel"]
• 3 Dried up boutonnieres [Labeled as "Senior Prom 1986" (lame night), "May Festival 1986" (dumbest night of my high school career), and "Jeanne Kirkpatrick Dinner 1987" (where Masato Suzuki gave the former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. bunny ears for a photo and also told several of his female professors that they looked quite "arrogant" rather than "elegant"!)]
• A single one inch square tile from the Wabash College pool [Where I worked as a swim coach for a year]
• A "Skylab" sticker
• A live bullet (!) [From gopher hunting in South Dakota]
• A pack of sugar from "The Berghoff" in Chicago [That must have been the art guild trip where I shared a hotel room with Scott and Larry.  Scott dared Larry to strip to his underwear, stuff a pair of socks in the front and step out into the hallway.  Larry took the bait.  When Larry stepped out the door, Scott slammed it shut and locked it!]
• A mood ring [It is now just solid black]
• A rubber dinosaur
• Miniature post cards - some from New York City and some of the Columbia space shuttle
• A match book from Mr. Gatti's Pizza in Crawfordsville, Indiana
• A couple of name tags from Youth Annual Conference [On the back is listed who went along from my church.  1985: Byron Brown, Kate Stubbs and Pat Kyle.  1986: Kim Stone, Dawn Stevens, Yvonne Bradburn, my brother Russell, and Marcia Kuhn.]
• A card with my Scottish address my junior year of college [Wavell House T21, Hillhead Halls of Residence, Don Street, Aberdeen AB9 2WU, Scotland]
• A vial full of white sand [From Florida, I think.]
• The tassel from my high school graduation in 1986

Amazing how many memories these objects bring back - and I guess that's why I kept them.  My kids were fascinated with each little item I brought out of the tin - and they made off with a couple of things before I could throw them away! 

It's funny how a packet of sugar brings to mind the sheer joy Scott and I shared watching Larry through the peephole as he danced around in the hallway of a Chicago hotel, frantically pounding on our room door and cursing because he had nothing but his underwear ... and a pair of socks. 

Also amazing to me is how I quickly vacillate between determination to toss these items and reluctance to toss them.  It makes it a bit easier to toss them knowing that they are recorded here, because words are somehow just as good (or better) than the physical objects themselves.

Day 23 - Two Space Heaters (Throw)

I threw away two space heaters.  Our basement is always cold in the winter time.  Melissa likes it warm, so we had three little space heaters which we scattered around the downstairs rooms and then stored during the warmer months alongside the Christmas decorations.  At the end of last winter, only one of the heaters was still working.  None of them oscillate anymore.  One just kept shutting itself off.  The other one would overheat and smell like burning dust.  The Princess (age 3) got a small burn on her leg from that particular heater last winter. 

So why store the two broken heaters?  Because "some day" I was going to get around to unscrewing the backs of them, blowing all the dust out of their innards and then hoping they wouldn't burn the house down when I plugged them back in.  I'm probably better off with them in the garbage can. 

Maybe my Mom will give Melissa one of her homemade "snuggies" for Christmas...

Update:  It took two days, but someone hauled away that ugly, filthy plastic water table.  Which gets me thinking:  I might have to experiment to see where people draw the line on picking up "free" stuff from the curb! 

Day 22 - Chuckleberries! (Give)

I have found a box full of items which might be much tougher to part with than the average book has been.  These are souvenirs with real significance.  I know we, as a family, will be able to store a few things long term while we're in Haiti (and anywhere else God directs), but it will need to be stuff that fits in a few small boxes.  Some of these items might get that privilege.

But I did find one or two things here that would be easy to part with.  I took a plastic cup labeled "chuckleberries" to Kate and Storly's in the evening for their movie gathering.  It's the old snake-in-a-can trick and their oldest daughter got a kick out of seeing her parents' reaction to opening it. 

A few of the folks who were on the Haiti mission team gathered to watch the movie "Hannibal".  I had never seen it before because ... well, it's just not my type of movie.  But it's one of Storly's favorite movies.  We had discovered this fact while sitting in a restaurant in the Chicago airport waiting for our connecting flight on our way down to Haiti about 7 weeks ago now.  Storly had us all laughing with his proclamation that "Hannibal" was a "beautiful" movie which was so "clever"!  Most of us had never seen it, but knew it by reputation and found it hard to swallow that it was either beautiful or clever. 

After seeing it for myself now, I can safely say that "Hannibal" is ... not my type of movie.  The chili and the cake were excellent though!  Beautiful, even...

Day 21 - Water Table (Give, and if not, Throw)

Years ago Melissa brought home a large plastic outdoor water table.  I believe we were living in Indianapolis at the time.  Caleb and Hannah played with it a bit when they were toddlers, but it was hard to keep the thing dirt and mosquito free.  Ever since we moved into our current house, the thing has been lying on its side against the garage.  It irritated me no end because dead leaves and ... muck ... would collect behind it.  So now it is out on the curb in hopes someone will take an interest in it and adopt it.  If nobody does, I guess I will finally find out if it will fit in a garbage can.

We finally got a bit productive today around the house.  There are plenty of jobs that will need to be done before we can put the house up for sale.  Melissa spent a good part of the day cleaning out the laundry room.  She also took several bags of stuff to Goodwill.  I started work on the upstairs bathroom.  The caulking around the tub needed to be replaced and there's a small section of the wall that was water damaged.  Eventually the walls need to be repainted.  I also got the back yard leaf-free, so that feels good.  So much to do still and so little energy!

Tomorrow I get to tell our church about our trip to Haiti.  I only get three to five minutes, but part of the announcement is that we will be gathering on December 5 to share stories and pictures for an hour and a half.  Not sure what I'm going to say yet, but I'll think it through before I hit the sack tonight.