Changing Direction

It's late in the day, Wednesday, June 29, and Melissa, the kids and I are in Pensacola, Florida.  I don't have the energy or alertness to write much more than to make a note to myself that my writing here needs to move into the next stage.  It's been a couple of days since I Gave, Threw, or Sold anything in particular.  There's still plenty to get rid of, but it's a bit impractical right now as we are on our way to Haiti.  (If I were super-organized, I suppose I could have kept it going even during these three weeks we'll be away from home, but... I'm not.) Besides, this trip marks the beginning of the "next level" as we seek to become career missionaries, so it's a good time to switch tactics here.  A big part of the reason I write here is simply to process this experience for my own sake and there's now more to process than simply getting rid of STUFF. 

Days 218 to 221

Day 218 - Box of Receipts and other outdated financial records (Throw)

     I say "Throw" but these things were delivered to my Mom's house to be burned - you hear too many horror stories these days about identity theft.

Day 219 - Gutter Guards (Give)

Also took these gutter guards out to Mom's house.  Her roof is missing a few and these leftovers have been in my garage since we moved into this house.  Good to be able to put them to use.

Day 220 - Swags (Throw/Sell)

These were decorations in our Indianapolis house but have collected dust in our garage here.  I was about to throw them out completely when I realized that without the outdated, faded, broken extras, the basic grapevine swags themselves might sell in our moving sale.  So I picked them clean and put them with the other sale items.

Day 221 - Japanese Game (Throw)

As Japanese custom dictates, Masato Suzuki came to the U.S. loaded with gifts to give away throughout his time at Wabash College.  The year was 1987 and I was a sophomore.  I don't remember the occasion for this gift, but 24 years later, it's missing some pieces and can go.

Day 217 - Old VHS Videos (Throw)

Found a box full of old VHS videos - some were mine, some were Melissa's.  Hers were videos of kindergarten Mothers' Day programs from ten years back.  Mine were an assortment of footage from various camps, mission trips and Ichthus Festivals.  Fortunately, most were labeled (though one was simply and mysteriously titled "Hell").

I haven't tossed all of them yet... I need to look through a few and maybe I will hold onto some.  Also, the kids will get a kick out of some of the footage, no doubt!

I'm going to try to embed a video here - it's a first for me.  This video was shot at a campground when my good friends, Tim Price and Jamie Hudgins, and I got together for a weekend retreat probably 12 or 13 years ago:

The funny/SAD thing about this video is that it appears to be one of the first things I filmed with my first camcorder.  The camcorder was by no means the top of the line, but I had plopped down over $700 for it! I remember being bummed that "image stabilization" cost another $100 and I couldn't afford that luxury.  I got a lot of use out of that camcorder, though (until I loaned it out to a student two years ago and it disappeared entirely). 

Yesterday, for Father's Day, Melissa and the kids gave me a new camcorder - again, it's not top of the line - but it IS lightyears ahead of that old one. 

It's all digital, of course, and although it can store two hours of film on its disk, it still fits in the palm of my hand.  It has a 65X zoom, image stabilization and comes with its own movie editing software.  It takes about 5 seconds to transfer the film to the computer.  All for just over $125!   Amazing!

Its first job:  tape this old footage off the TV.  I wish I had that $700 about now...

Day 216 - Miniature Fish Tank (Sell)

This is just a little fish tank we got at one point trying to keep all the kids happy - the boys couldn't have an aquarium in their room without The Drama Queen having one in her room, of course.  (The Princess was too young to care.)  It didn't last long - the fish eventually died and the tank was retired to a shelf in the laundry room.  Bone dry.  Now it is destined to go into our moving sale.

Days 213 to 215 and Language Lessons

Day 213 - A large roll of old linoleum inherited from previous owner and taking space in the garage (Throw)

Day 214 - Large terra cotta pot from the backyard which served mainly to be an unattractive place for maple seedlings to grow (Throw)

Day 215 - Jar of "holy" water somebody (danged faulty memory!) brought me back from the Jordan River years ago. (Dump and Throw)  I was going to recycle the jar - send it to Goodwill or whatever - but the water stain on it was inpenetrable.  I was never one who was big on the concept of "sacred" objects or places, so I don't consider this one a big loss. 

In other breaking news ... our friend Storly has been coming by a couple of times a week to give our whole family lessons in Haitian Creole.  Melissa and I have been very proud of our kids and how seriously they have taken these sessions.  We all sit around the kitchen table and take notes, practice pronunciation and ask questions.  

At one point, Storly asked each of us to come up with a sentence in English that we might be able to use in Haiti and he would give us the Creole.  So Storly was getting sentences like "What is your name?" or "Where is the bathroom?" or "I am thirsty."  Ida (age 7) came up with the following:  "Kill that fly!"  (Storly explained that we would have to be a bit more polite about the fly killing and gave us the Creole for "Would you kill that beast, please?"  Which is handy, because then we can use the same sentence to do away with snakes and spiders, too.)

At one point, Storly was trying to explain that sometimes you need to use the Creole "to be" verb and sometimes you don't.  When saying "I am thirsty", for example, you only need the Creole for "I" and "thirsty".  But if you want to say "I am a teacher", then you need the Creole for "be".  Dats (age 10) sat there and let that soak in and then offered this observation:  "Well ... SOMEBODY messed up a language!"

As far as foreign languages go, Storly assures us that Creole is one of the easier ones to learn.  It does seem there are some aspects of the Creole that simply learning; for instance, all of the verbs are regular.  The verb for a plural subject is the same as the verb for the singular and various tenses are created by adding various helping verbs to that same root verb. 

I confess that learning the language is number two on my list of things that make me nervous about moving to Haiti (right behind DRIVING there!).  But Storly is a good teacher and overall I feel reassured that I will GET it in time.  As the old saying goes: "God doesn't call the equipped - He equips the called."  I do believe that whatever path God calls us to in this life, He will make sure we have what we need for obedience.

Day 212 - Old Computer, Car Battery, Stain (Recycle)

The local recycling center sponsors "Tox-Away Wednesdays" where they accept items that most days they won't touch.  I took an ancient computer - complete with mouse, keyboard and TV-sized monitor - along with a car battery and some stain.

Day 211 - Refrigerator Part (Throw)

A couple of years ago the refrigerator started to leak.  Water was dripping from this little tank at the back of the fridge.  It's purpose was to hold the water so it could cool before being sent to the door dispenser.  I pulled the tank out completely and spliced the incoming and outgoing hoses together. 

I kept the tank out in the garage just in case I was ever able to figure out a way to patch it and reattach it.

I have now officially given up the dream and tossed the tank in the garbage can.

Day 210 - Couch (Give)

We talked to Melissa's mother, Trudy, about moving in with her once our house sells/rents.  If she's willing to take us in, she should get first crack at any of our furniture she might want.  She said she wouldn't mind having our green sectional in her basement, so it's hers.

That is, if I am able to get it out of our basement.  I have constructed a railing along the steps that wasn't there when the couch came down here.  It might be a tight squeeze to get it out!

Day 209 - Oversized Fanny Pack (Sell)

And I don't mean "a pack for oversized fannies"!  It's some big hiking pack worn around the waist and able to carry a couple of water bottles and  quite a bit of anything else you might need. 

It goes into our moving sale pile.

Day 208 - Paint Cans (Throw)

We talked to our real estate friend and she suggested that in the current housing climate in town, it's a buyer's market for home sales and a landlord's market for rentals.  Also, a lot of folks are moving into town from places where they are struggling to sell their own houses and so they are open to buying "on contract".  Our friend suggested that we make it known that we are willing to sell on contract and, if we don't get any significant nibbles on that in the next few weeks, we offer the house as a rental. 

So we are taking her advice and advertising the house over the next few weeks for sale on contract and, if nothing happens, we will move out after our trip to Haiti and seek a good renter.  The whole point is that we want to get out from under the mortgage so that we can redirect that money toward paying down other debts. 

Looks like we will be moving in to my mother-in-law's house.  I will let you know how that goes!  ;-)  Right now, I am just so grateful that she is willing to put up with us for a year!

So I have started giving more serious thought to all the things that will need to go in the next few weeks!  I looked around my garage and found an entire corner dedicated to old rusty cans of paint that I inherited from the previous owner!  I don't want to do that to a new owner ... or leave it for me to clean up at a later time if I'm a landlord, so I started looking a little closer at the paint.

I had heard that the best thing to do - at least with latex - is to open the cans and let it dry out.  I figured I'd better get right on that so that by August 1st, the cans would all be dried out.

Quite a few of the cans didn't bother to wait for me!  They are so old, they are pre-dried.  (But they stank like crazy!)

So that was easier than I thought it would be...

Day 207 - Dead Batteries (Throw - Recycle)

It has honestly bugged me throughout this process as to how much JUNK I have added to the local landfill.  Some time ago I noticed my brother Spencer kept a bucket near the front door for used batteries to recycle and I determined that I would at least make the effort to recycle dead batteries around the house.  So I started collecting them in a ziploc bag and  when it filled, I put it in my school book bag so I would remember to take the batteries to Spencer. 

I carried those batteries for months, back and forth to school.  And now that school's out, I finally made the effort to drop them off at the store. 

Hopefully Spencer doesn't just dump his bucket in the trash whenever it gets full.  I've never asked him what he does with the batteries...

Days 197 to 206

I've got to get caught up here, and most of these things are rather unremarkable, so I'll dump several days together:

Day 197 - Child's deck chair that Ida sat on and broke through (Throw). 

Day 198 - Glass frame (Give) - I plan to fill the frame with an enlarged photo to give to a friend.

Day 199 - Regifting of an End-of-Year Teacher Gift
(This was written as school ended last week.)
I don't want to make too much out of this or even post a picture because who knows who might be reading this.  But Melissa always makes it a point to get some sort of gift for the kids' teachers at the end of the school year and, as a kindergarten teacher, she also tends to be on the receiving end of similar gifts.  So one came in today and it's going out tomorrow.  It was a nice gift and extremely thoughtful - it's just that we don't NEED it.

By the way, we high school teachers get kind of jealous of the kindergarten teachers around Christmas and the end of the school year.  We don't tend to get too many presents from students.  But on the last day of school I received a Krispy Kreme Donut and - even better - a thank you letter.  It was one of those letters that makes your entire year.  I can't remember ever receiving a more eloquent and moving thank you note.  (I was also glad to see that the word choice was top-notch and everything was spelled correctly!)

Day 200 - Photo Frame (Throw).  This picture was taken early in our time in Pensacola just after we got married.  I didn't want to throw it away, but something had gotten spilled on it and the picture was simply ruined.

Day 201 - Plastic Pitcher I Dropped (Throw).  It didn't bounce.

Day 202 - Two Unframed Prints (Sell).  Melissa must have bought these some time ago for some reason, but they never got used.  They can go into our moving sale.

Day 203 - Simpsons Calendar from 2000 (!) (Throw)

Day 204 - Yet More Scotland Postcards (Give)

Day 205 - Musical Frame (Sell).  I got this from some good friends, Ron and Cathy, years ago.  Would like to keep it, but can't.

Day 206 - Another Horseshoe.  I'll put it in the moving sale, but I can't imagine anyone wants it.  But it's good luck, you know.

Day 196 - Tux's Photo Frame (Throw)

My brother Russ made this frame for me after Tux's death.  And as much as I'd like to keep it, Tux has been dead over eleven years now.

Besides, Tux was annoying.  She was overly friendly.

Actually, she annoyed everyone but me.  I really only got annoyed when she would escape.


If you've got a couple of minutes to kill, here's the story on Tux:

The last girl I dated before I met Melissa had a friend who was looking to find homes for a bunch of puppies.  The mother was a "bull terrier" and the father was a "fence jumper".  I was living on my own in the parsonage in Marietta, Indiana, working as the pastor at the local UM church and this young lady, a dog lover herself, thought my life would be made complete with a puppy. 

How could I resist - especially once I saw the puppies?  My lady friend had never mentioned what a pain it could be to raise and train a puppy.  Tux was yipping all through the night and peeing and pooping all over the house all through the day.

About two weeks into this ordeal, the young lady dumps me.  Now I'm left alone ... except for this peeing, pooping reminder of HER. 

So one day I'm griping about this new puppy to a friend of mine and he says, "What kind of dog is it?"

And I respond, "It's a bull terrier mix."

His eyes get wide and he laughs, "You got a PIT BULL??"

"No," I say (ignorantly), "It's a BULL TERRIER."

Same thing. 

NOW I know.  (I sometimes relate this story to my English students now when we discuss the importance of Word Choice!)

Eventually I got my little pit bull house trained but she was really too much dog for a single guy lacking a fenced yard.  Tux was actually the catalyst for getting me into running because putting her on a leash was the only way to get rid of some of her energy.  And she was simply incapable of going for a WALK.

So one day I was playing with my pit bull in the living room of the parsonage.  Tux wasn't even a full year old yet.  She was repeatedly jumping into the air in an attempt to snatch one of her chew toys out of my hand.  Just three jumps into this game, she came down on her hind legs wrong and let out an unnatural scream and then collapsed on the floor.

The vet told me she had broken her upper hind leg into three pieces.  It was impossible to splint.  She needed surgery to fix the leg.

How much?  At least $2,000.

When the vet mentioned the figure, I sat there recalling the collection cup sitting on the counter of his waiting room.  It had caught my eye when I signed Tux in for her appointment.  The cup read "50 cents provides a full meal to a starving child" and people were expected to throw their loose change in the cup. 

I didn't have $2,000, and if I had had the money, I didn't know how I could justify spending an amount on a dog that could have provided meals to 4,000 starving human beings.

And that's how Tux came to an end.  And to this day I continue to struggle with how I choose to spend my money in a world filled with so much need ...

Day 195 - Ida's Odds and Ends (Give - to his Teacher)

Ida (age 7) took it upon himself to gather up some little toys to replenish his teacher's "treasure box" before the school year ended.  I was proud of him ... and happy to see these things go!

Day 194 - Blue Like Jazz (Give)

I had bought a couple of extra copies of this book a few years ago to give as gifts and never did.  I think I'll give this copy to my old friend "Satan", who graduated from high school this year.  I would be curious to find out what she thinks of it.

Speaking of Blue Like Jazz, I found out today via Facebook that they have filmed a movie based on the book.  How cool is that?  It's directed by Steve Taylor - the trailer can be seen here.

Even better, Donald Miller has a new book out about the experience of turning his earlier book into a movie!  It's called A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.  I got so excited I had to hurry and download a copy to my pink Kindle.  (I love my pink Kindle.)  I sat by the pool today and started reading it - and that's how the kids got to swim for two and a half hours!

The gist of the book is that in the process of fictionalizing his life for the big screen, Miller realizes that he hasn't really led a very interesting life.  He's missing out on a better story in his own reality.

Here's how he starts this new book.  What he says here is more profound than it seems at first glance:

"If you watched a movie about a guy who wanted a Volvo and worked for years to get it, you wouldn't cry at the end when he drove off the lot, testing the windshield wipers.  You wouldn't tell your friends you saw a beautiful movie or go home and put a record on to think about the story you'd seen.  The truth is, you wouldn't remember that movie a week later except you'd feel robbed and want your money back.  Nobody cries at the end of a movie about a guy who wants a Volvo.

But we spend years actually living those stories, and expect our lives to feel meaningful.  The truth is, if what we choose to do with our lives won't make a story meaningful, it won't make a life meaningful either."

My mind is trying to work on how Miller's words intersect with something I read in the Bible this morning, but I haven't quite been able to put my finger on it yet.  The passage is from John 6.  In verse 28, the crowd asks Jesus, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"

Jesus' answer in verse 29 is short and to the point, but the point is bigger than I can quite grasp:  "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."

This is right before Jesus discusses how He is the true Bread that comes from heaven and how His followers must eat of His body and drink of His blood or they will have NO LIFE in them.

And "many" of His disciples turn back and no longer follow Jesus.

Then Jesus turns to the twelve and asks if they are also going to leave and Peter speaks up:  "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." 

So Peter and the others BELIEVE - which is what Jesus just said is the "work of God"... what God requires. 

Now I see the intersection!  Peter BELIEVES and that it what gives his life meaning.  THAT is what gives him a story that is still read 2,000 years later!!  If he had walked away with the others, none of us would know his name, much less his life's story...

Day 193 - Camp Visor (Throw)

The Princess (age 4) really, really, really wanted to keep this visor for herself.  Her logic on why daddy shouldn't throw it away:  It's pink!

This thing was created at some summer camp somewhere along the way.  I worked at several: Moneto and Indi-co-so in Indiana, Morgan Memorial in Massachusetts and another camp (actually an "outdoor school") in California.

It brings back a couple of memories:

1)  I used to be a huge fan of Berke Breathed's comic strip "Bloom County" and thought his rip off of Garfield, "Bill the Cat", was hilarious.  All Bill would ever say was "Ack!"  Comic gold.

and 2) I used to always want a nickname.  The name on the visor was supposed to be a nickname, but it never caught on.  It says "Stretch".  What was I thinking?  You can't give yourself a nickname.  That's not how it works. 

But I always thought my name was soooo generic:  Steve.  Blah.

 Plus, it carried a scar inflicted by one of the hottest girls in my high school.  She once said to me, "I have a hard time thinking of you as a 'Steve' because when I picture a 'Steve', I picture a really hot guy." 

That's something you keep to yourself! 

The closest I ever came to actually getting a nickname to stick was the childhood summer when my older brother, Spencer, (with my blessing!) worked at intentionally calling me "Burford" every chance he got.  (It was a name we got from the old Dick Van Dyke Show, I believe.) 

Alas, Mom put a stop to that little project and I have remained nickname-less ever since.

I'm jealous of all those Biblical characters who got their names changed by God Himself.  Wouldn't that be so cool?  Abram becomes Abraham.  Simon becomes Peter.  Saul becomes Paul.

One of my favorite stories in all of Scripture is when Jacob wrestles with "the Angel" and his name gets changed from what amounted to "deceiver" to Israel which means something along the lines of "Strives with God" or "God Rules" or even "God's Fighter"!  How awesome is that.

Imagine going from "Liar" to "God's Fighter"!  I want THAT.

Day 192 - Magnet (Throw)

I've had this magnet since childhood.

It's so old, it's lost most of its strength. 

(Much like me!)

It's been a long time since I've played with it much...

Day 191 - Indiana Plate (Give?)

School is finally out and so it's time to start getting caught up on my blog.  I've got several entries waiting to be finished and I'll probably be keeping them short and sweet.

Something like this:

Not sure who would want this ugly green plate but maybe I'll send it to Goodwill.  Don't remember where I got it.