Christmas Thoughts

I have been doing some sifting lately, but not in the kitchen, in my head. It seems like my perspective on things is changing and I am sifting through what in my life has real value and what has no worth..  I used to be a person who put a lot of pressure on herself to have things just so.  You know, the perfect variety of cookies to deliver, the spotless house (at least I tried), the right amount of gifts for each person, etc. and I just never felt like I measured up.  This year, for some reason, I was feeling unusually overwhelmed and I sort of gave up (as much as a person who likes to be in control can do that).  I let a five year old decorate our tree and tape homemade Christmas pictures on our walls, I did not send cards out and my oven has hardly been on.  The crazy thing is no one has missed any of it, including me.  Part of this is me getting older and another part is just saying stop the madness. 

One of things that helps me remember what this season is all about is my nativity scene display.  I have the first inexpensive one I bought when we were newly married, the one made by the kids at Sunday School, several from Central America, the plastic Playmobile one that children like to rearrange and the new one from Liberia that is made from bullets.  None of them cost over ten dollars, but I value them because they remind me of that event many years ago when God sent us Hope wrapped in a blanket, laying in a manger.

My wish for you this season is a simple one, look up and follow the star.  May the eternal Hope of Christmas  be your guide.

Life is Fragile

Last week I went to Denver to celebrate my nephew's 10th birthday.  He is my youngest sister's middle child, the only grandson.  We had brunch, cake and opened presents, the usual milestone activities.  In attendance were a large group of my sister's in laws and most of my family, including my next youngest sister, Cindy.  I don't see her very often because we are both busy and live about an hour and a half away from each other, so it was nice catching up with her.

Not a week later, my Mom calls to tell me that she had to take Cindy to the hospital, because she has been vomiting and has become so weak she can barely stand up.  Apparently her blood pressure was so low, they had to work on her for quite a while just to get her stable, before they moved her up to the ICU.  The diagnosis was sepsis (where your blood is overwhelmed by bacteria).  On Monday they moved her to a regular room and changed the diagnosis to E. coli.  She seems to be responding to the antibiotics and hopes to come home in the next day or so.  They are not sure if her organs have been damaged or not and are still running tests.

I am just amazed how quickly a person can go down.  She seemed perfectly healthy the week before and now her life has taken a totally different direction.  We are thankful she had enough energy to call for assistance, thankful that she is getting good medical care and thankful she will be here to celebrate another day.  Please keep her in your prayers as her ordeal is not over yet, but I think she is on the road to recovery.

Great Grandma is going to Honduras

My Mom has decided to go with me to Honduras to see Anna and Guillermo's baby (due around January 11). She is working on her passport, it has been awhile, a long while, actually I think it was when Tami was in England for a semester at Cambridge (she now has a husband and three kids and can barely remember those college days).

I have Anna working on tickets for the later part of January. She says it will be the cold time of year, although I can hardly imagine chilly Honduras. The best part of my Mom coming is that she can help me take all the baby stuff down (well, one of the best parts). Our biggest suitcase is totally full and then some with baby stuff they got while they were visiting in October. I was planning on trying to bring my clothes in my carry on, but even that was filling up. Now I will be able to take more than one outfit!

Anna called the other night on Skype and showed me the baby's room. It will be nice, especially with a baby in it. Her big naked belly came into view as were talking  and after I gasped, she said, "It's just Guillermo David". It won't be long and we will be able to see him in all his glory.

Great Grandma Practicing

Photos

If you are interested in seeing pictures, you can check out my Flickr site. I am starting to upload a few at a time.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mountaintopsue/

HOME

The laundry is going, I have showered and eaten, it's like we were never gone. Unless of course, you look at the huge pile of newspapers and mail on the kitchen counter. I don't want tomorrow to come. At least not too soon. I'm not ready to go back to my reality. Liberia has certainly left a hole in my heart. We met some wonderful people and I feel guilty leaving them and coming back to abundance and comfort. This life will never be perfect and whole, but I have seen hope on the faces of those that shouldn't have any and that is enough for me. He is there among them and I was a witness.

Saturday

It was a day of goodbyes and picture taking (not that we haven’t been doing that all week!). Tony and Shelly brought a small photo printer with them and once people around us found that out, they all want a picture of themselves or one with us in it. So consequentially, we have had a lot of knocks on the door this morning. We have also presented some small gifts and cards to quite a few people who we have spent time with.
In the afternoon we were off to see Dr. Sanvee’s house which is in the process of being built. It was about twenty five minutes away from Monrovia. Unfortunately we had to take a smaller vehicle, so we went African style, two in the front (stick shift in the middle) and four in the back of a small pickup. We see everything from small taxis to large vans carrying over capacity amounts of people in them. Houses here are made from cement blocks that are usually made on the site. The blocks on her house were up to window height and even higher in other places. We got a tour of the three bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen, dining and living room. It is located out in the country and she has hired a man who lives in a small shack on the property to be security so no one comes and squats on it or buries a body on it (no one will live on it if they do that).
We had a lovely evening at an upscale restaurant for our last evening. I will post a picture later of all of us in our new Liberian attire. If only it didn’t get dark so early, we would have had a beautiful view of the ocean, but alas… I can tell Dr. Sanvee is going to miss us all, especially Gretchen, but she will be visiting the US in May to see her daughter and new granddaughter, so it won’t be long.
I am going to end this so we can get on the plane. Later…

Friday

Dr. Sanvee and her sister Margaret (who has been cooking our meals) came for dinner. It was a nice evening of, good food, listening to their incredibly interesting stories and fellowship. We chatted around the table for quite some time and then eventually moved to the soft chairs on the other side of the room. After a short time, Dr. Sanvee got up and went to her car and came back with some bags. She made a little speech about how happy she was with our visit and then we proceeded to have Christmas! Out of the bags came outfits that she had made us by her tailor Solo. There were embroidered shirts for the men and beautiful shirts and matching pants for the women. We also received some carvings made out of ebony. Needless to say we were all very touched and from what Gretchen told us, this was pretty unusual.
Apparently on the night that Solo the tailor came to take an order from Shelly and I, she told him secretly to size us up. All but one, fit perfectly and they sent it back and it was fixed quickly. Tonight we will all wear them out to dinner. Tomorrow I will wear the skirt I had Solo make, to church. We picked out the material one time when we were downtown, with Dr. Sanvee, I think it cost about two or three dollars. They measure the material in lappas. My full length skirt took two lappas.