Change, I Heart You

I love change.  I love that it forces me to evaluate and see if I'm truly relying on Christ and being satisfied in Him or if there are other things in the way.  I love the realignment of values it brings to my life.

This is my last week living in Turkey.  When I came here 18 months ago I thought it was for loooonnnggg-term.  But God had other plans and I am confident in his leading to this new role.  So it's with a mixture of sadness at the leaving, but joy and hope in the going.  A death of a dream in a way, a dream that was mine and not God's.  His dreams were much different than mine and for that I am thankful.

Then a month from now I will be in Thailand and Cambodia, and while it's only a short visit, it's more change.  I'm looking forward to seeing more of God's creativity in how people live, how He works and how He makes Himself known in these new places.

No worries, the blog will continue, with more exciting stories (hopefully there's only one dog attack story) and thoughts from around the world.

Books, Oh Books, Where Are You?

I think everyone has something that makes them feel at home.  For my friend Dorothy it's candles.  When we go on a weekend trip whether to Branson or the Cabin she brings candles.  For my mom it's material, stacks and stacks of it in every corner of the house.  For me, it's books.  A house never feels like home until it's full of books.

Yesterday FedEx came and took my 100 kg of books.  While it was nice to have a task checked off my list, today I have been lost.  Six times I have gone to pick up a book.  Whether it's Barclay's commentary, Tozer's pursuit, or Austen's quips, I need knowledge.  The internet isn't the same.  You can't curl up with a laptop or smell the pages of a new tab.

I imagine my books are in Istanbul, Frankfurt, on a plane, or in some dark warehouse.  I'm sure there's some spiritual lesson here, but right now, I'm really thinking I just need some more books.  I would go to the store right now to buy one if it was in English and not 3 times the price I could find it in America.  

My First Painting

Last week my 91 1/2 year old Grandma taught me how to paint.  I must say, she's an excellent teacher.  She told me I'm a natural and have a gift for color.  Of course, she is 1/2 blind in one eye and completely blind in the other.  She did get her magnifying glass out and inspect it a few times.

27 Dental Flosses

Here's the situation.  It was midnight, I was desperate for some dental floss.  With the easy access to anything, I went to Wal-Mart for a quick dental floss acquisition.  Then ... paralysis.  Frozen in indecision.  


What should I get ... flouride or whitening?  picks or floss or tape?  plain, waxed, mint, or fresh-mint?  micro-groove?  And then, what brand?  Equate, G.U.M., Crest, J&J, DenTex, or Oral B?  


Should I get some combination of the above?  What if I want just plain dental floss with none of the add-ons?  Or does the micro-groove really work that well?  It is the most expensive maybe it's the best?  But fresh mint sounds really refreshing.  Too bad they don't have micro-groove in fresh mint.  


These are the important decisions that one must face.  Alas, I picked the one I use in Turkey (the only one that I've ever found by the way).  It seems to work pretty good, I think.  So many options in America, no wonder we're busy keeping up with our lives, we have too many choices.  I will never stray from Oral-B Satin Gloss Tape.  If I have to make one more choice I may not have time for the more important things like deciding which side I'll have with my chicken ... baked potato or fries or broccoli or side salad or ... 

1st Week's Apologies

It's amazing what you can forget in 16 months!  Getting back in the groove of American culture has had it's moments.  I want to apologize to all those out there who have been affected by my lack of adaptation.  Namely ...

• To the black bronco on Hwy 86 - sorry for honking at you when I thought you were going to pull out in front of me, forgot you would wait - wow!
• To the Wal-Mart cashier - sorry for trying to give you a quarter thinking it was a dollar, forgot there are no dollar coins in use.  
• To the guy at the assessor's office who tried to talk to me - sorry for giving you the die-a-thousand-deaths stare, forgot it's okay for you to be friendly.  
• To the red truck on Hwy 71 - sorry for trying to use the 3 lane as a 4 lane, I forgot we can't share the middle lane to both pass the people we want to get around.  

I should probably apologize to the security guys at Wal-Mart.  Walking around aimlessly probably draws attention, but there are so many choices I find I glaze over and forget what I'm doing.  Hopefully I'll be back in the groove soon!