Thankful Thursday

I'm joining the Thankful Thursday folks today. I feel the need to listen to Paul: "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." Phil. 4:8

Because I am in a negative rut and the best way to get out is "accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch on to the affirmative, don't mess with Mister In-Between" (and now my foot is tapping and I'm humming the tune).

1. We're finally getting some rain -- off and on to be sure -- after months of very little precipitation.

2. The rose bushes have gone beserk! We have dozens of blooms on about half of the 13 bushes in our yard. We're thoroughly enjoying the soft yellows and pinks and vibrant reds that surround us.

3. We had a wonderful time at the 100th anniversary of the GBC in Argentina this past weekend, being able to reconnect with lots of old friends.

4. My daughter will be here in 2 months and 2 days!!!

5. My son is doing better; his "wrist is healing, physical therapy is going well and [he's] adjusting to using digits that have no sense of touch."

Lots more I could list but I'll stick to the standard issue five :-)

This week I'm busy with those infrequent chores like cleaning out the refrigerator and organizing the pantry shelves, plus catching up on paperwork, meaning I don't have much time to get online. Hence the brevity of my posts and the fact that I haven't been getting around to read other blogs much and I'm not commenting as often when I do.

Would ask you to pray for a friend of ours: Julio is 78 and an aviation enthusiast (he has designed and built several planes). Anyway, he was hit by a propeller and underwent reconstructive surgery on one of his arms yesterday. This is in addition to the many, many stitches on his other arm and face. It could have been much worse, but it's still bad enough. The older we get, the longer it takes to heal. Pray for his wife, Magdalena as well. Thanks!

The Randomness Strikes Again!

Linda at 2nd Cup of Coffee comes up with "veddy int'resting" questions for this meme (do you remember the German soldier in Hogan's Heroes who was always saying that?). Her mind must be in perpetual motion, thinking them up :-) My mind is ready for a hiatus so answers this week will be (mostly) short and sweet.

1. I've always wondered why we were taught both printing and cursive. Do you prefer to print or write cursive? (Keyboard is not a choice.)

Cursive; it’s quicker.

2. Are you a dreamer or a realist?

Definitely a realist. Married to a dreamer. We balance one another :-)

3. Billy Joel or Elton John?

Billy Joel.

4. What is the scariest movie you've ever seen? Not limited to horror flicks but also includes ones where the tension or suspense is killer, for example, Flightplan (2005): A bereaved woman and her daughter are flying home from Berlin to America. At 30,000 feet the child vanishes and nobody admits she was ever on that plane.

The Exorcist. Had nightmares for YEARS after that. Same with The Birds.

(so how many scary youtube videos are we going to watch today?!)

5. Now what is the scariest real-life moment you've had?

Being on a rural road in western Uganda, just across from the Congo, at night and coming across an obviously homemade roadblock of tree branches and other debris and then having men with large guns come out of the bush to surround the car. GULP! We’d been warned not to be out after dark in that area because guerillas from Congo (men, not animals) would make excursions across the border periodically. However the car had broken down not once, but THREE times, delaying us so there we were... Very thankful to find out the men with big guns were the local police who simply didn’t have money for uniforms. They looked us over quite well but, thankfully, didn't make us unload our packed-to-the-gills vehicle and after about 10 minutes let us proceed. It took me most of the trip back over the Rwenzori mountains for my heart to slow down!

6. What word do you misspell without fail?


Consistently? None that I can think of. 


7. Name something you like to do but are not really talented or good at.

Art and music.

8. Do you get your emotional/mental batteries recharged by being around people or by having alone time?

MOST DEFINITELY ALONE TIME.

9. Have you ever been on TV?

Nope.

10. Apple or pumpkin pie? (Don't be greedy.)

Apple. With vanilla ice cream, of course.

11. How many magazine subscriptions do you have?

None right now. While living in the U.S. I had one a year, usually having to do with quilting. And I always read through Ivan's Fine Homebuilding magazines, too.

12. What lesson do you have to keep re-learning?


That I don’t have to always be in control but can rest in the knowledge that only God is in control. Oh.My.Word, this is a hard one!

Brief recap of trip to Rio Cuarto

I'm currently in that happy state of tiredness after returning from a good but exhausting trip. This may not be the most coherent post but I wanted to share a few things. Noticia para la familia: vamos a poner fotos en flickr este noche (esperamos).

We arrived home around 11 o'clock last night. Returning home after a long weekend in Argentina is very much like returning home after a long weekend in the U.S. TRAFFIC IS INSANE. The 3-1/2 hour trip took an extra hour. We kept trying to leave Rio Cuarto earlier but there were just so many people to see...

Let me start at the beginning.

The purpose of our trip to Rio Cuarto was to attend the 100th anniversary celebration of the Grace Brethren Church in Argentina.

This is the mission Ivan's parents were with for well over 40 years so it was like Old Home Week for him. There were MANY old friends :-)

One of the most moving moments of the celebration came at the end when they "passed the baton" (I know I'm jumping around but bear with me). Eduardo Coria, one of the "senior" pastors from the Fellowship, spoke first; after which Eduardo Pizzi shared briefly. He's one of the current generation of pastors. Then Federico Gamba had a few words for the group. As a teenager, he's part of the next crop of leaders. And finally 10-year-old "Pablito" closed the session with prayer. How encouraging to see the generations standing together -- I thought the picture and comment on the screen so appropriate!

One of the most fun, and certainly emotional parts for my husband, was the video that chronicled the 100 year history. Some seriously OLD photos, including this one of an adolescent Ivan, his younger brother and his parents. Ignore the fact that this is a photo of a photo on a big screen taken from WAY back of the auditorium and just look at all that hair! :-)

A few photos specifically for my kids...

Tina, remember when we stayed with Edith and her daughter Laura in Rio Cuarto during our visit in 1997? You and Laura are the same age and despite the language difference, you had such a fun time! Here she is all grown up; she's in her last year of university too, studying to work with learning disabled children.

And Jon, here's one of Ana Julia, Marcelo and his wife Tatiana. Marcelo and Ana send their greetings! They have fond memories of your visit in 2001.

[I know this seems almost like a Project 365 post but sometimes a photo or nine is called for, to better "tell" the story.]

Let's go off point here for a moment...In my quest to bring you the most hideous examples of haute couture, I offer you what I'm calling "Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin". At least that's what I'd look like if I put it on :-)

We saw the dress after leaving our car in the parking garage a block over from our hotel. The whole area is a mixture of hotels, stores and restaurants. We stayed right in the center of downtown Rio Cuarto. Here's the view from our 6th floor room at night.

Monday morning we were up bright and early...much earlier than we needed to be...this city never sleeps but suddenly around 5 a.m. it got really noisy. Not sure what was up, unless maybe it was all the taxi drivers on the street right below us. But boy was it ever LOUD.

Anniversary festivities continued through the morning on Monday. Then we were invited to lunch by Becky Ducuron, a name the family will recognize. After following her up, down and around all the one-way streets downtown, we arrived at a rather unprepossessing house. Like the majority of homes it starts right at the edge of the sidewalk with little ornamentation or indication that anything like this could be beyond the large doors facing the street...

Isn't that gorgeous?! Just to the right is a small grassy area that's absolutely lush with vegetation. Then Julio showed us his studio upstairs. What a wonderful space! This photo is from the end near his desk.

But as an artist, the majority of space is taken up with art paraphernalia. Would love to own one of his pieces but definitely out of our price range :-) Though we did enjoy seeing his work throughout their lovely home. Julio told us that the house is 130 years old and while his family hasn't owned it the whole time, he is the 4th generation of Ducarons to live there.

Lunch was amazing. Don't know the names of things but hope to find out AND get the recipes! Becky made one main dish and Mildret (who sends special greetings to Rita) made another. Oh. My. Word. Muy deliciosa!

From there we drove a short distance to see other friends, Daniel & Dora. While we were there, several missionaries and a pastor from the states stopped by (Lynn, your former pastor from Georgia!). Obviously, the entire time in Rio Cuarto was spent visiting with friends but there were so many -- well over 1,000 I believe! -- it wasn't possible to spend much time during the celebrations talking to any one person. So the times in homes made for more in-depth conversations and catching up.

My mind and heart are so full I can't begin to share it all. But this was a brief glimpse into how our time went, and I'll have a few more photos and stories to share later in the week.

Week 41, Project 365

We're heading to Rio Cuarto for the 100th anniversary of the Grace Brethren Church in Argentina! So this post for Project 365 will be (blessedly?) brief...

Last Sunday we went to a birthday party. I took tons of photos but they didn't turn out that great. This one of Ivan and Angel isn't half bad though.

Monday through Wednesday Ivan helped our co-worker with a project at their house. First they made a mess :-)

 

A city in Argentina seems an odd place to find a log cabin style house, but that's just what we came across on a walk this week.

Yellow is my favorite color. I love flowers. How could I not adore these?

They've started work on the empty lot next door. They're putting up two narrow, two-story homes attached in townhome fashion. All the work has been done by hand so far, including digging all the trenches for the footings. The only machinery we've seen have been the trucks that deliver materials.  This photo only shows half the lot.

Friday brought Sweet Success at last! Edible no bake cookies that didn't have to be eaten with a spoon. It only took SIX tries!

October 12 is a BIG holiday here. Dia de la Raza celebrates the arrival of Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus) in the New World.  There are festivities going on all weekend all over the country. We heard a racket on the costanera and Ivan walked down to find a rodeo going on. So we hauled our folding chairs down and watched for a while. The little guys were competing and they were just TOO CUTE.

The next competition was a new one for me. One rider pulled another gaucho on a large leather rug through a path lined with barrels...

 

When they reached the end of the path they had to whip around the last barrel, switch places and then race to the finish line.

Is it just me or does that look rather painful?!

We'll be gone Sunday and Monday, busy with the festivities. Ivan's folks served here with Grace Brethren Foreign Missions for many, many years so we expect to see lots of old friends. Not planning to be online until we return so it'll be later in the week before I catch up with all the other 365 participants.

Have a great week!