Adventures of Fuzz & Dakota

George was here

2011-12-10T19:25:00.001-06:00

Each evening during the Christmas season I read a different Christmas story. Rob is kind enough to humor me and listen to me read. The kitties usually join us (or are already sitting underneath the tree when we get there).

On Wednesday I read the story Merry Christmas Curious George. In the story George goes to a Christmas tree farm and is in the tree that is cut down and taken to a children's hospital. At the hospital George causes lots of trouble and ends up decorating the tree with objects he finds around the hospital such as bandages, x-rays, and balloons.

On Thursday I spoke with Rob several times during the day and he kept telling me that the kitties were saying that "George was here."

I had no idea what was being referenced (so I'm slow sometimes). When I got home I found a a balloon tied to the tree and still I didn't make the connection. As I was looking at the balloon that said "Merry Christmas" I noticed an x-ray sticking out of the tree.

Finally I put the pieces together.

The Chrismon Tree

2011-12-05T19:15:00.000-06:00

One of our family traditions each Christmas is our Chrismon tree. Rob made all of the ornaments and it stands in our family room and shines the light of Christ into our days.

The tree is actually on a corner of the kitchen counter and Dakota loves to take up residence underneath it.

Presents!

2011-12-04T19:11:00.000-06:00

The kitties love Christmas. They love the tree. They love sitting under the tree. They love chewing on the tree. They love the packages. This Saturday I did a lot of shopping with Sherry and then Rob and I had a wrapping marathon wrapping about 50 gifts.

This gift is for Steve Jones. I bet he can't guess what it is!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T19:03:00.000-06:00

We hosted Thanksgiving and had a house full of guests. We had all of our immediate family and five people from my office. We have much to be thankful for.

Bev, Stan, Rohit, Rob, Todd, Denning, Veronika, Vladimir, Alf, Sherry, Renga, Fuzz, Win, Steve, Tracy, Vita

Operation Christmas Child

2011-11-21T18:46:00.000-06:00

Rob and I love participating in Operation Christmas Child, a ministry of Samaritan's Purse. We promote this ministry at our church and our church embraces it with a lot of enthusiasm every year. This year I handed out invitations to a Shoebox packing party to all of the trick-or-treaters who came by and then invited a lot of folks from my office. Between the donations of people who could not attend and those who did come, our packing party resulted in 52 boxes!

Rob and I put together more boxes and of course Fuzz and Dakota helped.

At church we gathered all of the boxes and took them to the collection center. While Heritage may be a tiny church it has a big heart - as we collected 130 boxes this year.

Keith George and Hobbs Moseby

Pretty as a Princess

2011-11-13T18:30:00.000-06:00

Our little Dakota Boo is such a pretty little one.

Earth Shake!!!

2011-11-12T00:46:00.001-06:00

While I was in Kansas City last weekend, I got email from from Rob informing me that he and the kitties had felt two earthquakes around 2:30 Saturday morning. The first was magnitude 4.7 and the second one was about 3.4. The quake was centered near Prague, OK east of Shawnee and Oklahoma City.

Saturday night while in Kansas City laying on our hotel beds Tracy and I felt the hotel shake and quickly confirmed on Facebook that it was indeed an earthquake. This time it was a magnitude 5.6 centered near Prague and was felt as far away as St. Louis.

Rob and the kitties felt several more and then on Monday night we were sitting watching football and the house rattled and rolled for about 45-60 seconds. This time it was "only" a 4.7. In fact in the last 7 days there have been 38 earthquakes of magnitude greater than 1 from this area.

The M5.6 earthquake is the largest recorded in Oklahoma in modern history. The "shake map" is interesting to look at as it helps convert the magnitude at the epicenter to a rating for how it was felt away from the center. According to the USGS web site, earthquakes east of the Rocky Mountains can be felt nearly twice as far away as an earthquake of the same magnitude west of the Rockies.

I can tell you that the kitties were quite brave although for the "big one" on Saturday night Fuzz dove under the bed and then came back out. Our guess is that Fuzz came out because it was shaking under there too. For Monday's 4.6 quake it lasted longer and the kitties tolerated it for awhile but then Dakota had clearly had enough and she left. I don't know where she went but we didn't see her for about an hour.

A different type of intruder

2011-10-14T21:33:00.000-05:00

Monday night we had the priviledge of taking care of Hobbs for a couple of hours. His grandfather had dog agility training with his dog Abby and his mom and grandmother were returning from South Dakota where they had spent the weekend taking care of the other new grandson.

Neither Fuzz or Dakota really knew what to make of Hobbs. But everyone survived the two hours just fine and it was nice we could help out our friend Randy that way.

Fancy New Water Dish

2011-10-09T18:26:00.000-05:00

As everyone knows, Fuzz and Dakota are no ordinary kitties. So of course they do not have an ordinary water dish. For years we have had a "water fountain" type dish as this was something we purchased for Siggie and he really liked it so we continued this with Fuzz and Dakota.

Recently the pump for their dish died and so we needed a new one.

What Rob came home with is a fancy stainless steel water fountain that offers three, that's right THREE, spouts of water and runs into a large pond at the bottom. Dakota drinks from the pond or sometimes where one of the streams hits the center column. Fuzz slurps from where the water comes out of the center column. So now everyone is happy and well watered.

Kitty Helpers

2011-09-21T15:49:00.000-05:00

Tuesday night we had some in-depth discussions on new house topics. One of these was doing our best to evaluate the size of my study to ensure that it was big enough for its planned usage. The study is the planned location for our grand piano which is a large piece of furniture and so we did a lot of measuring.

Fuzz was our big helper for this event.

First he had to subdue the tape measure. Then he had to remove the post-its that we had stuck to the wall to mark off certain dimensions. Such a good helper.

September Caturday

2011-09-10T21:52:00.000-05:00

We enjoyed a nice Caturday today.

We slept late and then aided with help from Fuzz finally got up. We had breakfast together. The humans watched a lots of football including some exciting games. I made significant progress on my El Salvador scrapbook leaving only the last steps of final proof reading, designing the cover, and setting the page backgrounds (although these last steps can be time consuming).

The kitties did a lot of napping on, next to, and near us humans.

It was a good day.

Recovered

2011-09-02T18:26:00.000-05:00

As far as we can tell, Fuzz and Dakota as well as the rest of the house have recovered from hosting their cousins last week. I think Fuzz has totally forgotten about it and Dakota is trying to get us to feed her more canned food as she misses that perk from last week.

Intruders!

2011-08-29T07:23:00.000-05:00

This last week we ~~had intruders~~ hosted visitors. Dakota and Fuzz were polite but distant hosts most of the time. Dakota's preferred location this week was in Rob's lunch box on top of the fridge.

Aggie and Legs had the guest bedroom and we would invite them out several times a day.

What may be unnoticed in this next picture is Fuzz and Dakota sitting at the other end of the hall.

Legs seemed quite content to sit on the bed waiting for her next meal.

Everyone was glad when Mom and Stan arrived to pick up Legs and Aggie.

Dakota taking an afternoon nap in the comfort and safety of Rob's arms.

Preparing for visitors

2011-08-20T15:51:00.002-05:00

Starting tomorrow our two kitty household will expand to a four kitty household. In the weeks since we knew this was going to happen I have been talking with Fuzz and Dakota about being welcoming to our guests and encouraging them to be nice to their cousins.

We have the guest bedroom ready for Legs and Aggie who will be here tomorrow and will stay for (approximately) one week. Fuzz and Dakota seem to know something is up but not exactly what that may be. Rob has positioned a large box in front of the back window which will be a perfect place for a kitty to sit and look out the window. Fuzz has already tested it out and gives his approval.

If things go well we will let all four kitties have full run of the house. If things don't go well we may have to separate them in different rooms but as we have three rooms with doors (four if you count the guest bathroom) everyone can be isolated from everyone else if necessary.

Kitty Help for a Grandmother Shower

2011-08-07T15:05:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday I hosted a Grandmother Shower for my two friends Robin and Sally whose children married each other and have had a baby. Baby and the daughter are staying in Tulsa with the grandparents while her husband is deployed in the Middle East for six months (he is a B1-Bomber pilot with the Air Force).

Of course Fuzz wanted to help.

On Saturday I picked up the cute cake and I put the cake on the washing machine as a safe but out of the way place to store it until the party. A little bit later I was working on getting platters and serving bowls out of the utility room and before I knew it Fuzz was standing on the cake. Of course 16.5 pounds of kitty standing on a decorated cake does not do much for the beautiful decorations.

As you can see, the cake actually survived pretty well and the end result of Fuzz standing on the cake was one of the faces of a teddy bear was smashed up onto the plastic covering. It looked like a cartoon bear who had smashed into a glass window.

I put the cake in a locked room until right before the party. As I set up the cake I cut out the plastic where the frosting was stuck and laid it on top of the cake. At a quick glance most people really didn't notice it and those who did thought the story very funny and my repair job to be very clever.

Later that evening as I was putting everything away Fuzz somehow jumped on top of the cabinets where some of the serving pieces were stored. I am grateful that the cake wasn't subjected to his coming down from up there (as directly below him is where the cake had been originally sitting when he stepped on it).

Good Fuzz....Good Win

2011-08-07T14:56:00.000-05:00

It has been about three weeks since I made the commitment to not allow Fuzz on the dining room table. I use this table as my desk and work there almost every morning and some evenings. Fuzz likes to be with me and would frequently curl up in my arms as I worked on my laptop (so he was on the table with my arms around him as they reached for the keyboard) or lay next to the laptop on the table with his head on my arm.

Very sweet but very against the rules of not allowing the kitties on the kitchen counter, the kitchen table, or the dining room table (even when it is being used as a desk).

This really bothered Rob and finally I knew that I needed to respect this and re-train both Fuzz and myself.

So I started moving Fuzz to the chair beside me. The first days it was a repeated effort of moving him about every 5 minutes. As the days have gone by it has become easier although I still must be diligent to move him. Today I only had to move him once and he settled down in the chair and has been there the entire time.

Fuzz in his new morning spot.

Good Win....Good Fuzz.

Dakota has actually taken my spot on this day.

My "office" - full of kitties

Well Kitty Checkup

2011-07-15T21:43:00.000-05:00

Today Fuzz and Dakota went to see the friendly folks at Arrow Springs Animal Hospital for their annual checkup. The lobby was full of doggies and that didn't sit very well with either Fuzz or Dakota. They both were declared to be in excellent health with Fuzz weighing in at 16.5 pounds and Dakota at 8 pounds.

As Rob carried them towards the house the cat cage started to come apart and although Rob was able to set it down rather than let it crash to the ground Fuzz did escape from it. As far as we know this is the first time he has really been outside and he headed towards the door of the house. Fortunately Rob was able to catch him fairly easily and then return to get Dakota who was sitting in the broken cage looking a bit worried.

We are glad to have two healthy and happy furry friends.

Fireworks

2011-07-09T17:15:00.001-05:00

It has been a while since a Kitty Update. Rob and I went away for a long weekend visit to see my sister and left the kitties here by themselves. My friend Mary Ann came by to check on them twice so they were not as alone as they could have been.

When we got home Fuzz and Dakota were very glad to see us and they kept talking to us and telling us all about how bad we had been to leave them alone for five days.

Later in the week Rob commented that Fuzz didn't seem so big to him right now as he had been exposed to two large dogs for five days and Fuzz isn't nearly as big as they are!

While we were away we visited the Anheiser-Bush Clydesdale breading facility, blew up fireworks, and then watched the fireworks at the City of Fayette.

A baby Clydesdale - about 2.5 weeks old

The remnants of our fireworks

Lantern lifting off

City of Fayette fireworks

The Cat Tower

2011-06-11T16:53:00.000-05:00

The kitties received a Cat Tower for Christmas from my sister and her family. This has been a bit hit with them with Fuzz and Dakota both enjoying it although in different ways.

Rob noticed last week that one entire side of the top panel was ripped away. This presented new ways to use the toy and in some ways has renewed their interest in it.

This is just Fuzz taking a nap in the kitty window.

Gotcha Day +3 years

2011-05-30T21:33:00.001-05:00

Three years ago we brought home two of the most adorable kittens ever. We have enjoyed having Fuzz and Dakota in our lives and we have fun with them every day. Here are some pictures of them showing them "all grown up."

Both the kitties enjoy the recliner.

Such a handsome boy!

Love those baby blues.

Dakota is definitely the more reserved one of the pair.

Dakota is quite fetching too.

Dakota is very sweet but takes time to warm up to strangers.

At the Office

2011-05-05T22:06:00.002-05:00

Today Fuzz went to the office with me. I had made plans to take him with me last night and had everything ready to go and then when it was time to get Fuzz and put him into the crate for the ride he was no where to be found. Maybe he was telling me he wanted to stay home or maybe it was the unsettling construction noises from across the street that sent him into hiding.

I actually left the house without him but then turned around to get something else and he had come of our hiding and so he made the trip with me.

He was very friendly to the dozen or so people who came by my office during the course of the day although one of my visitors was very afraid of cats and a big boy like Fuzz who wanted to climb into his lap was a bit much. Fuzz only escaped twice and only once tried to jump through the window into the office next to mine.

Fuzz didn't like the "riding in the car" part of the adventure today and was certainly glad to be home. Dakota seemed glad to see him too and they spent the evening cuddling together.

Treasure Hunting

2011-04-30T12:51:00.005-05:00

Not surprisingly, kitty toys get lost underneath the fridge. Every few months (or weeks if the kitties are lucky) Rob will get the yard stick out and sweep under the fridge. Just the sound of the yard stick coming out brings Fuzz and Dakota running.

Today not only did Rob get the yard stick out, but he also pulled the front panel off the fridge. This provides much deeper access to the treasures under the fridge.

As you can see, Rob has lots of helpers in this task.

Today's cache: a number of milk rings (Fuzz's), 5 sparkly balls (Dakota's), a hard key lime candy, and a Hersey's kiss (both the candies are probably Fuzz's). There was great rejoicing.

Fuzz Lightyear

2011-04-20T19:03:00.000-05:00

Fuzz making sure that Sherry's birthday present didn't run away.

Dakota Boo

2011-04-16T08:12:00.000-05:00

Dakota has enjoyed being a part of the Easter decorations this year.

Last week we think that Dakota's allergies were bothering her a lot as she was lethargic at times and would shake her head like her ears were bothering her and she really liked having her ears scratched. But she was still beautiful.

Compassion

2011-04-15T21:01:00.004-05:00

This year has been full of various Compassion International related event. I worked the Compassion table at the Extraordinary Women conference in Tulsa in February and then the Acquire the Fire youth event in March and then attend a luncheon here in Tulsa to highlight the work of Compassion and especially the Leadership Development Program.

At the luncheon I met Michelle who is graduating in a few weeks from Moody Bible Institute with her master's degree in Spiritual Development. You might have seen Michelle in some of the Compassion videos of the last few years.

Last week I held the Compassion Sunday event at our church and we had 3 children sponsored. Since then I have been talking to folks at work and in my social networks seeking sponsors for the other 6 children who are currently in my care.

Tents

2011-03-20T06:31:00.004-05:00

Today I woke up laying on my right side facing the outside of our bed. I realized Fuzz was stretched out along my back deep asleep. He was on his back and wedged between my back and a pillow blissfully slumbering.

Later in the day I worked on our taxes (reminding myself that I am blessed to have an income to pay taxes on!) and Fuzz came along and sacked out in a chair next to me. Sometime later, Rob made the chair into a tent by spreading a blanket over it. Fuzz seemed to like it.

We had an errand to run (had to go pick up a friend's dog from being boarded so Abby wouldn't need to be there another night) and as we got ready to leave the house we walked through the front room and spotted Dakota on top of the tent.

On a hunch I decided to look under the tent to see if Dakota was, indeed, sitting on her big brother. Sure enough she was and they both seemed happy about it.

Cat Sociology - A Report

2011-02-22T06:27:00.002-06:00

I saw the clock at 8:08 and heard you in the house, and fell back asleep almost instantly.

At 8:15, the boy starts bouncing on me trying to wake me up (I surmise you have left). It works, but I ignore him so that he doesn't get the idea that it works. But I think he knows darn well it works.

8:25, I come out of the shower with two cats screaming at me that they need me to do stuff. Fuzz just wants to be petted at that point. Dakota wants me to go to the couch apparently.

8:30, I have breakfast in one hand, and am throwing the milk ring with the other. Dakota, that little game wrecker, is tormenting Fuzz so that I am constantly having to convince him that I am throwing the ring in another direction until Dakota moves into position to thwart those throws as well.

8:40, the keyboard is on my lap as I face the office doorway. Fuzz is standing on the keyboard table and has knocked the mouse off. He stares at me, blinking. Dakota is on the white table exercising her lungs.

8:50, I head to the bedroom to get dressed. They are both sound asleep in nests they have made in the blankets.

I have been up for roughly half an hour and this is what I have been contending with.

Snow Days

2011-02-12T11:29:00.006-06:00

Fuzz and Dakota want to share how they spent their snow days over the last two weeks.

Dakota prefers her snow days snuggled in warm, clean laundry.

Fuzz likes to help Rob leave secret messages...and supervising the building of giant snowmen

.

A perfect spot

2011-02-03T06:41:00.002-06:00

Cats always seem to know which paper you are actually wanting to read and of course that is the one they sit on. Cats will always jump in the box just before you reach down to throw it away. Cats also like to fit into enclosed spaces. Fuzz and Dakota are quite typical.

Last Christmas Presents

2011-01-23T18:43:00.000-06:00

Dakota took up residence in one of the grocery store sacks on Friday. Although it is not unusual, I think think it is funny that she repeated takes up residence in plastic sacks and card board boxes whenever they are available.

Here I am showing off a Christmas gift from my sister. Although she ordered it plenty early it was shipped late and so didn't arrive at her house until she was already here for the holidays. It arrived on Friday and will be a welcome edition on my next dive trip.

Compassion International

2011-01-15T13:47:00.000-06:00

As anyone who is around me much knows, I am a big fan of Compassion International and their holistic child development programs and also of Samaritan's Purse an international relief agency. Both work to grow and support the local church as they minister to those in need in the name of Jesus.

I could talk for hours about Compassion and how they work and what they achieve but here is my top 10 reasons that you too should sponsor a child with Compassion.
10. Compassion is known for its fiscal responsibility so you can trust that your money is benefiting the children.
9. Compassion is church-based. This strengthens the local church and provides opportunities for them to develop and grow as they minister to their neighbors.
8. Compassion is committed to integrity. Compassion measures and tracks everything so that they can show outcomes from their programs.
7. Compassion is child-focused. Compassion looks to develop the whole child - body, mind, and spirit.
6. Compassion is Christ-centered. This provides opportunities for the good news of Christ to be presented.
5. Compassion works to connect you to the child you sponsor - through letters and opportunities to visit your child in person.
4. Compassion challenges me to be a better steward and follower of Christ.
3. Compassion allows me to share my great abundance with others in need.
2. Compassion works!
1. Poleth, Endeshaw, Bernardo, Halima, Elen - our Compassion kids.

Won't you join us today and sponsor a child with Compassion International?

Dakota’s Log

2011-01-15T12:20:00.002-06:00

Year-End World Conquest Progress Report, 2010
Work has been slow. The response to my request in last year’s Christmas letter for volunteers to be my cyborg minions was underwhelming. From among all recipients, but one person accepted the call, and it turned out he didn’t even know what a cyborg minion was. Last year I predicted that with competent help, the world would be under my control by now. I was correct. However, I have not gotten the competent help I deserved. It is clear that the greatest obstacle to my taking over the world will be finding qualified support staff.

In spite of the blunders of my underlings, I have made significant progress. The greatest steps since my last report have come through use of my prototype weather dominator machine. While people scoffed even at the possibility that I could control the weather, last year Oklahoma had its first ever recorded blizzard, on Christmas Eve!! With skill and panache, I waited until all our guests arrived and then shut down the entire state with a paralyzing snowfall. The weather was bad enough that everyone stayed home and held a Christmas Eve service at home, complete with a Halleluiah(ish) Chorus. I realize that there are still doubters, so to prove to everyone that I am able to control the weather, I will not allow a blizzard in Oklahoma this Christmas. I believe that this demonstration will persuade most of the populace to surrender to my will.

Personnel Report
In January, I sent Rob & Win on their second reconnaissance cruise since my arrival, this time to scout out potential locations for secret bases of operation along the central west coast of North America. Their cover story was that they were participating in the StatSoft global meetings, with people from the StatSoft offices around the world. They flew to Long Beach, CA on a private jet to begin their mission. Their work was wholly inadequate, though, as they wasted valuable shore days watching wildlife and eating. I was, however, able to determine that their ship, the Carnival Splendor, was ill-suited to my needs for a mobile lair, for it eventually wound up in the news later this year. As it turns out, a fire on that ship ended a cruise on the same itinerary that Rob & Win had taken earlier, stranding it at sea for nearly a week and cancelling future cruises for several months. I need something both more reliable and lower profile for my work. Glancing through our records, I discovered that it is not the first time a ship that Rob & Win have sailed on has had a major fire within a year of their debarkation. The MS Statendam had a cruise-ending laundry fire a few weeks after they had sailed it in Alaska. By my calculations, 15% of the ships they sail catch fire within a year after they sail on it. It makes we wonder, but I really don’t think they are competent enough to pull that off.

When they returned from the cruise, I sent Rob to have surgery on his knee to fix some cartilage that had gotten all whiggy and loopy over the years. When he woke up after the surgery, the first thing he said (and I am not making this up) was to ask the post-op nurse “what’s your favorite joke?” He doesn’t think she told him, but he is apparently much more likable while under the influence of anesthesia. He is also apparently pretty resistant to certain kinds of pain, as the doctors told him he should have been much more uncomfortable, and might ought not have been able to walk, based on what they found in his knee. This information could come in handy some day.

Rob enjoyed his knee surgery so much that he decided to begin some significant dental work during the last week of his physical therapy. The dentist told him that two of his teeth just up and died—something he had only seen a pawful of times in his career (a career that started just a few months after Rob’s career as a baby began). Over the course of treatment, Rob spent about 14 hours in the chair, including cutting, cauterizing, 2 root canals, and 1 tooth removal. The crown I had installed contains a small radio device that should amplify the mind-control signals emanating from the Nintendo Wii, using the plates already in his head as antennae.

And then this summer doctors figured out that Rob’s esophagus was inflamed to the point of only about 50% capacity. I assure you that he was still able to eat enough though. In any event, treatment appears to have been successful, and his career as a sword swallower is back on course.

Beyond the medical trifecta, Rob has been taking care of his parents, and continues to be involved at church as an administrator, a janitor, and a teacher. He taught the adult Bible class several times this year, and has been teaching various kids classes too.

Win has been working extra hard at StatSoft, where she recently became a VP, which I think stands for “Very Portent.” Not only has she been working extra hours to get new products out and working with the other offices to get it sent out, but she got Rob involved in a graphic facelift of the software that I hear is very nice—but so not worth the work they are missing on my projects.

She taught the ladies Bible class at church for several months, and continues her multi-year run teaching the preschoolers. Her small group Bible study has met now for 12 years, and they still haven’t run out of material.

Win also became an Advocate for Compassion International. I have walked her through several on-line and telephone training sessions. She must be important, as they have sent her an official name tag and everything. She likes helping children get sponsored. I have trouble seeing how knowledge about malarial intervention and the like will apply to my overall goals, but I am willing to give her some leeway because she is the best I have to work with.

My Sergeant at Arms, Fuzz Lightyear, has benefited greatly from the meditation techniques I have taught him. He hasn’t climbed the Christmas tree once this year, although he did require an extended time out while we put it up. He is still a thunderbutt, but at least he is learning to control it. Grandpa Alf and Grandpa Sherry continue to come over on Sundays and give me walker rides. Alf’s is using a walker now, but it doesn’t have the right kind of wheels or a seat, so I still cannot have walker races with Fuzz. I am working on that.

Future Developments
In October we felt an earthquake here in Tulsa. It was finally officially rated at 4.7 about 120 miles away. I had intended for it to be centered closer to town, but there are still a few tweaks I need to make on the earthquake machine. Don’t worry, I didn’t let any significant damage happen this time, except the one big glass ceiling at OU—Go WILDCATS!!!!! When the quake happened, Fuzz ran down the hall and hid under the bed for half an hour. If he had done that 30 seconds before the earthquake, it would have been more impressive.

I am pleased to learn that one of the Noren’s Compassion kids, Sibomana, graduated from the program and has joined the equivalent of his nation’s FBI, the Rwandan National Police. Now that is something I can use later. And my influence has reached the universities now, as we have sponsored a college student named Poleth in Honduras. Another positive development.

Rob and Win have disobediently left we brave cats alone for the weekend while they go to San Antonio to see Win’s sister Tracy graduate with her Master’s degree. I am displeased with their failures to obey, but at least it gives me time to focus on my paperwork. I should be able to finish it in time to watch it not snow on Christmas.

Affectionately yours,
Dakota Boo

Helpers for Rob

2010-12-26T22:31:00.001-06:00

Rob's mom received a jewelery armoire for Christmas from Alf. Rob volunteered to put it together. Fuzz and Dakota volunteered to help Rob. Everyone was happy.

Rob also put battery-powered Christmas lights on Alf and Sherry's walkers. They loved having the lights on the walkers and Fuzz and Dakota still like to get walker rides.

Present for Kitties

2010-12-26T14:18:00.000-06:00

Fuzz and Dakota were given a great new toy for Christmas by the Joneses. It is a multi-level play house. Fuzz helped us put it together and he thinks the hanging fish is just awesome. After awhile of playing with the fish he climbed up on top for a nap.

Dakota likes it too.

Christmas Day

2010-12-25T22:32:00.000-06:00

Fuzz took up his post right underneath the tree and wasn't very happy that his presents were disappearing. Dakota hid most of the time although she came out towards the end to inspect the boxes and piles of paper.

We love Christmas

2010-12-21T21:42:00.000-06:00

Fuzz likes to help wrap. We are happy when he is content just to sit in the box of paper. Both Fuzz and Dakota handled their elf collars well, although we are careful about when we put them on as we don't want them to be in a stressful situation before the collars go own.

Christmas is coming soon

2010-12-20T20:08:00.000-06:00

Fuzz and Dakota are both eagerly looking forward to Christmas. Well, maybe that isn't correct. They like the decorations and the warm block under the tree. But they probably won't care too much for the eight nights of company that is coming.

Getting ready for Christmas

2010-12-18T14:15:00.004-06:00

This year we are teaching Fuzz and Dakota to wear Christmas collars. They look so cute - like cat elves.

Fuzz and Dakota both like to sit up with the Christmas stuffed animals too. I guess Fuzz thinks the ET approach to hiding is a good one...

Graduation

2010-12-13T16:16:00.001-06:00

We traveled down to San Antonio to celebrate Tracy receiving her Master's Degree in Organizational Leadership. Fuzz and Dakota had Mary Ann to come an look after them while we were gone. We are all proud of Tracy.

Rob and Win also took the opportunity of driving through Texas to stop and see their dear friends Randy and Louse Beard who live in Holly Lake Ranch.

Rob and Win also spent a day at Sea World. Look at that huge jump!

Snuggle Time

2010-12-05T19:15:00.000-06:00

Still buddies, at least during nap time.

Dakota loves plastic sacks

2010-11-28T20:33:00.001-06:00

Dakota has a thing for thin plastic film. She is constantly licking it. We have no idea why. She really liked the plastic bag from Krispy Kreme. If you look closely in the first and last photos you can see her tongue in action.

Wrestling

2010-11-18T14:12:00.001-06:00

We had an event in our house and in picking up all of the cat toys, one of the cubes ended up on the guest bed. Dakota promptly went and laid on it and then Fuzz came along and wanted to wrestle.

We used to be concerned about Fuzz being so much bigger than Dakota in such wrestling matches, but Dakota holds her own and that isn't something we worry about anymore.

Operation Christmas Child

2010-11-13T22:47:00.002-06:00

Once again, Rob and I are coordinating our church's involvement with Operation Christmas Child. A few weeks back Rob and I went shopping and filled 10 boxes for the 10-14 age boys. These boxes had lots of tools plus some school supplies and hygiene items.

Today, with the help of my friend Belinda, we hosted a packing party for kids and invited the kids from church, kids in our neighborhood, and from our work places. We watched the new VeggieTales Christmas video (highly recommend that one) and then afterwords we packed boxes.

By the time we were finished we had 24 boxes packed and a considerable pile of leftover supplies that we will use at the Ladies Bible Study packing party on Thursday where we expect to pack another 24 boxes.

It isn't too late to join us - grab a shoebox and pack one today!

Cubes & Sunbeams

2010-11-04T17:12:00.000-05:00

Fuzz discovered that the cube was perfectly located to enjoy the pleasures of hanging out in the cube AND in a sunbeam at the same time. Clever boy.

Kitten Nests

2010-10-30T16:32:00.000-05:00

Dakota is sure that we need to turn the heat up as she seeks any pile of blankets, towels, dry laundry, etc. to nest into and warm up her very cold paws.

Sunspots

2010-10-13T19:04:00.000-05:00

Both of the kitties like to hang out in sunspots and it doesn't seem to bother them if that requires that they break the house rules by being on the kitchen table....

On Top

2010-09-17T07:07:00.000-05:00

Dakota has discovered another preposition to try out on the cube -- On Top. Of course that results in a very flat cube, one could almost say it becomes a plane.

Labor Day

2010-09-10T21:05:00.001-05:00

For our Labor Day picnic we had yummy steak and a variety of vegetables. We put Alf to work shucking the corn (he had lots of experience back on the farm so he is pretty good at it) and Dakota was very interested in this actity and tried to climb up to help.

Kitty Close Ups

2010-08-21T14:01:00.000-05:00

I love Fuzz' big soft paws.

We do not like Branson

2010-08-08T18:13:00.000-05:00

Dakota was pretty good at her attempt to make herself look like just "one more thing" that was to go into my suitcase. She even tried it on for size and it fit remarkably well.

The kitties were gravely disappointed when they were left behind for the weekend and even more astounded that a friendly neighbor kitty in Branson West made herself comfortable on our laps. How dare she!?!?

Tea Parties

2010-07-18T19:47:00.000-05:00

Win had the girls and their moms from church over for a tea party. The kitties were not invited....

Cats in a Closet

2010-07-11T13:23:00.000-05:00

Fireworks and a Tea Pot

2010-07-04T23:50:00.001-05:00

We went out to watch fireworks on the evening of the fourth of July and we enjoyed the display.

Upon returning home we found a tea pot on the floor. It had been on the mantel before we left and when we got home it was on the floor in front of the end table about 8 feet away from the brick hearth. What was surprising is that it wasn't broken. The lid to the tea pot was in the basket of cat toys and the basket of pine cones was pushed off the hearth and onto the treadmill. We can only hypothesize that someone (FUZZ) had been up on the mantel and been startled and somehow pushed the tea pot off of the mantel and onto the floor. But how all of the pieces landed where they were and were undamaged is another question that remains unanswered.

Old & New

2010-07-03T17:08:00.003-05:00

The kitties continue to love their cubes, although they are no longer very cubic. Thanks to Aunt Tracy we now have NEW cubes to enjoy.

So one by one the old cubes are going away. Although Dakota went in after this one.

Pretty Dakota

2010-06-11T22:10:00.002-05:00

This week Dakota has taken a liking to my scuba portfolio which presented some nice photo ops during dinner yesterday.

Welcome Home

2010-05-31T12:59:00.003-05:00

We have returned home from our trip to mid-Missouri. The kitties are both very happy to see us. We had traveled up to Columbia for the memorial services for Nancy Jones, my brother-in-law's mother.

The time with Steve and his family and extended family was very nice and we have lots of photos to share. It is just one of those events we all wished were for different circumstances.

Celebrating Rob's Birthday

2010-05-08T09:31:00.002-05:00

This week was quite eventful, especially Thursday. Most significantly we prayed over Nancy Jones' surgery to remove three brain tumors (that is brother-in-law Steve Jones' mother). The surgery went well but the tumors are malignant and we wait in continued prayer for Nancy to be moved out of ICU and for treatment protocols which depend on the pathology reports which are expected next week.

We also celebrated Rob's birthday on Thursday as he turned 42. The kitties gave Rob two, yes that's right, two types of kitty treats AND a kitty brush. What a thoughtful gift.

Of course there was also cake and Fuzz discovered that the cake lid made a perfect resting spot. Watching him spin around before settling down was very funny. In case you are curious we did wipe the lid clean before putting it back on the cake.

Crafty Helper

2010-04-23T21:19:00.000-05:00

I was having a lot of fun making cards the other day with my Cricit machine and software. Fuzz loves to help. I was grateful when he confined himself to my box of paper!

Kitty Princess

2010-04-15T21:16:00.003-05:00

With the cold weather behind us, we removed our big down comforter from the bed. It ended up in a big fluffy pile on our dresser.

Obviously this was the perfect spot for our little princess.

Now there are four

2010-03-20T12:57:00.004-05:00

Fuzz and Dakota still love the cubes they got for Christmas. Daily they play in them, on them, around them, through them, etc. Often it seems as if we are using them to practice our prepositions.

Still photos don't do the joy of the cubes justice so you will need to use your imagination.

We noticed that the cubes, in addition to loosing their cubeness and structural integrity, are also forming weak spots in the fabric. So it wasn't a surprise when a big Fuzz arm poked out of a new hole earlier in the week.

And this post brought to you by...

2010-03-20T12:55:00.004-05:00

Ziploc

Window Washing

2010-03-12T21:13:00.001-06:00

On Sunday I washed the windows of the house. My first step was to wash the outside of the big bay windows in the kitchen. As I was standing on the ladder washing the third one up popped the big blue eyes of Fuzz. He was fascinated by what I was doing and did his best to catch the squeegee as it went by. As I moved to the back door and then the bedroom and bathroom windows and finally the living room windows Fuzz followed me from room to room to watch my work.

Then I worked on the inside. Joy upon joy!

He liked washing the back door and also the front door but his absolute favorite was when I pulled the big bay windows in (the windows are double-hung) and there they were dangling so enticingly above his head. He tried to hang from one and tried to jump up on them, but I stopped that as I didn't want to try to hold the weight of a window and the weight of Fuzz.

Later I sat on the back porch with the back door open but the screen door closed and Fuzz decided he needed to check out the outside of the glass door so I watched as he wedged himself between the glass door and the screen door. There is something funny about a cat wedged into a great tightness with his fur sticking out of the mesh screen.

Tag Team Triumph

2010-02-27T09:39:00.001-06:00

Our neighbor’s cats have been spending a lot of time pestering Fuzz and Dakota through the patio door lately.

The other day the one we call “Momma Cat” was dancing around and banging on the patio door to intimidate Dakota. Dakota was offended by this and began to growl and slap at the window back at Momma Cat, although not nearly as convincingly. Big brother Fuzz heard this and joined in the defense of the house, behind her and to her right. Rob also joined Dakota farther behind her and too her left. When Momma Cat made eye contact with Rob she ran off.

Dakota who had heard Fuzz join her turned around to him in triumph and they gave each other the cat equivalent of high fives. She then started clawing at the carpet and stretching against the window in triumph. Fuzz knew that Rob had scared Momma Cat away, but apparently Dakota never knew he was there, and saw the teamwork between her and Fuzz as a triumphant bonding experience and confidence builder.

Most beautiful cat ever

2010-02-20T18:49:00.004-06:00

Tuesday after Rob's surgery, we ordered pizza for dinner -- from Marco's, my current favorite pizza place in town. The young woman who delivered our pizza asked me what kind of cat we had. Unknown to me, Fuzz had greeted her at the door while I was getting the money. She was struck by his blue eyes and fetching appearance and declared Fuzz the "most beautiful cat she had ever seen."

I suspect Fuzz won't soon let us forget that!

Still no photos

2010-02-13T09:24:00.002-06:00

I have fallen down on my job of taking photos of the adorable Fuzz and Dakota. Rest assured that they are still as cute as ever and they continue to really enjoy the cubes they got from the Jones dogs for Christmas.

We actually opened the 3rd cube before our trip and the last Thursday night, little 4-year old Emily moved all the cubes together and created a triple cube environment that made for even more cube-generated antics. We find it particularly funny when Fuzz jumps on Dakota through the top of the cube when she is sitting inside and the two of them and the cube go tumbling.

I am also happy to report that Dakota is no longer terrified of the Wii. In fact she will even snuggle with Rob as he flies around Woohoo Island and she will sit on the couch as we do other things. Fuzz is more inclined to try and assist me when I am standing on the balance board.

Hopefully there will be photos to share next week, perhaps of the kitties being sympathetic to Rob after his knee surgery on Tuesday.

Welcome home

2010-02-06T12:07:00.002-06:00

The kitties were glad to welcome us home last Sunday. We attended StatSoft's Global Technical Meeting and were gone for a week. Once again we returned to a land of ice and snow as the Tulsa area got 4 more inches of winter weather. We have spent this week unpacking and catching up and everyone is glad that today is a full-blown caterday.

Geometry

2010-01-23T09:44:00.002-06:00

The kitties are practicing their knowledge of geometry. The cubes can be turned into pyramids (which have a square base and triangular sides). The cubes can be rotated in three dimensional space. They have circles on the sides.

The cubes are being played with so much that they are beginning to loose their shape and structural integrity. The most recent play has them standing in them and leaning on a side and turning the cube into a triangle.

Dakota also likes to hide in one (which allows her to see through the loosely woven materials while Fuzz and the rest of us cannot see her). When Fuzz approaches she will jump out and tackle him while still in the cube. The resulting collision looks something like the wicked witch being flattened by the house.

The cubes are still keeping their hold as "best toy in the house!"

Ktties Christmas Letter

2010-01-15T16:43:00.001-06:00

December 2009
Merry Christmas Everybody!!!

This is Dakota, the little girl cat, and future ruler of the world. As the smartest one in the house, I have been training for the past few months to write the Noren Christmas letter—apparently there is a long and glorious tradition of people complaining if Rob writes the letter. Never-the-less, we all love this time of year. I help put up the decorations, and my brother Fuzz Lightyear does what he can to tear them back down. I rest gently beneath the trees, and Fuzz rests proactively inside the trees. But he only needed one time-out while we decorated the big tree, and that’s pretty good. Of course, now our tree is full of bowling ball-shaped holes, and ornaments are consistently scattered about the floor. Fortunately, Rob has tied my Christmas tree down with 65 lb. test line. The tree may take a beating, but it shall not fall (you cannot see it, but I am pounding the desk as I say “shall not fall”). Fuzz is an obedient brother, and an excellent climber, but he will never be a writer. So I will take a moment away from my plans to take over the world to write the Christmas letter and chew on some tempting shiny things.

Our houseboy, Rob, spends a lot of time taking care of his parents and their cat, Shadow, and stuff. And this summer he tried to garden . . . again. He planted zucchini and tomatoes in those upside-down planters you see on TV. FAIL!! I commend him that he kept the plants alive all the way through autumn, but he didn’t get a single zucchini or tomato on those things. It is a distraction to Fuzz and I as we sit in the garden window having our daily strategery meetings. Before we can get to the satellite data analysis, we end up laughing uncontrollably at him. He is so bad that he ruins friend’s gardens just by association. This fall he has been going to football games at an impressive rate, and at every game he went to there was at least one player named Dakota. Awesome!! Nobody names their children Fuzz. A few weeks ago he saw his 300th different Oklahoma high school varsity program play. Let us put that into perspective. For every Spartan who fought bravely and perished at Thermopylae, Rob has seen a team play. It would take three boxes of paper clips for him to have a paper clip for each team he has seen play. He only needs to see 15 more teams to match my IQ. He still does websites, but since that work is drying up lately, he is devoting more of his available energies toward learning new technical skills and software. And he is “learning” how to use his new iPhone. Good luck with that, Mr. “Can’t Find Anything In The Pantry.” At least he has learned to send a text now. He must improve through all this training if he is to serve me adequately when I take over the world.

Win holds much more promise. Like me, she is super smart, and always a little bit chilly. She left me alone with the boys for a week in October while she went to El Salvador on a Compassion International tour. While she was there, she learned about pupusas, which we are learning how to cook here (look it up—I’m far too important and busy to explain such trivialities), and she got to meet Bernardo, one of the Compassion kids we have sponsored for many years. She had a wonderful trip, and came back safely just a week before the flooding in that country. Many areas she visited were severely damaged by all the water and mudslides. She has been a little distracted by those things, and it is hard to get in any quality snuggling with her when that happens. She has connections around the world I will soon exploit as she continues as Director of Global Operations at StatSoft. I have full confidence she will take on that role in my own global empire soon. She also helps take care of Rob’s parents, and her legs are comfortable to sleep on.

Doubters of my prowess take heed, for my plan to take over the world is proceeding ahead of schedule. Toward the end of last winter, I sent Win & Rob on a mission to scout out possible locations in the Southern Caribbean for a key element of my global takeover. I arranged for them a lovely cruise on the MS Blankydam, from which they reconnoitered the islands of Aruba and Curaçao, including being dropped off from a tour bus at a beach which unbeknownst to Rob & Win, but beknownst to several middle aged ladies there, was topless. I don’t know what that means exactly, but I presume that the beach didn’t have a hat on. In the end, they did not meet any of their mission objectives (I wonder why). So instead of finding a suitable island lair for my Weather Domination Machine, they bought cheese.

Rob & Win both spend a lot of time away from us at Heritage Bible Church. Win is teaching ladies Sunday School and a children’s church class right now. Rob does a lot of administrative stuff (with my help, of course) and taught the Wednesday night Bible Class all through November.

Rob’s parents come over on most Sundays after church for dinner, and Grampa Sherry gives us rides on her walker. We could play with her all day. I am way better at it than Fuzz is. He even fell off once. But every queen needs a jester. Too bad Shadow doesn’t like to come over. We could play with her all day too.

We have a new addition to the house. Around Thanksgiving, Rob & Win brought home a bouncing Nintendo Wii. I am developing applications for that game system that will train them to be cyborg warrior minions. I need cyborg warrior minions (volunteer via e-mail at noren at warepig dot com, or leave a comment on my blog www.norencats.blogspot.com). I find the built-in mind control feature of the Wii to be both refreshing and delicious. But training people with this device is proving difficult, and Win whacked me in the head while pretend bowling. I had noticed a flaw in her technique, and approached her to offer instruction. I failed to account for her lack of catlike reflexes and coordination. It was my fault, but don’t think I haven’t been milking that for all it’s worth—I may be planning to take over the world, but I’m still a cute little cuppy cake and need lots of attention.

With competent help, by this time next year, the world should be under my control. As a recipient of this letter, you may be confident that you are already on the list of “cooperative” personages, and will be treated well under my rule. But, when the time comes, I advise you to make wise decisions.

Affectionately Yours,
Dakota Boo

In mourning

2010-01-09T12:45:00.004-06:00

The kitties are both in mourning.

Their beloved Christmas trees have been put away. Somehow trying to explain that the trees are "only temporary" doesn't work so well. They both really didn't like us taking down the tree and putting it away although they have also been helpful as we have been working in the boxes and packing materials.

Dakota will need to find someplace else to sit for the next 10.5 months.

Kibbies and their Cubes

2010-01-04T21:03:00.007-06:00

The “kibbies” received a great gift from Steve and Tracy’s “dawgs” for Christmas. It is a set of three collapsible/flexible cubes. These cubes are each about 18” high and are made of tevak-like materials and three of the six sides have large entrance holes. These cubes can be connected with Velcro and additional accessories are available although so far we have only opened up two of the three cubes and left them free standing.

Much like a cardboard box and a young child, these cubes have been great fun for both Fuzz and Dakota. They offer a place of simple shelter when there was too much commotion in the house but they still wanted to be “where the action was.” The cube would be dragged underneath the piano where it was less accessible to people and yet still accessible to the kitties. I would walk into a room and find one cube moved half-way across the floor. One kitty would sit or lay inside it and the other would bat from the outside.

Sunday, Dakota was sitting in the red cube which was arranged so that the openings were at the top and bottom of the cube and on the left side. Dakota’s head was poking out of the top and as Fuzz approached her she ducked her head inside. She then started batting at him from the inside. Fuzz then took a flying leap and landed on top of her and the cube sending everything tumbling over.

Monday morning Fuzz took Dakota’s new Ratigan (a large rat-size “mouse” named for a character in the Great Mouse Detective which is a great movie by the way) into the cube. Fuzz doesn’t usually like to play with Ratigan but when we get a new one he will play with it for a while, perhaps because it has a stronger catnip smell or perhaps to bug Dakota). The cube has rolled all over the living room while Ratigan flies around in- and out-side of the cube. Fuzz has been all over the cube, in all dimensions, and with all sorts of body parts in and out of the cube. The pictures don’t really do it justice as the action isn’t captured, but it is very fun to watch the cube rolling all over the place with a very happy cat inside.

Later in the morning I saw that Dakota had taken over where Fuzz left off and she was playing with Ratigan and the cube with great vigor. A fun morning for the kitties.

Christmas concludes

2010-01-01T10:34:00.003-06:00

I will get some photos published soon, but today as the new year starts, we are home resting and recovering (and of course watching football). My family was here for Christmas day and a few days after that. The blizzard resulted in some changed plans but nothing too much (although a week later we still have 5 inches of snow on the ground around my house). We had a lot of fun playing Wii with family and exchanging gifts. The kitties continue to love the cubes and that is the photo they will likely show off once I get the photos downloaded.

Sherry was released from the hospital on Monday which allowed us to celebrate Christmas with the Noren side of the family on Tuesday as scheduled. The Wii saw a lot of use with the Baker-Noren kids and since they left Rob and I have tried our hand a few new things that we watched them try (archery for one). It was great to see the Baker-Norens and spend time with them.

Today our home is quiet and although it is only 10:30am I think it is time for a nap...The kitties are already showing me how it is done.

A day to remember

2009-12-25T23:28:00.002-06:00

This Christmas will be remembered for a long time to come. Tulsa was part of a historic blizzard. I don't know the official total of how much snow we got here but the 8" tall bird feeder was buried under the snow drift and we seemed to have that much on the driveway too.

So not only did we have a lot of snow (and of course ice because this is Oklahoma) to cancel Christmas eve services and make travel treacherous and impossible for some of our expected guests (and extend the stay of other guests), we also had an unplanned trip to the hospital.

This morning when Rob made the heroic trip to the apartment to pick up Rob's folks to bring them over for the day the trip instead turned into a trip to the ER for Sherry to receive treatment for her infected foot. At one point they also believed she had a fracture in her leg but that turned out not to be the case. Sherry has been admitted to the hospital for further treatment.

Of course that wasn't in the schedule for the day and brought many changes to our plans. In the midst of all of this we ate lots of delicious food (minus the rolls that I forgot to make), exchanged many nice gifts -- including some great toys for Fuzz and Dakota of which photos will be posted soon, and played various games on the Wii.

It isn't how we planned to spend the day but we are blessed.

We're Famous!

2009-12-22T06:52:00.003-06:00

Yesterday we received the newsletter for Animal Aid (the Tulsa organization through whom we adopted Fuzz and Dakota). Rob had sent them a letter with a report on Fuzz and Dakota's first year (that letter was sent about 8 months ago) and included a few photos. We wanted to thank them for their work and share the happy lives of our little kitties.

The entire front of the newsletter was a reprint of this letter including two cute photos of Fuzz and Dakota. Obviously we are very proud!

Christmas is coming

2009-12-19T12:53:00.003-06:00

Christmas is fast approaching. Dakota is putting the finishing touches on the Christmas letter, we have "fixed" the tree and strategically placed shiny ribboned-gifts around it as a Fuzz distraction, and we are making our lists and checking them twice as we prepare for the arrival of family later this week.

Wii Injury

2009-12-12T11:14:00.002-06:00

Rob and I got a Wii recently. We have only played together twice, most recently Tuesday night. We went bowling. In the middle of the second game Dakota walked in front of me just as a "threw" the bowling ball. I ended up whacking her quite hard.

Of course this startled her and probably hurt too. She ran out of the den like a bolt of lightening and into the living room where she jumped up on the piano and knocked a tea set into the piano which caused a big racket. Dakota doesn't like the sounds of the piano so this contributed to her tizzy. She ran back into the den and into the kitchen and up on the refrigerator where she knocked stuff off the fridge.

Rob was trying to catch her and got a hold of her but she jumped free and ran back into the living room and then into our bedroom where she went under the bed. By the time we caught up with her I could see her under the bed with her tail as big as a bowling ball and her eyes wide as saucers. Fuzz was there and he was all bushy too. We were unable to reach her but her big brother made his way to her under the bed to provide a little comfort. We ended up leaving her in the bedroom with the door closed. About 30 minutes later we checked on them and Dakota was out sitting on my dresser but very spooked although by the end of the evening it seemed as if she had forgotten that anything had happened. As far as we could tell there were no real injuries from the incident.

Since Tuesday night we have been watching Dakota and she has been holding her left paw up when she sits although she has been running, jumping, and chasing Bubba Fuzz as usual. Today it seems to be bothering her more and we suspect that she has tweaked it and she may essentially have a sprained wrist. We will continue to watch her and may end up having to shut her in one of the bedrooms (or maybe even the carrier although that is quite small) to keep her from running and jumping and allow her paw time to heal.

Oh Christmas Tree

2009-12-05T17:43:00.003-06:00

Like last year, both of the kitties really like the Christmas trees. Dakota goes back and forth between the two trees sitting underneath the tree for hours at a time. She won't even move when loud noises get nearby. Fuzz, like last year, likes to climb the big tree. And this year he weights almost twice as much as he did last year.

We came home from church Wednesday and found a gaping hole in the side of the tree and 12 ornaments on the floor although the photo doesn't show the hole very well. Rob has actually tied the tree to the wall with 65-pound test line to make sure it stays upright.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-28T14:26:00.005-06:00

We had a nice Thanksgiving that was a bit on the small side this year. But we are probably one of the few places where the green beans get such attention.

You might think this is a post-dinner picture but actually it was a pre-dinner picture.

Are you my Sponsor?

2009-11-13T19:47:00.009-06:00

Daniel, Rafael, Steffany, Stephanie, Luis and Paola have an important question for you....
Are you my Sponsor?

"Are you my Sponsor?" -- Daniel

"Are you my Sponsor?" -- Rafael

"Are you my Sponsor?" -- Steffany

"Are you my Sponsor?" -- Stephanie

"Are you my Sponsor?" -- Luis

"Are you my Sponsor?" -- Paola

I did learn that Santa Maria Ostuma was devistated by the flooding and mudslides. I have seen vidoes and photos from the Compassion Bloggers Trip that concluded today and saw people that we spent time with during our two days in Ostuma. Compassion is taking donations to help the people rebuild their homes and lives and will post more information as their local staff provides it.

Waiting on News

2009-11-10T10:58:00.000-06:00

As you may have heard there were significant mud slides in El Salvador on Sunday. I know that Osmunda where we spent two days is about 3 miles from one of the towns that is now under mud and boulders. I know that there is flooding near the airport -- which is where Bernardo lives. I know that about 20 Compassion projects have been affected.

I don't know which ones.
I don't know whether Bernardo has been directly affected.
I don't know if precious Jasmine still has a home.

So we wait for news and lift up these people to our God.

He knows.

Crockpot Kitty

2009-11-07T13:36:00.001-06:00

Dakata would like it even better if it was slightly warm! The look she gave when we removed her was like lasers.

Papusas at home

2009-11-05T20:35:00.000-06:00

Monday night Rob and I tried our hand at making papusas. For a first try they turned out pretty good. We need to use more water, a different type of chese and higher heat. But it was good enough that we will try again.

Letters

2009-11-05T06:54:00.005-06:00

We all love to get main, especially the old-fashioned "snail mail." There is just something special about someone taking the time to write and post something which goes beyond the (often false) connecting of email and text messages.

Compassion Sponsored Children are no different than we are in this respect -- they love to get mail and mail from their Sponsors are prized possessions and are kept with special care. Did you know that a copy of every letter that you send to the Sponsored Child is kept by the Project in your child's file? So is a copy of every letter they send you. The children often have special boxes where they store the letters that they receive.

These letters are a source of hope, they are a tangible expression of God's love in the desperate circumstances that they live in. I met a number of sponsored children that, even at the ages of 17 and 18, still carry the first letter they received from their sponsor with them where ever they go. Your letters matter. They make a difference.

The Compassion office in El Salvador sends out 3000 letters from children each week and receives about 1600 letters from sponsors each week. Each letter is tracked, translated, and delivered by a team of dedicated workers. It is an impressive operation.

If you sponsor a child, whether through Compassion or some other organization, take time to write them today. If you don't sponsor a child please consider doing so. Your life can be changed through this investment in the life of another. Compassion even offers a super-simple way to write your child on-line. Not only is this easy, letters sent this way are received faster because they do not have to be shipped to the local country but are rather delivered electronically to the local country office where they are printed and then go through the translation and delivery process.

Joy in the Midst of "Nothing"

2009-11-04T07:23:00.009-06:00

As I reflect on the experiences of last week and "play with" my pictures, singular thoughts are surfacing.

On Sunday we went to a church service in Zaragoza, El Salvador and afterwords the large group was split into smaller groups to visit home of families involved in Compassion's Child Survival Program.

From the point of view that I normally hold, these families have "nothing." They live in houses constructed from tin or tarps or maybe even the springs of mattresses. The floor is packed dirt and their "living rooms" open to the sky. They might have electricity but they do not have running water. Whereas I can turn on the tap and access as much water as I want. AND I can drink it -- right from the tap -- without fear of getting sick.

We often say "God is good....all the time." Yet I wonder -- would I be able to say that, would I have an attitude of joy if these were my living conditions. Yes, bad things happen in my world -- jobs are lost, children die, accidents happen. But my life isn't a struggle to survive. Even in the big ice storm two years ago when all of central and northeast Oklahoma was covered in a blanket of ice and we didn't have electricity for a week, we still had warm water and food to eat.

The people that I spent the day with in Zaragoza were full of joy. Their hope comes only from the Lord as that is the only source of it. There isn't any option to find (false) joy from the "stuff" that I tend to fill my life with. These people were passionate about their love of God and they knew Him as the Provider of everything.

Zaragoza (Sunday 10-25)

2009-11-02T07:10:00.004-06:00

I'm having trouble uploading the photos this morning. So check out my Facebook album.

Bernardo Antonio Martinez Lopez

2009-10-29T22:52:00.004-05:00

I am still processing everything from today and there is much to tell, but here are a handful of photos. The children and our translators were all standing on the train when we arrived at the children's musuem. They had signs with their names on them along with their sponsor's name. Somewhere in this waving croud is Bernardo and my first task is to find him.

Here we are meeting for the first time. Bernardo's twelth birthday is Sunday.

There were many different exhibits at the museum that gave us activities to do together.

Here Bernado is in the cockpit of a 747. We also saw a model of the Apollo 11 landing craft and I was able to share with Bernardo that Alf (Rob's dad) worked on the Saturn 5 rocket that launched men on the way to the moon.

The butterfly house was especially beautiful.

Bernardo seemed genuinely excited by the (Spanish) Bible that we gave him.

Much too quickly it was time to say adios. One of the last things Bernardo said to me was to ask me if he will see me again.

A few photos

2009-10-28T23:15:00.005-05:00

A few photos from Wednesday Teresa and the (armed) guard at the hardware store
Ceclia with the ground corn from the mill
Terri and Sherri removing the kernals from the dried corn

Making tortillas
The before picture
Win holding a chicken
Washing clothes by the river
Our group not so easily carrying the water
Isabella easily carrying the water
And here I am carrying the water
Paul at the end of the journey

Wednesday in Santa Maria Osmunda

2009-10-28T23:09:00.000-05:00

This morning I was awake before the alarm and showered and went out poolside to post some photos on the blog (as I had copied all the photos over to the commuter lat night. This actually took quite a long time but I figured out a reasonable system and did manage to post the selected photos before we left for our day.

I had fresh fruit, a potato cake, and an papusa for breakfast and then it was time to load up the busses to return to Santa Maria Osmunda. We made a stop at a hardware store where various supplies were purchased – chicken wire to construct a chicken coop for one family where the chicken were being killed by the wildcats in the area, wood, nails for repairing the walls, buckets, and various other items.

Our group wasn’t sure what we were going to do beyond repairing the hole in the wall and fetching water, but we went there with willing hearts to serve alongside this family. When we arrived we were amazed to see that the front porch was all cleaned up and then we discovered that the entire house had been cleaned – all of the clothes were folded and somehow stored and the place looks so much better than yesterday. I wonder why the change and whether our visit had anything to do with this as you would normally have thought that she would have cleaned up prior to our visit yesterday rather than afterwards.

Our translator, Enrica, and the woman from the Child Center, Dora, were great blessings to us this day also and we would not have been able to do what we did today without them. John and Paul set to work repairing the hole and later dug steps out of the hillside while the women walked to the mill which we were surprised to learn was just next door. We watched the cooked corn being ground into the paste used to make tortillas (and papusas) and then we were invited to help remove the kernels from the dried corn and during this I got some great photos. They family that own the mill then showed us how they cook it with water and some calcium oxide which breaks down the outside of the kernel, this is then milled, and we then watched them build up the fire to cook the tortillas. The woman them deftly made beautifully round tortillas. Sandi then tried her hand at it and struggled – like five times – to make a suitably round tortilla. I had observed Dora showing Sandi how to do it and so when I tried it, I did a pretty good job. In the end we were given our handiwork.

When we returned to the home Isabella was making tortillas and we all tried to do that too and about that time John and Paul pulled up in a car returning from the next town over with 3 brand new water jugs. I heard later that as they finished the two jobs and were trying to figure out whether this town had any place to purchase water jugs when on of the project leaders pulled up to the top of the hill and was running to the next town for supplies and so the two guys joined in.

At that point it was time for us to return to the Student Center for lunch which was rice and a nicely seasoned piece of beef along with fresh tortillas. At the end of the meal they set up a projector to show a slide show of our trip so far but I snuck out to try and print off a few photos to share with the family. I was successful at this and on the way back to Isabella’s home we saw Celia and Joshua on their way to school and I gave them each their photos. Once we arrived we took the water jugs and headed for the river – little did we know what we were in for.

We walked back towards town and then turned off the road and headed down a steep cobblestone path. The slope was as steep as 45 degrees for a good part of the path and I know my knees will pay for this tomorrow. It took us probably 30 minutes to walk down the path and it was a tough walk. Along the way were some stunning vistas of the countryside and I held a chicken.

We finally reached the bottom and found a washhouse for bathing along with a pavilion set up for washing clothes. Each of the “wash units” was in use and it was interesting to see how they washed the clothes by hand. We filled up the jugs from the water coming out of the pipes and started the incredible journey back to Isabella’s home.

The jugs held about 5 gallons each meaning that each weighed about 40 pounds (although there was one smaller one that was 3 or 3.5 pounds making it 30 pounds or so Isabella put the jug on her head and slowly but steadily walked up the steep path. Dora did the same, the three men put the jugs on their shoulders while the 3 remaining women took turns carrying the jug in pairs. While Isabella and Dora never were breathing heavily or broke a sweet while the rest of us huffed and puffed our way up and were soaking wet by the time we finished the journey. At some point, maybe about 2/3 of the way to the top Terri put the jug on her head and made it the rest of the way. When we reached the top we stood in the shade while we waited for Paul, Sandi, and Enrica to finish their climb. When we were ready to start the journey again, I put the water jug on my head and managed to walk the rest of the way to Isabella’s home. While it was hard it was easier than carrying the jug in our hands.

When we finally reached the home we all, including me, had a new understanding of walking in the footsteps of the poor and a new appreciation of the task of fetching water. We spent some time just being with Isabella and Jasmine and I passed out a bag of candy for everyone to enjoy one and left it with Isabella. Before we left we gathered for prayer over the family.

More photos from Santa Maria

2009-10-28T08:41:00.003-05:00

Playing with the kids at the end of the day. Clearly they were having a great time.

Win and Stephanie, one of the Project workers.

Our Daniel in the Lion's Den skit

A cute little girl who was sitting in front of me.

Being greeted upon our arrival.

Parachute fun

More parachute fun

And more!

And more

Fashion show, this young woman made this dress in the Compassion project.

Home visit in Santa Maria

2009-10-28T08:35:00.005-05:00

Pictures from our home visit. The one room house.

Front of the home.

Jasmine

Santiago

Inside of the one room home

The family: Isabell, Celia, Santiago, and Josphine (the father was working in the fields)

Pictures of Tuesday, Part 1

2009-10-28T08:05:00.003-05:00

I'm having trouble uploading so check back later for more pictures from Tuesday

Come and join the Salvation Train!
I am happy because Jesus lives in my house
Children eating snacks provided by the Compassion program
Sandi and little Victoria
The cook at the Compassion project in Santa Maria -- she has been cooking for the children for 10 years and she declares that no one can make the snacks like she can.

Most of Tuesday

2009-10-27T23:03:00.000-05:00

This morning I woke up around 4am and slept fitfully after that and even heard Cathy laughing in a dream. Eventually I got up a little bit before 6am and was leaving the room about 6:15. I left the room and stopped by the front desk to arrange a wake-up call for Cathy and then had the English instructions for the Gospel Bracelets copied. The bellman who copied the pages were reading the booklet and said “so you are a Christian.” I said yes and went on to ask him if he was. He said “sort of” and then I asked if he knew Jesus and he said that he did. Later as we left the hotel I gave him a copy of the booklet in Spanish. I then went poolside where I copied photos off of my camera and managed to post a few pictures on the kitty blog but I didn’t have time to write this morning.

Next I went to breakfast where I enjoyed kiwi and pineapple and two cheese papusas. A lot more of our group were having papusas this morning after being introduced to them last night. I decided that the papusas last night were better than the one that the hotel makes.

We met up in the lobby to depart at 8am. As we left the hotel the meeting facility at the front of the hotel was holding some huge event, perhaps a government-related event as there were a large security presence, security guards standing by with metal detecting wands, guard dogs, and a TV camera. The number of security guards that we have seen – all armed – is really incredible and is certainly a different way of life. Even though the national office is located in a good neighborhood that is generally safe they had armed security outside and heavy security monitoring (although the guards at the Compassion office don’t show their weapons).

The drive to the Child Development Center in Santa Maria took about 90 minutes and was through beautiful countryside. The roads were quite good and we passed many many busses full of people going to work or wherever they were headed. .I took the little laptop with me and journaled for about an hour which got me caught up through bedtime last night. Along the way we saw goats and cows along the side of the road. On the way back we passed a large herd of cows walking down the street and our bus had to stop until they had moved down the road.

This student center has existed for 10 years and we are the first sponsors to visit. They church that runs the center is one of the oldest evangelical churches in El Salvador having existed for about 100 years. As we arrived near the center the kids were lined up on both sides of the road, waving streamers, and shouting greetings. We were encouraged to greet the children, hug them, as we made our way into the church.

The church is a large cinderblock building which could easily hold several hundred people. The project was arranged outside leaving a large square in the center. The sponsors were seated at the front of the room and we were treated to a program that the children presented. The program was excellent and had clearly been practiced repeatedly and had really cute costumes. The first part was the “Salvation Train” and about 7 kids were each a car of train and they were inviting their friends to invite Jesus into their lives and join the Salvation Train. Next up was a song about “Jesus being in my house” and how Jesus in their lives makes them happy and Jesus is always with them. The program concluded with a skit of Jonah and the Big Fish encouraging obedience.

The sponsors then took the stage where we each introduced ourselves, where we were from, and our favorite animal and we had to make the sound of the animal and/or the motions of the animal. We were introduced to all of the staff of the center and their role. While there were several who had been with the center for 7 or 10 years (such as the cook who even though she had burned her face today insisted that no one can make the snacks like she could) most of the staff had only joined the center within the last year. It was then snack time and we helped to serve the sandwiches and the horchata, a drink that the children clearly enjoyed. We then had a bit more time to hug and love on the children before we moved back into the church for a fashion show.

Five of the girls modeled their work and it was quite impressive and clearly are skills that are marketable and will provide these young women with a good source of income. One showed off a pleated skirt, one a nice sundress with matching headband, the next a business suit of the type worn by teachers, and the four another type of business suit, and the last one a skirt.

We then were divided into our family groups for the home visit. Our group walked down the road about ¾ of a mile to a one-room home for a family of five. Isabel was the mother and the father was out working in the field which they rent for $18 each growing season. They have 3 children: Secilia age 10, Joshua age 8, and Jasmine age 4. The house was constructed of tin sheets although there was a pretty good size hole at the top of one of the walls where the rain comes in. I did not see any signs of electricity or water and we learned that all 5 of the family sleep in one bed. There were a lot of clothes in the house which actually took up a lot of the space. Outside was a kitchen and around back was a pit toilet and a shelter where the family cow lives. I was quite surprised to walk around back and be greeted by the large cow. There were a number ducks around the outside of the home as well as dogs hanging around and many neighborhood children and also a little bitty kitten who could not have been more than 8 weeks old. In fact this was the first cat that I have seen in El Salvador although I saw a second one on the way back to the center.

The family’s water supply is the river which is a 20 minute walk from their home. While I saw several water jugs (perhaps 5 gallons each) I did not notice if they had any larger place to store water. Tonight as we discussed our visit to this home we discussed how this family uses all of its time and energy to simply survive. The mother’s dream for her children were for them to get an education and to follow the Lord but when the entire day is spent fetching water, taking meals twice a day to your husband in the field and manually grinding corn to make the basic foods there is not much time for anything else. Tomorrow we will return to this home and our plans are to repair the hole in the wall and walk down to the river to fetch water and we are seeking God’s guidance as to what else we could do to come alongside this family.

One of the other groups visited a single mother with eleven children. This mother has no support other than having a few of her children (2 or 3, I’m not sure) enrolled in the Compassion program. That group was going shopping tonight to buy food and some other basic supplies to provide for the family tomorrow.

As we walked back to the center from the home we visited we passed another group that was gathered around the mother and grandmother who were making tamales. We were invited to come into the home and see too. I am guessing that these women sell the tamales as they were making such large quantities. In the back of their home was a squash orchard/vineyard and it was growing much like a grape vineyard and they had some chairs and even a little building under the canopy of shade. In the back was also an orange tree.

I am running out of time to write about the rest of the day, so will post more later, but in brief we returned to the Center where we had lunch, and then we did our VBS program which consisted of singing, our skit about Daniel in the Lion’s Den (I was a great lion!), and then we separated into six groups to do the gospel bracelets. They were a huge hit and with one of the younger groups the mothers wanted to get bracelets for themselves and their other children. The enthusiasm and dedication that the people of the supporting church who runs the local Project really speaks to their love of God and the understanding that is it only through God that there is hope anyone.

After the craft time we walked down to the soccer field and many of the sporting equipment that the folks on the tour brought for this Center were there for the kids to play with. The parachutes were a BIG hit and enthusiastic fun went on for about 90 minutes before it was time for us to get on the bus and head back to San Salvador to our hotel.

Monday's Report

2009-10-27T22:56:00.005-05:00

This morning I woke up feeling better than last night but still experiencing the after-effects of the allergic reaction. I was up early enough to get my shower and have a nice breakfast but not enough time to write and journal, although I did a quick check of email. I am glad of my choice of clothes that I brought as they are culturally appropriate and comfortable for the weather. I have also chosen not to do anything with my hair and makeup which not only saves time but the effort is hardly worth it in the heat and humidity.

For breakfast I enjoyed a papusa and fresh fruit and managed to get one cup of tea – although the Salvadorans use a lot of milk in their coffee and tea and thus the tea is pretty milked-down by the time you are able to stop the eager waiter with the pitcher of milk.

Today was spent at the national office for Compassion in El Salvador. We loaded up our two buses for the 30 minute trip to the office. I am in family group #3 we ride in “autobus pimera” which is the larger of the two busses and is likely a bit more comfortable than the smaller bus. As we pulled into the Compassion compound we were all amazed at the beautiful facility and grounds. I learned later that they have moved into this new facility only a year ago and they have built it with lots of room for expansion with future growth in mind. This has coincided with the addition of two more Compassion programs, the Child Development Program for 0-3 year olds and the Leadership Development Program for college students.

We were welcomed into the facility by many of the workers and we joined them for their weekly devotion which included singing, a message from Genesis 41 about three qualities of a leader: relevance, hope, and compassion. All of us on the tour were asked to introduce ourselves and I did almost my entire introduction in (broken) Spanish. I said my name, where I was from, and how many children we sponsor – essentially all in Spanish!

As I sat during this devotion time, I could almost feel the swelling in the left side of my throat go down. By the time we stopped for the morning snack it was significantly better. I found that I was able to swallow much easier and that made me realize how difficult it was to swallow earlier.

After the introductions we moved to an outside pavilion for snacks and a time to visit with the staff. We were served donuts from Mister Donut and we were surprised that what appeared to be normal glazed donuts were actually filled with custard. During this time I visited with Becca and then we learned about the hydroponics program that Compassion El Salvador has started during the last year. The hydroponics program was funded through a Complimentary Intervention Program that Compassion funds to specific grant requests. They are teaching the children to grow food at the Projects and then this is then reproduced in the children’s home. This has gathered a lot of excitement and they are seeing the success of this as children and the Projects bring the “firstfruits” of the work back to the national office.

Guillermo, the Country Director, then gave a presentation about the problems facing El Salvador. Guillermo has been the Country Director for 5 years and has worked at Compassion for 11 years. El Salvador is the smallest country in Latin America and the limited amount of land has been a source of strife in the country for many years. El Salvador has one of the highest population density in Central America. The second civil war lasted for 12 years and ended only about 20 years ago. Since then violence has continued to plague the country coming from a growing influence of gangs. Guillermo shared with us that on Saturday, just two days ago, the father of his son’s roommate was shot as he delivered bread in a community as he had not paid the “rent” to the local gang. The murder rate in El Salvador is 50 per 100,000 which is almost twice that of Latin American (27 per 100k) and 10 times that of the world rate (5 per 100k). Many people have left El Salvador for reasons related to the violence and also seeking better opportunities. In fact of the 9 million Salvadorians only 6 million actually live in El Salvador and the other 3 million have left the country.

Compassion does most of its work in the most violent areas with 58% of the projects located in the top crime rate areas and they seek to enroll non-believers in the program. I was surprised to learn that Compassion does not work with Catholic churches but only Evangelical churches and the consistency of their work and the demonstration of love has gained these churches some measure of protection in their communities. We learned about Pastor Pepe who was threatened by the gangs and was considering leaving the area as many people flee in the middle of the night when threatened in order to escape but he declared that he would not abandon his sheep when the wolf was coming.

Our next activity was a tour of the office. We met the woman who oversees the Child Development Program which has just started this year and in which they have 5 projects each with about 40 units enrolled. We also met the woman in charge of the Leadership Development Program which also started this year and currently has 18 students and this week they are selecting 2 more. We visited with the Partnership Facilitator, Hector, where we learned that families are limited to enrolling 3 children and the 3rd child can only be enrolled if there is a real need demonstrated. This limit is so that as many families can be impacted by the programs as possible. We discussed the problem of the lack of fathers in the lives of the children and Hector said that in the region he works that 80% of the children live either with their grandparents or with single mothers and don’t have a father in their lives.

Compassion has 158 projects in the country of El Salvador with 35,000 children enrolled and 82% of these have sponsors. Each year Compassion HQ provides a growth target that tells the national office how many new children they can enroll in the program which is based on growth projections from the rate of sponsorship growth. The number of sponsored children has doubled in the last 10 years from 500,000 to 1 million and they are expecting to double again, to 2 million, in 5 years. The new office facility that we visited today is equipped for this growth with many empty desks and an entire floor that is not in use.

It was very interesting to see the benefits that Compassion receives from various technologies and how this is really an important component of their ability to support the 1 million children and be poised to support even more. Of course on the most interesting areas to learn about was the letter writing department. They send out 3000 letters every week and receive about 1600 a week. Local people come once a week to pick up a packet of letters and translate these at home as contract labor. The letters are received from Colorado on Monday and Tuesday and the letters are sent to Colorado on Friday. The package that was sent to Colorado last Friday weighed 75 pounds. The children in El Salvador are required to write 3 letters a year plus letters to acknowledge gifts. The process in El Salvador takes about one month and the process in Colorado takes about a month. This means we should plan for a letter to take 2-3 months to arrive.

For lunch we went to an Argentinean restaurant where we ate a very yummy (and large) selection of meats. I had the privilege of sitting near Guilliermo, the Country Director, and learning more about him and how Compassion works here. I asked him how they selected staff to work for Compassion as it is clear that everyone we met has a heart for the Lord and shares the vision of Compassion. I asked about the fact that many of the families we have met where there is a father the parents may have been together for many years but only married recently. Guillermo said that this is quite common and that people get married so late in their relationships (it seems a bit silly that someone has been together for 30 years and only gotten married 10 years ago) as the church encourages the parents to get married and as the parents come to know Jesus and participate in the local church they tend to get married.

Finally it was time to return to the hotel. We met in the afternoon to prepare for our VBS activities and so I had to sort all of the stuff that I brought to keep the items for Bernardo. I had a large pile of sporting equipment and when we brought all the stuff together I waddled down the hall with the three large net bags and two more bags with the gospel bracelet supplies. I felt a bit self conscience but a few of the men who work with Compassion and are on an “anniversary” trip came up to me later and thanked me for supplying so much to bless the children.

We divided all of the supplies by type and then each type into thirds and then we reviewed our plans for VBS. Al taught us a song about Daniel in the Lion’s Den and we concluded with about a dozen women helping cut the cord for the bracelets and sort the beads for our work on Tuesday and Friday. I quickly checked email (125 messages!) and it was time to head out for dinner.

Dinner was at an El Salvadorian restaurant which was a buffet – a great way to sample a number of dishes. We were served papusas as we waited our turns at the buffet and they were sooooo yummy. I like the cheese ones best but they are all tasty. All of the 40 or so dishes were explained to us and I tried two types of tamales, one with pork and one with chocolate, various other things, and a chocolate drink. It was an enjoyable evening sampling the local food. One thing that surprised me was that none of the food was spicy.

I ended the day at the poolside with my computer typing up some of the events of the last day and checking email. I learned that Alice George has been diagnosed with shingles – she seems very young for that. As of tonight, the right side of my throat was still a bit swollen but all of my other symptoms were gone. I headed to bed and had the lights out at 10pm.

Papusas

2009-10-27T22:21:00.003-05:00

My Dad asked what a papusa is. It is an El Salvadorian food that is sort of like a quesodilla but not. It is much like a stuff tortilla. My favorite has been the cheese-filled ones at the El Salvadorian restaurant last night but the meat and cheese or the beans and cheese ones are also good. The hotel serves them along side the made-to-order eggs at breakfast and they are made to order too.

Papusas and tamalies seem to be the common food that people eat every day.

PS The swelling in my throat seems all gone now but for safety I am staying away from shrimp for the rest of the week....

Quick Set of Photos

2009-10-27T08:01:00.005-05:00

Again, I don't have time for a full update but here are a few pictures to keep you coming back for more.

Being greeted at the church at Zaragoza that hosts a Compassion project.

Terri being mobbed by loving children.

A sweet little one who was in the dance group during worship.

The new baby is home and a worker from the Child Survival Program is helping her nurse.

The home where we had lunch on Sunday with the new baby and its mom, grandmother, and greatgrandparents. Four generations of this family live here.

Another view of their home.

Sporting equipment for the centers.

More sporting equipment.

Materials packed up for delivery tomorrow.

Papusas!

Almost recovered & brief report

2009-10-26T21:47:00.003-05:00

A quick update now and a more complete one to follow.

I have almost completley recovered from the allergic reaction of last night. The right side of my throat is still constricted and I still find it hard to talk at times, but the weakness in my arms has completely gone, my face no longer feels paralyzed, and the left side of my throat seems fine. I still have no idea what it was that I ate that caused this.

Today we visited the country office that oversees all of the work of Compassion in El Salvador, we ate lunch with the managers of the various departments and I had the privilage of eating with the country director. We then met at the hotel to organize our VBS activities we are conducting on Tuesday and Friday and then we went to dinner at an El Salvadorian restaurant.

The restauarant was a buffet which was a great way to sample a large variety of Salvadorian foods. Papusas are still my favorite but I didn't have anything that I didn't like.

Check back soon for more details as there is a lot to share!

Chinese food

2009-10-25T22:18:00.001-05:00

Tonight we went for Chinese food. I was sitting at almost the exact center of the very long table for 40 people and after eating a smallish portion of one of the main dishes, I started to feel a paralysis in the sides of my face.

It grew stronger and stronger and I finally decided I should tell someone. I turned to John who was sitting next to me and explained that I wasn't feeling right and wanted him to know in case I passed out. He asked if he should pray for me and I said yes and then something must have happened for him to realize that I needed more attention than just from him.

Our host, Rocio, was standing just across from John and I and John got her attention and she got Sean and before I knew it they were calling for benadryl and Sandi, who is a nurse, was by my side. By this time the paralysis had moved down the sides of my face and had then started in my neck and grew down my arms and about to mid-chest level.

My breathing was never difficult although it changed and Sandi said my pulse was always strong. Within a few minutes the paralysis started to subside although I still feel it in my jaws, my hands are weak, and speaking is more difficult than normal. Everyone's best guess is that I was having an alergic reaction to something in the food. I had eaten a little bit of everything and it contained typical Chinese food ingredients -- shrimp, nuts, etc. which are high allergn foods so this may be something I enounter again before we figure out what triggered it.

Sunday 4:15pm

2009-10-25T18:05:00.001-05:00

I did not sleep well last night even though the bed was very comfortable, like a big fluffy cocoon.. I woke up a number of times through the night and eventually got up a bit before 6am. I showered (the shower is also very nice) and worked my way outside where I found a comfortable place by the pool to sit and write. As I sit here I hear a traffic noise but also some very interesting bird calls and I also just saw a bird fly by that I will try to catch a photo of later.

After sitting by the pool journaling for awhile I made my way to breakfast which was a very nice buffet. As usual I took a tour before selecting my food and I had to think differently as any “fruit or vegetable that has not been peeled or cooked” was off limits. I selected some pineapple and a potato cake and then was thrilled to notice that next to the eggs-cooked-to-order station was a woman making papusas. I was thrilled to take one and found it to be tasty. Similar to a quesadilla but made thicker and with coarser flour. I liked it well enough to go back for a second one which this time was filled with cheese and beans. My first El Salvadorian food!

After breakfast I went to the room to change clothes and gather my stuff for the day. We met downstairs and were divided into family groups which will be used to keep track of everyone and also divide us up when we need to be in smaller groups during the week. Sean read to us verses from Psalm 139 reminding everyone that God has brought us all together in this place at this time and that we – including everyone we meet today – are all held in the palm of God’s hand. We then loaded up two buses for the trip to Zaragoza which is in the “departmento” (like a state) of La Libertad.

The drive took about 45 minutes and along the way we picked up the Compassion Project Coordinator who overseas all of the projects in El Salvador. She told us about her work and specifically about the church we are visiting today. This church has a school, the Compassion child development program, the Child Survival Program (CSP) as well as a seminary. There are 40 “units” in the CSP which is a mother and her children. The mothers range in age from 15 to 30ish and the CSP provides then with supplementary food, education so the mothers can learn a trade to support the family, and also medical care.

We arrived at the church to find children waiting at the entrance with red, white, and blue balloons. This church was started 12 years ago with 18 people and is now more than 2000 people. The church owns a lot of property to support the schools and programs that they are offering and they use soccer as a big method of outreach. The church owns 3 soccer fields where it is not uncommon for 350 to gather at each one. In order to play they must have a ticket that they receive for attending services. The sanctuary is a very large slab of concrete with a large and tall roof over it, a stage in front, and a booth in back and up a flight of stairs for their sound equipment.

We were invited to walk down (the very steep) hill to see one of the soccer fields and along the way we met a number of children and various people involved in the work here. One of the men, Nestor, who is a translator for us, told me that there are so many people being positively impacted by the work of Compassion that El Salvador will not be the same country in 20 years and that the community of Zaragoza has been transformed through the church at its testimony to the community.

I returned from the walk down and back the hill to my seat near the front of the stage and the worship music had started. The music was initially led by a band of young people and at the bottom of the stage was a group of girls dancing to the music. Eventually the band of young people was replaced by a group of adults who led singing. Before the message by the senior pastor, the folks on the tour went to the front where we sang “Yes, Jesus love you” including singing the chorus in Spanish.

The message was from Mark 10 and the passage about the rich young man who comes to Jesus asking how to attain eternal life. The pastor didn’t talk about the young man but rather about Jesus and is statement that “only God is good.” It was translated for us and it was a encouraging message about how God can be nothing but good as that is His nature. Towards the end of the service the sponsors were asked to come up on stage where the local pastor prayed for us. It was pretty humbling to stand up there watching 1000+ people praying for me.

When the service was finally over we were mobbed by the men, women, and children and there was lots of hugs and picture taking. We were then given a tour of the various workshops of the project. These included sewing where the CSP mothers learn to be seamstresses. We saw some of the classrooms, were given little wood treasure chests that the children had made, saw the CSP nursery, saw the cosmetology class where the young people learn to do hair so they can work or open up their own business, and the pickles that the mothers make to earn income.

As we were waiting for the home visits to get underway, a group of 5-6 boys came up to me and stared asking me questions. Of course I really didn’t understand them and so I flagged down a translator. The boys wanted to know my Spanish name (which we decided was the same as it is in English), if I owned a car, if I had children, pets (se, dos gatos), what the cats names were, if I was married, and my husband’s name (Roberto). While they were asking me questions I regretted not having my little photo album to show them photos.

We were eventually loaded into small buses to go to the homes we were visiting. I was in the group visiting the home of Jacoline a mother in the CSP who had her baby yesterday (or the day before). The home she lives in is actually pretty large being composed of many rooms for the 4 generations who now live there. When we arrived we were met by the grandfather who welcomed us into the home. Along with the grandfather and grandmother, this home includes their two daughters and two sons, their children (3), and the new great granddaughter.

The area in which we gathered was open to the sky and they had hung up sheets to provide us with shade. Since Jacoline had just had her baby we had several women from the CSP with us who brought a baby gift of a baby bath and various necessity items. We gathered and had fried chicken from Pollo Carbanos and home made tortillas. During the meal we learned about the family and about life in Zaragoza. One of the daughters sells slushys each day making a profit of $8 to $10. The other daughter is a maid and takes care of a young child. She earns $100 a month. The grandmother and grandfather are not able to work although when they were younger they both did various types of manual labor. The two adult sons work in construction.

While we were there Jacoline arrived home from the maternity hospital and so we were there when her grandparents, brothers and aunt met the baby for the first time. That wasn’t something I expected to be a part of this trip. Jacaoline is only 15 years old and is fortunate to have a family to support her and her daughter. The CSP workers were diligent about helping her get the baby to nurse and will clearly be offering her much support in the coming years. We encouraged Jacoline not to give up on her education even though there is pressure to get a job to help support her family. As we concluded our visit we asked how we could pray for each of them and the grandfather’s request was to know each of our names so that he could pray for us. They also expressed how honored we were that we visited their home.

It was then time to walk back down the steep hill and get back in the bus to return to the church where we met up with the other groups. We prayed with the project workers and then loaded up the buses for the trip back to San Salvador.

We arrived back at the hotel a bit before 4pm and were asked not to leave the hotel even to go across the street to the large shopping area as gangs are a problem and it is never known when it is and is not safe to be in the shopping area. I decided that a dip in the pool would be refreshing after being in the hot weather all day and that was a relaxing way to spend my free time before dinner. We gather for dinner in just under an hour and tonight we are going out for Chinese food.

Saturday - Tulsa to El Salvador

2009-10-25T08:13:00.003-05:00

The alarm went off at 6am and I found that Dakota was sleeping on my legs, which is always a sweet way to wake up. I showered and checked my packing list, cleaned the litter box, and made tea before it was time to wake up Rob. We were loading up the car a few minutes before 7am as planned. It was hard to say goodbye to Fuzz and Dakota but I did get to snuggle each of them for a little bit before walking out of the house.

We stopped at Jimmy’s Egg for breakfast and we were the second patrons to arrive (or so it seemed). We had a nice breakfast which should do me well during this long travel day. We arrived at the airport at 8:20 and I was quickly checked-in and we walked upstairs and found a comfortable place to sit while waiting until I need to go through security. My flight did not leave until 9:50 and so Rob and I had quite of bit of time to sit together and visit. Before finally heading to security Rob prayed over me and the trip. That was very sweet and encouraging to me although it did bring me to tears.

I made it through security and Rob waited until I was all the way through to wave one final time. I then walked to the A terminal and as I turned the corner Rob was there on the other side of security waiting to wave one last time. I expected him to be there but it was sweet nevertheless. I arrived at the (very full) gate and waited for boarding to begin. I was in one of the last boarding groups and not before long I was taking me seat in 13A.

We took off on time and I visited with my seatmates. One had just commented how it appeared we would be arriving early and then the pilot came on to tell us that the pressurization wasn’t working properly and they were returning to the Tulsa airport. Of course there was a collective groan from the full aircraft but that type of problem is exactly why I booked the 9:50 flight as I have a very long layover in Dallas to provide flexibility.

After about an hour they believed that they had fixed the problem and were ready to do a test and although they encouraged everyone to stay on they said that if people were concerned about being there during the test they could deplane. A few people decided to do this even when the flight attendant made weird announcements about anyone getting off having to make their own arrangements. From where I was sitting it appeared that those people never did get back on board. If American Airlines was trying to say “if you get off you are not getting back on” then they did a poor job of that. The test was successful and we were soon taking off from Tulsa for a second time.

We arrived in Dallas about 90 minutes late which wasn’t a problem at all for me, but obviously was a problem for many people. We arrived in Terminal D and I learned that my TACA flight leaves out of the same terminal which makes it very convenient, especially since Terminal D is the new one with all sorts of shops, places to sit comfortably, power outlets, etc.

I found my departure gate and then decided that BBQ for lunch sounded good. Unfortunately it was not as good as I would have liked but it was okay. I called Dad, called Mom, called the Norens, tried to reach Tracy, then found an Internet kiosk where I fixed the problems with reaching the StatSoft Exchange server (which help from George Butler via IM), checked email, made a quick post on my blog, and then made my way to the TACA counter to check in and get my boarding pass. Then I found a comfortable place to sit and wait during which I called Rob. Finally around 3:15 I boarded TACA flight 441 for El Salvador.

Fortunately the flight was uneventful and they even served us a warm snack. I spoke my first words of Spanish when I asked for water. I had a window seat and looked at the window for the last hour or so of the flight as the landscape came into view including what I took to be an extinct volcano and there were storms in the distance that were flashing a lot of lightening. The sun was setting (on the other side of the plane) and as darkness grew I could start to see the lights of this most densely populated country in Latin America and then I saw the Pacific coast (in fact the only ocean coast that El Salvador has – it is the only country in Central America that does not have both an Atlantic side. I think Belize may be the only other country that does not have both an Atlantic and a Pacific side.

After landing and deplaning I was immediately struck by the temperature – it is warm and humid – although in the darkness of evening not oppressively so. I headed towards immigration and came across a small group of people wearing Compassion nametags so I stopped and asked if they had come in from Miami and then introduced myself to John and his nephew Brandon and Becca and joined them as we worked our way towards our bags.

As we walked towards immigration we all observed how narrow the hallways were and someone commented that the idea of “personal space” is one that is much smaller here than in the United States. That is something that I had not heard before so I don’t know if the observations of the week will show that to be true or not. As we came close to the immigration area Sean Dana, our group leader, was standing there passing out $10 bills to pay for the tourist card fee and I met him for the first time. Eventually it was my turn at the immigration desk and I found that I had a lot of trouble hearing as I think my ears were still recovering from the noise of the flight. I answered something in Spanish and then the immigration officer asked if I spoke Spanish to which I said “no.” He then asked what was the purpose of the trip, how many where in our group, and then something about my second name which eventually I understood he was asking about “Elizabeth” which wasn’t at all what I expected to be asked about. Finally I got my entry card and found my baggage circling around the carousel and then walked through customs and out into the El Salvadoran evening where I was again struck by the warmth and humidity and the many people waiting for their loved ones to exit the airport.

Our group was greeted by Rocio Carcamo the Compassion tour specialist. We also learned that one of the adult men standing waiting for someone to exit the airport was a Compassion sponsored-child and had struck up a conversation with a couple on the group that had already made it outside. We loaded our luggage into a minivan and then we all boarded a large (air conditioned) bus for the hour-long drive from the airport to the hotel which is in San Salvador (the capital city). On the way to the hotel we learned that we had already been checked in and our luggage would be delivered to the room.

Cathy Heitzmann, my roommate from Overland Park, Kansas, and I made our way to our room and found our luggage outside the elevators on the second floor so it was easy to grab them as we went to room 208, our home for the next week.

We are staying at the Real Intercontinential hotel and our room is very comfortable with soundproof windows (which is good as there is a lot of outside noise), wireless, huge fluffy beds and towels and sufficient space for two for a week. Cathy and I did a little unpacking She will be meeting Daniel who is 17 years old when we meet our sponsored children come Thursday. She was hoping to buy a soccer ball before then and I quickly gave her one of the several that I had brought (along with the pump and needles).

Next we went downstairs where the group was meeting for dinner. During which the smell of incense and tobacco was impossible to get away from. Those are two smells which are pretty rare in the US these days but they are very common here (at least at the airport and in the hotel ground floor). Cathy and I joined Becca (who works at Compassion and has just taken a position in the Group Tour department) and her roommate Pam (who works at NIH as an MRI technician working on the latest MRI technology). During dinner I learned that Pam has been on trips to a number of places such as Togo and Papau New Guinea.

The waitress came over and I ordered pineapple juice (in Spanish) and then helped Cathy change her order from Coke to pineapple juice. Later we learned they were out and we had peach and apple juice instead – but I did communicate, albeit in a very tiny way, in Spanish. I ordered cream of mushroom soup and a turkey Panini. The soup was tasty and so was the sandwich although we had to remove the tomato slices from it as they were a “fruit or vegetable that hasn’t been peeled or cooked” and thus we are forbidden to eat it this week.

Dinner took a long time in coming and it was well after 9pm when it was served but we did enjoy it and it was a good time to visit and meet some others on the trip. We also saw what appeared to be at least two brides having receptions at the hotel and I saw another young woman all dressed up in a gold dress and wonder if it was a quincenera. Finally we went up to the room where we finished unpacking, I sent a quick email to Rob, and then we went to bed.

San Salvador, El Salvador Saturday Night

2009-10-24T23:08:00.000-05:00

I have arrived in El Salvador and met up with the Compassion group. We had dinner at the hotel and we are all tired and heading for bed.

Tomorrow we will worship with a local church and hear about their involvement in the Child Survival Program, Compassions program focused on infants and toddlers.

In Dallas

2009-10-24T13:41:00.002-05:00

Early this morning we were up and starting this day of travel. Rob and I had breakfast at Jimmy's Egg and then arrived at the airport. My plan took off pretty much on schedule but about 10 minutes into the flight the pilot announced that we needed to return to Tulsa as something was not working with the cabin pressure.

So we turned around.

We arrived back at the gate and waited for news about what would happen next. Fortunately we were not required to deplane and maintenance was able to fix the problem and we then took off a second time, about 90 minutes after our original departure.

I was very grateful that I had scheduled my flights to have a long layover in Dallas and so I was never concerned about making my connection. So now I am in Dallas waiting for my 3:45 flight to El Salvador.

The only real problem so far is that I cannot access by web-based email even though I tested it before I left home. Oh well, that is not a big deal as I can send messages through this blog.