Early Thanksgiving

An update on Nigel's residency status:

We went to Atlanta... and this week the term HOTlanta applies... for our appointment with immigration. We got there an hour early because we were tired of trying to kill time and I had hoped that by showing up early we could be seen earlier. Nope. At 10 minutes past our appointed time we were called back. We knew the last name would be mispronounced... it often is... as so were listening carefully for the oh-so-English name of "Nigel". I guess USCIS sees an awful lot of Hispanic people, the name was pronounces like Miguel with an N. "Nee-guel Alley-mer." Oh Lord. It could only be us and it was. We sat with the young lady, after being sworn in and answering her questions, for a grand total of 15 minutes and then we were free to go. What? Four hours of driving while I suffered a server allergy attack and neither of us having any sleep for two days for just 15 minutes? Yep. The good news is that she was ready to sign off our case as approved then and there and the green card would come in two weeks. No more appointments, no more waiting. The bad news is there was a background check missing and until that came she couldn't approve the file. So the card would probably come in 6 weeks. But still no more appointments and only a little waiting. With the extra 6 weeks the process, from the time USCIS got it to receiving the card was only about 5 months. Not bad I think. We don't mind waiting a little longer... we received the travel permit and the work permit last week. So when Thanksgiving comes around we will A LOT to be thankful for this year.

Unsavory Thoughts

I cannot eat my own cooking. This is not something I am particularly proud of. I like to cook. Now that I am married and have someone to cook for I have been enjoying learning new recipes and tweaking old ones. However... more often than not I soon suffer from either intense heartburn or I spend the rest of the evening in the throne room. And I don't mean with Elizabeth. How unfair! My darling husband it seems has a cast iron stomach and has suffered no ill effects. But... he is not exactly quick to "dish" out compliments. So how can I know if I'm a decent cook if he won't tell me and I can't eat it myself? This stinks. I also love to eat. The upside is if I quit cooking and turn to a new hobby, I 1) could lose weight, and 2) don't have to clean up the kitchen. Hmmmmm...

Thoughts to chew on

Part of my position with the church is to help create a sort of instructional manual. In my conclusion I write about mentoring and wanted to include some inspirational quotes. I found so many. Here are a few of my favorites...

God has not called us to see through each other, but to see each other through. ~Author Unknown

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does. ~William James

It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little - do what you can. ~Sydney Smith

The difference between a helping hand and an outstretched palm is a twist of the wrist. ~Laurence Leamer, King of the Night

How far that little candle throws his beams!So shines a good deed in a weary world.~William Shakespeare

Who Would Notice?

This question was put to me the other day: What if for one day, 24 hours, Jesus were to become you? Not what would I do if I were Jesus for one day, but what if Jesus became me? One morning my cat would wake up Jesus at 5 am and He’d get ready for work, my work, with my co-workers and clients. He’d do my shopping and drive my car. What if Jesus lived my life with His heart while my heart took the day off? It would look like me but it would be Jesus’ heart, Jesus‘ attitude. Would anyone notice the change?

My first reaction was, “Great, my heart needs the time off.” But as I considered the last part, would anyone notice the change? Would they like me better with Jesus’ heart? Ah ha! That is the whole point of the question. As Christians we are instructed, in Philippians 2:5,” Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” To have the heart of Jesus. The heart of Jesus was forgiving, compassionate, honest, merciful, giving, and listened. This seems a far cry from our own hearts at times; does it not?

Here is a surprise. We already have this heart. This heart of Christ. Here is a promise made by God to us, if we have given ourselves to Jesus He has given Himself to us. Jesus has made His home in our hearts. Who could say it better than Paul in Galatians 2:20, “Christ lives in me.”

Have we forgotten this promise? Have we forgotten that we asked Jesus to take up residence is so delicate a dwelling? Let us remember and then let us allow Jesus to have 24 hours to run our lives. And then let Him have a week, then a month, then the rest of our lives. Would anyone notice the change?

Disappointment

After all my work yesterday most of it was lost. I am sick with disappointment. The family site I created at myfamily.com with loads of pictures and the beginnings of stories is all gone. After getting it together I invited family members to go to the site as members to add comments, stories, and pictures and maybe even correct some of my info. As soon as I clicked on invite I was directed back to a brand new family site page. A brand new empty page with no pictures, comments, events... nothing. I spent another hour looking for it and sending an email to "My Family.com" for help. I found nothing and have heard nothing.

I have decided not to recreate the site. I will focus on building the family trees at Ancestry.com and offline on my pc and will develop the stories and pictures there with the documentation. And I will also spend more time writing and putting stuff here. Since I'm pretty sure no one actually looks at this site it will become my attempt at keeping a journal.

Nigel wants to create an aviation site with his pictures and documentation and add a travel log page to it. I can help him with that maybe.

Go Against the Flow

I once had a T-shirt that I wore until it was thread bear. It had a cartoon depiction of all kinds of vicious-looking fish swimming together in one direction. Just right of center swimming in the opposite direction is the Ichthus or what is known as the Jesus fish, the symbol of Christians. The picture illustrates what Paul is telling us in Romans 12:1-2. Swim with the sharks and go against the flow.

We are urged to become living sacrifices. This sounds serious doesn’t it? If we are Christians, we are holy. That means we are set apart for the Lord. We need to not just “talk the talk, but walk the walk” that is to live our everyday lives in God’s will. In today’s society this is not easy. We become easy targets. But we cannot hide away, we must be willing to become a sacrifice and swim with the sharks and piranha. This is our spiritual act of worship.

Once we have begun to swim in the world’s sea it will difficult not to follow one school of fish or another. It is difficult not to follow the world’s image. Through prayer, worship, bible study, and fellowship with other Christians we can renew our minds, that is, getting rid of old bad habits and focus on those lifestyles that are pleasing to God. We are still swimming along but now we are going against the flow. Now we can truly discover and approve what God’s will is.

We can become radical Christians. I like the idea. Swim with those sharks but go against the flow and learn the will of God.

Computer work

I have been hard at work today on this desktop o'mine. I have been updating the family trees at Ancestry.com with data and pictures and the family site at MyFamily.com (Alymer, Price & Company) and finally decided how I want to use this blog. I will try to update with news about us and from time to time add one of my writings (a story, meditation, essay or something). Maybe a picture or two.

It has been a fun day on the computer for me and especially since Nigel is sitting next to me on his computer doing his aviation thing.