Trials and Tribulations

Well, this week has been an adventuresome one for my family. First dad's thing (and he is doing better by the way, was able to get the wheel fixed and made good progress the next day, but keep praying). Mom's water heater broke, my brother has been having various and sundry struggles and today, I tested for my driver's license and failed the parking part. And I'm on my way to a speaking/church engagement this weekend! In Pennsylvania. I'm in Ohio. Ahem. So busy making arrangements frantically to get there and back now.
Would appreciate your prayers for us all and esp. for me as I try to speak this weekend and try again next Friday to get my license.

Pray for my Dad!

Just wanted to pass this on. For those who don't know, dad is in the midst of biking 2700km (about 1700 miles) through Russia. He is on the final stretch and only has about 10 days to complete it before his visa runs out. Mum sent this prayer request out today after she talked with dad.

His travels have gone well and he has been feeling good about his progress etc. he is on the last stretch (so to speak) from Khabarovsk to Vladivostok which is about 500 miles. But he called and asked for special prayer for safety on this stretch as the roads are narrow, rough, and very busy with traffic. He was “hit” by a car, although with minimal damage, nor did the car stop. He has cuts and bruises, mildly, but his back wheel is bent, so he has to find a way to repair that in order to go on tomorrow. So…this is a matter for prayer over the coming week. Part of the concern with the cars is of course drinking too. He just needs God’s hand hovering over him making him clearly visible, and guiding cars around him. he cannot ride on the shoulder as that virtually does not exist, definitely not in a rideable form for sure.

Pray esp. that he is able to get his wheel fixed quickly as he can't go further until it is and he is on a short timeline right now where he needs to be out of the country on Sept. 2.

Arrived?

I'm in Ohio now. At least, I'm pretty sure I am. Jet lag and time change have been rough this go around. I'm still trying to decide which way is up.
Thankfully, I have a great place to stay with wonderful hosts; I'm being well-taken care of, so life is pretty easy.
On the down side, I went to get my driver's license renewed on Friday and found out that because it is both expired and out-of-state I have to start all over again. So, here I am with a car, people to see and places to go, and a learner's permit! lol
Thankfully, since I am staying right in Alliance it isn't too much trouble for people to come pick me up or drop me off, but it does make me feel like I am 12 again. And handing a learner's over for id is embarrassing too. "No, really, I didn't lose my license, it just expired while I was out of country!"
The earliest they are able to get me in for the driver's test is Friday, which happens to be the day that I need to drive to Johnstown, PA for a weekend of speaking engagements and visits. So, while I wouldn't otherwise have any qualms about doing the test, but just that little bit of pressure makes me nervous. So, although I feel silly for asking, I would definitely appreciate prayers for my license test.
Thankfully, I don't have any other pressing errands and not being able to go out "window shopping" will certainly keep me from spending money! lol

Packing up the last few days before I left went fairly well. I did manage to finish Ellie's quilt before I left and will post pictures soon. My poor roommate is left with the task of finishing packing up. There were a number of things that I didn't get to because of time or because she would still be using them for a couple of weeks after I left. Julie leaves in just one more week as well, so now she has to finish tidying up the apartment and packing all those last minute things. So, I'm sure she would appreciate your prayers too for her last few days and all the last details that need to be wrapped up.

I'm in Ohio for the next 3-4 weeks technically, but out of that time I'll be on the road, Lord willing (and driver's license pending), for 12-14 days. After that I'll head out west via Minnesota and Canada, hopefully arriving in Oregon around October 10.

A Little Bit of Random

So many thoughts flying around my little head. I'm packing up to leave for the States. Working on Ellie's quilt. Trying to finalize the work on Doctrines on Christ and His Kingdom. Saying good-bye to friends. Taking care of last minute apartment things (you know, like paying the rent). Finalizing travel arrangements in the States. Seeing the chiropractor.

I would definitely appreciate your prayers for the next few months as I'll be traveling most of that time.
Right now, specific prayer requests include packing--that I wouldn't forget anything or miss anything. That I'd be able to see everyone I need to before I leave. That I would have the physical stamina and general freedom from pain/fatigue so I can wrap things up well. Emotions--it is sad to say goodbye to people (like family and I have other friends who are moving away right now) that you don't know when you'll see again.
And as I travel that everything would go smoothly and my bags would all come through with me.
For my time in Ohio visiting family and churches and friends.
For my driver's license! It expired in March, so I am just under the wire to renew it, but there are some other complications--so just that that would all come through easily.

On the praise side, I have gotten a lot done int he last few weeks. Despite set backs work on the course is progressing and the end is in sight. I found a shipping possibility so that I don't have to pair down to the bare minimum--airlines have dropped baggage limits a lot in the last few years--we now can only take about one-third of what we used to be able to.

What's in a name?

I love looking at the names of stores and various other facilities here. They often use a curious combination of English and Russian/Ukrainian. By which I mean, they may take English (or other foreign) words and ad them into their name, such as Anschlag (a grocery store, also German for "attack") or RoDent (not a dentist I would want to visit). There's also our corner store "Boaz".
And then there are the names which mix Latin and Cyrillic letters/words, often one word in one language and the other in the other language. Or occasionally a letter here or there that doesn't match the rest. As in the case of Piranha, which has a Russian "я" (ya) somewhere in the middle (I think like this Pirяna or possibly Piranя) and is a men's hair salon. Yana and Anya are Russian names, but still wondering who came up with that name and who goes to that salon? I'm not sure I'd want to get my hair cut at a place named after a flesh-eating fish.

On my recent trip to Lviv I came across a couple of gems that made me chuckle.
The first: Mini bite--children's clothing. "Mini" I get..."bite"? scares me a little. Just wondering what the thinking was behind that one?

The second: The Grill: steak, wok and roll...just fascinates me all around. The use of the English article "the" with grill--they don't have articles in Russian and Ukrainian so it is totally superfluous; then the steak, wok and roll part. I've heard of wok and roll restaurants, but "steak, wok and roll"? That was a new one to me and made me chuckle. I didn't go in, but the sign sure made me want to!

Packing and Sorting (and resting)

This week and next, and last week for that matter, I'll be packing and sorting and sorting and packing. It is hard to go through all my things and try to figure out what to take now, what to have brought or sent later, what to leave in storage here, what to give away or sell and what to throw out.
Some of the sorting is good and necessary. Some of it is just plain hard and time consuming. Some of it is alarming (how did I end up with so much stuff that I don't want to part with!). Right now I think I've narrowed down the worldly possessions that I intend to keep for as long as I can to about 10-50lb. suitcases. No easy feat, I can assure you. I'm hoping that there won't be more before I'm done. I've given away about that much stuff too. It is amazing how easy it is to accumulate! It's also scary to think of having to start over again. But, one step at a time--purge, then binge. :D

On top of the packing, I've been a little under the weather again this week. I'm not sure if it is low blood pressure, back/joint pain or just not sleeping well, but I am having a hard time keeping my energy up. It could be the heat too, I suppose, although in general I am doing better with that this year. It is extra frustrating to have my energy sapped during these two weeks when I need to focus on packing and finishing things up with the office (and of course, there is Ellie's quilt), so I would appreciate your prayers both for energy and for grace to deal with the fatigue and extra joint pain. Even typing is painful right now. :( And for wisdom to focus my energies in the places where they need to go, not getting caught up in unnecessary things.

It is hard to believe I'll be leaving here in two weeks!

Note: It rained this evening which probably accounts for the extra joint pain. Hopefully that will simmer down now although they are predicting more rain for the weekend and next week.

Ellie's Quilt

I've finally started working on Ellie's quilt. Three weeks before I fly away. :|
Nothing like a deadline for motivation! August seems to be a good quilt month for me anyway, so here I am again, working on quilt #7. Thank goodness Matt and Anya aren't planning on having kids too soon! Maybe I'll get their quilt and Vienna's and Ziva's done and their new sibling's quilts done before Matt and Anya add any more to my list. lol

Ellie's quilt design is about taking a walk in the garden. I was thinking of doing purples and pinks and something with butterflies for her, but it has turned out to have a lot more greens and browns in with those purples and pinks than I had originally anticipated. But I like it.
I cut and pieced the squares last week. It went pretty quickly and today I started working on the quilting part. I haven't fully decided what I'll do for the quilting, it is kind of a "take it as it comes to me" type thing.
The brown strips are the pathways through the garden. The green is foliage and the other squares are flower plots. It will have a couple of borders, a more brown one and then a more pink/purple/flower one. The backing is this really pretty brown material I found the other day. It is so soft and smooth and the design is girly even if it is in brown. But somehow even the brown seems like it is a girly brown to me. I had originally planned to use a different material, with butterflies all over it, but it was much coarser and not quite the right size, so when I saw this I just had to get it.
Now all I need to do is sew like a maniac for the next two weeks and we should be all good!
I've been planning this quilt for several years and it has gone through several variations until I came up with this one. I wanted something that was not impossible to piece and could also be kept in smaller pieces to be quilted as quilting a full-size quilt is a difficult task. I'll put the backing on after I have quilted the squares and sewed them all together and then I will probably quilt a few simple lines through all the layers for stability. But we'll see. It's a work in progress!