“If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”
—Alexander Solzhenitsyn quote in The Gulag Archipelago (1973)
We chose a princess theme to celebrate Claire’s birthday today. Many of her friends and their families were able to join us for pizza, chicken nuggets, a castle cake and homemade ice cream. Claire had a royal ball.
In line with the theme, the knights and princesses fought a papier mache dragon.
“Because not all ice is edible.”
…which reminds me of the truck I saw the other day with an advertisement for fresh chicken. The tag line said, “Bird Flu Free.” Does that mean they throw in the bird flu at no extra cost?
With a heart overflowing with gratitude, we can say that we are almost ready to move into our new home. We will be in an apartment, which is normal, but there is one feature that is so unusual about it, we had no aspirations of finding an apartment with it—a yard! In a country with 160 million people squeezed into an area the size of Arkansas, yards are rare. Sure, there are rice fields, but you can’t exactly play catch knee deep in water and crops.
I (Joe) had found a suitable apartment after much searching, frustration, and heartbreak (we had signed a contract on a great place only to have the landlord break the lease in order to rent to a higher-paying renter). While in negotiations with the landlord over the monthly rent, we came within $14 of making an agreement when Christy felt a flash of hesitation. We told the landlord that we needed to sleep on our decision and we would get back to him the next day. The morning of the next day, we were driving around and spotted a place we hadn’t seen before. We were so excited to see it had a yard and met our square footage requirements. After speaking to the landlord of of this new place, the price was right and we made a verbal agreement. A few days later, I learned that another foreigner had been looking at the place with the yard and made an offer to rent it the day after I made the verbal commitment with the landlord to rent the flat. Thankfully, the landlord kept his verbal agreement with us, which gave me time to prepare the legal contract.
After agreeing to rent the place with the yard, I told the other landlord that we would not be taking his place. I have no idea if he regrets not lowing his price, but we are glad he did not. If he had of lowered his price by a measly $14/month the day before, we would not have found the place with the yard.
The yard has several kinds of fruit trees, including mango, lime, jackfruit, and a local variety of cherry. Our new place is 4 hours outside of the capital. There is no airport in the city, except for a military runway which is occasionally available to private planes. We are excited to be out of the capital, which has horrendous traffic and pollution. The pollution is so bad, the Lonely Planet guide calls the air “chewable.”
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They say that if you die and go to hell, there is a moving van waiting for you that you have to load, move across hell, unload, re-load, move back across hell, and continue for all of eternity. After moving our stuff, which has been in storage for months now in the SE part of the country, to the NW part of the country, I think there may be some truth to that theory. Now that our stuff is moved up there, we are still waiting in the capital for the workmen to paint the walls, install cabinets, and prepare the place for dwelling. Preparing to move has consumed almost every waking hour lately, so please forgive the infrequent posts of late. (Also, our camera broke recently, so there won’t be any new photos until I can figure out how to get it fixed or replaced).
Most of the readers of this blog have an open invitation to visit us (since most of you are personal friends and family). View this article in its original context at: http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/29/you-should-get-out-more/.
Mr. Tebow was able to stop by for a short three day, two night, stay in between other meetings in Asia.
Below are some photos of the kids I’ve been meaning to post. These were taking in a studio in Bangkok. Instead of buying the prints, we just bought the CD with all the photos on it.
Although Christy’s surgery was scheduled for Monday, we decided to come down to the hospital early, so we could be close by in case we needed immediate attention. We flew to Chittagong yesterday and had dinner with our friends, and then drove the remaining three hours to the hospital.
This morning, the head nurse came to us and, much to our surprise, informed us that the surgeon said he could fit Christy’s operation into the schedule this afternoon.
When Christy went to consult with him before the procedure, he said, “You have two options: a blind D & C, or a more elegant procedure that uses a tiny, high-resolution video camera to pinpoint the problem and correct it.” He described the two approaches like a shotgun verses a .22. We had heard about the second option, called a diagnostic hysteroscopy (not to be confused with hysterectomy), but we thought it wasn’t available in this country. We chose to come down to the little Christian hospital in the middle of nowhere because the doctors are world-class. You can imagine our delight when we learned that they had such cutting-edge technology.
The surgery took about half an hour. They were able to clean out all of the placental tissue and other things (polyps) that aren’t supposed to be there. Christy was able to return to the guesthouse around 6pm and have dinner. We will remain here on the compound for a few more days so they can monitor her recovery. Thank you all for praying for Christy’s situation. God granted your request for a successful surgery.
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Have you ever started singing a song, without consciously choosing to sing something? Christy found herself singing a song today before her surgery. By the time she realize that she was singing, she let the words of the song really minister to her. The song is “Better Than I” by Joy Williams.
I thought i did what’s right
I thought i had the answer
I thought i chose the surest road
But that road brought me here
So i put up a fight
And told You how to help me
And just when i had given up
The truth has come clear
Chorus
For You know better than I
You know the way
I’ve let go, the need to know why
Cause You know better than I
If this has been a test
I cannot see the reason
But maybe knowin’, I don’t know
Is part of gettin through
I try to do what’s best
And faith has made it easy
To see the best thing I can do
Is put my faith in You
Chorus
I saw one cloud and thought it was the sky
I saw a bird and thought that I could follow
But it was You who taught them how to fly
If I let you reach me, will You teach me
For You know better than I
You know the way
I’ve let go, the need to know why
I’ll take what answers You supply
Cause You know better than I
Please pray for us as we travel today to a Christian hospital south of Chittagong for a medical procedure. Christy has had bleeding since little Joey’s birth. The doctors believe a piece of placenta remains attached to the uterus and must be removed to prevent serious bleeding and infection. The doctors at the hospital are world-class, so we feel we will be in good hands. We will return to the capital, Lord willing, May 12, and will post an update at that time.
Contra the previous post, Joe did not travel to our future ministry area because we had doctor’s appointments in the capital. As a result, we have not yet found an apartment.
Please make both of these issues a matter of prayer, but especially Christy’s health.
“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”
Corrie ten Boom (Dutch Holocaust Surviver 1892-1983)
Sometimes it is the little things that remind you of home. Dr. Pepper is one of those things. While Coca-Cola can be found in the remotest corners of the world, Dr. Pepper doesn’t share the same ubiquity, so finding some in Bangkok was a special birthday treat for Christy.
Joey hasn’t been the only one making friends.
This is Joey’s first friend, Hatley. He is a few weeks older than Joey. We have been friends with Hatley’s parents for over a year. We are happy that our time in Bangkok overlapped with theirs.
We took the kids to the zoo today. This picture was posted in front of the alligator cage.
