Life on the Vine

With Christmas upon us that means the New Year is just around the corner.  In the next week I do plan to do some reflecting on how blessed I've been this year.  This time last year I was living in Germany, separated from my husband with no idea whether I'd be able to find a job in Arizona nor when Tom and I would be reunited.  And here it is a year later and Tom and I have bought a house, albeit a 'temp' house; we have completed plans for the house we're going to build; we've selected our contractor and are moving forward; I miraculously got a job - the only civilian PA job in an office entirely of military (those of you who are federal employees in the States know how long some civilians can, and do, stay in jobs); we're getting to spend lots of great quality time with Tom's dad and family, and I got to be there for my Dad's 60th birthday. I was talking to a girlfriend a couple weeks ago and she told me that she'd decided what her New Year'

This is the third year Tom and I have supported  Gospel for Asia's Christmas Gift Catalog .  GFA's catalog isn't unique.  There are numerous ministries and nongovernmental organizations that do Christmas catalogs, allowing their supporters an opportunity to buy any range of items that will help and minister to those who are in great need and certainly less fortunate than those of us living in the United States. There is something for everyone in GFA's Christmas catalog.  The catalog is organized into several sections - Gifts from the Stable , Gifts for the Poor, Gifts of Outreach , Gifts for Missionaries .  They also include the opportunity to get involved in their sponsorship programs for children and missionaries.  They've also designed some fun bundles , such as the Barnyard Bundle, which includes six chickens, two goats, two pigs, one lamb and one cow.  Whether you've got a couple hundred dollars you could donate or just eleven dollars, you'll find s

Now that we are pretty much settled in the Temp House we've got some extra time on the weekends to go exploring.  I've got a 45 minute commute into work every day so I spend my time listening to the radio.  There is a really good morning show on MixFm .  The station promotes upcoming festivals and events going on in the area.   Thanks to MixFM I learned about the biannual Artisans Market that the Tucson Museum of Art hosts.  Today after church Tom and I went and checked it out.  We didn't buy anything but we did pick up a lot of business cards and got some ideas for the house.  And last weekend we had family visiting from Seattle and we went and checked out the annual Pecan Festival hosted by the Green Valley Pecan Store in Sahuarita.  In Europe there are a lot of markets and festivals so it's nice to find some local events we can make part of our annual tradition here in southern Arizona.   One event I learned about earlier this year is the Albuquerque International

I figured it was time to hop on and just do a random update on things.  I'm starting to settle into life here in southern Arizona.  When I arrived on August 1st I had a week and a half off before starting work, so, fortunately, I was able to arrange for our household goods (HHG) that had been in long-term storage to be delivered while I was on leave.  That gave Tom and I some time to sort through the stuff we'd forgotten we owned before the stuff from Germany arrived.  My father-in-law Jack and I have made three trips to Goodwill so far and we might just have enough stuff for one more trip. It wasn't until October 5th that the stuff from Germany got delivered.  So far there has only been one casualty and thank goodness it wasn't the wine!  Six crates arrived safe and sound Jack has been great about hosting us and helping us get settled into our new house, which we are affectionately calling the 'Temp House' because we hope to start bu

I just learned that September 8 is World Literacy Day .  I'm a bit behind on my Gospel for Asia blog this month.  I forgot to tell the ministry that I'd changed the URL of my blog and I was late in getting the assignment.  In honor of World Literacy Day, Gospel for Asia wanted to highlight its Women's Literacy Program . English was my undergraduate major and reading has been one of my lifelong passions.  I think it's hard to comprehend what it would be like to not be able to read or write.  Just thinking of a few examples: I wouldn't be able to read any of the books and magazines that I enjoy.  I wouldn't be able to read street signs, food labels, product warnings, instructions, labels on medication, or directions on how to get somewhere or do something. I most likely would not be in school so the only jobs open to me would be low-paying manual labor jobs.  I would most likely sign my name with an X or something else fairly easy or nondescript.  Others c

August 1, 2012 marked the beginning of our new life in southern Arizona.  After nearly twenty hours of traveling, we arrived in Arizona, leaving behind lovely, wonderful Germany.  Living in Germany was a dream come true for me.  I'd wanted to have the experience of living overseas for many years and I got to have that experience for almost three years.  I am and forever will be VERY grateful.  There are definitely many things I'll miss about Germany and Europe but after nine months of living apart from Tom, it was time to get us both under the same roof.     More answered prayer was the fact that I got a Public Affairs job in the area and didn't have to resign in order to move back to the States.  We definitely feel like it's God's plan for us to be living in Arizona.   We look forward to seeing what He's got in store for us.  I took a week and a half of leave before starting my new job this past Monday.  We've been busy getting our new house set up.  We

All life on Earth needs it and it's called many things: H2O...voda....maim...mool...aqua...maji...amanzi...thuk...eau...das Wasser...rano.  But all those mean the same thing - WATER . Water covers 70.9 percent of the Earth's surface and is vital for all forms of life.  Water is used for drinking, cooking, agriculture, transportation, energy, laundry, even putting out fires.  In the United States it's easy to take clean drinking water for granted.  We probably consider it one of our inalienable rights...the right to life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, and the right to clean, safe drinking water.  It's a very different reality for nearly half of humanity.  780 million people lack access to improved water sources.  Water for drinking, bathing and cooking is drawn from stagnant ponds, filthy rivers and rusty wells.  Statistics show that water and sanitation issues claim more lives through disease than any war claims through guns.  Latest numbers estimate that 3.41 mi

Last weekend Tom and I flew to southern Italy for one last weekend getaway before the move back to the United States.  I've mentioned it before that Tom moved back to the States in October, while I remained here in Germany.  I haven't mentioned on this blog that in early June I got a job offer with the U.S. Air Force at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona.  So, I'm in the process of moving back to the States Tom arrived here in Stuttgart on the 16th to help me with the move and we left for Italy the morning of the 20th.  We flew into Naples in order to reach the Amalfi Coast.  We spent three nights in Sorrento, using the town as our base to explore the region.  There was just one thing that I wanted to do in Naples and so we did that the afternoon of July 23, just before our flight home. Just before our trip I told Tom half jokingly...I'm going to Italy and I'm going to eat pizza, pasta, gelato and put on five pounds!  Fortunately I didn't