I Declare Bankruptcy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuGIgf-ICHM

In an episode of The Office, genius supervisor Michael Scott is having money problems. I love The Office, by the way...probably because it empathizes with so many of us stuck in gray cubies working with some really funny characters. :)

He is told about the option of declaring bankruptcy.

Because Michael Scott is very literal (and "special"), he then says the words, "I DECLARE BANKRUPTCY!" (actually, he declares it) and expects all of his financial woes to disappear.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could just say the words, and everything would be healed, forgiven, forgotten, done, fixed... or even, just . . . . better?

I'm thinking about things like an unknown future, challenging relationships, a leaky roof, an entire country's financial system, etc.

I am declaring that we can't do this life thing on our own. Things get dark. And hard. And depressing.

1 John 1:5 (NIV) "This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all."

Now that, my friends, is a declaration we can yell and something will happen.

In Him there is no darkness at all!

Autumn… Sweet Autumn

It’s official: my favorite season is now autumn. It used to be a close tie between spring and autumn, but after experiencing long, hot, dry summers in California, I get giddy just thinking about cool breezes and (gasp!) clouds with rain.

As a side note, I insist on saying “autumn” instead of “fall” for two no-good-very-lame-reasons:

1) I wish I was English, and I do THE WORST fake English accent, and therefore my only hope in sounding more dignified is to use old English for certain words, like “the lou,” “holiday,” and “rubbish.” Don't you agree those words sound better than bathroom, vacation, and trash? :)
2) Autumn brings back kazillions of wonderfully nostalgic times, such as romping through crunchy leaves (which I will never stop doing), and indulging in warm, hearty soups and hot apple cider. Saying “fall” just doesn’t do these memories justice.

Anywhoo, autumn has a way of stirring thankfulness deep in my soul. If I were a poet, I would write a sonnet; if I were a musician, I would compose a beautiful song. For now, I’ll borrow someone else’s short poem and just absorb God’s goodness.

Pumpkins in the cornfields

Gold among the brown

Leaves of rust and scarlet

Trembling slowly down

Birds that travel southward

Lovely time to play

Nothing is as pleasant

As an autumn day!

Fix me a Coke, Sug!

We were just talking about the Soda vs. Pop vs. Coke issue with our friends in Lebanon, so I believe it's serendipitous (is that a word?) to stumble upon this map, which clears up hundreds of years of slanderous debate. Oh wait, sorry.... that's just the presidential race. :)

"When on a hot summer’s day you buy a carbonated beverage to quench your thirst, how do you order it? Do you ask for a soda, a pop or something else?"

See the map and read the article:

http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2008/08/18/308-the-pop-vs-soda-map/

Traveling Back Home

We arrived home last night, on time, all in one piece, and with all of our luggage. Answered prayers like crazy!!! It's pretty amazing to see the Mediterranean, Atlantic, and Pacific all in one day. The most breathtaking experience yesterday for me was seeing the still, peaceful, jagged icy coast of Greenland from the plane. Unfortunately, I didn't get a good picture, but I found this one on the Interweb that looks very similar. Wow.

We're doing really well, but jet lag seems to be in abundance this time around...and it feels quite strange to be back, almost like a dream. Hard to explain! As we blankly stared at our pancakes this morning, Wing said, "I feel like a different person." I think that sums it up nicely! So far, we are successfully resisting the urge to take a nap today, and keeping busy with unpacking and such. But, it is good to be home even though we already miss Toasty and Tea. And tennan shwarma jezz (2 chicken shwarmas).

One interesting note: if you plan on visiting Lebanon (and I assume other areas in the Middle East), plan on getting questioned like crazy by customs when you attempt to enter back into the country. Or maybe our blood-shot eyes and slumpy shoulders looked suspicious. Whatever the reason, we were sent to special lines when entering back into the US and were questioned multiple times regarding what we were doing in the country, who we know there, their names, how long we've known them, what we thought about the country, where we are from, if we know of anyone famous from the area in California, what we do, etc. Everyone was friendly, just "curious." :) We wondered what it would take for them to drag us back into separate little white rooms like on TV for further interrogation, but then we stopped wondering since they could have been reading our minds and missed the part where we were just joking. ha. ha.

Other random things... we were surprisingly bumped up to "Cedar Class" on the Middle East Air flight from Beirut to Frankfurt, which was fantastic! Frankfurt was cool (as in temperature) and green and lovely -- we wish we could have spent more time there. Overall, we had our passports checked four times in Beirut, three times in Frankfurt, and three times in SF, for a grant total of 10 passport checks. We went through five security check points. Better safe than sorry, I suppose. :)

Upon returning to "The States" (we loved saying that while we were overseas - it sounds so posh), we now have a deeper appreciation for "dry heat," the delta breeze at night, the enforcement of traffic laws and no smoking areas, shorts/short sleeves (for me only), robust plumbing, dryers (as opposed to line-drying), the lack of horn-honking on the street, and the ability to drink water from the facet without possibly getting sick. :)

Pictures 'n Stuff (Edited on 9/3)

Yeah for more adventures! Here's a rundown of what we've been up to since Thursday night:

Thursday: study & prayer with Toasty and Tea (Toastmaster and Good Earth Tea are too long of names). :) Pizza for dinner here at the apartment, provided by T & T.

Friday: Before arriving at Tripoli, we had a lovely breakfast downtown, visited Jeita Grotto (an awesome cavern full of stalactites and stalagmites), and ate an amazing Lebanese lunch complete with raw beef (see picture of T&T above). We then attended Toasty's Toastmaster meeting (Chicken Wing was surprised to be selected as a an impromptu speaker regarding "migration" AKA "emigration"), and were welcomed Lebanese-style into the home of native Tripolians. :)

Saturday: Ate a Lebanese breakfast before leaving the Tripolian home, toured the ruins of Biblos, went to the candy factory for treats, and came back to the apartment.

Sunday: Prayer time, met with friends and their little baby from Iraq at the Jaana beach (yeah, it's rough swimming in the warm Mediteranean Sea), and had great conversations there (see pictures). Toasty and Wing talked with Steve about the kingdom, and Tea and I talked with Wendy about cultural differences, family life, view of Americans, adoption, food, and other things. :)

Monday: T&T had Arabic study/class again, so Wing and I romped around the city, purchased items for dinner from multiple street vendors, had an adventure with the ATM machine, and made T&T dinner. Quite fun and interesting. Wing accidentally used red pepper powder instead of chili powder for the veggie stew, so it was more like "Crazy-Monkey-Hot-Try-to-Taste-the-Veggies" stew. We also had great sharing and prayer time with guy/guy, girl/girl time.

Tuesday: Went to friend Ali's carpet shop (AKA Persian Rug Store) to look at a Persian Rug as a souvenir. We sat down and talked with Ali for about 30 minutes, looked at rugs for 30 minutes, and then sat down and had Lebanese tea and talked for another 45 minutes. Soooo, buying things takes a little bit of time since you can't just pop in, buy something, and pop out. Ali was great to talk to... the Lebanese people in general are very expressive and animated! At one point, we were certain we heard multiple gun fire, but were later told that it was fireworks (!). All the people around us didn't seem to think it was a big deal... we judge our reactions to things by looking at the Lebanese. Then we went to the Methalf, which is the National Museum of Lebanon. It was reopened in the late 1990's after the civil war was over. Pictures to come. You'll be amazed! Hailing and negotiating a far with a "Servees" (cab) to the museum and back was an experience in itself! Toasty and Wing then returned a car we were borrowing, and Tea and I got our hair cut and "brushed" (AKA styled) together. Then we all had a very late dinner, which is typical here. I think 9:00-11:00 pm.

Wednesday: It's our last day here... we're going out to negotiate deals on presents. Wish us luck! We also hope to have really good prayer time with each other. Please pray against distractions and other things that could come up and interrupt this time together.

We probably won't have time to write another post today, so please also pray for safe travels tomorrow! We leave Beirut at 9:30 am and get back to Sac at 8:30 pm, even after 24 hours of traveling. Hum. And I thought my concept of time was wacked out before now....

See you soon! We love and miss you.