I don't have typhoid. But I do have a shot to prevent it now. I got it yesterday, and the injection site is very sore. I didn't think I was supposed to get sick from the shot. But I got sicker and sicker all day and then slept for 11 hours last night. I feel almost better from that today, but not quite!
The sinus infection/cold/flu/whatever is getting better at about 5% to 10% a day. Another week I should be able to stop coughing, sneezing, snuffling and blowing my nose! It's disgusting. I went for a walk yesterday and cut down a big tree in the woods to use for another guitar. So I must be somewhat healthier. Today Michael, my oldest son, and I cut the trunk free from the top and got it out of the woods to the driveway. Now we have to get it into the truck somehow (it weighs many hundreds of pounds) to take it to my 91-year-old neighbor, Jack Haisley, who has a sawmill. My body isn't used to doing any work the past few months while I've been ill. I am soooo sore!
We meet tomorrow and I'm anxious to see if all my work and expenditures on photos and frames actually made any profit.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Revering others
This came in today from Henri Nouwen society. It meets me where I am now in thinking about revering others. Having lost one of my family recently, I have been considering more about my relationship with others and their importance to me and to the rest of us. The following helps:
On the Journey Towards a Reverencing of Relationships
written by FR. LARRY GILLICK, S.J.
Reverencing begins with an attitude toward where creation comes from and what essentially it is. Jesus asks us to "love one another as I have loved you." This commandment is the greatest of all and requires a reverential relating. The word relation comes from the Latin meaning "side by side." It is not facing the same way next to each other. It means all our sides, our best side and worst, our inside and out, meeting appropriately the various sides of the other.
What Jesus did and meant by loving was to continue the creation of those He met. He did heal, feed, find, teach, but always He was bringing life and a fuller sense of who each person was. If I reverently love you, then what I most want for you, through our relationship, is that you know more who you are, accept more who you are, and be more generous in giving yourself as a reverenced gift to others.
We reverence as gifts from God those who have loved us not only into life but on to deeper living. Lovers assist God's creation and distribution of life through us. We are more available for loving others when we reverence the persons who have helped God create our good spirit, our softened heart, our gentled face, our welcoming hands.
We love others not for what we can get out of them but for who we can bring out of them. An artist cares for the marble or canvas or clay for what it is and what it will be. Lovers reverence the fragility and strengths of those whom they love, for both who they are now and who they will be, through the loving and creating process of the relationship.
On the Journey Towards a Reverencing of Relationships
written by FR. LARRY GILLICK, S.J.
Reverencing begins with an attitude toward where creation comes from and what essentially it is. Jesus asks us to "love one another as I have loved you." This commandment is the greatest of all and requires a reverential relating. The word relation comes from the Latin meaning "side by side." It is not facing the same way next to each other. It means all our sides, our best side and worst, our inside and out, meeting appropriately the various sides of the other.
What Jesus did and meant by loving was to continue the creation of those He met. He did heal, feed, find, teach, but always He was bringing life and a fuller sense of who each person was. If I reverently love you, then what I most want for you, through our relationship, is that you know more who you are, accept more who you are, and be more generous in giving yourself as a reverenced gift to others.
We reverence as gifts from God those who have loved us not only into life but on to deeper living. Lovers assist God's creation and distribution of life through us. We are more available for loving others when we reverence the persons who have helped God create our good spirit, our softened heart, our gentled face, our welcoming hands.
We love others not for what we can get out of them but for who we can bring out of them. An artist cares for the marble or canvas or clay for what it is and what it will be. Lovers reverence the fragility and strengths of those whom they love, for both who they are now and who they will be, through the loving and creating process of the relationship.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Making a difference
A link from one of the resources on the Haiti team blog led me to the following quotation:
“Do we make a difference? Yes, but slowly, it’s a very big job. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Between the gangsters, diseases and social disorganization, Haiti is one of the world’s most dangerous places to live and work.”
So said Major Bruce Sand, Assistant to the Military Chief of Staff MINUSTAH. “The aim of the mission is to support the constitutional process in Haiti, and help maintain a secure and stable environment.” *Le Journal Lookout, Vol 53 No. 6. 2/11/2008
I’ve heard that expression before, but eating an elephant goes quicker if there are many people dining.
There was another thought found in today’s Muncie Star/Press I liked. Mother Theresa said that more people hunger for love and acceptance than they do for food. I can’t find the exact quotation.
“Do we make a difference? Yes, but slowly, it’s a very big job. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Between the gangsters, diseases and social disorganization, Haiti is one of the world’s most dangerous places to live and work.”
So said Major Bruce Sand, Assistant to the Military Chief of Staff MINUSTAH. “The aim of the mission is to support the constitutional process in Haiti, and help maintain a secure and stable environment.” *Le Journal Lookout, Vol 53 No. 6. 2/11/2008
I’ve heard that expression before, but eating an elephant goes quicker if there are many people dining.
There was another thought found in today’s Muncie Star/Press I liked. Mother Theresa said that more people hunger for love and acceptance than they do for food. I can’t find the exact quotation.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Reaction
My niece, Becky Watson who travels extensively for Disney, Inc., wrote the following in response to our blogs. Her thoughts about relating to the poor are consonant with what we have been learning.
"Wow - good for you - Haiti.
"The poorest country I have visited is India and I related to a blog from your friend Joe (I went into the Haiti Journey portion of the site) where he said he was initially overwhelmed by the sense of poverty in the country but by the end of the trip he was inspired because the people have such a strength of faith and hope because in reality they do not have anything else. I felt this same feeling in India. It took me several days to realize my pity wasn't wanted or needed. There was strong sense of peace, joy, and contentedness the people in the villages exuded in the basic things that we take for granted.....like in seeing a western person drive down the street. Fathers pulled their sons to point and wave at us.....even as they were showering in rain water pooling off of A frame shacks which some of the people were lucky enough to live in. Truly humbling and unlike anything I have seen in any of my visits to China and Thailand.
"You are lucky to have this experience, especially since the people as a culture are near and dear to you. Have a great trip and good luck with your publication. I will check back and look forward to hearing how it went."
...Love, Becky
"Wow - good for you - Haiti.
"The poorest country I have visited is India and I related to a blog from your friend Joe (I went into the Haiti Journey portion of the site) where he said he was initially overwhelmed by the sense of poverty in the country but by the end of the trip he was inspired because the people have such a strength of faith and hope because in reality they do not have anything else. I felt this same feeling in India. It took me several days to realize my pity wasn't wanted or needed. There was strong sense of peace, joy, and contentedness the people in the villages exuded in the basic things that we take for granted.....like in seeing a western person drive down the street. Fathers pulled their sons to point and wave at us.....even as they were showering in rain water pooling off of A frame shacks which some of the people were lucky enough to live in. Truly humbling and unlike anything I have seen in any of my visits to China and Thailand.
"You are lucky to have this experience, especially since the people as a culture are near and dear to you. Have a great trip and good luck with your publication. I will check back and look forward to hearing how it went."
...Love, Becky
Monday, February 4, 2008
Health
At the meeting last night I was asked if I was all right. Yeah, other than the sinus infection I've had since Dec 7! Friday I went to the doctor who had given me a prescription for amoxycillin a month ago. This time he gave me a very painful shot of a mix of cortico-steroids in the butt, and three prescriptions for more sterioids, antihistimine, and another antibiotic. That ought to cure it! I'm also getting PT for a sciatic pain, which, by my lack of attention, is exactly the spot the shot went in! Still hurts!
Friday, February 1, 2008
Joy
The following is not mine, but comes from the Henri Nouwen Society in emails this week. I find it helps me understand a bit more that I'm not going to Haiti to use my skills in designing and constructing but to be there in solidarity with the people there and with my "fellow travelers."
At first sight, joy seems to be connected with being different. When you receive a compliment or win an award, you experience the joy of not being the same as others. You are faster, smarter, more beautiful, and it is that difference that brings you joy. But such joy is very temporary. True joy is hidden where we are the same as other people: fragile and mortal. It is the joy of belonging to the human race. It is the joy of being with others as a friend, a companion, a fellow traveler.
Joy is hidden in compassion. The word compassion literally means "to suffer with." It seems quite unlikely that suffering with another person would bring joy. Yet being with a person in pain, offering simple presence to someone in despair, sharing with a friend times of confusion and uncertainty ... such experiences can bring us deep joy. Not happiness, not excitement, not great satisfaction, but the quiet joy of being there for someone else and living in deep solidarity with our brothers and sisters in this human family. Often this is a solidarity in weakness, in brokenness, in woundedness, but it leads us to the center of joy, which is sharing our humanity with others.
At first sight, joy seems to be connected with being different. When you receive a compliment or win an award, you experience the joy of not being the same as others. You are faster, smarter, more beautiful, and it is that difference that brings you joy. But such joy is very temporary. True joy is hidden where we are the same as other people: fragile and mortal. It is the joy of belonging to the human race. It is the joy of being with others as a friend, a companion, a fellow traveler.
Joy is hidden in compassion. The word compassion literally means "to suffer with." It seems quite unlikely that suffering with another person would bring joy. Yet being with a person in pain, offering simple presence to someone in despair, sharing with a friend times of confusion and uncertainty ... such experiences can bring us deep joy. Not happiness, not excitement, not great satisfaction, but the quiet joy of being there for someone else and living in deep solidarity with our brothers and sisters in this human family. Often this is a solidarity in weakness, in brokenness, in woundedness, but it leads us to the center of joy, which is sharing our humanity with others.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Life...and death
Because of her very fair skin, McKenna Renee Kirkwood’s red eyes and dark circles are a strong contrast to her girlish giggles, laughs, and unceasingly graceful movements.
Last evening she celebrated her 12th birthday, exactly a week after her mom, Lonna, died. Virtually all the same people who spent Lonna’s final hours with her were more or less successful in creating a sense of new life as McKenna opened presents, ate the food donated by so many sorrowful friends, and downed lots of birthday cake. It was truly a bittersweet evening. Her dad, my son Martin, has been a caring father and a source of strength through all his grief.
What continues to astound and amaze me is the cohesiveness and togetherness of the families that gathered and supported one another at both events. As my own children and grandchildren worked together I came to a new awareness of the synergy they (we) possess. They are more than just sons, daughters, and grandchildren, it's bigger than that; It has to be the hand of God. I was truly stunned at all that they caused to happen.
Then, the sharing of unrelenting grief among all of us, including all sides of Lonna’s family was also wonderful, healing, and amazing. My sense of “family” now spreads beyond our nuclear group to include them as brothers and sisters.
Lonna’s faith, gentleness, and prayers brought us all together in such an amazing way. Her children are aware of her watching over them day and night. Martin is still stunned by his tremendous loss, but his faith, the faith he shared with Lonna, is his source of strength.
Yet, we are all diminished by this great loss.
Jim
Last evening she celebrated her 12th birthday, exactly a week after her mom, Lonna, died. Virtually all the same people who spent Lonna’s final hours with her were more or less successful in creating a sense of new life as McKenna opened presents, ate the food donated by so many sorrowful friends, and downed lots of birthday cake. It was truly a bittersweet evening. Her dad, my son Martin, has been a caring father and a source of strength through all his grief.
What continues to astound and amaze me is the cohesiveness and togetherness of the families that gathered and supported one another at both events. As my own children and grandchildren worked together I came to a new awareness of the synergy they (we) possess. They are more than just sons, daughters, and grandchildren, it's bigger than that; It has to be the hand of God. I was truly stunned at all that they caused to happen.
Then, the sharing of unrelenting grief among all of us, including all sides of Lonna’s family was also wonderful, healing, and amazing. My sense of “family” now spreads beyond our nuclear group to include them as brothers and sisters.
Lonna’s faith, gentleness, and prayers brought us all together in such an amazing way. Her children are aware of her watching over them day and night. Martin is still stunned by his tremendous loss, but his faith, the faith he shared with Lonna, is his source of strength.
Yet, we are all diminished by this great loss.
Jim
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