It’s saying a lot – but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a worse time for volcanic ash.
Volcanic ash on the windshield
Living near an active volcano as we do, we’re not strangers to having volcanic ash around (in fact, you may remember that I mentioned it here). But over the last couple of days it’s been quite the topic of conversation.
The news this week was that the spewing of the volcano was interrupting flights from central Mexico. I checked a couple of news reports that explained that the volcano had had “13 exhalations” (which is pretty much what it sounds like – spews of gas or ash) in one day. Well, today it’s 148 exhalations so far. Quite high – though it’s certainly been higher other days this month.
Anyway, whatever the reason may be, I’m feeling ash as I type on my keyboard here. You can wipe a surface in the house and come back a little later to wipe it again. It gets into everything – very fine, it hangs in the air like a mist. People are out sweeping the street in front of their houses – Shari included. Our neighbour was cleaning out the nooks and crannies in his car – even in the engine. And sweeping it up does help to keep sewers from getting clogged.
But you must admit, it does feel a little useless when you can come out and see the grey-black dust everywhere that you just swept!
The good news is that the wind seems to be blowing the plume in the opposite direction for the moment (apologies to our friends in Puebla!), and it doesn’t seem to be smoking too much at the moment. But you can check it for yourself right here (webcam). And in case you’re interested, a few years ago I posted the local recommendations of what to do in case of ash.
I’m sorry for the delay, and thankful to those who let us know that they weren’t working.
But anyway, that’s one thing that I’ve been trying to fix.
We all have those times in our lives when everything seems to be falling apart, and it wouldn’t be so bad except for a lack of two crucial resources – time, and money.
We have a lot to update and fix at the moment. One of those things is simply document renewals – well, “simple” maybe isn’t the word – let’s say, “regular”. This time it’s a multi-step process involving the documents themselves, some communication, some driving, some payments… But a couple of steps are done, so we’re making progress!
And how many leaks are we dealing with at the moment? Well, less than we would be if it were rainy season. However, we still have several leaks, some of known cause and some unknown. When our hot water tank stopped working yet again, we called the plumber and took advantage of the situation to fix one of the major leaks. We now have hot water again, the major leak is fixed, two smaller leaks have appeared, and a significant one became larger. Would it be helpful to hire a plumber full-time?
There are some major appliances hanging on by a thread. And there is some work on the van which needs to be done. And there’s some weird issue with our bank.
Not to mention some other digital issues, besides the one related to web forms, which seems to be solved for the moment!
And there’s that ebook I ordered that never arrived. Supposedly the issue should be resolved in 3-5 business days. Well, 3-5 more business days.
Probably many of you – most of you – can relate. We could make fixing, fixing… a full time job, except that we have other jobs to do!
Anyway, it’s just one of those times when everything seems to be happening at once. But anyway, a little prioritizing, a little progress, and a little leaving it with the Lord – and we’ll make it! 🙂
Just to make it official – yes! We are in Mexico. 🙂
Thanks to all of you who were praying for our trip. Everything went very smoothly.
Now that we’re back, there’s a lot to get organized. Our first day home I was already getting our van verified so that we could drive it freely (for those who don’t know or don’t remember, vehicles in Mexico City need to be emissions tested. They’re then categorized with fewer or more restrictions, based on the age and condition of the vehicle.) There’s a lot to do to simply get life going again.
And thanks to those who were praying for my Mom, who finally got a place to move into. Even though it may still be temporary, it’s a lot nicer than waiting in a hospital!
Yes, Lord willing we will soon be back home in Mexico! We appreciate those who are praying.
Not long before our trip south was to begin, we all got sick, which certainly meant some unexpected changes to our last few days in Canada. We’re still not at 100%, so that makes it difficult to look forward to all this travel. So if you think of it, do pray that we will be all right on the trip. There’s also a lot that needs to be done right away as we settle back into life in Mexico, so pray that we would be able to get those things done and have some time to recuperate over the next few weeks.
We’re thankful that my Mom is also moving – a room became available which will likely be temporary, but it is a room, a nice room actually, and it’s not in the hospital, where she’s been waiting.
Lots happening all at once, as always! For us at the moment, it’s planes and taxis!
Travelling is good – a blessing – and also difficult.
We’ve been travelling for 5 months, which is a long time to live out of a suitcase, be out of your routine, be away from familiar surroundings. And if we’re here much longer, it will be a record time away from home.
But travelling has been a blessing as well. We’ve been able to spend time with family. We’ve been involved in ministry in many different churches. We’ve visited friends, and even made new friends.
We got together with some people at Avant who do so much for us (not pictured was Carolyn – we appreciate you too!):
One church even put together a pretty cool Mexican display for me to stand in front of (Prairie Tabernacle):
Shari shared at a women’s prayer meeting, and is preparing for another. And for those who have been asking, my Mom is doing a lot better! Here she is at the prayer meeting (front and centre)…
And of course there was another Where did the Bible Come from? seminar. Here’s a group pouring over “ancient” manuscripts of the fabled story of Javier the Louse…
Well, there has been so much happening that I won’t go into it all here. But it’s been fun!
But we’ve also been missing Mexico. In fact, we even missed a church anniversary service for the first time – although we were “there” in spirit, and we did record a video message for the service.
And so the time is coming to prepare for travel back to Mexico. We would appreciate your prayers for reasonable tickets, and that God would give wisdom as to timing! There’s a lot to do before we go, so I’d better get to it.
