Practical matters

23 June 2009

Adventures with Medication

Jim Practical matters, Prayer and Praise 1

As you might recall, I’ve been taking some new medication for migraine since my visit to the neurologist back in April. As you may also recall, it’s too early to tell if it’s working. Actually, just this weekend I changed the dosage (on schedule), so I won’t really know if it’s working until the fall.

I mentioned at the beginning that I was really "tired and out of it". However, at that time I also had stomach issues and was taking a bunch of stuff for that as well.

Anyway, I’m back to the basics. The neurologist prescribed a preventative (to take daily) and an abortive (to take during a migraine attack), and so that’s what I’m taking.

And I’m still tired and out of it.

Actually, really quite tired. Since April, my energy levels have dropped quite drastically.

I’d like to say my energy has dropped by half, but of course it’s hard to estimate. But most days, just about anything I do is a major effort.

I’m not saying all this to complain. I’m fine, and it may be that it will just take some weeks to adjust. But I did want to explain where things are at.

I’m also trying other things – adjusting my schedule, etc, to be as efficient as possible. But, of course, that won’t be so easy over the summer while we’re on the road.

So the summer will be an adventure for more reasons than one! I’m not sure how it’s all going to go, but I’m sure God has a plan. 🙂

16 June 2009

My Wife, the Mechanic

Jim Practical matters, Prayer and Praise 2

There seems to be some kind of rule. The closer you are to leaving on a trip, the more problems you have with your vehicle.

Well, I hope that rule won’t hold true. But yesterday both the Frys and us (who will be travelling together for the first day or two north) were doing tag-team drop-offs as we took our vans to various places for repairs and tune-ups.

Both our vans still have some strange noises going on, but we’re going to hope for the best.

Yesterday I had the back door of the van temporarily repaired… no doubt we’ll need to order the actual part and get the handle replaced while we’re in Canada. But it’s opening and closing right now, so that should make it a lot easier to load and unload suitcases each night.

But we also had a ghost in the van. Without warning, the electric locks would start locking, lights would start flashing, and other strange noises would begin… especially when we were accelerating.

It was Shari that clued in. It was that little knob that detects when the sliding door is closed. Part of it had broken off, so it sometimes didn’t recognize that the door was closed, and sometimes did.

Using an idea from Rod (who once had the same problem), she used a couple of coins and some duct tape to lessen the distance between the door and the knob, hence solving the problem! We can do something more permanent later, but for now – no more ghost!

Handy, and beautiful at the same time! 😉

9 June 2009

A little crazy! (the update)

Jim Family, Practical matters, Prayer and Praise 1

Some of you have been wondering what’s up with some of the craziness we mentioned in our last post.

First, Shari was able to take Nathanael to the doctor that day. He was diagnosed with "seasonal allergies", and the doctor gave us a note that said no way does he have the flu.

So, with that official documentation, he was allowed back into the school, and has been there ever since!

The computers are working fairly well, although we’re still at the stage where we keep realizing to do such-and-such we still need to set up such-and-such.

The gate to our street – is still not fixed, so we still can’t get in or out without knocking door to door. We’ve taken to parking outside the gate quite often, which can be a little inconvenient if you’re unloading groceries. Or we watch out the window and wait for someone else going out or coming in, and jump at the chance!

Interestingly enough, we have another broken door – the back door of our van can no longer be opened. The mechanic I took it to today couldn’t fix it, so hopefully I can find someone who can do something with it before our trip.

Shari and Hannah continued to make incredible progress with the schoolwork – in fact, Hannah is done! Praise the Lord!

So now we need to get all the paperwork together to send to Canada to prove that she’s done.

Lots of other things going on. Due to a change in our paperwork I had to send some documents back into Mexico City today, so we’ll need to get those back before we go. I’m still trying to get vehicle insurance for our trip. And the schools are busy catching up on all the activities they skipped during the height of the flu outbreak – Nathanael has a Children’s Day outing on Friday (that I will be joining him for), and Hannah’s big Mother’s Day performance is coming up on the 19th.

I had a great time in Puebla at the conference. And we’re looking forward to getting together with our local team for a time of prayer tomorrow night.

What – you didn’t want us to be bored, did you?

4 June 2009

A little crazy!

Jim Family, Practical matters, Prayer and Praise 1

Things have been a little crazy around here.

For one thing, an update on Nathanael. He went back to school Monday and Tuesday, but then Wednesday he was sniffling more and they told us we would need a doctor’s note to bring him back.

All very well, but on Wednesday I was sick in bed all day (migraine attack) and Shari wasn’t confident she could find the doctor’s office herself. Hopefully we can go today, but I’m also going to a conference (Lord willing) today, tomorrow and Saturday in Puebla. Hopefully we can squish in a visit to the doctor in here somewhere!

Nathanael? Oh, he’s fine. Just a few sniffles, as he’s had most of the year.

We had some major computer problems, which are more or less worked out now. I’m just finishing getting things set up again. Everything is ok, it just ended up being extremely time-consuming.

Also, they’re having some problems with the gate in our neighbourhood. We have an electronic gate that lets the cars in and out, which is great when it works. But it’s not working.

So, they locked the gate with a padlock. No problem – most people in the neighbourhood have a key … but we don’t!

So, we have to go begging door to door whenever we want to get in or out – which is 8 times a day just to get the kids to school and back (ok, so now we’re not taking Nathanael!) plus everything else we do. So many times a day we go knocking and knocking until we find someone with a key.

Apparently it’s a lock and key with a special code. Only one guy has the code, and he doesn’t live here anymore, so the lock can’t be duplicated. So until the gate gets fixed…

So all those things we’ve been trying to get done for normal life, plus all those things we need to get done before we leave on our trip – well, they’ve been mostly on hold while we watch Nathanael, spend time in bed sick, look for keys, and repair computers.

To add to the fun, we thought Hannah had until the end of the month to finish her Canadian school work, but we just heard from the office that she actually has to be done before June 12th. Wow! So we’ve ramped up the school work schedule with her, trying to get everything done. Shari has been working with her and they’ve been making incredible progress – they might actually make it!

And we’re having a party when it’s done. I don’t care what else we’re behind in. 😉

28 May 2009

Errands and Play in Mexico City

Jim Family, Mexico, Practical matters 4

Yesterday we spent a few hours driving through this:

But there was good reason. First, we picked up our passports, which thankfully were ready in plenty of time for our summer travels.

Then we met with our lawyer to work on some paperwork for the renewal of our visas, so the Mexican government will let us stay past the summer.

Then we met up with the Poulette family, and visited Papalote, the children’s museum. The picture is of Hannah, Nathanael, and Nathan Poulette playing with some sand and iron filings on magnets.

It was fun, although of course we all spent time chasing our children in various directions. 😉

But anyway it was fun and great to catch up a little with the Poulettes, however briefly. Be sure to check out their website, and you can catch up with them too!

Driving home took a while as we wound around some streets that were not as direct as we had hoped. But I had time to take this picture just for you:

It says Farmacia de Dios – yes, it’s called the Pharmacy of God. Names like this aren’t unusual here. Apparently their slogan is es confianza, which means it’s trust! Well, I guess if you can’t trust God’s drugstore, what can you trust? 🙂

6 May 2009

Sunday, and another week of No School

Jim Mexico, Ministry glimpses, News and current issues, Practical matters, Prayer and Praise 0

Mini-church at our house
3 May 2009

Our church had "multiple campuses" this past Sunday, as we met in smaller groups due to the Flu A(H1N1) outbreak.

I don’t know what it was like everywhere else, but we had a great time here. All right, the music left a little to be desired, but I didn’t have sufficient time to practice. Or maybe I thought I had enough practice when really I didn’t!

However, we did have a good time of prayer and had a discussion about sharing the Gospel, particularly in times of crisis when death is more on people’s minds than normal. It’s always so helpful to hear different people’s perspectives and experiences of sharing with others.

And in Flu News…

The government announced that they would try opening restaurants (many have already reopened), many businesses are going back to work now, then higher education (which I think reopens today). School for the younger kids is to be further delayed, however. Hannah and Nathanael won’t be going back to school until Monday.

The World Health Organization continues to hint that they’re going to declare a full pandemic. I think in part they’re trying to give advance warning so that no one thinks the end of the world will have come, and in part they’re still watching to see how the flu spreads in communities where it has been detected (especially as people start to let their guard down).

And though things aren’t fully back to normal here, people are starting to let their guard down and wear fewer facial masks (or maybe either because they have less confidence in them, or because they’re sold out EVERYWHERE!).

However, as people go back to school, parents and teachers are being given strict guidelines about cleaning schools. It will be interesting to see how "normal" life is, even after school starts. Everything is way behind, there is a rumour that school will be extended into the summer (a problem for us, since we’ll be gone).

Apparently Mexico has lost at least a couple billion US dollars from this shutdown, an in the long run it may be much more. Some individuals (including some of our friends) are really struggling from lack of business.

And the virus? As before, no one is sure what will happen in the weeks ahead, and especially into next winter.

Good news…

The good news is that I got our passport applications in on Monday. They are due to expire during our summer travels. The Canadian embassy was only taking emergency applications due to the flu outbreak, but because of our travel plans and the fact that we need them to renew our visas in the summer, I was able to join the select few who could enter the embassy and submit my paperwork.

There’s a backlog of passports to be done, but they think ours will be done in time (!).

Empty chairs at empty tables
Tony Romas in Mexico City
Mealtime, Monday 4 May 2009
(take-out only due to flu outbreak)

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