Practical matters

8 July 2008

Yes, we have internet access!

Jim Computers and internet, Practical matters 1

Yes, as of yesterday we have internet access, and even a phone. How long has it been? About a month, I guess. Not bad considering the circumstances, although I had been hoping I would be able to check email and so on more in the mean time.

So, here I am with dozens of emails – people wanting me to do this, check that, fix these things, tell them the other stuff. I got a phone message telling me they were going to cut off this if I didn’t do that (turns out it actually wasn’t my responsibility at all), someone wanting to sign Shari up for that, a call about a free trip I had qualified for. The phone kept ringing even after I went to bed.

So anyway, I need to go through these dozens of emails and figure out what to do and say in them all – so thanks for your patience!

We’re still working out the bugs – the internet isn’t actually working in the office (of course, I can’t go up there anyway because the stairs are being tiled!), and sometimes it doesn’t want to work at all. But we’re getting there as you can see!

I’ll write more about the progress of the house later. The big news of the day really is that Shari gets back into town today! We’ll be picking her up at the airport this evening. 🙂

15 June 2008

From Mexico City to Calgary

Jim Mexico, Practical matters, Prayer and Praise 0

I’m writing you from Calgary, Canada at the moment. I just wanted to give you a quick update on what’s going on here and in Mexico City. We don’t have any phone or internet at home so it hasn’t been easy to get news to you. But my brother-in-law and his family kindly provided me with internet access!

We did move – I think it was Monday/Tuesday (it’s all a blur). Things went fairly smoothly (although the movers kinda disappeared for an hour or two – eventually they showed up with our furniture, and did a good job).

We did make some discoveries – some of the owners stuff is still there, and our box spring didn’t fit up the stairs. So either we sleep in the kitchen, or get a split box spring or something we can take apart! 🙂

It’s hard to explain – we’re very thankful for the house, and glad to be moved. But we are facing challenges. Examples? Well, the stairs aren’t yet tiled, there are no kitchen cabinets or counters, no paint in the kitchen, we have no phone line, some lock problems (already had the locksmith in once. When I first arrived on Monday moving things, I went into a bathroom and promptly got stuck in there. After about 5 minutes of creative door knob manipulation I got out!), the buzzer from the gate doesn’t work, our gate opener isn’t working well, the roof is leaking (only a little), there are wires hanging out where light fixtures and switches should be, nothing is grounded (electric plugs), there’s dirt and construction dust everywhere (and some bags of cement stuff lying around), we’re having some plumbing problems (already had a flood on the top floor, and got some boxes wet – no serious damage Praise the Lord!) so we can’t use the washing machine.

Now, these are not uncommon problems with a rental house here in Mexico. But it does make for challenging times, especially with our (still) limited Spanish, and the fact that things simply take longer here because they’re done differently than they may be done in Canada.

There’s lots of good news, though. We managed to find a stove, and a bed for Nathanael. The stove I brought home, the bed was delivered and I spent several hours assembling it. It’s a bunk so it can double as a guest bed when you come visit. We’re thankful for the help we’ve had from some people in the church with moving and so on.

Anyway, I don’t think I’m exactly complaining – we’re thankful for the house, but these are challenging times for us – challenging to our patience, sanity, finances, mental decision making abilities, etc.

To add to that, late last week Nathanael developed a fever. No other major symptoms – just not feeling well. We give him medicine and he feels better for a while (which is great in the middle of the night because he wants to get up and play!). If he’s not feeling better soon, we’ll need to introduce him to a local doctor.

I arrived in Calgary last night, and had a good time at the First Evangelical Free Church. It was great to see many of you there! I wish I could stay longer, but I need to get my business done and get back home (and you can see why! We have things to do!)

Meanwhile – seriously, if you know an electrician who wants to donate some time and travel to come to Mexico and do some work in a missionary house, by all means, tell them we have an opportunity! Installing light fixtures, switches, adding some grounding to some of the plugs… that kind of thing. She/he can contact us here.

Thanks for your prayers! It’s always an adventure! 🙂

8 June 2008

On the brink

Jim Practical matters, Prayer and Praise

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to stop by one last time to let you know what’s going on before we lose our internet connection for a while. Lord willing we’ll be moving the furniture and the majority of our "stuff" to Mexico City tomorrow. While I’m going there, Shari will be in Cuernavaca cleaning up the house. I’ll probably come back to Cuernavaca Monday night and then we’ll get together with our landlady Tuesday morning before we actually – really – head to our new house. 🙂

Thanks to those of you who have been praying! I don’t know when we’ll have internet connection again, but we’ll stay in touch as we’re able.

Oh, I also wanted to let you know I uploaded a few new photos to the gallery, so you can see some of the goings on during our last days in Cuernavaca.

Later!

5 June 2008

I’m coming to Calgary, Canada

Jim Practical matters, Prayer and Praise 2

Life’s full of surprises, isn’t it? Well, this one certainly was a surprise to us. But yes, it’s true, I am coming to Calgary in a week and a half.

It was unexpected and sudden for us too. Basically, there’s some important paperwork I need to deal with in Calgary, and I need to do it in person. (The first couple of expatriates here that I mentioned this to said,"Oh yes, we had to do that one time!" So I guess it goes with the territory!)

It’s going to be a very quick trip. No offense to friends in Canada – it would be nice to stay longer, but as you know we’re right in the middle of moving to a new city. And there was no way we could all afford to go (maybe I can’t afford to go either, but it couldn’t be avoided!).

I did manage to come over a Sunday, so if you happen to be in the Calgary area, I will be sharing at the First Evangelical Free Church on the 15th of June 2008. The service begins at 10:30am. Feel free to stop by!

Unfortunately, I missed out on those wonderful new direct flights from Mexico City to Calgary. But maybe you can use one of those to come and visit us!

So now you know another thing we’re factoring in to the decision making process. We’re hoping we can get a little organized before I leave (maybe get a stove? Unpack some food? Perhaps a chair to sit on while we eat (we don’t yet own a dining room set)? Might be nice to even get a phone line, but that might be pushing it…).

Then a week later Shari flies to her sister’s wedding. Who planned this schedule anyway? 😉

Photo courtesy of bribriTO

4 June 2008

Still in Cuernavaca

Jim Practical matters, Prayer and Praise 1

I think it’s time for a moving update! Well, an update about moving … I’m not sure how moving the update will be. 😉

As the title says, we’re still in Cuernavaca. We’re facing some delays at the moment.

First, we’re waiting on some of the work being done. Obviously, it’s hard to move in furniture when the floor is being tiled (it’s not so spacious that we can just put the furniture somewhere else!). There’s a door still missing, and no railing on the stairs, and of course no kitchen cupboards (or paint on the kitchen walls). We’re not expecting all this to be done before we move, but were hoping at least the tiling would be done.

Second, there’s the owner. He needs to give us the gate-opener, so we can actually drive up to the house and unload things. Also, he still has stuff in the house, such as furniture. Again, there’s not a lot of room for our furniture along with his!

We keep finding out that it will be another day before his things are moved out, the tiling will take longer than expected, the workers need more materials, etc. Delays and complications are not unexpected, of course. However, it does mean our plans are changing every day or every few hours, and we have to make new decisions as we go along.

Things also get more complicated the longer we wait to move. Today we discussed everything from moving Friday (the day after tomorrow) to moving two and a half weeks from now! I won’t go into all the factors involved, but suffice to say it’s keeping life interesting.

So the latest … which may change later tonight still … is that we’re thinking of moving on Monday (possibly still coming back to finish cleaning here, but hopefully we’ll be done!) and stalling with more of the work. That means more work being done on the house while we’re living there, but – no option is perfect!

There. Were you moved? I sure wasn’t.

31 May 2008

Want to see our house?

Jim Practical matters 4

So, do you want to see our new house?

Well, too bad. I’m not going to show it to you.

However, if you really really want to see it, Rod will show you. He posted a picture of it on his blog, along with a picture of Hannah and his daughter Cathy at his house, and an unfortunate picture of me at the new house (with some of the owner’s belongings in the background. He’s in the process of moving those out).

See the Cottrill House.

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