Readin’ kids
Hannah can read a little, Nathanael not at all, but what they were reading wasn’t in these books anyway…
Great-Grandpa Winger
In the morning of January 16th, Shari’s Grandfather Clifford Winger went to be with the Lord. He was 95 years old.
We asked for your prayers earlier as Clifford and his wife (Shari’s Grandmother) Ada went through transition and temporary separation as he moved to where he could get better care. We praise the Lord that she was able to move to the same building almost two weeks earlier, so they were at least able to see each other a bit before he passed away. We’re also thankful that Shari’s parents were able to get some time off and were actually already on their way to Ontario, so they’ve been able to be with the rest of the family in Ontario to help with the arrangements.
Of course we would appreciate your continued prayers for Shari’s Grandmother, her children (including Shari’s mother) and our families. Also, after a lot of prayer and discussion, Shari has decided to go to the funeral, which will be Saturday. She leaves on Friday and will come back on Sunday. So we would all appreciate your prayers during this time.
We’ll all miss Grandpa. He was an inspiration to me even in the short years I knew him. But we rejoice that He’s with His Saviour at last, and our separation is only temporary.
What’s a Technorati tag??
At the moment, you may notice that some posts on this website have something at the bottom that says,”technorati tags”. What in the world are those, and who cares?
Well, one thing at a time. What is Technorati? Technorati is a site that tracks and indexes weblogs, like this one. The site was founded by David Sifry, who has his own blog called Sifrey’s Alerts. Technorati claims to track over 25 million websites.
Ok, so what are tags? Well, in this context they’re kind of like subjects or categories. In fact, Technorati uses the categories in this blog as tags. But those categories are only so helpful (in fact, one of these days I should probably improve them). Tags make things more specific,
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and can link you to others who are blogging on the same thing, even if you only mention the topic once.
Technorati isn’t the only site using tags. Flickr, the popular photo sharing site, also uses tags to make photos easier to find. For example, if I type in “Mexico music” I get photos like this one (thanks to pulpolux for the photo).
It works great for photos, and it works ok for blog entries, which are far more subjective and easier to actually search than a photo.
So, what are the advantages and uses of tags? Most obviously, you can click the links and find other people blogging on related topics. You can even use the tags to search for related entries in your own blog (I don’t really have too many yet, but if I did). You can see how many people are talking about a topic – for example, what are the hot tags in the last hour? You can search tags, for example, see what a search on Mexican culture brings up. In other words, you may be able to find what you’re interested in, and find what’s being talked about, faster and easier. Hopefully, someone will find something helpful on this blog that they wouldn’t have found otherwise.
The downsides? Well, when you use a Technorati tag, you’re promoting their website, and people leave your website. At the Technorati website, they’ll find related posts but they may also find worthless or even bad posts, from people just trying to get your attention. Like much on the internet, the tags rely on the honour system, and can be abused.
So, I’m not sold-on Technorati tags, but they are interesting and worth trying out. In a few months or years of trial and error there will be improvements and better ways to index things.
I decided to give tags another try after reading What are These “tags” All Over the Web?, a post by fellow missionary Josiah Ritchie. Thanks again, man! On this site, I’ve been using a plugin called Ultimate Tag Warrior by Christine Davis. Thanks, Christine!
Support update
We’re praising the Lord today to see our monthly support go up over 60%! As you know, we need 100% before we leave for Mexico. Our total continues to rise steadily, thanks to the Lord. This support not only brings us closer to our move to Mexico, it also allows us to continue ministry here in the mean time – building partnerships and creating vision about what God is doing in Mexico.
So, of course you’re wondering, when are you going to be at 70%? If you’re wondering about what it would take, I’ll tell you. Of course, things vary a bit with exchange rates and so forth, but it will take about 8 more donations to reach 70%. For example, a pledge of $25/month, 2 pledges of $50/month, 3 pledges at $75 per month and 2 pledges at $100/month would probably get us up over the 70% mark.
That’s Canadian funds, of course. In $US, 5 or 6 pledges of $75/month would do the trick.
I just wanted to stop by to share the good news with those of you who have been praying, and to thank so many of you who are giving to the ministry! God is listening, and things are progressing.
Back to the Meximize trip
I’m sitting here listen to Nathanael work on his Spanish. It’s really something to hear! He actually tries to say it like it sounds, not like he thinks it should sound like adults do. 😉
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As many of you know, Shari and I were in Mexico in July. I went first with a team from Lansing Avenue Baptist Chapel, and when the team left, Shari joined me.
Anyway, the team was called the Meximize Team, and when they got back the team leader put up a few pages about the trip. Pardon me, but I don’t think I ever pointed it out to you! This is not because I didn’t like it, but because that site was a work in progress and so was this site, and we weren’t sure what was going to end up where.
The site includes a number of photos from the trip (like 200 or something), a video summary of the trip (which is well done), and related links. There’s even a link there to Pan de Vida, the orphanage we were at.
But, perhaps best of all, there are 5 journal entries. Now each member of the team was asked to write daily in a journal. So these pages represent little glimpses into individual days of the trip from 5 team members (myself included). I think this is really cool, and if you’re ever taking a short term team this might be a great way to talk about the trip on the web.
[oops – sorry, the Meximize site is no longer available!]
Ministry and preparation
Around the Cottrill household we’ve been moving onward and upward with our preparations for Mexico. Shari has been going through files and getting rid of things that we won’t need to take. As the Christmas decorations have been cleaned up, we’ve been asking what we need to get rid of, since Lord willing this will have been our last Christmas in Canada for a while. Of course, I’ve been working on my course! And we’re hoping that we can get some more bookings in churches soon. A great part of our ministry is with individuals, but it’s disturbing to see all these Sundays free – I would love to be teaching an adult Sunday School class or preaching or singing or leading a seminar or something!
Hannah’s been talking a lot about Mexico lately too. We’ve been discussing language issues and food and things like that. She’s been a little concerned that she’ll go nuts sitting in the van for such a long time on our drive down – she’s been trying to convince us for weeks to fly! Perhaps if we tell her how few toys they’ll let her take on the airplane it will convince her. 😉
I’ve added something else to our Get involved! page, so be sure to check that out. Shari feels it would be a tremendous help to have a sewing machine. Now she does have something specific in mind, but if you do have one sitting around your house that you’re not using, it just might fit the bill.
Thanks for your prayers as we continue to minister and prepare.