One week in Cairo

I arrived in Cairo a week ago following 32 hours of traveling...none of it sleeping. I slept my first day away-at least 16 hours of it!  I think I am over the jet lag now-the household help woke me up at 7am when they came in to clean the apartment! I arrived for the last few days of Ramedan, the muslim holy month, so Sam had 4 days off work from Thurs. to Sun. We got a wonderful surprise in that our shipment arrived Thursday night about 8:30pm to our apartment. We were not even expecting it to be in the port until yesterday! Since trucks are not allowed in Maadi for all the cars here, it came in 4 pickup loads piled higher than the  Beverly Hill Billys! Just imagine: a shipping container 12'x10'x10' full of stuff ... on 4 pickups! It was too dark to get a photo so you will have to imagine it.  They unloaded and were out of here by midnight or so.      The kitchen required a lot of de-greasing-especially the stove. We spent all the next day cleaning and unpacking the kitchen.     Fridays are days off here...compare to our Sunday. We visited Maadi Community Church just a couple of blocks from our temporary apartment. There are about 1200 members from all over the globe. Every shade of skin color, from every continent, many many languages and yet all in one place for one purpose: to worship God. It must be a little bit of what Heaven will look like with believers from every tongue and tribe and nation. The worship was great, not unlike the church we attend at home. A bit more physical action on the drums from time to time--but then, I do believe the drummer is African!  We meet under a humongous tent on the grounds of an Episcopal church; there are large fans, and we are reminded to bring our own water. The preaching was good-they are doing a series of sermons that may be familiar to you--called Living Beyond Myself. This includes a First Serve campaign to encourage church volunteerism. Sam has been working with the Middle School kids on Wednesday night. I went last Wed. to check it out and had a lot of fun. Our youth minister is quite a good preacher herself and kept the kids attention the entire time!  They have recently hired a Moody Graduate to lead the children's ministry.  As a church they are organized into Life Groups for Bible study and fellowship. They do this with the teens as well. Wednesday nights they have several choices for classes at the tent site.  They have a women's Bible study that will begin in October. They will be studying Ester by Beth Moore. They also have a moms/toddlers study once a week.      We have small grocers in Maadi. They are stacked to the ceiling with all sorts of groceries, some imported. I helped Sam sift through shelves of soda cans to find 3 caffeine-free Dr. Peppers. They are not available from local bottlers. Coke and Diet Coke are bottled in Cairo. Whew!  I have not shopped for more than basics because we have been eating out most of the time. You can have anything delivered here. We buy a case of bottled water and they deliver it about 10 minutes after we get home. We walk most everywhere...at least I will. I am sure the roads will be safer if I stay off of them . It is a matter of who gets there first as to who has the right of way...and only then if you don't make eye contact with the other driver.       We picked out appliances for our apartment that should be delivered this week. Then we will be moving into our permanent apartment.  I will send photos once we get moved in.         There are so many great ways to keep in touch. I think our experiences may be interesting to you, but please remember we want to keep up with  you too, so please let us know how and what you are doing! I  Love you all! Kim and Sam

Egypt At Last!

Today is Wednesday, September 16th. I have been awake in Egypt for 4 hours now. I left Tulsa, OK at 10:35 Monday, September 14th and somewhere in between I lost a lot of hours high above the world. It is as though TuesDAY never happened. Somewhere between Monday Tuesday Night I watched two movies, two tv episodes, ate wonderful meals and listened to music. I never slept. :)

Sam met me with roses upon my arrival in

Egypt! We took a fairly calm ride to the staff apartment where another bouquet of flowers-Birds of Paradise greeted me. I think Sam had lots of fun at the flower shop. After a refreshing shower and catching up, we headed out for an evening walk. The sidewalks are about as treacherous as the streets so we picked our way among broken sidewalks and littered gutters in search of a place for dinner. It is still Ramedan here...a day of fasting followed by an evening of dining and family gatherings...so the restaurants were pretty full. We found a Deli that could seat us-my first dinner as a resident of Egypt was a hamburger!!! and it was tasty at that!

One thing to note when walking around after dark...they don't drive with their lights on after dark...it is considered rude to shine lights in another's face...Sam and I decided that taking our flashlights with us would be prudent next time we head out. OR...In Minshall Park, our old neighborhood in Tulsa, there was a man who always walked in the dark...He work a vest like crossing guards wear and a flashing light on a headband. Actually, the headband had several flashing lights! That would be a good thing to have here!

While walking we found a shop that sells Italian food imports. Lots of goodies there! Also went to a bakery and bough fresh bread and cinnamon rolls.

There is a song we sing at Highland Park Christian Church. It is about God being Lord of the city. That is my prayer for Cairo, for my little part of Cairo known as Maadi. My friend Connie sent me a verse to remember and this is also my prayer: Colossians 4:5 and then 4:3,4 "Be wise in the way you act with people who are not believers, making the most of every opportunity. When you talk you should always be kind and pleasant, so you will be able to answer everyone in the way you should. vs. 3 also pray for us that God will give us the opportunity to tell people his message. Pray that we can preach the secret that God has made known about Christ."

Loving YOUth Minstry!

Tonight was a special time for me. I arrived at church for a youth sponsor's meeting unsuspecting of the party awaiting within! Sponsors and youth surprised me not only with their presence but also with a gift of a friendship quilt, cards, words of encouragement and a group prayer. It is a blessing for me to know people love and care for me and will continue to pray for me. Girls from my Bible class, now moved on to high school-I am so proud of them, for the choices they make and they way they look to God to help them through the tough times. My D-group girls who taught me more than I taught them-I would love to have had more time with them. The class of 2014...I had so many of them in the Pre-K class at Rainbow school. They will always be special to me! Sponsors, some who were once students-now teaching and serving where God has placed them. Other sponsors who have helped me raise my kids...my heart will always be endeared toward you, for what you have meant to my family and to me.

I have to tell you that when I started working with youth, I had no idea they would become the focus of my life. I had no idea of the joy they would bring or the heartbreak I would feel when they hurt. I rejoiced in their accomplishments, cried at their personal failures, laughed at their antics and cringed at their middle school awkwardness. No one told me what a blessing they would be in my life. No one told me they would become a part of my story. No one told me anything...I was just asked to be a sponsor. Would you consider being a youth sponsor? You may make a difference in their lives....they will make a difference in yours!

If you are reading this and are/were a part of this fantastic group of people~ I love you! Thank you for a wonderful, thoughtful evening, for the gifts and sentiments, and for the love you have extended to me. You are a blessing!

Dr. Malavolte

I have a toe nail fungus. I would not tell you this if there were any other way to tell this story. I think I got it from my last pedicure. (Last February). One day in May, I was removing the remnants of the old nail polish and found a strange discoloration on my nailbed. A long narrow, funnel-shaped discoloration where my nail was no longer attached to the nail bed. YUCK!

I was removing the old polish because we were about to go on a look-see trip to Egypt and I wanted to 'look good' all the way down to my toes! Now I could see that the future held a nail-less big toe! ( I tend to go to worse-case-scenario)

I decided that I would not mess around with going to my GP-I would go straight to the top~ a podiatrist. So I get out the phone book and look up a close one. Dr. Malavolte--wait, mala means bad in spanish...oh, wait, I have a bad toe! So off I go to meet Dr. Malavolte---the next day!

He is a friendly doctor and so kind. He examines my toe and we decide to do a culture because the medicine is hard on the body, it requires blood work and it has to be taken a long time before one sees results.

Fast forward 10 weeks to today. I tell Dr. Malavolte we are heading to Egypt and now there is no time to take the medicine because it requires follow up. I mention that it looks like it is healing itself. Dr. Malavolte concurs.

Then an amazing thing happens: he begins to testify of God's love for us, for His plan for us, his preparation of us, and our equipping to do God's work. He spoke of the adversary's attempt to get in God's way through trials and disappointments. He encouraged me to trust God in our journey-that he would show us His purpose for our new adventure.

I have never had this experience with a doctor before. He sent me away, saying I was healing by the power of God. He blessed me. Dr. Malavolte is Dr. Buenavolte in my book!

At Last! The Adventure Begins!

The last few weeks we have been doing things for the 'last time' before our move. We had our last "Americano Family" Starbucks date. We have had 'last dinners' and last doctors visits. We have made our last rent payment. Sam made his last trip down to the river... and we have seen some people, perhaps for the last time. So...setting out on the adventure in these last days in Tulsa has been bitter-sweet. We are thankful for the friendships that last despite days or miles. We are thankful for memories made that will last until we lose that function. We look forward to making a lasting difference in the lives of people we are yet to meet. Sam left Friday for his new job--AT LAST~!

Treasures

When I was in the 6th grade I got bit by the horse-crazy bug. At night I dreamed about them, during the day I read about them, daydreamed and plotted how I would get one. My dad built me a box...a treasure box to keep my horse 'stuff' in. I collected stories from the Sunday Sports section about horses. My grandmother took me to the American Royal to see Roy Rogers and Dale Evans and their team of amazing horses. I got to shake his hand! and then I shook all the way back to my seat as the reality of what just happened overwhelmed me. ( I am sure my grandmother thought I was a nut) I had just touched the hand of the man who got to touch TRIGGER every day! TRIGGER!  (I have another story about 'my' horse named Trigger...I will save that for another day.) And so, I added the program from the American Royal to my treasure box. 

Birthday cards and calendars and 'How to Break and Train Your Horse' books were added through the years. Model horses of plastic and porcelain made their way into that box, as did my favorite fiction books about horses; Palominos, mostly.  I made 'outfits' for my horses. Show garments with tassels and silver threads, bridles of silver and felt, decorated with rhinestones. What a treasure trove! 

As I grew older, the box made its way to the back of the closet, then the attic. When I married, the box moved with me...first to Tulsa, then Elk City. It went to storage when we moved to Venezuela and upon our return it went from garage to attic to storage as the years passed.  My girls grew up not interested at all in horses.  On occasion, usually when making a move, I would think about the box my dad made and day dream about sharing its contents with a grand child who would one day awake to find an insatiable desire for horses.  He or she would oooh and ahhh over the magnificent horses and horsey attire. He or she would read the historical collection of news clippings and cards, and delve into the books that would become his or hers favorites as surely as they had been mine.

We are moving to Egypt. The packers came to take some of our things to storage. Things like my great Aunt Beth's antique furniture, the carved wooden eucalyptus bench I received for my graduation from high school, memorabilia, and mementos we don't need in Egypt but are too sentimental or precious to dispose of.  And the treasure box. The box that now doesn't have a dial on the padlock. The box that now shows signs of scrapes and peeling veneer. The box we can not open but must because the packers say they have to account for everything in it. And they have to know there is nothing dangerous or perishable inside. 

After at least 25 years, Sam removed the hinges so they could 'process the box'.....go through my treasures.  I went in the house. I did not want to see the things in the box. I wanted them to remain as wonderful and magical as they did when they were placed there by a child in love with horses. This love that I would share with someone special to me. I wanted them to remain in the box until that day! So-let them look and pack it back again, but I am NOT going to peek!

First the packer brought me a pale golden horse with a broken leg...just so I could see the condition before they packed it. A few minutes later, she brings me two horses...legs obviously repaired several times and now with parts missing.  This doesn't look like my treasure, but it IS the same white horse with golden highlights that I remember. And that one is the palomino I bought with my own money while we were on vacation. Broken. Tarnished. Not Magnificent. 

So I went to the garage to look at my box.  "Oh, we can leave those things and pack them just as they are,"  she says to me. "We have removed the  delicate items."  I open the lid now hanging on by its non-functional padlock. As the light from the overhead bulb illuminates its contents, a musty odor fills my nostrils; a pungent unmistakable smell...MOLD!  I look inside at books, news paper clippings, and cards-all covered with a powdery green mold!  My heart sinks. With two fingers I pull out some books. Lying underneath them are rodeo and showdeo programs with my participant number tucked in the folds of each. I pull them out...Garnett, Kansas; Stanley, Kansas; Ottawa Play Day; Stillwell Showdeo- where I won my first trophy...one by one, the memories returned...memories of friends, and horses, and my mom and dad with their station wagon full of horse gear and hay strands...nights of high expectations and about as many wins as losses...a child hood full of horses- a dream come true.

But a treasure no more.  I could not keep a thing in the box, for if I did, the mold would infect every other item in that storage container...my great Aunt Beth's furniture, the letters and mementos and memorabilia...

I am reminded Matthew 6: 19 & 20--"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Do not store up for yourselves treasures in boxes, where mold and mildew destroy... but store up for yourself treasures in heaven...  Where is your treasure stored?  What is your treasure? 

  Matthew 6:21 ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Updated Emmalia

My adorable granddaughter!

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