Today concludes February. The short month. The month that can never quite make it to 30 days. The month that falls short.

So, in honor of this, the last day of the short month, I have a sad tale of falling short.

You see, I didn't PLAN on falling short. In fact, my plan was brilliant. As some of you know, we bought a MAC computer this year. Well, we tried to take advantage of having relatives in Delaware, land of the "zero" sales tax. By buying the computer online and having it shipped to Delaware, we saved about a hundred bucks in sales tax. Missionaries are always looking for a way to save a dime, and so we planned for my mom and step-dad to get the computer from my aunt and uncle in Delaware and bring it out to California in March. It was a good plan. Really. It was.

That is, it was a good plan until three blizzards fell in the Mid-Atlantic states in February, the most collective snowfall in modern history. Suffice it to say, that little travel happened between PA and DE during the month, and the computer remained snowbound in the "First State."

So, we resorted to Plan B. My uncle shipped the computer to us this week, and once the boxes and postage and insurance was tallied, the figure came to more than a hundred dollars. The good news is we got the computer, and it's all in one piece.

And I guess the bad news goes without saying. Sometimes trying to be smart just doesn't work out. Good bye February, good bye snow (hopefully), and good bye futile attempts at saving a nickel.

"Managing Transitions" by William Bridges

Since missionaries go through more transitions than the general population, I thought this business management classic might have something to offer me. It did. These first two month in San Diego have been harder than expected, but the book describes what's been going on inside of me with textbook precision. Although it aims to help business managers get their people through changes, I read it not only with personal application in mind, but also with getting my children through the migratory lifestyle of missionary children.

The next few weeks my "Quote of the Day" blog will have some golden quotes I found inside "Managing Transitions" by William Bridges. Check back in frequently for new nuggets of insight.

Quote of the Day on Wordpress

A taste of “home”

We’ve passed the half-way point of our home assignment now. People have been asking us—almost from day one stateside—if we missed Africa yet. While we can’t give an unequivocal “yes” to that question, we’ve had plenty of pangs of homesickness. Homesickness for that other “home,” the one over there.

My first one came a month after our return. I was showing the new Rift Valley Academy video for the first time to a church, and I found myself nearly crying. It truly took me by surprise. I had another twinge during our school’s basketball season; I really miss coaching. A few weeks ago my friend Mike sent a picture of my language helper building a garden cage to keep the baboons out, with his six-year-old son perched next to the architect. And I even miss RVA for its trials. I wish I could have been there for the challenges and victories of the H1N1 outbreak recently. Weird, I know, but we love the good and the bad about our homes.

Last night, I had a wonderful experience. My friends Ray and Deni know a Kenyan immigrant who is my age, and she invited the three of us over for a Kenyan meal. Her brother was also visiting from Kenya, and between the meal (githeri, sukuma wiki, chicken stew, and rice), the conversation (talking about our shared knowledge of Kenya and their experiences of immigration to America), and the language practice (they were Kikuyu, the very tribal language I am learning!), I felt right at home. I can’t tell you how refreshing it was to taste Kenya again, both literally through the food and figuratively through the leisurely meal.

(The picture above is of the Kenyan rugby team. Our hosts are going to watch Kenya’s team play in a Las Vegas tournament this weekend.)

Low priority, high fun

When it comes to my priorities right now, my seminary class, taking care of my boys, and working on marketing for my new book are top 3. Somewhere near the bottom of that priority list--or maybe scribbled on the margin next to the perforated edge--would be playing around with video editing.

However, after six months of owning a computer with video editing capabilities, I finally made it happen. My first video...long overdue and promised to our friends the Warntzs. I hope you enjoy it!

Missionaries Detained in Haiti

Our TV usually goes right to cartoons in the morning, but this morning it started on "Good Morning America" and a segment on American Baptist missionaries detained in Haiti.

Read the story.

The story behind the story isn't clear yet. It'll probably never be reported, actually, because the "dirty" headline involves missionaries breaking the law and the crisis in Haiti, which will probably pass soon from the eye of the media. I only write this blog to share two possible insights from my experiences in a Third World country where adoptions by Westerners are common.

I think this situation plays out in one of two ways. I'm not sure which will be found to be the truth.

1. The missionaries did everything according to the law. They followed proper procedures, the same procedures that hundreds before them followed, but ran into an opportunistic and corrup government looking to bribe more money from Westerners. Perhaps the missionaries didn't want to pay off the officials. This would incite unjust men to act selfishly and corruptly, and to slander the work of good people in a tragic situation.

2. The missionaries weren't following the laws of the land. Perhaps because they were untrained (short term visitors?), perhaps because they felt like the chaos meant the normal laws weren't in place, or perhaps because they felt like their good intentions justified breaking the obvious law of the Haitian people (and the international community).

I hope we can hear the outcome of this story reported with the same platform (national news, headlines, etc.) as we did the initial outbreak. I hope #1 turns out to be the reason why these missionaries are in jail. In either case, prayers are crucial.