My Family!

this is the TN Toler family, sans a Toler...

Love

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows,
strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls, but do
not show love to my family,
I'm just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of
Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals and
arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime,
but do not show love to my family,
I'm just another cook.

If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing
home and give all that I have to charity, but do not
show love to my family, it profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and
crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday
parties and sing in the choir's cantata but do not
focus on Him, I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child.
Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband.
Love is kind, though harried and tired.
Love doesn't envy another's home that has coordinated
Christmas china and table linens.
Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way,
but is thankful they are there to be in the way.
Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give
in return but rejoices in giving to those who can't.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all
things, endures all things.
Love never fails.

Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost,
golf clubs will rust, but giving the gift of love will endure.

Merry Christmas and lots of love to you and yours!

*I didn't write this obviously, but it made me think, I hope it makes you think too!

I'm a super guy...apparently

Your results:
You are Superman

Superman 100% The Flash 60% Supergirl 55% Robin 50% Batman 50% Hulk 45% Spider-Man 40% Wonder Woman 25% Green Lantern 25% Iron Man 25% Catwoman 20%

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

Holiday Fun

Oh Happy Day

Today, I finally got my cast off! It felt so freeing to have it removed! My ankle didn't come out of the cast totally healed like I would have hoped. It now actually hurts worse than when I had the cast put on! A different kind of hurt though. Its a weak ankle, tight tendons and ligaments hurt. So I will be starting physical therapy 3 times a week for a month! I 've heard that after therapy you hurt much worse. I'm looking forward to that. But atleast I can shower easier now than having to attach large garage bags to my leg in hopes to keep it dry. Through all of this, I've realized I've taken my healthy, fully functioning joints for granted! Don't you do it too!
I think its fairly obvious which foot was in the cast! I also have this gel to put on twice a day as well as hot/cold baths for the ankle twice a day!

Never Ending Birthday

Yes Indeed. Possibly the longest running birthday in history. I'm not complaining! This is me sporting my newest birthday gift. Thanks Mary! It will do me well as the weather gets cooler.

Thanksgiving

It was that time of year again where I was needing to leave the country in order to renew my visa. I had a friend who was driving to one of the Spanish enclaves (Spanish city in Africa) for some business reasons and it just happened to coincide with me needing to leave. It worked out well, since I have a cast, I didn't want to do alot of standing/walking, i.e. taxi to train, train to boat, boat to taxi, etc etc. This trip proved a bit fretful for me though. I did have some brder issues, but I made it back in without any trouble. I was quite worried for a bit, but He took care of it all-and I didn't have to spend Thanksgiving in Spain!
Thanksgiving was great actually. I spent it with 3 other families with lots of good food, including the traditional turkey, pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, etc etc. It was all so wonderful, even had a tape of this past Superbowl to watch! It was an all day affair. It was so great to have families close by to celebrate together as well as, no traffic and no black friday craziness! PTL I'm not in retail this year!

Abraham Lincoln's

Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1863

It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the

overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble

sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and

pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and

proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord.

We know that by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to

punishments and chastisements in this world. May we not justly fear that the

awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be a punishment

inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national

reformation as a whole people?

We have been the recipients of the choisest bounties of heaven; we have been

preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in

numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.

But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which

preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we

have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings

were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with

unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of

redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and

gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole

American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the

United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in

foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day

of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father Who dwelleth in the

heavens.

A. Lincoln, October 3, 1863.

That line about 'those sojourning in foreign lands' applies to me! Thanks Abe!

Is it still my Birthday?

Happy Birthday to me (again)
This birthday thing keeps going and I'm not complaining. So I finally got my birthday gifts from home! Here is a pic of me wearing a new t-shirt, new sock, and new shoe. Since I have a cast, can only wear 'a' sock and 'a' shoe these days. I told my mom that I was doing alot of walking (which I was) then I got this silly cast, but apparently these Crocs are really good for your feet. They are ultra lightweight and comfortable. I am sure they are even better worn as a pair. Also included was a little pedometer ( I'm thinking a joke from my Dad), and lots of Bday cards from friends from my fellowship! It was encouraging to get stuff from people who care. Also, not from home directly, but I received something from home: a GOOGOO cluster!
Oh man, I love these things! Started and produced in Nashville,TN. I'm pretty sure they were secretly created by Dentists to keep their business up :)

I'm glad I've got a little extra.

Apparently doctors here think that when you have a cast put on, you also need to be put on blood thinner! I had never heard of such a thing. At the doctor's office, I kept seeing these hand motions something with a needle. I assumed it was just that I needed to get blood drawn, but they kept motioning to my side...strange I thought. Then I bought some of the blood thinner, and its an injection. Yep, needles you plunge through your side. But in this case, its nice to have a little extra fat around my middle. It makes the whole process almost painless.

Sprained?

Well finally went to the doctor about my ankle that I turned three weeks ago. I was still having pain in my ankle when I turned it certain ways, but could walk on it just fine. So I thought I should go have it checked out, just incase it was some hairline fracture or something that could come back and bite me later in life. So me and a friend (me armed with arabic, him with french) who is having some wrist problems went to take on the clinic. The doctor didn't speak much english, but I think I understood the important bits like, "why didn't you come when it happened?" "Did you hear a *snap*?" Something I did misunderstand was this blue thing on my leg now. I thought I heard it was 'too late' to put on a cast, but I guess it was you came really late, but we can still manage a cast. He took x-rays. He said they looked great as he was putting on the cast....this seemed to baffle me, but he's the doc, right? But I have heard that most Docs around here like to immobilize things even if it is a just a sprain. So I will be in a cast for 3 weeks then a month of rehab. I have a 'walking cast' meaning I am not on crutches, but cannot walk directly on the cast itself, so the doctor offered me a boot, but they didn't have one big enough for my foot. But they said I can get one at most Pharmacies, but they lied. I did manage to find one. Then I have to take this anti-coagulant injection (oh fun, needles) everyday and give a sample of my blood after 10 days. I was told not to sit at a desk for long periods of time, and to do alot of walking around. I am guessing this is to avoid bloodclots in my legs. Not sure how to go about getting my blood drawn, but I am sure there are labs close by that take your blood. Anyway, what an adventure, I go in walking, come out in a wheel chair. My friend had a good laugh about it.

Halloween slide

Crazy Dog

Introducing: Modie

With Collin away, I had a good opportunity to create some meaningful bonds with his dog, Modie. In the past, Modie and I have had some issues, mainly everytime she would see me, she would jump on me, and then I would try to stop her, and she would start using the bathroom, as a submissive act, called submissive urination.. PTL for tile. So this gets old, ohhh, after the 20th time. So I thought these two weeks, we will get to be real bosom buddies. Well, the first day Collin left must have terribly tramatic for her. She used the bathroom in her cage, which is rare for dogs to do that....this did not quicken our relationship in the least. As I was trying to discipline her to keep her from using the bathroom in the house, to stop jumping on people, and pulling me as we walked, I realized that I didn't really know how to discipline very well. I come from the old school, you just "beat the faar outa 'er" to get her to change her behavior. Well, She seems to be quite the stubborn dog and this approach had limited success. I did see a couple of podcasts of the Dogwhisperer and he helped me understand possibly why Modie was behaving like she was...but in the end she still behaves like before, without much change except to say, the submissive urinating has decreased :) But I wonder if my disciplining struggles stem from the fact that I'm the youngest child, and didn't receive alot of discipline...mainly b/c I was a perfect child (right, mom!) although my brothers say its b/c our parents were too worn out to care by the time I came. I think I turned out all right in any case. Anyway, collin has returned now and I think Modie is a happier pooch. 

Happy Birthday to me

Happy Birthday to me!Nothing says 'happy birthday' like cheesecake!
I thought I was being somewhat entertaining, but I can't hold 'a candle' to a good book it seems

Mary's Bday

happy birthday mary

Weekend

I had a somewhat interesting weekend.

Friday: It started out on Friday morning with me taking a little tumble down the stairs. I was carrying my laundry to the apartment below, where our washer is. I was carrying my laundry in a basket held out in front of me as to not misstep and fall. Then somehow I mis judged the last step and fell twisting my ankle in the process. It was fairly painful, but after a few meaningful words with Him, the pain was basically gone. So I put the laundry in ( I had alot since I've not washed since I moved in on Sept 20th) and went on to my office and did some work there. It was there I noticed this baseball sized bulge on my ankle. It was not really painful, just swollen. I had forgotten the age old remedy of brown paper sack, cut into strips, soaked in a fruit vinegar and applied to the swollen region to get rid of the swelling. Plus, I'm not sure I can find a fruit vinegar, nor brown paper sacks (i'm sure a towel or something would probably work as well). But I did have some frozen peas which did the trick. So I popped in some Lost episodes and elevated my frozen pea covered foot for a few hours, not to mention the drugs. They all worked well together. Its still a little painful and a slight bit swollen.
Saturday: Saturday looked to be a busy day with a friend coming in from the capital in the afternoon and a gathering later that evening to bid farewell, hopefully more like "until next time", to a young couple. So I thought I would get some more laundry out of the way, like I said, I had lots to do. So I put in a load, took down the clothes from the previous day and a few other things before I noticed the lake in the kitchen where the washer was. The washing machine had turned into a opened fire hydrant making the kitchen into a swimming pool. I turned off the washer and waded around thinking of the best way to move such a huge quantity of water ( about an inch of standing water). I was hoping for a drain, but I couldn't find one. Right next to the kitchen is an enclosed, but open to the sky courtyard where we hang our clothes to dry. I did a quick scan, didn't see one there or in the kitchen. I called the person incharge of the apartment to ask if there were any drains in the apartment. She said only on the balcony, which was on the other side of the apartment. So I pull out my last resort, towels. I grabbed as many towels as I could and threw them on the floor. They float for a little while and then sank....'this could take a while', I thought. So then I begin the arduous task of wringing out the many towels. I was thinking, "what I wouldn't give for a wet/dry shop vac!' I was thinking I may have to have my friend come help me with all the this water. I then get a phone call from my old LandLady that she needed to meet me that day at 11:30am to get the keys for the apartment and it was 10:45am by this time. My friend was coming at 12 on the train. I was beginning to feel a slight bit of stress. Then a glorious vision: the tap. In my quick scan of the outside area, I remembered seeing a tap and usually where there is a tap, there's a drain. So I looked again,and under a huge, monda bucket, sure enough, there was a drain! So I whipped out the squeegee and made short work of all the water in enough time to meet everyone I needed to, even with a strained ankle! He is GOOD.

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WEEKEND FUN

Not a Real Post

Hey guys, This isn't a real posting, but I did wanna show off a new thing I found that you may like. Its a free picture software program called Picasa that sorts and edits your pictures. A new feature is that it has one click picture folder upload to the web. You get 250 mb of free picture space. Here is mine of my recent trip to Fes,Ifrane, Rabat, and Bouznika.
Hope you enjoy.

Rehe, Germany

Germany was so amazing. It was such a refreshing time of reconnecting with others. The weather was nice green cool, and wet.








The center was a nice place. Nice and restful locale.

Marksburg Castle, Marksburg Germany

I also got to tour a castle in Marksburg from the 1100's which was really neat! It sets right on the Rhine








As we walked into the castle, I thought, 'main couldn't they make stairs back then' because the entrance was roughly hewed out of slate. Since it was raining, like it did everyday, it was a difficult to traverse. Then the guide said that it was the knight's entrance, and that it was rough b/c it was designed for horses to ride up into the castle.



Living in a castle was a pretty hard life from the look of it.This entrance was usually only accessible via a rope!



What's the most vulnerable place in the castle? Yep, you guessed it. The toilet. Apparently it was the only section of the wall not easily seen from the castle, so they usually put a lock on the outside of the door incase of an attack. And look, they even had a 'western toilet'


They also had tight spirally staircases so that right handed men couldn't enter with a sword and armor. At another vulnerable entrance point, they put a chapel.



It even had its own torture room. The tour guide said that red heads were persecuted alot during this time period because of the obvious association with the Devil. I am assuming the guide meant devilish good looks....ok, maybe not.

The stocks!

A fun invention for sure 

Various Instruments of torture

They say many people died laughing in the stocks. The stocks had spikes around the wrists and feet would go and if you stayed perfectly still you would escape any serious danger, but let's say if they put salt on your hands and feet and let the goats/sheeps lick your hands and feet, you'd prolly die laughing too

Another form of torture although some may consider it armor. can you guess?

Interesting Invention

Saved for those women who are, too quote the guide, 'too talkative' 

A few pictures from Germany

Just a few pics from the conference center. Beautiful Place. It was nice and wet and cool. A welcomed change. 

Got Milk?

A few of you know that I am lactose intolerant since sometime 2005. I am not sure what brought it on. I have read that introducing a new bacteria to the body may induce a reaction like this. So it may have been my week in Indonesia helping with Tsunami relief. In any case, not being able to have milk takes a bit of diet change obviously. Its amazing how much stuff has milk or a milk derivative in it. Before my lactose intolerance, breakfast was never a big deal. I had eaten cereal since I can remember for breakfast. Honey Combs and Cap'n Crunch were my favorites. Its just so easy and can even be healthy. So when I came here, I started eating eggs everyday for breakfast, and realizing this not to be very healthy lifestyle, I began looking into other alternatives. I came across Soy milk here. It tastes great actually, but terribly expensive here. I realized I could not continue to indulge the cereal habit. I mean, cereal shouldn't be, by its nature, an 'indulgence'. I mean, indulgences should be saved for ice cream or something exotic. Not cereal. But then a friend mentioned to me about making my own milk. You can make rice milk and almond milk from your home. After reading a bit on rice milk and almond milk. I decided that almond milk would be the healthier choice. Almonds are not dirt cheap, but they are present year around. But I would need to buy a blender. So off to the megamarket, Marjane, to buy a blender. They had about 10 or so models ranging from about 30-80 dollars. But then I saw a 'special buy' for a Moulinex Blender with 500 Watts of processing power , something inside of me did the Tim the ToolMan Taylor Simian grunt. So now I am into making my own almond milk: One part almonds, 4 parts water, a little bit of sugar, and 4-5 dates-mix well and strain. Now if you are using it just for cereal, you won't mind the grittiness. But if you want to add it to coffee or something, you need to do a bit more straining and that I admit, is a bit laborious. So now I have all this 'almond paste' left over after making the milk. I am not sure what to do with it. Any Ideas?

We Eat Baby At Christmas

Learning a language is difficult and humbling experience. Its humbling because you must be willing to sound foolish, take much correction, and learn something from it, all at the same time. A friend of mine was talking with his Language Teacher (in Arabic) about holidays here and in Britain. They come upon Christmas and he thinks he says, 'We eat Turkey at Christmas.' The pregnant teacher grabs her belly and says, 'NO!!' A strange reaction he thought, then he realized his mistake. See, the word for turkey is 'bibi', where the word for baby is 'bebe'. So he mistakenly said, "We eat Baby at Christmas" They had a good laugh about it!

A day in the hay

Another small vid of an average day on my street. My street is famous for having cheap prices. I will hopefully have a better video once I figure out how to take it without upsetting too many people.

Some Pics

This me and my language helper. This cafe is my classroom :)


me camouflaged


You can read about these interesting goats here
Yes, they ARE in the trees.