Boring Excitement

Dear A,

We're REALLY looking forward to living in Vietnam again.  We are anticipating some things which we don't experience in the same way around here:

• warm evenings with friends and bubble tea on short plastic stools
• coffee shop English clubs
• shopping for household goods (now, where do they sell ____?)
• motorbiking around town
• slurpy noodles

And lots of the things I'm looking forward to are also things we do in Bend. We're looking forward to evenings of games and puzzles.  Hosting marriage workshops and helping people individually find freedom/peace/joy.  Cooking and eating with friends.  Using curiosity to encourage curiosity about matters of faith.

Nothing terribly exciting.  No news.  Just a daily surge of excitement about going, but it's boring because we've been excited all along already.

Love,

Tim

PS. 

I might have mentioned this already, but if you have an old PHONE you want to send with me (provided you've reset it to the factory login screen and it's not carrier-locked), I'll take it to Vietnam friends who would be grateful.  Cracked screens and useless batteries are NO PROBLEM to fix there, and the people I'm aiming to give them to won't be offended by old phones.  Or if you want to send me $$ to @thechaseplace, I'll fix up someone else's broken-screen phone and find a grateful recipient.  These are young people coming down to study in Da Nang from Vietnam's more remote/impoverished areas.

One Month and Counting

Yes, it's all excitement and happy buzz around here: One month from today we'll be ON OUR WAY!

This week our younger kids are still home from college, then next weekend they'll both head back to George Fox in Newberg for their final year.  (We'll come home from Vietnam in time for their graduation next May.)  Next week we'll begin packing our household belongings into their upstairs bedrooms for storage.  Then the following week the first of our three renter/caretakers moves into the west Airbnb and we move mostly out of the house and into the other guest bedroom.  It's happening...

The Lightning Thief has opened and it's magnificent.  David (Anna's husband) directed it AND is a member of the cast this time. And he's amazing.  If you were here to see it you'd know what I'm talking about when I tell you that he doesn't "look like" he's acting, even when he's launching into song--it seems like the most natural thing for him to do each action, say each line, or fill the playhouse with his voice.  Anna is the stage manager, and of course is the most efficient, capable, and organized one you'd ever want to know.  She also comes onstage as a very chipper little squirrel handpuppet when Percy Jackson is lost in the woods ... somewhere in New Jersey.  

The lead role, Percy Jackson, is played by a theater major at Southern Oregon University.  He is 100% amazing with his acting and vocal projection and control.  He would not be mis-cast in a Broadway show--he's really that good.

I think that's it.  One month away.  Lots of my attention is on PACKING and also on figuring out ways to increase the Audience level for Lighting Thief for their round of performances next weekend.  

Love,

Tim

Flight Check

Dear A,

We did get our entry visas approved. Yay!  For most people visiting Vietnam, that part is non-threatening: you apply, pay money, get visa.  For us, we've heard SO many stories of people who thought they were going to be part of the life of a country for years to come, then one day the government decided to deny a re-entry, and everything unravels.  So it's with some bated breaths that we apply each time for our visas.  This time: Success!   

And today the news is that we've just bought the final leg of one-way tickets, from Redmond RDM, at 7:00am on the 18th.  If you were still living here I might be asking for an early morning ride to the airport (lucky you!).  

~Tim

PS. This coming week begins my birthday camping trip at McKay Crossing.  Everybody is invited!  We'll be camping there until Sept. 10.

PPS. We'll do some going-away-party events the weekend of Sept 6-7.