Gulping air before I dive down and swim again

Today I am gulping air. Actually, not literally. But from tomorrow morning until next Tuesday my schedule is pretty well chocked up. Wednesday to Saturday is Thrift Shop. This biannual event at CAJ is huge. Take a look here, if you want a picture of how exhausted I'll be by the end of the week.

But before I duck down and start swimming hard I thought I'd give you an updates on some previous blog posts.

Now you probably aren't on the edge of your seat waiting for this, but had you wondered what happened to my fingernail? What's the end of the story? Here's the start of the story, if you missed it. And a week after my close encounter with two concrete blocks my fingernail looked like this. Five weeks later my finger nail and I am still well acquainted. Thankfully it is attached around most of the border of the nail (minus about 3mm on one side). The middle is a different story, but while it isn't attached to the nail bed, there isn't any pain and the swelling is gone. I'm just a bit concerned that I might catch it on something and it will rip . . . but we won't think about that. I'm keeping it well trimmed!

As for last week. When I wrote this post I felt quite stressed. Did you feel my stress? Well, after getting myself worked up, I worked very efficiently and hard and almost all of what I had to do got done. I also discovered that we don't have a house-guest this week after all. 

The English Bible study went fairly well. Next one is next week. I need to rethink the English-teaching side of the study. The study series (The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller) begins with a 38 minute DVD session by the author. Though I think he is speaking slowly and deliberately, it isn't slow enough for my English students. SO, I think next time I'll take a little bit of the DVD at a time, pausing and going over the English. I so take for granted, not only my English, but my Bible knowledge. This is such a familiar story, but Timothy Keller makes Jesus' intent in telling the story much clearer. It is a great study, I'm enjoying it just for myself. Somehow I have to pull back and get my students at least to first base. At least they find my English easy to understand (complements along the lines of "we love your voice" and "you speak graciously" were given!).

Last magazine packing day.

The magazine got edited and it is at the printer as I type, phew! Next Monday is packing day. So, we're onto the next edition, with an extra event thrown in next month. But that will be the subject of another post.

As for now, I'm off to do some research on magazines. I'm trying to find magazines that might accept a story or two that I've written. I have one I've written on one of my experiences during the post-earthquake period, but I'm having trouble finding a home for it. Anyone have any suggestions?