What is it in a person that enables them to make ultimate, or at least huge sacrifices in the name of some cause, or religion, or the greater good? I am thinking of really big things like giving up an unsuitable true love to become king (the opposite of whatshisface who abdicated), or give up a cherished dream to become a farmer and pastor in Goshen, or become a cloistered nun who never sees the world again? Or the guy who leaps onto a hand grenade sputtering on the floor in the middle of a crowded room?

I thought about writing a long post about Christmas. But no such luck for you guys; laziness won out. You will have to be content with a short random post about work and wait longer to hear about the interesting things we did in Georgia.

I have come up with a mind game to fill up free thought time as I ring up orders on my register. After taking each order I have to ask the customer to give me their first name so they can be paged when their order is ready. So I think about names. The number of different names I get is surprisingly low and most are very common. Sometimes I get Kates and Katies, sometimes there are several Eric's or Ryans, sometimes people spell their names for you, and often I have to get people to repeat to make sure it was really Joan and not Jane. One older lady named Polly and I have a happy little connection going on because I told her I loved her name and thought I might name one of my own children that someday. Today I got two women with guys names- Danny was one, can't remember the other.
Anyway, my mental game is very simple: everything I type in a name I think of a person I know with that name. Surprisingly, there are few times when I can't do that! Paul, Diane, Joan, Ryan, Mary, Terry, Katie, Margaret, Bob, Tom, Connie, and on and on.... I feel so rich! How many people have such a wide circle of friends, family, acquaintances, and distant far-off cousins? Today I suddenly realized that I didn't have to stop with thinking warm, fuzzy thoughts about them- I could pray for them! I can pray for the "Jan" standing in front of me, and I can pray for the Jan I know who lives next door to me. Cool!


change of subject


Speaking of distant far-off cousins, we just found one! My father's father was the youngest of three sons- his brothers were ten and twenty years older than he. They were not devoted Christians, and in fact the oldest, George is usually described as "George, the horrible man,..." He was an alchoholic and not a really pleasant person. But he did have one advantage over the others: every member of Grandpa's family tends to drop dead of heart-attacks before their time. George beat that particular gene by pickling his insides with liquor. One of Daddy's sisters actually asked her doctor what she could do to keep her heart healthy and he suggested following in the footsteps of good 'ole uncle George (and I kid you not). So if any of you find beer bottles stashed in the back of fridge, please remember why they are there. :-)

ANYWAY... getting back to the point... Due to religious and other differences, Grandpa didn't keep in close contact with his brothers, and didn't talk about them much to his children. For years now my aunts have been poking about in the dark corners of the internet, looking for cousins. This Christmas we found one!!! His name is William (my last name) and he is the son of the infamous George! That makes him Daddy's first cousin and my first cousin once removed! As soon as I found out I was so excited! I didn't realize I would feel so interested but it is different now that there is actually a flesh and blood relative. What if he looks like us? Does he sound like us? Walk like us? Is he a Christian? Does he have children? Etc. We do know that he was actually looking for us as well. We haven't e-mailed back yet, but are planning too- and maybe meet him sometime! Again, cool.

Okay, I want to read my book for awhile before bed. Goodnight.

Christmas

Just a quickie- Christmas break has been lovely! Mostly it has consisted of frequent naps at all times of day, frequent doses Christmas shopping, and a lovely chance to interact with my sisters! There is truly nothing like just doing whatever with three sisters (except maybe doing whatever with four sisters). We get each other's humor and can talk about anything and a blue moon.

(If it makes you feel any better Craig, since I was one of the guilty parties whining about your excessive break, I DID recognize the fact that it wouldn't be much of a break working at the bank for five and a half weeks.)

Last night we drove north of Atlanta to rendezvous with the Swedish girls coming to spend Christmas with us. We had a lovely time laughing and talking, looking at pictures, comparing Christmas traditions, and getting to know each other. Of course I already knew Emma from Israel, so we had plenty to talk about. Fun to have two more girls around for Christmas!

and a Merry Christmas to you all. Mom needs me to get off now so she can use the phone. :-)

The phone rang this morning while I was still in bed at 10 am. I listened to Grandma answer it, "Hello, this is Mrs. Anderson, how may I help you? ... Lisa?" I was out of bed like a shot!

Yes! I got to talk to Lisa in Jerusalem! She is doing well, is happy but still suffering from jet lag compounded by the tail end of a cold. Mostly she has been recovering at the apartment, and hasn't been out anywhere much yet.

SO GOOD to hear from her! The connection was horrid, but that was okay. I miss her so much and I wish I was there SO MUCH but it is just so good to have her there.

I got of the phone and howled. As I said to Grandma, Everything is good and right and just as it should be, but I reserve the right to cry anyway. :-)

Now I am going to go ride my fat brown pony named Llewie, and if he bucks me off I shall be very mad indeed.

Happy Sabbath to you all! It is truly a lovely one.

the right word?

I was in the kitchen at work the other day, washing dishes and listening to a couple coworkers talking. One of them had just gotten a new shirt with the company logo on it. When he ordered it there were no pictures to show color choices. He chose lime green. The shirt was truly astonishing and the other guy was teasing him about it. At the end of the conversation the owner of the shirt declared,

"This shirt is ravaging!" Good thing I had my back to him so he couldn't see me laughing. I am really not sure if he meant what he said, or he really meant ravishing. Either way he certainly charmed me! :-)

Scattershot

1. So sorry for the crabby post last night. I am really glad Lisa is going, and I'll be fine. :-) She is in the air right now (8:00 pm of the 30th) and won't land until 2 pm on their local time. She has been sick with a cold recently but it has proved to be a blessing. She felt too sick to worry!

2. Today's story #1
Equine Mayhem, or a story of mud, manure, and vicious animals.

If we were to compare each person's experiences between the hours of five and six this morning and judge them for the highest level of excitement I bet you all that I would win. Hands down. To begin with, probably most of you were still sleeping at that hour. :-) These days I'm up around five to take care of my horses and this morning was no different.

It all started when the culottes I normally wear were still in the laundry. I threw on one of my long Israel skirts and ran out the door.

I like being up so early in the morning, except that you can't see anything. I hate it especially after watching movies like The Fugitive or the Borne movies. Good thing Daddy taught me how to use my big Maglite flashlight as a weapon! I dare all Treadstone operatives or one-armed men to stand up to that!

The horses had decided not to come in from the pasture, which meant I had to go out to get them. In the dark. At least it's all wide open in the pasture- that way nobody can hide behinde trees and sneak up behind me.

I loaded my jacket pockets with carrots, grabbed a halter and lead and trudged out, flashlight in hand. Right where the pasture meets the barn area there is a mud hole. There must be 20 or 30 yards of it with no choice but to slog through. I slogged through and found the horses near the back end of the pasture.

Then the fun began. Mix muddy, wet weather, pitch blackness, four overly active horses, one nervous girl and several carrots and what do you have? Well...

All of them crowded around me- eager for carrots. As I passed them out one of the wretched animals bit me in a fit of ill-temper. I returned the favor with a hard wack to the head with just as much ill-temper. Then I put the halter on the pony and decided to ride him back. He is fairly short, so I can usually jump and slither onto him pretty quick. Only just as I performed the first half of this manuver and was drapped over his back the other horses took off. Naturally the pony took off too. And naturally he didn't want me to go along. So he bucked me off. Thankfully I wasn't too far off the ground to begin with and managed to keep my hand on the lead rope.

I decided to walk back.

Back through the mudhole we went. Slog, slog, slog... slop, slop slop. Now my skirt was six inches deep in mud, and suddenly my shoe came off. But with four jumpy horses in tow I was in no position to do anything about it. After I got the horses into the barn I shed my other shoe and headed back for the first in my stocking feet. In fact, though I did find it, I didn't bother to put them back on. Want to know one benefit of darkness? One can't see what one is stepping in, in one's stocking feet. :-) Now isn't that an edifying thought?

So, while you were all sleeping soundly in your warm beds (except Andrea of course) I was being bitten, bucked off, and generally attacked by mud and manure. Anybody want to trade jobs?

3. Story of the day #2
Nasty Lady at Work
I am loving this customer service thing. I love starting to recognize the regular customers- I even know a couple names, and will soon be able to match them with the items they always get. I enjoy bustling about doing a myriad little things, being cheerful with people, fixing hot chocolate on wet mornings, and endlessly ringing things up on the register. I might even eventually be able to decifer all the weird abbreviations on my register screen and have to stop whining for help from the nearest coworker. I am so happy!

But then, in the middle of my blissful existence steps the Nasty Lady. I've had some negative or slightly snobby input over the last few days, but thankfully no truly horrid 'scenes'. But today She came in. I rang up her order, and took her gift card to scan. Only it didn't scan. Run get the manager. Manager says O, just enter the number on the back. Said number is ninteen digits long. I enter it incorrectly two times before getting it the third. Then the customer looked at her receipt and informed me that I had given her the wrong coffee, merely pennies more in price. That was my fault, I admit, but now I was well and truly rattled. She compounded the problem by informing me in a nasty voice that she had told what she wanted four times. She wanted the different corrected. Guess what- can't do that after I ring up the order! Thankfully the manger was standing at my elbow.

Manager to Nasty Lady- Do you want me to give you back the extra eleven cents?

Yes she did (most emphatically) And look! Now my buzzer is going off and my soup is ICE COLD!

Manager- do you want the eleven cents in cash or back on your card.

YES I want it on my card! (DUH!)

Manager- do I still have your card? Nope, its in her wallet. She digs it out and continues talking about FREEZING soup. Meanwhile I had reliquished my position to the manager and stood in the corner, rattled to the core. The lady stormed off without her card to fetch her freezing soup and the manager procceded to re-type the ninteen digit code so she could add the eleven cents back on. Meanwhile she cussed the lady out under her breath, something I am sad to admit soothed my nerves more than it should have.

Sigh. The wonders of customer service. I suppose I'll learn to deal with them with more aplomb and less nerves, but you know what I really want? I want to learn to deal with them with more love. Maybe that lady had had a horrible morning or was depressed. Maybe her cat just died. Maybe she doesn't know if she's going to heaven or not. OR... maybe all excuses fail and it is just sheer carnal bad temper? Can I learn to love them even then? It is so easy to cuss people out under your breath or in your heart, but how do you get Christ's perspective on that individual soul- eternal, infinitely precious, loved by God?

Anyway, I am going to stop writing now. Tata.