Michal's First Haircut

So Kaelea has been wanting to have Michal's hair cut for awhile; something about trimming off the "baby ends" so that it will grow in more full...sounds like an old wive's tale to me. All the same, the trip to Africa was a great excuse, so Michal had her first haircut today. Kaelea said she sat well, and our stylist did not disappoint. It amazes me how beautiful my family is.

The Amazing Isaiah Jacob

So we got a digital camera to replace the one I lost. (OUCH!) We knew we were going to see lots of family over Thanksgiving; it seemed wise to capture some memories in pictures. At one point I had Isaiah sit down by the sliding glass door to take pictures in good light. (Thanks to J. Hill for the photography tip.)

Isaiah is an amazing boy with a generosity of expression. With no prompting from me he just began to perform. So I took pictures as fast as I could and they show off his character so well I thought I would share them with you (broadband will really help.) For the record: I added music to the slideshow, but there was no soundtrack during the "photo shoot." Whatever music he was moving to was coming from inside him.

Did You Hear That?

That was the two-week warning. Fourteen days from today we will be headed to the Portland International Airport to begin a series of flights that will take us through Washington DC and Dubai to Entebbe, Uganda. I'm currently working on a major prioritized task list that will hopefully help guide my days, hours, minutes and seconds from now until we get on that first plane. Everything from one last mow and rake of the back yard (weather thankfully permitting) to tying up many professional duties to sewing up a few relational loose ends. It is amazing what all needs to get done before one leaves the continent for five weeks. It feels like finals week all month.

Fundraising Update: The Lord has continued to bless us as the days go by. As I have mentioned before the overall cost of our budget dropped to $12,500.00. We received an advance on my salary for two months to pay for the plane tickets, so they should be arriving in the mail by Wednesday. Current contributions put us at just over $5,000 or about 40% of our budget. We consolidated my school loans this summer so the Lord worked it out where we wouldn't have to make a payment in December. On top of this our mortgage company has given us the option to skip our December payment, which we are taking so we are going to be able to pony up about $1,500.00 more than we were originally contributing to the trip which puts us right around $6,500.00, or 52% of our needed funds. Whew! what a ride.

Thanks again to all of our friends and family who are praying for us and also to those who have supported us financially. We are definitely and without a doubt going to Africa!

The Hoffman Diaries - Part III

ON WEBLUNKING.

After having finished reading Lindsey's blog, I did what any nosy, websurfing friend would do: I started rifling through her links. Back in the day when Moon and I were in college (before we had gotten comfortable with our mild-mannered alter-egos and we were pursuing superhero work with less discretion) we largely shared a network of Portland friends. That has changed. For myself, my circle of friends from college has decrescendo'd as I have made time for new acquaintances, and my guess is the same could be said for Lindsey.

Unlike sneaking a peak in someone's sock drawer or poking through their medicine cabinet, it is sound etiquette to jump from the known into the unknown based on the recommendation of a friend. And let's face it; that's exactly what that little side bar list of links is: a look into your world as represented by the internet contributions of your friends and the people you admire.

So it was fun to launch from Lindsey into the cyber lives of several interesting human beings that I have never met. And when I have a moment or two to do that kind of exploring, I almost never keep track of where I've gone, and I almost always find some fascinating treasures along the way. Here are a few of my most recent discoveries. I'm sure that these will be commonplace to some of you but they are fresh trophies for me:

Guess the Dictator and/or Sit-Com Character

Here are the rules: Pretend to be a dictator or television sitcom character. The website will try to guess who you are by asking simple yes/no questions. If you're not sure of the answer to a question, answer "No". If you forgot who you were pretending to be, go take a nap, you're obviously under too much stress. Also, drink plenty of fluids.

I think found this game on the blog of a person who was linked to by a pink-haired lawyer from Washington D.C. who randomly recommended Arm & Hammer Baking Soda Toothpaste to me in a comment on one of my posts earlier this month. It is uncanny how accurate this fun little game is. Go ahead...give it a try.

The Pocket Mod

Many things make this little personal organizer special, here is a list.

1. It fits easily in your back pocket or purse.
2. It's as cheap as one piece of paper (Because that's all it is!)
3. It opens like a book. Leading to easier to find, more organized notes.
4. The first page has a pouch, big enough to carry a business card!
5. Customizable with "Mods" tailored to your needs.
6. It's free and fun!

I'm fairly sure that I found this website linked to a blog to which Lindsey was linked. If you are a low-tech/travel-light fanatic, this little tool is dream come true. You have to try it to really appreciate the genius that has gone into this project from start to finish. Nothing short of amazing!

Sudoku

Sudoku (数独) is the number placing game taking the world by storm - see Wikipedia. The rules of Sudoku are simple. Enter digits from 1 to 9 into the blank spaces. Every row must contain one of each digit. So must every column, as must every 3x3 square. Each Sudoku has a unique solution that can be reached logically without guessing.

This game is included as one of the mods for PocketMod, and that's where I first saw it. Now I'm a daily player. If you like logic games you are in for a treat.

Faith in God and God's Will

Tomorrow we have to buy plane tickets for our family sabbatical to Uganda.

airfare to Uganda: $6,702.50.

We have raised about $4,500.00 thus far, but have spent a couple thousand of that on passports and immunizations. So we are short about $4,000.00 for airfare. If we don't pay for our tickets tomorrow we will lose our reservation and the likelihood of getting another reservation is infinitesimal (immeasurably or incalculably minute; coined by an unknown predecessor of the internationally burgeoning Lexitecture movement).

yellow fever immunization injection for a 3-year-old: $91.00.

I've been having an internal conversation about faith and the nature of the will of God all week. I don't buy into the idea that God necessarily has a macro Plan A for the world and a micro one for each person's life and when one person chooses something outside of God's will that person and every person affected by that person's decision goes to plan B and the world goes to Plan A.1. Given the innumerable variability and what I know of human nature, I can't imagine that heaven bothers itself with that kind of paperwork.

crocodile steak in Kampala, Uganda: $10.00.

Rather, I like to imagine that God has a great idea, he's a people deity, he considers himself fairly resourceful and the rest of us are winging it according to what we've been given. I think that God's will has much to do with who I am and little to do with whether I do this thing or make this move or take that job. In my experience the more I think Jesus-type thoughts and say Jesus-type words, the more I do Jesus-type actions. My faith informs me that God is down with me being like Jesus.

return envelopes for fundraising letters: $21.25.

So if the money doesn't come in by tomorrow does that mean God doesn't want us to go on this trip? If it does come in does it necessarily mean that He does want us to go on this trip? Does God have a particular opinion about what we should do and does he want us to know what it is? I am sure I do not know. How could I possibly hope to understand God, when I'm seriously hit and miss with my own wife?

bottle of 50 spf sunblock: $4.99.

I work for a cool church that advanced me my salary through the end of the year. The idea is that we can use the money to buy our tickets now, and then hopefully enough support will come through in the coming days and weeks to cover the normal stuff (you know, house payment, electric bill, groceries, little stuff like that.) We don't have credit cards so this is as close as we get to consumer debt. We have great confidence that our friends and family will help us pay for this trip. But even if they don't we have decided that we are going to go. Hey worst case scenario: by January we will be used to eating beans and rice and we can live like Africans until we save enough extra to make the mortgage company happy again.

getting out of Dodge, way...way out of Dodge; doing an entire month straight of husband/dad strength training; making mac & cheese for 11; riding in the back of a pick up truck with my son and 23 other people; living by candlelight for nights at a time; drinking Coca-Cola out of a glass bottle with a metal bottle cap; singing African songs like Africans sing; renovating the inner temple; reexamining my perception of what I truly need; rediscovering that the strength with which I embrace God need not have any connection at all to the depth of my understanding of Him:

$I think you know.

The Hoffman Diaries: Part II

ON BEING A LEXITECT.

My friend Lindsey is participating in an event called NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month. As a writer with writer friends, she is struggling to wring thousands of words daily from her creative core. I imagine the encouragement of knowing that countless others are joining you in the discipline of "just doing it" creates the motivation to sit down and write...write lots...which is what writers do.

I am not so much a writer as a talker and sometimes a thinker. I think I could be a good writer, but I'm afraid I would have to start as a bad one in order to be a good one, and so I've decided that writing will have to take the backseat for now, and I'm driving a school bus.

On another hand. I love words. Words are the little, brown delivery trucks that carry idea packages from one place to another and I doubt that I have any more satisfying and peaceful joy than when traffic is running smoothly. To me, talking is like trying to paint a picture by throwing color-laden brushes across the room at a canvas. If you don't take your work seriously it can get really ugly and everyone has to deal with the mess. But when you focus and you are practiced, the experience can be transcendent and the impact burn eternal.

While I am not a writer as such, I do have a little hobby of toying around with "idea vehicles," getting my hands greasy under the hood, changing my own oil metaphorically speaking. The fruit of this pastime is usually new terms: an eccentric looking hybrid mish mash of common pieces that come together in creative synergy to more effectively express the heart of an idea.

For example, I recently decided that the term "brainstorm" had outlasted it's usefulness (I can see the PUMP staff rolling their eyes right now.) This archaic buzzword, burdened with the negative connotation pursuant to recent national weather disasters has become a blunt tool, nay dare I say, no longer acceptable in my mind. It's time for a redesign along a more optimistic trajectory! So now anytime I become aware of the need to try to solve a problem by thinking intensely about it, I don my imaginary fedora and announce triumphantly that it's time to embark on an "option adventure!"

Option adventure...brilliant. I know, and full of family fun.

Having enjoyed such a high level of sustained success and satisfaction while pursuing this little hobby has prompted me to christen it with an official name. The tragedy is that the best description, "wordsmithing," has already been marshaled to evoke the idea of a different task. I'm afraid it is permanently affixed to its present idea with no hope of repurposing in the universal consciousness of the articulate. Anyway, surely this pastime given its nature deserves an original, fresh symbol. Thinking so myself and having adventured through many options I have landed on the one I think best: Lexitecture.

I hereby certify myself the original and first official lexitect. For those interested I'll be taking applications to form a union shortly.

An Unusual Philanthropic Project

Africa missionaries Jeff and Cheryl Cash love movies. Because they are missionaries in Africa they do not get to go to the movies very much (maybe at all!) By the time movies are released on video and meander their way around the world to Fort Portal, Uganda, we have seen them in the theater, rented or bought the DVD, watched the extras, used the case as a coaster (or the DVD itself depending on how much you liked the movie and how desperate for a coaster you were) and have moved far on to other interests.

So I got to thinking last night. I know I have friends that use "no late fees" services like NetFlix or Blockbuster. Jeff and Cheryl are going to make a list of movies they would like to see but can't get in Africa. Would you be willing to put one of those films on the top of your queue and loan it to us to take to Africa for the month of December? This would be no small sacrifice on your part because December is good movie watching time, but you would really bless Jeff and Cheryl to see some newer films that they might not otherwise get to see at all. When we get back to the states we can stick them all in the mail and you are back on track!

Kaelea and I will take full responsibility for the condition of your rental if anything should happen to your movie while we are in Africa (you know, eaten by hippopotamus, trampled by an elephant or the like,) we would happily replace the disk at our expense.

Think about it. Email me if you are willing and if you know of anybody else who might be willing to do this please send them to my blog or email. I'd love to take a stack. If you would be willing to let us borrow a movie out of your collection we would be happy to return it to you when we get back and all of the rest of the above applies. If you want to purchase a DVD for Jeff & Cheryl as a way of saying, "Merry Christmas! Thanks for sharing the gospel in a place with no Cineplex!" We would be happy to take your gift to them.

The Hoffman Diaries: Part I

AN INTRODUCTION.

I recently stopped a long-time friend in the parking lot of my alma mater to inquire if she was blogging. She responded that she had started a little over a month ago and that she was trying to write at least a little every day. This excited me because I consider Lindsey Hoffman to be a thoughtful person, a fellow music maker and dreamer of dreams. To engage her reflections even in the limited, asyncronous format of blogging invites me to share in great treasures.

I had a mindless, menial and repetitive task to accomplish this morning so when I arrived at the office I gathered my materials, postured myself in front of the wwykw, began at the beginning and read my entire way through Lindsey's blog. She did not disappoint: I was entertained, inspired, and provoked to curiosity. If you read my blog regularly then you know I've had little besides Africa on the brain. It was refreshing to have a brief "attention sabbatical" from my upcoming professional sabbatical.

So inspired by my recent parasocial reacquaintance with my good friend Moon (that's Lindsey to most the rest of you,) I'm starting a four-or-so-part, intermittent series of random ponderings generated by her clever whimsy: Variation on Themes of a Librian Warrior. (Of course it goes without saying that I secretly hope this might win me a pseudonominal nod in her future writing.)

Brave Day

Thusday was Brave Day. We loaded everyone into the mini van; Kaelea had most all of our paperwork done and we headed downtown for the Multnomah County Travel Clinic. After everyone had trips to the potty and got weighed, the doctor(?) sat us down and went through the orientation. The good news is if you get immunized for Uganda, you can pretty much go anywhere in the world without fear.

I was fortunate in that the shots from my last trip were still effective so I did not need immunization. The kids are current on their immunizations so they needed three more shots each. Kaelea needed the entire workload, six injections.

So for the sake of morale We went oldest to youngest while the rest of us waited in the other room. Everyone acted courageously. The toughest part for the dad is always holding children during shots. One of our kids was pretty upset and I had to restrain her pretty tightly. It's the one time where "this hurts me more than it hurts you" might make sense. I'm sure they still don't see it that way; as deeply as kids feel, I'm not so sure it's true.

The second toughest part was the bill of course: $1,375.00 for the injections, another $600 for malaria and disentary prescriptions. BUT, so far the Lord has provided for every one of our needs, financially and otherwise.

Praise His holy Name, Amen?!

The next "fleece" will come on Friday. Payment for our extremely cheap airfare is $6,702.50. The Lord has provided about $3,000.00 thus far which has covered our passports and immunizations. Please pray that the Lord will continue provide for our trip.

Thanks for everything, family.

God Provides

As we put together the original budget for our mission trip, the greatest cost and the lionshare of our budget was airfare. Travel agents were not painting a very rosy picture. December is a popular time to fly and most were not sure that we could even get a missionary discount during that time. We budgeted $12,500.00 for airfare (gulp.)

Well, our travel agent sent us an email yesterday with tickets reserved for a total cost of $6,702.50; about half what we were expecting to pay which cuts the cost of our trip by almost a third.

Thank you God for making a way.

Need a Good Doctor?

I never forward emails sent to me. However, my friend Matt Tibbles made my day with this, and I'm about to make yours. You are welcome, by the way.

Loss of a Friend

So I've been using Arm & Hammer Tooth Powder for a long time now. I love it. It's a product that exists first and foremost to clean your teeth. No super sweet taste; it may not leave your breath as fresh and minty as the competition, but clean? Ahh yeah. It's like treating each of your pearlies to a super-fine, sandpaper massage.

Well, the last time Kaelea went to the store she could not find it. Walmart...no. WinCo...no. No, you won't find it at Freddy's. It looks like Arm & Hammer is no longer producing this marvel of oral care. I'm shopping for a new plaque assassin. Any suggestions?