Problems Abroad

Dear Friends,

Please keep the country of Sudan in your prayers. The Darfur region has been headline news for many years now because of the ongoing conflict and violence in the area. Recently the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued a warrant for President Bashir's arrest for crimes against humanity. In response, the Sudanese government has expelled 13 Non-government relief organizations (NGOs). Many of the NGOs have been working in the region for years and help provide food to millions.

Below is an excerpt from a recent BBC article:

"Sudan is clearly furious about the case against its president.
It blames the international community and claims the case is a Western conspiracy to bring about regime change.

The ICC issued a warrant for Ahmed Haroun in 2007.There is a concern that the warrant could have an impact on the United Nations and aid workers based in Sudan.
The country's acting ambassador in London, Mohamed Zaroug, warned that it may change the government's relationship with humanitarian agencies.
"We are allowing a huge number of international NGOs [non-governmental organisations] and they are working in Sudan," he said.
"So maybe our co-operation with the international community should have a halt or a cease because this is an aggression to the Sudanese sovereignty and we have to react and to defend our country." "

I don't presume to understand the complexity of this ongoing conflict or the long standing tension between the southern region of Sudan and the northern region. I only know people continue to die. The pictures above were drawn by children in Sudan.

Pray:
- For the Church in Sudan
- For those who are displaced and oppressed
- For the safety of the relief workers
- For an end to the violence

If you want more information about recent events go the http://www.bbc.com/

I have decided on a name for my car: Hidalgo Sanchez Manuel Martinez. I will call it Hidalgo for short. I found "Hidalgo" a very inspiring movie, the little underdog horse enters the great race across the Arabian dessert and wins...against all odds. Not that my Hidalgo will be racing across the Arabian dessert but I thought giving my car such a name might increase it's chances for survival. The odds are certainly against my Hidalgo, it hasn't even hit 60,000 miles yet and it is possibly going to need a new head Gasket. I don't understand much about cars, but I think it is equivalent to a person needing a Kidney transplant--it's a pretty essential part.

Troubled Times...

Keri and I are sitting here trying to figure out if the three of us could get to King Supers by tying Skylar's stroller to the back of Micah's mountain bike. Why?... because it is the only set of wheels we have at the moment...

My car is sick, the second time in two weeks that it has been towed to Eric's Automotive. Keri left this afternoon to go to the YMCA and was back two minutes later with a crushing look of defeat. She went to rev up the Xtera and was greeted by the weak "click" of a dead battery.

I borrowed jumper cables from our not-so-friendly tube-top wearing retired neighbor to the left yesterday but maybe borrowing something twice in two days would put further tension on an already strained relationship.

So we are waiting for Micah to get home from work with a pair of jumper cables. I am seriously thinking of investing in a bike to get to work. 10 Miles round trip isn't a bad commute. I could be one of those cool Coloradans that wears a bright yellow safety vest, and attaches a headlight to my helmet. There are 23 stoplights between me and my workplace so riding a bike might actually be faster than driving...

Keri is afraid I will get hit by a car. Personally I have a better driving record on a bike than I do in a car. I have only wrecked on a bike once (went right over the handle bars into a cactus... at least I was the one in the group carrying the First Aid kit). Whereas, I have had several mishaps in a car to include rolling and completely totaling an SUV that was not mine. So statistically the odds are in my favor.

Winter Wonderland...almost.

As some of you may have seen over the weekend the East coast was hit with quite a bit of snow. My hometown of Camden, South Carolina was among those gearing up for the big blizzard of the winter season--a predicted 3 inches of snow! For anybody who has lived in the Southeast, snow can turn a peaceful otherwise orderly town into chaos. People rush to the supermarkets stocking up on all the perishable items that will possibly fit in their fridges. Within 2 hours you are hard pressed to find a battery or a flashlight left in Wal-Mart...just in case the power goes out. I distinctly remember my drive from North Carolina to South Carolina in the middle of a snow storm. There was a whole inch on the ground and more falling . Cars were overturned on the side of the road, belly side up. Others were going about 20 miles an hour with their hazard lights, the rest stops were full of people who decided not to chance the roads and were waiting for the worst of the storm to pass...it was madness!

When the meteorologist predicted snow this past weekend, many churches canceled their evening services, schools announced closing for the next day. The state was braced in anticipation. Monday arrives and Camden has not a single flake. So...weather men do makes mistakes sometimes, sure, but...seriously? My sister Bekah said the meteorologist predicted a few "dry spots" around the state. Her comment was, "I guess all of South Carolina was a dry spot". The amazing thing is the schools still enjoyed a "snow day" with 40 degree weather and no snow. It might be the very first time ever that a town has had a snow-less snow day.

Meanwhile, Colorado is enjoying sunny 70 degree weather, an all time record high for the season. Good thing the democrats are in office so they can save the planet from global warming.

This entry is dedicated to my brother Josh who's dream of having a boa constrictor for a pet may never be realized (ughh...sad sigh). He is soon turning 20 and sent a heartfelt facebook message to all the members of my family asking for money for his birthday to pay for a certain lonely little snake at the local pet store who was to have the name Leonidas. Like an expectant mother he had already picked out the name and was eagerly anticipating the day Leonidas would be his very own. Most of the family objected saying they could not support something that may well lead to his strangulation sometime in the distant future.Others voiced concerns for his love life because supposedly no girl would ever date a guy with a 50lb snake. And still others presented a Biblical case that all snakes are Satan incarnate.

Keri, Micah, Skylar and I went on a Sunday afternoon outing. We didn't end up going to the zoo as planned but our alternate plan was almost as good: a visit to the humane society and the friendly Fountain pet store because they have really cute pug puppies. This particular day they did not have any pug puppies but they did have some incredibly big snakes. Like the kind you see in zoos that have been known to eat rabbits and small deer. I was in the middle of the reptile aisle looking at the various snakes in their glass habitats when I noticed I was at eye level with two black eyes and a flickering tongue that were peering at me behind a plastic barrier. I was so intent at looking at the snakes in the aquariums that I hadn't noticed the stacked plastic drawers I'd nearly been leaning against...filled with snakes. That's right...the kind of plastic drawers that you buy at Wal-Mart in which to keep socks or craft supplies. In horror, I realized that the stacked plastic drawers were not filled with pet supplies but rather snakes. This was the kind of pet stores nightmares are made of, I could just imagine the drawers tumbling over and those snakes going loose all over the store.

I've included a picture of a particularly fine specimen (the snake not the guy), an albino boa constrictor that the pet store worker voluntarily pulled out of it's cage and wrapped around his neck...that's right he knows the way to woo a lady...

Note: The plastic stacked drawers on the left, I don't think PETA would be too happy with their mistreatment of our sleek,slithering friends. By the way, my sister Bekah did her research on these large boa constrictors, evidently by the time they reach this size they urinate and defecate like a St. Bernard.