The Weekly Wrap-Up: August 23-27, 2021

Well, it has certainly been an interesting week, I can say that much. 

As you know, this was the week for the CMF Seminar. It did happen, never fear. But I was not as involved as I wanted to be. Monday went well, we got everyone here and sorted. I was having some after-effects of throwing axes on Friday night (yes, that is a thing, and yes, I enjoyed it very much.) My wrist was acting up, so I babied it will running tech and working.

Then Tuesday came, and my back decided it hated me. My back muscles were trying to yeet themselves out of my body, and with that came all of the fun pain that you might expect. I managed to do my tech portion, but then I was home, either lying flat or curled up in a ball - whichever happened to be the most comfortable at the time. I got some muscle relaxers from the doc on Wednesday and started being a productive citizen again, but they are not a quick fix. I've been telling people that I'll be happy when I can start taking those muscles for granted again. 

This was my view for most of my time at the Seminar. Scintillating, isn't it?

The rest of the week went quite well. I think people were happy to be together again, and I know I liked seeing people face to face instead of only on a Zoom window. I'll talk more about it in my next prayer letter, which I delayed a bit because I knew I'd have good stories from the Seminar. 

So, have a great weekend, do your back exercises, and don't do anything I wouldn't do. 

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: August 16-20, 2021

This week has lasted at least 10 days. I'm completely convinced of that. And I'm not just saying that because I didn't post anything last week. I took two days off so that I could get stuff around for my parent's anniversary party on Saturday. And so I could spend time with family, of course. 

(Just a side note here, but I drove up to Huntington by myself; a few months ago, that would not have been possible. My anxiety would have made it inadvisable at best. But as my mom said, this is a victory. The drive wasn't without its anxious moments, but I do absolutely praise God for keeping me safe. I am also thankful for my family and friends who are encouraging me and letting me progress at my own pace.)

We had a really nice time at the party. I saw a lot of people I hadn't seen in a long time, and I think my parents appreciated everything we put together. 

T&M projects are going well. I'm still struggling with Tamil. There are just so many speech bubbles and such long phrases. But I'm slowly working my way through the booklets, making good progress. I had Outreach proofs this week and a lot of Zoom questions. I played Zoom host for the prayer chapel on Wednesday. Lord knows, there's a lot to pray about right now. We keep getting sad reports from Haiti, I keep seeing horrible things from Afghanistan, Nicaragua is in turmoil, Cuba continues to starve - I honestly don't have the capacity for anymore news. 

The big job this week was preparing for the CMF Seminar next week. Granted, I did very little compared to everyone else, but we still have Zoom practices and cleaning and inventory to take care of before our first in-person event in about two years. Of course, it's also a hybrid event, so that adds its own complexities. But I did get to do one of my favorite jobs around OMS, which is to clean out a fridge. 

Seriously. I love cleaning out people's fridges. I'm not super bothered about my own. But I have a great time with other people's stuff. 

Please be praying for the Seminar next week. There are a lot of important things to be discussed, and I know we're all eager to get some sort of normality back. 

Finally, I'm going to leave you with a true gem of a photograph. I took this at dinner on Saturday with the family, and yes, I did buy my sister the fabulous accessory. She loved it.

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: August 2-6, 2021

நண்பர்கள், அயலவர்கள் மற்றும் நாட்டு மக்கள்: உங்கள் காதுகளை எனக்குக் கொடுங்கள்.

Yes, in case you were wondering, I have spent this entire week working on Tamil booklets. Will I spend the next couple of weeks doing the same thing? Very likely. Do I wish they could find a way to say things more succinctly?

Absolutely.

Look, I love the people who speak Tamil. They are truly beautiful, and the language itself is also gorgeous to look at. But it does make publishing quite difficult. The kerning is at least 20% larger than English, and even when we reduce the spacing, it never fits within the template. I think I added about 16 pages across 5 booklets. I have to add in chunks of 4 because that's how the printing spreads operate. I don't mind adding, but that means our partners are using up more paper and ink, which can add up over time. That's why we're trying to get more people using the app, because you can do pretty much anything on there.

The rest of the week went pretty well. I had devotions for our Monday prayer time, talking about God's Will and how we determine what that is and why it sometimes takes a while to understand. 

I am also the Zoom host for chapel this month! Basically, I attend chapel online and make sure everyone has what they need since they can't be with us in person. Talk about trial by fire, though - we had an Internet issue that meant everything that came through the microphone was stuttered. It did make for some funny moments, but it was also frustrating. 

But hey, I got a great sash out of it from Sarah.

That's the week! I hope you have had a fantastic start to your August. As far as I'm concerned, Autumn is still a dirty word right now, so if you want to talk about pumpkin spice, find someone else. It's all Summer, all the time around here. 

பிரியாவிடை