Lots of Drama

It is our final evening in Albuquerque. We leave tomorrow for Colorado Springs where will stay for 2 nights. But first I need to tell you about what has happened since we have been here. Everything was going along quite swimmingly until Thursday when I walked out of the door onto the patio outside our bedroom and didn't see a step there. I fell and unfortunately I will still wearing my flip flops so I really mangled my big toe on my left foot. The foot that I have always hurt through the years. It might be broken, but I don't feel any need to go to the doctor since they don't do anything about it even if it is. So it greatly curtailed my comings and goings. Fortunately, we had been to Old Town Albuquerque the day before, but I haven't been to any of the training meetings since it happened. I have tried to keep it up with ice on it. Stan went to a thrift store and got me some crutches since I couldn't even walk. BUT, "God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose." Because of this "accident" I was able to care for a young sister in the church here who has hepititis C whom the doctors have given up on with their chemotherapy. It is all very complicated and dramatic and I can't really write about all the details, but all here at at the house could see the Lord's hand in all of it. It is kind of a joke now to say: "And it wouldn't have happened if I hadn't hurt my toe." So I am experiencing "this present lightness of affliction."

We have had such a good time with the couple we are staying with -- Benjamin and Jacqueline Bianco. They are a very interesting couple. He is a formerly Jewish entrepreneur who was born in Egypt and educated in London who got saved 10 years ago at the age of 65 and she is a former opera singer who has led a very dramatic life. They really love the Lord and have a governing vision of God's economy. Their home is beautiful (there is a fountain in the foyer) and is filled with Spanish Colonial antiques (she used to own a gallery selling these kind of things. We are very comfortable in our suite. Jacqueline has been intent on giving me singing lessons and says that it is a shame that I never learned to sing properly, so she is attempting to make up for lost time -- evening singing in Italian -- which I have done before, but it has been a long time. We have been eating lots of garlic and drinking lime spritzers and having a good time getting to know each other. Lots of laughing and good conversation. I am really appreciating all the variety in the Body of Christ and learning to be one with all the members no matter who they are and what they think. It is very good for me to be broadened in this way.

Now for the big drama. The other night, after I had wrecked my toe and after I had had a very emotional appointment with the young girl with hep C, I went into our room and found that the dog had opened up my suitcase, pulled out my clothes and found the very large unopened 3 pound bag of 60% cocoa chips in the floor, ripped open and 3/4 gone. It was the very large Russian wolf hound named Tamara who had done it. I was devastated since chocolate is a poison to dogs. Everyone else was gone at the time but when they got back I was a little panicky and said that she needed to go to the vet and explained the situation. They didn't seem worried about it since she had eaten chocolate before and hadn't had a problem. So we all went to bed, but early in the morning she began throwing up all over the place. We never knew when we were going to run into a pile of semi digested chocolate. So after 2 days of this, she seems to be doing better. Eventually she has gotten it out of her system and just enjoyed a bowl of rice cooked in chicken broth. I have even supplied some probiotics for her. Of course,I have been feeling horrible about the whole thing because I should have put the bag someplace else -- she had already eaten a half of a bag of granola I had left out a day or two before. So, I won't be giving that bag of chips to anyone as a hospitality gift.....

Right after my accident we went to lunch with Beverly Bayonet. We were supposed to get together with Janene but it hasn't worked out. But tomorrow morning before we leave town, we will be meeting her for a little while. And we haven't made it to Trader Joe's yet, so we will do that after we see Janene. I need to get my list ready because we won't see another one until be go to Phoenix in mid August.

So Stan, at least, is enjoying the training. The couple we are staying with had been to the live training the week before. I hope to get caught up online eventually. Our phones are not doing well here, so I am not sure how well they will work for the next few weeks while we are in Colorado, Utah and Montana. So if you try to call and can't get through, you will know why. I will return messages when I can.