Maria's Mom

Many of you are aware that Maria returned to the States just one week after we got back to Guatemala. Her mom had a serious adverse reaction to a new medication. She had started the medicine while we were there but it took awhile for the side effects to show up. The new medicine interacted adversely with her Coumadin, causing her blood to become very thin. This led to severe bruising, fatigue, and shortness of breath. She was admitted to a hospital and
Maria went straight there when she arrived in Birmingham. Mom is home now and doing very well. She needs to regain her strength and still address an underlying heart condition. Maria will stay with her and I will fly to the states in February as we had originally planned to do. We have several churches to visit and missions conferences to attend. Pray that Mom's health will remain strong and for our travels. We look forward to visiting with many of you.

Johnny's blog

Most of you know Maria usually does the "blogging" in this family, but since I have the computer it now falls to me. Maria wanted me to blog about my experience yesterday at one of our local churches. I had been asked to be there with my computer and projector to show a DVD for the congregation. I got there early to set up but the pastor said the dvd had not arrived yet. So, I sat there as he stalled for time. Finally the dvd arrived and I put it in the computer. Nothing. It would not play. The computer would not read it. I asked the pastor if by chance this was a pirated dvd and he said,"Probably". He then asked if anyone had a dvd of some kind with them. One member offered to run home and get one. He returned with a dvd and just in case, brought a video and VCR. Again, the dvd would not play. Then I realized the problem. Many of you may not know that dvds are made for regional showing. The US is Zone 1 and Central America is Zone 4. Look on the back of your dvd case and you should see a globe icon with a numbver inside- that is the zone number. The dvds we buy here are usually good for both zones. Since our computer was bought in the states it was set for zone 1. It can be changed but only so many times before the change becomes permanent. So, no dvd showing. I hooked up the VCR to the projector and put in the tape. It was a US movie dubbed in Spanish called "A Thief in the Night", about the rapture. Great story line, but the film was made in the 70's. Did we really look that bad??? Polyester leisure suits, bell bottoms, mini skirts, Elvis sideburns, one girl had her hair in those giant curlers with a scarf over them that I remember my sisters using. It was hysterical to watch but I was on the front row and couldn't laugh without detracting from the message. I was glad it worked because the pastor had no back-up plan, like a sermon prepared. Some days you just shake your head.

Some December remembrances...

On December 2nd, my daughter Lindsay, who designs jewelry, had her first "trunk show". Mother and I drove to Nashville to help her and her friend Kat, who was hosting the show, set up and assist in whatever way we could. We had a blast and got a kick out of seeing Lindsay as the artist and designer she is!Ladies from all over Nashville crowded into Kat's dining room to see the jewelry Lindsay had displayed.
This is just one of the tables that contained almost 300 one-of-a-kind pieces available at the show.

Each piece is named with a girl's name

and given a personality.

I'm proud of my daughter and her talents and wanted to brag a little to all of you. She did very well at her first "trunk show" and hopes to have other shows in the future. Her designs can be seen on her website, Simon and Ruby, found at www.simonandruby.etsy.com.

I am happy to announce...

We are connected!! Finally, after 4 years, we have internet in our house! It's not high-speed yet, but it's better than we have ever had (anything is better than nothing!). This photo was taken last night as we tried to find the Sugar Bowl on the web. The closest we got was ESPN-Radio and the ESPN play-by-play diagram. But before getting the internet, we probably wouldn't have known for several days that Alabama lost!

I hope to be able to blog much more often, to the delight of some of you and the chagrin of others! Keep an eye on us here for more from...

CENTENNIAL CAMP!