Keep Praying!

Dear Friends:

Keep praying! Dad is feeling well and knows about and appreciates all your prayers. Thank you! I was home with mom and dad last week. We had a wonderful time laughing and taking care of business. Some of the business was pleasant and other was not--either way I enjoyed being with mom and dad.

This past week dad began his second round of chemo and he began radiation. He has completed his first week of radiation and has five more to go. Mom and dad will travel to Bangor each Sunday and return to Calais on Friday--weather permitting. It is a long drive and I know as time goes on it will get longer.

Karl, my older brother, will visit mom and dad for Christmas. Pray for his safe travels.

As we approach the birthday of Jesus, think about all the gifts you have already received. I have been blessed with the gift of eternal life, a wonderful family, health, employment and hope. Whatever your gifts are--appreciate them.

Have a wonderfully Merry Christmas and may your new year bring lots of adventure and joy!

Christina

God is good!

Yes, He is! Dad does indeed have cancer, but it was caught early. It is in one place in his lungs and the doctors are confident that they will get it take care of with chemo and radiation. In my dad's case, pneumonia has saved his life! Had he not gone to the hospital because of his painful pneumonia, he would not have been diagnosed with cancer. I am pained when I think of what would have happened had it not been caught!

The plan is for dad to do chemo and then radiation. They can't do radiation in Calais, where they live, so they will have to go two and a half hours to Bangor. When they begin radiation, they will be in Bangor for a week at a time. This will be hard on my parents, but I am confident that God will be with them.

Thank you to all of you who prayed for dad and mom. We were all scared there for a while and are so much more aware of the fragility of life. I will keep you posted on dad's condition. In the meantime--keep praying!

Update

Last night at 10:30 p.m. the phone rang. I knew it could not be good news. It was not. My dad had a CAT scan and they found a 2" tumor in his bronchial tree. He is being transferred to a larger hospital today. On Monday he will have a biopsy to determine what kind of tumor it is.

Please pray for him; for my mom and for the doctors who are treating him.

Thank you!

Prayer for Dad

Hello all. Thank you for checking in with the Taylor family. I have a favor to ask of you. Please pray for my dad. He was admitted to the hospital today, November 17, with pneumonia. He is feeling very poorly and in a lot of pain. Please pray for mom too as she is alone in the house in the woods!

I will keep you posted on his progress.

Thank you!

Oh dear!

Yes, report cards and parent teacher conferences are over. That paper is written (I got a perfect score). I have a lot of excusesfor not updating sooner--none that you want to hear though. I have been very busy lately with my class and school. I have been spending much of my free time researching special education things so I can help my colleagues. I believe I have found my calling!

Please pray for me as I have applied for a Special Education job in Kiev. How God works! I want a Special Ed position and there is one! Hmmm...He is awesome!

Ben's birthday is Tuesday. He will be 8! Hard to believe. Laura is nearly nine and she thinks she is nearly 21! Oh the discussions we have had lately. Who knew children would be so trying? Where is the user manual? Did I lose mine? I am always second guessing what we are doing with the kids. I want my children to be happy, open minded, respectful, well traveled, in love with learning and so much more. The want Game Boys, candy and to watch inappropriate things on tv because their friends do! If only I could keep them in a bubble and protect them from all the negativity in the world....

Have a great week. I promise I will update this more often!

Update Coming!

Glendalough--St Kevin's Church

Hello! I know many of you are waiting for an update on our trip to Dublin. It is coming! I have to complete report cards and write a paper for my class. Once those two tasks are completed I will work on an update! Here are a couple of pictures to whet your appetite!

Irish sheep!

Thank you for your patience!

Fall Break

Fall Break has arrived! We are off to Dublin, Ireland on Monday! I will fill you in on all the wonderful sites and sounds of Ireland when we return!

We have been in Latvia for three years now. This, our fourth and final has been a year of firsts. We experienced the low of life attending the funeral of a colleague’s daughter and boyfriend. It was a beautiful event, but so very sad. These kids were in their early 20's and had so much to live for. The funeral was held at a chapel in the woods near our school. Back among the pine, oak and birch trees is a beautifully laid out cemetery. The chapel is wooden and very small. There were no pews--only benches on the side. The wooden caskets were open and both families stood at children's heads and greeted family and friends. What a moving and emotionally overwhelming event. Every guest brought flowers. The smell of flowers was too much at times. We, the entire staff of the school as well as hundreds of friends and relatives, stood at the entrance of the chapel. People waited in line, so for as long as an hour and a half, to file into the chapel to pay their final respects.

The Catholic priests led the family and pallbearers to the burial site. It was deep in the woods. Walking there was so peaceful. The sky was blue and you could hear birds singing in the treetops. We all gathered around for the graveside service. The priests read some passages from the Bible and sang some songs. Then the caskets were lowered into their graves. Two men who were employed by the cemetery did this. When they were finished, the families and friends took a handful of dirt and threw it into the grave. Symbolic. The workers then handed shovels to some of the men in attendance and the 8-10 men began shoveling the dirt into the graves-- all while we stood and watched.

Once the graves were filled the workers returned and built up the tops of the graves with dirt. They then made hills of dirt into casket like shapes. Using their shovels they made crosses on them. Pine branches were used to cover the entire thing. The men then cleared the shovels away and the service went on. Lovingly each family member placed their flowers on top and began filing away. In Latvia, flowers are a very important part of life. When you are giving flowers to someone for their birthday, you must give an odd number of flowers. For funerals, you take an even number.

There was a gathering at the family’s house afterwards, but the staff did not feel it was appropriate we attend. There were a couple of representatives from our school who stayed until late in the evening. Word has it some of the guest were still there at 4:00 the following morning.

Later that same week, we attended the wedding of our first nanny, Kristine. She was marrying a young man who was a security guard at the British Embassy. Their wedding was at the oldest church in Latvia. It was a perfect fall day for a wedding. We had not eaten lunch—thinking we would eat at the reception. The wedding began at 1:45 (the bride was late). We arrived at 12:45. We left at 4:30 and the couple still had not made it to the banquet hall. Latvia has many traditions associated with weddings. One is crossing bridges. The couple has to cross seven bridges before going to the reception hall. When we left Kristine and Endijs (pronounced Andy) were crossing their second.

There was one tradition we enjoyed. Before crossing the first bridge, Kristine and Endijs has to toast one another in the middle of a bridge. They gave a short speech and kissed! We, the guests, could not cross until we were called. Each guest was called and introduced. The bride and groom had to tell why the invited the guests. It was all done in Latvian, but seeing the joy on Kristine’s face as she introduced us, was translation enough.

The happy couple--Kristine and Endijs! (Notice Laura in the backgound)

This is Krimulda--the oldest church in Latvia. It was built in 1205.

The kids and me!

This is where we left the newlyweds. They were heading down the hill to their second bridge and we headed to dinner!

Sadness

Today is Monday and it is a very sad day. Upon arriving at work, I learned that a co-workers daughter and her boyfriend were killed on Saturday night in a motorcycle accident. Apparently, a car made an illegal turn and they were caught in the path. In spite of their helmets, they died. They were in their early 20's and had their whole lives ahead of them.

And if that was not sad enough, BJ died this morning. He fought hard, but in the end the Lord's will was done. If you think of it, visit the site and read all about this incredible young man.

I would appreciate your prayers for my co worker and for her family as well as BJ's family.

Thank you!

Mezrozes

I should have included this in the posting below, but thought of it later. This is the guest house, Mezrozes, we will be visiting next weekend. It is so quiet and secluded. There is a barbeque pit on the side that we will use. This trip is an end of the summer celebration visit. The sun is setting earlier and earlier and rising later and later. Soon, it will be dark most of the day!

Phew! What a week!

The third week of school is finished and what a week it was! Somehow life seems to get busier and busier. The kids are in after school activities and that keeps us all at school until 4:30. We are home by 5:15 or so, and everyone is exhausted. My classes at Grand Canyon University started last week and while this is an introductory class, it is a lot of writing. I am hoping to be a certified Special Education teacher by 2007. Once in Kiev, I hope to do my student teaching.

We are going away next weekend. We found this guest house near Sigulda (north or Riga) that has a little pond and plenty of space for the kids to run. While we love Riga very very much, living in an apartment is difficult when you have two active children. Someday we will have a house with a yard--for our grandchildren! Anyway, this house is so beautiful. It is a new wooden house with stairs (for Laura). It has a kitchen so we can cook our own meals. Most guest houses in Latvia have primitive kitchen facilities.

I did a first in my classroom today! I have been teaching 10 years and have never cooked with my students. Today was the first time! We made pizzas. Each child made their own. It was so neat. They did a great job making their pizzas and cleaning up the kitchen. I guess we will do it again--but next time I need to make a pizza for all my colleagues as they were quite envious of our delicious smelling pizzas!

Sunday

I just go off the phone with my mother and she filled me in on some of the news we missed about the New Orleans situation. How horrible. She said there were people who were holed up in their attics and didn't want to leave because everything they have is right there in that house. How horrible to be so dependent on material things and not see that God is sending you a rescue boat. Things are just that--things. Life is so much more than things.

I have been reading a blog for a young man in Indianapolis named BJ. Bart from MercyMe sent an e mail a couple of weeks ago and asked that we pray for BJ. I feel as if I know BJ and his family. I don't know them, but do know that BJ needs prayer! Please pray for him. He is a godly young man and he has taught me so much--without even knowing who I am.

http://prayforbj.blogspot.com/

We just returned from the Marine House. We went to a pig roast. It was not the prettiest thing I ever saw, but it sure was tasty. After three years here, I am feeling comfortable with the people who serve here with us. I think maybe the school thing is over and everyone is comfortable with the fact that I teach at "the other school." Just a feeling.

Life is good. Fall is coming--it is cooler and the sun is setting earlier.

Monday Afternoon

It is Monday afternoon and we are sitting here watching coverage of the hurricane in the US. New Orleans has never been our favorite city and frankly, we wouldn't be too upset to see all the filth washed away. We are moved by all the people who have had to evacuate their homes; not knowing if they will have anything to go home to. We are praying for them.

Isn't it amazing that weather systems can cause such havoc?

Start of School

Well, year four at the International School of Latvia has begun. This is my final year teaching at this school as we are moving on the Kiev, Ukraine next summer. This year, Laura is in my class. It is a very small class. There are five boys and two girls. I am thrilled to have Laura in my class and be able to spend some quality time with her on a daily basis, but having such a small class is very painful. Laura is one of the outgoing children. There are three other outgoing students. They keep me sane (while driving me insane)! The other three are very quiet. I asked if they had pulses because the first two days they hardly spoke. I guess in a couple of months, that will all change and I won't be able to keep them quiet.

Summer can't decide if it is going to stay or go. This week we have had temperatures in the high 70's--which is warm for us. It had been very cold and rainy. We welcome the sun but not the heat. A friend was going to the beach this afternoon because " you never know how many nice days we have left."

Speaking of friends, this school year seems to be the first where most of the staff are so friendly to one another. There seems to be a real camaraderie on staff. That makes all the difference in the world when you have to be with the same people day in and day out.

It is somebody's birthday today and I can't remember who!