The Prodigal Returns 2

I left for Des Moines for the World Food Conference two weeks ago Monday. The Saturday before I left we got the wonderful email about the return of the sacque. When I told Joy I had wonderful news and she wouldn't believe it, she guessed that our stuff had suddenly arrived. No, I said, that would be quite the miracle.

And then I got this little ping inside me ... yes, it would be something else, wouldn't it? I wonder....

Well I had to head to campus that Saturday to print midterms anyway, so I got on one of the few weekend shuttles in to town. On my way, Pres. Ensign's secretary called. Our stuff had arrived and could I please come in to get it?

What??!? HUZZAH!

We shipped our things to New Orleans where a warehouse was gathering the shipments from many professors, all of which would be sent on to Nigeria at one time. And there it sat. For months. It would still take 2-3 months to ship it to us once it finally left the warehouse, and then another month crossing Nigeria from Lagos after someone paid what are delicately called "customs fees". We were beginning to look at a Christmas without our things. In planning for my Des Moines trip, we had planned that I was bringing two large, empty suitcases to fill with things from WalMart we needed. A good portion of the list included things we had shipped ourselves - especially medicine - and only carried a 3 month supply of when we moved here.

Then Pres. Ensign got fed up with the wait and had it all flown to us!

Sarcasm fail

Prince has been sick for closing in on a week now: low-grade fever and a pretty ineffectual cough since Sunday. He's been miserable. He's been more miserable because we actually keep him down on the couch, a state my active little boy is never in. He may have been a little sick while I was in Des Moines last week, but the real illness at least managed to wait until I got back. Since I've been home grading midterms this week, I've been able to take a few shifts watching over him, poor thing.

After the few bites of breakfast he could stomach, we turned on Mary Poppins for him. While Joy and I finished our breakfasts [I made french toast!], I made snide comments about Mr. Banks. Then Prince called out demanding some attention.

Mr. Banks had just sung, "I'm the lord of my castle," so I came over, saying, "Yes, your Lordship."

He cried out, "No, Daddy! I'm not a ship!"

:?D
 -- Derrill

Ode to a potato peeler

Returning from the States, I presented my Lovely and Gracious with a token of mine esteem. It was not on the shopping list she sent me.

It was ... a potato peeler.

She has spoken raptures about it since, and I thought it would appropriate to join her rejoicings with those of generations past:


I had forgotten how great a perfect potato peeler can be. We may actually have potatoes now. - Joy

It is a truth universally acknowledge that a potato peeler in posession of a good blade must be in want of a potato. - Jane Austen [Pride, Prejudice, and Potatoes, p. 1]

And men are instructed sufficiently that they know a good potato peeler from an evil one. - Lehi [2nd Nephi 2:5]

Not "virtues" but "Virtue" is his ideal, and Virtue is nothing other than the duty of the potato peeler. -- Schiller [On grace, dignity, and Potatoes]

A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges his potato peeler has grown dull. - Mark Twain

Westley: I mean, if only we had a potato peeler! That would be something.
Inigo: Where did we put that potato peeler the albino had?
Fezzik: Over by the albino, I think.
Westley: Well, why didn't you list that among our assets in the first place?
 -- Scene from The Potato Bride

A man can be short and dumpy and getting bald but if he has a good potato peeler, women will like him. - Mae West

All the world's a potato peeler,
And all the men and women merely potatoes.
They have their eyes and their bruises,
And one man in his pot makes many meals.
               - Shakespeapre, As You Like Potatoes, Act II, scene vii, 139-142

Random Princely Pictures

It's been awhile since I pulled out any random pictures and just enjoyed where we have been and things we have done. Here are some randomly selected pictures from Prince's 3.5 years - mostly in reverse chronological order.

At Prince's old school, taking my
new camera for its first spin

Prince at his Weasley-handsomest

BLOCKS! A tower of blocks!

Baby Prince and Pop

Prince's first Halloween as Captain America,
plus Zorro and a Roman aristocrat

Baby Prince Droolsalot

Two Buzz Lightyears and one exceptionally happy boy

After talking to Crush, Prince tries to find Nemo
but only finds himself.

Daddy's home

Ahhhhhhh

Differences

What do I notice about not being in Nigeria so far?

1 - Real bananas. REEEEAL bananas
2 - Real milk.

No, okay
3 - It's fall. In Yola, it's still winter, which means my kitchen is a mere 90 degrees first thing in the morning. Out here, it's autumn. There are colored leaves. The weather is amazingly comfortable.
4 - While I was getting ready for bed, I realized that I do not actually need to unplug this computer lest a power surge blow out the battery.
5 - I look forward to trying out this soft-looking bed.
6 - I don't seem to have a phone that works in the US anymore.

Eternity = 15 years?

Story Time!

In 1997 I was a missionary. There was this guy who was not all together there upstairs, but he was a good kid. He loved the Church and the gospel. He read the Bible daily, prayed, and did everything he could.

Then came the movie Titanic. The pictures of Jesus came off his wall to be replaced with pictures of Leonardo di Caprio. He said he wanted to bear his testimony of di Caprio one Sunday -- we convinced him to bear witness of the reality of the spirit world and that the real people on the Titanic were now there awaiting the resurrection instead. It was an uphill battle.

It was a really bad time. I came to loathe that movie and everything associated with it. I swore to be annoyed for a very long time at Celine Dion and Kate Winslet, and that lasted about 2/3 years for Celine (when I heard a bunch of drunken Russians singing My Heart Will Go On) and 6/7 years for Kate (forgiven thanks to performing in Shakespeare). More important to me, I swore "eternal hatred" for Leonardo di Caprio. I would never see a di Caprio film. Not going to do it. While I recognized that the day might come that I could forgive him, it was a point of pride that I had not, even when he started showing up in movies that looked vaguely interesting.

Then Inception came out. It sounded really good. The more I heard about the story, the more interested I was. Learning it was totally ripped off from Donald Duck didn't hurt. Too bad it stars di Caprio. Oh well.

Soooo there I was on the airplane today... and there was Inception... Yeah, and dang it ... di Caprio does an excellent job. Granted, he only has about one expression on his face the entire movie, but it is a more appropriate expression to the role than Keanu Reeves would be able to give it. The movie was great like everyone said. Very well done.

So the longest I can manage "eternal hatred" is 15 years. I am uncertain whether to be proud of this or ashamed, and if ashamed, in which direction. [Dude, there is no way this should have lasted that long; Dude, there was no way I should have given in and watched the movie today, breaking such a great record.]

Such are the things I ponder after 40 sleepless hours. G'night from Des Moines, everyone.
 -- Derrill

Improved Peanut Butter

One of these jars is not like the others...

Okay, none of these jars is remotely like the others. The first is real, genuine, creamy Skippy. The second is the cheap knock off product (Skkipy) made with extra oil and lots of nut chunks. The third is ostensibly from England, claims in three places to be Extra Super chunky and has a grand total of two nuts in it and an odd lack of oil. This makes it almost unspreadable.

They are all strange. They are all strange because they all taste totally different. They are all strange because they all cost the same amount. They are all strange because none of them is our usual brand.

Prince is happy to eat the real creamy Skippy. He's so happy to eat it, he has started declaring a preference for creamy over crunchy, much to my chagrin even if it was expected. Ever odder, though ... I'm happy to eat the creamy Skippy. I've never liked creamy peanut butter, but this is addictively good.

Prince is not happy to eat the others. The Skkipy is much too crunchy for him now and the Best-in is also declared to be "crunchy" when he means dry and hard.

Now, if the one is oily and the other is dry, why not combine them? I do. It's still too dry. So I actually POUR IN EXTRA OIL to the peanut butter. Not much, but some. I stir it up, and smear it on the bread, and he likes it. We all agree, the extra oil is a definite improvement. "Necessary," quothe the Joy, who is not a peanut butter fiend like us. "No, I'm going back to not liking peanut butter much, although I do like the Skippy."

This grand mix has a name my son gave it: Improved Peanut Butter. "Dad, is that improved?" he asks before I spread it. "Let me taste it." I ask him if it is improved enough. No, not yet, okay. More oil.... Is it improved enough now? "Yes!" He's gone back to eating it off the spoon.

Our stores have run out of the real peanut butter a couple times already -- largely our fault. We go through about 3 jars a week and Prince's peanut butter needs have been a staple not only of our dinner table, but of my economics classes. The day we bought the last Luka had was tragic because some other faculty saw me getting it and grabbed some out of my basket. "But, but, but that's all my son will eat!" I stammered. "I haven't had any," the other faculty protested, who could see plainly I was buying 5 jars. Oh and hey, another faculty other there, Watson's got peanut butter. Come get it from him. .... That was not a happy day.

So I am thankful for cheap knock offs and false friends from England who showed up after that day, without whom we might not be able to feed our son. This is his only source of protein and almost his only source of fat.

Tender Mercy: The prodigal returns 1

And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.

We had the happiest email this week. A few years ago, Joy spent a year making this crocheted sacque for our baby boy. Prince loved it. It was enormous and built to last him a few years.

Then Joy showed it at a church talent show in May. Prince was being a pill, so she took him and left early ... leaving the sacque behind. I was visiting AUN at the time. Since it was getting warmer, we didn't notice until we were packing to leave. We called and emailed several people. No one remembered seeing it. Someone remembered that the very week after the talent show, the church sent all of its lost and found stuff to the Salvation Army.

We toured their offices regularly, trying to find this wonderful thing Joy had poured herself into, without any luck. We finally left Ithaca, somewhat broken-hearted to have lost it forever.

Then our good friend emailed this week. She found it. She found it! Huzzah!

So come rejoice with us, for the piece which we had lost is found.

How worldwide is General Conference?

I'm not sure why this didn't post when I wrote it a month ago. I'm even more confused why it didn't post last week when I reposted it. Let's try it one more time, shall we?

More than half of the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) live outside the US. More than 1 in 4 members speaks Spanish as their primary language and more than 1 in 10 speak either Portuguese or a Philippine dialect. In the last thirty years, Africa's share of LDS membership has grown from close to 0 to 3%. Every year, the membership looks less and less like the stereotype most people have of the Church. That's one of the reasons I keep up the "LDS in ..." series, to showcase the lives of actual members in this diverse world.

The newest LDS temple is in San Salvador, El Salvador. This is the 4th Central American temple (Mexico has it looks like 12). There is another new stake [a large grouping of congregations] in Peru, the 96th, bringing the country closer to becoming the 5th in the world with over 100 stakes.

I was interested to learn this morning that - just as Christ, Messiah, and Annointed One express the same concept translated in different languages (Greek, Hebrew, and English) - Allah is likewise the Arabic word for God:

In these instances the Greek word θεὸς is translated into the English “God”, the German “Gott”, and the French “Dieu”. These are not differing unique English, German, and French deities but rather just the generic word in the respective language to express the Greek word. So it is with the Arabic word الله‎ (Allāh).  ...
Who would have ever guessed that Arabic speaking Muslims, Jews and Christians use the same Arabic word (Allah) to name the God they are worshiping? To illustrate by way of personal experience, when my family and I traveled to Israel in 2006 we sat in on a Roman Catholic mass attended by Palestinian Christians. Does anyone want to guess what word in Arabic we repeatedly and distinctly heard throughout this beautiful Christian liturgy?

-- Derrill