the gift of Gab

One of the things I thought I was going to give up when I moved to Africa was the variety of ethnic restaurants I had grown used to in America. In fact, in Lusaka there is a great variety of restaurants to choose from. Being the capital, there are people from many nations here. Of course, they all want a taste of home. And there's always an entrepreneur to oblige the masses.

Today as Guillermo and I were running around accomplishing things in town, we stopped at Curry in a Hurry at the Manda Hill Mall for lunch. So it wasn't exactly in a hurry, but it was certainly worth the wait! Yum! They had quite the extensive menu of fabulous Indian food to select from and both Guillermo and I were very pleased with our choices, including the garlic naan.

So the next time you are in Lusaka ;-) I'll take you to Curry in a Hurry, or the Irish Pub right nearby. You decide.

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I pray that you have a blessed 2009 living in the knowledge of the faithfulness of our One True God.

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My brother Michael graduated with his M.Div. about 4 years ago. He's been wanting to pastor his own church since that time. It's been a lot wait for him, but yesterday, he was finally ordained as a Priest in the Charismatic Episcopal Church (NOT Episcopal USA) www.iccec.org. Now he is going to pastor a small parish near Tacoma, WA, in a little town called Pyuallup.

Of course we couldn't me more excited for or prouder of him.

Since Michael had lived in California until early November, he chose to have his ordination there so friend from his church and from seminary could attend. So on Saturday, November 29, the four of us piled into Mom and Dad's car and drove to Southern California for the big event.

Wow, what a big deal this was! It was a marvelous ceremony. Very liturgical, very formal, and very God-honoring. I wouldn't have missed this for anything and am so grateful that God allowed me to stay for this.

I was that crazy lady that was wandering all over the church with her camera trying to get pictures from every angle. It was a little difficult sometimes since the candidates (there was another guy being ordained also) were facing the bishop and had their backs to the congregation. It was not ok for me to go behind the altar rail to get pictures, so most of what I got was from the side. At one point, I went to the end of the rail and tried to hang over it a little. Poor Michael thought I was going to climb around it and break ALL the rules. I think he just about had a heart attack!!!! He may have also giving himself whiplash shaking his head so fast and furiously. Don't worry. I didn't do it.

Of course, after the service there was a great party with tons of people and food. We estimated that close to 150 people showed up!

If you click on the picture below, you'll get to the photo album of 183 pictures of the event.

Ordination to Priesthood

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My brother Michael was able to join our family for Thanksgiving this year. I'm really glad since this is going to be our last big family thing for a while. Of course, my "American Grandma" Viola was able to be there as well. I'm happy about that too. We had a great time and great food. We even got in a couple of games of Scrabble. My family is pretty cut-throat about Scrabble. So the games had some pretty great scores (close too).

Saturday is Mom's birthday. We celebrated on Friday instead since we'll all be driving to California for Michael's ordination on her actual birthday.

Posted by Gabi at 8:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ruthie Sampson died on Sunday, November 16 after a massive stroke. Everyone was shocked. She was only 54. She was a dear friend of our family and Ruthie and my mother were especially close.

Ruthie lived a kind and generous life. She was a powerhouse in her community.

I was just a teenager when I first met Ruthie. She always treated me kindly and made me feel important. Over the years I saw in her a passion that drove her to work tirelessly for her family and her culture. She was truly a woman of Proverbs 31.

When her daughter Mildred was in my 7th grade class at Kotzebue Middle School, all of the students were required to get a parent's signature in their assignment books each night. I could always count on Ruthie to have signed it. Often times, she would write me an encouraging note or even a joke that would make me laugh out loud!

More recently, Ruthie had been following my journey to become a career missionary in Zambia, Africa. Imagine my surprise and delight when she made a commitment a few weeks ago to become a monthly financial supporter. I was deeply moved by her generosity.

Praise God for Ruthie's strong faith in our Lord Jesus. Even though the pain of her loss is all too real, it is comforting to know we will see her again when we too are promoted to Glory.

While it is difficult to imagine a world without Ruthie in it, I know all our lives are richer for having had a moment with her.

Posted by Gabi at 11:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Do you have those friends who seem like they've literally always been in your life? Our family has some great friends like that. I've known Dave and Mitzi for the past 36 years. I guess, really, they've known me that long. I was only a baby when we all met.

Dave and Mitzi were our closest Wycliffe Bible Translator neighbors in Alaska. We have a lot of wonderful memories with them. Two of their children worked for Alaska Airlines. So Dave and Mitzi were able to fly more often than we were since they got free passes. They lived near Nome and often had to fly through Kotzebue to get there. Some times they would stop for a visit with us. My brother and I always loved it when they got stuck in Kotzebue because the plane was full or because of a blizzard. ;~D

Last Tuesday, I got to pick them up at the airport in Phoenix. They've just left this morning. We've all had a wonderful week together! Since becoming a grown-up, I really hadn't been able to spend much time with them. So it was especially nice to get to talk with them and get to known them from this perspective. Dave actually pointed out that I'm no longer just their friends' kid anymore. Now I'm one of their friends as well. Yay!

I am so delighted that I got to spend the time with them. That is certainly one thing I would have missed had I actually left last weekend like I had hoped.

Posted by Gabi at 10:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)