Just to make things a little more interesting...

Please read the post from today, Nov. 29, 2007 on the Myhre's blog posted under Links on the right hand side of your screen. It is a follow up to their post from Tuesday Nov. 27th and pretty dramatically adds to the health risks I will be faced with in Bundi. Please pray for the people of the area, including all of the health care workers of the region. Another reality check for me.

Here in Palmer Lake

I said in the last post that I would try to post some pictures of my surroundings here in CO. Here are a few of the ones I took today:

This is the view of the surrounding hills from the front of the conference center.

This is my room - mom take notice that my bed is made (for the most part) and notice the full bottle of water on the corner of my desk, just waiting to be enjoyed by yours truly as they encourage us to keep well hydrated up here at about 7500ft.

This is in honor of all of the little boys I know who love or loved trains at some point in the not so distant past. We have windows in the training room that overlook the railroad tracks coming through the mountains and I must admit I've been quite intrigued. I watch the trains go by and the colors moving by against the clear blue sky are really pretty cool. There's something about the repetitive motion of a train that's really relaxing for me to watch/hear as it goes by. I haven't been so brave as to jump up in the middle of a training session to take a picture of the trains passing by out the window but I was lucky enough to catch one going by on my walk around dusk this afternoon. The colors weren't as brilliant but this picture documents the source of the repetition that I enjoy as they roll by.

This picture is in honor of Leslie. To me this looks like it should be called "Colorado Cactus." It looks like a distant cousin of the Saguaro that we saw in Tucson this past Spring. It was the Saguaro that Leslie had an unfortunate interaction with which then landed us in the ER at St. Mary's overnight upon our return to St. Louis. Now, I'm wondering if this is actually dead Columbine because it's everywhere around here.

This is just pretty. I turned around quickly because I thought I heard something behind me as I was returning home on my walk today and this is the glimpse of the sunset that I caught when I turned. Sheesh. Even when you take the girl out of the city you evidently can't take the city out of the girl, always watching my back...

MTI

Safe and sound in CO Springs.  I arrived yesterday afternoon for 3 weeks of preparation for cross cultural life and work.  I'm one of 27 adults and a dozen or so kids here at MTI, with a view of the mountains and clear blue skies and cold winds.  We've had introductions and orientations and we've quickly gotten into some pretty insightful stuff.  The two things of note are: 

• Paradox: the existence of two opposing things at the same time (the Heidi paraphrase).  Evidently in this life I've embarked upon, this is necessary to learn and to live and to communicate, ie. the sadness of leaving loved ones/the comfort and familiarity of home and AT THE SAME TIME the excitement of doing this crazy thing and going to Uganda.  It's hard for me so far, real hard.  But maybe it gets easier with time (I doubt it).  
  

• "You will be drawing with your weak hand for the next 3 years."  To know that now is really refreshing.  It's weak, it's amusing, it's embarrassing, but it's good to know now.
  

I'm glad I'm here, I think it's going to be really good, but I'm missing being at home...everyone blogging about Christmas decorations and trees and lights and music is making we wish I were at home.  I mean they have a couple trees and wreaths and lights and all here but it's not quite the same...geez, it's going to be a long 2 years!

Also, it really is sinking in that I'm not working anymore...everyone here asks where I work as a nurse and I have to say, "well, I did, until a week ago, work at St. Louis Children's Hospital."  A shout out to all my friends on 8East, I miss you guys!  I'll have to post a little bit about my last couple of days at work here before long.  Until then, try drawing with your weak hand, it's pretty fun!

NYC

Well, it was a little crazy there at the end, but I successfully got out of St. Louis on Sunday after church and so far have not forgotten anything. I'm gone now for a month. It seems kind of like a trial run for me, seeing as I'll return to St. Louis for a month or so on 12/14 and then God willing be gone for 2 years. In any case, I started my travels in NYC visiting my friends Caroline and Tim. Yep, the same Caroline mentioned in the last post. Here they are, outside their cozy little on campus apt. on the Upper West Side. They graciously hosted me for about 36 hours and I got to chill out after being on the go for a while before leaving St. Louis. They also indulged me in my only definitive request for my time in NY....PIZZA! Here's a picture of the wonderful yumminess in all it's glory, if any of you have ever eaten pizza in NY, you know the yumminess I'm speaking of. And speaking of food, you should have seen the meal that Carolina cooked up when I arrived on Sunday evening, from a kitchen the size of my piano: killer pasta with hot sausage, a scrumptious greek salad with roasted red peppers and feta and artichoke hearts and walnuts, and lovely roasted asparagus...sooooo tasty! Okay, so there's more to NY than food, believe it or not :) Monday evening I ventured out of the apt. for some fresh air after a relaxing morning of productivity and an afternoon of scintilating conversation with Tim. I took the subway down to the base of central park and wandered around a bit and then met Carolina after she finished work. We met up at the Mac store - check this snazzy place out, the store is down below this glass enclosure and was totally mobbed...kind of a Mac Mecca of sorts. Made me feel proud of my little MacBook. Then yesterday I met up with my dear sister, and while waiting for her and freezing my butt off on a park bench next to Central Park I had the opportunity to witness this fascinating phenomenon: The NYC dogwalker! I mean look at this, 11 dogs at one time! And I think there might be a 12th in the little back pack like thing on her back. Now, this woman did not seem to be particularly happy about being a dogwalker but you can tell from this lineup that she is pretty skilled. Not a peep out of any of the 11 dogs and they're all just walking along in a line. My sister and I later met up with Josh Corey, a friend from St. Louis and evidently a friend of his does this for a living. Josh says you get paid per the 1/2 hour per dog and you just go and pick each of them up from their various homes and then off you go, returning them home after their 1/2 hour of fresh air. Hilarious and oh so fascinating! Only in NYC. Josh has been doing some pretty sweet design work after graduating from Pratt in Brooklyn. Check out his work at: pariahdesignjargon.com. Then the adventures continued when on our way to Penn Station via subway, I couldn't successfully get into the subway...$16 and about a 1/2 hour later after 3 cards that didn't work an extremely frustrated Heidi made it through the darn turnstile and onto the subway and here's the picture of the evidence...So, Carrie and I made it to Penn Station and then to Westwood, NJ where we're spending Thanksgiving with Uncle Gary, Aunt Carol and cousins Bradley and Jeremy. Have a happy Turkey Day!

Koinonia

Hello out there! Welcome to my blog. This whole blog endeavor has so far been fun, but when it comes down to writing a post it seems quite daunting; usually that's not the case for me. Written words are usually the easiest form of communication for me. I think it's the permanence and the public nature of the web that seems to scare me. I hope this doesn't remain the case, my hope is that the more I write the more free I will feel to be myself. So, I'm starting early.

As I prepare to leave the US I've been thinking a lot about how I can be in touch with all those I know and love here while I am in Uganda. That's where Koinonia comes in. I was talking with my friend Caroline about support raising and how I feel strongly about my work in Uganda being a partnership between me and those at home supporting me financially, emotionally, spiritually, and otherwise; I can go and be their hands to the people of Uganda. Caroline, being the bright seminary alumnae that she is, mentioned to me that this idea I was describing sounded similar to the Greek word "koinonia" used in the New Testament. You'll see several of the ways the word is translated into English under the title of the blog. All of these ideas are in some way what I hope and pray my work in Uganda will be and what I hope and pray this blog will accomplish while I am in Uganda. For instance, I hope that my work and this blog might be a means of fellowship and communication between the US and Uganda despite distance, that my work and this blog might create new associations for people in the US in regards to Africa and Uganda and vis versa, that my work and this blog would be a distribution and sharing of resources and knowledge between the two countries/peoples.

It seems like a tall order but I'm excited about trying. I'm excited about what God will do.
I'll be posting some from the States before I leave in January, and hope to post as often as I'm able from Bundi.