Making a Difference: Wells in Ethiopia

Dick Moeller, Joyce's husband, is making trips to Africa for Water to Thrive, a new Texas nonprofit that partners with A Glimmer of Hope, to bring water wells to Ethiopian villages.

This is the note he wrote from his most recent trip with his daughter Meredith. Just had to share it....

"It is Wed morning with a little down time before we head to Kellum this afternoon.

As you might expect.....our emotions have run the complete spectrum.....joy, fatih, trust, love, concern, overwhelmed, thankfulness, helplessness, respect, honor, blessed......and on and on.

Our celebration at the 3 completed wells was totally overwhelming. Such joy, hope and thankfulness with blessings shared all around. Truly remarkable......beyond words really.

On Sunday afternoon, we headed east out of Addis to visit several Glimmer water points and schools and then on to two communities in need of access to fresh water.

Monday was travel to Axum (Tigray region) in the morning, then visits to 3 completed wells, one in progress and one stop at a water collection site in need of fresh water. The attached "amateur" pictures are from that portion of the trip. Adi_Nefas was the first completed well visit, and Seyabo was the second. We were totally exhausted by the end of the day and emotionally drained. It was an easy sleep!

Tuesday morning we traveled back to Addis. We visited the Glimmer office and then two afternoon meetings with John Halvorson at LWF and Zerihun Desta, Development Director for Mekan Yesus. Both started a little tense, but in the end they were good meetings. At least we are communicating openly and have a path of cooperation. Time will tell how well it will work. I felt good about the outcome of the meetings. More when I return.

We had dinner last evening with some of the Glimmer team to get to know them better. A very enjoyable evening. My respect continues to grow for the Tameru and the whole Glimmer team. They have their values truly aligned with the people they serve. So great to see it in action.

We are off to Kellum later today and should be back in Addis Saturday afternoon. Tameru has a relationship with the Mekane Yesus church in that area as some of Glimmer's early projects were done in cooperation with them. We will meet them on Friday after visiting potential new fresh water points on Thursday.

Blessings to you from the people of Adi-Nefas, Seyabo and Ketema"

Dick and Meredith

For $3,500, Water to Thrive provides a first water well for 400 Ethiopians.
That's $7 per person (2 lattes or 2 bottles of water at your local airport)
100% of contributions go to changing lives. They have proven partners with local management. Go to www.watertothrive.org learn more.

Austin to Saudi Arabia

A friend of mine was in town last week for a quick get together. She works for the U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia. Wow! How many people can say that! Anyway, it is so interesting listening to stories of their life in the Kingdom.

As someone who does virtually no cooking, I was surprised to learn that they seldom eat out. If you are invited to dinner it means to their home.

Recently, the embassy has hosted President Bush, Dick Cheney, and a long list of other dignitaries. Saudi Arabia gave the U.S. a rare and endangered oryx. I had to go home and google oryx to see what they look like. (It is a large antelope with swept-back horns. See photo.)

What would a celebration be without T-shirts and mugs? But trying to get them on short notice in Saudi Arabia is another thing! Apparently, they don't print up T-shirts for all occasions like we do. She promised to send the logo that her husband designed for a US-Saudi event.

Mamma Mia!

I saw Mamma Mia over the weekend and loved it! I'm not embarrassed to admit that I have been going around humming old ABBA songs. I know some reviewers think it is simple and not realistic, but, you know, I'm not sure it is more unrealistic than a rich guy dressing up like a bat and fighting crime. Of course, I still think film history was made by Pillow Talk with Doris Day.

Best of all, Meryl Streep dances and does huge jumps on a bed. I'd like to think that could be me but I was squirming in my seat with a pinched nerve in my back. By the way, remember the steroids they put me on for shingles? I'm back on them. But if I ever get rid of the back pain, I'm going to try doing a saddle jump on my bed and climbing on tables singing "Take a Chance on Me." I'll let you know how that works out.

Introducing: Victoria

Several people have asked me who Victoria is. Victoria is my cat and editorial assistant!

She looks big in the photo but she actually is very small. You can see that she sits on the back of the chair and watches me write.

Victoria and I go for walks in the evening. She goes on a leash! Sounds weird but she puts up with it. She's a rescue kitty and part of the deal is that she cannot be allowed to wander outside.

I also have an ancient horse... 33 years old. She's not ridden any more, but that's OK because I don't know how to ride anyway! My daughter (the jockey) used to compete with her in hunter-jumper shows.

If any of you own horses, you'll know what I mean when I say that my economic stimulus check went directly to the barn! Who knew you had to "float" horses' teeth. Really?

The horse is one of the main reasons I have become so good at seeking out good deals!

The 9th form of intelligence

This week I have been listening to another motivational CD that encourages you by saying that there are eight types of intelligence. Just because you're not good at one type, you might be great at something else.

1. Bodily-kinesthetic- These are the athletes. Finely tuned bodies. Definitely not me.
2. Verbal-linguistic - Great speakers such as Martin Luther King and Kennedy. And me? Please! Let's move on.
3. Logical-mathemetical- Technology leaders and Albert Einstein. I don't really even understand what E=MC2 is. I don't think so.
4. Spacial - These are the engineers and architects. No, but that's OK; there are lots more to choose from.
5. Intrapersonal - Highly self-aware persons such philosophers and psychologists. Well, we're getting closer but if I'm so self-aware I wouldn't be listening to all these CDs.
6. Interpersonal - Empathize with others & communicate well, extroverts - politicians, teachers. Maybe...but not really
7. Musical - Now we're getting cold again.
8. Naturalistic - Great sensitivity to nature. The last time I went camping I was 10 years old and got chiggers.

Was this exercise supposed to be inspirational? Now I know that of eight forms of intelligence, I have none. I'll just have to define a 9th!

There's a price for a great shoe sale

My mother told me so. Don't lift heavy things; you'll hurt your back. Well, I didn't really lift the furniture. I just pushed it around my living room. And I was careful.

Unfortunately, now I am on a muscle relaxer (which isn't all bad, by the way) and a painkiller. I was doing much better and could even sit up straight, but then I went to a shoe sale. Lalo (Designer Clearance House) got in a new shipment, and I spent two hours trying on shoes. The problem with this is that the place is more like a warehouse...no place to sit. So you are always bending over to find the shoes and balancing on one leg to try them on.

So now I am back in pain again. But worth it... I got a great pair of Olivia Rose Tal shoes for $62 (retail $275). I just can't tell my mother. She's already said, "I told you so!"

Now you can make people smile without being funny

My friend Nicole Albers told me about new cameras that will put a smile on your face whether you want to smile or not.

There are quite a few cameras that have smile detection. They won't take the photo until everyone (up to eight people) are smiling. I hope the camera has better luck than I do or it could be a very long wait before the photo is snapped.

But now Sony has gone a step further... If little brother won't smile, that's OK the camera will put it there for you! In playback mode, you can add smiles to people using the camera´s face detection and retouch menu.

I just wish they had had this when my kiddos were little. Would have saved me a lot of time and bribes!
http://www.physorg.com/news120487238.html