We've discovered it's possible to retain pure pasty white skin in the middle of the sunny tropics. Since Karyn's mom and our son left in July, we haven't once been to the beach during daylight. Besides, this is the "really wet" season (Being a rain forest, Guam doesn't have a dry season--just wet and "really wet.") and, as you can see from the inset picture, I'm jamming trying to complete the first full-draft of my dissertation. Neither does it help when one of the cars is broken down and we find ourselves stuck at home more often than not. Indeed, we have discovered that it is possible to have all the color slowly drain from the skin, leaving one in the state of original winter-white. We attempted to supplement our vitamin D depletion on Saturday, but running this way and that with only one car prevented us. Of course, later in the day, we were greeted by typical torrential rains, the kind that soak you to the skin after running five feet to the car. Oh well, as someone once noted, it's funny how the brown-skinned natives around here try to tuck under any available shade to hide their faces from the sun, and the white folk migrate to any available sunny spot. I guess the "sunny side" of the situation is that I've had fewer distractions from dissertation-writing, a project that is due as a first-draft on November 1. More later. Right now the sun is peaking through, so I've gotta go . . . .
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Original Winter White
We've discovered it's possible to retain pure pasty white skin in the middle of the sunny tropics. Since Karyn's mom and our son left in July, we haven't once been to the beach during daylight. Besides, this is the "really wet" season (Being a rain forest, Guam doesn't have a dry season--just wet and "really wet.") and, as you can see from the inset picture, I'm jamming trying to complete the first full-draft of my dissertation. Neither does it help when one of the cars is broken down and we find ourselves stuck at home more often than not. Indeed, we have discovered that it is possible to have all the color slowly drain from the skin, leaving one in the state of original winter-white. We attempted to supplement our vitamin D depletion on Saturday, but running this way and that with only one car prevented us. Of course, later in the day, we were greeted by typical torrential rains, the kind that soak you to the skin after running five feet to the car. Oh well, as someone once noted, it's funny how the brown-skinned natives around here try to tuck under any available shade to hide their faces from the sun, and the white folk migrate to any available sunny spot. I guess the "sunny side" of the situation is that I've had fewer distractions from dissertation-writing, a project that is due as a first-draft on November 1. More later. Right now the sun is peaking through, so I've gotta go . . . .
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2 comments:
Greetings. I am a PIBC alumni living in Portland, OR. I regularly enjoy reading the PIBC blogs and I just wanted to give you my two-cents worth of encouragement as you are going through the rigors of writing a dissertation. I am nowhere near what you are experiencing nor could I possibly imagine how it is to undertake such a formidable task. To add to that, you have to do it while juggling family, work, and ministry, all in a foreign mission field. That has to be overwhelming.
Well, all I can say is that, apart from sharing our burdens in prayer with God, it has helped me alot just to share with supportive friends and family. I'd just recently been going through mid-term exams, writing papers,trying to care for my wife who is expecting, caring for our energetic 3-year old, and the worrying about never-ending bills, bills, bills. I was so depressed until a friend stopped me in the library the other day and asked how I was doing. Just from that short conversation, I was able to unload some of the pressures I was experiencing and was given just the encouragement that I needed to push on. I guess God is able to answer prayers through others and in unexpected ways.
I appreciate the fact that you are giving to PIBC and Micronesia. I know that sometimes you will not immediately see the fruit of your ministry in the islands but I am convinced that you are sowing seeds that are profoundly affecting lives for the better. I know because I am one among the many living proofs that PIBC's ministry is of eternal significance.
I shall continue to keep you and PIBC in my prayers.
God bless,
Islander
Greetings. I am a PIBC alumni living in Portland, OR. I regularly enjoy reading the PIBC blogs and I just wanted to give you my two-cents worth of encouragement as you are going through the rigors of writing a dissertation. I am nowhere near what you are experiencing nor could I possibly imagine how it is to undertake such a formidable task. To add to that, you have to do it while juggling family, work, and ministry, all in a foreign mission field. That has to be overwhelming.
Well, all I can say is that, apart from sharing our burdens in prayer with God, it has helped me alot just to share with supportive friends and family. I'd just recently been going through mid-term exams, writing papers,trying to care for my wife who is expecting, caring for our energetic 3-year old, and the worrying about never-ending bills, bills, bills. I was so depressed until a friend stopped me in the library the other day and asked how I was doing. Just from that short conversation, I was able to unload some of the pressures I was experiencing and was given just the encouragement that I needed to push on. I guess God is able to answer prayers through others and in unexpected ways.
I appreciate the fact that you are giving to PIBC and Micronesia. I know that sometimes you will not immediately see the fruit of your ministry in the islands but I am convinced that you are sowing seeds that are profoundly affecting lives for the better.
I shall continue to keep you and PIBC in my prayers.
God bless,
Islander
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