Half-way point

Time is moving quickly here in Baltimore, especially with it being holiday season. It's hard to believe we are half-way through our commitment here.

Jim especially has been kept busy with fix-up projects at the house. One of his main projects was/is fixing the entryway halls and stairs from the basement to second floor where there is a lot of peeling plaster and holes that need fixed and repainted. He also spent and will spend some more time on projects at the North Baltimore Mennonite Church. Ruth has been helping with these as she can, but also babysitting and making special meals.

We have had wonderful opportunities meeting a lot of the people from the church over meals or meetings as well as getting to know the house residents better. Often in the mornings or evenings there are several others cooking and eating in the kitchen, so we chat about life and work and aspirations.

We just concluded Thanksgiving holiday time. We hosted a meal here before Thanksgiving for 30 people: house residents and their friends and some from the church. We roasted two turkeys and made the stuffing and gravy and some desserts. Others brought the other fixings. Then Thanksgiving day itself, three of our housemates did not travel to family so they were able to eat the meal with us.
Michelle also came down from Philly via Amtrak. We enjoyed taking her to see the Inner Harbor area and an art museum and conservatory near here. We also got to video chat with our other children and grandchildren so that has been good.

Our biggest concern is health related. Jim is over his cold, and Ruth's is almost better. Ruth pulled a tendon or something in her foot on Saturday that has made walking painful and difficult...not good when we need to use stairs to third floor and just do a lot of walking otherwise. A visit to the doctor Monday showed there is no break, but she'll still need to stay off of it as much as possible this week and do the ice, then cold packs. We're just thankful it's nothing more serious and should be better by the weekend.

We are also getting two new asylum seekers who will move in here this week...both from African countries. They seem really nice. We're eager to get to know them better. Ruth's volunteering at the Asylee Women center has been minimal, but there have been many other activities to occupy her time.

This weekend we will visit Ruth's dad who will turn 91 on Dec. 2. Since it's only a 1.5 hour drive, it is very do-able to be there for his birthday.

Trust you all are doing well and knowing God's presence in the joys and challenges of life.
T-giving dinner at the house with guests from the church

Enjoying conversations with new friends
Thanksgiving day itself. The three opposite us our some of our housemates originally from the Philippines, Africa and a Baltimore native!
So good to have Michelle join us for the holiday. She had lived here in this house for three months when she trained for YES, Youth Evangelism Service, many years ago... at that point 50 people lived here instead of 14!

At Baltimore Inner Harbor.

Fall leaves have been vibrant.

At the conservatory near our place

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