Update

Gary is out of town. He isn't scheduled to fly back until tonight but he said he might try to get on an earlier flight. I should mow the lawn--but isn't that supposed to be his job? And he flies out again tomorrow on another short trip to New Mexico where it is supposed to be cold.

I got a good email from Andrew this morning. He has been working with a person from USAID in their AIDS/HIV section to make some progress on his project. He said he has been looking for new office space and a house to live in (he's been in a hotel kind of arrangement for all these months). He said he got to go to a rare classical music concert last night--an orchestra from Germany was there and they accompanied an Ethiopian pianist in Beethoven's 2nd. He has recently gotten a new burst of encouragement for his work there due to some leadership changes. It is a real blessing to have email contact with him.

Reports from Rachel continue to be good. She seems to really like this 2nd grade rotation, good teacher and good kids and she likes this age group. Of course, it will get harder when she has to actually be in charge for two weeks, so keep praying for her. She/we are starting to think about a job for next year. It is kind of complicated because she won't have any certification until June, and then she won't have a Texas certification until sometime after that, but the Texas teacher job fairs are in April and May. And the job fairs are in Texas and she is in Oklahoma and is really too busy just keeping coming to Texas. Pray she will have clear guidance in thinking about a job.

David called a couple times this week and you won't believe what he is thinking about doing--buying a house! Apparently some of the realtors in Houston work with MD and MD/PhD students to sell them condos. Of course, he has no downpayment money and we have none to lend him (though the realtor told him often parents help with the down payment). So he is investigating what he might be able to do with no or tiny down payment. It may not be possible, but I told him to go for it if he can, since he would be paying a lot of rent over the next 7 years.

My mom now has tickets to Dallas in May. She is coming for two weeks over the time of Rachel's graduation. And cousin April plans to pass thru Dallas then too--she's going to be a camp counselor at a camp near Austin for the summer. It will be nice to see her.