XE here again. Dad posted Skiing and Sledding Part 1 without my knowledge. I was going to add more onto that post other than what was posted. B/c obviously, having my glasses fog up has nothing to do with skiing or sledding. Now back to my original subjects. 

The Farmers, an older couple on the hill, lent us 3 pairs of skis, ski boots and ski poles. They fit D, me and Dad. Dad taught D and me how to cross-country ski. It’s quite interesting. Lots of fun. We can manage to go up small hills and come back down again. I have problems stopping once I’m going downhill though. I manage to always fall over in some sort of fashion whether I’m going down a small slope or going to hit a tree branch. Dad says that you’re supposed to cross your skis but I can’t do that when I’m already gliding. Needs some work. D is getting better, he did have a few problems going up the slope a few times but he’s got the hang of it. G isn’t really into skiing, just pretending to ski. Unfortunately, Mei can’t ski, none of the ski boots fit her properly, D’s are too small and mine are too big. I think that Dad is planning to get a pair of ski boots, skis and ski poles for Mei so that she can try too. It’s no fun being left out. Mom hasn’t tried skiing yet, I think that she knows how. 

Sledding is tons of fun! There’s a good road that has a few curves in it that when covered with snow, it works well for sledding. It’s also a downhill road which is great! The only thing is that you have to walk back up it but that’s the exercise part. We went with some staff and residents sledding, it was really cool.

I received something very valuable yesterday - the gift of being of one heart with someone I love, respect, and serve under.  

My boss here at His Mansion put out a statement regarding philosophy of ministry to the leadership here a couple of days ago.  He is very thoughtful in his use of words particularly when he writes so I read very carefully.  He was more than open to discussion about the document, meaning he wasn’t handing this down from on high and ordering us to believe (not that anyone can really do that anyways).

I am leaving on two weeks vacation starting tomorrow, and I was frankly rattled by some points in the document while agreeing with others.  So I asked him to have breakfast early on Sat. morning (yesterday, which I wouldn’t normally do) to discuss it among a few other things. 

I honestly love my boss, and in part, am serving at His Mansion because of his leadership and character (The other major part is God’s specific call here).  I was fearful that we would have significant differences that would be a major roadblock to my part in the work here.  I want to be clear that I don’t have to have my way regarding how ministry is done here at His Mansion.  Many things are a matter of opinion, preference, and style, and I am very comfortable with that.  I do desire unity on “core” philosophy of ministry issues, especially given my position here.  

Then, the gift, which started with a warm conversation about life in general, like where to get a good meal in the area. Proceeded to have breakfast and discussing some questions I had regarding some personnel issues and finally focusing on the document.  My boss, first of all, was very open to my concerns and humble and respectful in attitude toward me. Second, he expressed with passion and insight what he was trying to communicate and addressed my concerns without apology but with a desire to hear me out.  The gift was that after our discussion, I realized and rejoiced that we were of one heart on all the important stuff.  We will differ on small points of style, but nothing of crucial importance.  Finally, we are committed to work together with other leaders to communicate clearly our heart for the residents and staff here at His Mansion.

What did I learn?  First, trust God to bring together the pieces of the puzzle at the appropriate time. Second, speak openly, honestly, and respectfully, to people that you serve under and love.  Third, listen and read carefully and then prayerfully before you respond.  Finally, God has a bigger picture than we could ever imagine and will get His purposes done through us, but in His way and in His timing.  We need not worry.

Thanks for reading.

XE here. Just wanted to tag on something to Mom’s post about the culture of winter.

- You know that it’s cold outside when your glasses fog up and you can’t see anything when you step inside a building after being outside.

Mom doesn’t wear glasses so she doesn’t know what it feels like but I do.

Dad Tso writes:

I am considering a series of short posts to get me writing again.  My greatest challenge is knowing how to write about the realities of life here at His Mansion with honesty but care regarding the work we do here.  So I am going to start today to write about something. Hmmm…

Making decisions every day is one the hardest things I do.  Because I oversee the counseling department all final decisions regarding resident status (do they stay or need to leave or if they want to return), staff issues, and program changes have to come to me for input.  I have a good staff, and we work as a team, THANK GOD!  Yet, I am aware my call on issues are much more about perspective, perception, and wisdom than hard facts.  My heart often breaks for the tough calls I make with my team.  The hard part is that I cannot let these decisions eat up everything I have emotionally, because many other people who need me to teach, lead, serve, and listen to them.  

When I was a full-time family physician, there was a lot of art mixed with the science. Now, I have less science and lean much more on discernment and faith.  I pray that each day I listen well, understand the perspectives of my staff, and listen carefully to the Lord as He sees beyond what I can.  Thanks for reading and please pray for me as you are led.

MOM TSO says:

What is winter like in New Hampshire, you ask?  Following are a few ideas to fuel your imagination…

- speaking of fuel, all of our buildings on campus are heated by wood-burning furnaces.  On a day where temps reach 32F, the furnace in our home needs stoking approx. every 3 hrs.  This week temps are projected for low teens during the day and -10F at night, so the fire will need to be fed probably on the hour.  We, the adults in the house, constantly smell like a smoky campfire, not a complaint, just a fact.

- did you know that manure still smells strongly like manure even in the frozen dead of night?  (yes, it’s true twice a day stalls are shoveled out and dumped onto the existing pile, but believe me there’s plenty of bone-chilling wind on this hill to freeze new material any time of day or night)  Manure just plain stinks, nothing you can do to change it.  Every time I chug uphill past the barn I get a strong whiff, and it makes me think of sin.  Yes, SIN.  It just plain stinks up my life, no matter how much pure white snow falls on top of it.  There’s a sermon illustration in here somewhere…

- twice a week I run around campus at night attending different meetings and I always take my small camp lantern along to light the way.  There’s a stretch of unlit road, straight thru the woods in back of our house, the length of a football field which used to make me wary of running into animals like bears and deer at night, hence carrying the lantern so they get startled by the light and run off.  Last year a bear did wander out of the woods and explored the front yard and steps of the duplex next door.  But now, in the dead of winter, I’m no longer afraid of wild animals crouching in the shadows as I pass by, because the bears are hibernating and apparently only animals of higher intelligence (ie. humans) continue to move about in this frigid landscape.

- did you know that the coldest, driest snow squeaks when you walk on it?

- all nativity plays should be performed in barns complete w/ live animals.  The sounds of chickens squawking, pigs squealing and cows mooing (loud enough to drown out actors’ lines and the choir singing) really adds to the cultural experience, not to mention the cold air and the SMELL.  How cold is our barn? By the time the kids and I finished an hour rehearsal, dressed in coats, hats, boots and gloves, we couldn’t feel our fingers or toes.

- you know it’s a winter morning when you reach to open the front door only to find the lock and knob covered w/ frost (yes, the inside of the front door).

- it’s winter when you keep a 5 gallon bucket filled w/ sand next to the door in an attempt to reduce the chances of falling down the front steps on your way to work

- it’s winter when 5 pigs and a cow are all butchered within a 10 day span (pork chops, anyone?)

Here’s to staying warm this winter, wherever you are!

XE here. We had a huge ice storm on Thursday night. We realized that it was icy b/c we were going up to Tae Kwon Do in the dark and it was really slippery. No injuries, a couple falls, nothing serious, just very careful navigation and footing. We did have a flashlight and a lantern which was very good. Thursday night is when the ice came, I believe. When we woke up, everything was iced over. The trees were laden with ice, the branches frozen, icicles hanging off the branches. Bushes were iced over and the grass. Dad told us that a branch covered in ice was too heavy and fell, hitting a power line that affected the hill. We had generators for all of the main buildings (including our house) so we had some electricity. But there were branches strewn all over our backyard. The ice had made them too heavy so they crashed to the ground. One huge branch barely missed our car by like a 10th of an inch. I want to say a 100th of an inch but that might be exaggerating. None of the houses or cars were hit with falling branches. We kids were throughly warned not to walk under trees. We would hear cracks and crashes throughout the day, of branches breaking. Right now, we have 3 rooms in our house with electricity and the basement lights work too. Unfortunately, our oven doesn’t work, the microwave is useable but Mom says that it uses a lot of electricity so we’ve only used it a couple times. The fridge is working, although, it’s so cold outside, we could probably put the food outside, if wild animals wouldn’t eat it. Our neighbors on the other side of the duplex had some light too. Mom can cook stuff over the stove, I think that it uses gas, Mom also learned how to light the stove top and we’ve gone up to the dining hall for a couple meals. The ice is very pretty, the icicles on the trees glistening in the sunlight, yet, they caused so much damage. I think that Dad might be able to post some pics of the trees. We can walk up to the dining hall and Dad can go to the office. If we walk up the field, it’s pretty easy. The grass which is frozen just crunches under our feet and if we act like we’re marching, it helps us get pretty good grip. Our snow boots help as well. Although, where the ice was an inch think and flat, it’s hard to get a good footing, kind of like ice skating except with no ice skates. I wouldn’t know if that’s the right simile since I’ve never been ice skating before. We’re going to be out of power for a few days before the power company can get up here and fix stuff. We used candles last night, very cozy. It’s nice b/c we hardly ever used candles in Portland. For dining reasons or power outage, having the power go out didn’t happen very often in Portland. Please pray for us and everyone here at His Mansion, that everything will go well and the power lines fixed soon. Also, pray for the guys, they are the ones out on the ice, fueling the generators and doing probably the more dangerous work. That’s all for now.

On a different note, my mom jokes that our family is or brings bad luck. We went to Arches National Park in Moab, Utah on our trip across the country and saw Delicate Arch at a distance. A couple of weeks later, Delicate Arch fell down. We came here to NH and they haven’t received an ice storm like this for about 10 years or so. She’s kidding but it’s kind of funny anyway. To me at least. Nothing else for now. -DL

P.S. I know that these events have already happened but I wasn’t able to get the post up due to the Internet going out. Then the car accident and the holidays came. I wasn’t going to put the post up but my dad looked at it and thought it was pretty good so here it is.

Hey, XE here. I wish all of you had a Merry Christmas! Sorry, that I haven’t posted anything new yet. Most of you probably know that we have had some interesting events happening in the past couple of weeks. I’m going to tell you about the Christmas Eve and Christmas festivities. Holidays are a big deal around here. 

So Christmas Eve, we went up to the dining hall and had party food for supper. Then we headed over to our 1767 barn to perform the Christmas pageant. Now, originally, my 2 brothers were going to be shepherds and my sister was going to be an angel. I was going to be a spectator, I’m not huge on being onstage or performing. But I got convinced by the costume person at the last minute to be an angel and sing. I already knew how the whole play flowed and everything since I went to the practices with my siblings. So we had 2 angels and 2 shepherds in the play. It was really good and went very smoothly. My brothers didn’t actually say anything but that was fine with them. They had cool costumes. Maybe Dad has some pics of the pageant, then again, maybe not, it was pretty dark. After the pageant, we came back to the dining hall to have a Birthday Party for Jesus. We had about 5 different types of cake, sang a few songs and had a good time. Oh, and about 10-12 kids helped pass out Secret Saint gifts to everyone. Secret Saint is like Secret Santa, you pick someone’s name and then you give them a gift, say who it is from and the gifts are given out on Christmas Eve. There were some very creative gifts, the guys made boxes out of wood. My mom received a knitted/crocheted (don’t know which one) afghan. It was really fun. My parents’ names were drawn together and they received the afghan and a little bell. My sister and I received Apples to Apples Jr. (it’s a game) and my brothers got a box of finger puppets made in Peru. It was really cool.

On Christmas Day, our family opened stockings and then we went up and hosted Christmas brunch. After the brunch, we got Christmas gifts. People donate stuff to His Mansion and the gifts get wrapped up and distributed to staff and residents alike. There was also a White Elephant Gift Exchange for the residents. Christmas dinner was at 2:00 and there was a lot of delicious food including monkeybread which we had never tried before. Dad took us 4 kids to watch The Nativity Story, I thought that it was pretty good. Christmas dessert was at 6:30 and we had yule log cake, yule log ice cream, strawberry jello salad, veggies, cookies and ice cream, plus soda. Just a friendly hang out time. Inbetween all of the events, our family opened presents and tried out new gifts. That was our Christmas at His Mansion. 

A merry belated Christmas to all and to all a goodnight! -DL