Thanksgiving

Things I am thankful for:

1. The fact that God loves me and is interested in a relationship with me.
2. My wife - her sense of humor and adventure that we have recently joined together in life
3. My family - my dad's wisdom, my mom's encouragement, the love and humor of my two crazy brothers
4. Nina - the street dog who through providence found a place in my life and heart
5. Freedom
6. Rivers of Life - a wonderful group of Christian brothers and sisters in Fargo-Moorhead
7. Good books - currently in the midst of graduate studies but am reading a book about the life of Claude Monet
8. Knowledge of the fact that God will do a good work through me "I am the vine, you are the branches; If a man remains in me, and I am him he will bear much fruit. Apart from me he can do nothing" - John 15:5
   

current projects and musings

poems and ideas I want to develop:

"love of a lifetime" - memoirs of an awkward teen
captures the memories of the high school dance, the awkwardness of that moment when the slow song comes on and people start forming alliances for the dance, for the song, not wanting to be the first one out but certainly not the last or the excuses made to avoid the song but to capture the tension the is reflective of the undercurrent of self-doubt and challenge that is adolescence.

"opener" - saw a concert in Minneapolis, and the opener (Davis, I believe) just thinking what that must be like to walk onto stage, playing for a crowd of strangers, hardly anyone knows your name, they don't know your lyrics, and it's your job to "warm up" the crowd? should be interesting, did some free writing about it today to capture ideas.

the cost of bread

So last night was the maiden voyage for our new breadmaker. It was part of a group item purchase from Colby & Rachelle Ernest, friends of ours who are leaving soon. When I lived in Kulm, my family had a breadmaker. I loved putting that thing on timer, and waking up in the morning to a fresh loaf, some butter and honey! Eager as I was to embark, I set it up in the living room (our kitchen plugs aren't on the inverter...a bad thing if the power goes out). I plugged the breadmaker into a uninteruptable power supply, filled it with the ingredients for raisen bread, set the timer, and went to bed. During the night, the aroma of dough began to fill our apartment, and I even had a dream that two loaves were made (one white bread, and another was a lemon cake with frosting). These sweet dreams of hot bread shared with the neighbors, butter melting over a freshly cut slice were interrupted by...

THWACK!

THWACK!

*sigh* yes I had forgotten how loud the "knead" cycle is on those things. we couldn't shut our bedroom door because it would get too hot in there. So, from 3:30 a.m. (did I mention that I went to bed at 11:30?) to 4:00 a.m. I listened to:

THWACK!

THWACK!

Until falling blissfully asleep..until 5:00 A.M.

a long, shrill electronic noise pierced the air. It didn't stop. Julie and I both woke up, the UPS had tripped its breaker (it's a bad one, did it before with just a computer plugged in...don't ask me why I used it for the maiden voyage of the bread maker). Unfortunately, the power had cut on the UPS so we needed to reset the breadmaker. Fortunately it had made it through all the knead cycles (remember the THWACK!) and had risen...just needed to bake. There was a cycle that did 14 min of kneading, 20 rising, and 25 baking...perfect I thought. So I started it, waited 15 minutes for the knead to finish, then put the bread holder back in the machine, and went to bed for another blissful sleep (accompanied by some really weird dreams ranging from being kidnapped, to being at a leadership convention) ... until 5:55 a.m. yes folks, I brought my wristwatch in the bedroom which thankfully was still programed in housefather mode, and a "last minute" alarm of 5:55 to wake me up before getting the kids up at 6:00. Even more unfortunately I wasn't in the house and someone else was waking the kids up, therefore I had no business being up at 6:00, especially with how the night had gone. Shut it off, listened to Julie complain (rightfully so) and back to blissful sleep until...6:30 when the breadmaker beeped cheerfully to let me know it was done and warming. I didn't need to know this at that time. Fell back asleep blissfully until...7:00 a.m. until julie's alarm went off. THANK GOD I GOT OUT OF BED. otherwise it would have been a late morning.

I was in zombie bliss all day today.

next time, the bread maker is going in the spare bedroom..so the THWACK! minds its own darn biz.


until next time...

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST - My wife is sick

Greetings all,

Living in a third world country lends itself to exposure of bad food, parasites, etc. I am married to a native dominican, and she got parasites from some food we recently ate. (Interestingly I didn't get any, though we ate the same food).

She has been really sick for one week now. The doctors finally discovered what it was (parasites, amoebas - specifically). If she isn't better in a few days they are going to hospitalize her. I can't say enough how concerned I am for her well-being at this point in time.

There is no "right time" for an illness to occur, but within the last weeks of a semester only compounds the stress that I am experiencing.

Please pray specifically for:

1. Julie's recovery, that God heals her and provides comfort along the way.
2. That I may be patient, and God's love pours out through me into her life
3. That God gives Julie a renewed strength each day
4. That God lets me focus on schoolwork when needed, but to recognize my priority is my wife

I know we all come from unique experiences that bring different stress and joy. I thank you for your prayers and know that God will be glorified in all our trials! Praise be to Jesus, now and forever, Amen.

In Him,

Peter Schott

actually heard something profound on TV... (and another thought)

The other day I was watching "Dinner and a Movie" and the host made a comment that I felt was interesting, and had a lot of truth to it. He said, "Do you ever think that people watch TV to experience emotions they don't feel in their own lives?" How true this is! People living in fantasy, wanting to experience joy, sadness, or laughter but can't find those moments within their own lives. Praise God that he fills us in abundance with his love.

I saw a website the other day where a woman was selling her house, and herself with it as a bride! Again, how desperate are people to experience love, they will go to such great lengths to experience it. Yet the love of God is not an option for them. I find it interesting how there is such hard heartedness and resistance to God's love, it reminds me of Paul talking in Romans.