Starting the endings

Monday, November 3, 2025

Does it feel like November to you? Somehow the end of the year has snuck upon us. I make some calls and schedule the week. Movie night is Wednesday, a monthly highlight that eats up the entire week.

I edit W's latest article and he sends it to the publisher. In this way we are of great help to each other, spotting repetitions, inconsistencies, and gaps in each other's writings.

W sends the invitation for movie night as usual, around 11:30 AM Monday. We can only take the first 70 to sign up. But within an hour, 100 people sign in on the waiting list. W heads downtown to the wholesalers for cooking ingredients after the study ends.

Friends come to talk with Barbara and Paul on the Porch.

I'm reading a fascinating book on how emotions develop and are sustained - in healthy and other ways.

Tuesday

It's a morning without meetings. W and I check out progress of the drainage ditch; he gives clear instructions on the dirt and gravel that needs to be moved - and removed - to make the project useable. (Below, the carport and driveway in a downpour.)

This is how it's done. The slabs are lifted, dirt is loosened with hoes, shoveled into bags, and moved via wheelbarrow. A neighbor is using it to level up his own yard nearby.

The guys dig out the dirt clogging the 2'/60cm-deep drain under the driveway. No wonder no water could flow away - it was filled to the top. They build up a concrete swill at the street to assist in carrying the water past the project.

The yardman removes orchids and huge ferns that we planted on the green wall. He ties them to eight big trees in the new yard. These plants thrive in their native climate but they surely didn't last long when we tried to pamper them in Seattle.

The special durian trees left by our Turkish friend are dead; they got planted in shade rather than leaving them in their sunny pots. Sigh. What a disappointment. We planned to transplant them to the project. Little by little, the garden is shaping up. When it grows in, it will have the cheerful clutter of English borders around a grass-like center. (Or that's the plan.)

Wednesday

It's the most efficient preparation ever for movie night: only 3 hours of cooking in the early morning. Kirsten and I enjoy breakfast on the Porch. While W sets up the house and tech, I clip and pleat more curtains. At lunch in Nara, K gets the bento box; W has a burger; I order my favorite dish. The other food arrives promptly but my pizza is delayed until they're finished. We have the servers box it up for later.

W finds an interesting bug under the picnic table on the Porch.

This lizard is happily hanging out by the back door.

But this snake? It coils in a corner of the new property, not moving. We don't know if it's poisonous or not. It probably caught a frog and is working it off. We let it be.

I nap and read in the afternoon, chat with K, and then our guests start to arrive. Every table fills up.

The Porch is crammed, too.

There's plenty of food. The young adults are effusive about being together, eating, laughing, and meeting new friends. 

One asks, "Where do you find all these people?" But it's not us. We feel utterly privileged to be part of their lives and pray over their success and happiness. Somehow God brings them in; they love being part of dinner-and-a-movie. For some who are missing their own families, this becomes a second home they look forward to every month.

We tell them this is probably (but not definitely) the last movie night in this house. "Depends on when we move," we say.

Some have come for years. They protest, "No, this is our home away from home! Will you be have us over again in the next place?"

Of course. Though I'll have to cook a few times to find a new rhythm in another space. The last group leaves about 10:30 PM. After a shower and reading for a bit, it's time to sleep.

Read more:

* Jesus said, “For the son of man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:10

* Many nations shall join themselves to the Lord on that day and shall be my people. Zechariah 2:11

* God will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and be their God. Revelation 21:3

Moravian Prayer: God, you are our truest Friend. You have made and chosen us to be your people. You dwell among us and within us. We sing our praises to you that you are always with us! Amen.