I'm in Malaysia!

I'm spending a week in Malaysia to attend 6 days of conferences in AP Literature and Language and other fun school-related topics. I got to go out last night and do a little bit of the touristy thing and see the Petronas Towers. So cool! 88 stories of beauty. Tonight is a super-touristy night at Starbucks to check e-mail, download handouts for the conference, and update my blog and Facebook accounts. Check back later in the week - I'll try to have a few more pictures and fun up on here.

It Happens...

This week has been one for the books. As a side note, I'm cancelling Thursday next week. Thursdays are the problem, I've decided. Last week Thursday night, my phone registered a number of missed calls as I came home from dinner with friends. I called the numbers back and talked to my brother's dormdad. Tim was doubled over in pain and they thought that he might have appendicitis. Kim and I hopped into the car, drove up to get him from the dorm, and brought him in to the hospital. The end of the story is that we still have no idea what was wrong with him that night. Tim and I made it back to my house at 4 a.m. after numerous tests and inconclusive results. Not really what I had planned for my Thursday night. However, we are very thankful that a week later, he seems to be doing absolutely fine.

This week Thursday, Kim joined me for dinner at our friends' home. We headed home around 7 p.m. As I was still getting stuff out of the car, Kim came straight back out of the house and said, "We've been robbed."

In hindsight, we knew that something was amiss on Wednesday night when we came home to different lights on and off than we usually leave on and off. We did a full search around the house and nothing else seemed out of order. Now, we figure that they must've cased out the house. We have no idea why they didn't just grab the stuff then but, for whatever reason, they did come back on Thursday night.

They ended up taking Kim's laptop (but not the powercord), a 110v DVD player, a backpack from each of us (necessary to hide a laptop and DVD player in), some jewelry from Kim (high sentimental value but worth just about nothing monetarily), and our sense of safety in our own home. This is the second time that Kim has been robbed in the last three years. We both are definitely frustrated and saddened by this.

Probably the most immense sadness comes from the fact that a small child was used in this break-in. Extreme poverty pushes them to do just about anything for a few meager pesos for food. Our hearts hurt as we see kids having to resort to such measures.

Please keep us in your prayers. Pray for wisdom to know how to deal with our landlord in matters like these. Pray for peace as we come home each night. Pray for this country and the poverty that influences every aspect of life here.