So I spent most of today sleeping. And watching the occasional movie. And being pampered by my roommates. I can't imagine being my sister--who had her wisdom teeth extracted and returned home to an empty house. Poor girl. My face was definately more swollen today and I spent most of the afternoon feeling hot and feverish. But I feel better this evening. I don't think I'm going to be at church in the morning. If I get the extra rest, I'll be ready for the office on Monday.

Each time I watch the Court Jester, I find more goofs. But I still think this Danny Kaye film is a classic.

The teeth are gone. Well, actually, I have them. They gave them to me so I could put them under the pillow for the toothfairy. If the toothfairy gives me what they're worth, I'll be getting almost $500 per tooth!

One of my glands has been slightly swollen over the past two weeks. Nothing major...just a little sore throat now and again from drainage, a little popping in the ear. But with the surgery, the slight has become major. The right side of my neck is twice as swollen as the left and my right ear hurts every time I swallow. You can pray for that.

My fingers haven't gone where they are supposed to go when I'm typing since the surgery either. I think there is a disconnection somewhere. Maybe I just need to get updated device drivers? Drivers for head-finger coordination units without extra wisdom modules?

Well, this is the last of any wise thoughts (and wise-cracks). Tomorrow morning at 7AM, my wise-teeth are being extracted. They made a not-so-wise decision to be mezzio-angular impacted. Have a mezzio-angular impaction. Impacted mezzio-angularly. Something like that. I guess this just goes to show I don't have much wisdom to lose.

I have stocked up on videos for my time of invalid-ness. Such classics as Modern Times, Chariots of Fire, and George of the Jungle. (I know, Katie, you don't like the last one. That's why I'm watching it without you.) The book currently on my reading list is Handbook for Servants by Gayle Erwin. I would highly recommend it! The writer is much wiser than I.

Alright! No more wiseguy comments.

Statements heard from our system administrator today: "Wow... What a day for viruses... Praise God... Good grief... Too bad we don't get a penny for each of these."

Sam: "How many have we stopped now?"

Sys Admin: "Lots. I havne't counted them."

Upon later count: MyDoom Virus. Affecting mail servers and internet all over the world. As of 4:00, our server anti-virus was stopping 100 copies of the virus every hour. It has stopped over 1,400 since 10:00 last night. None of our computers have been infected and our servers are functioning happily.

PRAISE GOD for tools that help us in the fight!

Tonight's topic (Monday evening's topic) was supposed to be about hope and immortality. However, my philosophical early-to-bed evening got changed by the MyDoom.A virus. It started hitting the ministry about 4:30pm. As the IT HelpDesk, I was getting the calls and the emails. I checked with our network security guy and he knew something was going on, but just said to delete things. Things have ballooned since then--I realized it was major about 11:00pm. I'm guessing that we have atleast one infected computer at the office and I think one of our gfa.org accounts passed the virus on. Yuck! I guess I'll find out tomorrow at the office.

So much for immortality in this world. Our world is in a constant state of decline, no matter what the optimists say. Life eternal with God is the only real answer.

I share Tuesday evening about God's work in Asia with The Journey - Hope Fellowship's young adult group. PRAY that I would be a broken vessel God and speak through and that He would touch the hearts of the people present and that His kingdom would be furthered.

Bang, clank, clank, bounce, bounce, thud.

Know what that is? It's this morning's sound of my Palm m105 falling to the floor and then bouncing down THREE flights of steps. The two separate "clank"s are the sounds of the batteries separating from the palm and falling on the metal landing.

Cra-crack-sh. Know what that is? It's last night's sound of my Palm m105 being dropped in the north parking lot. The crack in the middle of that sound is the liquid display being shattered.

Now I am blessed with a PalmIIIc. Color screen, but no "clock" program. I'm going to miss my wake-up call.

I talked with my older sister on the phone tonight for ?two hours?. So much for going to bed early. (I love you, Essa!) Sometimes I wish this really was a private journal so I could write things down here. I think I need to just start a real journal. So here's my secrets... mumble mumble mumble... but don't tell anyone!

I've had a song running through my head all day. Here are the lyrics:
Give me one pure and holy passion.
Give me one magnificent obsession.
Give me one glorious ambition for my life,
To know and follow hard after you.

To know and follow hard after you,
To grow as your disciple in the truth.
This world is empty, pale, and poor,
Compared to knowing you, My Lord.
Lead me on and I will run after You.
Lead me on and I will run after You.

What are you running after?

Today we moved Jen D. into her apartment--the first new staff person of the year! The truck came earlier than expected, but that was good because it started to rain less than 30 minutes after we finished moving her stuff into her apartment. Please pray for Sarah, Steve, and Christa who are still raising their financial support to join staff.

I was thinking more about deferred dreams (see Thursday). I like the story I have heard about the blooming of a rose. If you take a rosebud and force it open, it is crushed and bruised and ruined. However, if you wait for the rosebud to open on it own, even if it takes longer than expected, the results are exquisite. Our dreams that we dream in partnership with God are like the roses. Waiting on God's timing produces exquisite results while moving in our own timing can result in disaster.

"Could it be that He is only waiting there to see
If I will learn to love the dreams that He has dreamed for me?"

Tonight I had supper with a Korean family that is part of the Gospel for Asia staff. P&L invited another ministry family and two of us ladies to supper. We enjoyed a full banquet of Korean food - minus the kim chee! (I don't mind not having kim chee!) But there was Korean squash (which was strongly reminisent of something I had eaten before, perhaps in Japan). There was excellent marinated beef and some kind of fish meat. A lettuce salad and homemade dressing. And Tofu. The Korean family ate with forks and the rest of us ate with chopsticks! Afterward we played games and talked and laughed until we were all too tired. It was an enjoyable evening and especially interesting as P&L shared more about the Korean culture.

Although arranged marriages aren't common any more in Korean and are barely considered acceptable here, they sure made things a lot simpler! To quote L's father to P's father: "Your son seems to like my daughter. My daughter seems to like your son. What date works well for you? Today is Saturday. Let's see... Saturday, Sunday, Monday. How about Monday? Will that work?"

Sam ("the printer man"--see Tuesday's blog) turned 19 years old today. For those who don't know, Sam is my second cousin. He and his family also work at Gospel for Asia. Since he is my second cousin and has no sisters, all the tormenting rights that would inherently belong to a sister now belong to me. How fun! Happy Birthday, Sam.

Today I am tired. Sometimes dreams become reality and sometimes dreams are deferred. What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? I think if you try to take your deferred dream into your own hands, it will perish. If you leave your dream in God's hands, it will only become more... more... alive. Nourishing. Promising. Healthful. Powerful. More right.

Printers, printers, printers! Yesterday morning I arrived at work to find a voice mail about problems with the Call Center printer. We were baffled, got the immediate problem taken care of, and kept researching. By noon, Sam was putting new toner in the Copy Room 2 HP 8100. By 3PM, Sam was taking apart the Volunteer Network/Korean department HP 5M printer. False paper jam. Oh, and the Lexmark in Gift Entry was jamming for the first time in months. And eating 5 envelopes from the env feeder every time someone printed an envelope.

By 9AM today, the Volunteer Network manager stopped me and said that their printer was jamming again. By 10AM, I had a phone call saying the Call Center printer would print to nothing but letterhead. At 11AM, I was changing the toner in the Missions HP 8100. By 11:30, I was replacing the toner in the Finance Lexmark Optra. At 12:15, Tim the printer man came and said the env feeder for the GE Lexmark was broken and we need a new one. About 1:00, Sam cleaned the Lexmark and that took care of the jamming. By 1:30, there was an email saying that the Finance printer was still printing uneven. At 2:00, Sam told me that the Gift Entry coordinator could only print email on letterhead. "Have fun," he said! At 2:30, the Copy Room copier jammed. At 3:00, Sam checked the Finance printer and said it needed a new fuser (oops, I mean Photoconducter Unit). By 3:30, there came a request through helpdesk from leadership to order a new printer for the Volunteer/Korean Department. At 4:00, there was rumors of ordering a new printer for Finance. At 4:30, Eric called Sam to help him with a problem with the executive printer. At 4:45, Sam reappeared with blackened fingers.

"What's the black stuff?" he asked. "Three guesses."

[Dorinda thinks. Obvious answers won't work here. Otherwise he won't be asking.] "Ummm...grease." [Sam shakes his head.] "Fuser." [Sam shakes his head again.] "Toner."

"Nope!" says Sam. "Gears." Gears? "Yep! They're disinegrating!"


You're not going to print this blog, are you?

Prayer requests for this coming week:
1. I'm putting my newsletter together. Pray for wisdom and words so the people who get it will be encouraged and challenged.
2. I'm planning a trip to visit my supporters in April? Please pray for God's timing and preparations.
3. My back continues to pain me. Please pray that God will heal me or show me what I need to do to address the problem.

Praises:
1. Much joy this week--even when I didn't feel like being joyous.
2. Peace in the situation mentioned in Tuesday's post!
3. TR was here from Indiana, teaching our IT department many things! Praise God for his work and testimony!

I randomly stopped by someone else's blog this evening and was reminded once again of how BLESSED we are to know and walk with our Creator God. So many people fail to see the truth. They seek meaning in so many other things and some even think they find meaning and fulfillment. But if only the veil was revealed and they could see the real source of life and meaning... all else pales in comparison.

I'm working on my next newsletter! Email me and let me know what I should put in it! What do you want to know about? The Urbana 2003 missions conference? The new building? My sister Susan's new job? What I've been reading about during my quiet times? What I'm doing at the office? So many topics, so little space.

The word "schedule" has been missing from my vocabulary for about four weeks. That is probably the reason that the activity "blogging" is also missing from my vocabulary. I'm sorry. I'll try to fix that.

Monday morning I shared with 120 high school and junior high students at McKinney Christian Academy. Julie, my coworker, went with me. It was a good time of sharing and several of the students seemed genuinely interested in what was happening. During the sharing time, I asked: "Do you think you can just sit here in your wealth and your comfort and do nothing about what you know? God will hold you accountable! We will be held accountable for what we do and what we don't do with the Gospel message. What does God want you to do?" Thanks to all of you who prayed! It was very evident and powerful.

Do you ever have those times where you looked at something that you weren't supposed to look at and suddenly found yourself upset because of information you saw that you weren't supposed to see? How hard it is to remember to be content, but how much we have to be grateful for.

Well, I was going to ask for prayer for my wallet. I lost it. I was standing in line at Blockbuster at 10:00 last night and I realized that it was not in my purse or in my jacket pocket. I assumed that I left it in my desk drawer at the office and didn't worry about...until I searched my desk and didn't find it. We prayed. And prayed. This morning I searched all my stuff and called the Chick-fila and Cinemark Theatre we had visited the night before. Nothing.

About 20 young people (ages 10-27) went ice skating at the Galleria this evening. With coupons we got in for $5 each and wholeheartedly enjoyed three hours of skating.

I returned to the apartment to find a scribbled note on the clip by my door. To make a long story short, a guy from Flower Mound found my wallet in the theatre parking lot almost 24 hours after I lost it there. He and his wife are strong Christians and I'll be meeting them tomorrow morning to get my wallet back. PRAISE GOD!

While my wallet was lost, I called my bank to put a stop on my debit card. Said the automated system: "If your debit card has been lost, press '1' now." [Dorinda presses '1'] "Please enter your debit card number." [Dorinda is perplexed. I don't have my debit card. How am I supposed to give you the number for the card I lost?] I guess now I know what information to keep a copy of in a safe location.

I was asked today to provide biographical information about myself. This is what I wrote: Dorinda Gates is a recent college graduate who works as a computer administrator for Gospel for Asia. Although she flunked her driver's test twice because she didn't know how to change lanes, she now enjoys living and working as a missionary in Carrollton, Texas. Her main goal in life is to know God and make Him known to others. While not fixing computer or sharing about missions, Dorinda enjoys rollerblading, quarter-pipes, drama, driving farm tractors, and making people laugh.

Hmm... Does it really fit? I think my friends would agree.

I am having trouble believing this!!! My younger (but adult) sister Susan is moving to Texas and will be living/working as a nanny about 8 miles north of my home! That probably means that my family in Kansas will be coming to visit me more often! (Mom? Dad? Are you reading this?) Anyway, the idea that my sister will be within visiting distance is a little strange. Together, we could do things that we would never have envisioned doing together while growing up--like go to Starbucks!

There is a family working with the administrative staff at Gospel for Asia that desperately needs a new van. With over 200,000 miles, their current van is fatally ill. Could you please pray for God's provision? Maybe God will provide through you. Email me.

Hats off to my dear friend and supporter Kelly John in Hutch. I just sent him the link to this blog, so may he stop by and see this! If You (reader, whomever you are) will email me, I'll tell you hello too. I'll even give you an alias if you want.

Please pray for Margaret. She is a dear friend of mine and a fellow staff person at the ministry. She was taken to the emergency room today having suffered from a slight stroke.

I'll be speaking at a private school in McKinney, Texas on Monday about Gospel for Asia. Please pray that God will touch the hearts of the highschoolers and junior highers who will hear. Pray that eternity will be changed because of their desire to serve God.

Y-A-W-N... I'm tired. Talk to you tomorrow!

Well, I stopped by to blog last night and the site was down. So much for good intentions. My schedule tonight is running a little late, so I'll close with a question and a guest blogger. The question: What are you doing this year to make your life count for eternity?

Here's the guest blogger--Susan is an avid reader and author as well as a child care and development specialist.

Hey, Dorinda! I'm not an author! I'm not considered a developmental specialist either! Hi, I'm Susan. I am spending a week with Dorinda and volunteering at Gospel for Asia. For some crazy reason, Dorinda thinks that I should blog for her. This evening I attended the Tuesday night prayer meeting at Gospel for Asia. I was amazed by how even the young children were not scared to pray out loud in small groups and how much faith they had. Is that what is meant when we say "faith like a child?" I was also pleased to notice that the young adults that I was around didn't use crude language and yet had fun and enjoyed being with each other.

Wow! Long time no blog, eh? Maybe I've lost my entire audience. I've spent two weeks without email and TV. How wonderful! We did, however, take an evening to watch The Return of the King at the Warren Theatres in Wichita.

I spent one week with my family and one week at the Urbana Missions Conference. All five of us children were home for the holidays and the week was punctuated with Pente games, Christmas caroling, late nights talking, and late mornings waking. It was so fun as the entire family piled into our minivan and we made stops all across town, caroling our friends and family with "Joy to the World," "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem," and "The First Noel." The only problem was the fact that Mother was losing her voice (due to a bad cold) and so... Mama sang bass, Daddy sang tenor, me and little brother would join right in there...