Build up a highway for the Lord

Hi All, I've just been reading in Isaiah about getting people moving, bringing them home, and clearing a way. So I'm trying to clear away obstacles in my own life, including things that keep me from acting, speaking, and writing. With these words I'm spilling a little water over the dam to make it easier for the good thoughts, like salmon, to fight their way upstream.

Big news around here is that my daughter Jenni and her husband Tyler have a new baby! Her name is Ella and she was born May 19th. I think she looks a little like Tyler, but her hands are definitely Jenni's. Jack, her brother, just graduated from preschool and will be going into kindergarten in the fall.

I've cut back at work to part-time. The patient load and level of need of my patients was wearing me down. Routinely we work 2-3 hours over on my floor. I have been learning a lot, mostly the hard way. I want to say hurray for my fellow nurses who have helped me through it all. The 3 minutes you take to help a coworker even when you're hard pressed, counts big time. I hope I can be as helpful to others.

Sin is a word that means little to most people and I find that even for myself, I have to think hard about just what God means when I read about it in the Bible. In Isaiah, where I've been reading, it seems to be just focusing on yourself and acting selfishly. Not thinking about others. Not thinking about God. I believe self-respect is important, that's why I cut back at work. But righteous action includes helping that hurting patient or that flustered nurse when you can. I hope I can keep this in mind. Read Isaiah 58:6-9.

We are continuing to look for ways to live sustainably. Right now we're turning more and more lawn into garden, greens into compost, and body-fat into pedal-power. We've enlisted the aid of 2 chickens, Beulah and Tranquila, who are skilled at turning dandelions into eggs. Jane and I helped out at the latest Green Festival here in Seattle at the Undriver Licensing Booth. We're encouraging people to look for ways to get where they're going without burning so much gas (bus, bike, walk, carpool, car-share, skip trips, telecommute, hitch-hike, etc...)

Hope you are all well. Send me a note. Hasta lluego! Gilberto.