Enough Already!

Enough of the "Wild Man of Borneo" already! I apologize for having that post up front and center for so long. I probably drove away half of my followers by now. Sorry. We switched to a Mac for our next term (old laptop was five years old and dying) and between figuring out how everything works, and enjoying the Christmas season, well it's been busy! Plus I'm getting ready to head back to Indonesia in less than two weeks. So the pace is going from fast to faster here! I just figured out where my pictures are and how to deal with them. Here's a shot of Mt. Hood last week.

By the way, for those that are interested, 47% of you said that the "five o' clock shadow" was the best look for me, making that one the winner. Joy was pleased, as she agrees. The most horrific look according to 53 % of voters was the "tiny stache," which begs the question, what were four of you thinking that voted that as the best look??? I have to admit, I'm a little dissapointed that the "Fu Manchu came in with 35% calling it the worst. I kind of dug that one...thought it brought out the "wild missionary pilot" side of me. Oh, well. It was fun, but we're all glad it's over!

So moving on I'll try to give you some much beter, cuter, handsomer, pretty pictures to look at this time. You'll notice that I'm NOT in any of them! :) On Christmas afternoon, we headed up to Mt. Hood for some sledding and playing in the snow.

It was so much fun, since most of our kids have never been sledding--ever! Even Joy and I rode a few times. Certainly this is not the normal Christmas afternoon activity in Indonesia.

And these aren't normal Christmas afternoon scenes either!

The smiles say it all!

The Wild Man of Borneo!

Been puttin' this one off for a long time! This past May my friend, Paul and I embarked on a crazy trek through some of the most remote jungles in Borneo. When I emerged from the dripping forest nine days later, I was pretty rough and scruffy!

Usually, when I find myself in a situation like this, I like to have a little fun by shaving it off in stages. The kids go nuts and love it when I walk out sporting a new "wild" look. Joy, on the other hand, definitely does NOT go nuts. So the whole "game" never lasts more than a few hours from the full "scruff" to the clean-shaven. And it never leaves the house.

However, this time Joy made a comment that she would later regret. She said, "I dare you to go one whole day with each new look." Well, I'm not one to back down from a dare--especially an easy and fun one like this.

So I started on a Monday and went to work each day with a new look, working backwards from full beard to clean shaven, and then finishing with the typical 5 o'clock. But before I started, Joy said that I had to document the whole thing with photos and then post it on my blog some day and let people vote on best and worst. What was she thinking??? :)

So here's what we're going to do. The following pictures were taken at the end of each day of flying. WARNING: These pictures may give you nightmares, or cause sudden outbursts of laughter. The word "professional" may not be on your mind. That's o.k. It was so funny to see the reactions of my Indonesian friends, co-workers, and passengers. We had a lot of fun with it, so hopefully you will too.

Please take a minute and cast a vote for the BEST and WORST look. The polls are up at the top right. If there's more than one of you in the family, you can each vote. The more the better! Who knows, this could be a life-changing experience for me...or Joy. But at the very least it'll be fun. Feel free to leave comments too, just don't be too mean!

#1 - Full Beard

#2 - Trimmed Beard

#3 Goatee and Burns

#4 Fu Manchu

#5 Mustache

#6 Tiny 'Stache

#7 Baby Face

#8 Five O'Clock

After you stop laughing, please vote up at the top right for the BEST and WORST. And feel free to leave comments as well. I think.

Hunting

Yesterday we went out hunting for a Christmas tree. It was a lot of fun, since there's no such thing as real Christmas trees where we live in Indonesia!

Of course, it's not cold there either. And we're still not used to the cold! It didn't take us long to find a tree since we were turning hypothermic within a few minutes! :)

Last week I used a frequent flyer ticket to fly back to Pennsylvania for a few days. In addition to enjoying a thanksgiving dinner and a bit more time with my family before we return to Indonesia, I also had the chance to do a bit of deer hunting with my Dad. If you're one of those that doesn't like hunting, you'll be glad to know that the deer never felt a thing, and is already packaged up in my parent's freezer. It's good eating!

We had a very busy couple of weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, sharing and speaking at our church here in Oregon. We still have one more class we'll be sharing in next week, and then we're hoping to take a "breather" the last few weeks before I head back to Indonesia.

Warning: the next post I do is going to be a bit weird. It goes way back to last May, and a dare from my beautiful wife, Joy. I'm finally getting around to it. That's all I can say. Check back for more.