Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving

Hi everyone,

I hope you all had great celebrations on Thanksgiving. We had a nice dinner with Kristina and her family at her house. I don't remember the last time I DIDN'T make a turkey. It was nice to make side dishes and deserts instead. Tomorrow is back to school for a week and then the kids have off for the week of Eid. Then, back to school for a another week and 2.5 weeks off for Christmas. We don't have any plans to travel - my suggestion is to get in the car and see how far we can drive from Jordan before we get sick of driving. I think I'm the only one that likes that idea so far though. We'll see what happens.

I am thankful for:
1. The health of my family
2. The whole Leininger clan (you guys rock!)
3. Great books to read and the ability to read them
4. Girlfriends to share, laugh, cry and carouse with
5. The internet - living in Jordan without it would not be the same

Well kids need to get captured for bed :)

Much love,
Lisa

We Appreciate Your Business

Greetings!

I'm thankful I still have a job and can finish paying off my roof this month.
I'm thankful when struggle in life turns to deeper insight and personal growth.
Tonight Linda, Dad and I watched Camilla on video. It was slow but beautiful and thoughtful.
I'm thankful for being able to watch such movies at home.
We walked in a forest preserve in town as well as along the Chattahoochee River. I'm thankful
for places I can go to be in nature.
We went to an open mike in Chamblee. I'm thankful for opportunities to perform with a
microphone. I'm thankful for opportunities to go out with my friends and meet new people.
I'm thankful for poetry that has inspired me and given me food for thought. I finished reading
Hafiz and am re-reading a collection of Chinese poems that I have. Here's one by Hafiz:

Friends Do Things Like This

Friends do things like this:

Tell which mat their house key is
hidden under.
Hafiz, jump over, cut right through
all the small talk today:
Look beneath the right-hand corner
of that Kirman behind
the barn

Where my sweet dog is usually
sleeping
(Don't worry, she won't bite)

For you would not believe
the extraordinary view
of God

From my bedroom
window.

-- Hafiz

Love,
Stephen

Nov. 27, 2008, Thanksgiving Day

In this modern day, some things don't change, like my wonderful family.
but this miracle of communicating across the miles. A great way to keep in touch, and to know how much we care for each other.
I remember what Jesus said, greater things will you do. That's what we are doing with these tools we have been given: to speak the truth in love, to lift up what is edifying and joyful.
This noon we attended worship with a quaker congregation, and then sat down to a marvelous potluck meal. We brought stuffing that was oh so good, and ate too much. Tomorrow I will try fasting. Linda and I will be driving 500 miles to get to Ken and Gladys' in Searcy ARkansas. We'll think of you as we go. Love to all, Dad, Lolo.

Hello from Linda

Hi to everyone, and Happy Thanksgiving! Dad-Lolo and i are visiting Stephen, so we're adding our blogs while in Atlanta.
What I'm thankful for: 1) A supportive family, even while I try to loose weight.
2) The sunshine in all seasons
3) Friends at church
4) Our car which is taking us on this U.S. trip
5) Music, like Steve playing his guitar and singing ("You picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille")

Thanks

1) Thanks for a world so full of wonders that they will never run out or grow old
2) Thanks for LOVE
3) Thanks for music
4) Thanks for Strength and Health, of body and mind
5) Thanks for life- so I can know all of the above!!

Trale

Thanks

I am not sure how often everyone gets on the blog to check updates, and I guess it doesn't matter if you comment before Thanksgiving or after, since really it shouldn't take a holiday for us to give thanks. Anyway - I just thought it would be nice to share a short list of 5 things that we are thankful for. So...comment back! :)
1) Of course, loving, supportive, encouraging and FUN family. JAKEB and MM run this weekend!
2) really amazing friends, both new and old at college
3) very real mentors/role models. specifically, a 30-something staff member at BV that is an excellent life example and advice giver to me both in areas of academics and faith.
4) a car that runs. (friends have been having car troubles, and i am thankful that mine has been reliable)
5) peace in knowing that God has a plan for my life, no matter how stressed i might get about the future and where i will be next year.

Wetland reserve visit

Hi again, I told Mom, Connie and Becky about this former oasis visit and wanted to show them and others the pictures. This used to be a huge wetland oasis up until 20 years ago. It's in the eastern part of Jordan in the middle of the desert. They started pumping out water when Palestinian refugees came in '67 and eventually it was pumped dry. Now, it's back to 10% of what it used to be - they pumped water back in. There are loads of water buffalo to eat the reeds but we only saw their poop. There are also ibex and ostrich but we didn't see them either. We DID see a heron which I loudly pointed out to the kids so that it quickly flew away.

Have a great week everyone,
Lisa, Amman

Jon as Indiana Jones

Karl, just got me signed up as I wanted to post I picture of my office Halloween costume. The trip to Petra last year was still on my mind so I went as Indiana Jones. I found the leather jacket in a second hand store for $25.00, and everything else I already had. People said,"I don't want to know why you already have a whip." But this was a gift to Karl from a trip to Mexico.

Hi from Amman!

Hi there everyone,
Here are some photos we took of pretty leaves on our street and of our resident sheep. I sure miss living through Autumn in the States, but am happy that all the fruit trees change color here. Amer's dad got the sheep as a gift from someone who farms some land he owns in Kerak. There haven't been any crops for the last two years because of drought (thus not payment) so he gave him the lamb and he brought it here. He's pretty tame now, but really likes to eat the best of our plants so we usually tie him to a tree. I'm not sure how long he'll be here before he makes it to the dinner table. He needs to be at least 6months before they do the deed.

I'm happy about teaching spin class two days a week and taking Arabic with Kristina two days as well. I finished an ESL teaching certification course online but haven't looked very hard for an ESL job yet. Something was available at a college here, but it was in the evenings which isn't good timing for me. Maybe I'll tutor some folks in the future.

The kids are both well. Laila likes track and AJ has soccer practice or games 5 days a week which he loves.

It's so cool to read what you guys are all doing. Miles, what an undertaking - it sounds scary and amazing at the same time. I wish I could come for Thanksgiving! Have a great time everyone. I'm also envious of Mom being able to see Ken and Gladys who I haven't seen in too long.

We will go to my friend Kristina's house for Thanksgiving. Their family came here last year...maybe a tradition starting I hope. I have two good friends leaving Jordan soon and I sure hope Kristina stays around. She lives very close and our children are in the same school which makes helping eachother out easy.

Well I'm going to sew a patch on AJ's PE shirt now. Have a fun week!

Love,
Lisa, Amman

Speaking of exercise, I read "A Walk in the Woods" by Bryson, about his attempt to walk the Appalachian trail. That's about as close as I got to exercising.

Not really. I went to healthquest a week before election, and walked all over clarion and Eagle Grove, running up to houses. Sometimes talking, but usually just leaving literature. Our county is very republican, but initial counts showed that Obama only trailed McCain by 100 votes. I'm hopeful for our nation with his Leadership. I'm listening to "the Audacity of Hope" that I downloaded from Our Library website onto an mp3 (as I do dishes and drive).

I'll work gathering veggies tomorrow, from a hoop house, despite (predicted) snow outside.

I better get in shape for the Living History Farms event the weekend before Thanksgiving. it's 7 miles. It goes down through a creek as an option. Our whole family is going to Des Moines for this.

I would like to do a little bit of the Appalachian trail sometime... This is an urge I got a long time ago. Highschool? any body game to come along? The trouble is, we'd have to get equipment. The "Walk in the Woods" book was funny, and somewhat educational about the history of the trail, National park system, smoldering coal that ruined towns, hotels built in the middle of nowhere as vacation destinations (great gatsby time?), soon to be abandoned. The funny part was his perspective on the friend who went with him.

Becky

Daring to live up to One's Potential

Hey Everybody!

Its nice to see what you are all engaged with these days. It makes me proud to see all the wonderful and interesting things that you as my family are involved with. Reading about the weather changing and the advent of the fall there in N.A. brings on a bout of homesickness; indubitably I have an affinity for the colder climates. But I am enjoying things here for the time being. I am more and more involved with this high-profile project for Chevron, and getting on better and better with the people who I know from work. There are lots of ppl that work in our base, and although I do work directly with some of them, there are many more that I have no professional association with, yet through work we are acquainted and develop external relationships, which is good.
I, like my younger brother, am getting more interested in running- here there are plenty of good places to wander out into the country, with only the sky, the road, and strong legs to carry you.
I just moved into a freshly re-furbished home here, which is in the same complex where I had been living before. Its pretty cool- I have my own bathroom, and a pretty big bedroom, and as ever its nice to have a maid so that those dirty clothes somehow disappear, and the bed gets made "by magic"!

I'm very excited about the prospects that lay ahead of me- about the ability to leave what some people would see as everything behind, looking toward an uncertain yet hopeful future.

Dear family,

Love to you. I haven't put a word on this blog until now. Just too too busy DOING.

I want to be a human being, not a human doing. Sometimes I do stop and center myself, often on a solitary walk through the woods or up and down the ridge in our neighborhood.

Otherwise, I keep doing, wake up by watching Morning Joe on MSNBC, get to the train by 6:33, think about the students in upcoming classes, give the class to GOD, talk to friends on the phone, relate to my household, prepare for sermons, etc and look forward to the next thing. What's next, what's next? As you can tell, on today, I feel a little less like "centered."

I am jazzed about the election and about the good prospect for Obama to be president elect come tomorrow. I appreciate his pragmatism, steadiness and intelligence. I pray tht there won't be a sense that anyone "stole" the election this time.

Yesterday I took off from work and went with a group from Chicago to Indianapolis where we stumped for Obama. We knocked on doors and urged people to vote, making sure they knew where their polling place was. There were young people there from other countries working on the campaign, as well as Americans of different ages and races. I enjoyed meeting the people I rode and worked with. One man had been a cameraman for ABC news before he retired, another was a counselor with mentally ill people, one had been an outstanding skier before she had a stroke (she now walks with a cane). We had fun. And I was happy to feel more invested in this historic election.

I am part of a six week seminar about Prison reform sponsored by the Diocese of Joliet. we are reading a very good book titled The Church of the Second Chance. It is written from a faith viewpoint and by a man in prison. It includes a lot of good facts and arguments about how our US system works and doesn't work. I'll write you a better review of the book later.

Really great to hear from all of you, see pictures of Lisa's car and Trale's and Miles' houses and happy times. Really great. Please keep it up.

I'm planning to go to Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving and Laurie's 60th birthday bash. She and her family were happy to come to our celebration of my 60th. Her kids realized tht at an experiential level, they never thought about my coming from a close family with nieces and cousins like theirs. They always just saw me by myself! Thanks for making them feel "at home."
(Laurie comes from a family of six children, her four children have 12 - 13 cousins.)

Linda and Ensign plan to travel over Thanksgiving, I will let them tell you about that.

Of course all the eloquent phrases I rehearsed before I sat down to write have flown out of my mind. Waah! I am very blessed in my life, my work, my friends and my family !!! Thank you for being part of my life. I am grateful you are blessed as well. Glad to say I suspect even if I didn't have so many external blessings, I could still give thanks for the peace and joy of God's presence.

Well, if I think of any thing more I just have to tell you or ask you, I'll post again. LOVE to each,

CONNIE

I'm Grandpa - Lolo

We are having beautiful fall weather, with lots of red and yellow leaves. Many interesting things going on. Tuesday is voting day, a chance to get a new direction, although we know one person can't do it all, but he can give a new vision. Connie and Linda both voted early, so maybe there won't be so many in line.
We were able to talk to Trale "live" via computer. It was great. This is birthday time! Tomorrow is Becky's and Wednesday is Linda's, and Andrea's on the 13th or 14th.
This blog is such a great way to keep in touch. Love to all. God is good, all the time! Ensign.

Hello and Happy Fall

Hi to the family, It is great to hear from Miles, and the other entries!! I do want to sit in that special Mercedes that Mowafis got. What a purchase, I do think I instilled in Lisa the love of old 50's and 60's cars, cuz now they have gone and purchased one.

We had quite a few kids come to the door for Trick or Treat night. We gave out Smarties candy and other candy, and had a good time. We have a stuffed black cat that plays "Got a Black Magic Woman", wags it's tail, and flashes it's green eyes. We played it for most kids who came to the door.
For a church book club we read (and I am still reading bcz it is so thoughtful) Field of Stars by Kevin Codd. The author tells of his journey as a pilgrim across Spain - east to west. He was & is a Roman Catholic priest, he saw fields of grain & thought of the grain becoming the bread in communion, and also grapes on the vine, which might make it to the wine in the communion cup. That's just a detail, but he tells of meeting other pilgrims cuz this trek is a known route taken by pilgrims for hundreds of years. The ending point is where (presumedly) St. James' bones are buried. There were people from S. America, Australia, countries in Europe, and others. Many were in pairs, tho' some, like him, were alone.
Anyone out there read any good books lately??
Daylight savings time ended last night. How strange for the evening to get dark so fast. By 5: p.m. it was totally dark here.
I appreciate a woman who attends our Sunday morning Bible study. She is Connie Yokley, a lovely spirited black woman in her early-fifties or so who is a Chgo Public School teacher. She teaches 6th, 7th and 8th grades. She just brings good insights to our Bible discussions, and to our book club. When she leads the book club she brings props, like apples to eat or a special fabric made in the country we're reading about. Wish you all could meet her. She was drawn to our church bcz Mom and Dad had her & some other black people over for a Unity and Diversity dinner. This was a thing they did to get races to talk to one another. Mrs. Yokley felt she really wanted to be associated with the church that our parents went to.
Marli, keep working on the studies, this being your senior year.
This all for now. Happy Thanksgiving.
Love, Linda

Greetings from the STL

Hello Leininger Family, 

The fall is flying past for me; School has been really challenging, though it has been very nice that Janet is only 20 miles away. I was inspired during our orientation to begin running more as well. further, I have been spending some time working on the house I live in, and on a car that I bought a few weeks ago. Finally, I have had a few good chances to socialize with old and new friends, in between the many hours of reading I have been doing. 

The primary thing I have been doing has been getting in to the culture of law school. It sure is harder than many things I have done before, and I will have my hands full until Dec. 13th, when finals end. Briefly, for those who have not been close to someone who has gone to law school, the process is very different from most traditional classes. 90-95% of the course grade for all my classes but one is based on a comprehensive essay final examination. This makes preparing a new challenge, because there is nothing by which to gauge one's performance until the grades come back! well that is not quite true, of course we confer with one another, and can build outlines of the courses to study from. this is in addition to the readings that are assigned daily which has varied for me from 35-100 pages each night. Too much on Law School. suffice it so say that I have IMMENSELY enjoyed the challenge and all the fine people I go to class with.

Janet started dental school this fall as well, at So Il School of Dental Medicine. She sure has been busy, with Anatomy, Physiology, Histology, Ethics, Morphology, and Bio Chemistry; she has class from 8-5 every day. I believe she has wanted to be a dentist since she was a little child though, and she has only become more excited about it as the classes have cranked up. We study together at least a couple times per week- good nerdy fun. 

During orientation a intense old lawyer came and talked to us about the import of working out in law school. He still has an impressive regimen, though he is around 60-something, and told of how he trained for the Boston Marathon while attending Washington University law school. I found his presentation quite inspiring, and have taken to running pretty regularly, doing various 5k events around St. Louis, and running every other day after school. On Monday the 24th I got an email about a half marathon happening Today (sunday Nov. 2), and signed up. I had not run quite that far before though, so I decided to try to run the course monday night, just to make sure I could do it. I ended up messing up the route, and running over 15 miles. My legs (just) recovered in time for a successful event this morning. It was really a beautiful day, with bright leaves and fresh air. 

I scouted out a house here in St. Louis this spring, which Trale then bought in July. Accomplishing that alone, from Indonesia, was tricky. The house, to put in in the most favorable light, needed some sprucing up. it still does. but I have replaced all the plumbing, fixed the furnace, replaced both bathroom floors, done a minimal amount of dry-walling, and removed most of the (very distressed) carpets. I have largely ignored the project since I got the occupancy permit on Sept. 10th, since school is just a lot more important than the house right now. the house is functional though, and located in an excellent spot, right next to Tower Grove Park. The address is 3137 Alfred Ave. St. Louis, Mo, 63116, if you like looking

 things up on Google maps or Earth. the house had some rough times. see photo of bullet hole...

funny story...I came across a 2001 Hyundai Elantra on Craigslist for $750; it turns out the car was given as a first car to the seller's son, who immediately proceeded to run into someone with it. A little ticked off at his son, and clearly frustrated, the father sold (me) the car for a good deal. it has been working very well for me, with just a handful of new parts, which I installed last sunday ( an headlight, fender, bumper, and power-steering fluid tank.)

I have had a few very fun social times as well. The law school has it's own softball league, which I participated in. This was held every Friday afternoon, sometimes with double-header games. I also made it down to SIU for Homecoming, though I did end up working on a paper most of the day while I was there :). 

Additionally, I am MOST EXCITED about Marli, the Ahrendson's, and HOPEFULLY my folks, coming to St. Louis for Thanksgiving!!! Anyone else who would like to come is welcome to do so. please bear in mind that the house is still quite rustic inside...but will be furnished with lots of holiday cheer. 

I hope all y'all are doing great with everything and I have really enjoyed everyone's posts on the blog. 

a quick tale from an interesting case I recently read: while flying from Memphis to someplace, a passenger had to switch planes in St. Louis. on the Hour flight from Memphis, he had about six alcoholic beverages. upon arrival in St. Louis, he stole a golf car used in the terminal, and began tearing around in it. finally cornered by gate service personnel, he decided to hide in a trash chute. The story has an unhappy ending: he climbed in too far and fell into the compactor, which automatically compacted him. though the end effect was unfortunate, it was funny for me to picture him speeding thru the terminal in the stolen service car.

Have a great week

Love, 

Miles