Greetings from Tucson!  We are now feeling more settled in after being here for almost two weeks. 

The kids continue to adjust to our homeschooling routine and trying to figure out how to enjoy their new surroundings.  They are doing well and even enjoying the small camper space still.   My focus has been homeschooling which has gone well but keeps me very busy!  We have had a chance to see some local sights here in Tucson.  Last week we visited the Sonoran Desert Museum.  They house rescued animals and have some amazing displays of minerals/plants and other desert gems.  It is an amazing museum where the kids learned a great deal and had fun.  

Saturday morning pancake tradition:

This past Sunday we attended Shalom Mennonite Church for the first time.  We enjoyed the fellowship and especially the singing of Christmas songs.  We are slowly getting into the Christmas spirit even without the snow!  Last evening all four of us ran a fun Christmas 5k run through the Winterhaven Festival of Lights.  It is a neighborhood in Tucson that decorates almost every tree and almost every inch of their yards, plus they pipe Christmas music into the street and there are hayrides and trolley rides for the public to ride to view the amazing display of lights.  It benefits the Tucson Food Bank which is where we will be volunteering on Wednesday evening, collecting canned goods to be distributed over the holidays.  Overall we are enjoying city life!

Tucson Botanical Gardens:

Another bonus to being here in Tucson is that we actually know some people here!  Sure, it's great to get to know new friends which we have lots of opportunity to do.  But we've also run into people that we either knew in the past or have some connection with through our families.  We have been able to spend time with close friends from college - the Matt Baer and Jeanne Yordy family.  They have graciously welcomed us to Tucson and given many recommendations of kid-friendly activities plus evenings here and there for we adults to relax and catch up while the kids jump on their trampoline.  That has been invaluable and we have so enjoyed reconnecting with them.  Many have asked us what our plans are for Christmas Day and such - we are looking forward to spending more time with their family over the holidays!

Eric continues to enjoy his work with CHRPA...his thoughts are below:

Every day is something new with housing repair with CHRPA (http://www.chrpaz.org/  if you want to check it out).  It is always fun in part because we get to meet and see the homes of the people that we are working for, the majority which are elderly.  They have always been very thankful and as helpful as they can be. 

Today I worked with two other guys fixing a roof.  It was a nice change of pace from fixing more furnaces and water heaters.  But I realized what a softy I am as a physician.  Roofing is hard work!  Thankfully it was nice and cool and I very much enjoyed the fresh air and the surrounding mountain views. 

The sad part of this job was that the roof should have been deemed beyond repair.  However, at a cost of $4-5,000, CHRPA couldn't replace the roof but was forced to spend much time, SO MUCH effort and eventually good money after bad to repair it again later.  It won't last long, but since the owners looked 90 years old it will hopefully hold out longer than they will!

I have noticed during my short time already how expensive it is to be poor.  When we repair things in a mobile home (the only option many poor have), you can see that anything that needs to be replaced is much more expensive than its traditional house counterpart.  A furnace, door, faucet, or whatever cost much more and is of poor quality.  The lack of insulation in mobile homes requires much more on heating bills.

In the long run, the roof we fixed today would be much cheaper to replace than fix, but that is not an option if you are 90 years old on a fixed income and don't have money now.  It isn't an option to buy a quality car that will reliably get you to work on time and one that doesn't cost thousands extra each year on repairs and fuel.  It often isn't an option to overextend on credit cards when you are trained as a medical technician but have been out of work for two years. 

I have talked to all these people.  They seem to be hard working people that have certainly made mistakes but are trying their best.  

I see the same thing in health care.  It is cheaper to eat unhealthy food, but the cost is realized later.  It is cheaper to avoid seeing a doctor for regular check-ups, but the resulting ER visit and hospitalization ends up costing much more.   

It is expensive to be poor.

On our way home from fixing the roof today, we watched a $10 million Air Force jet landing (there is a big base just a couple of miles from us).  $10 million could replace a lot of roofs, or make a lot of schools better, or create a lot of good will helping people overseas. 

But for now, we will keep patching roofs.

Thanks to all for the many thoughts and prayers.  We've enjoyed receiving Christmas cards already as well as emails, texts and phone calls!  We hope you all are experiencing a peace-filled Christmas season full of love and joy!

Eric, Jodi, Julia and Nathan Miller