Things are still going well here in Tucson.  We entered 2014 having already enjoyed one month here in Tucson.  It's hard to believe how fast time is going!

Life in a small camper is great in that it forces us to stay organized and work as a team.  (I made that sound really good, but it doesn't generally work out that way!)  Life in a city also has its good and bad parts.  The bad is what you would expect - traffic, noise, and concerns for safety in our neighborhood.  The good is that my work and the kids' schoolroom in the church are only a 10 second walk across the parking lot.  Also, when the camper gets too small we can go out to eat and with a 20 minute drive we can be hiking in Saguaro National Park or Sabino Canyon.

Julia's Christmas gift - a cake pop maker

Hiking in Sabino Canyon

Although we missed being at home for Christmas, we enjoyed a Christmas Eve supper and service at Shalom Mennonite and were invited to someone's house for lunch on Christmas Day.  The kids were very excited and thankful to receive Christmas packages from grandparents, friends and school.  Now we have to find room in the camper for them!

The work at CHRPA home repair continues to challenge and interest me.  My most recent of many humbling experiences was when I was trying to remove a bathroom faucet that was leaking and needed to be replaced.  I took out the plumbing with the greatest of ease.  After a quick pat on my back for a job well done, I went to remove the faucet.  Because of the leak, the connections were corroded.  I worked painstakingly for 20 minutes with my neck in a kink trying to get the flange off the faucet so I could pull it up through the hole in the sink.  My partner sprayed some nasty stuff on it to loosen it up.  This helped some, but mostly just made it stink under the sink.  Finally, after several more minutes of struggling through sweat, stink, neck pain, and ego, we decided to just cut it off with a grinder.  As I pulled the faucet up to cut it, it pulled right out!  Yep, the flange was smaller than the hole and I could have pulled that guy right out a half an hour before without an ounce of effort!  Should have checked on that a little sooner (and will next time).

But even more challenging, interesting, and humbling, is the part of the job that involves meeting and seeing inside the homes of so many people that I have done a pretty good job of ignoring the existence of.  We always chat, usually laugh, and occasionally eat together (I certainly wish there was more of that!).

After a time of trying to connect on our similarities, I hate the part at the end when we have to go through the required paperwork so they can prove they are poor enough to qualify for our services.  Although they are thankful for the help, I am certain it shames many of them to have to accept help because of their poverty.  None of us like to NEED help and they are no exception.

In years past I would not have thought about the shame factor.  Certainly the impoverished are not worried about their ego, they are just trying to get by.

But now I realize how ordinary these people are.  As a matter of fact, I realize how much better than ordinary many of these people are.  How did we manage to somehow turn the Biblical tables, vilifying the poor as lazy, and uplifting the wealthy as worthy?  Doesn't the Bible have it the other way around?  

I am trying to fight the way I have become accustomed to judging and categorizing people not on who they are as a person, but rather on how similar they are to me.

Below is a link to a good thought provoking article on poverty.

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/11/30/what-dave-ramsey-gets-wrong-about-poverty/

Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers.  We wish everyone a Happy New Year!

Eric, Jodi, Julia and Nathan