Back in Portland

We have been back in Portland for a month now. It is like returning from Narnia. You walk into the airport in Amman and out of the airport in Portland and you are in another world and you do not know if or when you will be able to return. We miss our friends, but there is work here that needs to be done. We have returned to Superior Tape & Label to extend the work we started before leaving for Jordan. We integrated their Print Management software with Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains. Now we need to take their fledgling Excel spreadsheet scheduling tool and give it a new foundation. We might even move it into SQL Server with the rest of the pieces and build a few Visual Basic interfaces.

We are continuing to study and practice Arabic with material we acquired in Jordan and that which is available from our local library and bookstore as well as with our friends at the Portland Arabic Church. We will check out the possibility of developing some language partner relations with some contacts in Iraq. It is simple enough using Skype to talk via the Internet.

Twice a week we take the bus to Inverness Jail in NE Portland to visit Gideon. He is awaiting trial. It has been good to see him and we trust it is helpful and encouraging to him. He seems to be a bit more lively and responsive since we started visiting. Currently he is looking at a trial around the 30th of May. We are trying to make contact with the lawyer to discuss the case and find out what we might be able to do to help. Until then we are praying that this will be a good lesson for all of us. Last night Paul attended a support group meeting for people who have a family member or friend incarcerated. It was a real eye opener to see how many people are quietly hurting and to realize from their stories that there are many moms and dads who are constantly on edge because their children are steadily in trouble and not even in prison yet. These people are all around us in their silent misery. They cannot or will not share the pain because they are afraid of being cut off by embarrassed friends. We have often overheard these stories on the bus, at the bus stop by the methadone clinic, and now in the jail waiting room and at the support group. It is well past time to listen.