See you in 2010!
Ah, or maybe AAAAAHHHHH! Where has the time gone? This 6 month furlough is drawing to a close and I can’t believe I haven’t updated this site in months. What a whirlwind this time has been. I’m beginning to wonder why time seems to pass so much more quickly in the states than it does in our little town of Wiang Kaen.
Since being back in the States I’ve found myself thinking
more about how much I have to be thankful for.
At first it was just the simple things like having a DISHWASHER, a
DRYER, HOT WATER IN MY KITCHEN FAUCET that made me so joyful, so thankful. But I’ve gotten deeper than that too. I’m thankful for the cooler weather, the lack
of bugs, the gift of watching the seasons change. I’m thankful for this time we’ve had to step
away from our ministry in Wiang Kaen, to see it from a distance with the Lord’s
perspective. I’m thankful for how the
Lord has stretched our income, somehow, that even though we’re living in a
place where things are much more expensive for us than normal, we have never
ended up short, not even once. I’m
thankful for the attention of family and friends to Raymond and Rudy, and for
how they have blossomed under the love of such an extended network of people
who care for them. I’m thankful that God
has called me to be a missionary and for what that has done for me personally,
how it has opened my eyes wide to how the Lord has tenderly cared for me in
every difficult situation.
There’s something about living in the States that sometimes makes me feel kind of numb. Do you ever feel that way? We spent this past week with family, enjoying the Thanksgiving holiday together. I noticed during that time how much I took for granted. I sat down for Thanksgiving dinner and I didn’t give a lot of thought to what a blessing it was, to be in a warm house, to be surrounded by family, to have a splendid feast before us. I thought about those blessings but they didn’t grip my heart in the same way as they have before. A year ago in Wiang Kaen I remember what I was thinking on Thanksgiving Day. I remember being thankful that the Lord gave me the energy I needed to provide a big meal for our friends. I remember being thankful that we had enough money to buy gas to drive 2 hours away to the grocery store and then that we had enough to buy the provisions to make a meal. I remember being thankful for the faces of our dear friends and their shy smiles as they shared about how the Lord had been good to them. It’s like everything is in bold, florescent color there- when we get sick we sometimes get really sick. When the Lord answers a prayer it’s a huge blessing. Each meal that ends up on our table there is something to be truly thankful for. Here we are surrounded by so much. Excellent medical care in a huge variety of nearby locations. Stores that provide every possible necessity. Friends and family who are continually generous to us in many different ways. When we return to Thailand though, that’s all gone. Medical care is mediocre at best, and it’s far away. Food is available but not always clean and not always providing the nutrition that we need. Fellowship with other English speaking believers is far away. But do you know what we have when you take all those other things away? We have our Lord Jesus, and He knows all our needs. We have never gone hungry. We have never been in a seriously dangerous medical situation. When all that I would have depended on was taken away, that’s when I truly began to lean on the Lord. And how faithful He has been.
First, we're happy to announce that the team has identified and fixed the issue with the YouTube conduit; you can now find and add videos from YouTube to your library and posts. As always, thanks for your patience!
The other news we have today is about a new addition to the Six Apart family: TypePad Micro, a new free level of TypePad that is streamlined for microblogging. We see a new form of blogging emerging that lives between the quick status updates of Twitter and Facebook and the long-form posts of "classic" blogging; TypePad Micro is designed to meet that need. You can read more about TypePad Micro in Chris Alden's post on the Everything TypePad blog.
A lot of the new capabilities we've added to TypePad this year were actually inspired by some of the best things about Vox: favoriting, member profiles, a dashboard to follow other bloggers, and easy ways to post content from other social media sites. But the things that make Vox different from TypePad are still there: Vox has always been -- and still is -- the best place for "friends and family" blogging, where you're in control over who sees what. TypePad, on the other hand, is built for the blogger who wants, no, craves, attention.
Do you have a passion or interest you want to share with people beyond your Vox neighborhood? If so, we'd love it if you tried out TypePad Micro. Maybe you've always wanted to start that obsessive blog that's just about waffle restaurants. Or want a place to share videos of your favorite band (Jonas Brothers, anyone? Anyone? ...). TypePad Micro's great for those topic-specific blogs. Take it for a spin and let us know what you think.
On the Vox front, our designers are working on some cool new themes (coming soon!). We'd also love to hear your thoughts about where we should take Vox in the coming year. What are the key things you'd like to see for Vox? If you've had a chance to use TypePad this year, what are the features there that we should bring over to Vox? And, if you're thinking big thoughts, how could we connect the Vox and TypePad communities in order to bring together bloggers and their shared passions? Your feedback is really important to us, so please leave a comment here, or shoot me a message.
And again, thanks for your patience as we found and fixed the YouTube bug!
~ daisy
As many of you have noticed, the YouTube Conduit is not working. I am so sorry about this; I know how frustrating it is.
The team is looking into how to get this fixed and I will update you as soon as I hear something. In the meantime, not all is lost... There is a work-around for posting videos.
When you're in the Compose Screen, just click on "embed." Ignore the fact that it says "Widget" before everything because you can definitely use this to embed videos as well. You'll just need to input the embed code from the video, enter a title (if you want) and hit OK.
It might not show up perfectly in your compose screen, but when you hit "Save," your video should appear just the way you wanted it to.
Hopefully this will allow you to keep posting videos while we figure out what's happening on our end.
As always, thanks for your patience.
Go forth and fill your libraries with media.
Seriously, thanks to everyone for being so amazing and patient. You are the reason I love Vox.
I was just told that the Amazon Conduit will be fixed by tomorrow. I will post here as soon as I get word that it's back up and running.
I know this has been frustrating and I am sorry there wasn't more I could do to make it less so. I really appreciate your patience though.
Cheers,
Bad news. As many of you have probably noticed, the Amazon Conduit was not fixed in the last week's release. Unfortunately, there was an undetected bug that is preventing the conduit from working.
We are working on this bug fix and hope to have the Conduit back up and running this week.
I will keep you posted.
Thank you for being so patient.
Blog Action Day is every October 15th, when blogger are asked to post something about a single issue to show our strength and conviction as an online community. It's a great way to feel connected to the greater good, and the participation of so many bloggers to support the world's leading non-profit organizations is something you can do to help, right now. By blogging today, you're supporting some of the world's leading non-profits and sharing your voice for change.
This year's topic is climate change, and we'd love to read your thoughts on the topic. If you participate, leave us a link to your post in the comments, so we know to check out your post!
Go to www.blogactionday.org to learn more, get a badge for your blog showing your participation, and see some ideas for your post on climate change.
Can't wait to read your posts!
~ daisy
The Amazon Conduit will be working again on October 15, 2009. Thank you to everyone for your patience.
Have a great weekend,
daisy, Team Vox
In my last Team Vox post, I let you know that we're aware that the Amazon conduit is broken and that we're working to fix it. Many of you want to know when it's going to be fixed and I'm so sorry I haven't gotten back to you about that sooner.
Unfortunately, I don't have an exact date to give you, but rest assured, the Amazon conduit will be fixed in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, I'm about to finish my latest book and I could use a few suggestions as to what to read next, so... if you don't mind, let me know in the comments what's on your nightstand and/or what book you think I absolutely must read next.
Thanks! :)
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