The Traveling Hats

Being a life long hat lover this story is close to home in more ways than one. Once upon a time an Oma received an email from her dear Granddaughter. Within the message peppered with smileys was a simple request for a yellow hat. Thus the fingers of the sweet Oma began to swish and slide back and forth creating a new knit hat from fluffy happy yellow yarn. The younger cousin gleefully modeled the finished product for some snap shots to send to the far away Granddaughter anxiously anticipating her gift. Packaged with care the hats (for Oma had been inspired to make two; maybe thinking of Granddaughter’s yellow-adoring little sister) began their intercontinental journey from the hands of the loving Oma to the hands of my girl. A miraculously short trip of two weeks brought the battered envelope to our box. Is it possible that the special nature of the gift gave it an unusual speed? I’d like to think so. My girl’s curls have been dotingly wrapped up in her cheerful yellow traveling hats since the moment they were clutched with ecstatic happiness.

Newness

An often contemplated subject that rolls around in my brain is newness. We are told that God makes all things new; that we are a new creation, that God's mercies are new every morning. An integral part of life is newness. New things are a thrill to me: the smell of new books, new clothes, new carpet and new cars, the feel of a new baby's skin, a new bloom or a cake fresh out of the oven. Why does the human enjoy new things? I think part of the reason is that we were made in the likeness of a God who enjoys new things.

I did something new the other day. In hopes to establish a closer family connection I employed a modern tool and set up a group blog with the contributors being my parents, my siblings, our spouses and our kids (eventually).

What new thing have you done lately? Today is a new day. Start fresh. Start new. (Philippians 3:13-14)

Washington family two day get away, February 2007. Check out the slide show!

Every year in Bolivia at about this time there is a two holiday called "Carnaval". These two days of extreme partying precede the 40 days of lent. The idea is to do everything that you will not be able to do during the fasting that accompanies lent. So in the streets there are: loud music, dancing, drinking, parades, costumes, water fights and lots of fire works.

The old saying goes, "When life gives you lemons make lemonade." We don't like being in the city during this time so we plan a get away for the family. This year we went to a place called "Casa Campestre" on the outskirts of town. It was nice. There were about two hours of sunshine both days combined. But there were other things to do on the grounds, besides playing in the pool, such as foozball, wooded walking trails, a playground, and cable tv (something we don't have here in the house). It was very good to spend a couple of days just hanging out as a family.

Quotes

This blog is dedicated to all my dear comrades that may have recently messed up big time. Chin up and press on! May these quotes be a breath of fresh air.

“Your failures won't hurt you until you start blaming them on others.”
(Source Unknown)

“Never let the sense of failure corrupt your new action.”
Oswald Chambers

“My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.”
Abraham Lincoln 1809-1865, Sixteenth President of the USA

From time to time, life as a leader can look hopeless. To help you, consider a man who lived through this: Failed in business at age 31. Defeated for the legislature at 32. Again failed in business at 34. Sweetheart died at 35. Had a nervous breakdown at 36. Defeated in election at 38. Defeated for Congress at 43. Defeated for Congress at 46. Defeated for Congress at 48. Defeated for Senate at 55. Defeated for Vice President at 56. Defeated for Senate at 58. Elected President at age 60. This man was Abraham Lincoln

Proverbs 24:16 for though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity.

Table Talk

While slurping my Cream of Wheat I asked my kids if they knew what the word history meant. My eight-year-old confirms, “Like the presidents, and the history of the wheel.” My seven-year-old raises his spoon in the air with that light-bulb look on his face and proclaims, “I know the history of Papa’s dad!” I ask him to expound. “He’s dead!” my boy remarked; reveling in his brilliance.

I find this humorous! I tried to suppress a snicker when he said it. The Bolivian sense of humor is rubbing off on me a bit. Death is a main theme in Bolivian humor. During my first weeks here I asked my language teacher for a clean, typical joke. Here it is:

Everyday an elephant sat under a shade tree. Everyday he smashed many ants as he sat. The ants would scream but the elephant did not hear. One day the ants met to decide what to do about the elephant. They decided to attack the elephant by jumping on it all at once. They all jumped on him. The elephant began to shake and the ants went flying in all directions. Only one ant was left on the elephant’s neck. She yelled, “What do I do now?” Her friends yelled, “Strangle him!”

Once, an American told a story and I translated. He began, “In a village that didn’t have the word of God a boy was dying on his bed who had heard of the Bible. The boy’s dying request was that he might see a Bible. He died that night. The next morning there was a knock on the door. They answered and found a missionary with a bible in his hands.” As the story finished the teller had tears in his eyes. Sadness quickly turned to shock upon hearing the crowd burst out in laughter. Looking to me for help I told him to just move on.

Humor is a funny thing.

To the Golden Shore

I just finished reading a sobering page turner. “To the Golden Shore” a biography by Courtney Anderson about Adoniram Judson, leader of a group of the first missionaries sent out from the United States. They went to Burma (now Myanmar) and sowed their lives towards the salvation of its people.

I am still in that state of awe after reading a great biography in which my head spins. Grappling with the challenges presented by the life of such a dedicated man I know that the eternal purpose is the only one that counts.

On the one trip that he made back to the United States, before returning to finish his life in the work overseas, after over 30 years abroad he began sharing in churches. The people had read in missionary bulletins about the struggles and losses he faced so all the meetings were packed as they waited to hear more from the very mouth of the one who experienced it all. Yet this seasoned missionary only shared the gospel message. The people were polite enough, yet began to complain that they wanted to hear the stories. When tactfully approached about this he replied, “Well, I am sure I gave them a story – the most thrilling one that can be conceived of.” After he was told, “They wanted something new of a man who had just come from the antipodes,” he said, “Then I am glad they have it to say, that a man coming from the antipodes had nothing better to tell than the wondrous story of Jesus’ dying love.” (page 462)

Moving Parts

My baby boy marvels me. The other day as he sat in his stroller watching his Papa eat a hot hog he began to flap his arms up and down. Seeing that this amused his parents he continued with a huge smile on his face. Also, when he gets his pants changed his new trick is to pull on his toes and rock from side to side. Lately he has been waking himself up and flipping over in bed from tummy to back. He is not an overly rambunctious child, but when he is awake he is making some part of his body move. If I was in movement as much as he is those extra baby pounds would have melted away long ago.

So I was thinking about my baby’s pursuit of discovery and a thought popped into my head. I thought about the body of Christ, which is comprised of the members of His church as stated in Ephesians. Our natural human body wants to move. The church body should also naturally want to be in movement. Just like my new baby wants to move and learn, a new Christian should also want to become an active member of the body of Christ by trying and learning new things.

Recently a relatively new Christian, an elderly man, in our church body sought my advice. Some well meaning members of his family had told him that he was taking this whole “Christian thing” too fast. They told him to slow down and not be so extreme. He asked me if that was correct. I quickly assured him that volunteering as an usher, attending bible school and being at church whenever the doors were open was not causing damage to his spiritual well being. Quite the contrary, all the activity was aiding and solidifying his growth.

Church is much, much, much more than just an entertaining show or a social club. Being part of a church means being part of a body. Bodies naturally want to move and grow. What are you doing as a response to this natural process? Don’t wait until you have it all figured out; you can learn along the way from members that have been exercised a bit more. Don’t wait until someone asks you to help; jump in there and become active. It is natural that you be a vital moving part of the body of Christ.

“Un poco de todo”

Here in Bolivia when you say, “Un poco de todo” it means: a little bit of everything, usually in reference to a friendly chat with someone. This blog entry has a little bit of everything. I have often thought of doing a whole entry in Spanish to see what kind of response I would get; maybe sometime, not today.

(First topic)
Home school

Home schooling your children is a very foreign concept here. It is met with varied responses, as is surely the case in any country. I have to be wise when answering inquiries about the nature of the way we are educating our children. I am so grateful for the Holy Spirit; that He guides me in both pleasant and uncomfortable encounters. The funniest argument that I have heard here in Bolivia (pro-public education) is that the principal reason I should put my kids in a normal school is so that they can learn the traditional dances of the country. That was the best he could do! I chuckled. Some people are indifferent, others rude, others confused, others critical, others try to act like they understand, others think it is a great thing. As for me, the reason I do it is because I have peace that it is what I am supposed to be doing right now.

(New topic)
Relevant Jesus

We were out to dinner with a few couples from church. Out of the blue the discussion abruptly went to the new people who were coming to church. The church building is located next to a market. Usually lower class people work in the market. So the parents who work Sunday morning send their kids to Sunday school at our church. It was fine, actually fabulous, to us. But there were some people concerned about the influence that “those” kids were having on their own. The parents we were dining with were concerned about hygiene, language and social standards. First I expressed to them that it is the parent’s responsibility to train their child for brushes with influences from the world. Those coming not only from the people at church but also at school, on the TV and in the movies they watch and finally with family and friends. Then I tried a different approach. I explained some of the habits that Jesus had in His everyday life. He spent considerable amounts of time with what some might describe as the dregs of society. Yet did not close him self off with “those” kind of people, rather also spent time with dignitaries. Actually, He had a very well rounded social life, if you might call it that. The husband then looked for a rebuttal. Here is what he came up with, “But times are different now than the time when Jesus was here on earth.” Ah, now I see where we are at! The relevancy issue. To this man Jesus is a historical figure, a story book character, if you will. He does not believe that Jesus has a lick of relevancy in our culture and age. The rest of the group got bored and the subject changed. All the couples who were there at the dinner are still coming to church. I appreciate it when people are honest about where they are at and feel close enough to us to be candid. It helps us to know where some of the others may be at. I think that people haven’t changed as much as this man thinks. I believe, actually I know, that Jesus has relevancy to every person in every time. I just think that there has been a false presentation of the true person of Jesus thus some people have felt inclined to relegate Him to just another good guy in the history books. May there be an awakening and a shaking to drive us far from that!

(Another new topic)
Shopping
In our house I do the market shopping and my husband does the supermarket shopping. It works well for us. My man is a super shopper. I am more of the go-get-it-and-leave-as--fast-as-you-can kind of gal. But yesterday my husband traveled to Chile; he will be back tomorrow. So some things were running out at the house and I had to get out there and brave those long aisles and push that big clunky cart around and get what I could. After about a half an hour of looking at price tags and labels my mind starts to get all muddled, I get very bored and a bit overwhelmed. I usually stop at about the frozen foods section considering the option of abandoning the cart and making a break for the door never to come back again. As I am frozen in the frozen foods section, deep from within me comes this voice, “You can do it! Just go to the check out.” So I put one foot in front of the other and make a fuzzy push to the cashier. Finally I am through with the ordeal. Yeah Angie! So later on tonight I get on the webcam with my husband who is in Santiago. I proudly tell him that I went shopping, and that I spent almost $50. He laughs! (I knew he would, it is the joke here at the Washington house when I do the shopping.) He said, “Good that will last us for about 2 days!” Ha! At any rate the kids will have milk for their Zucaritas tomorrow morning and the cupboards won’t be bare when we welcome home our man.