American Days

A friend found me on Yahoo chat today to ask me if we could go out for dinner together this week. I explained my lack of a vital component to the success of such an excursion: house help. She said, “Ah, so you are an American Mom this week.”

I have felt so very American these last few days. I am so glad I have a comprehensive husband who is pitching in and helping with the kids. He even did the grocery shopping and picked up something for dinner while he was out. Then when he got back he said, “Why don’t you go to the gym?” He knows that is something I enjoy doing (very nice after a full day of home schooling and caring for a teething toddler). When I got back he and my son were finishing up on the mountain of dishes.

Some missionaries who live up the street asked me to watch their three young children for them the other day while they finished up packing for a three month furlough. So that even our family’s social activities had an American flavor, with a hint of Spanglish to spice things up of course. Have you ever watched Snow White in Spanish? Early Sunday morning I helped them get to the airport. We said Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year before hugs and farewell. I miss them! We are car-sitting for them while they are gone. (Thank you so much guys!!!) So I even feel more American in “my” truck / SUV with my kids all strapped down in the back. We are in the process of raising funds for our own car, so this is just whetting my appetite even more. Driving is one of my most favorite things to do.



I will just end by saying first Go Red Sox, second my heart goes out to the Californians devestated by fires and finally please enjoy some seasonal Peeps for me (those crunchy marshmallow treats are the best).

I Love My Church

Last night (Thursday) we had our mid-week service. My husband, our pastor, started a very interesting series last week. I am loving it.

He is looking at the lives of certain people throughout history and the relationship that they had with God; people like Martin Luther, Mother Teresa, Soren Kierkegaard, Billy Graham and other personal heroes that have impacted, and continue to mark his life.

Last night we looked at Martin Luther, very good stuff. Here are some morsels…

From the life of Martin Luther we learn to love a seemingly frustrating God. But it is not God who is frustrating, rather our misconceptions about God and the things of God that cause us to become frustrated.

We become frustrated when we find that God is not who we have always thought he was.
We become frustrated when religious models turn out to be inaccurate.
We become frustrated when we try to make good works do something they were not meant to do.

Loving a frustrating God:

Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

Isaiah 55:8-9 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.”

Martin Luther said:
“The evil of good works comes when we consider good works as the payment for spiritual benefits and blessings. A sort of payment that gives us access to something that you really desire. It is in these instances that good works become a vice of the devil distracting us and giving us a false hope.”

DaRonn Washington said:
“A search for God through an inaccurate religious model will always lead you to frustration. God places that frustration within you to force you to examine your ways. It is in this way that frustration with your own religious expression can be your best friend.”

I especially enjoyed being challenged to let the frustrations I encounter push me towards seeking God and his kingdom thus stripping away the misconceptions and replacing them with a freeing truth.

My Man Loves Mii!

At the risk of sounding completely self-centered this post is all about me and Mii. (smile) We are now the proud owners of a Wii gaming system thanks to the man of the house my wonderful husband DaRonn. With the game you can create characters that look just like you to play with. It is quite fun. Here is my Mii standing next to DaRonn's Mii:


In other autobiographical news… I got my hair cut last night. It has been quite a while since I had it this short. I really like it! As I was searching for a before picture I realized that I had my long hair in a pony tail most of the time. So I am glad that I have a style now that is easy to manage and won’t be pulled back all the time. Best of all my man was the one who had the idea; we both like it. (Photos by my 9 year old, Raimy)

Before:


After:

100th Post

To commemorate my 100th post I am going to make a link list of some of my favorite posts up to this point.

My Hubby’s Home

I love my kids

Cochabamba, Bolivia at a Glance

Neighboring Market

Basement Beginnings 5 part series

What --> Who

American Weekends

Clouds, Cochabamba?, Customs and Computer Connections

Waiting for You

Las Gradas (The Stairs)

SE TU MISMO

You all right?

Dear Danny’s Dilemma

Extenuating circumstances contributed to a fatigued climb this bright clear morning. Last night’s rain had unforeseen effects beyond complicating the cold my climbing partner is trying to fight off. Who could have known that the doom of Danny’s messages would come with the downpour?

Only muddy puddles remained on the steps. The anonymous yet encouraging author had made a slight oversight by using a non-permanent marker to inscribe the passages of hope to our mysterious Danny. Left was unintelligible graffiti sure to disappear completely with the impending rains.

Waxing nostalgic we desperately searched for the messages; mostly because they would have served as a great aid in our journey today. This came to no avail.

Reaching the end of the ascent our ears perked up as we heard a voice call out, “Vamos Danny. Vamos.” [Let’s go Danny. Let’s go.] We looked around. A mother was encouraging her young boy of 5 or 6 to catch up. Could this be our infamous Danny? We glanced at each other with raised eyebrows and shook our head in doubt. Simultaneously we reassumed our hike in the same dubious fashion regarding the hope of finding the final message: Danny te quiero [Danny I love you].

Yes! It was there, faded yet readable! And what is to become of the messages?

I wonder about the message of the gospel. It has miraculously survived millennia. The Author was not foolish in the choosing of his writing instrument. He chose a crimson ink that would endure for eternity. And though the stone we tread upon today is strong, it still is corruptible and will wear away. The Author of the eternal love story wrote his message on the hearts of humans. He did this so that the generations to come will know the truth that will pull them through the hardest of climbs in the journey of life.

What has he carefully written on your heart that has encouraged you to continue? Are these impenetrable messages neatly locked away? Or are you letting them be seen by other journeyers along the path? Even through torrential storms you can be assured that the messages of hope written on your heart will never fade.

Markers and Outliers

Unknown to every tiny baby there exists in this world a system of markers and outliers that separate and categorize unique individuals in nice little boxes and slots. And though we are born as a one-of-a-kind creation we spend much of our later growing up years trying to become a one-size-fits-all conglomerate mock up of all we have been told is approved and acceptable. It is not our intention to place these requirements on others; we just do it. It is not our intention to try to fit in; we just do it.

These same segregation attitudes have infiltrated the church system as well. We mark people based on what they do or do not do, what they do or do not wear, how they speak, who they hang out with, and even the material goods they own or do not own.

Would you believe that this even happens in the missionary world? Again – it is unintentional – but it does happen. For reasons I am still trying to understand it was not until this year that I have allowed myself to become close friends with other missionaries. And as I am branching out getting to know other people (and really enjoying myself doing it) I have been surprised to find these markers present. Markers like your sending organization or lack thereof, kids or no kids or how many kids, language learning style, the education of your children, long term or short term, and we have not even begun to talk about the type of ministry you do.

Intentionality breaks through the stereotypes to a place where diversity is treasured and division is diminished.

The choice to not judge, to not compartmentalize individuals, to not form prejudices is mine. Just because a certain person with a specific characteristic behaved a certain way in the past does not mean that another person with a similar characteristic is going to behave in a similar fashion. It would be contradictory if I were to assume that all people make these generalizations. Given the chance people will always surprise you.

This post is not a complaint – rather it is simply an observation of the way things are and the way that I have chosen to respond. It is a nice fringe benefit if you were challenged by these observations.

What do you think?

An intriguing conversation with my 9 year old daughter:

Her: Mom, why do we call people in church brother and sister?
Me: Because God is our Father.
Her: So who’s the mother?
Me: Can I get back to you on that one?
Her: I have asked other people that and they don’t know either.

Birthday Boy

I think 8 year olds are some of the most wonderful creations God decided to place on his great green earth. Really, it is such a fun age. Well today my Timothy is now 8! Here is a picture of him at the restaurant of his choice Panchita, a chicken joint with a huge play area to crawl around in. His lunch is nuggets and fries on top of his pop; the straw sticks up through so you can sip while you munch. To see a video of his record obstacle course run click through to our family blog here.

Rich

You know, I think that sometimes it is good to step back and follow the advice of that old adage, “Count your blessings”. One thing that I am so grateful to the Lord for is the abundance of new people that I have met in my line of work as a missionary. The most fabulous part is to revel in our diversity. I feel rich.

This is a friend from Brazil named Karen.

Messages to Danny

Though I have walked those hundreds of stairs to the statue of Christ more times than I can count we saw something we have never seen before on our climb last week. Today I took my camera. These messages were found written on the steps spaced all the way going up. The author is anonymous.

Danny: Every effort has it's reward
Take it easy
Don't give up
Danny I love you

This final one was a part of another series numbering the steps, but I thought it was nice continuation to the encouraging messages.

Children’s Literature

I have always been fascinated by children’s fantasy literature. Just recently I finished reading Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. Also this year I read Peter Pan and I am currently reading aloud to my children Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tales. My collection of Oz books is extensive, yet not complete. And who can’t love stepping into Narnia for the afternoon?

I could go on. But I wanted to share a quote by G.K. Chesterton taken from his essay “The Dragon’s Grandmother” in his book Tremendous Trifles about the topic of children’s fantasy literature. I would like to read that book; alas I do not own it. I found this as only part of an article I read.

“Can you not see that fairy tales in their essence are quite solid and straightforward; but this everlasting fiction about modern life is in its nature essentially incredible? Folk-lore means that the soul is sane, but that the universe is wild and full of marvels. Realism means that the world is dull and full of routine, but that the soul is sick and screaming. The problem of the fairy tale is – what will a healthy man do with a fantastic world? The problem of the modern novel is – what will a madman do with a dull world? In the fairy tales the cosmos goes mad; but the hero does not go mad. In the modern novels the hero is mad before the book begins, and suffers from the harsh steadiness and cruel sanity of the cosmos.”

Names and Reminiscing

Ok - for some RIDICULOUSLY EMBARRASSING reason in the foolishness of my youth I failed to write down LAST NAMES! Grrrr. (It is one of my very few regrets in life.) Anyway, so here are the FIRST NAMES of the people with me in the raft that time around in the photos below .

Herbie
Cara
Bendu (guide)
Amy
Shae
Nate
Dave Dejoy (thanks Alece)

BTW: I made the infamous post-climb (see comments on Chains or Safety Restraints) twice since I was a 2-monther but it must have been really bad and my subconscious is blocking it from torturing me because I don't have the slightest memory of it. I do remember the treacherous decent to get to the rafts and the weird lunch we all devoured, though. I really hope that I get to go back to that wonderful part of the world sometime. I have not one bad memory from my time there (even when they confiscated our passports and held Michelle in a back room for a very long time when we were hopping the border during middle trip; it all worked out and was a great adventure!), absolutely all good memories.

Got Milk?

Chains or Safety Restraints

Here is a little glimpse at part of my message for this coming Sunday morning while DaRonn is in St. Joseph Missouri for a conference at one of the most wonderful churches in the world: Word of Life Church.

Romans 6:18 (NIV) You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.




(White water rafting on the Zambezi River 1996. I am the one giving the thumbs up. Amy is the one on the far left with the blue helmet. This is a picture of a picture, so the quality is a bit low.)

We were completely free to throw ourselves into the rapids. We would have died – eventually – if we had done so. The restraints (helmet, life vest, raft, paddles, and guide) were there so that we could freely enjoy the ride.

Trade in your concept of “chains” for the concept of “safety restraints”. So that when you hear God tell you to do something it is not received as if God was trying to chain you down. Rather view it as if God was trying to put safety restraints on you to help you enjoy the ride of life.

You all right?

Looming before her is the whitewashed staircase. She hesitates and tries to calm her elevated heart rate, “Breathe. You’ve done this before. It’s going to be ok.” But is it really? It’s been so long since she has stepped foot in such a place. Mixed emotions swirl as her foot slowly steps on the first stair.

On the other side of town another thirty-something, also motivated partially by guilt, stands before a different edifice staircase. She too has postponed this defining moment not knowing exactly if she would be accepted. Her heart races, as well, as she digs deep searching for courage. Her hand catches the rail to steady her slightly week knees.

The two women share a common fear: is it going to be all right? Though still in the prime of their lives past experiences berate their minds and cloud their choices. They know the correct thing to do; but the thought of following through seems too great to bear.

They may have shared fears, yet set before them are very different prospects. One woman is standing before a gym, the other before a church. Both are asking themselves if it is worth it. Both are scrutinizing themselves to be sure that the past hurts and failures do not reoccur.

They both choose to enter.

The first woman receives with her gym membership a complementary medical evaluation. At the end of the appointment the doctor smiles and tells her that she should continue with the exercise and a healthy diet. Then he says the words that bring relief to her worried mind, “You are in the normal range with all the examinations that we performed.” She makes him repeat himself to be sure she heard correctly. In other words it is going to be ok. In other words she is ok, normal, acceptable.

The second woman climbs the steps to the church building. Knowing full well that there are things to keep hidden while in such a sacred place she has purposely arrived after the commencement and tries to keep her head bent down; maybe the people will mistake the shameful posture for reverence and piety. She slips in the back row so as to provide a quick exit should escape prove necessary. Towards the end of the message a phrase catches her attention and she pulls her head up so as to be sure that she heard correctly. Is this man saying the truth? She in all her faults, shortcomings and blatant sin is loved? Yes, that is what he is saying. That God chose her; called her precious and loved her. In other words it is going to be ok. In other words she is ok, normal, acceptable.

The first woman’s fears were calmed after she learned that things she had done had placed her in an acceptable rank. The second woman’s fears were calmed when she knew that there was absolutely nothing that she could do personally to place her in the rank of acceptable, but that she had been carefully and purposefully placed in that position by another greater that she.