Appointment on a Train

You know on the personality profile tests when they ask you for your perception of rules? Well, I always answer that rules exists to keep us safe. (Other responses are along the lines of: rules need to be challenged, rules make if fair, and rules make it boring.) I tend to be a person who trusts others very easily; thus rules are easy for me to follow. In fact I depend so much on rules that I put little rules on myself. It just makes life easier for me to have these standards in place ahead of time so that when conflict or pressures arise I refer to the previously established rule to make the decision. Trust me; I know that there are downfalls to this characteristic. That is why it is great that I am married to a man who believes that rules need to be challenged and is always thinking outside the box and pushing the limits. We are a good balance.

So as a rule I don’t break my own rules for the simple purpose of security. Well, a couple of weeks ago I broke one of my rules and suffered the consequences; but it turned out ok.

Rule: When reading books DO NOT flip to the last page to see how it ends and by all means DO NOT read the study helps, commentaries, or prefaces by anyone who did not author the book. DO read all these things after you read the book.

So I was getting ready for my trip to Uyuni deciding what to pack. I had to decide what books to take. I was 5/6 done with “Anna Karenina”. It is a very big book, as Russian classics tend to be, and it would take up space. So should I take it and risk a very disappointing ending, possibly putting a sad taint on the trip? Or should I take a quick read that doesn’t take up space and will not emotionally influence my trip?

This is when I broke my rule. It all happened so fast seeing as we have high speed internet. I googled Anna Karenina and clicked through the first link. Sure enough there was an insightful synopsis and they revealed the dire fate of the heroine! My gut was wretched; mostly because I was disgusted with myself for breaking the rule.

But then I made some connections that convinced me that if the only thing I packed was that book I had to take it along.

One of my life long dreams has been to ride a train. Marisol (my friend who organized the trip) told me that one of the legs of the trip was a 7 hour train ride. I was thrilled! Like jumping up and down, clapping my hands, where do I sign? Happy!

Well, this review that was made so convenient to me online had mentioned the theme of trains throughout the book. Anna is first seen on a train, a tragedy takes place at the train station, her son plays with trains, and the climax which concludes the book involves a train. I had picked up on that already but didn’t understand that it was integral to the ending.

So I was going to be on a train for the first time in my life. The book was leading up to an exciting train scene. Yes, the book is coming with me! And I am going to read that very part while I am on the train. It was decided.

Riding on the train was a fabulous experience. After a yummy meal in the dining car and a tea afterwards we headed back to our seats. I had an empty seat next to me so I was super comfy and could stretch out. This was my moment! Everyone was resting, it was dark, and the train was rocking. I pulled my book out and started reading. Everybody around me seemed to disappear. The only things I was aware of were the click-clack of the tracks and the gentle sway of the car. I read furiously fast. Then it happened. I knew it was coming. That is why I was reading it. It was wonderfully surreal.

The only spiritual observation that I can pull from this whole experience is that I think that God just wanted to set that up for me ‘cause he knows stuff like that fascinates me. Who could have known a month before when I started reading the book that I would be able to finish it in such a meaningful place? Except him! Amazing!

(I have one more silly little train story from that trip. Remind me to tell you about it sometime.)

Peanut’s Plan

Last night my four little nuts and I were eating our dinner. I said, “Guys, after you go to bed tonight…”

Peanut-butter interrupts rolling her eyes with a little grin on her face, “I know, I know. You are going to go out.”

“I know where she is going! She is going to see papa bowling!” Peanut-man declared triumphantly.

“Nu-uh! You don’t know!” Peanut-butter stated trying to get the upper hand.

Peanut, ever the peacemaker, raised her voice above the din of the argument brewing across the table, “There is a way we can know! In the morning we can go into mama and papa’s room. If there is a trophy there that means that papa was bowling!”

Cheers of approval from both sides of the table revealed their enthusiasm as to the validity and rightness of this plan to verify mama and papa’s extracurricular activities. The unanimous observation was completely founded on logic (in their heart): If papa is indeed bowling then a trophy will be the sure proof of this activity.

In conclusion: Papa bowling = a trophy won.

All in their jammies this morning my little nuts gathered around the gleaming white trophy in the shape of a bowling pin. The comments were varied.

“You got another one?” Peanut-butter clarified.

“How many of those do you have now?” Peanut asked with proud grin on her face.

“Is this one bigger than the last one?” Peanut-man implored with eyes wide inspecting the first-place, city-wide championship prize.

Nutmeg just watched and listened, contented to be in the middle of the mix as his papa showed the trophy to his ever adoring and most faithful fans. Someday they might actually get to see him win one of those things; when the championship is not held past their bed-time.

‘Sup Cuz’

My mom’s sister’s son’s wife (yeah – the wife of my cousin) has a blog you might like to check out. If you stop by leave a comment to let her know you were there. Go. Read. Enjoy.

The link: www.awordygirl.blogspot.com

Lover Fighter

Some correlated phrases have popped out to me over these past two days.

My husband was musing about a new project that he wants to start. Amazed at his tenacity I looked over and playfully prodded him by saying, “Why ya’ always tryin’ ta’ start stuff?” He gave me an imploring look. I explained further, “Why are you always trying to pick a fight with the enemy? You are always on the offensive starting stuff and picking fights.” He just smiled knowingly and returned to his reverie.

Mondays I go to pray at the 24/7 prayer center that we have in our city. So this afternoon I chatted with the director who is also my friend before I headed in. Walking towards the door I said, “I’m going in.” Which is a phrase usually heard yelled forcefully over the noise of bullets and bombs in a war scene of an action movie as a soldier goes in to engage in battle.

Often the life of a Christian takes on the characteristics of a fight. At times this wears on me; at others I am fully prepared and ready to go at it. So I was thinking about these fight phrases and realized that I am a fighter. But going deeper than that I am a lover. I wouldn’t fight against the forces of evil if I were not motivated by love. I fight for those I love. I am a lover. I am a fighter.

Uyuni, Bolivia

You can click once on the show and then slide your mouse pointer over the pictures to read the captions.

Back Home

I got back home this morning. I was so happy to see my husband – today is our 11th wedding anniversary. Yeah! I was glad to see the kids too – they all look bigger to me. The trip was phenomenal! I will post some pictures later. Oh – a typo in the previous post (grin) Tyler is 14 months old, not 22. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. Today is supposed to be the biggest shopping day of the year in the States. Did anybody brave the jungle, I mean malls?

Mini-vacation!

Tomorrow morning I am going to be accompanying my friend Marisol and her father on a mini-vacation to the Salar de Uyuni. (Google it if you have never heard of it before.) We will be back early Friday morning. DaRonn is going to be staying with the kids. This will be the first time I have left Tyler (22 months old) with someone else. I am so excited!!! This little bitty town doesn’t have reliable internet – so I won’t be around blogland for a few days. So – Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers – and we’ll see you all soon!

Good Boy!

When we first began ministering to children back in High School for our church’s Sunday school our pastor trained us. I remember he told us more than once, “There are no bad children. We will never say to a child, ‘You are a bad child’. They may have poor behavior; but the child is not bad.”

That has stuck with me. It has helped greatly when extreme forgiveness is required on my behalf to remind myself that this person has done something that has hurt me, but I can forgive them because God has placed worth in this individual. As I was pondering this recently I thought of some statements that I wanted to share.

There are no bad people, just people who choose bad behavior.
There are no good people, just people who choose good behavior.

There are no wrong people, just people who make wrong judgments.
There are no right people, just people who make right judgments.

There are no ugly people, just people to whom society has given that label.
There are no pretty people, just people to whom society has given that label.

There are no disabled people, just people who have been given unique abilities.
There are no capable people, just people who have developed certain skills.

There are no superstars, just people who get a bit more attention than others.
There are no superheroes, just people who give a bit more attention to others.

After all the measurements have been taken of bad, good, wrong, right, talents, abilities and appearances, at the end of the day we are all just people. And the worth we possess and the worth we relegate to others is purely and solely based on the simple yet profound truth that God thinks each individual is valuable, eternal and worth the effort.

If you hear nothing else today, hear this: God loves YOU.

Video for the Orphanage

It seems that there are a few people having trouble with the video link in the previous post below. Maybe you can see it with the Blogger Player.

A Voice for the Dreamers

The day this photo was taken we were just hanging out with the kids who live at our orphanage. We named it “House of Dreams Orphanage” because we believe that the kids who receive care from us will be able to dream big dreams for their lives.

As I sat there one of the little girls came up and whispered something in my ear. I couldn’t quite make out her sweet lispy whisper but she turned my head towards hers with her hands and threw back her head laughing from the bottom of her gut. I couldn’t help but laughing with her. It became a game with the other kiddos around and we laughed hard for quite a while.

I thought about that later. How is it that this little girl is able to play and laugh? She has every right to be depressed and complain. Think about it… no parents, taken from everything familiar, has to adapt to a new way of life, and who knows what kind of memories plague that 4 year old mind. And yet she laughs. Could I say that I would do the same placed in circumstances of similar gravity?

DaRonn put together a two minute video that I would like you to watch. Click on this image to link through.

If after watching this video you would like to become financially involved with the “House of Dreams Orphanage” then you can follow the giving instructions listed here and write us an email to let us know you want to get involved at: houseofdreamsorphanage@juno.com

Christ Nation Ministries – DaRonn and Angie Washington
PO BOX 8644 – St. Joseph, MO 64508
Checks must be made out to WOLC with Washington – Bolivia on the envelope and not on the check.
http://www.christnationministries.org/

Thanks for thinking of these little ones in your prayers.

Double Dare

Is there anybody else out there that loved the kids t.v. game show “Double Dare”? We loved it at our house. The play is simple: the host asked one team of kids a question, if they couldn’t answer it then they would dare the other team, then the other team had the option of answering to earn points towards cash or double daring the first team, the double dared team then had to successfully complete a physical challenge to earn the points. We ALWAYS wanted them to do the physical challenge! They were fun, messy, and loud and always involved big props like slides, huge balls, gallons of slime and vats of goo.

Wednesday night I felt a Double Dare coming on during my monthly women’s group “Entre Nosotras” at church. So I acted on my urge today and set up a Spanish blog. It is going to have devo style that challenges readers to think, in 200 words or less. The physical challenge will be my ability to write in Spanish. I say, “Bring it on!” I am really looking forward to this.

So if you know of anyone who speaks Spanish then please get the word out of this new blog: existencia compartida (shared existence). Thanks ahead of time! Here is the link: http://existenciacompartida.blogspot.com/

Bowling Champ

Acting upon good advice my husband has recently acquired some pass-times. One of those is bowling. He has formed a bowling team with members of the church and Tuesday nights they all don their team t-shirts and have a blast at the one and only bowling ally in this city.

Each month they break into groups of 3 and have a championship. DaRonn’s was on the winning team this month. They had so much fun! Here are some pictures. You will also notice that DaRonn’s name is on the board for the men’s division of high scores. This is for all the players of the city, mind you!

Click here to see a slide show of the event.

A Mountainous Week

As my American week draws to a close there are some mountains that have been conquered by my able bodied crew (AKA: the Washington family) that you might like to know about.

A mountain of dishes have been washed
A mountain of clothes have been cleaned
A mountain of school work accomplished
A mountain of fun had with papa in the evenings
A mountain of fun had driving
A mountain of fun had with a new friend, Denise
A mountain of steps were climbed on the side of an actual mountain
A mountain of fruits and veggies were bought at the market
A mountain of help was given to us by friends
A mountain of love and bonding was forged within our family by working together

Ten mountains climbed. It always amazes me how changed I feel after times like these outside of our regular routine. It is so revealing to get a different perspective when you do the same thing in a different way.

Video Link

During his last trip to the States my husband DaRonn (I love you baby!) was asked to do an interview at our home sending church Word of Life Church in Saint Joseph, Missouri. Our connection to this church is profound and powerful. We share an anniversary. The first day of Word of Life was November first, 26 years ago. Per the previous post you know that the same date marked our 6th year on the field. The founding and head pastors, Brian and Peri Zahnd are dear, dear people. They have a passion for Jesus and are making a huge impact not only in the town of St. Joe, but around the world.

Click here to see the video they did with DaRonn.

You can browse around on the Word of Life site, it’s pretty cool.

Six of One Half a Dozen of the Other

This saying implies the futility of an argument due to the semantics of the issue. It also is the resolution one makes when trying to decide between two options that have similar outcomes. But today it serves as nothing more than a cute title for my blog. (smile!)

Today the Washington family celebrates 6 years as full-time, career, cross-cultural, take-up-your-cross, leave-it-all-on-the-field, go-all-out, in-it-to-win-it, no-turning-back, living-by-faith, living-it-up, radical, real-life missionaries.

Looking back over the last six years I can see all that God accomplished with our lives. But I can’t look that direction for very long, because it puts a crick in my neck. Also because I know that there is so much more before us. This is just the beginning!

Thank you to everyone who has helped us reach this mark by praying, giving, visiting, encouraging, emailing, calling, instant messaging, laughing, crying, baby sitting, teaching, preaching, prodding and loving my family and me. It would have been absolutely impossible without you.