High Apple Pie in the Sky Hopes

My dear friends here in the blogosphere, you have made me feel loved! I truly hope that you are not gravely disappointed on Thursday. The scale of the surprise may be a few notches below your original expectations. But to know that you hope for such grandiose things for me and my family has touched my heart and made me smile more than once these last few days.

So far the guesses have equivocally been:
- pregnancy (that is why I cleared it up from the get go)
- adopting a child
- stateside adoptions approved for our orphanage here in Bolivia
- moving to a new house
- anniversary celebration trip without the kids
- getting a vehicle
- leaving Bolivia to go to a new mission station
- going home for a holiday
- bringing the whole family up to the States for a two week visit
- getting a pay raise

Wow, your high hopes for my life have bolstered my confidence and given me a revived sense of purpose. Thanks for dreaming big for me folks!

While we are on the subject, if you feel comfortable sharing, what is the biggest dream that you have for your life?

Mixing Birds

Mixing began. Pockets of people pulled together with the common interest of a new baby on the way. Pleasantries were exchanged as friendly facts were given and requested. Though unannounced there came a moment when all knew that everyone had arrived. At this precise moment the segregation began. The hosts floated between these groups defined by previous acquaintances. Eventually the spaces widened and it was clear that new relationships were not the top priority for many of those as the party. The church group huddled together over by one table. The missionaries had their spot. The non-missionaries-foreigners group chatted by the couch. The children were even split with the younger ones in the yard by the fountain and the older ones loitering on the basketball court. It is difficult for a group of twenty-some people to all enjoy the same conversation, thus the breaking off.

What are your thoughts about the phenomenon of ‘birds of a feather flock together’?

How do you respond when placed in a social situation with people you don’t know?

One Week

So I have been working you up for this announcement. (No I am not pregnant.) I am not quite ready to announce it yet. This post is just to whet your appetite. One week from now the announcement will be made. It is a happy thing, for a happy time.

WW on the WWW

On hump-day every week a friend of mine hosts a game on her blog called Whatever Wednesday. It's simple and fun. You read the question in the previous comment, then answer the question and leave a new one. And the game goes on like that till she closes comments. Anyone can play as much as they want. Usually there are upwards of 100 questions asked and answered each week.

So last week I got the final question which became the starting question for this week. I thought it would be interesting to know what my readers would respond to the question I left.

Oh, and if you wan to go play WW then head on over and visit Mandy after you leave your answer to my question here, of course. :-)

Here is my question:

When confronted by unavoidable and imposed change how do you respond?

May Day

Today in Bolivia we are observing Labor Day. This term seems to be an oxymoron seeing as it is observed by everyone taking the day off from work (except for the market workers, they are so industrious). Yet we are glad to give our team a day off. They work very hard and we are appreciative of them. Of course, my husband, the team leader, is glad to have the office all to him self to work. I must commend him, though, for sleeping in until 7:30 today. This is something he hasn’t done in a long while. I was actually up before him which is a rare occurrence indeed.

My day will include work as well. Aside from the usual laundry, dishes, cooking, cleaning, baby care, and food sanitization of groceries bought right before closing time at the store last night I have some fun things going on. An extra home school class taught by one of our friends: Spanish. As well as art this afternoon with our missionary / neighbor / church member / fellow home school family. After art the kids have a birthday party to go to at the bowling alley. Then we have church tonight. I enjoyed teaching while DaRonn (my husband the pastor) was gone, but I am so glad that he is back to share this evening.

The art project for today is shrinky-dinks. I tossed around the idea of making May baskets. I have some great childhood memories of May Day sneaking up to the neighbors’ houses, ringing the door bell and then running away to hide behind a bush to watch them discover their surprise treat. But, since that is not a tradition here and I have been saving styrofoam trays for weeks the anticipation has got the better of me. Here are the instructions for the project on line if you are interested: http://kidscrafts.suite101.com/article.cfm/make_your_own_shrinky_dinks

What childhood memories does this season invoke for you?

Killing Taste Buds

A theory that I have been testing was proven last night by my eight-year-old son when he said, “Mom, it’s just that the food is too tasty,” as an explanation as to why he was unable to eat his dinner.

Here is my theory: one of the purposes of parenthood is to successfully kill as many taste buds as possible.

This task should be completed before the child reaches the age that he or she can completely embarrass the parents in the presence of guests or hosts with a rude squishing up of the nose, the disgusted shudder, the eyes widened by terror and the phrase of doom, “Ew! What is that? I don’t like it!” Followed by a reddened face, a nervous giggle and the strained smile on the part of the parent as he or she says to the child with a flash of a death threat and then back to the clenched, forced grin, “How do you know you don’t like it if you haven’t even tried it?” The sing-songy fakey tone that the parent has employed confuses the child at first and then they quickly realize that no command has been given and the game has begun. This is nothing more than a fun test of wits like in checkers or battleship. A retort is given; unchecked. Child 2, parent 0. The counterattack is a sharp squeeze to the thigh of the child from the parent under the table as a plea for silence. Usually the issue is dropped at this point and another person at the table excuses the child and changes the subject. The parent tries to regain composure and wonders where they went wrong.

All disciplinary discussions aside the problem lies in the fact that these parents did not kill enough of their child’s taste buds when they had the chance. It is a scientific fact that a newborn baby has taste buds covering the whole inside of their mouth: the tongue, the roof, and the sides; everywhere. As the child grows little by little the buds slough off. It is also a fact that our taste buds can die and lose the ability to sense a taste. Once that bud dies there is no regeneration. That is why when you burn your mouth on a cup of hot drink it takes the whole day, if not two days to get complete feeling back to your tongue. They are sensitive little buds. (These facts also lead me to believe the reason Starbucks is so successful is that they are strategically killing their client’s taste buds so there is no diminishing return factor to deal with, but that is another post.)

So as parents we must bombard our children’s tongues with as many different flavors and varieties of foods as we possibly can. Don’t be so fanatical in this venture that you damage the child’s mouth. But do put forth the energy to make your children eat their food. Do not settle for a graham cracker and cheerio diet. No! You have some taste buds to kill!

Email Server Advice

For years I have been using Juno email. It is time for a change. Little by little I have been making the change to use my Yahoo account. But before I make the big ‘announcement’ of a change of address I wanted to do some shopping.

Here are my three questions for you to answer

1. What Email server do you use?

2. Pros and cons to your server?

3. What server would you recommend for my needs (listed below)?

What I am looking for:

a. Free or very economical price

b. Compatible with Mozilla Firefox browser (Juno is not)

c. Composition options: message from sender in reply, attachment capabilities, etc.

d. Storage for sent and received messages

e. Address book with filing and grouping capabilities

I haven’t started using Outlook. My husband does and he likes it. My average email load is about 20 a day received and about 10 written. So it is pretty easy to manage. In the future this will increase and I may need to use Outlook, so I would like the email server to be compatible with that too (maybe they all are and I just don’t know because I haven’t researched it).

I think it is so cool when people have their name or the name of their organization in their email address. (fake ex: angie@christnationministries.org) Is that something that you can do with any server? Or are there certain servers that provide that option? How do they do that? Any advice you have in that area would be great too.

Thanks for your input!

The AM

Yesterday this:
Hope deferred maketh the heart sick… (Proverbs 13:12)

Today this:
… but joy cometh in the morning. (Psalm 30:5)

This:
My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. (Psalm 5:3)

And this:
Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee. (Psalm 143:8)

The long and short of it is that the prospective house help came to the house on Monday, I showed her around, explained the job, we talked about hours and pay and together we decided that she would start Tuesday at two. Two o’clock rolled around, 2:15, 2:35, 3:00 and still a no show. I call the number she gave me and talk with her sister, who is clueless. Then the work I had been saving (so I could train her how to do it) I had to do. It wasn’t the work that upset me. What upset me is that this is not the first time this has happened and it causes me to over analyze everything.

So what am I going to do if she decided to show up today? Good question. I will know when and if the moment presents itself.

Things look brighter now. Thanks to all who sympathized with me, I really appreciate it.

While we are on the topic of the morning… some of my morning sounds:
Cars in the busy street we live on
Airplanes over head
Husband moving about
My kids playing
Venders opening the market
Children rushing to the school in front of our property
Our pets asking for breakfast
Birds
Staff watching DVD bible school courses
Kids in the orphanage praying as I hang my clothes on the line

What is the best part about your morning?

A Yes No Convo

This is a short, little, out-of-the-blue conversation I had this morning with my 6 year old daughter.

Gabrielle: Mama, are tornados real?
Me: Yes
Gabrielle: Will Aunt Kristy be sucked up? (Worried look on face)
Me: No
Gabrielle: Oh good! (Relieved look on face)

As she went blissfully skipping away I chuckled to myself and wondered where that little worry came from. It amused me even more that she was relieved simply by what I told her. She believed it, was relieved by it, and physically manifests her complete trust with a sweet smile as she went about with her life.

What do I worry about? Surely my worries are much more serious and important than those of my child. But are they really? She was gravely distressed by the thought of her aunt being sucked up in a tornado. Are her feelings very much different from mine when I am concerned about all the “what-ifs”?

But my daughter made a good choice. She went to a reliable source to verify the validity of her preoccupation. And when she indeed found out that she was mistaken in her perception of reality she simply changed.

When I am worried who do I talk to? Nobody. Do I bottle it up and let it fester? Yes. Do I file it away in my mind thereby assigning it importance? Usually, yes.

Now, though, this encounter with my daughter showed me that it would be better if I took my worries to a verifiable source: God. That I would choose to believe what he said. And that I would simply change, trusting what he said to be the absolute truth.

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. (I Peter 5:7)

I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. (Mark 10:15)

What do you do when you are worried?

Tantalized

Scent of health… cucumbers

Touch of familiarity… a sharp yellow No. 2 pencil in my hand

Sight of hope… a sincere embrace of reconciliation

Taste of comfort… cold chocolate milk

Sound of relief… husband’s key turning the lock to come in

Scent of comfort… lit candles

Touch of relief… binding of a longed-for book in my hand

Sight of health… a new born baby’s lips

Taste of familiarity… Schlotzsky’s Original sandwich

Sound of hope… my children laughing

Scent of hope… the wetness of a clear morning after a night of rain

Touch of comfort… husband’s hand on the small of my back

Sight of familiarity… the faces of my friends

Taste of relief… cool water

Sound of health… rhythmic thud of tennis shoes on the ground

What is tantalizing your senses?

Cock-a-Doodle-Squeak

We don’t have roosters, we have guinea pigs. My oldest tells me that they wake her in the morning so that she feeds them. She might just end up being the wife of a blond American pig farmer who has a weekend job as a pastor like she keeps telling me.

My childhood wanna-be-when-you-grow-up dream was tri-fold: a famous farmer’s wife who travels the world. Hm. Travel the world: check. Famous: enough to my satisfaction. Farmer’s wife: yep, if you count sowing the word of God in the hearts of people, plowing up hard ground to plant new works, and the harvest of souls that is so ripe in this land.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

If I Gave You…

A thought hit me this morning that prompted me to ask my children the following question individually:

If I gave you $10,000.00 what would you do with it?

My nine year old, my oldest daughter said (in Spanglish I might add), “I would tithe, give an offering and then buy stuff I wanted.” My eight year old, my oldest son said confidently, “I would give it to the poor.” And then he told me of the story of the rich young man that he learned about in Sunday school who was told to give all his money to the poor but didn’t. My six year old daughter said, “I would give it in the offering because I don’t care about money. God says to not care about money so I don’t care about money.”

In the book “Rich Dad Poor Dad” the author describes the differences between the way a rich person and poor person think and act in reference to money. He says that if a poor person was given this amount of money he or she would use it to pay off debt and then spend the rest. The rich person would invest the money so as to make more money.

In the same chapter (Matthew 6) that Jesus teaches his followers how to pray we find thorough instructions about striving, worry, material gain and treasure. He says, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (6:21) Does this indicate that the heart follows what it treasures most? Logic, reason and a close look at people’s behavior throughout time would affirm this truth. The gospels are not shy about revealing how people dealt with money. It is amazing to me how many of the parables Jesus gave us talk about money.

To recap: we have just briefly looked at what my kids have to say about ten thousand dollars, what a financial guru has to say about ten thousand dollars and a bit what Jesus has to say about significant sums of money.

If someone gave ten thousand undesignated dollars to me… after the tithe I am pretty sure I know what I would do.

If someone gave you $10,000.00, no strings attached; what would you do?

The Learning Curve

Why are my emotions so connected to the process of learning?


Ignorance
As they say “Ignorance is bliss”
In the dark with a blind fold on
You don’t know that you don’t know something
Emotions: content

Dissatisfaction
Frustration, embarrassment, discontent
In the dark with the blind fold off
You know that you don’t know something; but you know that you could know it
Emotions: unhappy

Learning
The ups and downs of trial and error are at the same time difficult but hopeful
Groping around for the light switch
You know that you are going to know something
Emotions: mixed

Knowledge
Satisfaction, sense of accomplishment
Found the light switch and turned the light on
You know something
Emotions: content

Making charts and lists is soothing to me. I am processing some things right now so some of this may be what some may call “half-baked”. What I mean to say is that I might have struck on some bit of genius here as to the explanations of my state at this time – or I might pitch it all in the garbage.

At times I wish I could just be in a constant state of such extreme self-control that I am content at all times. But then I think it through and it might just be that the times of frustration make the times of joy that much brighter.

Can I determine how long I stay at each particular level? To some extent, yes, but there are many other factors that attribute to what takes place on a certain level. And this process is taking place on different levels in many different areas of my life. So my best option right now is to first identify where I am (as best I can) and then go with the flow.


I am throwing this out there in cyber-land because maybe one of you has some insight you would like to share.

Feathery Fun Friday

This fun short from Pixar shows how vital perspective is in interpersonal relationships. Which bird have you felt like before and why? hmmm... :-)

EDIT: the video was not working for a bit, hopefully it will now...

Validation

Does the failure of another person punctuate my success?

Validation is something that we strive for on a daily basis. We ask ourselves, “Does what I am doing count?” It has at the start the word valid. Validity leads the hearer to assume that a thing has identifiable worth usually supported by concrete proof.

So when a person desires to find some kind of validation they do their very best to earn the respect and recognition and, dare I say it, the love of the people around them. But this kind of validation is received only when a comparison is made with other people. And, sadly, as humans when competition is present we sometimes resort to the cruel practice of pushing others down so that we seem to appear taller; when in fact we are groveling along with the rest in a mucky mire of self-righteousness. And evidence that we are truly lost in the vicious cycle of validation is when we answer an emphatic, “Yes!” to the postulation above.

But here is the core problem with the search for validation… we already have it! Our identifiable worth lies in the unique fingerprints that God the creator left on our precious hands. Our identifiable worth lies in the unmatched speech patterns floating on every simple word we utter. Our identifiable proof is that we are not ‘things’ we are human ‘beings’. We ‘be’. And that is all the validation that Christ needed to provide the concrete proof that supports these findings. He added his DNA to the scene when he shed his blood for us on the cross.

We don’t need to compete and compare ourselves amongst ourselves. The only validation that we need today is the assurance that for God so loved the world. Because he first loved us is the only validation we need to stand tall and be the brother or sister to come alongside another and not be too insecure to say, “Come on. You’re going to make it. Let’s walk together.”

Affirm the validation of the love of Christ for all humankind. Remind someone today that their life counts.

As a P.S. for further discussion I might add if it is true that we are to rejoice with them that rejoice and weep with them that weep it could be assumed that we are to fail with those who fail. The felt failure of another person does not punctuate my success, rather it bids me to come and empathize, pray with, encourage and forgive. For, are we not a body? Does not the pain of another member of the family affect me? Is it not by this treatment of the fallen that all men will know?

The True Tango

My youngest son loves to dance. It puts a smile on your face to see him move to the rhythm of the music seeing as he is only 15 months old. Last night he found my CD of tango music so we listened to it. He was dancing all over the room while my fingers danced on the keyboard typing an entry for Existencia Compartida. It is my Spanish blog. It was quite inspirational typing in Spanish to Latin music. The post seemed like something that my English readers might enjoy as well.

As we listened it reminded me of our tenth wedding anniversary last year. We made an unforgettable trip to the infamous birthplace of the tango: Buenos Aires, Argentina. Tiny Tyler was with us due to the fact that he was still nursing. Perhaps he loves to dance because of this early exposure to music in that foreign country. Who knows? Could be.

On the streets of Buenos Aires there are tango demonstrations. The street shows require a team of three. There is the beautiful woman with her face all done up. Then there is the man who exists simply to accentuate the beautiful movements of the woman. There is also a sound man who walks around in the crowd hat in hand to collect the coins of the onlookers who have formed a sort of stage by encircling the dancers. These dance troupes must do well because they are on every corner of the wide pedestrian walkways.

Whenever we stopped to watch a couple dance, without fail one or two citizens would whisper in our ears with a sour face and a venomous tone something like, “This is not true tango!”

How could they tell this was not the tango? I was fascinated seeing them move to the rhythm of the music. One thing is certain, I cannot move like they do. But tonight as I watched my son I realized how they could feel so strongly. It is because they have experienced the true tango. They have seen it; maybe even danced it. They can make an authoritative comparison.

It made me think about the people who watch us Christians. What are they experiencing? Are they seeing some people go through the motions to collect a few coins and some weak applause? (Which are nothing more than superficial samples of love.) Or are they seeing authentic and true Christians? Can it be that Somebody is whispering in their ears, “They are not true Christians”?

The word of God gives us ways to prove the authenticity of a Christian. One of these is found in John 13:35 “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” I believe that if we would truly demonstrate the love of God to others then people would be able to distinguish authentic Christians. They are going to be fascinated when they see us moving together to the rhythms of the grace of God. And they are going to admire what a life can be with God.

Now, there are people doing all the right things with the wrong motives. It says in Colossians 3:23-24 “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Some think, “I am going to do the minimum that God requires of me just so that I can secure my place in Heaven, but do not ask anything more of me.” With a mentality like that you are simply putting on a superficial street show to earn a couple coins. But, in the same way that I believe the street dancers (if they wanted to) could dance the “true tango” so that the citizens of their city would respect them I believe that you and I can allow the love of God to flow through us in such a way that as we love others we are demonstrating true Christianity and we become an authentic expression of love to this generation.

Shall we dance?

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.

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/

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.

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.”