The Mighty Have Fallen!

A huge tree falling on a tin roof at five-thirty a.m. makes a racket like nothing I have ever heard before. My first coherent thought was "earthquake", only we weren't quaking. Then I thought a truck must have crashed on the highway, only the noise was much too close by to be that. When Tim looked out the window and announced that a tree had fallen on the apartment, I expected we would be digging Huibertjan -my sister's Dutch boyfriend who was visiting- out of the wreckage. Imagine my relief to see him strolling calmly out of his room, merely blinking at the ruins. (Cheers to the stoic Dutch!)
The porch was completely ripped off, and several holes punched in the kitchen roof, but the block structure remained intact.
The old tree was so rotten at the roots that it merely broke off at ground level. This happened after several heavy rains, although the morning it fell there was no wind at all.
Break time after several hours of sawing. The old frame of an abandoned water tower caught the heaviest blow and directed the tree away from the building, thank God for that!
Clean up was a piece of cake with plenty of helpers!

There is so much to praise God for- no one was hurt, we were at home so we could deal with a broken water line right away, it didn't happen in the middle of the night, (how terrifying would that be?!), and the block walls were not damaged in any way. We felt a bit sad about the loss of the roof, which was just replaced last month by our Ohio friends, but what are several pieces of tin compared to the gift of life?

Thank God for a fallen tree that helps us keep life in the eternal perspective!

Then Sings My Soul

There's an acacia tree behind the apartment that seems extra happy right now. I went out one morning to try to capture a few images of the brilliant orange blossoms, but alas, our outdated point-and-shoot camera does a very sad job.

All the beauty around me continually inspires my heart to worship; it is quite unlike any other place we have ever lived.
I kept taking pictures. Here is one colony of Montezuma Oropendulas, a large type of oriole, who build the most amazing swinging nests!
I never tire of the coconut palms against the blue Honduran sky.

...Or the abundance of fresh limes right at my back door.

Sometimes I wonder why God has been so good in allowing us to live in this small paradise. I mean, we could surely serve Him just as well on some barren little plot of sagebrush and scrub! But I do love the fact that simply opening my front door every morning and facing the sunrise moves me to praise my Creator God. Maybe it is the keen awareness that we have been given so much, much more than we ever asked for or dreamed of, that swells my heart with gratefulness and worship. But then, has it not always been so? Have I ever possessed anything that I rightfully deserved? I think God is simply going out of His way to teach me some precious lessons, and I am honored to be in this school of His!