Sometimes There Are No Answers...

Me: "Anthony, I would like you to take a nap this afternoon."

Anthony: "Why?"

Me: "So you don't sleep in church tonight."

Anthony: "Well, what else is there to do there?"

Front Porch Picnic

Mandie was sad this morning that Derek got to go to the city with Daddy, while she had to stay home with Mama. So I purposed to make the day special for her and involved her in doing laundry, cleaning flower beds, and mixing oatmeal bread, with the promise of a picnic lunch on the front porch. It is the most pleasant place to be in the afternoon when the sun is beating at the back door.
First we scared up the tailless lizard and giggled to see him scrambling ever so frantically and fruitlessly on the slippery painted cement floor! Then we spread out the old apple tablecloth and sat down to Mandie's favorites: peanut butter and jelly sandwich, bread and butter pickles, tortilla chips, and charamuscas- the Honduran version of ice pops. "Don't forget to pray for the food!" she reminded me. "How about you thank God for the food?" I suggested, and she gladly complied.
Who cares that our plate had a silly snowman on it while we sweated in the humidity and admired the coconut palms in the front yard?

Pausing between bites, Mandie turns to me with adoring eyes. "Thank you Mama!" "You're welcome," I reply, "I like to make picnics for you." She nods wisely. "I know you do."

The way Mandie relates to the many people in her life frequently inspires and challenges me. Not only does she love and accept each one unconditionally, but she also assumes that every person she meets loves her with the same passion! No wonder Jesus reminds us to be like one of these little ones.

I love two year olds! Their needs are so simple: someone to love them, an important place to fill in life, and occasional sprinkles on chocolate cupcakes...

Furlough, Part 2

I think furloughs are underrated.

I know that not every missionary family is blessed with the kind of support we have, from our families, our friends, and especially our church back in PA. But our trip this summer was exactly the way a furlough should be- late nights and late mornings, family reunions, meals in the homes of our friends, time to pick cherries and raspberries, fishing with grandparents, swimming with cousins, meeting new friends and re-connecting with old ones, good food, impromptu prayer times, laughter and tears, feeling loved and cared for, and especially, fellowshipping with other hungry hearts everywhere we went.

There was the disappointment of finding out that the baby we were expecting in January was no longer living, but even in that we experienced God's peace in knowing we were being lifted in prayer by so many caring people.

And there was the crazy trip to Kentucky with a little wedding anniversary celebration tucked in... A suite didn't seem worthwhile on a missionary budget and a flying, one-night stay, so we paid for a regular room. We still wonder what God really said to the gal at Hampton Inn who said to Tim, "You're a blessed man!" and then handed us keys to a king suite with a jacuzzi!!! We do know what He said to us... That He wants us to celebrate our love as much as He does!

Lastly, there was the meeting with our friend Lynnell who still owns the property where we're living here in Honduras, where she made the startling announcement that she wants to GIVE this place to us! God has provided a house for her in Kentucky through generous friends, and she is blessing us in the same way. There will be a payment made to her mission organization which will be used by her for future projects here in Honduras, but it is a mere fraction of what the property is worth. We really do not know how to receive such an enormous gift, so we give it all back to God, and ask Him to bless our benefactors with His riches in Jesus!

It was a wonderful two months, but best of all, we were thrilled to realize that this is really home and when the time came, we couldn't wait to be back in our own peaceful world.

Thank you, all who enriched our furlough with prayers, groceries, hugs, money, genuine interest in our lives, meals, and just your friendship and love. We are richly blessed!

Furlough

I presume no one has noticed that I don't blog while on furlough. We are spending two months in the USA this summer, and enjoying every bit of vacation, work, family reunions, dinner invitations, travel, and church meetings we can experience. Meanwhile, back at the ranch the workers carry on the duties of weeding the garden, feeding fish, watering flowers, mowing grass, and socializing with the dogs. Better yet, we hear amazing reports of God's continued work in El Eden, and we can't wait to get back where we belong.

Announcing! The fishbowl no longer fits our job description so stay tuned for some blog changes soon. ... "Soon" as in "sometime in the next three months."

God is good, all the time.

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!

Monday With Mandie

Some days she is angelic.

And then there was the Monday when the Daddy went to the city and Jo the helper was gone to the airport, and Mandie's day started out with chocolates in Mama's bedroom, before breakfast.
Then she made scrambled eggs.
She helped with laundry and got soaked to the eyeballs, but it was fun, see?
She spilled water on the floor but she knows to mop it up herself.
Noticing Mama's busyness, she volunteered to do dishes, with LOTS of running water. As in, running across the counter and down her arms and over her dress.
She found Mama's purse and the little red pills were too much to resist. We hope she didn't really ingest any.
Thank God for quiet times that turn into naps!
This is what happened to lunch.
In the middle of all this, Derek decided to show Mandie the dangers of climbing on the iron railing around our front porch. "See," he explained, "If you crawl up here you could fall, like this!" and then proceeded to punch his line by tumbling headfirst into the flower bed ten feet below. When I heard his shrieks and Mandie's cries of "Somebody help Derek!" I expected he had fallen from the hammock. Instead, I was horrified to discover he was not even on the porch but lying crumpled on his side in the soft earth beneath the elephant ear plants. By the time I reached him, however, he was up and walking around, crying and moaning incoherently. I checked for broken bones and felt satisfied that they were intact. He kept crying about his head which he appeared to have hit on the edge of the porch on his way down, so I watched for signs of a concussion. I phoned Tim and begged him to help me decide whether a trip to the doctor was necessary, which was a little difficult for him, being many miles away in San Pedro. In the end I only gave him ibuprofen, and assured him repeatedly that no, his front tooth was not knocked out, only bumped and bloody, in spite of his frequent announcements to the contrary. When the group from Ohio arrived, David the medic examined him thoroughly and agreed that there was a concussion but no broken bones. A day later he was up and about and only slightly less active than normal, and a week later he was back to his very enthusiastic self but with a deep respect for porch railings.

Thank God!
-Mandie is a happy, creative child.
-Most days I have a faithful helper at my side.
-Derek is fine.
-Not every day is a Monday.
-This is the life for me!