Happiness

Sharing My Love

So, I broke my Facebook fast briefly this evening. I had been out for about an hour weeding my garden. (If you had seen my post about my garden, you would think it was about time...) The bugs were just starting to think about coming out for the night, when my neighbor comes out and asks me about my trip to Nicaragua... I correct him on where I had gone and somehow the conversation turned to why I had gone. I love "Holy Spirit opportunities". I also love how the Lord makes it so easy to share the truth with people. Rick, my neighbor, was very unopposed to me telling him about Jesus and why we needed Him. Which I thought was amazing. I had never had the opportunity to share with him before and it all came out so easy! I guess he had grown up going to Catholic school and took the Catechism... But anyway, I think it all came out rather smoothly (thus the "Holy Spirit Opportunity") and I was even able to invite him to church. So, if you all could please pray for Rick... Pray that he will be the first of a mini-revival on P* Rd. That would be awesome. I told you I was excited about what the Lord was going to do. "Lord, may there be many more opportunities for You to use me this week!"

So anyway, I broke my Facebook fast to ask my friends to pray for my neighbor. May God be working in his heart tonight!! And I think that the dozen new bugbites on my legs are a cost well worth it.

On a side note, it is nice to let your ice cream sandwich warm up just slightly, so you can lick the icecream out of the edges.

Facebook Fast

I want to facebook... But I am fasting from facebook. Till Wednesday. It's been hard. Especially at nap time. When the house is quiet and I want just one more excuse to not fold my laundry. Why is it so addicting? This is obviously why I needed to fast from it.

¿Mas Cafe, Por Favor?

I picked up a bad little habit while in El Salvador. I never really had a problem before then. A cup or two once in a while, yes. But not a day after day "I need a cup" problem. I could easily wean myself off after just two days. The headache would more than likely be there, but would be gone by evening. But this is not the case... I feel extra drowsy half-way through the morning without it. The carafe stares at me, just waiting to be filled with water to brew. My head threatens to explode if I don't have a cup. And now, my delicious El Salvadorian coffee is gone and we are stuck with yucky Starbucks coffee. Yes, I said yucky Starbucks. It's just not good. Who will go get me some more cafe de El Salvador? Por favor? In the meantime, I will have to brew some yucky Starbucks...

Denying Myself (Or Trying...)

Have you ever had great expectations that the Lord was going to do something wonderful in your life and the lives of those you love? That is how I have been feeling lately. I know He has been really working in my heart as of late and revealing to me some of the things that need to change. I have felt a desire to get closer to my Savior and I am realizing how very much I need His help. I am pretty sure that over the last month of my life, that my deep need for Jesus Christ to do a major make-over has been almost constantly in the forefront of my mind. I often am left wondering what my Lord is doing. What does He have for me? How does He want me to serve Him and those He loves? Who would He have me to minister to? Where does He want to take me in my walk with Him? I had a revelation this morning about who He wanted me to minister to. Yes, I already knew it, but sometimes the Lord will show you something again and it just takes on a new light. The Lord knows my heart, and how I would love to go to the foreign missions field and give my all for the poorest of the poor. He knows that is my heart. But for the time being, they are not who He wants me to primarily minister to. He has placed me here, wife to Adam and Mother to Josh. If only I would give my all to minister to them, as if they were the poorest of poor, the lost children, the ones who needed to hear about my Savior. To serve them as I would those people in that third-world country. To deny my own desires, my laziness and tendency to be frustrated with "the lack of help I get around here". Would I complain about those things if those I were serving were the destitute or homeless? No, I would not. So I need to serve these two individuals here, like I would any other. So pray for me as I put into practice this"new found" ministry to those I care about most. It is difficult for me to deny myself on a daily basis, when I am tired, have worked all day, and want to rest. The dishes will need washing and Josh will need to be cared for. My husband will ask me to do things I don't really feel like doing. But to serve them whole-heartedly, denying my fleshly instincts, and to give them my all... It will be hard, but the Lord is faithful and will give me strength (Please Lord!). One day down... So many more in store. I look forward to see what else the Lord will do in my family this up coming year. I wonder what He has in store...

Happiness

Having some outside fun... I so enjoy the times when Josh and I can play outside together. He loves swinging and playing on the slide, whether going up or down. These are certainly times to cherish. (Estos son tiempos de abrigar. Abrigar means cherish.)

Snippets

I set out this evening to write a very "cranky" post about how things should and shouldn't be done in a home. Each sentence started out like so: "In my plight against humanity..." And it continued on to say how the things that I didn't like wouldn't happen. Like how children would eat their suppers, etc., etc. But I think that would be a very ungodly example of discontentment and irrational behavior. So instead I will post about other things...

Like corn on the cob. Fresh picked and tasty. It crunches when you bite it and pops in your mouth, like a mini explosion of goodness.

Or maybe I will post about garage sales. I have plenty of things to put in a garage sale and have been collecting my things to sell all week. My brother and sister-in-law are having a sale this weekend and I am going to contribute to the amount of items they have in their driveway. Perhaps you can stop by their house this weekend and buy our stuff. It would be great and very kind of y0u. Then we wouldn't have to put it away again after the sale.

Possibly I will post about how I am fasting from facebook. I would tell you how terribly I want to get on and see what is going on in the world of facebook friends. Who is commenting on what and who has posted new photos. Has anyone sent me any messages or written on my wall... It's a terrible addiction really, and typically I waste a lot of time on there. But I so want to look...

Maybe I will tell you about the pie I baked this evening. I smell its delicious scent wafting through the house. Rhubarb and blueberry... I know, I've never heard of it either. But that is what I made. No, I cannot give you the recipe, as I didn't follow one. And yes, ask me how it was later and I will be sure to tell you. I hope we have enough vanilla ice cream.

But unfortunatley for all of you, I really don't have much to blog about today. So you will have to wait to hear about all those wonderful things. I have laundry to fold, sometime before bedtime, seeing as it is piled up on top of my bed. I should read the next two chapters in Isaiah... And I also need to investigate the ice cream status before the hour gets too late. So I will have to leave you all hanging, waiting till the next blogging opportunity arises in this little house of mine. In the mean time, God bless you & Dios de bendiga. (I have to get in my Spanish words while I can, you know... Practice makes perfect and I would like to someday be fluent... Another thing I could've blogged about.)

Up, Up and Oh....

Oh Garden, Where Art Thou?

My garden has officially escaped me. I have neglected it and should be called in for maltreatment of produce. During my 10 day sabbatical in July, the weeds grew tall and fierce, the grass thick and impassable, and the peas woody and uneatable. And since the day I arrived home, the weeds have only grown taller and the grass thicker. But I'm still pretty sure you can find something good growing in the midst of the "jungle". Oh yes, there are the beets in between the blades of grass. And one unbolted head of lettuce, left for my fresh crunchy salad. The tomatoes have not yet escaped their cages and the cucumbers are sure to found lying around somewhere... Our yearly garden visitors have not failed us either. Thankful they are for the bean plants that I have sown, much to the chagrin of my spouse, who wishes I hadn't planted so many beans or any beans at that. Maybe next year the peas won't be so neglected. Maybe next year I will stave off those weeds, or the bugs for that matter. Maybe next year the zucchini will produce more than one lonely fruit. Maybe next year the lettuce won't bolt. Maybe next year... Well, in that case I probably wouldn't have planted a garden.

That They May Know Him

It's not often that a photograph will bring me to tears. But the little group of faces I saw staring at me from my Mother's refrigerator did just that this afternoon. They caught be off guard as I did not know they were hung there and I'm not exactly sure why I suddenly found myself crying, but I was. These were the faces I found staring back at me today and they bring me to where I left off my story...
Little Cesar, abandoned by his Mom and living at the orphanage with his two brothers.
Rudy, who lay in his hospital bed writhing in pain, made the effort to smile for me when I took his photo. Weeks earlier, he had been in a coma and one week after this photo was taken, he was walking in the halls looking much happier and obviously feeling better, though that doesn't take away the fact that he has kidney failure.
Geraldine also has kidney failure. She was shy and sweet and we called her "bonita," as she was very beautiful.
And then there is Charley. We only met him briefly, but he will always stick out to me as a character I wish I had met sooner. He was a spunky old man, as glad as ever to meet us and more than happy to pose for a photo. Pray that he comes to know Jesus.

People that I suddenly care very much for and who will likely always hold a little piece in my heart. I don't know why their pictures brought tears to my eyes. I really don't. Maybe it is because I care about them and they are all people who need Jesus. But then not one of us needs Jesus any more than another person. You need Jesus just as much as Rudy does or as much as Cesar does. They may be lying in their hospital bed dying or have been abandoned at a very young age, but their spiritual need for a Savior does not outweigh yours. Jesus has paid the penalty for our sin. He paid the penalty for the sin of Cesar's mother. If she repented of her sin and asked Jesus to forgive her, He would! He would do the same for you or I, no matter what size our sin(s). All we have to do is ask Him to forgive us and to save us from the penalty of our sin, which is eternal pain and separation from God. Please, don't put off your decision. Decide to accept, follow our Savior and allow Him into your life.

Maybe that is why I had tears today. There is a burden on my heart. A burden for those who are sick, who are alone, who are weak and who are poor. A burden for those who do not know my Savior and do not have the loving relationship that I have with Jesus. A relationship with the God who loves me and created me. Amazing. Life cannot get any better than this. To know that my life is in my Creator's hands. Even if I do not get around to posting about the rest of my trip to El Salvador, know this. That this was the reason I went: That they may know Jesus. May you too, know my Jesus.

Pride Comes Before a Fall

The wedding this past weekend was "scrumdittlydumptious", but I'm not here to write about that yet. First I have to finish my narrative about that trip I went on.

I left off at about the first day... Monday, July 13 was our first whole day in El Salvador. We were given a tour of the orphanage grounds and told the story of its origin. Read about the ministry at the orphanage here. Later that morning we had some time to prepare a Bible story and craft to do with the kids that afternoon. Every weekday the orphanage opens their doors to the neighborhood kids, feeds them lunch, gives them opportunity to do homework and play games, and also have a Bible story time. About 50-70 kids come in every day and it was so fun to be able to interact with them, even with my limited Spanish vocabulary. (Hablar un pequito Espanol.) But I did find out right away that when one tries to do something in their own strength, the Lord usually allows it to fail. For example, we (or rather I) came up with this great craft to go along with our Zaccheaus Bible story. My Mom had sent a whole bunch of craft supplies with me, so we had just about everything we needed for a super craft time. I came up with making two pipe cleaner men, one to be Zaccheaus and one to be Jesus and our Zaccheaus was climbing a tree made out of wooden shapes and popsicle sticks glued together. It went together so well when we practiced making them before hand! I was so glad and pleased and had given myself a good pat on the back for coming up with such a grand idea. (It really was very cute.) But once we got into a classroom with 15 kids who didn't speak English and who had no idea how to make pipe cleaner men, it was a whole different story. The glue wouldn't stick, the boys were impatient, the girls tried diligently, I had to remake 20(ish) of the pipecleaner men individually because my English speaking friends didn't even understand me when I showed them how to make it. One boy decided he would make magic wands with his popsicle sticks instead of trees and then he was freezing his classmates. I was ready to quit. When it was all said and done, my class (there were four total) was the only one who had only half or less of their craft done. I'm not sure how the other classes did so well, but we all agreed it was rough.So, the Lord taught me very quickly that I shouldn't be so quick to think I'm real smart. After all, pride really does come before a fall. Glad He taught me that on the first day and didn't wait too long to get it across to me.

And now you will have to wait for more. Josh is up and cranky as ever. He has had a rough couple of days and we need to spend some quality time together before he grows up without me.

The Wildness of my Life

Today is a busy day. Yesterday was a busy day. The day before was a busy day. Tomorrow will be a busy day. *Sigh* Monday, Monday. Glorious day-off Monday. Today one of my best friends is getting married. I must leave home in 1 1/2 hours. The wedding doesn't start until 7, but we are doing pictures early this afternoon. I must remember to bring my camera so I can take pictures too. I also must remember to do my make-up, hair, finish getting dressed, and pick the veggies in my garden that have been neglected since earlier this week. Beans, peas, beets should be picked too, but I'll wait on the beets. My lettuce bolted somewhere during the day on Thursday, but I picked it anyways. Give us one hot day during the summer, and it'll bolt, that lettuce. We got our nails done yesterday and I had French tips painted on mine. I even had to touch them up this morning. What vanity, to have ones' nails done. I feel edgy this morning, but am trying to remember that I must be faithful in the small things, so I can be entrusted with larger things. After all if I can not march with the troops, how can I run with the horses? (Or something like that... Someone help me here. I feel like I am always making up words to Bible references, kinda like I do with songs.) Maybe it's the coffee habit I have caught for myself. It started in El Salvador and I think it may need to stop soon. Maybe when my El Salvadorian coffee is gone, then I will wean myself off of it. Boy, do I feel anxious. My nerves are going wild. Must go. Maybe I will post more about my trip soon. But now it's 11:40 and I think my touched-up nails have dried. Off to other things.

(Oh, and the picture just went really well with my title. :)