AM I SEEING THAT RIGHT?!?

Yes, you absolutely are!  Isn't it wonderful?!? Three men holding hands.
Every culture has it's good and it's bad.  
One of the blessed things about where we live is the freedom to just love on one another.
I love this display of acceptance, love, and honor.  Three men (two of them mine) holding hands.
Why?  Because we're friends.  Because we love and enjoy each other.  Because I value that you have come to visit my home and my people.  Why?  Because we can and no one thinks anything of it.


Praise God for the good gifts he gives.
Praise God for his perfect love.

m

A FEW MOMENTS OF NEEDED PEACE

Quietness is not really a reality in our house.

Even once everyone has gone to bed, the neighborhood is up till the early hours of the morning. Once the neighbors have gone down for the night, or what's left of it, the local guard wanders around, blowing his whistle at unpredictable intervals and volume.  

So when is it I have those moments of peace?  For me it is in the early morning before my kids wake up, before the neighbors have yet begun to stir their children for school, and when the guard has decided that enough daylight prevails so that he can stop his incessant blowing.  During those minutes, peace reigns. With coffee in one hand and the word of God in the others I can get ready for my day and how desperately I need those minutes. 

I cannot wait for when I can truly enter his rest for eternity.  But for now, may I not be hardened by any sin in my life and may he bring me into his rest, even when my home is not a place of quietness and rest. Even now I can enjoy his peace.

"Be Still, My Soul"

by Catharina von Schlegel, 1697-?

Translated by Jane Borthwick, 1813-1897

1. Be still, my soul; the Lord is on thy side;

Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;

Leave to thy God to order and provide;

In every change He faithful will remain.

Be still, my soul; thy best, thy heavenly, Friend

Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

2. Be still, my soul; thy God doth undertake

To guide the future as He has the past.

Thy hope, thy confidence, let nothing shake;

All now mysterious shall be bright at last.

Be still, my soul; the waves and winds still know

His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.

3. Be still, my soul, though dearest friends depart

And all is darkened in the vale of tears;

Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,

Who comes to soothe thy sorrows and thy fears.

Be still, my soul; thy Jesus can repay

From His own fulness all He takes away.

4. Be still, my soul; the hour is hastening on

When we shall be forever with the Lord,

When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,

Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.

Be still, my soul; when change and tears are past,

All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

Resting in Jesus, 

m

No Water

Guests are on the way.
Every cup is dirty.
Dinner needs to be cooked, meaning the rice that is full of dirt and other little things that crawl needs to be washed and soaked, etc...

But how?  No water?!?

Thomas needs a shower.
The dirt and grim change the color of his neck.

But how?  No water!

No problem.
This happens.
Plans change, life moves on and dirt is just dirt.

Besides... the guests will never know!!!

"Typical" Scenes Around the House

Tonight I realized how funny our life must look to the outsider.
When I came out of the kitchen after washing up from dinner this is what I found my children doing.


Exhibit A: 
This is school for Bliss.  Four nights a week she attends live classes at 9am EST.  So this is her evening activity.  To someone on the outside she might look anti-social and withdrawn but this thought is quickly dashed when you hear her laugh aloud, answer questions, ask questions and engage with the other students and teachers, even if she can't see them

Exhibit B: 

The noises escaping this one's mouth is what surprised me.  He had taken my recorder from Sindhi language learning and was multi-tasking, loudly repeating the phrases in a foreign tongue while burning a little extra energy.  I think he was copying his parents, only we do it to burn fat and get more energy!!!

What a blessing it is to have such beautiful, resilient children who go with the flow and adapt to life so well, even if they do appear a little odd!  I guess that's what makes them TCK's (third culture kids).

Thankful for the oddities in my life, 

m

REFINE ME, LORD!

refine |riˈfīn|verb [ with obj. ]remove impurities or unwanted elements from (a substance), typically as partof an industrial process: sugar was refined by boiling it in huge iron vats.• improve (something) by making small changes, in particular make (an idea,theory, or method) more subtle and accurate: ease of access to computers has refined analysis and presentation of data.
This definition is straight off our Mac dictionary and pretty much summarizes my life story.  God is in the business of refining me.  The trials he has brought into my life are there for me to grow from, be changed by and to be refined more and more into the image of  God.  The intensity of the refinement seems to have increased over the past 6 months.  As God works on me through the power of his Word I fine that both elements of this definition are becoming a reality in me.God is removing form me what is impure and unwanted.  The things like angry responses, bitterness and unforgiveness.  These unwanted things, however, are not just removed but are removed with the purpose of being replaced... or rather, improvements to make me more the way he wants me to be. So, as he continues to refine me my prayer is that I won't ever become hard hearted to the point of not responding to his gentle and loving discipline but that I will love with greater abandon, give without expecting to be given in return, run hard the race marked for me, and finish well.
Refine me Lord till all the drossIs completely burned awayLet the power of the crossBe my hope each day
Don't let my heart grow cold and wearyFrom this disciplineRather, let me see you more clearlyAnd change me from within.

Being refined, 
m

An Honor Worth... Eating?

Recently we were welcomed and honored as is local custom by having a string of roses put around each one of our necks.  The smell of the freshly cut roses was delicious, the honor slightly embarrassing but very welcoming, and the fellowship was great. 


The smell of the roses must have been beyond delicious to one individual who pluck a petal off of Thomas' necklace and delicately proceeded to nibble it down, much to the surprise and delight of Thomas.  I'm glad Thomas didn't follow his lead!


What a joy it is to be in a different culture and enjoy the way God has made us all different.

The man on the right of Thomas is our new rose eating friend.

I love living here!
m

HE HAS DONE ALL THINGS WELL

Because of lack of sleep, many hours of language study, visitors in and out constantly, homeschool and all the normal every day task of a wife and mother, the days have been a little wearisome.
Today during family devotions my application was to remind myself on an hourly basis that, "He has done all things well." (Mark 7: 37b)
This is what I need more than anything right now; just to step back from all the things that need to happen and see how wonderful and how magnificent Jesus is. 

Bless the Lord, O my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name.

For he has done great things!!!

Some old pics of some of his little creatures that remind me of how he has done all things well!!!

Praise him for doing all things well, 

m

"DO NOT FEAR WHAT IS FRIGHTENING"

1 Peter 3:6b "And you are [Sarah's] children if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening."

Do you ever read the WORD and think, "God, is that just for me? Did those people 2000 years ago need to hear this or did you just throw them in there for me?"

Living overseas brings so many challenges and so many blessings.  God has been exposing lately how easily my heart is giving into fear.  My initial response to my fear has been, "Well, maybe it's not really that scary, I just need to trust God more."  But God had an answer just waiting for me!!!

God has freed me in the last couple weeks to just call what is fearful exactly what it is: fearful, frightening and sometimes downright terrifying.  As I sat in the back of a ricky old rickshaw flying down one of the smoother roads here,  Thomas turned to me and asked, "So mom, if the wheel falls off, will we just fall out or will we die?"  I looked him in the eyes and said, "We will probably die or get really hurt."  Because the reality is, I had just been thinking exactly the same thing, confessed it to the Lord as something frightening and been able to release it to him.  I then began to wondered, "When did I get so old to start thinking a rickshaw ride as potentially dangerous?"

I know that God has us here because he wants us here for our good and for the good of the Kingdom.  The dangers may be more apparent here to the Western eye, but that only makes God's power, tender care, and presence all the more apparent to us. It just makes the task of getting the Good News to as many as possible that much more urgent.

So, as I head off to the bazaar this afternoon, who knows what the Lord will bring as far as "frightening" is concerned.  But at least I know that God holds me in his tender care and that he has given me and will give me all I need to respond without fear.  By God's grace he will continue to bring me to a place of rest and peace even when things around me are frightening and use me effectively for the sake of the Kingdom.