For the love of Fulani

It's that time of year again!

2011-12-19T01:36:00.000-08:00

Red and green ornaments. Christmas trees. Apple cider and hot cocoa. Sugar cookies. Cold weather, mittens and snow....oh wait...I mean dust, yes dust.

Yes it's still the holidays all the way over here at least in the white people's homes and we are trying our best to make it festive and bright. Enjoying the cold evenings and mornings when I can drink a cup of hot coffee and not starting sweating in the process.

Despite everything we are doing, it's hard to be away from family for the holidays. Last year (our 1st away) we took a vaca to the lovely and exotic Morocco and ~~forgot about~~ tried to forget about the season. Then the 25th hit and I was devastated not to be around a tree with wrapped presents and with family. I realized that we had made a mistake in trying to forget the pain, the loneliness, the emptiness.

And so we pushed forward, coming up with our own new traditions to do here. We decided that we would find our joy in Christ this year and not be overcome with the sorrow of being away. I will/ still do cry, but I remind myself of God's leading, His calling on our lives, His presence and joy that fill my heart. I remind myself that I am not alone. There are thousands of families that are separated each year. Military, m's, NGO workers, and others just like me are trying to cope the best they can without their family nearby. And so when those days come we will make cookies, sand dune sled, drink hot cocoa and give our own shoeboxes to some families and kiddos we know could use some "merry". We will choose to celebrate Christ's birth with our friends here and love on those around us.

And we will count down the days until my parents and my brother arrive in January and be lucky enough to celebrate a late Christmas with them. Until then, if you are around our families this holiday season then please give them some extra love will you? Because it's just as hard, if not harder, on them too!! And whether they will admit it or not, they could use some love this season!

Hold the mayo

2011-10-20T09:41:00.000-07:00

I'm not much of a breakfast eater. I guess I was in the States when I had easy access to cereal and good milk, but other than cereal I usually don't take the time to make eggs or pancakes or anything else that requires some work for the morning meal.

That being said, most people here eat a simple breakfast of bread and mayonnaise. Yes you read that correctly. Bread slathered with mayo. Slathered....as in a lot. Honestly it kinda grosses me out and it's probably one of a few culture customs I will never participate in. I really try to dive into the culture as much as possible but this is not one of those areas. I'll eat the bread, but please hold the mayo!

Just a random thought from the day :) P.S. Did you know that last year on my birthday our landlord gave me a huge jar of mayo as a present? Yep...they love them some mayonnaise!

Joy in the midst of chaos

2011-10-15T17:28:00.001-07:00

It's amazing to me how many times I have to get all the way through the lesson before I realize that G's been teaching me all along. Actually it's kinda of sad really, but still amazing that He is faithful in the midst of my humanness. Maybe one of these days I'll actually get it right away....here's hoping!

So anyway, B and I took our househelper and my African mama, Neene, to a city about 3 hours away this weekend. She wanted to see her family and begged us to take her and since we had just finished with a team we decided to take a vaca day and enjoy the restaurants and A/C (nope we don't have it in our house). We left in the afternoon with "plenty" of time to get there, but you know...we live in Africa so we should have given ourselves like 6 hours instead of 3. We assumed....there was the mistake....that Neene knew where her sister lived. I mean, I know where my brother lives. Don't you know where your siblings live?! We arrived to find that her sister's phone was off and she had NO CLUE where she lived because she'd never been there. We called her sister's husband who gave us a neighborhood so then we left to track that down.

Enter stopping at four random places and asking ten random people the name of some random neighborhood over the course of an hour. Now enter Neene seeing someone vaguely familar and kidnapping him for the next two hours as we tried to find this neighborhood. Turns out that we were given the wrong name! So finally after backtracking the same roads for three hours and stopping every 10 minutes to ask more people we FINALLY found them and got to their house.

Now enter the joyous part....B and I were tried, frustrated and feeling really irritated. Not at Neene per say but just at the situation. We had expected to get to the city, get a hotel room, swim, relax, eat at the place by the water, sleep for 9 hours in the A/C and then do a little shopping the next morning. Instead we got to the city and by this time barely had time to get to a restaurant before they close, sleep for 6 hours and then rush around to do the things we could have done the night before. So we were irritated.

But when Neene's family saw her and came RUNNING out to greet her, calling her name and clapping their hands.....man, all that frustration and irritability melted away into "I am so selfish and stupid". Turns out, she hadn't seen her sister's family for 2o years!!!! Can you believe that?! And they are only 3 hours apart!! My Father just slapped me upside the head and I felt so humbled by the fact that even though I am thousands of miles away from my family, I get to see them every week. All of that running around and "life in Africa" stuff didn't even matter anymore because a family had been reunited.

The more I thought about it the more I realized that joy in the midst of chaos is really hard and it's a lesson that I have to keep learning and learning especially lately. Really relying on Him for my joy and not my circumstances is incredibly difficult, but it's so much more peaceful. Those three hours of frustration could have been spent in excited anticipation for my Neene and her family, praying for their reunion and their souls. It could have been spent sharing a story with her about the Father's love for us and His joy each time one of us turns back to Him. Instead, I, like normal, had to learn that lesson the hard way and opt for my own selfishness instead of His joy in the middle of temporary unpleasantness.

Hopefully next time I will not be so slow to be joyful :)

Hiatus

2011-10-09T07:49:00.000-07:00

I know it's been like 5 months since my last post, but I swear I have a good reason.....well maybe not a good reason, but I do have reasons for my lack of posting.

1. In the Spring we had lots of volunteer teams which was GREAT!!! And then we went to Prague for some classes to finish our degrees and then we had homework and....

2. Our team has been in a constant state of flux since we arrived and found out that we had a temporary team leader and that next team leader would be picked out of the existing team. So suffice to say that our team has been a in a constant state of transition and that will continue for the next year. It's been really hard and overwhelming and icky and awful and hurtful and uplifting all at the same time. The Father surrounded B and I with people in this country who truly love us and uplifted us at the worst time of it all and we couldn't have been more blessed (but it was still hard and awful).

3. Our computers.....may they rest in peace..... We've been without computers since about July/August and working only on the iTouch and I'm sorry but I'm not going to do a blog post from my iTouch....too little :)

4. ummmmmmmmm okay so there's just three reasons and I know I probably sound like I'm making excuses and I am, but take it for what it's worth. We have gotten a new to us computer for B and mine will come later next year, but I'm back at a keyboard and able to post so get ready!

Thanks for all your prayers over the last 6 months. Things are the way they are and I'm learning to adjust and pray through things more than I have in the past. Because the only way I can get to the end of all of this is with His help...nuff said.

{My Body Doesn’t Bend That Way}

2011-04-01T11:16:00.000-07:00

No I’m not talking about yoga or stretching. Although I could stand to do a bit more of that in my life. I hear it’s really beneficial for your body, but I’m getting sidetracked now.

At our training another couple and us would joke about how our middle names needed to be changed to “Flexible”. Sometimes working for a huge corporation creates lots of miscommunication or just plain no communication. So we’d joke about how in order to be successful in this job, one thing that we needed to be was flexible. It was our way of dealing with frustrations and irritants that came along the way even as late as our training two months before we left.

For people that plan and organize everything from their spices to their calendar, being flexible is not the easiest thing in the world. It creates LOTS of frustration, anger and sometimes, hurt feelings. But if God has taught me anything this year (which believe me, He has!) it’s that I really can’t do my job unless I’m flexible.

What does this look like here? Well the people here aren’t organized for one thing. Like at all! Seriously they don’t even know what a calendar is. No they do, but you get my point! You can’t really plan a specific time to meet with someone. You just have to give a 3-4 sometimes 5-hour window for your meeting. And that’s just for them to show up. Also people just drop by unannounced. Now for some people in the South (who shall remain nameless…my husband), this is perfectly acceptable. But in IL, you just don’t do that! So sometimes your plans or goals for the day get thrown out the window when someone drops by for 3 hours unexpectedly.

And of course the company flexibility continues. They are constantly re-organizing, re-structuring, making things more efficient (or so they think J). Seriously, in the year we’ve been on the field, we’ve had 3 “new and improved” medical expense reports to fill out and 5 different emails to send them to! BUT we love our company and as frustrating as it can be to a person that doesn’t want to be flexible sometimes, we’d never change it. They take SUCH good care of us and we are incredibly blessed.

So all this to say that one thing that God continues to impress upon this not so flexible person is the importance of being able to chuck your plans and go with His. You never know what the person who stops by unannounced might need to hear from Him. You never know what the re-organization might bring to bless your life more. Jesus is a great example. When people stopped listening to Him, He just got up and left. No second thoughts like “Well my planner says that I need to leave on this day”, no getting angry that people were changing what He was doing. He was simply flexible with Himself and gave of Himself without another thought.

The thing is that if you remain inflexible to the changes around you, you WILL go crazy. Trust me, I know this from experience. So when your neighbor comes over for an unexpected visit, or it takes 3 hours to pay a bill of $2 or your language test gets postponed again and again, the only way to survive is to follow His example and just be flexible.

Ticket Days

2011-02-08T09:46:00.000-08:00

"Have you had a ticket day yet?" we were asked by some colleagues who came to visit us this week. Unfortunately I then felt completely stupid because I had to ask what on earth he was talking about!

A ticket day just means that if you had a ticket back to the States you'd use it because it's so aggravating here or you're just plain tired of being a missionary, of visiting people, of having a constantly dirty (think layers of dirt, not dust) house and you just want to leave.

I had to stop and think about that question for a bit. Sure there have been times where I've wanted to come back. I miss my family and friends. I miss my church. I miss the ease of living next to a grocery store or a Target. I miss lots of things..who wouldn't?! But even in the midst of all of that I've never wanted to come back because I was tired of this culture, aggravated or so frustrated that I wanted to stop. I've wanted to come back to give my family a big huge hug and be loved on by them, but never because I didn't want to be here anymore.

It's a funny thing...we've been here a little over a year now and sometimes it feels like just yesterday we arrived. We are constantly inundated by new things, things we've never seen or heard before, new challenges, new successes. So much so that it feels sometimes like we're still newbies (i mean we are...but we have some time under our belts). But yet at the same time this feels like our second home. Just the other day we were walking through the market, almost got hit by a donkey cart, were pushed around by the crowds of women in the main section, stopped and chatted with some women with the same last name and then bought a HUGE eggplant for .10 cents and it stopped me in my tracks. I thought...this feels normal...just another day...something we've been doing forever. How weird is that?!

One thing that I've consistently been sure of is His call on my life. I've never doubted that I was supposed to come here. Even in the midst of....well just plain yuckiness....I've always been sure that this was what He's called me to do. So even if I had a plane ticket, I'd only use it if it meant I could come back here after I loved on my family for a bit. Because this is my second home...oh and we've worked really hard to make it homey....in a good way...not the boring, colorless, drab homey way....like pretty, warm, and colorful way and it'd be a shame to stop now :)

Here and gone again

2011-02-08T09:31:00.000-08:00

Well the cold weather came and unfortunately has already gone. We had about a month of cooler temperatures. So much cooler in fact that we had to pull out the down comforter we brought with us....yes we did bring a down comforter with us because it's one of my most favorite things in the whole world and I just couldn't leave it behind. And see we got to use it!! The days were cloudy and cooler. I was able to wear a scarf to class because it was chilly and I got to relish the evenings on my couch reading, sipping my cup of Teavana tea, wrapped up our new lightweight Moroccan blanket. It was GREAT!!

But now it's gone and although it's not yet hot hot hot! it is getting there. I guess I'll just have to wake up extra extra early and enjoy that cup of tea and blanket time.

Have a good week!!

Bring on the cold!!

2010-10-29T10:35:00.000-07:00

Since we arrived here in January we've been told that the rainy season end in September and then it's the beginning of the dry season and cooler weather. Needless to say that when the heat and humidity of the hot season began in April and then the humidity stayed through the rainy season of August, we were really looking forward to the start of the dry season and cooler temps.

But no one told us about October. October is hot, humid and just plain miserable. It's exactly like April and May. Only I wasn't prepared for October because everyone said the rain ends and then it's cold. Now mind you cold here means like 70 degrees, but compared to 100 degrees that's frigid! But no one told me about October! So I've been praying for the weather to change, trying to be patient and complaining to my hubby about the heat.

Last night after the women's study we started for our team, we were standing outside talking about how there should be one last rain and then the cooler temps. We were saying "Wouldn't it be nice if it would just get here, just rain and then be cool?". As I drove home, it started sprinkling. Within 10 minutes there was lightning, thunder, wind and lots of rain.

Sometimes I forget how fast God answers prayer. I get lost in the waiting and forget to praise him when He is quick (in my mind) to respond to what I ask of Him. So I just wanted to take the time to thank Him today for the rain, for the cooler, cloudy, windy day today and for always answering my prayers.

The wail

2010-07-08T13:52:00.000-07:00

"Someone just died," B said as he came into the house after class. Of course my immediate sarcastic response was "What you're psychic now?"

But as I stepped outside I could hear wailing, the intense cry when someone dies. There is no other way to describe it. It is a wail. Deep pain, sorrow, tears and sobbing all coming out in a single sound. It's intense, surreal and heart-wrenching. A lady came out of a compound literally 20 yards away. She was being held up by another lady as her body was racked with sobs. They walked down to the corner, both wailing.

B and I immediately got dressed and went with a friend to greet and pray for the family. As soon as we walked in and heard the wailing we both started crying. Crying for the deceased woman and her family that we didn't know. Crying because this family was in such visible pain. Crying because we knew where this woman would spend eternity. Crying because we never knew her, never shared Christ with her. Crying because we'd never have the chance.

We sat and prayed for the family. I hugged and held hands with some of the ladies as they sobbed. I didn't stop crying until I got home.

This brings a new sense of urgency to why I'm here. We hear all the time that there are people dying every second without ever hearing or knowing Christ, but that's never really really really impacted me. Not like this. Now I've seen it, seen the pain that is caused from losing someone and not knowing where they will go. I feel a greater pressure to know the language better, so much better so that I can share Christ every chance I get. To not worry so much about cultural norms and boundaries and boldly share Him who brought me here. To not let another person who lives near me die without hearing about who Jesus Christ is. Please pray with me for these families..for the families who do not yet know Jesus...for the families who I will tell...and for the families I might not get a chance to tell, that somehow they will hear it and believe.

Why?

2010-05-22T04:20:00.000-07:00

I've been reading the Psalms lately..mostly because I have felt attacked, discouraged, and just plain icky (yes that is a real feeling).

Spiritual warfare is not something that most of us recognize because in the states most of the time it's just little stuff Satan uses, like too many commitments, impatience, or sickness to pull us away from God. But since I started this journey to follow God to Africa I've been attacked. I'm not talking about little things. I'm talking about mentally ill roommates that try to get you kicked out of school, an apartment complex that robs you, paperwork being lost so that we can't be over here sooner, more paperwork being lost, being stalled because someone was too lazy to look at his desk, more mentally ill people, and now a man who is coming out here in June. It's a long story but basically this "Christian" man was here before alone for three or so months, did some things that were not good, spent too much time in the wrong places and left a very very bad image. We found out what was going on and since he was coming back tried to correct the situation via our leadership, but now he is mad (although we have been assured by many around us that we handled the situation correctly and maturely) and is sending us threatening emails and is probably going to come here and not be very nice.

All this to say that I have been reading Psalms a lot lately, especially chapters 54-62. The psalmist writes about how men attack him and do evil and seek to drag him down into the depths. He cries out to God asking Him to deliver him and destroy the enemy. Asking God for faith and proclaiming his trust in the Lord. This has been my source of comfort these last few days....knowing that God is my Savior and He has great things planned for our town, great things planned for our people. Crying out to God to deliver me from the hands of men, from evil things that men do to destroy His name and trusting that God is faithful as He always has been in the past.

I think God has great plans for me, for my husband, for the people here and for this town. I think this because Satan is trying desperately to make me defeated, to make me give up and go home. Why? Because God is working here, moving fast and hard and Satan is losing his foothold in this area. Because we are called to proclaim His name and His saving grace and do great things for God's kingdom. Please pray for me, for us...to be faithful even when we don't feel like it... to be obedient even if we are hurting....to shake off this fear, hurt and anger and boldly proclaim Jesus' name...and to not let Satan win this battle when this man comes in June.

Shoes....how I miss you!

2010-05-15T04:52:00.000-07:00

I know this is completely superficial...and you probably will think I'm a very bad missionary....but I have comes to terms with this so you must also.

I miss my shoes....

I had so many at one time....now I have six...3 flip flops, 2 Keen sandals, and tennis shoes. Boring I know...

Do you remember these?? I do...

I miss the way they feel on my feet...I miss the smell of new leather...I miss my feet hurting from wearing heels all day.

These are waiting on me when we come back to the states in 2014...a long time from now...

This is all www.thepioneerwoman.com/confessions fault....she blogs about her shoes all the time... I must stop reading!!

I tried to prepare myself for not being able to shop, by bringing extra new clothes and leaving them packed away so I could "shop" and pull out new clothes when I got tired of my current ones. But I didn't do that for my shoes! What was I thinking??!!

So if you are out shopping today, go try on a pair of the cutest heels you can find, the most expensive nicest shoes and think of me in Africa with my $2.50 flip flops from Old Navy. Just don't tell me about it...because I might cry. Well not really cry...ok yes I would cry so just keep it to yourself ok?

First Times

2010-03-09T00:40:00.000-08:00

I've had many first in my life. Some were exciting and I looked forward to, but others were things that I never wanted to experience. Last weekend was a weekend of firsts and a combination of things I've dreaded and things I've been looking forward to. But all the same, it was the best weekend I've had since we arrived at our new home!!

Friday night...no power for the 4th time that day (on for a little while, off for a longer while). I was trying to figure out what to cook in the dark when B came in and said "Hey we HAVE to go eat at our neighbor's house". Instead of putting up a fight (like I would have normally me being an introvert) I said "OK". So we went...ate in the light of the stars...and talked with our neighbors that we were just meeting for the first time. I still have no idea what I ate, but it was good! First number 1!

Saturday we went to G's adopted village (G is our night guard and another first). We left late morning and drove down one of the paved roads thinking that it was right off the road. Then G said "Turn here" and we said "Where? There's no road.". To which he replied "Right here. See that little path..that's the road." So we obeyed and turned down a goat path and drove on it for about 45 minutes. We had to put our car in 4 wheel drive for the first time to get through the sand and even came home with some pretty new scratches on all sides (including the top) of our truck!!

When we finally arrived at the village we were greeted by tons of kids, some smiling some scared of the white people, but all curious! So we got out, met the chief and the maribou (witch doctor/Muslim teacher) and sat around for a bit. Then I got my first spouse swapping offer. An old man told B that he could have his wife and that he would take me. HA! It was so funny and the old man was so cute! We went into our first hut and had attaya (tea) with the promise that we would learn how to make it soon. Then we went to sit under a HUGE mango tree and just chat with the people from the village using our limited language skills.

After a while I realized that I needed to use the restroom (a first I was dreading). So we asked where we could go and my wonderful husband went with me. Now I don't want to be too graphic, but I have NEVER used anything but an American toilet. Never a bush, a tree or a hole. So after finally finding the hole (we almost confused the place where they wash with the toilet) and looking down into it (just a bit of advice....Don't do this...trust me) and wondering if what was moving down there was going to fly up at me and my hubby telling me everything was fine, I can now say that I have experienced this and while I hope I don't have to do it a lot...I did it and it was fine!

After that wonderful experience it was time to eat lunch and rest for a bit more. The kids sang to us in Pulaar (after much coaxing) and then we sang to them in English. Back and forth until they were singing the whole time! Finally the chief took us on a tour of the village and held hands with B almost the entire time! It was too cute!!! The village has a ton of cashew trees and some Italians and Spaniards pay village for the cashew nut. The village keeps the fruit and sells it at the market. After we got back we noticed it was getting late and we needed to get back. So we loaded up our guard, the chief's son and his mother and took everyone back to our city. On the way home, the chief's son's mom kept telling us that we had made her very happy and that we now had a home in that village. That we were all family now and that we needed to come back soon. After driving down a different goat path (this one was better though) we finally made it back to our house. Then for a final first we tried making attaya with our guard. To make attaya, you boil the tea, but then you pour the tea back and forth so that you get this creamy foam on the top. Needless to say, we spilled more attaya than we ended up drinking, but it was fun!!

So that was my adventure last weekend. I'm sorry it took me a while to write about, but it was such a wonderful experience that putting it into words has been really hard. I talked to my parents the next day and my dad wrote me and said I had a sparkle in my eyes and a glow on my face talking about our trip. I love my neighbors here in our city, but more and more I feel lead to go out to these villages and share. This is where the Fulakunda people are and these are the people we were lead to. Please pray for us as we continue to build a relationship with this village and more to come. So that we can share God's saving grace with them.

This is my favorite picture!! Thanks C for the great equipment!!!

Oh did I mention that I drove here for the first time and didn't run over anyone, ate from a bowl with an entire cooked rooster in it (no joke the entire thing), saw my first dust tornado, let the neighborhood kids brush and braid my hair while I painted their fingernails and toenails, and that I wore my tika ALL DAY!!! I love it here!!

It's a GIRL!!!

2010-02-22T12:45:00.001-08:00

Ok so it's a baby girl and we've named her Zelle. She is adorable and funny and quite loving. She was abandoned at a teammate's house and she knew that we'd been looking so she brought her by and we fell in love!! Ok here she is...

But in all seriousness, some did abadon this adorable puppy and she's not like most of the African dogs. She is super friendly, playful and really likes people. So we didn't have a choice...we had to give her a good home. Our night guard, G, is really excited to have a dog to keep him company. He is smitten with Ani, so we knew that he would love Zelle. Oh and if you are wondering about the name...her legs are so very long and she jumps around like a gazelle...hence zelle (zel lee).

Being flexible

2010-02-20T01:43:00.000-08:00

So we’ve been in our city for a little over a month now and I had my first really bad week. It was one of those “Ugg I live in Africa” weeks not “Yay I live in Africa!”. I started to wonder if I would ever get used to all these little things that have not been normal for me in the past and all the things that are just done differently here.

It’s been hard for me to get used to the color of the bottoms of my feet…black. My feet are always dirty. Not just dusty…dirty. Will my feet ever be the same color again?

It’s been hard for me to get used to the pace of things here. Slow. Slow. Slow. Things are just slow. Internet is slow, people are slow, eating is slow, animals are slow. The only thing that moves fast here are the taxis and they move too fast!

It’s been hard for me to get used to not being able to fix my hair. Those of you who know me know that I like my hair. I’m used to straightening irons, hair dryers and wearing my hair down as much as possible. That’s just not possible here. My hair has to be curly and pulled up off my neck and off my face. Which means no pretty hair for P!

It’s been hard for me to get used to how things are handled here. The car breaks and it gets repaired with crappy parts so that it will run for a little while. The washing machine breaks and no one can fix it. The fans don’t work…just deal with it until an electrician might be able to come out and look at it. Oh did I mention that it took 4 days for the car to be fixed and then it broke down 1.5 days later away from home?

But when I look at the faces of my neighbors, the kids, and my teacher I feel such sorrow. Because they don’t know the Father that I know, they don’t have hope, unconditional love, and forgiveness (Eph 2:12-13). They live fearful of death because they don’t have a promise of where they will end up. Then I know that I will get used to all these little things that don’t matter. Like constantly dirty feet, sweaty armpits, frizzy hair and washing food with bleach water. These things evaporate into nothingness when I start thinking about my neighbors who I’ve come to cherish going to hell because I can’t yet speak the love of Christ in their language. Then “Yay I live in Africa!” seems like a much better way of looking at things (Col 1:27).

Charades

2010-02-03T03:10:00.000-08:00

Charades…this is a game that I have resorted to playing with people here.

At orientation in VA, a guy came to talk to us about how best to learn a language. He said that we’d get frustrated and start pulling out words and phrases from any other language we might know in order to communicate. I had hoped this would mean I would pull out from the depths of my brain the French I so earnestly learned in high school. Unfortunately it has meant speaking Spanish (which I only know three words), charades and even….wait for it…..sign language….yes you read that correctly…. Last night I tried to spell something for someone in sign language who wasn’t deaf and who only speaks Pulaar.

Fortunately I have started language school so hopefully this won’t last forever. Otherwise this will be the longest game of charades in history…maybe I could get into the Guinness Book of World Records? Food for thought!

African life

2010-01-25T07:30:00.000-08:00

We have been in our city for a little over a week now and I must apologize for not getting to this sooner. We have had a little difficulty getting internet in our house and have been busy with orientation and getting acquainted with the city. But I am determined to not let another week go by without updating my blog so keep checking!!

It’s kinda surreal being here and I’m not sure I am fully grasping the extent of how long we will be here. B described it yesterday as still being in the honeymoon phase. Everything is hunky dory for now, but I’m sure the day will come when we are frustrated at our town.

So now for the good stuff….People in Africa have never seen a dog on a leash let alone a small dog on a leash! The first couple of days when we’d take our dog out to the bathroom (our yard is concrete for the moment!) they’d swarm her and watch her do her business. It’s hilarious!! Then they’d stare at her business after she left!! So we left her with a teammate and their children while we went to a nearby town (well 3 hours away) to get some things we can’t get here. The kids took her for two walks on her leash and then later that night they noticed that the neighborhood kids had caught a stray dog, tied a rope around it’s neck and then another rope to that one and were walking it down the street! For everything we are trying to do to be more like them, they are doing the same to be more like us!

Lesson learned: Be very careful at all times to imitate the One who created and loves us because that is whom we represent. The people here are always watching us and if they will imitate us walking a dog on a leash, then they might also imitate a hateful, disrespectful, or bad attitude. So we must try to walk in Him every day, every moment so that if they see and imitate anything it’s nothing but Him.

Week 7

2009-11-29T13:20:00.001-08:00

Washington DC is where these shoes took me this week. We went hoping to meet and witness to people from our people group. And we did!! We met a guy from our country who owned a little shop (where I promptly bought a purse and some earrings!) and Brock was able to talk to him about Christ. Musa (the owner) didn't really want to talk, so Brock just talked to him about what we were going to do and about sports. Then we met a guy from Eygpt, Ghana, and Mali. We ate at an Ethiopian restaurant which was great! All in all it was a good trip and a great way to spend the day!!

Week 6

2009-11-19T13:12:00.000-08:00

Contingency training is where my shoes took me this week. Scared to death!!! But it was actually really great. We talked for 3 days about what to do if you were taken hostage, kidnapped, or detained. So now we are prepared to "Stay in our box!" (I can explain if anyone wants to know)

We also learned this week about our personalities and I'm an ISTJ which means I'm an introvert (go figure) who is a practical organized thinker. Brock on the other hand was an ENPF which means he's an extrovert who is a theoritical spontaneous feeler. Talk about opposite's attract!!!

Week 5

2009-11-12T13:05:00.000-08:00

This week my shoes took me to a West African restaurant and then to Colonial Williamsburg. The restaurant was GREAT!! Peanut chicken, spicy beans and rice and fried plantains. Yum! In Williamsburg, Brock and I spent the day walking (and yes I did wear the black shoes!). The restaurant we went to was Ma Musus and she was from Liberia. She is an award winning chef and spends her extra time teaching young girls how to cook from scratch. I asked her if she could teach me and she said I was too old!!! All I can say is...Great week!!

Week 3

2009-11-08T16:53:00.000-08:00

These shoes took me to downtown RVA where we enjoyed the Civil War musuem and a great walk on the canals with my husband. It was nice to get away this weekend and just enjoy the weather, walking (and not sitting!!) and my hubby.

We also enjoyed some Veggie Straws (tastes better than it sounds)

and coffee gelato!!

Great end to a good week!!!

Week 2

2009-11-08T16:48:00.001-08:00

It is amazing how much God is already working in our lives, showing us where we need to improve and refining our sense of who He is. Entitlement has been a big word this week and I've come to realize that I am entitled to nothing. Not my shoes, not my health, not shelter and not even my husband or my family. Everything I have is because of Him who loves us and I have to let all of the above go in order to fully follow Him. I have to being willing to never have cute shoes, never be guaranteed healthiness, never see my family again and possibly lose my husband. If I'm not willing for all of this to happen, then I'm not fully surrendered to Him.

I promise, though, that this has been a GREAT week! I'll post more later!!!

Week 1

2009-11-08T16:45:00.001-08:00

Off to a rocky start since I stepped on a piece of metal the night before we left IL. Bruised my foot terribly, had to get a tetanus shot, and I’m limping. But I have managed to still wear a different pair of shoes everyday (although they’re flats).

My shoes took me to all my sessions where I was informed that my schedule is no longer my own. Fortunately I was prepared for this reality so I had already surrendered my schedule to God’s timing this week. I did however learn (the hard way) that even when your plans are for God, He still might interrupt them for a better plan. And it’s doesn’t mean that your plans weren’t good enough, it just means that God’s plans are always better and we need to give every second over to His trustworthy hands.

So many shoes, so little time…

2009-11-08T16:31:00.000-08:00

So as most of you know, I’m in VA at orientation for 8 weeks. And as most of you know I love my shoes and will be leaving behind most of my shoes when we move overseas. I figured this would be among my last times to wear them….so I brought them with me!

On the email about what to bring to orientation, it said “Comfortable walking shoes” and I don’t think most of these would qualify!

My husband made fun of me terribly for bringing all these shoes, so I promised him I’d wear them all before the end of orientation. Hence my idea of my shoe blog! I’m going to take a picture of my shoes everyday and post weekly updates on our experience here. So enjoy my shoes, where they take me, and if you remember, pray that I don’t get any blisters!!

Week 4

2009-11-07T12:43:00.000-08:00

This week my shoes were my favorite thing. Kinda hit a wall this week. Between really adjusting to living here, dealing with people 24/7, and my responsibilities, I've been really down. So I've enjoyed looking at my pretty shoes and feeling like everything will be okay in the world as long as I have great shoes. So I went outside and played on the slide with Brock and now I feel better!!