Thankful

Today I am thankful for so many things that I could never list them all…but I’ll list just a few J

I am thankful for my family… as a co-worker put it so beautifully, ”thankful to have a family it hurts to miss” ..Doesn’t that sum it up perfectly?J

I am thankful for my wonderful husband who is my best friend and who loves me with everything he is.

I am thankful for my company who allows me to serve the Lord in the most perfect way for me, who allowed me to bring my “things” with me (I know it’s petty but it helps on those days that are hard), and who provides us with so many benefits like a car, a house and running water.

I am thankful for my co-workers who are there to support me, listen to me and encourage me.

I am thankful for all our volunteers who sacrifice so much to come out here and share God’s love with the people here that we love so much.

I am thankful for our car that allows us to get out to hard to reach places and has A/C J

I am thankful for our dogs that make me laugh with their antics.

I am thankful for our night guard who makes me feel a little safer at night and tries his hardest to take good care of us

I am thankful for technology, especially for Google and Skype…Google which got me through my first year of cooking everything from scratch and having to find substitutes and Skype because I get to see my family every week and talk to my friends whenever I want

I am thankfully for iced coffee…again minor things, but it gets me through the hot season!

And finally but most importantly I am thankful for my God that allows me to be a part of His marvelous plan, who gives me the privilege of working for Him in this capacity (even though He doesn’t need me) and sharing His love with the people here.  I am so thankful for His forgiveness of my imperfectness and my shortcomings and His grace. And I am so thankful that He sent His Son to die for my sins that I might have a relationship with Him. What an amazing God we serve!!

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Chicken to the rescue!

After a very long and very emotionally exhausting day, I was ready to be home and dive into the world of my latest book “A Journey to the Center of the Earth”. A woman, O, from the village asked if we could take her into town so we agreed. We had spent most of the day in her compound and B had a little shadow, M that followed him everywhere. M is one of those kids that you hate to love. He’s ornery, talks back, and cries a lot, but he talked freely to us “tuubaako’s” after about 10 minutes, pulled some hilarious antics and is cute as all get out! So when O told us that she was sleeping at M’s family’s house in town, we knew that we had to go and greet the family of this hilarious kid.

By the time we arrived it was dark. We had to walk 15 minutes down the road because it was too bad to take the truck. We got the house and I realized that since it was dark, I wasn’t even going to be able to recognize anyone in the compound when I saw them again! But thankful when M’s mom came out she invited us in and we spent the next 45 minutes chatting about life, her kids, M’s antics and her dancing baby.

As we were walking out a couple of grandma’s came up to greet us. One of the grandmas had a rival last name so B, being the man he is, started teasing this old grandma! She laughed and then the other grandma told us that she was the same last name as ours. She was so happy and laughing, which filled erased all my tiredness and replaced it with joy. So as she walked us out, she stopped us and ran, yes ran, back to her compound and came running, yes running, back out with a chicken in tote! Now we have been given chickens here before, but it’s always right before we eat them. They usually present them to us and then prepare it for lunch. But she was giving us this chicken to keep because she was overjoyed that we had come to greet the house.

Our lovely gift!

As I walked back to the car , I looked back over our day. Our long, tiring day. We’d been in O’s compound, which is our people group, and they were so loving and open even though they didn’t really know us. Then we took a little trip to another people group’s village with a different heart language than we know. There were people that wanted to hear about JC, but when we arrived there, they barely talked to us, didn’t look at us, and barely even greeted us despite them knowing the language we speak. It certainly wasn’t the reception I had been anticipating. After that I was so drained emotionally, feeling defeated and worthless. But this old grandma renewed my energy, reminded me of why we’re here and how important it is to speak in the people’s heart language. It also reminded me of how faithful our God is. Even though I didn't get the reception I thought we would, and even though doing the work there wore me OUT, God still gave me the energy to greet another 10 new people and allowed me to have an incredible warm reception at this new house where we can now go back and share His truth. 

And a chicken. He gave us a chicken :) 

Our beauty! Our guard will keep him at his house until we are ready for a coop!

Update: And we got home to find two people waiting for us to share with them. B is outside as I type this sharing the Good News with them!! God's faithfulness never ceases to amaze me!

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What gets me through the day?

In 90-110+ degree weather with high humidity levels there is only one thing that gets me through the day. Iced Coffee. Need I say more? I became addicted when I worked at a certain bakery in downtown Edwardsville where we called it “Iced Crack” because of the high caffeine levels and the addictive tendency. But when I quit there to come here, I quickly switched back to hot coffee and loved it. Then our second hot season hit and I was dying. I love love drinking coffee but drinking such a hot liquid when it's 90 degrees at 9am was ridiculous. So after doing some research I finally found a way to make iced coffee here. And let me tell you…it is the ONLY thing that will get you through the heat and wake you up!

Foam, ice, coffee = happiness :)

Iced Coffee (Cold brew)

Note: I make a quarter batch so that it doesn’t take up room in my fridge and it lasts me about a week and half to two weeks depending on how sluggish I am :0)

¼ pound of coffee grounds

8 cups of cold water (or if you’re like me..room temp because that means I have to use all the cold water in my fridge)

Put coffee grounds in a mixing bowl or sealable container. Pour water over coffee grounds and gently stir to wet all the grounds. Then cover the container and let sit overnight or for stronger coffee, 24 hours.

Strain the grounds out into another container (I use an empty 1.5L water bottle). Now I strain twice. Once in a fine sieve to collect all the grounds and another time with a filter to collect all the….really really fine grounds and to purify it even more. Store in fridge.

To Drink

Get a big huge glass and fill it halfway with ice. Then pour in your milk and whatever sugar you want to use. Fill the remainder with your coffee from the fridge and enjoy!

Now if you are like me follow these instructions:

Get a big empty Jif peanut butter container or big empty applesauce jar from the cabinet. Fill half with ice; add your Splenda (1/4 packet), soy milk and delectable cold coffee. Then put on the lid and shake shake shake! Take off the lid and enjoy your deliciousness!!!!

Applesauce jars make the best drinking containers!

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Character Building

I have always thought of myself as an easy person to get along with. I think I’m loving, kind and encouraging. I try to listen, to care and to show love to my friends and others. I know that I’m not perfect and have done my share of hurting others, but for the most part I thought I was easy to get along with. Until moving overseas.

Living overseas brings to light many things that you need to change about yourself. We change how we dress to fit in, we change how we speak, how we eat, how we function. But God takes it to a whole new level and shows us these things in ourselves that still need improvement. Our time here so far has been a roller coaster of emotions, really high highs and really low lows. Many times those emotions have been focused on the ministry. We’ve rejoiced, we’ve cried, we’ve begged, we’ve been joyful. But the other highs and lows have dealt with our relationship to the Father.

Apparently one lesson that I need to be taught right now is about myself and how I need to respond to others. You see I thought all these things about myself, but apparently I’m not what I thought I was. Apparently I still need to work on my listening, my encouraging, my getting along with others, showing love to others and caring for others. Apparently it seems that I’m not doing what I need to be doing and God is using my current circumstances to change me.

And it hurts. Let me tell you it hurts. To be told that you are not these things that you think you are, to be told out of the blue. It’s a shocker..it’s not pleasant and it’s left me feeling incredibly…incapable and like an utter failure in life and ministry.  I guess character changing with God is never easy or really particularly pleasant.  It feels like someone has punched me in the chest, pushed me off a cliff, like someone has smacked me in the face. I’ve cried, a lot. I’ve cursed the circumstances, asked God to let me be, and finally ended up on my face in front of Him.

You see, I am not a strong person naturally. People may think I am, but I’m not. I’m a weak person who pretends to be tough because it hurts too much to let people see my frailty. So I have to, I must rely on Him to get me through the character building, the trials and the triumphs. He is the only one who will never leave me or forsake me. He is the only one who loves me because of everything I am, because He created me. He is the only one who can get me past the pain and hurt and make me better, stronger, more loving, more caring, just better. He is the only one who knows me and knows my heart and how much it hurts. And He is the only one who can change me, improve me and make me more like Him.

So I will rejoice…or at least try to…for my trials, for my brokenness. Because it means that He’s not finished with me yet and that I still have work here to do. I will choose to focus on how to be more Christ like and ask Him to heal my pain. I will take the character building in any form and cherish it because I know I’m not perfect. I will rejoice in all the trials I’ve had in the recent years and the trials that I will have in the future because I know He loves me and will be with me through every one. And I will be confident that He will make me more like Him through each hardship, hurt feeling and pain. Because I know that He understands, forgives even when others do not, and wants the best for me no matter what I feel.

A friend shared these verses with me tonight and reminded me of what needs to be my perspective.

A friend shared these verses with me tonight and reminded me of what needs to be my perspective.

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Grossness

Grossness seems to be a theme this month.  Let me explain.

The first thing that happened was that Zelli, our adorably stupid African dog, had mango flies. Three of them. Now for those of you who don't know what mango flies are let me explain. They are flies that lay their eggs which then hatch and try to find a host to grow in. Once they are grown they come out the host and bury themselves in the ground to pupate. Now...when I say they find a host I mean that they bury themselves under the skin and gestate.

That being said, we got ready to leave the house and I noticed that Zelli had two brown spots on her leg. So I stooped down to look and thought that my dog had been bitten by a vampire. Seriously. I'm not joking. She had a hole in her leg at least 1/4" in diameter. So I called B over (because I might have been freaking out a bit) and he then "squeezed" the other brown spot. Out popped...yep popped...a mahusive (massively huge) larvae. DISGUSTING!! I might have proceeded to throw up a little in my mouth and freak out. Maybe. So then it really looked like she had been bitten by a vampire because the holes were less than an inch apart!

This is why we are advised to let our clothes either a) dry for 48 hours before wearing them or b) iron everything you wash before putting it on. We usually try to do the drying thing because well...I hate ironing with a passion. And I'm not to big on ironing underwear or socks :) But people have been known to have these things. Seriously if your gag reflex isn't too bad, you should google "mango fly" and just look at the images. It is not for the faint of heart!

I didn't take pictures of our baby dog and I won't show you a picture because it's disgusting. Needless to say she was babied for several days while I felt awful.

This is how our adorably stupid Zelli sleeps!

The second thing that happened was this...

6 baby mice

Over the past three years we have had a few mice in the house. Usually they are around when we've been out of the house for a few days. We'll put out some poison and within a few hours there comes a staggering little mouse seconds away from passing into mouse heaven. But this month we had what we could only assume to be several mice that just wouldn't die. We put out poison with peanut butter, set traps, put poison with dog food and bread all to no avail. Finally one night around 2am I got up and headed to the bathroom for a drink of water. As soon as I got in there a mouse ran in with me! So my brave and wonderful husband came in, stuffed a towel under the door and then we proceed to run around trying to catch the mouse while also trying not to slip on the wet tile. Finally after 10 minutes or so B squished the mouse with our squeegee. One down! 

A few days later we headed out for the day and when we got back we immediately knew that something had died in our house. So B again, being the wonderful husband he is, set out to find the source of the stench and found a dead one in the office. Two down! 

We thought we had won. We celebrated with dinner and dancing...just joking. But we did celebrate our victory over the mice again. The next day B was fixing some things and got into a cabinet in the office to get some tools when he heard some squeaking. Yes squeaking. So he dug out all the tools and voila! A NEST! With 6 baby mice that could barely move and hadn't even opened their eyes yet. As I bent down to see what B was trying to show me, one wobbled at me and I screamed. Loudly. Very loudly. So we scooped them up and threw them over the back wall, knowing that they would very quickly die or be eaten. 

So that was our excitingly gross month. Hopefully never to happen again because well..it's gross!

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Stuck...again

I didn't want to advertise this until we were further along in the process, but I'm in desperate need of some help and so, I am turing to you, my readers for your prayers.

Before Brock and I got married, we each felt that God was leading us to include adoption in our future families. In fact, before we were dating I asked Brock about the issue just to see what he might say...even though I was going to Africa by myself ;). Since then we've been talking and praying about the right time to start a family and a while ago we finally felt like it was time. So we started praying about where to adopt from and after much researching, asking around and more prayer we settled on Ghana.

However living overseas complicates everything. Like having to have an appointment at the US Embassy 12 hours away that only has two appointments every two months to get a paper notarized. Like having to wait for the first round of paperwork to reach you through a volunteer team. Like having to find a social worker on your own to do the home study. We have tried so many avenues and all seem to come to a dead end. We have sent so many emails and called so many people which all end in either a) it's SOOO expensive (try $15,000 just for the home study) or b) "Sorry we can't help you" or "I don't know anyone". And this is where we are...stuck...waiting...trying to be patient while God works His magic.

I feel like I've been waiting for a good portion of my life. My life at times feels like endless bouts of paperwork and processes. Waiting...trying to get approved...waiting...all to do what I know God has called me, my family to do. And so I keep waiting. Waiting for the family I know that God has for me, waiting for the baby/child that will become part of our family, waiting for God to give me a break, waiting for my heart to stop hurting, waiting for the tears to stop and waiting for answers.

But as my wonderful, insightful and amazing mother reminded me the other day.."God is faithful and He will send us our child. Take this time and cherish the extra time to pray for this little one and the family that he/she will come from". So can you pray with me? Pray that we find a social worker who will do our home study or an agency that won't charge a million dollars. Pray that our hearts are trusting and that we are patient. Pray that our child's biological mother will be safe and that somehow the love of Christ will be shown to her through this. Pray for our child, for their safety and care before they reach our arms.

Thank you for being a place that I can turn too and thank you for praying with us :)

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