God talk

Since returning from Ethiopia, God’s voice & presence has been absolutely spectacular & riveting to me.  What I deeply love & crave is His voice & presence in my daily living – watching the kids, getting school supplies, cooking, driving, hanging out, . . . .  Coming home has been a dynamic experience in relation to God. 

Something that I deeply treasure is that my sleep schedule is off, so I get up pretty early & consequently have these spectacular times of fellowship w Him that are far better than any sleep I would want or need.  I love when He says, “He wakens my ear to listen as one being taught” in Is 50:4.  I was made for ongoing fellowship w my Maker – what a beautiful groove in which to live.

the end of a long day

Ok, I didn’t fall back asleep & its almost 9p.  I think I’ve choked the marrow out of this day’s bone.  Generally feeling better – ate sushi tonight so that might be entertaining for later.  🙂

I think that its been a good day . . . endeavoring to keep my heart set on God & I need to take my malaria pill, so good night before I fall asleep & forget.

back home

Well, we’re back home but I think it will take some time to get into the groove.  Yesterday, I was TOTALLY sick all day & for me, that’s pretty unusual.  I also think it’s kind of comical to get sick in America but to stay healthy & strong in Ethiopia.  We had an excellent time there – saw God do some very amazing things, but for me, the best part is a deepening I sense in my walk w God.  I had some very captivating times w God, hearing Him speak clearly, sensing His presence.  I’m most grateful for this.  There was one time when I woke up around 130a & didn’t want to wake Isabell, so I lit a candle, began reading my Bible & had some incredible fellowship w Him.  I’ll never forget this.

Back in America, its almost 430a & I’ve been up since about 230.  I think I’ll try going back to sleep now.

last post before ethiopia

First off, pls note that the “i” key popped off my computer, so things may seem “i”-less.

Moving on, we leave in the morn & will spend the night in DC, then our ethiopia flight leaves Sun morn & we arrive Mon morn early.  We spend one night in the capital, Addis Ababa & then fly to Gondar where we’ll be spending most of our minstry time.  I’m endeavoring to blog everyday there but basically at greenbracelet so check in there for the latest & greatest.

In the meantime, any prayers you’d remember to offer for Reece & my little men would be greatly appreciated – Isabell & I also.  Encourage Reece that he’s a great father & husband.  🙂

food for body (tres leches & coconut cream) & soul

Ok, my good friend Jolene has her bday tomorrow & her kind husband let me know that she really likes our tres leches cake – so we made one today.  If you’ve never had a tres leches cake, it would bring me great joy to let you experience the joy w our family sometime.  This is reece’s fav cake (maybe tied w moist carrot cake), so he always gets jittery when I make it because of his inclination to consume large portions in vaccuum style.  😉  Needless to say, I like to cook this cake bc its hard to ruin.

My next cooking endeavor will be in tv taping tomorrow w a coconut cream pie.  If you were around on the Wed nite when I finished the beatitudes series, you’ll recall the entertaining coconut cream pie fiasco – it was a step up from my attempt to “toast” whipped cream under the broiler.  Enough on that one.  (personally, i think cooking should include some comic relief – mine usually does!) 

As for the soul food – here’s my wisdom for the nite:  visit my buddy’s blog: kevlarbeard.  He has a list of suggestions that are really powerful!!!!

check out new ethiopia post

pop over to www.greenbracelet.wordpress.com to get the latest – we’re getting into final preparation mode – I hope I don’t forget anything!

pho phollow up

Just a quickie for all y’all who missed the raucous pho night on Sun!  We had a blast!!!  Nathan Malone has moved beyond a pho apprentice into the Master realm for ingesting a durian boba – ask him, that’s all I’m saying.  The delightful Allan Pan graced us with his presence, & humor, the delightful Gallant couple was truly gallant, Chelps drove in early from Kansas to make the evening (pho or kansas?  that’s a toughie), Justyn Regan was mighty in wit, Zach Hilbrich was as clever as always and the color of Bryan Kinney’s pho matched his hair (kind of orangish red).  Anyways, if you missed having phun with us, then make it a priority to be there the next time.  I’ll give you plenty of warning!

We had a blast & the only way it could have been more phun is if you had been there.  🙂  Now while pho may not be your bowl of noodles / cup of tea, its all about the people – so just come & have an iced coffee, salty lemonade, or whatever & enjoy the comphany!  Its wonderphul! 😉

hope

Hope is essential to life.  We all need hope – hope that today will have good things in it, hope that our hearts will stay connected to Christ, hope that the price of gas will stop rising, hope that my son David will stop trying to get me to like snakes, hope that I’m doing a good job as a wife & mom, hope that God is bigger than my doubts, hope that they’ll have decaffeinated coffee in Ethiopia, . . . .  hope. 

Obama wrote a book called, “The Audacity of Hope” – I have the audacity of hope that God is alive & working in every moment of each day through the good, medium & yucky.  Ps 146:5,  “Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in the LORD his God.”
What are your hopes?

consumption

I’ve been thinking about consumption alot lately.  As humans, we consume alot.  Some things are necessary, some are luxuries and some things we consume are non-sensical – look at the trash dumps.  I wonder if I consume too much and don’t give enough.  One of my reasons for not being generous or not giving is that I’ll run out or there’s not enough, or limited supplies and resources. 

It stresses me out when I run out of something – when I run out of time or ideas or money or energy or even myself.  I find that when I get spun out in this deadend of inadequacy, my problem, largeley, is that I’m neglecting to keep my eyes on God as my provision (of truth, direction, wisdom, strength, . . . ).    When I get my eyes off God, great darkness sneaks in and I find myself rapidly coming to the end of my self.  I’m human and I consume, but the ultimate truth is that my consumption needs to be grounded in God.  I need Him.

things I like about my kids

I like lots of things about my kids, but here are a few:

Isabell – I like how she’s a strong person.  What she puts her mind to, she accomplishes.  She’s also very sweet, kind & super smart.  She loves Jesus lots.

David – I like how he’s always thinking & he often looks for ways to help me.  He wrote a worship song the other day & sang it for me – left me speechless.

Benji – he’s always happy and very snuggly.  He also is a source of endless energy – even when he sleeps, he moves alot. 

Here’s something cool too – last weekend, Isabell, David & I cut up 12lbs of strawberries & no one complained – they were happy as clams!  Amazing.

I really like my kids.  They’re fun, insightful, joyful, kind, spiritual, intelligent, strong, fun . . . .  Having kids has been one of the most delightful things in my life.  Having kids is challenging & very fulfilling.  There are moments of definite frustration but also moments of total amazement.