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Sunday, 15 April 2012

"Where Christ is, cheerfulness will keep breaking in." - Dorothy Sayers

Sunday, 11 December 2011

Home for Christmas

In my opinion, home is the nicest place to be at Christmas, and especially when all the family can be together. But what if someone doesn't have a home to go to for Christmas? What if someone doesn't have a family?

There is a wee girl who fits this description in an orphanage far, far away. Her name is Ali. Actually....Ali does have a family. She just doesn't know it yet. There is a family in my area who is going through the hoops and mountains of paperwork necessary to adopt Ali and bring her across the ocean to her very own home and FAMILY.

As most people know, an overseas adoption is very expensive, and the Walkers have been working very diligently and with much creativity to raise the funds necessary for Ali's adoption. They're getting closer! This week they are giving away a Kindle Fire as incentive for getting the word out about Ali and essentially allowing others to be a part of this process with them. As Di put it in her blog: "Let's make sure this little girl never spends another Christmas in an orphanage, but in a happy home with her forever family, surrounded by people who love her!"

Click HERE to take part in this Christmas giveaway! We can't help all the hurting children in the world. But we can play a small part in helping this one. And who knows how the Lord might use this one little girl to further His kingdom? With God, the possibilities are beyond our wildest imaginations.

This is Ali. :)

Friday, 11 November 2011

Monday, 31 October 2011

Being a Christian is like being a pumpkin...

God lifts you up, takes you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. He opens you up, touches you deep inside and scoops out all the yucky stuff - including the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc. Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside you to shine for all the world to see.

This was passed on to me from another pumpkin.

Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:16

Saturday, 29 October 2011

Try thinking on your feet

I expressed some frustration to a friend over how often when I sit down to update my blog, I suddenly find my mind an absolute blank. Her response? "Then stand up and type." She was joking (I think), but that might have been the best advice she could have given me. Even at thirty-something I'm still learning how my brain processes things, but the "discoveries" I've made in the past year or so have been tremendously helpful.

"What? You mean I'm not stupid?" Happy thought indeed!

One thing I've learned is that my brain usually works best when I'm in motion. When I'm walking, doing dishes, taking a shower, doing something crafty with my hands... (And by "brain works best" I mean if I'm attempting to produce something - an essay, letter, Awana lesson - or problem solve. Anything that requires output.) Now that I think about it, I can remember times at work when I would pace up and down the office trying to figure out how to fix the bookkeeping mess a client brought in.

Or there was the time at the missionary training center...

The setting was our wee little apartment. My roommate and I were individually doing a write up on the data we had obtained from our culture and language acquisition practicum. For weeks we had been investigating a particular culture event with our language helper, and the data collected was, up to that point, in scribbly notebook form. (Or at least mine was.) Now came the task of doing a write up. Lindsey sat at her desk and wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote. I hardly remember her coming out of her room once. (Well, maybe once.) I, on the other hand, looked like a jack-in-the-box. Thankfully by this time I had made the glorious brain-processing discovery about myself, otherwise the write up could have been frustrating to the extreme. I would write, write, write.....and then find my brain locking up. No big deal. Don't fight it. I would walk away from my desk and do something crafty with my hands or walk down to the end of the sidewalk in front of the apartment, all the while half thinking about how best to put into words what I needed/wanted to convey. Often it would only take a few minutes or so for - Ah-ha! Inspiration! And back I would go to my computer. Sometimes I was only able to write for twenty minutes before I had to take a break from it, but that's just the way it goes. For me. :)

I'm still trying to figure out how best to use this reality in how God has wired my brain, but at least I'm not getting frustrated with myself as much as I used to. Perhaps my next desk should be a tall one so I can stand up while I work... Not a bad idea, really.

Oh, look! A new post. :)

This picture really has nothing to do with the post. They're just my happy, little plants.

Sunday, 23 October 2011

This little fellow (who wasn't entirely certain about the frosting on the bite of cake I offered him) represents one of the best parts of my months at home since completing the cross-cultural ministry training with New Tribes Mission in May. It has been an absolute joy babysitting him and his wee sister twice a week while their parents are at work. It has also been a tremendous responsibility and opportunity to teach him the truths of God's word. Although not yet three, he is a sponge and takes in absolutely everything I say and do. "Monkey see, monkey do?" That's him.

On similar lines, I've also had the privilege of teaching the story/lesson to the Sparks in our Awana program. At ages K-2nd they are little sponges as well, and I love watching them grasp the concepts about God we've been talking about the last month or so.

"Who can tell me what a rubber band reminds us about God?"

Off to game time...

It was Crazy Hair Night. Just in case you couldn't tell. :)