Silly Gourds

Last fall I bought green apple gourds at a local pumpkin patch to use for Fall decoration. When they began to lose their color and start rotting I threw them in the woods out back. Happily, I found them again this Spring. I soaked the gourds in bleach water, drilled a hole to empy the insides, and now the girls are painting them to make birdhouses. We'll see if birds ends up coming to nest in the gourds, but it's been a fun craft, nonetheless, and they fit the ambiance of our cottage yard.

The Poisonwood Bible

"I have pictured it many times-Hope!-wondering how I would catch such a thing one-handed, if it did come floating down to me from the sky. Now I find it has fallen already, and a piece of it is here beside our latrine, one red plume. In celebration I stooped down to pick it up." (p 185)
Recently, most of my free time as been going towards re-reading my favorite book, The Poisonwood Bible. I'm not the type that usually re-reads books (besides the Bible and cookbooks) because there's always new books I want to read. A few weeks ago, though, I was in a reading slump and trying to remember why I tagged The Poisonwood Bible as my favorite book. So...I got out the book and haven't been able to put it down. Why do I love this book? This book is a story of all things I'm most passionate about rolled up into one geniously written novel...God, missions, culture, injustice, women, love, history, economics, integrity, language, perseverance, etc.
For those of you who have read the book and are surprised that me, a Christian, would like this book so much let me just say a few things: I'm angered that the missionaries in this book gave God a bad rep which negatively effected a whole family & villages' view on Jesus. I think, however, that a lot of readers can relate to feeling those same negative feelings towards Jesus and Christians because of the harsh or boring or manipulative way Christ was explained to them. Everything within me wants to fix the mistakes of the father chracter and introduce the villagers to the Jesus that I know. I'd like to do the same for real people as well. I do believe there is a place for missionaries & I wish the book had a happier ending. But The Poisonwood Bible is a fascinating & realistic-feeling story that re-kindles the fire within me to make my life count by living a life that has been changed because of Jesus. It challenges me to think about what Christianity is all about. I'm not going to enter into any more details, but if you have ever been dying to strike up a conversation with me, read the book and I'd love to listen to your thoughts and share mine!

Hope

I've always been a person of hope & perseverence, believing in a future of greatness & continually striving towards dreams. I love those qualities about myself, and I have Jesus Christ to thank for His promise of giving me a hope and a future. A negative side to those attributes, however, is the temptation to leave today behind. Someday, I hope God will fulfill my dream to live with my family in another country, helping bring physical and spiritual relief to hurting people born into poverty. Until then, I know I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be right now, and yet I'm not doing much to make those dreams a reality. What am I doing in my everyday life to help Clarksville families find spiritual and physical hope in Jesus? What are the hopes and futures you cling to? Are you in a place of no hope? Perhaps you're in an opposite position of myself & only living in the today? Or are you like me and living mainly for the future? Wherever you are, I pray that the below will encourage you.
For the past several weeks thoughts like the above have been swirling around in my head & I haven't taken the time to record them...until now. Since the above revelation, I have been trying to take more time living in today's moments...starting my day reading the Bible & praying, not rushing Ellie out the door or picking Saedi up because she doesn't walk fast enough for me. I've been trying to enjoy relationships more and taking time out for people and the now moments of my life. These past few weeks with family allowed me mental reflecting time and the opportunity to make some changes in my everyday life...what I eat, how I spend my time,etc. The reflection, though, has also led to a desired change with my blogging. So, this is my first attempt to mesh the two: ordinary life and the eternal effect of lessons learned.

The other night I had a friend over for dinner but I was treated to serious conversations about our different spiritual beliefs. We talked a lot about faith and hope and what those ideas mean to us. As I talked with my friend I was reflecting on ideas I hadn't thought about in years. I realized I have an abnormal amount of faith and hope in my life...enough that I would base my worldview on those two concepts. My friend does not believe that anyone's eternal future should be based on faith, and, therefore, he doesn't value hope & faith like me. For me, though, I've experienced the reality of God at a young age. While I have always believed there existed a God and that Jesus was the son of God, I remember the moment I chose to live my life for God. I remember choosing to give up my habit of lying. And I remember the night I cried out to God and He spoke to me telling me everything would be alright. My friend has not had a God encounter like I have had, and while he desires an encounter with God, he's lost hope that that could happen for him. My encounter was real and I cling to the hope that God is who He says He is and that His promises are true. Hope is a wonderful, powerful thing. Hope is something that if you cling to it, it can't be taken from you. So, wherever you are in your personal journey of faith, hope, life, your future, don't back down until you get the answers you need to make hope a reality in your life.

More Michigan Fun

Ice Cream...

Stuffed Bob Cats...

And Climbing

What more could 2 girls ask for?

Michigan

So, only 2 days into our vacation and a collection of stories & photos to be shared. First, would be our dramatic, 12 hour road trip full of two vomitting spells by a special three-year-old (the first of those incidents happening in the car)! Upon arriving to Mimi & Papa's house the girls played in the basement will all the toys, and the prize possession, Bunny Arabella. Yesterday was a beautiful 70 degree and sunny day spent at the house with the cousins...having a picnic, driving cars, going on a walk, eating ice cream, playing at the park, etc. Today we ventured into Holland for the annual Tulip Time festival. We dressed the girls in their costumes and met up with the cousins and had fun running amongst the tulips and rolling down hills. We watched a quick dutch dancing session and treated ourselves to popcorn and a snowcone. We're waiting for the rain to come tonight so we'll see how the rest of the week pans out!
Asher-Boy

Ellie & Ty

Mimi & Addi

Papa with the Girls

Dutch Beauties

Ta Da!

The landscaping is finally finished! If you remember back, Megan and I added stone and lattice under the deck, but we were left with a 12 inch gap under much of the lattice. Megan had to go back home and I was feeling stumped with how to fill in the space. What to do, what to do? I decided to build a retaining wall, so I started digging, bought the stones, and then decided the project was too daunting to do alone. I returned all the blocks and decided to fill in the emptiness with dirt. Wasn't working! The slope was too steep and the dirt simply wouldn't stay in place. I was venting to Nat and she convinced me we could do the retaining wall and it wouldn't be that hard. Thanks to her push, I bought back all the blocks, plus some, and we went to work. For a week and a half (that's right...what a committed friend!!!) we diligently designed, dug, hulled, planted, spread, pounded, and sweated our way to a beautifully landscaped deck area. Nat was right that the project was totally do-able, even though it took time and sweat, but I would have definitely lost steam if it hadn't been for her everyday push. And...we did all this with our 4 kiddos around...I'm even impressed by us. Check out our progressive pictures.
Nat was doing shrugs in order to get a decent workout

The Race

Before each deployment Riley and I make it a priority to sit down together and map out goals for ourselves. One of mine was to run a half marathon in under 2 hours. This past Saturday I ran the Country Music Half Marathon for the 2nd year in a row. This year, however, I was able to get a personal record (pr) during the race and finish in 1:58:05 (my old pr was 2:02 in 2007)AND check a major goal of my list! I've gotta say, though, that the race was the toughest half I've ever done. I don't know if it was the heat, the hills, taking off too quickly, or just an off-day, but I had to walk several times, and that's something I've never had to do before. The highlight of the race was getting to watch the beautiful Kenyan men blow everyone away running the whole marathon (and finishing in 2:13 & 2:14 times). It was an honor to get to run the same route as those champions. The low point of the race was at mile 6 when I had to talk myself into running another hour when I thought I couldn't make my goal time. Admist the highs and lows were the awesome crowds of cheering people, and some of the runners were a hoot, too. I tried to keep pace with a man running with an inflatable monkey on his back, but alas, he left me in the dust. My favorite runner was a tall African American man who came barrelling from behind shouting, "C'mon! This ain't no big hill. No hill at all! This ain't no big hill. No hill at all!" etc. It truly was motivating to push through the pain...and painful it was! I crossed the finish line and had a stranger help me sit down but while I sucked down a water and doused myself with salt water sponges. At this point I didn't know if I had reached my goal or not. I knew it was close and I knew I had given it my all. Riley skyped me that afternoon and was actually the one to announce to me my time and the good news that I had reached my goal! Hooray!