Precious

We all occasionally have a day that causes us before it is finished to think perhaps we should have stayed in bed so as to avoid all the day’s mishaps. Yesterday was my turn. 

I didn’t expect everything to take longer than usual and to feel rushed. I didn’t expect to have a headache all day, or to have an invasion of ants akin to an Alfred Hitchcok movie. Less than an hour after my floors were swept and mopped, ants were all over the floors AND walls of one end of the house. I did not expect that as I was spraying insecticide and sweeping ants off the walls and floors, my son would accidentally spill an entire box of Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder on yet another portion of the freshly mopped floor. It was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. 

Cocoa can be hard to find here and very expensive when it is available. Good cocoa is even more rare and Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa does not exist here at all, ever.  I had brought back a couple of boxes from furlough and they were going to have to last until the next furlough two years later.  It was an accident, and I knew it, but for just a second I wanted to turn into something like Gollum yelling about his Precious. I thank God that as I knelt there sweeping up the mess I looked up and saw my son’s face just before I was about to let my frustration fly out of my mouth like an arrow and hit him right in the heart. It gave me enough pause to be able to stop myself.  I still had to explain that my frustration was with the way our day was going and not with him, but at least I did not have to apologize for hurtful words. 

It is in those "unexpecteds" that our true character shows, and I saw that I had plenty of room for improvement. I also saw that God is even now still working on me. I saw Him give grace in a moment when I needed it. He gently reminded me that cocoa and clean floors are very nice things to have, but they are not precious. We are here in Congo because people are what is precious - so precious that Christ gave his life for them. 



Please be in prayer for us, that we might always be mindful of what is truly precious and that our words and deeds will reflect that. Pray for the precious people of Congo, that they will place their faith in Christ and find their strength in Him.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Catching up. A few weeks ago we flew out of Congo. Our destination was Missouri for our son's wedding, but since we had to have a layover in Belgium anyway, and we had not had a vacation in a long time, we extended our layover to a couple of days so that we could see a bit of Belgium.

I was completely enchanted with Belgium. It was my first experience in any part of Europe. I like old things, and there are lots of old things there. I like chocolate. Belgium does chocolate very well. We saw chocolatiers everywhere and I would have liked to visit all of them. 

We only had two days, so the first day we took a train (my first train ride!) to Brussels Central and spent the day doing a walking tour of the older part of town. All of the streets here were narrow, winding, and cobble-stoned. The buildings were ancient and bold, yet charming. A strange mix of gargoyles and window boxes, towers and ivy. 

For day two we rented a car and drove to the city of Brugges. It was cold and rainy and we REALLY appreciated the lunch and hot drinks we bought in the little cafes. I loved touring the old buildings and churches. One church, St. Salvator's, dates to the 12th century and contains breathtaking art pieces. 

I also fell in love with the canals in Brugges. 

In spite of temps in the forties and almost constant rain, we had a wonderful time and would have stayed longer if we could have. 

Un Moment Chocolat - A Chocolate Moment

During family conference a few weeks ago I was blessed with an incredible gift: a bag of Dove Caramel Chocolates. This week when I opened the last precious piece the little message on the wrapper said "Share a chocolate moment with a friend." Well, none of my friends were around at the time. And it WAS the LAST piece.

So, I ate it.

Last weekend, I was in a store with my friend Christine (one of the unfortunate friends I did not share a chocolate moment with when I ate the LAST piece of Dove) and we saw these gigantic bars of chocolate.

 A single bar was eleven pounds! Eleven pounds of Belgian chocolate! (voice squeaking loudly here). Imagine the chocolate moment I could have with THAT! I'm pretty sure if word got out that I had eleven pounds of Belgian chocolate I would have about 200 girlfriends ready to join me in a Guiness Word Record "moment chocolat."  Sadly, to quote a favorite VeggieTale movie, the price was "out of range."

Another favorite VeggieTales quote is from Madame Blueberry. Bob asks Larry "How much stuff do you need to make you happy?" Larry's answer is "I dunno. How much stuff is there?" Just the other day David asked me what I was doing and I said I was downloading a free quilt pattern. He asked me how many quilt patterns one person can need. I, of course, gave him the same answer I give him when he asks me how many books I need or how much fabric I need - "I dunno. How many are there?"

Have you ever tried to memorize anything from the book of Lamentations? I never have until now. Lamentations is a book that I under-appreciated for a long time. I think it's because of the title. When you think about laments, lamenting, lamentations,..it just doesn't sound as good as it really is. So, I am going to share a Lamentations moment with you. I just added Lamentation 3:22-23 to my memory verses. Here are the verses:

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

If any one ever asks me how much of God's grace, love, and mercies I need, I will smile and say, "I dunno. How much is there?" Thankfully, they are unending, and never "out of range."