The weather’s been mostly cool (except for
the last two days) - it gets all the way down to the 60’s! I know, some of you are either laughing or
rolling your eyes.
Temperature is a very relative thing.
After two days off for Christmas and a day
off for New Years, we’re plowing ahead with French.
Plowing.
That makes me think of snow plows.
But that’s just wishful thinking. Anyway…we were talking about French, right?
They don’t happen every day, but I’m thankful
for those “light bulb” moments when something just clicks. There are plenty of in-the-dark moments to
make up for them. :)
- - -
Some new people just moved in to the
apartment building. I met them on my way
up yesterday, and from our brief conversation, it seems like they’re
believers. Hopefully I can get to know
them better.
Up to this point, I really haven’t gotten to
know anyone in the building. I hear them
often (!), but rarely see them.
- - -
The other night, I finished a book in one
sitting. (That’s the second time in less
than a week!) Mom had read Mission Possible not too long ago,
thought it was great, and sent it to me.
It was.
But you know something? It was weird reading a missionary story, now
that I’m, well…on the field myself. (I
hesitate to say it that way, as if implying I’ve “arrived”, or that one must
fly across an ocean to be a missionary, which I certainly don’t believe.) There was a time when all that was a vague one day…
Now that one
day is today, yesterday, the day before, the day before that.
And sometimes it still doesn’t seem real.
Speaking of unreal, can you believe it’s
January 2014 already?!
When I was younger, I both anticipated and
stressed out over New Years. Every New
Year’s Eve, I’d thoroughly clean and organize (or re-organize) my bedroom from
top to bottom. (I may or may not be an
organizing fanatic.) I’d write out 10 or
12 or 20 resolutions in my journal, all of them having the same vague flavor. This
year is going to be better and I’m going to try really hard not to make any mistakes. Which is why I always stressed out when
January 1st rolled around.
’Cause I had another chance to start over and I was afraid I was going
to ruin this one, too.
But that was all BGA – before the grace
awakening. Slowly I started realizing
that each new day that came my way was…well, a new day. God’s mercy and grace was as fresh and new
each morning as the dawn itself. And
more than that? Each moment is another grace-gift, another
chance to start over.
I’m telling you, this grace stuff turned my
world upside-down. In the best way
possible.
So, New Year’s resolutions? Not really.
I do need to do some rethinking of goals, schedule, and priorities, but
so what if I didn’t get to it before the calendar changed? :) I’m okay with that.
(Yeah, taking pictures of the fireworks just
was. not. working. I eventually gave up.)
- - -
Part of the reason I’m feeling the need to
re-work my schedule and goals a bit is because of the French program. I just started Phase 3 (there are six), and
this requires more planning and preparation on my part. Also, by this time, I have LOTS of old material
that needs to be reviewed periodically to keep things fresh.
I started Phase 3 with fairy tales. Turns out I’m not real familiar with those
well-known stories like Beauty and the Beast, Little Mermaid, and Jack and the
Giant Beanstalk. (Go ahead and say it, I
had a sheltered childhood.) Listening to
them in another language was definitely stretching. I gleaned a lot of new vocabulary from those
stories, but I was more than happy to switch to Bible stories when we finished
them.
Like a good NTMer, I had to start at the
beginning (ha ha!), so we did the Creation story yesterday.
Cain and Abel are up next.
- - -
And last but not least…
It’s someone’s birthday today. She’s one of the very best reflections of
grace I know.
Happy birthday, dear friend!
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