Just for fun

Just chillin'



She sees me...



"What do you have there?"



"Oh!  A camera!  Let me pose for you."



"Enough of the pictures already!"

Dear _____,

Orange tree in full bloom... Your blossoms perfume the whole back yard.  Especially in the evening. So lovely!

Nephews and niece... Oh, my.  You have my heart in a puddle every time I see you.  I can't help it - you're just. too. cute.

Fluctuating temperatures... Yes, thank you for reminding us that this is Spring.

Just-woke-up face... I truly hope you didn't frighten any customers away.  (Saturday morning I woke up half an hour before I was supposed to start work.  A little cell phone alarm malfunction.  I made it in time, just looking less than...well...less than my best, shall we say.)



Poppies and sunshine... You are two reasons I love California.

Kids in Road to Avonlea (the movie)... You were horribly naughty (although quite hysterical at times)!  I can't believe your parents trusted you enough to leave you on your own!

Quilt... You're coming together quite nicely and I'm so excited to see how you look when you're finished.  (I'll post pictures of the progress soon.)

Credit card companies... Please stop sending me offers in the mail.  I love real mail.  I strongly dislike junk mail!  Strongly dislike.  And while we're on that subject...

Telemarketers/recorded calls... YOU ARE ENTIRELY INEFFECTIVE!  STOP CALLING US!!!  (Can you tell how I feel about this?!)

Auntie A, who reminded me at church today that you were praying for me... Thank you.  You have no idea how much it encourages me to know people are praying for me.

Post-it notes... Where would I be without you?  I shudder to think how my life would look if you had not been invented.

Clock... Sometimes I wish you'd move a little slower.  I can never seem to get as much done as I think I should be able to in a given amount of time.  (In reality, the problem is probably more along the lines of not setting reasonable goals, but I'd rather blame it on the clock.)

Two friends (and former classmates) who arrived in Indonesia this week... Wow!  I can hardly believe you're there.  I'm so excited for you and can't wait to hear what the Lord does in the next couple months, years, decades...

YOU... Thanks for stopping by!  Happy Sunday and have a lovely week.  Come again!

My inner bookworm emerges...

I have two new books to dive into soon:

Reflections of Gratitude (I ran into an older gentleman at Walmart the other week, who turned out to be an author.  He told me about the book he'd written, which is his story of an accident, coma, and recovery.  From what I can tell, he's a believer.  He grew up in this area, too.)

A Man Called Peter (No, Michelle, this isn't a sequel to Evangelists in Chains.  If only there was...)

Hurrah!  I do so love to read.  :)

Musings

The ironic thing is that sometimes the best way to handle the future is to live in the present - to take one day at a time.

This morning I called to reschedule an appointment because I'll be in Africa by then. ...Which just seems totally unreal.  I keep thinking, "Am I really moving to Africa in four months?  Is this actually happening?  This is crazy!!"  But I have to stop myself from going too far down that path.  Take one day at a time, Rachel.

The One who gave enough manna for each day - every day, for forty years - will give enough grace for each day.  One day at a time.

The garden, Dakar, and hope

It had slowly become a tangled mess of weeds, plants leftover from last year, and dead stalks.

An eyesore.



One day I noticed something new: a poppy plant blooming enthusiastically among the weeds.  I walked outside.

Sometimes it only takes one bright spot of hope to draw you in for a closer look.



Not only was I entranced by the flowers' silky, vibrant beauty, but as I looked around, I saw other poppies that had sprung up.  I even found a few sweet pea vines.



How did they survive the frost? I wondered.  But there they were, green and budding.

Right in the middle of everything that seemed to be as it should not, there was beauty to be seen and bright hope unfurling her petals.

I had to look to see.

It's always there, that beauty, even when all appears to be no more than a tangle of confusion.



It's been several years since we've had a proper garden.  This year, I determined, would be different.  My last chance to have a garden at home before I leave.

Yes, sometimes small things seem big...

Like when I found out that plans were going to have to change and I would be leaving for Africa in August instead of September (like I had thought all along).

My heart was full of questions and struggles.  The list of what I was giving up seemed to be growing.  And not only that, it was looming even closer than I expected.

It was all such a mess that I hardly knew how to sort it out.   Why was I struggling the closer I got to something I'd worked towards my whole life?  Where was God in all of this and what was He trying to tell me?  What was I missing?

Meanwhile, the weeds in the "garden" grew as only weeds can and I would sigh and look out my window and think, There's no chance of a garden this year after all.  Even if I planted vegetables now, they'd barely be ready by August and no one else will take care of things after I leave.  I've wanted a real garden again for years, and now my last chance is gone.  I hate this.

One day at lunch, I happened to look out and see the bright orange flowers right in the middle of all those weeds, blooming like they belonged there.

I had to go look.

As I did, and realized that it wasn't all just ugly weeds, I began to sense what God had been wanting me to see:

Even when things aren't going like you planned...even when it's a mess and not orderly and lovely...My promises are always there.  You can depend on that.  Look beyond the weeds - look for the promises.  Look for grace.

I smiled and walked inside and wrote it all down in my journal, thinking I had "got it".

But the grace-life isn't simply noticing God's work and then walking away.  Some things get pulled up, some things stay, and some new things are added in.

I knew then what I would do - what I almost felt like I had to do.

I would plant a garden.



It was more than simply planting a garden.  Somehow, it was...a declaration that I believed God would bring something beautiful out of the situation.  It would be a reminder that His power does not require perfection in our circumstances or our hearts - it blooms right in the middle of our messes.

That Saturday, the sun shone warm as I pulled weeds and dug around flower plants and sneezed like it was going out of style.  (Blasted allergies!)



Two hours later it looked like this...



I planted the seeds, watered, and then began waiting.

Waiting for the plants to sprout.

Waiting for prayers to be answered with His grace.



And then one day it came, what I had been missing all this time.  This simple and forceful realization -

God will be right. there. with me in Africa.

Of course I never denied that before, but I hadn't brought it to bear on this situation - like trying to come up with the right solution when you're missing the most important part of the equation.

It makes all the difference in the world, when you realize the Almighty God of the Universe is right by your side everywhere you go.



I leave for Dakar, Senegal in August, Lord willing.

I cannot say that I have conquered all my fears, that I am sacrificing heroically, or that my struggles are over.

But God's promises will not fail.  They will spring up and blossom as hope.

He is my hope, my Emmanuel.  He is God with us - with me.  No matter where I go.

A little of this and a little of that...

Hi!  It's me.



The flowers are just so lovely that I can't keep myself from snapping shots of them...





Okay, so this is technically a weed.



But a pretty cool weed, if I do say so myself.



This is my current sewing project: a quilt for Mom.  I'll post more pictures as it starts to take shape, but at least you get an idea of the colors.

It's been super-windy here off and on for the past two weeks.  I've seen at least a few small trees that have fallen.

Allergy season is here and it's supposed to be one of the worst years in who-knows-how-long.  Yay.

While I'm being random here, did you know spinach smoothies can actually be pretty good?  I found a recipe that uses frozen peaches, fresh spinach, fresh ginger, honey, and water.  Not bad.  Oh, and it's healthy.

Lest you think spinach smoothies and green tea make me some sort of a health nut, I'll tell you that I'm very much looking forward to barbecuing hot dogs tomorrow.

I don't have any books I'm in the middle of right now which seems a little strange.  I should fix that...

I've listened to this song probably twenty times in the last two days.

Work is going fine.  My level of incompetence has decreased somewhat, and I've gotten to know more people.  (Two very good things!)

Tonight I saw on FB that one of my friends is heading out tomorrow for her first term overseas.  It made me a little teary 'cause we were in the same class and she's awesome and tomorrow she's going to be an ocean away.  Hard to believe.



I think it's time for me to go.  To bed.

Until next time...

Missions Spotlight: Cookies and Books

Chocolate Almost-Chip Cookies: Susie and I met at the MTC (our training overlapped by a few semesters).  She has a passion for linguistics and a true love for people.  In January, she arrived in Burkina Faso, West Africa.  I've enjoyed her updates as she adjusts to a very different life than what she is used to.

Susie wanted to make her host family an American meal, so for dessert, she planned to bake chocolate chip cookies.  (Quintessentially American, right?)  Click the link above to read what happens when you add hard-boiled eggs, no temperature gauge on the oven, and no baking soda to be found in the market...

You can also read more of her stories here.

Literacy and Church Planting:

Janet was one of my teachers at the MTC (she taught "teaching literacy", among other things).  She and her husband Gordon were missionaries in PNG for a number of years.  Here is a short video they put together on the importance of teaching literacy.



God's Word changes lives.  Giving people the ability to read and giving them the Word of God in their own language are truly some of the best gifts.  Both are crucial to seeing mature believers and mature churches.