Hello, Monday

 

Is the weekend over already?!

 

I’m always happy to see Friday roll around.  However, last week I was not only happy, but relieved.  For some reason it just seemed like an extra-long week.  It probably had a lot to do with the amount of sleep I was getting…or more precisely, the amount of sleep I was not getting.

 

By Friday I was making more mistakes in class than usual…like saying bétail (cattle) when I meant bataille (battle) and mixing up carrefour (intersection) with cafard (cockroach).  Which was hilarious, considering the sentences I was using them in.

 

 

By now, I’ve made over 1000 recordings of various activities in class.  (And yes, I do give them titles, I just hadn’t done these yet.)

 

So many words.  Sometimes it makes my brain hurt.

 

Now don’t get all technical and be like, “Nonsense, your brain can’t hurt!”

 

Oh, yes, it most definitely can.  I speak from experience.  (Plenty of it, I might add.)

 

 

There’s a new horse in the next door.  The guy dug a hole to anchor the rope.  (I’m guessing he put a brick in there too?  A foot of sand alone wouldn’t likely be enough to secure the rope.)

 

 

Then he “fixed” the old tub that serves as a feed trough.  I’m not exactly sure what the bricks were supposed to do, but as long as the horse was happy, I guess it doesn’t matter.

 

 

By all appearances he was, because he spent the better part of several hours munching away slowly at the tub.

 

I love how this shot got his swishing tail. :)

 

 

Mom sent peppermint mocha coffee in her last package, which I’m pretty sure has to be one of the best flavors ever, even outshining pumpkin spice.

 

Isn’t it nice how they included a coupon?  Not that it will do me any good.

 

(Okay, Michelle.  Yes, I’m proving your point about coffee.  But I don’t talk about it nearly as much as I used to.)

 

Yes, my birthday was weeks ago, but this card just came in the last package from home.  In my family (or specifically, between the three of us girls), we don’t do sweet and flowery.
 

Admittedly, it can sometimes be a challenge to find cards that are funny without being inappropriate.  There have been a few repeats over the years simply because, “That was the only funny card I could find!”

 

The cards are usually addressed with a nickname the person doesn’t really care for (like a nickname long outgrown) and signed something along the lines of “Your dear, wonderful, beautiful, amazing, perfect sister…”

 

It’s how we roll.

 

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My cellphone beeped just now to inform me I had a new text.  It was in French, but the rough translation goes like this: “For 25 francs a day, discover African proverbs full of wisdom and truth.”  Uh…thanks.  I think I’ll pass.

- - -

 

One of my recent goals was to get back into Scripture memorization again.  I started Romans 8 last week, and to be honest, I’ve not been doing very well at all.  I’m not sure if I need to take smaller chunks at a time, or try working on it at a different time of day (I’ve been doing it before bed), or if I just need to be more disciplined.

 

- - -
 

Thankfully, I haven’t had another water shortage since the one when I first moved in, but I still keep my water barrel full.  Just in case.

 

Incidentally, a barrel full of water is pretty heavy.  I don’t pick it up, obviously; I just drag it along the floor.  But it still takes a bit of work to negotiate the floor’s uneven surface without sloshing water all over the place.  (Water + dusty floor = really bad combination.)
 

I did have a minor water problem over the weekend…one of the ceramic candles (those three brown things in the picture) in my water filter broke.

- - -
 

 

Yeah, I know in the grand scheme of things this is so not important, but I really miss little Rue.  Every time I time I walk into my kitchen I find myself peering around corners, hoping to see another little gecko face.

 

Crazy how fond I became of that tiny creature.

 

…So fond, in fact, that I got to thinking about Jonah.

 

What in the world does a guy who got swallowed by a fish have to do with geckos, you say?

 

Remember the plant and how happy it made Jonah?  And God told him, in effect, “You can care this much about a plant, so how much more do you think I care about the people of Nineveh?”

 

You care so much about a little gecko, Rachel.  What about the people around you?  How much more do you think I care about them?  How much do you care about them?

 

I realize that when we’re under a lot of stress (e.g. adjusting to a new culture), sometimes it’s the little things that can push us over the edge.  That’s normal.

 

But I still have to ask myself: Do I care more about a gecko dying than I do about people dying without Jesus?

 

Deep down inside I know what matters far more, but if I’m honest, I’ve probably spent more time in past week thinking about the former than the latter.

 

Bringing it back to the example of Jonah, I’m glad we have a God who doesn’t toss us aside when we falter or stumble or fail.  His grace is bigger than all our imperfections and skewed, earth-bound perspectives.

 

…Grace is a good note to start the week on. :)

 

Actually, grace is a good note for all the time.