Exits

The missionary life is full of exits. Leaving. Saying goodbye.

We leave our friends, homes, families to enter the mission field. We leave the mission field for our furlough in the States. We leave the States to go back to the field. Mission teams come down for a while, and then they leave. Missionaries have to deal with a lot of leaving.

Let me say that it doesn’t get any easier with practice. I suppose that’s a good thing. If it became easy to say goodbye, if it didn’t hurt, then that would mean that my heart was calloused. I don’t want that to happen, so I pray that God keeps my heart soft – and that He heals the hurts quickly.

There is some comfort in knowing that when we say, “Goodbye,” here on earth as believers, it’s not permanent. It is not an eternal separation. My friend Julia used to say about her daughter, “I told God that He can put her wherever He wants her here on earth, but in heaven I want her mansion right next to mine.” It’s comforting to know that, as believers, our goodbyes aren’t forever.

Sometimes that’s not much comfort. On Wednesday, Evie’s best friend, Damaris, is leaving. Additional bummer: Damaris’s mom is my best friend. Ricardo and Cristina and their family are returning to Southern Mexico to live and work. I told her I was going to punch holes in her tires so they would have to stay another month.

That would only prolong the inevitable, though. God is calling them to ministry there, so how can I argue with that? So, instead of whining, I thought I’d post this little note. Now that I’ve found the useful page translator, Cris will actually be able to read this post. I know I won’t be able to say what I want to say in person, simply because I can’t quit crying long enough. I probably won’t be able to say everything I want to say here, either, but at least she’ll know how much I love her and how much their family has meant to us over the past 3 years.
Ricardo and Cristina have been our friends since day one.

Evie and Damaris connected immediately and have been inseparable ever since.

Jaziel has been our favorite toddler since he learned to toddle.

Ricardo and Doug share a passion for the Lord and a love of pizza -- they've worked, played and prayed together a lot during the past 3 years.

Cristina and I are sisters. She accepted me as a friend before I could even communicate that I wanted to be one. I don’t have to finish my sentences around her. She translates my dumb jokes so that the other ladies can understand what I’m trying to say. She helps me find the life application in our Bible study. I’m going to miss her. A lot.

Cristina, go with God. When we get to heaven, I want your mansion right next to mine!
Te quiero mucho, hermana mia!!!

His Great Mercy

Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us. -- Titus 3:5

I love that verse. It's one of my son, Andrew's, favorites. The words roll off the lips smoothly and refresh me a bit. Once again I'm reminded that my salvation doesn't depend on me. Thank you, Lord!!!

I learned something interesting about God's mercy last night. Our weekly study group is working its way through Luke. The last time we studied Luke with a small group, it took almost 2 years to get through the first 11 chapters. Our group consisted of 5 couples and about 22 kids. Obviously some weeks we didn't study the Word much! Enter God's mercy, LoL!

So, last night we arrived at Luke 1:78 and ran into a word we didn't know. Doug's Bible is an NASV side-by-side (English and Spanish). Lupita's was "Dios Habla Hoy". I had my "Nueva Biblia de los Hispanos". It seemed like every Bible in the room used a different word to describe God's mercy.

Here's the verse in the King James version:
Luke 1:78 Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high has visited us.

Tender mercy. I like that. It brings to mind a man holding a wounded bird or something like that.

Lupita's version used the phrase "great mercy". That's good, too. It gives a different mental picture. Great mercy is what I need every day when I fall on my face, blow up at my husband, snap at the kids. I'm so glad that God's mercy is great towards me!

But my Spanish version uses the word entrañable to describe God's mercy. I didn't recognize that word, and the way Esteban described it made me curious about its use in this verse. This word has a deeper meaning which will forever change how I view God's mercy.

The adjective entrañable (en trahn YAH bleh) is translated as intimate, close, beloved, or dear.

The verb entrañar means to bury deep, to carry within or to become deeply attached.

The noun entraña means entrails. Guts. The deepest, most profound place.

Profound mercy.
Deepest mercy.
Mercy from the most intimate part of God.

God's profound mercy through which Jesus (the dayspring from on high) came to us. For what purpose?

Luke 1:77
...to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of sin.

The mercy which pours out from the innermost being of God is poured over us so that we can be forgiven for our sins.

God's profound mercy sent Jesus to die so that my willful disobedience could be forgiven.

Deep. Profound. The guts of it. Wow.

Today I want to be reminded of God's deep mercy for me. Maybe it will help me to be more merciful to those around me?

Praying you're blessed today!

Eighteen Years

Not a very original title, I know, but it's a little early in the morning for originality. This past Monday, Doug and I celebrated our 18th anniversary. Ooo rah! Can't believe it's been that long, actually, but time has just flown by!

I had planned a quiet weekend with maybe a friendly game of dominoes, spoons or pinochle with the kiddos. Doug suggested an evening out on Friday, so of course I agreed. I got all ready for our date and just as I was putting on my shoes, three girls from Boca showed up (with their kids and a puppy) to wash their car. Pily asked if we could puppy-sit for the weekend (cute pup, btw) and Bris asked when Sarah was coming. "Not till next weekend," I told her. Doug had conveniently disappeared, so the house was pretty much bedlam with kittens, puppies, toddlers and teenagers running amok. It was one of those moments when you step back and look at your life and say, "Whoa. This is my life?"

Just at that moment, the front door opened and in walked...Sarah! She and her friend Desiree (a young missionary from Oregon) had come for the weekend as a surprise. The other part of the surprise: Doug was kidnapping me for the weekend. It was better than a bubble bath.

So, I had an amazing weekend and did practically nothing. We watched commercial TV (and were shocked at some of the garbage on there), ate ice cream for lunch, walked on the pier at Topolobompo and stretched out on a blanket on the sands of Maviri Beach. (Note: Las Glorias Beach is nicer, but there's something special about going "away" to the beach. I dunno.) We got one of the guys on the docks to take a picture for us. Then the camera battery went dead. Figures. I did get some nice shots, though.

Saturday night there was a party at the hotel we were staying in. Great music, but the band played till 4 a.m. It felt like we were back home during semana santa. We did manage to get some sleep and fortunately didn't have to get up early on Sunday.

We arrived home Sunday afternoon to a clean house (WOW). Even my bedroom floor had been vacuumed. Scarey. Then we took Sarah and Desiree back to Guasave to catch the bus. Sunday night we enjoyed a candlelight meal of ramen and watermelon and sat outside to look at the millions of stars in the sky -- the transformer on the corner blew up, so we were without power for a day. So good to be back home! ;^)

Monday was back to real life -- refreshed and recharged (and a new transformer in the afternoon!). I do love my life!

La Sandia!

In English -- watermelon!!!

We used to enjoy watermelon in mid-July in Oregon. Here in Sinaloa, watermelon season is mid-November. Gotta love the year-round garden! Our watermelon patch behind the house has been thriving, and we have been waiting (more-or-less patiently) for the first melon to ripen and for the perfect opportunity to enjoy it.

Here's Seth with our prize melon.

Last week we finally had the perfect occasion to cut 'er open. We took a trip to a local park with some friends and made a day of it. The kids were all so adorable, I kind of went crazy with the camera...untill the batteries went dead. Oh well, 250 shots was probably sufficient!

So, we don't have autumn leaves. Oh, well! We get to eat watermelon in November! It's a good trade-off!

Making Progress

Just wanted to share a small victory...

Over the past two years, I've learned quite a bit of basic html and have managed to successfully tweak my blog to make it look like I want it (for the most part). Once in a while I'll see something in the html that bugs me -- a margin that's not quite right, or a column width that isn't balanced -- and I'll spend literally hours trying to fix it.

This morning I was posting and realized that I just wasn't happy with the column width of the main post (my OCD was acting up). So, I got into the html of the blog and started to tweak.

Here's the exciting part: I managed to widen the columns, eliminate the out-of-place borders and re-center the header in less than an hour. Ooo RAH!

There is hope for me yet. We must share those small victories when they come, right??? Happy Friday everyone!

Pizza Time!

So, Elvis the Duck has moved out of my brick oven. Thank you, Elvis! I had replaced her unfertile eggs with some fertilized chicken eggs, thinking that at least she could have some profit from her labor -- even though I couldn't imagine how she would react when some little "non-duckie" things started scurrying around under her. Great idea, but I forgot about our ferocious tom cats. Apparently, they just hovered outside the oven waiting for the slightest peep and then picked the babies off one by one. They thought it was their personal drive-in restaurant! I'll be more prepared next time.

When I realized what was happening, I ditched the last egg (I'm often not the sharpest knife in the drawer) and finally made it over to Maria's to pick up some friends for Elvis. Meet Mozart and Tina:

Now that my oven is empty, we decided that it is time to try it out. Long story short: it works great!!!! It took a couple of fires in it to really get the hang of how hot and how long, but I think we have a system down. We invited Ricardo and Cristina over for pizza the other day and the general opinion is that we need to eat a lot more pizza so that we can really perfect the recipe and the fire! :)

Here are some pics of my brick oven endeavor!

This is Micah. He and his family came down here as missionaries for about 3 weeks. That big paddle-looking thing is the tool he made for putting pizzas in and taking them out of the oven. Very cool.

Doug and Micah had fun playing with fire, er, I mean adjusting the cooking temperature so that we could get just the right amount of crispiness to the crust but still achieve done-ness on top. A couple of the first ones came out a little toasted around the edges, but there weren't any leftovers, so I would say that we achieved success!

The men had gotten the oven so hot that after all the guests had left and lunch was cleaned up and the guys had all headed out to baseball practice, it was still hot enough to cook in. Not one to waste an opportunity, I suggested to Emily, Micah's wife, that we try our hand at empanadas.

Empanadas are the Mexican version of a poptart. Very tasty and not incredibly healthy, but when they're cooked in a brick oven they have a special "smoky" taste that makes them absolutely irresistible.

You can check out my recipe for empanadas here. Emily and I had fun baking together. Turns out she loves to work in the kitchen as much as I do. I'd never met anyone else with my particular ailment -- at least not to the same degree. We had a great afternoon baking merrily and then had to eat the evidence! Well, we didn't eat all of them, just probably more than we should have!


So, the brick oven is a success, the pizza was a hit, the empanadas were fun and tasty and the fellowship was wonderful. I'm always sad when mission teams leave, but I'm really going to miss the fun "kitchen bonding" Emily and I had. Praying that you come back soon, Emily!!!

Two Years Young

Today marks my 2nd Blogoversary. Hurrah! Can you hear the trumpet fanfare? ;^)

I'm really not very good at remembering anniversaries and birthdays and such. In fact, if it wasn't for that little button over on the left side of the screen, I would have completely missed it!

My free time has been seriously limited lately. The kids' school and household chores take up a lot of time by themselves. Plus we have two weekly church services, three weekly Bible studies and now baseball 4 days a week. Oh, almost forgot -- I've been "nominated" the children's director at church, too. Goodness! When I look at it "on paper", I realize why I've been so tired lately!

Anyway, I wanted to post a big "THANK YOU!" to everyone who has stopped in to read my blog and left comments and encouragement over the past years. I had thought to do a 2nd Round-TUIT Round-up, but thinking was as far as I got. I suppose I'll just let this anniversary slide quietly past and we'll do a big shin-dig next year...maybe.

Meanwhile, THANK YOU for dropping by, and I pray you have an absolutely blessed day! Now, I'm going to go work on that update letter that's a month overdue! :^)

Missing in Action!

Hello to all my faithful readers!!! I hope you're both having a great weekend! ;^)

Seriously, though, I am still alive and kicking -- doing well with school, home and ministry responsibilities. Life is good! It's been a bit hectic around here, but I've managed to stay caught up on laundry and grading school work. That's an accomplishment for me! My blogs, however, have been neglected. Well, we can't all be perfect!

The obnoxiously hot, sticky weather rolled out a week early this year, and we were praising God for His mercy! Then the humidity rolled back in last week, so our relief was short-lived. The heat always gets worse just before a big storm, so we checked the hurricane center last night.

I'd like to introduce you to Rick.

From the advisory I just read, it looks like we'll get to meet him up close and personal by late Monday night. I've decided to cancel school tomorrow so we can weather-proof a bit. There are quite a few things around the yard which won't stand up to 100+mph winds.

Last night, Rick was a Category 5 storm with winds steady at 180mph, with higher gusts. The weather service said that Rick would be the largest storm on record since Hurricane Linda in 1997. That's not good, considering we had a storm here 6 years ago which wiped out houses and restaurants all along the coast and flooded Guasave, too.

Please join us in praying that Rick turns left and heads harmlessly out to sea. Also pray for the fishermen who depend on being able to go out on the ocean to fish for their livlihood. It's been a tough fishing season, and the storms really don't help. Pray that above all else, God would be glorified through the storm...whichever direction it turns!

If you'd like to see where Hurricane Rick is "in real time", click the NOAA button on the left-hand side of the screen.

Here's Sunday's advisory, straight from the National Hurricane Center (for the benefit of Mom, who will want all the details! BTW, Mom, I will call as soon as we get our phone turned back on! ;^) )

...RICK WEAKENS SLIGHTLY BUT IS STILL A DANGEROUS HURRICANE...

INTERESTS IN SOUTHERN BAJA CALIFORNIA AND THE SOUTHWEST COAST OF
MEXICO SHOULD MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF THIS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS
HURRICANE. A HURRICANE WATCH MAY BE REQUIRED FOR PORTIONS OF
SOUTHERN BAJA CALIFORNIA TONIGHT OR MONDAY.

FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...PLEASE MONITOR
PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR NATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL SERVICE.

AT 200 PM PDT...2100 UTC...THE EYE OF HURRICANE RICK WAS LOCATED
NEAR LATITUDE 16.4 NORTH...LONGITUDE 109.4 WEST OR ABOUT 450 MILES
...725 KM...SOUTH OF CABO SAN LUCAS MEXICO. (note: we live at about 24N 109W)

RICK IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST-NORTHWEST NEAR 14 MPH...22 KM/HR. A
TURN TOWARD THE NORTHWEST AND THEN TOWARD THE NORTH WITH A GRADUAL
DECREASE IN FORWARD SPEED IS EXPECTED IN THE NEXT 24 TO 36 HOURS. A
TURN TOWARD THE NORTH-NORTHEAST IS EXPECTED BY MONDAY.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS HAVE DECREASED TO NEAR 160 MPH...260
KM/HR...WITH HIGHER GUSTS. RICK REMAINS A DANGEROUS CATEGORY FIVE
HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE. WHILE GRADUAL WEAKENING IS
EXPECTED IN THE NEXT 24 TO 48 HOURS...RICK IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN A
DANGEROUS HURRICANE FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS.

HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 60 MILES...95 KM...FROM
THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 175
MILES...280 KM.

THE ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 921 MB...27.20 INCHES.

LARGE SWELLS GENERATED BY RICK WILL AFFECT PORTIONS OF THE
SOUTHWESTERN COAST OF MEXICO DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS...
CAUSING POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS SURF CONDITIONS.

I figure we'll be without power for a couple of days, so I'll post on Thursday or whenever I can to let you all know how things turned out.

And I'm going to charge my camera batteries now, so I can take storm pics.

It's My Party; I'll Have Pie if I Want To!

I promised a friend that I'd post the recipe for my peanut butter cheesecake a.s.a.p. Here ya go, Tresta!!!

This recipe was given to me by my Aunt Nancy and it's been a family tradition for years. I only make it once a year, because it's so incredibly rich!!!

You'll need one pie crust of either graham crackers or chocolate cookie crumbs. I do my cheesecakes in a 10" springform pan, but you can choose the pie plate you want to use. If you use a standard 9 inch pie plate, you'll need two.

Aunt Nancy's Peanut Butter Pie

Cream together:
1 cup peanut butter
1 8 oz. pack cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar

add:
2 Tbsp melted butter
1 Tbsp vanilla

Mix well.

Fold in 2 small (8 oz.) tubs of Coolwhip.

Mix well.

Pour into 2 small or one large pie pan. Chill and enjoy!!!

Told you it was eeeeasy!!!

Of course, it's a little different making this recipe here in Mexico. I haven't been able to find Cool Whip anywhere. That's surprising to me, since that stuff stays good in the freezer for years (practically). You'd think they'd be able to import it. Sigh.

Fortunately, I was able to improvise a bit. I ended up not making a cheesecake exactly, but it should be yummy!!!

Happy Birthday to meeeee!

Tackle it Tuesday -- More than I Bargained For

We started school on Monday and are getting back into the rhythm of life here in Las Glorias. One of our main projects for Monday was to be cleaning the school shelf thoroughly, but I threw my back out on Saturday night, so we had to put off the serious bending and lifting until Tuesday.

No, I have no idea what I did to my back. I think I sneezed wrong or something. Age is creeping up on me. At any rate, I was able to finish a novel I've been working on, so something good came of my enforced down time!

So, on to my Tuesday's tackle:

Ta-Dah!!!!

I'm happy with the way it turned out; but it took about twice as long as I'd hoped. I didn't take any "before" shots. Too embarassing! Of course, it's not ALL my fault. The shelves are, afterall, the kids' responsibility. I just let it slide too long.

What took so long? Well, first I had everyone pull all their stuff off of their shelves and pile it on the table. Then they went through their old notebooks and etc. and threw away the garbage. Then we reassembled the shelf. After they were all finished, I took everything off the bottom shelf and found this...

This why we don't like to be gone during storm season. Mold. My poor encyclopedias are toast. I guess that will be on my list to replace next furlough. The "Your Reading Power" looks great on the outside, but inside all the story folders were melded (or molded) together and completely ruined. Sigh.

So, everything came back off the shelf, the books were scrubbed, the shelves were carted outside to be scrubbed and left in the sun and the floor was scoured. I was glad I had bought some Febreeze while we were in Arizona last month! By Wednesday, we were mold-free and back in business.

Notice that the shelf is now up on bricks. We're hoping that the added ventilation will keep things drier. Someday, oh someday, my house will be weather proof. If it doesn't happen in this lifetime, I've already put in my request for my celestial mansion: no leaks, please!!! ;^)

Praying that your week is blessed!!!

An Office with a View

Today I'm writing from my new office. I spent yesterday trying to catch up on emails and the miscellany of internet nonsense which had been piling up. I ended up a little frustrated. My computer is in the middle of the kitchen, so I'm very "accessible". That's not necessarily a bad thing. I like to be accessible to my kids and my honey, but well, sometimes I'd rather not be quite so handy. Suffice to say, I didn't accomplish nearly as much as I should have, so today I've moved my office to its new location. What do you think?

I might actually get some work done here, as long as I don't get too distracted by the pelicans!

No Place Like Home!

Well, we've arrived home from furlough safe and sound! Hurrah! It's so good to be home! I love exclamation points!!! ;^)

We cut our visit in Tucson short by a couple of days when we received a note from our pastor (who was watching our house for us) which sounded a bit...stressed. A lot happened while we were gone and, while I wouldn't presume to say the village fell apart without us, I think that Ricardo and Cristina were relieved to see us again.

All the animals are present and accounted for. That was quite a relief for Seth. This marks the first time that an iguana has survived a furlough. Thank you, Lord!!! Jessee's duck has confirmed our suspicion that he is a she. She began laying eggs while we were gone. Guess where -- inside the brick oven.

On a more serious note, two members of our church passsed away the week before we arrived home. Juben, husband of Sister Victoria, had battled prostate cancer for several years. During the past couple of months, he began to take eternity more seriously and spent many hours studying the Bible and praying with Doug and other brothers of the church. He was baptized about a month ago -- only a few weeks before he went to be with Jesus.

That's just the way life is, I suppose. As one of my friends said last night, death is our only certainty in this life. We need to be prepared for it.

The last leg of our trip was uneventful -- no blown tires, no overheating wheelbearings, only a small issue with the brakes, but my extremely mechanically gifted husband handled it with ease. On the way south, we passed through a town called Guaymas (pronounced GWHY-mas) which had been hit by hurricane Jimena. Once again we praised God for His protection from this storm. The flood waters which rushed down from the mountains wiped out two overpasses and made Interstate 15 impassable. We had to take the "scenic route" through the city.

I'd never traveled through Guaymas during the day. Very pretty city -- at least, it was before it was hit by Jimena. Workers were busily patching roads and working to repair the railroad which was wiped out by the ocean surge. Most of the homes we saw had fared pretty well, but the storm damage was evident in the broken trees and debris piled here and there. All traffic from Interstate 15 was being diverted through the heart of this sleepy little town, so the detour was a bit time-consuming.

We had a chance to meet Braulio and his family in Obregon, Sonora. His wife, Pily, was having a surgery to remove some polyps (sp?) in her sinuses and the doctors had bumped the date up unexpectedly. We really wanted to be able to see them and to encourage them. The timing was perfect and we were able to meet for dinner (a late dinner, but still...).

We pulled into our driveway at 3:30 a.m. on Tuesday. Once again we managed to stretch a 12 hour trip into 18 hours. We were tired, but happy to be home. I'll do a photo re-cap of our time in the States soon. Until then, que Dios les bendiga!!!

Storm's a-comin'

Well, I've been a little absent around blogworld for the past week. Our furlough is going well and God is (as always) very good!!!

We have a quick prayer request (before I head for bed!). As many of you know, there is a hurricane brewing off the western coast of Mexico. According to the National Hurricane Center (see link to left), Hurricane Jimena is a class 4 (big sucker) headed pretty much right for our village.

Please pray that God would blow this storm back out to sea and that Cabo San Lucas and the other fishing villages along the coast would be spared. Pray that God would be glorified, because He is worthy!!!

News from home says that all the animals are doing great and the pool is green. (Those of you with pools know that that is not too surprising!!!) Pray that peace would reign over our house while we are gone!!!