June Buggin' ( A Smattering of Thoughts)

Oh my goodness! I feel like summer is that one really fun roller coaster ride that you wait 2 hours and forever in line for only to jump on and enjoy it for all of the 36 seconds that it lasts. So much fun, way too short! I know that there's still at least a month of summer left, but my ride just keeps going faster and it won't be slowing down in time for me to catch up before I find myself back in Iowa City with only a few days to prepare myself for school all over again. 


Pheewww!! Well, what keeps me busy? A ton of things! The Bridge has been a joy and a half! I wish I  had pictures to show, one of these days I will bring my camera with me to work. But I think I've finally built the needed trust and relationship with the girls at the Seneca Center in order to feel like I'm actually making progress there. It started a week and a half ago when I had the 3 yr old daughter of the couple who started the Bridge and we were playing on the playground. We started a game of "Mother May I?" with just the two of us (lol) and then more and more girls wanted to join in and play. Before I knew it there were about 14 kids and we were playing Red Light Green Light like there was no tomorrow. The last time I went out there, I had about 15 kids all playing Red Light Green Light, Wizards-Giants-And Dwarves, Duck Duck Goose, and Johnny Come Across for hours. 
I love it!! It's so fun to just love all these children and play games with them as they try to pass the hot hours of the afternoon with not much around for entertainment. 
I'm SO excited that we will be bringing several of these children on a bus to VBS next week along with several children from the Park Center as well! 


I also had a really random thought the other day while I was beating egg whites for egg white fluff. 
As I started separating my eggs, I realized a yoke had popped and I had to be careful not to let it in with any of the whites I'd already put into my mixer. I don't know if you've fluffed egg whites before, but the tiniest little bit of egg yoke will ruin the whole batch and make so it doesn't fluff at all. While I was working on this, I was reminded of the verse in the Bible that talks about how we shouldn't have even a hint of sexual impurity in us. Just like a hint of yoke will make it so that the egg whites never become the white fluffy goodness they're supposed to be, a hint of sexual impurity can keep us from enjoying marriage as it was meant as well. It was a super random thought but I like the analogy of it. 

So with my egg white fluff, I've been folding it into my plain yogurt and freezing it and enjoying the fluffiest fro-yo of my life. It's SO good. :)

Other things in my life , there was a really good sunset in between thunderstorms a week or two ago! All who were home (Parents, Grace, myself and the 3 young ones) went out and enjoyed it by dancing on the road and taking pictures. 

Last night after arriving home shortly after 8:30 I was delighted at how lovely the weather was outside. I asked my siblings if it was a good night for camping and they all agreed and so we had an impromptu camp out in the South garden. I generally prefer to camp out in the front yard because, in my opinion, I feel it's safer and less likely to be interrupted by whatever animal chooses to wander through. 

Sometime around midnight I'm pretty sure I was cuddled up to Kolby with the blankets over my head as some strange animal had chosen to make it bed on the outside of the tent but was laying on me 'cuz I was by the tent wall. Shortly after 3am there was a thunderstorm and i was a little thankful for it because the animal was still laying on the outside of our tent and I didn't want to sleep next to it the whole night. Upon exiting the tent, I found it was just a cat. :/ 

And this is the wonderful study I'm doing! I LOVE it. I think it was written just for me. After having spent several month in prayer for God to teach me how to have joy in the hard times and after having been clawing my way out of various pits in effort to see the light of God's glory, I am just THRILLED beyond belief with what God is doing in my heart through this study. It's just SO SO SO good! 

Hours in a Day

I know I've said this before, but I wish days were longer. And nights too! Or I wish that sleep wasn't necessary. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE sleep, but I don't seem to have much time for it and sometimes i feel like it would just be nice if I didn't have to sleep because it takes up so much time. 


This morning I was awakened by the last buzz of my alarm at 5:20. I had set my clock for 5:00 and had apparently slept past it. I contemplated if I wanted to go running or if I wanted to sleep a little more before opting for getting up and readying for a run. It was 5:35 by the time I was ready to go and in the peace and quiet of a still sleeping house the thought of spending time with Jesus became way more appealing. : ) So I skipped my run and have thus far gotten to spend 2 hours with the Father already today! What a delight! Days like today, I miss my coffee. How I love a hot cup of coffee along with a morning in the Word, but today it was caffeine free peppermint tea with almond milk. 


For those who wonder, I think my intestines are indeed showing signs of healing! The pain symptoms I've had have decreased exponentially and it's only on occasion that I feel stomach pain. Although, I am some worried that my gluten sensitivity has increased, I'm determined to find healing enough to welcome it back into my life. 


So I absolutely love studying the book of James. James is my guy! In fact, my all time favorite verses have been James 1:2-4 for the last number of years. James is practical and he's about joy and a good heart attitude. I've been praying the last number of weeks that God would being doing a work in my heart as I've been all too aware of my potential for growth and stunted walk with the Lord. 
It has been my prayer for so long that God would make me fall in love with him once again.


I dare say He is doing just that. Unfortunately as the title of this post claims, there are not enough hours in a day. Perhaps I will write more after work today. I have lots to share!

Joy Cometh

It's now past 10pm as I start this and I'm wincing a little bit at the fact that I should be in bed by now. Haha, I'm such a granny some days. Yesterday I was fairly sick after having gotten some sort of contaminant in my food and I was reacting pretty strongly. I felt quite miserable and lay down on my bed at 8:30 to hold my my stomach whilst curling up in the fetal position (adult-like, I know) and suffer through it and it was about 8:45 when I drifted off to sleep. 
I slept quite soundly til 6am this morning when the Lord woke me up and invited me to a quiet time with Him. 
How delightful! I felt refreshed (and mostly recovered) as I blended my celery and almond milk smoothy together for breakfast before sitting down in the peaceful, empty kitchen with my Beth Moore homework and my Bible.  I love spending my mornings like that! Of course, starting out with a run or a brisk walk whilst listening to praise music is also a good warm up before quiet time too! :)


After my delightful time with the Lord I headed off to pray with my co-workers and fellow laborers before we all headed off to our assigned roles in the adult English classes. Today, instead of working with the students, I helped with the childcare that is provided during the summer as the kids are not in school. I LOVED this. I honestly can't say what I love more between working with the students and working with the kids. It was SUCH a joy to color pictures and work puzzles and make friends with the kids and the time passed so quickly. 


During my lunch break I was able to chat with my siblings a little and then do a whole crossword with Mom before heading back to one of the neighborhood centers to work with the kids. 
I had a joy-filled afternoon walking from trailer to trailer meeting families and asking if they'd like their children to come to VBS (Vacation Bible School) with us. 
ALSO!! One of the trailers we came across had a litter of 9 of the CUTEST little puppies you've ever seen. I *wish* I could have taken a picture but they were tiny, maybe both of my hands put together, I they were CUTE. I think I fell in love. The mom said she was giving them away, so I'm half tempted to go get one for myself when they're a little bigger (we'll see how well I could convince my parents lol). 




I realize that I need to share more pictures and so here are two pictures from an event at one of the neighborhood centers a week ago. Every week we have something called Neighborhood night when we get the neighborhood to come together and we just have a cookout. The food is good and the company and relationship building is priceless!

These are some of the ladies that cooked for neighborhood night. The one on the far right behind the fridge is one my my English students :)

Tonight I had Bible study too. It would take a whole other blog post by itself to try to explain all the joyful things that God is teaching me in that. My heart is bursting and I feel like God has only *Barely* scratched the surface on all the great things he will do in my heart. I will say this, though, He's been doing BIG things in my heart. I'm not sure if people can see that on the outside yet but God is doing massssive things.  


Stay tuned!! More stories and joyful memories will be posted soon!

And Mary Treasured up all These Things...

I feel so close to the weekend right now and am amazed at how quickly this past week has gone. Like I said earlier, the days have been full. Fulfilling is also another good way of describing them. 


As mentioned in an earlier post, I'm doing a Beth Moore study on the book of James. I LOVE it so far!! I've done two days of the homework and we still haven't even gotten to James. Beth starts by giving a background of the family of James who was one of Jesus' brothers. One of the things I've seen in the text a bunch is how Mary was storing up all these treasures in her heart along the way. I've always wondered what exactly that meant, and I'm sure it's something special that all mothers do and I will maybe one day experience if I have children on my own. 


In the meanwhile, the last few days have been full to the brim with joyful treasures that I feel I could store up in my heart as well. I only have time to mention a few, but perhaps you will understand what I'm talking about. 


Today and yesterday I helped to teach the phonetics portion of the English classes. Yesterday I had no idea what I was doing and my partner, Jonathan, and I made it up as we went and pretending like we were confident in it. We received more instruction on the whole protocol this morning and were both pleasantly surprised to realize yesterdays improv phonetics performance wasn't too far off from what they had actually been doing with a different teacher. 


Today I was on my own teaching two Sudanese ladies how pronounce the letters in our alphabet. I didn't realize how complicated our alphabet is until I tried to teach it. Some of our letters are really hard to explain how to get the right sound. I'm learning, though! And they are improving! I was so delighted when one of my students correctly made the sound "Zee" and both of my students were able to distinguish "M" from "N!" Such joy in the simple things!! It almost makes me want to go teach in Africa. Haha. :)


I also helped to teach reading with my Sudanese ladies, the ones in my phonetics class plus one more. 
After going through our book a couple times (Sandcastle is a really difficult word by the way) I asked them some questions about the country from which they had come. I gave them each white boards and had them draw me pictures of their houses. (They're quite artistic!) 


I was fascinated to learn they lived in round mud huts with grass roofs fitting 10 or more people in one tiny one-room hut. I also learned about their decorative scarring or tribal marking. I had noticed their scars before but I hadn't payed much attention to the pattern. I am absolutely LOVING getting to know these women and learning more about their culture. I feel like by doing so I'm getting to know God better!! My heart is awakening to all these new things that I didn't know about before and it's as if God is saying, "Here's another thing! I made this person too! I made this culture. I made this language. I made this, this, and this." I'm just amazed. I mean, it's not like I was unaware before. I just didn't feel loved by knowing about all these people before. Now that I'm a part of investing in these people and God has filled my heart with a love for these people, I feel loved just getting to know them. Funny how that works, huh?


I haven't even begun  to describe all the joyful things I've encountered so far. I love the people I work with, I love the people I encounter, I love the time we spend in prayer and the time we spend getting to know each other. I love the fellowship and the encouragement and the unity. I love the big family feelings and common purpose and goals. 


I don't have time to describe it all, but I treasure up all these things in my own heart. :) 

June-5-12

Okay, so.. boring post title, I know. But it's after 9pm and I'm currently out of creativity. 
My summer started as an open slate of endless possibilities and as I have found out, I am a little more ambitious than I have time for exactly. 


I recently started my internship with The Bridge of Storm Lake. The days are full but delightful. As I had hoped, my days will take all of me. My heart must be fully committed to the Lord and fully committed to serving His people. It's what I need, I think. Some people like a little flexibility in their walk but I need to be pinned down or else I'm all over the place. My days will usually always start at 9 (except during VBS weeks it will start earlier) and they end anywhere between 5pm and 9pm. Long days, full days, good days. 


The only bummer is trying to balance being a part-time student, full-time family member etc. 


But there are a lot of unexpected blessings that came with this job. 


For one, I'm in a Beth Moore Bible study!! (I LOVE BETH MOORE!) This was SUCH a surprise. I showed up to my briefing meeting on Monday morning and found the study book next to my folder along with a schedule that informed me that Bible study would be on Tuesday nights. I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful this is to me. 
For example, the amount of women my age in this area that I know personally is zero. I didn't realize this until one of my co-workers asked me if I had friends in the area today.. I don't. I never needed to notice this because I have my siblings as friends as well as a few of my brothers friends to entertain me well enough. But I really am starved for fellowship when being in Storm Lake. It's funny, though, because I anticipated not being in community this summer, I've been trying really hard to pursue God on my own and grow in my faith just by feeding myself. And now I'm getting all this additional nourishment as well as being placed in a study with 5 or 6 other like-minded women my age and being in constant fellowship with other believers as we serve the Lord together. 


An other thing is that I have a discipler from the church that I grew up in. I'm not sure what study I'll do with her yet but I'm excited to have one-on-one investment time. 


Right  now my miles are on hold as I figure out how to better manage my time. People keep telling me that I need to make lists and schedules to help me stay on top of things. I'm not a lists or skedge person, but I'll make some attempts at some when I get to it/find time. 


Phew!! It's almost ten now, I've been home a little over an hour and I must return to work in less than 12 hours. Sometimes I wish there were more hours in a day. : / Until then, bed time calls.