blood:water mission

If you do not read the blood:water mission blog, you should. The newest one is by Dan Haseltine. Some people have heard of him 'cause he is the lead singer of this little band called Jars of Clay. But, today he isn't talking about his small time band, he is communicating about the suffering in Africa, choices, and the here and now of the Kingdom of God.

And after you read it - do something with it.

Romance in the Park

Last night we held our own version of "Amazing Race" for our youth. We wrapped it up at the Arbor Hills Nature Preserve. I watched a man get a bouquet of roses, 2 champagne glasses, and some bubbly out of his car and walk up the main trail. About five minutes later I took off the same way and met him headed back toward the parking lot. My thought was that whatever he proposed didn't go well or that he had been stood up. Five minutes later I heard someone coming up behind me. It was Mr. Roses. He asked if I knew how to get to the tower. I told him which direction he needed to head at the fork. And then told him that I hoped I was right. So, maybe I helped romance along last night OR a guy is still wandering around in the preserve looking for the tower.

Sex Trade and Children

Have tissue ready as you click to read this post by Amy. It is not easy to read, but it needs to be read, passed on, and acted on by every person that reads it.

If you want to learn more about modern day slavery, check out these sites:
International Justice Mission
Not For Sale
Free The Slaves

22nd Wedding Anniversary

Today is the day that my husband, Phil, and I have been married 22 years. I guess it is a good thing we like each other. My mind is mush right now. We had planned to spend our evening the same way we did exactly one year ago tonight, however things didn't go quite as planned. It started out normal.

Dinner at Kelly's Eastside.
Walk around Historical Downtown Plano.
Make our way to the Fusion Cafe.
Settle in for Aaron and Jordan's concert.
Watch firetruck and ambulance go by.
During the intermission, talk to friends.
During conversation about a mission trip to Ecuador hear that Corinn's best friend has had a wreck on the way to the concert. Hence the firetruck and ambulance.
Take Corinn to hospital to be with KK.
Tell KK that Aaron and Jordan are not worth getting in a wreck over.
Ask KK if they found a brain when they did a catscan.
Watch KK struggle to get up to go potty.
Tell her that no one saw her pink undies as she walked through emergency.
Helped KK's mom get her into paper scrubs, cause her clothes had to be cut off.
Listened to nurse confirm a broken collarbone.
Said goodbye to KK, her mom and dad.
Came home and wrote this.

Darn, my anniversary is over by two minutes.

Stripping Dirty Waxed Floors

The place I work in is stripping and re-waxing the floor. Apparently this is done twice a year. Once in the summer and once during Christmas break. You don't really notice the grime until the stripping takes place and the new wax shines.

I've been watching this process for a couple of weeks now. It reminds me of how gunk builds up in my heart. Layer upon layer at a consistent pace. I don't notice because it becomes the norm, just like the brown film on the blue and white tiles. But, it has to be stripped - just like the floors. Sometimes I don't like that. I fight the Sander. I wish I could follow the floor's lead and just let it happen, lie there and let the process take place. Enjoy becoming clean again.

Another thing I've noticed is that the floor isn't mopped everyday so the dirt builds up fast. (Sort of like my kitchen floor, but we aren't going to talk about that now.) Maybe, like my soul, if it was scrubbed everyday it wouldn't take such drastic measures to keep it looking (or feeling) good.

Gunk On/Gunk Off

Andrew Osenga's Blog on the Dalits

Please read this blog about "the least of these" in India. It is heart breaking. I hope it grabs you and moves you like it did me. It is written by Andrew Osenga as part of the 40 Day Fast. Read it and act!

Warped Tour

Jacob, Corinn, Chloe, Derrick - What a group!

Corinn and Nathan

me with my redneck tan and John - this is how we really look

Corinn, Solomon, Chloe, Josh

This is how I spent my Saturday - hanging out at the Vans Warped Tour. Amazingly I wasn't the oldest person there. Some people older than me had no business being dressed the way they were. I didn't take pictures. I wanted to spare everyone the ugliness.

Corinn and I had a lot of fun. She got to see three of her favorite bands, maybe four - can't remember. The highlight of the day was seeing our friend, Chloe. She has a very stressful job and we spent the day helping her out. At some points we three were so busy that I don't see how she does it alone. She is amazing.

Some people know Chloe as "Tofu Pup". A girl asked to have her picture taken with her. I missed that. It would have been fun to see. I like watching my friends be recognized. As long as people are nice. Don't want any weirdos bothering her.

As you can see in one of the pictures I got a lovely redneck tan. Now I don't have to make a fake one for "Redneck Camp" Wednesday night. I made it all through the Yucatan without getting one and then got one at home. GRRR!

It was great to meet her employers. They are sweet and funny. John made me laugh so hard. If you ever meet him ask him about his encounter with Cher. I will never be able to see or think about her again without cracking up.

Anyway, it was a great day. I look forward to meeting up with them again at Rock The Desert.

Back From The Yucatan

Twins! The pastor's wife had no idea that she was
carrying twins until she delivered them. Surprise!

It's Monday. We got back Thursday night. This is the first time I have felt the desire to blog. Our time in the Yucatan was special. There were many beautiful things to see and the people we met were wonderful. I lost count of the villages we visited. We were suppose to go to five different ones, but in the world of missions you must remember a very important word - Flexibility. We flexed a lot. During our time in the first village, my 12 year old came to me and said, "These kids have nothing, but they're so happy." Of course we saw that over and over during our week. It was a good lesson for all of us.

I want one of these tricycles! It would be great to pick up groceries. One of the men let me test his out. I managed not to kill our music minister.





This is one of my buddies. I was helping her make her bracelet. Isn't she beautiful? She kept staring at me. I guess she had never seen anything so strange before!

















I bought a hammock for my family from the lady who made it. Think about this - I'm 5'4".
She only charged me $10. If I had bought it in the city it would have been $20-$30. I cut out the middle man and made a friend.
















As we began to leave on night this woman, the wife of the man that let me ride his tricycle, brought me this tortilla cover. Her 18 year old daughter makes them to sell. She and her husband presented it as a gift. I was so touched!

The people of this church fed us a wonderful dinner. It consisted of what I call "tapas", tiny soft tacos on homemade corn tortillas. Good stuff! Also at this church there was a door that I had to duck to get through. Again, I'm 5'4".









My daughter, Corinn, makes a friend in Ek Balam. Mayan temple ruins were discovered by outsiders in the late 90's. They are being excavated now. Soon this sleepy little village will be a hot tourist spot. It already has one "eco-hotel".

Clay makes some friends. This is at the Ek Balam's village square. There is no church here, but there is a Mayan missionary, Ramone, that wants to start one soon.
















Randy, the puppet master, and my daughter, Callie, showing off their dance moves during one of the puppet songs. I never got to see this live because I always had my hand up a puppet's hiney.

Sudan Refugees

If you have an interest in Africa, missions, refugees, people in need, then read this...
http://markjaffrey.blogspot.com/2007/07/40-day-fast-pray-for-nation.html

Check out Brant's Blog

http://branthansen.typepad.com/letters_from_kamp_krusty/2007/07/asterisks.html

He says it like I can't.

Mission Trip to Mexico

We leave in 5 1/2 hours for the Yucatan. At first I wasn't very excited. It wasn't what we had first planned for the trip. But right now, I'm excited. It helped to get Callie's clothes packed two days ago. She stopped bugging me.

Each day we will go to a different village for Bible Clubs and services with the local church. I would not have been comfortable going in "alone". A local believing body needs to be in place to build and support those with which a mission team works. It isn't always possible, I know, but it makes me feel more secure to know that there is someone in the village to come along side of those that need it.

I have to go to sleep now.

Fourth of July

It is the Fourth of July. I'm glad I live here. I want my country to do well, but I would rather it do what is right. That isn't happening much.

One of my greatest pet peeves is when people put their American citizenship before their Christianity. It happens all the time. It is one of the reasons we are in Iraq.

I was on a mission trip in another country awhile back when I saw this mindset raise its ugly head over and over.
"How dare she look at me like I'm a devil, I'm an American!"
"They wouldn't dare do anything to an American!"
"What do you mean he's handsome? I've got to get you back to America."
"This would never happen in America."

It was a long trip.

One of my students asked me why we didn't say the Pledge of Allegiance in our school. I told her I didn't know why any of the other teachers didn't do it, but my reason was that my allegiance was with Jesus.

I have been reading The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In the Memoir section by G. Leibholz:

"It was Bonhoeffer and his friends who proved by their resistance unto death that even in the age of the nation-state there are loyalties which transcend those to state and nation. They proved that even in this age nationalism stands under God and that it is a sin against Him and His call for fellowship with other nations if it degenerates into national egotism and greed."

So, this is where my mind has been on this 4th - there and trying to figure out where all the new socks we just bought for Clay went to.

Today's Callieism

We were eating the spicy Tomatillo and Chicken Tostados I had made for dinner when Callie said, "Did you know when you eat soup you get tears in your nose?"

blood:water mission

make sure you visit www.bloodwatermission.com

find out how you can save lives with $1.00

From The Message:
Matthew 25:34-36
"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what's coming to you in this kingdom. It's been ready for you since the world's foundation. And here's why:

I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.'

37-40"Then those 'sheep' are going to say, 'Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?' Then the King will say, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.'