I really should have made four loaves but I only have 3 pans and that's all that fits in the oven anyway.
Can you smell it?
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Day 8 Photo a Day: a smell you adore
I really should have made four loaves but I only have 3 pans and that's all that fits in the oven anyway.
Can you smell it?
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Day 6 May Photo a Day: Someone who inspires me
My sister, Donna, inspires me. Big Time.
She has battled cancer for so long.
First, breast cancer.
Then, bone cancer.
And she just got the news on Friday that the cancer has gone to her liver.
How we hate that news.
Donna's response: "...So am I going to live differently? I don't know how. I want to live each day for God's glory and proclaim His love whenever He gives me opportunity."
No complaining. No pity party. Just keep on doing what God has called her to do.
I remember a time shortly after her bone cancer diagnosis. She and I went to visit a friend who had also been diagnosed with terminal cancer. I sat there in awe as these two women, both dealing with dreaded, incurable cancers, cited blessings and miracles and a myriad of ways the Lord had taken care of them. I knew I was in the presence of saints that day; women who knew and loved the One who had called them to walk this path and was walking it with them.
I know the point of this photo challenge is to take a new photo every day but I'm doing my own thing today. I love this picture of Donna and her husband, Jerry. It's an old one but I love it.
Us three girls. We have such good giggle fests together. My best friends.
This is the most recent picture I have, taken the night before we left for Niger:
Donna with my brother.
I love you, Donna. You inspire me to make each day count, to hold on to what I know to be true instead of listening to the lies of the Evil One, to choose to trust and accept from the Giver of All Good Things instead of complaining. Thanks for being such a model and inspiration to me and to so many, many others.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Day 5 Photo a Day Challenge: Bird
Bird? The only bird I could find in the neighborhood was the loud rooster who lives next door and starts crowing around 2am. The guinea fowl must have become someone's dinner as we haven't had any loud crashes as they've landed on our tin roof lately.
Day 4 May Photo Challenge: Fun!
What a perfect photo challenge for today, the fourth of May!
It's Lindsay's 23rd birthday.
And... LINDSAY = FUN!
Having a daughter here during our first year of settling into a new culture, home, ministry, etc., has been an incredible blessing from the Lord. One of those blessings for which I thank the Lord often. I would have been okay without her being here (I think) but my very loving Heavenly Father, the Giver of all good things, blessed me with her presence this year.
We play several games of pinochle every week and keep a running tally of games won. Tom's in the lead right now by a few games, but my bet is that by the end we will all win basically the same number since, at our skill level (!!!), it is a game of chance and all depends of what kind of hand we are dealt.
Linds and I have laughed our way through several seasons of Psych.
Last night she invited a few fellow teachers over for snacks. We moved our living room into my office with the AC so we could party in the cool. Fun time.
It's Lindsay's 23rd birthday.
And... LINDSAY = FUN!
 |
| The Birthday Girl on her way to school |
Having a daughter here during our first year of settling into a new culture, home, ministry, etc., has been an incredible blessing from the Lord. One of those blessings for which I thank the Lord often. I would have been okay without her being here (I think) but my very loving Heavenly Father, the Giver of all good things, blessed me with her presence this year.
We play several games of pinochle every week and keep a running tally of games won. Tom's in the lead right now by a few games, but my bet is that by the end we will all win basically the same number since, at our skill level (!!!), it is a game of chance and all depends of what kind of hand we are dealt.
Linds and I have laughed our way through several seasons of Psych.
Last night she invited a few fellow teachers over for snacks. We moved our living room into my office with the AC so we could party in the cool. Fun time.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
May 3 Photo Day Challenge: Something You Wore Today
This morning it was time to go on my monthly grocery shopping excursion with my fav taxi man. Fortunately he wasn't on strike like a lot of the other taxi men in town. The advantage of not having a car...yet... is having someone to chauffeur me around town. I never have to worry about parking places or getting lost or running someone over or getting stopped by the police.
Speaking of police...we did get stopped today by a policeman on a motorcycle. He pulled up beside us as we were crossing the bridge and told us to stop right there. In the middle of the bridge. We did. Which stopped the whole line of traffic behind us. That was the whole idea. Evidently the minibus behind us hadn't stopped when he had been whistled at to stop at an earlier round-a-about so in order to get him to stop now, the policeman stopped us so we would block the minibus so he could get-em! After waiting a few minutes we continued merrily on our way--after looking at the hippos in the water beside the bridge.
This is what I wore today. (I'm getting pretty good at tying two yards of fabric around my head! It can also be used for another wrap-around skirt. And it's a great sweat absorb-er.)
And always my trusty berkies! Everyday. All day. Outside. They don't scoop sand when I walk like some of my other sandals do. They are also easy to slip off and on since we never wear them in our house or anyone else's house. Even in the dorms, the girls have written with chalk on their room doors in big letters: TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES BEFORE ENTERING! (In French of course.)
Speaking of police...we did get stopped today by a policeman on a motorcycle. He pulled up beside us as we were crossing the bridge and told us to stop right there. In the middle of the bridge. We did. Which stopped the whole line of traffic behind us. That was the whole idea. Evidently the minibus behind us hadn't stopped when he had been whistled at to stop at an earlier round-a-about so in order to get him to stop now, the policeman stopped us so we would block the minibus so he could get-em! After waiting a few minutes we continued merrily on our way--after looking at the hippos in the water beside the bridge.
This is what I wore today. (I'm getting pretty good at tying two yards of fabric around my head! It can also be used for another wrap-around skirt. And it's a great sweat absorb-er.)
I'm soooo excited to have found a great tailor...finally. She does amazing work.
Isn't the sewing gorgeous? All done with a treadle machine. The top is so cool and comfortable.
 |
| With two of my fellow staff women. |
And always my trusty berkies! Everyday. All day. Outside. They don't scoop sand when I walk like some of my other sandals do. They are also easy to slip off and on since we never wear them in our house or anyone else's house. Even in the dorms, the girls have written with chalk on their room doors in big letters: TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES BEFORE ENTERING! (In French of course.)
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Day 2 May Photo Challenge: Skyline
sky·line/ˈskīˌlīn/
| Noun: |
|
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Day 1 May Photo Challenge: Peace
Peace.
How do you take a picture of peace?
What does peace look like?
It's hard enough to put into words, much less take a picture of it.
Today is May 1, Labor Day here, and a holiday.
I went for a walk at 7am this morning, hoping that first, it would be a few degrees cooler outside than inside and second, hoping that some "peace" scene would jump out at me.
Neither happened.
Instead a verse from Jeremiah kept running through my thoughts:
"Peace, peace they say, when there is no peace."
The mosques and prayer places are full of people praying, 5 times daily, seeking peace in this life and in the life to come. But peace with God is elusive.
We have been given the incredible privilege of knowing the Prince of Peace, the One who came to give us peace in this life and for eternity.
Peace with the Eternal God.
No condemnation.
Because of Jesus Christ.
What an incredible truth.
A truth we came to share.
Sleep can give a momentary sense of outward peace. Here in Niamey, life is lived outside now; sleeping, cooking, eating, visiting. The little cement or mud brick homes with tin roofs are unbearable in the 115+ degrees. The hours from 4-8am are the coolest as often a breeze comes up making sleeping a bit easier. I asked some university students the other day how many slept in their small room that has 2 single beds. She said there are always 5; three on one single bed and 2 on the other, but now they were sleeping on mats on the roof of the dorm.
Sleep = peace? Not really but it's the best I can do today.
All along my walk this morning, beds were set up outside in the yards. Some with mosquito nets draped over them, some were simply mats on the ground.
I was surprised to see groups of men/boys sleeping on the median of the new road in front of our house. A couple of them had thin mattresses. Others slept on benches or any other place they could
find.
P.S. I tried to use the Proverbs verse "Better is a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife!" as a reason to not cook today but that didn't fly either.
I
How do you take a picture of peace?
What does peace look like?
It's hard enough to put into words, much less take a picture of it.
Today is May 1, Labor Day here, and a holiday.
I went for a walk at 7am this morning, hoping that first, it would be a few degrees cooler outside than inside and second, hoping that some "peace" scene would jump out at me.
Neither happened.
Instead a verse from Jeremiah kept running through my thoughts:
"Peace, peace they say, when there is no peace."
The mosques and prayer places are full of people praying, 5 times daily, seeking peace in this life and in the life to come. But peace with God is elusive.
We have been given the incredible privilege of knowing the Prince of Peace, the One who came to give us peace in this life and for eternity.
Peace with the Eternal God.
No condemnation.
Because of Jesus Christ.
What an incredible truth.
A truth we came to share.
Sleep can give a momentary sense of outward peace. Here in Niamey, life is lived outside now; sleeping, cooking, eating, visiting. The little cement or mud brick homes with tin roofs are unbearable in the 115+ degrees. The hours from 4-8am are the coolest as often a breeze comes up making sleeping a bit easier. I asked some university students the other day how many slept in their small room that has 2 single beds. She said there are always 5; three on one single bed and 2 on the other, but now they were sleeping on mats on the roof of the dorm.
Sleep = peace? Not really but it's the best I can do today.
All along my walk this morning, beds were set up outside in the yards. Some with mosquito nets draped over them, some were simply mats on the ground.
I was surprised to see groups of men/boys sleeping on the median of the new road in front of our house. A couple of them had thin mattresses. Others slept on benches or any other place they could
find.
P.S. I tried to use the Proverbs verse "Better is a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife!" as a reason to not cook today but that didn't fly either.
I
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