The Lining Is Silver

Or the lining is golden.  Or orange.  Maybe it's pink.  In my personal experience, it depends on the sunset.  Or the sunrise.  One thing's for sure, the lining is almost always beautiful.

My plan for this update: culinary misadventures, God's goodness, some awkward encounters, and a request or two for prayer.  Those of you that want to bail now are hereby excused. (Except you, Mom.  You have to stay so I don't look like a loser.  It's your fault I'm writing anyway.)  Alright, hands and feet inside the vehicle?  Here we go...

Roasted garbanzo beans are a lie. I also might have made them incorrectly.  They did, however, start popping like popcorn in the oven without actually making anything fluffy and flavorful.  I ended up with chewy, kinda-sorta-salt-and-vinegar, traumatized chickpea pebbles, which I ate because waste is a sin.  Thankfully, I only made one serving, so they're gone now.  The remaining beans got falafel-ized in our new (to us) food processor!  Of course, I didn't have all the "real" ingredients to make falafel, so I made a recipe up that I fondly call Maybe Falafel.  It's going to go down as a secret family recipe, but I'll give you a hint, it let me use up some left over sweet potato.  I know my Jewish ancestors are rolling in their graves. (Is Dad crying over your shoulder, Mom?)  It tasted good, okay?  In recompense for my desecration of falafel, I also concocted a carrot-ginger hummus that totally redeems my aforementioned chickpea mistakes.

Apparently, God stretches us most when we are in His will.  We recently attended a regional conference, at which I was asked (read: told) to share my testimony.  One on one, I can share my testimony fairly coherently.  Throw me out in front of a bunch of missionaries who share God's word for a living and I'm about ready to have an anxiety attack.  I won't tell you my heart rate before I stood up, but it could have won the Kentucky Derby.  Despite my social anxiety and regrettable tears, I did share some of my journey with the group and no one fell asleep, so go team!

Coming back into the quiet village life, I've picked language study back up and Saturday hikes have resumed.  This Saturday, we accidentally tromped right through a neighboring village, only to realize we were going the wrong way, so we had to tromp right through again.  Ahh, have I mentioned social anxiety?  Thanks for growing me, God.  Thanks.

Now I come to the part where I don't want to share too much information, but I'm going to try to share what I can.  One of my little students has been having some health hiccups.  A couple visits to a lab and some discussions with the doctors let my host mom know that her little girl is going to keep "hiccuping" and there really isn't anything we can do except wait for her to grow out of it.  Of course, no parent or child wants to receive that news, so my prayer (and hopefully your prayer) is that the Lord would heal her.  If He won't heal, then that He would hold them closely through this trial.

TTFN

Ta-ta For Now!

Hunting and Exploring

In a couple days, some of us adult ladies will be heading to Manila for some appointments and odd supplies.  We will be out of the village for some ten days, while rest of the family will remain here.  The kids are excited because this means they will get a two week break from school.  I'm excited because this means I will get to FaceTime with my family back home.

One of the things we need to do while we're in the city is search for art supplies.  I will be "teaching" (though in art, I feel it's more like guiding than anything) two of the high school age girls through a homeschooling art curriculum.  I made a supply list on Wednesday and set out to find what we already have, so we don't purchase anything unnecessary.  Thursday night, I'm going through the final drawer and lo!  Gary the Cockroach twitched his nasty little antennae at me from his nestled position between the molding clay and finger paints.  The molding clay was my objective, but there was no way I was going to reach for it with Gary just chilling there.  As I debated my options, Gary waved farewell and crawled deeper into the recesses of the drawer.  That made my decision for me.  I shut the drawer and went up to bed.

Friday morning, I announced to S and J that we would be going on a hunt after our morning lessons.  True to my word, once snack had been consumed, S was armed with a fly swatter and J was bequeathed a bottle of Baygon.  We opened the drawer with due apprehension.  One deep breath.  Two deep breaths.  Eventually, winged by my fearless cockroach slayers, I began to unpack the drawer.  The results?  A whole lot of cockroach poo and rock solid molding clay.  At this very moment, Gary is at large.  The only questions is where?

A couple of us have started going on an early morning walk every Saturday.  It's enjoyable for a number of reasons: it gets us out in the sun and fresh air, we become more familiar with the land around us, fellowship...  Needless to say, walking in the morning has become something I look forward to all week long.  This week, we took a familiar path out, but a new ridge path back.  All was well until we reach the end of the loop, where we were met by a lovely standing pool that looked to be about 5/8 water buffalo poop.  With many laughs, groans, and helping hands, we technically made it across.  Sufficed to say we needed to rinse in the river before we made it home.

Each passing day brings a new lesson, picture, or idea.  Whole pockets of flowers hidden from view in the bush praise God with their beauty.  A mother water buffalo protects her young by chasing the strange white people away.  A little pineapple sprouts from a plant beside the river.  Piglets are born.  It seems to me that the details might make a difference after all.  Maybe it just depends on the details I choose to focus on.