sitting and waiting

I have never been incredibly good at waiting yet here I am. Our passports are in Ottawa and will be held for a few more days before being sent back to us. I am trusting this is an exercise in patience as it doesn't feel all that funny at the moment. We need our visas before we can book our tickets with certainty and our departure date is soon approaching.

In the meantime we sort through all the stuff we brought to Neal's parent's place and try to do all the government things, visit with supporters and pray for our flight money to show up.

God is good ... all the time. And all the time ... God is good.

you don't deserve it, part two

The law is an expression of God`s character.

Galatians 5 tells us what the fruit of the Spirit is ... love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. It also tells us that against these things there is no law. When I am operating under these things I will be in God's will. When I am operating under love, the Holy Spirit, I will not be breaking the law.

The law stands outside, telling us what we do wrong but does nothing to help us.

The Spirit lives within, showing us our sin AND what to change. It frees us from what we cannot do anyway ... live the CHRISTian life. Instead of striving, we are resting and letting Christ do the work. We need to teach others what God`s word says and let the Holy Spirit change the thinking.

The requirements of the law have been fulfilled IN us, not BY us. (Titus 2:11-12; Micah 6:8)

I love this analogy:
Imagine ballroom dancing - one is the leader and the other follows. When you observe a Christian, it looks like they are being directed by works but they aren't; faith is the lead. If we let works take the lead, our flesh gets in the way. Works are to take second; be the follower.
The book of James talks about this - show me the evidence of your faith. Works are super-added, not the key. It isn't adding to our faith like more icing on my cake before Jesus. Faith is not lacking that it needs anything added to it. Faith is the starting point.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Now we are saved, Christ wants to add to our lives and give us purpose.

you don't deserve it

but that's ok ... neither do we.

This week we are in training at New Tribes Mission of Canada headquarters and the boys are resting at Grandpa and Grandma`s. We managed to move our possessions to Neal`s parent`s place, finishing on Sunday afternoon. Now all we have to do is go through all the stuff we already knew we had too much of and pare it down to the bare minimum so it doesn`t drive us crazy thinking about it all while we are gone.
The headquarters is beautiful and the weather is lovely. It helps to put things into perspective while we are here. I wonder what the future holds ...

Some food for thought from today`s training:

are you self-focused or God-focused

do you live with perpetual guilt cycles (if you look at what others are doing, there is always something else to add to your own list of to-do`s or to-be`s)

Do I think I am bound by the Law
Does God expect me to keep the Law
Will God like me better if I keep the Law

The Law was the reference point for the Old Testament, but our reference point is now the Holy Spirit. I no longer ask if God will be pleased with me and my actions, but what does God want me to do. The Christian life is not a stop sign, but a yield to the Holy Spirit. One of God`s purposes is to move us from self-focused to God-focused as we walk things out here on earth.

undeserved grace.

there is no such thing as not deserving undeserved grace.

The Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY... Monday, June 16

Outside My Window... there are sounds of birds, lawnmower and many vehicles. I know that it is summer soon and it is wonderful to finally be able to open the door and leave it open, soaking in the sounds of a country I am soon leaving.

I am thinking... that it will be so different in Papua New Guinea and I cannot even begin to superimpose the sights, sounds or smells onto my small town, South-western Ontario brain.

I am thankful for... provision

From the kitchen... only one cat is still sitting on the windowsill now. The other gave up her request for early lunch. The sunlight streams through the many slats of the antique wooden shutters that encompass each of the six, extra large windows. I will miss that sight.

I am wearing... a butter-cream t-shirt with embroidered flowers, saying "love is in the air" and a long pale blue skirt. I am getting used to wearing only skirts and am finding myself feeling very feminine as a result.

I am creating...well, hopefully, a legacy.

I am going... to the dentist at three, unless I can figure out a way to dodge the inevitable. I know, I know ... very childish. well, my age does have a "3" in it.

I am reading... absolutely nothing because the library was closed after church and the one in town is decidedly out of what I have written on my list of reads and I find that very disturbing.

I am hoping... to pack my entire house this week AND find places to store it, to boot.

I am hearing... the lawnmower that I first wrote was a pleasing sound and is now distracting and others have now joined in the fray. Yes. I *AM* that fickle.

Around the house... too many things to pack. WAY too many. Who bought all these things, anyway?

One of my favorite things... the chocolate milk I drank at breakfast this morning. This was an attempt to console myself for the obvious lack of accoutrements for my toast, as well as the knowledge that it makes NO sense to go and buy condiments the week before you move, especially since we will have to share an already over-stuffed frige.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: I am slowly going crazy, one, two, three, four, five, six ... switch

Here is picture thought I am sharing...  I have no idea how my two "toddlers still in my mind" became just about twelve and thirteen.

Spirit Walk

Friday, the thirteenth (oooh) we participated in the Spirit Walk, as a family. I played Mrs. Rouse, a woman in 1883 with thirteen, count 'em, children and a husband (oddly his name was John) off with the war. I had considerably fewer lines than in Peril, which was fine by me. We sold out and had to turn people away! We did eleven shows that night, all twenty-five of us. It was a surprise to me as I thought I had to wait two years, at least, to be "on stage" again.

now ... here's hoping all the packing and moving goes as well this week. Soon I shall have to compose Ode to a Firehall.

this is really bugging me

The whole reason I titled my last post "first fry of the year" was because I got burnt yesterday, at a "goodbye Neal" picnic. Apparently, as I was composing the post, I completely forgot what I had used for the title.

Also, I seem to be destined to smell like nobody's business because I put on the costume I am to wear tonight for the Spirit Walk and it smelled like a bad tunic (or a totally stupid brown shirt)

I am going to attempt to rid said garment of its nasty odours before 6pm tonight. I suppose the worst thing that could happen is the underarm section refuses to dry in time and I look like I SHOULD smell like a rotten tunic.

Papua New Guinea ... here I come.

Oh, and the dentist called and I get to go sit in the chair, practically upside down, WITH a mouth trebuchet, on Monday, at three p.m.

... simply cannot wait.

first fry of the year

today was supposed to be a wonderful day ... then I went to the dentist. I am not entirely sure why I do this to myself, but I suppose good oral hygiene does help in keeping my man and my friends. It's just that it inevitably makes me feel old.

how?

because each time I go (every nine months it has been) the dentist reminds me that I really should have my old silver fillings removed and replaced with the nice white porcelain ones. Who CHOOSES to do this? Who, in their right mind, would part with all that lovely and, I might add, handy to have around, c.a.s.h. to purposely fill their mouths with a foot of needle just to have one itty bitty bit of mercury-laden metal removed and replaced with something three times as expensive?

Now, I have thought about the mercury part of the arguement, but not seriously enough once I remember the nefarious needle nipping. My first filling since I was twelve landed on Evan's birthday last year and I was forced to drink one of Colin's smoothies instead of the hearty hamburgers I had purchased in order that we might celebrate in style. My mouth was WAY too frozen.

In all my childish glory, let me just say that I hope for two things for next week:

1. That the extra hygienist becomes conveniently UNavailable and, therefore, so does my potential priority appointment on Wednesday

2. The wee spots the dentist found do not grow in any way, shape or form over the next two and a half years until I can re-visit dental denial

fastidiousness

do you, personally, have any idea how painstakingly tedious it is to import archives one by one, link by link, picture by picture, changing each date as you go along so it doesn't look like you wrote a billion and a half posts all on the same day?

didn't think so.

totally stupid brown shirt

live, laugh, see, touch, taste SMELL, love ... that's what the totally stupid brown shirt said.
I have a "thing" for used stuff. Goodwill, Value Village and occasionally St. Vincent dePaul, except for that leather-like chair Neal brought home during one of his lunch hours, though I did laugh heartily when he leaned just a little too far back and fell oh so slowly and completely backwards. I nearly died laughing. NO, I don't so much go for the vinyl; more the value.
I love a deal.
I love vintage.
The Oxford Dictionary defines vintage this way:
of a past season

ok, we're talking waaaay past season, as in "was this stupid brown shirt seasoned?" Like, "did the owner of this totally stupid brown shirt ever bathe?"
and, "how did I not smell this at the store?" (easy answer, because everything in a used clothing store smells the same; like fart)

so, I was watching a movie last night, smelling my pits occasionally at first and then with much fervor later, and I finally had to just take the whole dumb thing OFF and shower and wash IT, only to discover (after the second washing) that it was, indeed, not me but, rather, the totally stupid brown shirt, emphasis on the SMELL word embroidered upon it, that completely encompasses the definition of the word vintage ...

way, WAY of a past season.

our last wednesday homeschooling here

today is monumental in my eyes.
Jonam finished his work for The Swiss Family Robinson yesterday and Evan has a few chapters left until he can make the same claim to fame. Jonam also managed to complete the Saxon 7/6 book and got halfway through the 8/7 as well. Evan was on lesson 75 before Christmas break and is now on lesson 88 or maybe 89. Blame it on his mother. I remember very clearly, standing in the office of the guidance counsellor in grade 10, listening to him drone on about the importance of higher maths and all the career opportunities I would kiss goodbye if I quit like I was asking to do. The chart on the wall actually listed these careers in a red and white spiral ... kind of like a toilet being flushed. Didn't care. Math wasn't my thing and it still isn't. Some days that makes me feel dumb, but mostly not. Dreary days seem to bring it on. Must be because they remind me of math.

anyway ...

Geography was fun this year
and I believe our children are not quite as challenged in the terra firma area as in previous years, but since we are moving overseas in a matter of a month, whatever we just soaked in is likely to be sweated out. That's ok. I can cross it off the learning list just the same.

Tomorrow I have one more planning meeting for the annual Art in the Park. This year we kicked out all the people who like to sit along the sidewalk smoking and selling used Benny Hinn cassettes and other paraphenalia that is supposedly effective for smoking cessation. We also vetoed the man who likes to sell his used Dinky Car collection. Now, before a riot breaks out, let us recall the name of the event:
ART in the Park, not garage sale in the park. Never the twain shall meet. I am sad that I won't be there as well, since I am excited to see what we have accomplished over the months that we have been meeting.
After the meeting, we go to a good friend's place for a hang-out session, then the boys are off to town for a dart gun party.

I get two wonderful hours to myself, in a coffee shop, finishing up my latest study guide (Tom's Midnight Garden) to submit to The Old Schoolhouse Store then it will be time to meet Neal at work for a date, until the boys are ready to be picked up again around 9.

b.l.i.s.s.

if I was just more geek

I could have all our archives transferred over here and life would be grand. *sigh*