In Everything Give Thanks

Well back to the Giving Thanks thought…A lot of things have ‘gone wrong’ for us here lately. But I hope I’m letting God teach me through it.  There’s one thing I know is true (and I pray God will teach me to know it more) : that God is Good. That He loves me and wants to make me more like Him.  I want to be one of those people that actually does give thanks in everything.  So here are a couple things that I’m giving thanks for today:  

My Beautiful Maia and Corn on the Cob…

 Imaginative Girls on a Rainy Day…

 A Chilly but Beautiful Day at the Beach with my Ben…

 And my Friend Agnyeshka being Brave enough to be Baptized…

Just making sure…

..that this is going to pop up before i take the time to write a lot

Giving thanks…

Gone again…

Out of the office again this week.  It probably seems like we’re more out than in.  Two teen boys are here on a mission trip (isn’t that a great expression – it makes me think of a colorful kaleidoscope of people handing out tracts and singing specials in church).  Anyway, we’re going on a little ‘teen camp’ with the 3 teens that come to church and the US boys.  The girls are staying with the mom of one of the teens (and Chiquita too).  This will probably the first and last time she offers to keep our girls, but I’ll enjoy it while I can.  I’ll be back in a week!

Camel riding in the Sahara

I fed this baby camel and he gave me a kiss for it (the Bedouin villagers probably train them to do that just so they can see us tourists flip out).  The Bedouin people are there own nation – they don’t own their Egyptian citizenship.  They’re nomadic and follow the water-source which, as far as I could tell, is a pretty rare thing.  It was dry, desolate, dry, and beautiful!  In the village where we were, there were about 50 people, who seemed to thrive on the tourist industry.    These little nomads tossed the cheap hard candies we gave them into the sand, but they LOVED the snickers we brought out!     I don’t have a great picture of me actually riding the camel – when you’re up 14 feet in the air, it’s NOT the time to be taking pictures – here’s the best shot Amber got:   Notice my tiny three-year old guide.  She was about as tall as the camel’s knee and i was a little afraid for her, but she dragged that camel around like it was her teddy bear.  When we came back to the village, she pulled his giant head down and gave him big kisses for a job well done.  As soon as I dismounted (which felt similar to the tilt-o-whirl at the fair) she held out her little hand for a tip.  I filled it with candies which she popped into her mouth even as she was shaking her head no and saying ‘ksh-ksh-ksh!’  I’m a quick study and I gathered that’s Bedouin for ‘cold, hard cash, please.’  She was so cute that I emptied my pockets.  I’m guessing that she usually gets that reaction. 

Everyone should go camel riding in the Sahara!!!

Back from Camp (and the computer finally works)

Well, here’s Captain Weirdo at camp a week ago.  We really had a great time.  We only had 12 kids – basically all of the 7-12 year olds whose families attend services.  None of these kids were saved, so 3 times a day they heard simple messages about Christ’s love for them and His gift of salvation.  Hopefully, they understand a little more clearly now what God’s grace is.  We also packed the time at camp with crazy games (thanks to Captain Weirdo), craft-times, swimming, singing, bonfires…you know, basically everything that in our experience means summer camp.    Maia really enjoyed the face-painting. And Mikaela had fun pretending she was one of the big kids.  She’s only five, but she got to go to all the sessions and do all the games.    Here she’s playing the game ‘dry,dry,wet’ – a lot like ‘duck,duck, goose’ only a lot more fun on a hot day.  Isn’t she a good runner?  Must take after her mom.  Speaking of which, one of my jobs at camp (and I know this’ll be met with astonishment and mockery by the family) was to lead morning excercises.    Pretty funny, huh?  Actually, those kids were wimps.  They were crying for their mothers before we were even half finished!  Just kidding – I think they had fun.  Notice the cute short one in the pink jacket. 

   All in all, it was a good week.  We’ve been trying to systematically focus this summer on all the different groups in the ‘church’ – first we had a ladies conference, then a couples retreat, kids camp, and now we have 2 teenage boys from the US with us for the next 2 weeks.  There are 3 Polish teenagers that attend and we’re really hoping that they’ll be encouraged to live for God by seeing the example of other teens following Christ.  You can pray for them, and as long as the computer doesn’t get thrown out the window, I’ll update you on how that goes.    Have a happy day!