Lists

Can I hire an assistant?

Can a missionary have an assistant?

Yes, quite honestly, I'm feeling overwhelmed with all there is to do in these next few months.

Alright- that's ALL there is to this blog post. No beating around the bush.

Shoot me an email or call/text me if you would be willing to help me put together some of the lists of things I need to get done, and hold me accountable to them, and help me accomplish them!

Lists include:

-What do I need in my kitchen?
-What do I need for my kiddos?
-Educational, craft, and entertainment supplies?
-What do I need for our tribal home?
-What loose ends do we need to tie up here in the USA?
-Relational things I should not forget before we head out.
-Clothes
-Sorting through our remaining belongings
-(ETC...)

*Note- if you can't help with a list, but you'd like to help me breathe by sharing a cup of coffee, it's highly probable that I will respond to that postively as well....  .... just saying.

**More important note... Words of encouragement from Scripture are just as helpful as coffee. (And maybe even more-so!! Ok, let that smile out, it was meant to cause a chuckle.) I find myself daily listening to Matt Maher's "Lord, I Need You." I hope the truthful words are an encouragement to you today as they are to me daily.

"Lord, I Need You" ~ Matt Maher

Digital Cooking!

Wouldn't that be something, to open a recipe on your iPad and press "Go!" and sit down with a hot cup of tea while dinner just makes itself?

Yeah, pretty unrealistic.

So is lugging many pounds of heavy cookbooks (most of which I cook 1 or 2 recipes out of... am I the only one?) overseas.

I'm very thankful for these newfangled tools, also known as "APPS", such as this one below, that allow me to import recipes from websites, from cookbooks, from recipe cards, .... and from my brain (ok yeah, the last one is a joke, because those who know me are fully aware that I have no recipes in my brain. I can cook really well, but not without a detailed recipe!).

Because of this, I will be able to have every recipe I ever use at my fingertips. Plus the iPad can be right there in the kitchen with me! ("But what if it dies?!?!", you might ask. Never fear! ... My family would learn to enjoy rice. Lots of rice. Hehe)

Here is an example of how this App, "RecipeBook" works (it's SO easy!).






Ok, friends... now it's YOUR turn to help ME! Please comment below with your FAVORITE recipe! It can be a link to the recipe online (which I can easily import, as you saw above), the entire recipe typed out, or you can also email me with the recipe.

Losing Earrings and Such...

It was a sad moment. I heard the earring hit the railing, and knew instantly it was gone. I looked down from the high balcony and watched it float gracefully down into the still water below and create a tiny ripple. As it fell, I chose to laugh. Why not. :) There was nothing I could do to change the situation anyway.

Feeling creative, I considered that perhaps a bird or fish might ingest it, choke on it, and end up floating dead in the marina. Passengers are prohibited from discarding things overboard, so I thought maybe the cruise line would be sued by an animal rights activist... and in the midst of it, I'd submit a request to see if my earring had been discovered in the dead animal's carcass...?

Anyway, other things were lost on a recent vacation, some of which were found.

But it sure causes me to weigh the value I place on my belongings. My value of things in regard to other people. My value of things in regard to my purpose in life. My value of earthly things in regard to eternal things. My responses and reactions reveal to me much of what is in my heart.

My heart fluctuates on a daily basis when it comes to this topic. Does yours? On good days, it is easy for me to get rid of things as we prepare for PNG. On not-so-good days, I want to take more things overseas, or store things, or simply feel selfish about them.

I feel anxious for winter to turn to spring- I feel that the change of weather will allow me to clear out so much of our 'stuff' that we won't use again or see again. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying each day with these things. I believe this is Paul's point when he wrote "use the things of the world, but as if not engrossed in them." He didn't indicate that we should practice asceticism (denying ourselves of things to "be lowly" or to punish ourselves). He implied that we should use them, but with an open hand. Ready to let them go at any moment! Enjoy them fully! But be ready in your heart to toss them aside without a second thought. :)

So for the most part, I am enjoying this season of purging of our belongings, and I feel very ready in that respect for what lies ahead.