Cactus Flower

.... So did I say that I'd left the house with no supper?  A few hours after Dalton's surgery to insert a pin to hold the bone together in his little finger, the nurse brought him some soup and a piece of bread.  By then it was about 10:00 at night.  He gulped it down.  I sat and watched and regretted not letting my neighbor's husband go out before he left to get me a snack as he had suggested.  Honestly I didn't feel much like eating.  I was nervous to be in a ward with other patients in a strange place to spend the night. After his soup and a bit of t.v., Dalton went to sleep on his bed.  An orderly told me and another lady who was with a boy who had broken his arm that we could feel free to lay down on the extra beds in the room.  I laid down, but my eyes stayed wide open most of the night.  Around 3 am I remembered that I had some dramamine in my purse and decided that it might help me relax and sleep a little.  It did and I must h...

The Broken Finger ....When all of a sudden my middle son started screaming, hollering, and doing some sort of war dance.  He had been jumping with his skateboard and bar on the front sidewalk.  Ah, ah, ugh, ugh, arrrr!  Seems he had fallen, but I could make no since out of his squalling to know what he had hit.  He ran into the house and collapsed on the couch.  This kind of thing happens a lot in my house.  So I passed on by to get a drink of water before coming back to ask what was the matter.  Then I saw blood and a bent finger!  Broken finger!  The bone poking out was causing it to bleed.  Oh joy! We live in a small interior city of Brazil.  No hospital.  There is a small emergency clinic.  They have no  x-ray machine.  Often they have no doctor for the day.  Frequently they don’t even have simple supplies.  What to do?  My dh was in the big city an hour away with the car!   That w...

It all started on Saturday and Sunday with a Siamese cat that would not go away. Why did the poor cat not see that my two dogs don’t like cats? All day on Saturday the little kitten ran around in the backyard dodging the dogs, resting, and playing tag again. We tried to catch it to no avail. We tried to run it off, but you know the song – The Cat Came Back! Sometime on Monday I decided I would catch that cat and I would make it mine! I spent a good part of my afternoon following the cat around the backyard in an attempt to coax it to come to me. Ah, I put the dogs in the house! Mmm, finally a cat for me! Sometime in the afternoon, my youngest called from the school room, because the dogs had THE cat cornered under the old washing machine. I’m going to get my cat! I bend down with dogs breathing down my neck, and see not one, but TWO little cats! One ran off and climbed the wall never to be seen again. The other stayed huddled way up under the washer. I got ...

I chose a book based mostly on its beautiful leather cover and its title.   Be careful, because covers and titles can be deceiving! Book Review:   The Love And Respect Experience What does every woman want in her marriage?  Love, respect, friendship, happiness...  The author of this devotional book based on the Love & Respect conferences and seminars, teaches that men want respect and women want love.  I don't know about you ladies out there, but I want it all - love and repect.  I want to be treated with manners and kindness and consideration.   And I don't want to have to deserve it either, I just want it! Well, with that said, maybe this is just the book I needed?  I did find this book helpful with some excellent suggestions on building your marriage up and in working to find time and ways to share spiritually with your husband.  I particularly liked the section of each devotional that indicates what you...

She Never Heard... She just keeps walking, I call and call her name. I run and try to catch up, But she just keeps walking. She's just far enough ahead, She doesn't look back. I hurry and push on. She just keeps going. Hurry, someone catch her, Grab her, pull her, act! There's danger ahead, She never looks back. She doesn't hear me, She's deafened by the crowd. She can't hear anymore No matter how strong, how loud. I've waited too late. She was right here by my side. I should have told her. She would have time to decide. Now she's walking, walking, Never turning or looking back. Onward she goes, quickly, sadly, On to the cold, hard fact. Christ is coming, Can't you hear! Hurry He's coming, look back. I want to tell you, to warn you, Before it is eternally too late.... Thoughts while trying to catch up to a deaf man on the beach during our recent retreat on the island.  Let us not forget to tell those we love o...

Have a good week.  We will be on the island all week!  It's Deaf Retreat Week.  Looks to be about 70 campers.  Hoping for good weather and as always, safety!

Believing hear, what you deserve to hear: Your birthday as my own to me is dear... But yours gives most; for mine did only lend Me to the world; yours gave to me a friend. - Martial Our birthdays are feathers in the broad wing of time. - Jean Paul Richter The best kind of friend is the one you could sit on a porch with, never saying a word, and walk away feeling like that was the best conversation you've had. - Author Unknown Wishing you a wonderful birthday on this 7th of January of 2012. Your friendship has brightened my days over the years and helped me through the dreary times. May you have a wonderful year with all of God's blessings. Your friend, Visit my friend's blog @ http://inafarplace.com/blog/

  This past year was an incredible year for the Atha family. Here's a small list of this year's events that came to my mind as I gratefully considered all that the Lord God did for us in 2011... Byron and I started teaching ESL classes outside of the home. This was a mixed blessing: lots of work and not as much reward as we'd hoped. It did expand our circle of acquaintances around the town and for this I am grateful. Dona Neia moved into the head cook position for most of our camp retreats. She is a joy with whom to work. Look back to my "Happy Family" post to hear more about the others who began working in the kitchen this year. William and Byron were able to make an incredible trip together to visit the town where Byron's parents worked years ago. The spent almost two weeks in Sao Miguel do Guama along with Granny Atha in May working on the church building and parsonage there. William participated in his first missions trip. He went up to C...

My favorite part of this weekend out on the island was a few moments spent watching my youngest enjoy time with another missionary kid that was just the right size, just the right age, and had just the right interests. Can you hear them talking? Greyson and his new pal had a blast all weekend, but especially on this one afternoon... I could hear them as they climbed rocks and looked for just the right sticks for their adventure in the wild about 10 yards or so from the dining hall where I sat in the shade... Their voices resonated simple happiness as they jumped and played and imagined their roles together in their journey ... Two MK's, alike in many ways, and uniquely different in others found a place in time together for one special afternoon ... How could they like so many of the same things, good sticks, nice rocks, old pieces of drift wood?  Yet only have really come to know each other the day before. Granted they had met once a few years ago, but this tim...