Cactus Flower

Kid's Camp 2013 My summer was full of lots of kids and lots of smiles.  Sometime the smile was not on my face as the work was long and hard, but at the end of day there is contentment for a job accomplished.  The job of telling boys and girls about the Lord while their hearts are still warm and ready is not easy in today's hard, harsh world. This particular scene above came on the boat ride home after the big kids' retreat out on the island in July. On the way home from many retreats, I pull out my purple earplugs and find a place to curl up in the bottom of the boat.  This retreat found me playing "stewardess" and passing out water and snacks during the first part of the trip.  During the second half I was supervising the great flux of up and down with boys and girls wanted to come to the bottom and go to the top - around and around. To keep people seated and happy we started singing songs.  Before long someone said - where are the papers and we sang ...

Some of my small {End of the Summer} prayers: our emerging youth group (we have a great group of about 10)   my aging hubby                                                   (he still looks great, but his bones are creaking) my traveling boy   (William who is in Mozambique all of August) the ones who heard the Gospel this summer at schools and camps  (week long event at one school & Aventura Brasil kid's retreat)  the start of homeschool  (we have a limited amount of actual weeks before we go to the States) 

{photo by Josh Huang} My Shadow  Robert Louis Stevenson I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, And what can be the use of him is more than I can see. He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head; And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed... This was taken during the children's retreat last month.  The little girl is actually one of my Sunday school girls who just happened to go to the school from where the boys and girls came for the retreat.  She is only nine years old though and the age restriction was set at 10 - 12.  When it became evident that there was not going to be an overflow of children eagerly ready to jump on the boat, the principal said that Clarinha could go with her mother's permission, of course. Clarinha is a little shadow to me at church.  I think she learned to read as I would have her follow the words of songs with her finger in my hymnbook and by memorizing verses.  I've k...

"We're going to have a race.  Get ready now, 1, 2, 3!" Aren't they adorable!  This past week I dropped all my work and desire to #juststayhome , to head out to the island {again} to spend the day with some " missionary picnickers ."  Sometimes we have people who come from far away and just want to ride the boat out to the island, walk around, play on the beach a bit, eat lunch, and go back home.  For us that go there all the time, it can be a little tiring to get up at the crack of dawn to get ready and come home late at night.  But, I decided to do it this past week because I wanted to meet these little guys.   These are two of three little brothers who live hours and hours away from where we do here in Brazil.  I had only seen the oldest [front left] once when he was a little bitty thing.  Friday we all spent the whole day together - laughing, playing, bathing, eating and yeah, there was even a little crying on a few's part....

North Carolina 2009 On Thursday morning of this past week I was all alone wondering how to best spend my day.  Byron was off to the big city to buy tires.  William and Greyson had been gone since Monday at Music Camp in another state.    Dalton was still with Tim and Vicki in Petrolina.  I decided to use the net for a bit and then do a little cleaning and maybe some napping. I turned on the computer and went, of course, right to Facebook first.  Hmmm, I thought to myself - lots of red, white and blue today.  I wonder what holiday it is in the States?  I figured it out after a bit. How does an American forget what day it is on the 4th of July?   Two back to back weekend retreats No kids at home that week No school - so no looking close at the calendar No tv Life struggles Nobody here was celebrating!

Byron and I spent the weekend on the island speaking English all day and night!  This English Immersion Retreat was a lot of work but we all had a great time and all the campers, too!   It was time well spent!