Cactus Flower

It's a windy day on my front porch today.  Yesterday was an odd day in Sobradinho with very dark clouds most of the morning.  We don't use any electric lights during the day most of the time, but yesterday was so dark I actually kept the lights on for a bit.  You can see above that the light comes in quite nicely from the porch. We actually work hard to use as little electricity as possible.  The front door is open most of the day and is only closed late at night.  The doors have slats to let in the wind flow to help keep the house cooler - not that it helps a lot on really hot days! Inside someone is quietly reading on the couch for a bit.  Outside from the porch today you would see Byron starting to work on the big water pipe that goes out to the sewer box.  He thinks we have some roots from our big nut tree impeding the flow of things.  Just another crazy thing that missionaries might find themselves doing on the mission field.  Dig...

Remember that story about the cat that closed the door to the bathroom.  Today's story is about how we got that crazy, not so normal cat. Before Uncle Byron and I ever came to Brazil (which was in the late summer of 1994), we had a cat.  Her name was Abby.  When we went to Brazil we had to leave her behind.  Granddaddy and Grandma graciously accepted her in their home.  Now when some of you were little,  I think you would have met her at their house in Virginia.  In fact I seem to remember Grandma saying that Abby would hide when you all came over and only come out long after you were all gone. When we first got her, she was so little that she didn't even walk very well.  We called the vet that took care of our neighbor's cat and asked some questions about what to do for her.  He said to fed her milk with an eye dropper.  He also said to wipe her little body all over after her feeding with the corner of a damp washcloth.  Do you kno...

Dundalk Free Methodist Church, Baltimore MD As a young girl I remember when our little church received the beautiful stain-glassed window you see above.  Ours was a simple building.  If I remember correctly another church had been torn down and we were given the window for no cost.  I remember looking more at the window for Sundays and Sundays thereafter than listening to the words of the pastor.   I enjoy well decorated places of worship - the chapel at Ferrum College in Virginia that I first saw during their annual foreign language festivals during high school, the sanctuary of Twin City Baptist where I attended during my freshman year of college in Winston-Salem, and the National Cathedral in Washington DC where Byron and I spent several hours once while waiting for our appointment at the Brazilian Embassy before coming to Brazil the first time as a married couple.  It seems the beauty of such places does draw a heart and mind to heavenly matters. ...

In Brazil you probably won't find any giant Easter bunnies at the malls, but you will find aisles of giant chocolate Easter eggs hanging from special racks in big grocery stores.  They can cost from US$2 up to $100!  Fancy chocolate stores at malls will have the most expensive ones.  Some people make them at home to sell to friends or out of small shops. You won't find any Easter egg hunts or Easter baskets or colored hard-boiled eggs either.  Brazil has its own traditions.  The mayor of our town gives out free fish so that poor families can eat fish on Good Friday.  Some boys and girls get a small chocolate egg from their teacher at school.  Many churches have retreats over the long weekend.  Greyson is at a retreat right now.   When our boys were little we hid the big chocolate Easter eggs just like Grandma and Grandaddy  Beckner used to hide the Easter baskets when your Daddy and I were small.  We often took a photo of the boys w...

This week's post doesn't come from my front porch but rather from under my kitchen table! Aren't they adorable.  I found them like this in the afternoon after both had been given a much needed bath and left outside to dry for a bit.  They often sleep close together but this was just too cute to not take a pic! After Girl and Tiny passed away at the end of last year, I couldn't even think about getting more pets.  Then the cat showed up, then Wishbone (the white one) and then little black Spunky.  It seems that God just sent them all our way.  I didn't want anymore pets to tie me down to this place.  I think in my puny mind if we had no more pets we could move on easier.  Furloughs and moving about are rough on MK pets and the ones that love them.  I worried many a night while in the States on furloughs about my pets back in Brazil. When it's time to move to some new spot in Brazil or go on a furlough, I'll just have to trust God once...

Old toys of the boys currently in use at our church nursery When William and Dalton were small, Uncle Byron and I decided to buy our first house ever.  You see the first four years that we were in Brazil we lived in a different house every year.  Twice we stayed in the house of some missionary on furlough, once we rented an apartment and once we rented a house.  All the moving and paying rent helped us to make the decision to buy.  In some other post I'll tell you about how we found the house that we bought. It was a nice house on a street that was one block long.  The street did not go all the way through to any other.  Our house was at the dead-end of the street.  Apparently the street had originally been a sort of private housing community with a guard and gate at the entrance.  When we got the house there was no more guard or gate, it just looked like a normal street.  All the houses were pretty much the same.  There were about 12 ho...

Do you have some memory that includes recalling what you ate and how good is was? I do!  I can recall several moments in time because of the incredible taste of some dish or dessert.  When Byron and I traveled to Salvador for our twentieth wedding anniversary, we ate at a small Italian pizzeria in the little village of shops at Praia do Forte.  The workers were speaking Italian to each other and even had Italian music playing on their speakers.  They baked the pizza in a large brick oven and we could see into the oven from our table.  I had bruschetta and Byron had some pasta dish.  I can still remember the smells and sounds and the taste of the food. We had been traveling with Uncle Harold Reiner to see the cave paintings of Capivara and the Serra das Confusões in the state of Piaui.  We had crossed over the top of the "Confusion Mountains" the night before.  We were all tired, hungry, and slightly lost.  But we had to keep going on or ...

Look what pulled up in front of my porch this past week!  A real, bonafide 1929 Ford Model A.  The owner had come by for Byron to take a look at the wiring on the headlights.  Last month the owner found out about Byron's mechanical abilities and asked if he would have a look at his old car.  The fellow had come upon it a few years ago and was working to get it road ready.  Byron helped him out and now the man is running all over town - but didn't have any headlights for night runs!  Now he has headlights, too. Can you imagine?  Here we are in the middle of nowhere Brazil and someone in town has such a car! It was a real treat for Byron to help work on it.  Byron wouldn't accept any payment at all, so the owner bought him a new dress shirt for church - which was much needed and accepted! Check back next Friday to see what comes by my front porch! Thanks for stopping by!

Along Route 29 going north from North Carolina to Altavista near a city called Danville there is a little sign that tells about a Tank Museum. Uncle Byron and I have a church that has supported us since the very beginning of our time as missionaries in Altavista.  Whenever we would go to it from North Carolina we would see the sign, but we never had time on our way to the church for a meeting to stop.  Uncle Byron always kept it in mind that one day he would. Sometime on our second furlough when all the boys were little we decided to try to make a point to stop.  I don't remember all the details but I believe we left early in the afternoon to stop there before an evening meeting at the church in Virginia.  We wouldn't have much time but the museum didn't seem to be very big so we packed every one in the car and off we went.  All along the road the boys were fussing and bickering and fighting in the back seat.  At some point Uncle Byron wondered if we should...

March 1, 2016   -  Lunch Sliced potatoes cooked in chicken broth Steamed cabbage lightly salted Stir-fried okra with tomatoes, olive oil, garlic and minced onion Homemade meatloaf