Unexpected Joys

As we moved to our new apartment last week I was looking forward to many things.  I was excited to have my own kitchen and more space.  I wanted to get settled and was happy for my kids to have room to just be kids.  However after we had moved I also discovered some unexpected joys. 

Because we are still working in the mission house and also need to use the refrigerator in the main house as we are waiting for the electric hook up, each day involves a lot of walking up and down the hill.  I’ve lived at the mission house for 3 years but most of our work has been walking out of our room to the kitchen and back.  Basically we spent a lot of time indoors.  We live on a beautiful mountain, covered in trees and plants and with an array of different birds and animals.  Now, each morning and several times during the day we make the 50 meter trek up the tree covered driveway to the main house.  Usually I am carrying the 22 lb 10 month old with the 3 year old in tow.  However we’ve discovered that this is one of our most enjoyable times of the day.   The smell and sounds of walking up the hill is just beautiful.  We see squirrels and birds and lizards and I love Benji's amazed "duhs!" as he points at things.  Its a short walk but such a reminder of the beauty of God's creation. 

And then there was garbage . . .

At Casa Mana we have a lot of garbage.  When you are hosting 20-40 people each week it really starts to pile up.  This has been an issue for awhile because the garbage men would only take one bucket of garbage each time they came and only if it was carried down to the road.  On top of that sometimes they came and sometimes they didn’t come.  So we ended up with a lot of garbage and garbage stinks.In order to solve this problem, Edgar would go wait by the gate and when he saw the truck chase the guys down the road begging them to take our garbage.  After doing this for three years, he has gotten to know our garbage men very well.  So well that for the last few months instead of him chasing them down the road anymore, the head garbage guy calls him a few mornings a week and asks if we would like them to drive their truck up for a pick up.
This past week as the guys were collecting, they starting asking questions about what we do here and why we have so much garbage.  They had seen the gringos working down below.  Edgar explained that they were building an orphanage and that the upper house was a guest house for them to stay out while they were here.  “Why do they come?” asked one of the guys.  Edgar explained a bit about the groups coming to see the work being done here and also to help out.  After thinking a bit the guy replied “you mean they come to bless and pray for this place?   That is good, very good”Yeah I think they got it right.  Leave it to God to give us encouragement though the most unlikely sources: the garbage men.

Look After

If you have been to stay with us as Casa Mana, then you know Karla and Estella our two ladies who make our wonderful meals and clean up our messes and pretty much anything else that we ask them to do.  These ladies work hard to make your stay here comfortable and enjoyable.  They enjoy giving the "gringos" a taste of Guatemala and also learning about the groups who come here.

These ladies have not led easy lives and unfortunately things continue to be difficult for them and their children.  The latest tragedy happened just a few months ago when Karla's younger brother was hit by a car and killed. 

As we wait for the orphans we will be caring for in our new home we have been meditating on the verse James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."  There may not be any orphans in our home as of yet but there are still people in need of love all around us every day.  We pray that God will continue to make our hearts sensitive to those needs.

Here are some pictures of our new apartment where will be living as we take on our new role in the Manna Worldwide orphanage.  Many thanks to the group from Shiloh Baptist for all their hard work and for painting our apartment!!!

Kitchen area

Our bedroom

 

Nathan and Benjamin's room

View out the kitchen window

Top view of orphanage building

Front view

Beauty in the Imperfections - Lessons from a 3 year old

So many times I wonder how God can love someone who continuously messes up.  I see all the things that I do or create and it never seems to come out perfect enough.  My best well made plans for how I’m going to help someone or do something new in ministry or my greatest lesson plan ever never turn out the way I would like.  I know I have had so many missed opportunities.  I look back at the things I have accomplished and I see their imperfections and hang my head and get frustrated. 

And then last Sunday I was in Sunday school class with Nathan.  Because I was holding Benjamin at the time, Nathan had to do his craft on his own.  He began coloring the people on the paper.  Some of them were colored with purple skin, many of the colors of their clothes did not coordinate, and while he did his best the colors didn’t always stay inside the lines.  He then began cutting them out, a difficult task for a three year old.  He worked diligently cutting around each person.  The lines were not cut straight and several people lost their arms during his work.  He continued working happily and glued the people to the paper in the wrong order.  Then he held up the paper and said, “Look mommy, I’m done! I did it!.”  And my eyes teared up . . .  because it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

My mother’s heart had swelled with pride and I watch Nathan work.  I loved seeing the advances he has made and I loved seeing his joy when he realized that he had completed it.  It didn’t matter to me that it was imperfect, not one bit.  At that moment, God spoke to my heart and said, “See Laura, that’s what I see when I look at what you do.” 

As we go though our lives, we will work hard at many things.  God will be there to guide us but many times our coloring will be out of place, things will be out of order, and someone might even lose some arms in our enthusiasm.  But as a proud parent, our Father is going to be looking down at our work and he is going to see something beautiful.  It might be something only a Father could love, but his is the only opinion that really matters anyhow, right?