A Good Way to Spend a Saturday

Weeks ago I wrote about how God has blessed us with a couple of missionaries that our family supports on a regular basis.  I wrote here just a bit about one of our missionaries, a beautiful young lady named Beka, who left for the Philippines back in January to work alongside local churches to be a resource in preventing human trafficking there.  (By the way, she is making great strides in settling in and learning the language and plugging in to the churches and I am sure she would covet your continuing prayers.)

I had always meant to circle back around and tell you a bit about a missionary family we support as well. Having relocated from Pennsylvania in 2012, James and Loni are serving at OMS headquarters in Greenwood, Indiana - about 45 minutes from us.  James is Mr. Techie (but I'm not allowed to call him that) - he is a self taught guru on all things web and computer related and is serving the organization currently in an IT and web programming capacity.  And there is PLENTY of work to keep him busy.  Loni stays home with their three beautiful children - Emma (6?), Luke (4) and Titus (7 months). And so there is obviously PLENTY of work to keep her busy, too. 

We have pledged monthly support, but recently it occurred to us that there might be additional ways we could support James and Loni - especially in the midst of so much busyness.  It has not been too many years since we had a child in diapers and we have known the experience of living far from family (and will again soon), so we are empathetic. 

So yesterday we went to Greenwood to give James and Loni some uninterrupted date time.  They had not been out together without at least the baby along since Titus was born.  We arrived at 2:00 pm and they bolted out the door at 2:03!  ;-)

While Titus finished up his afternoon nap, I took our kids and Emma and Luke to the open grassy area around OMS headquarters, right across the street from their house for a bit of Frisbee and fat bat.

Luke playing with the fat bat.

Luke and I playing Frisbee.

Emma and The Princess made "soup" out of a puddle nestled in the root of a tree.  This soup contained grass, pine cones and flowers and it required constant stirring.

Around 4:00 we came in for make-your-own pizzas for dinner.

 

Then Titus woke up.  If he was put off by being greeted by a house full of strangers, he kept it to himself.  Though he had to be wondering who these extra kids were who all wanted a turn in holding or feeding him.

Still wondering...

Later, Melissa made cupcakes and The Princess demonstrated proper cupcake-eating techniques.

About the time James and Loni were returning home from their date, Dats decided to show all the kids how a "ripe" cattail from the pond next to the house will explode with a twist of the hands, sending seed fluff everywhere.

Pretty soon, they were bringing cattails by the armloads.  Ida collected a big pile of the fluff and tried to blow it, but it didn't move much on the ground.

So then the wise guy picks up a handful and says, "Daddy, get a picture of this - you can tell everyone it's snow!"

Then he gave it a good blow right into my face and ...

...laughed his head off as he ran away.

 

Only about half of the fluff went up my nose.

Things quickly deteriorated from there as the kids all chased each other around with handfuls of the stuff, lobbing it at each other amid all the laughter and screams.

Both Emma and Luke ended up in tears as they spat great globs of mushy cattail fluff from their mouths and tried in vain to rub seeds out of their stinging eyes.


That's when we ushered our kids into the van and hurriedly drove away.

But seriously, James and Loni seemed very thankful for the quiet time together.  (I hope they remember that as they spend the next several months ridding their carpets and laundry of cattail seeds.)  And I know their kids had a great time - up until the crying.

But I think each and every member of our family enjoyed the day as much as anybody else.  As we drove away, one of the kids asked when we could do it again. 

Soon! Our kids were excited to hear that we will have plenty of opportunities to spend time with James and Loni and the kids come July when we'll be spending three weeks at OMS headquarters for training in cross-cultural ministry - which will be another key step on the path to putting our family in Haiti.  More about that to come ...

P.S. You can see some of James' programming handiwork at the official One Mission Society website HERE.  He's also the one who helped us out by creating our special "50 for 50" website  Coincidentally, both are easy pathways for anybody considering joining our financial support team ... have you checked them out??

Neighbors

Melissa and I have been walking the neighborhood for exercise this past week or so - ever since spring decided to finally arrive. And, often as we walk, we pray.  It's only natural, therefore, that I have found myself praying a few times for my neighbors lately. 

It will be two years ago this coming August that we moved in with Melissa's mother after renting out our own house in order to pay down some debts before entering the mission field full time.  We never thought we would be here this long, but you know how time flies.  Trudy has been more than gracious to us and we have all we need here.

Still, we miss our old neighborhood.  It had a different feel to it than any other place we had ever lived.  People KNEW each other.  And I always suspected that was due in no small part to a couple from our church who took it upon themselves to host occasional ice cream socials for all the neighbors. 

Yesterday was our first gorgeous Saturday of the year around here and the list of outside chores was so long that I had the luxury of picking a handful that I actually didn't mind doing.  First up was the birdhouse we gave Trudy for Christmas.  I put it together a few weeks ago, but didn't have a ladder tall enough to get it to the top of the pole beside her house. 

Now I am not the most assertive person (to say the least).  So yesterday I briefly considered buying a new ladder, but I kept coming back to the thought that there were probably a dozen tall ladders in our neighborhood and it would only make sense to find one close by to borrow - it just meant that I would have to approach a complete stranger to ask for a favor.  God's been working with me on assertiveness (fundraising for Haiti has been one long lesson in assertiveness) and I had a hunch this thought was from Him.

So I gathered all my tools and the birdhouse around the base of the pole, and when there was nothing more I could do without an actual ladder, I walked over to the house next door.  It turns out my neighbor's name is Ron and he owns a 20 foot extension ladder.  Perfect!  He was super friendly and told me just to put the ladder back beside his house when I was done with it.

Upon completing the birdhouse project, I started looking around for other jobs that needed a ladder.  The most obvious was a giant branch that had been broken by a storm in one of the big maples out front.  The branch had been lodged horizontally 15 feet up in the tree for a year.  It looked terrible, but we had all gotten used to it. 

So I went after it with my borrowed ladder and my saws-all ... which is not as useful as a chainsaw.  Melissa came out to watch and she didn't say a word, but she gave the distinct impression she was waiting for an accident and readying a response consisting of "I told you so" or dialing 911, or both, depending on the severity.

Thankfully, the guy who lives across the street came outside, introduced himself (Virgil!) and offered the use of his chainsaw.  (I don't know why it had not occurred to me that there were probably just as many chainsaws in the neighborhood as there are extension ladders.)

So after a year and a half of meeting nobody around here, in one day I met Ron and Virgil.  The day left me pondering something I had noticed about Jesus' Good Samaritan parable in Luke 10 the last time I looked at it: The teacher of the law prompts the parable by asking, "Who is my neighbor?" and Jesus finishes his story with the flip-side question of "Who acted as a neighbor to the man?"  In essence, Jesus is saying that there's no litmus test for what constitutes a neighbor in regards to "Love your neighbor as you love yourself". 

But our literal neighbors would be an excellent and logical starting point.  Melissa and I are hoping that we will be moving from this neighborhood in a few months, but until we do, I want to find tangible ways to love our literal neighbors. If we are called to be salt and light, shouldn't that start in our own neighborhoods?  And doesn't going into "all the world" with the gospel necessarily (and perhaps especially) begin with the families and individuals on our block?

I'm feeling convicted.  It feels like another of those basic lessons God is teaching me during this period of waiting.

Especially after today.  Yesterday I met Ron and Virgil for the first time.  Today, an ambulance and several police cars showed up at the house on the other side of Ron's house.  Apparently someone there committed suicide.  I know nothing of the circumstances.  I don't even know the name of the deceased or anyone who lives in the house.

I wish I did. 

And I'm sure I should.

I'm starting to think an ice cream social might be a good starting point.