Sunday, December 30, 2012

Me and Bilbo

We went and saw The Hobbit last night.  It was so much fun to go out to a movie with friends!  I don't love fight scenes and the scary-looking bad guys make it a little hard for me to fall asleep.  But still I loved it.  It captured my heart because I related to Bilbo so much. 

I loved how reluctant he was to adventure at first.  Gandalf says, "When did doilies and your mother's china become so important to you, Bilbo?"  (All quotes are my paraphrase!)  FOR SURE...life gets comfortable so quickly.  I LIKE the schools, parks, churches, friends, family, walking trails, family activities in Alpharetta, Georgia.  I LIKE having a minivan to pile my kids into, no shortage of activities for the kids, endless playdates, and my furniture.  Just comfort, familiarity...it winds itself around my heart and settles in so quickly.  And then it gets so hard to leave.  Bilbo liked his life just fine how it was, thank you very much. 

In that same part of the movie, Biblo is asking if he'll come back.  Gandalf says, "I can't guarantee it, and if you do you won't be the same."  Again, I SO relate.  As you set off, you want to know the end...it's gonna turn out ok, right?  But there just aren't guarantees.  Thus why it's called a leap of FAITH.  But yet he had a yearning for his life to make a difference.  And so (almost in spite of himself) he went chasing after the invitation to adventure.

But most of all, I loved how he was so ordinary.  Nothing extra special or stand-out-ish.  He just said yes.  And nothing was ever the same for him or the people around him.  And don't we all want that?  Just to see our regular little lives get to be used for the extraordinary.  Not every day here feels extraordinary, but at one point, I felt like God said that just my little acts of obedience matter.  So, see?  Me and Bilbo Baggins are practically twins seperated at birth!

Monday, December 10, 2012

early morning

This morning I woke up at 5.  Just wide awake and ready to get started.  I love when that happens!  Because (especially when I'm pregnant) that isn't usually the case.  At the first call to prayer my sweetie girl came out to join me in the living room.  She had a fever all day yesterday, and now it's hurting to swallow.  So I made her some hot tea with honey, and she's asleep on the couch by me.  The third call to prayer is just getting started!  I love that our family usually sleeps through them now. 

Now that it's rainy season, it's hard to get the laundry to dry!!  (We don't have a drier!)  This week I learned where in the house to hang it so that it dries in a day.  That's good news, but laundry is still a challenge for me here.  I know, I know...some people don't have washers, and I'm THANKFUL to have a washer.  It's just that I'm constantly doing laundry since it takes so long to dry.  Oh well. 

I've broken down and started using mosquito killer (you plug something in, and it fumigates the room.)  When Catie had 30something bites just on her face, I decided it was worth it.  The organic girl in me is slowly fading away. 

We bought a Christmas tree and got it set up.  I'm not sure if I'm more excited about it or the kids.  I love that they drag their blankets out and want to lay right in front of it. 


Our house has no central heat or air, and sometimes it is COLD in our house.  So the kids want to sit right in front of the soba.  Christmas tree + soba + pillows and blankets = bliss!


We moved to phase 2 of language learning.  We look at wordless picture books with our tutor and talk about what's going on in each page.  It's fun.  The hardest thing about language learning is feeling like I never give it enough time.  I want to, but the practical demands of the kids, chores, homeschooling, and 2 hours/day in class leave me very little extra time.  And when I do have some extra time, I want to hang out with John and watch a movie (like last night)!

I am learning the grace of God in my life like never before.  Because I'm really not very good at anything here yet.  But that's ok (at least most of the time...occasionally I cry)!  I'm really resting on the verse that says that in my weakness He is strong.  I know that nothing depends on me being strong or brave or good enough.  I just get to offer who I am, and He does the rest.

(side note--Jacob's quote with this picture:  "I'm not cute, I'm awesome!")


There's a song I love right now called "Alabaster Box" sung by Julie Meyer.  It says
All I am
Is all I have
And all, all I have to give
I give it all to You
It's my fragrant oil
It's my costly perfume
I take my alabaster box
and I break it open.

I love that just who I am...imperfect and exhausted...is enough!

Grace and peace to you today, friends!!