SUMMIT

I've been formatting a course called "Caminando en paz" (Walking in peace), so I thought this poem would be appropriate for how NOT to walk in peace!

I'm running low on poems lately, although I still have a couple great ones to share. I don't do much poetry reading, and the "local" library here in San Juan (in other words, the McManus library!) doesn't have a whole lot to to offer in the way of poetry! But now and then I find something that is really good and speaks to me in a way I can understand.

SUMMIT

Reprinted from Harvesting Fog, Copyright Luci Shaw 2010, Pinyon Publishing.

Used by permission of the author.

In the tops of the cedars

ten crows are quarreling.

They do not believe in

conflict management. Now

they are flying off, glaring

at each other. Nothing

has been settled.

Know anyone like that??

Alan & Naomi and Possums

What do Alan & Naomi and Possums have in common?

They're both Feature Films for Families films! Some friends of Alan and Beth's sent them a

dozen or more films by this company, and I've been enjoying them!

Possums was a film about not giving up - no matter how bad things seem. And they were

bad!

Alan & Naomi was a tear jerker, a beautiful story of a young boy who, against his will and

better judgment, befriended a very needy young girl and helped her toward recovering from

horrible war trauma. Wow! It was such a good story!

These aren't your normal EXCITING, action-filled stories, they're more life real-life events

where the folks overcome sometimes terrible problems or impossible situations. Something

we need to remember always.

I checked out their web page (www.familyfilms.com), but there seems to be a problem with

it. I can't make it do anything! But check out the films! You'll be glad you did!

New Decor

I spent a few minutes with Edith the other day, discussing some of her health problems and what God has for her in her life. As I walked in the door, she handed me a bag with this doll in it and said, "Here, I made this for you this morning." WOW! She made it! The doll is beautiful and a good reminder for me to pray for this special friend.

It took a few months, but I finally figured out how to hang my FAMILY QUILT. It took a couple trips to carpenter's shops, two visits to the hardware store, and a couple visits to Sams to develop the pictures. But here it is, gracing my bedroom! Nice, huh?

No, I´m not Hildegarde

I find Luci Shaw´s poems fascinating, but sometimes they don´t make any sense to me. But this one seems to tell me that even though we´re just a BLOT in the eyes of God, still He loves us and cares about everything that happens to us. Tell me if I misunderstood it! Our life is but a blink, that´s for sure, even though we THINK that 60 or 70 or even 80 years is a long time. To God, these years are nothing compared to the eternity we will spend with Him.

NO, I’M NOT HILDEGARDE

Reprinted from Harvesting Fog, Copyright Luci Shaw 2010, Pinyon Publishing.

Used by permission of the author.

I’m merely a floater in the eye of God,

a flake of his winnowed chaff. A twig

from the tree at whose root his ax is laid,

if you believe Luke, and I do. I am a wisp

of the fog that blinds my world today. A drop

from a leaking tap. An odd button. A blot.

I’m less than the smallest bone of St. Catherine’s

withered fore-finger; in Sienna it’s preserved

behind glass and I’m not. I’m a loose tooth.

A hesitation of wind. The lost coin next found.

A river wrinkle come and gone. An eyelash

found by an ant in the dust. A blink.

Spring Tea

Last Saturday evening the ladies of Abundant Life Bible Church held our annual Spring Evangelistic Tea. We ALL participated! First, Tania and Edith played guitars while the young girls sang, leading us in some worship songs. What a great job! For three of the girls, it was their first time to participate!



Kristin, who came with Bethie, shows off the beautiful little pin that Edith made for all of us. I don't know what you call them in English - we call them "distintivos!"


Bethie spoke on "How good is good enough to get to heaven?" She illustrated with the monkeys from Jungle Doctor - we loved it!



Here Alma is busy making her craft, led for us by Gaby, who is so good with crafts - we usually call on her to help us in this area!




I was so busy serving the food, I didn't get any pictures! We served two kinds of little sandwiches filled with chicken and mole (Mou-lay - a yummy sauce) or a chicken pate, fruit salad and two kinds of cookies, along with three flavors of tea - lemon, orange and jamaica. Some of the gals, who knew we were ONLY serving TEA, brought in their soda pop - we had to tease them a little about that! "This IS a TEA, you know?" As they happily sipped their cokes!

We were delighted to use our new mugs for the tea and our new plates to serve the food. Although paper products are nice for clean-up, we don't mind doing dishes, as we enjoy our new dishes! We also have a new "kitchen" at church. I will post some pictures of that later! You won't believe it!!

Besides the ladies and young girls from our church, 7 visitors joined us for our special tea and enjoyed it so much. It was a great time of joyfully working together as women to make this a most wonderful occasion.

Cuneros

Last November at our national teacher's conference, one of the ladies in my church (who will remain anonymous to protect the innocent!), discovered an amazing fact. Little children CAN learn truths from the Bible! Amazing, isn't it? She got so excited, she came right back home and started a "Cunero" class (literally it means crib class, but it's for children age 0-5).

Each Sunday when it's time for the message, we take the little ones to their own class for special Bible stories, songs, verses, etc. This gal recruited a bunch of us to take turns giving this class. My turn has come up the month of March and the theme this month are the Ten Plagues of Exodus.

It's been interesting and fun to teach these little ones. And oh my!! Are they smart! And some of them already know the stories forwards and backwards, but still remain interested! I love teaching them, although I find it hard because most of them can't write yet, but so far it's been a joy and blessing.

Fernanda, one of the other ladies, helps me, and today I asked her if she'd be willing to teach the last class on Plague Number 10 next week. She said she'd be happy to! Lucky her, she gets to teach the CLIMACTIC lesson! Several young girls also join us as helpers and we're glad to have them along, although sometimes we don't really NEED them. But we won't tell them that!!

Little Ricardo colors right along with the rest - one color in each hand, please! He's adorable and behaves beautifully, especially because big sister Adaia (age 12) is always nearby to give a helping hand. She reminds me of my granddaughter Raquel, who also is so good with the little ones!

Snack time! Juice and crackers or - our favorite - Maria cookies!!

THE HELP

An amazing book! My daughter Kim sent this book to us for Christmas. I'm not sure exactly WHO it was for, but I nabbed it and read it first! It was pretty fat (almost 450 pages), so I HAD to put it down once in awhile, but it wasn't easy! Here are some of the comments about it:

Kathryn Stockett has written a wondrous novel. You will be swept away as her characters work, play, and love during a time when possibilities for women were few but their dreams of the future were limitless. A glorious read. (Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of Big Stone Gap series and Very Valentine)

This heartbreaking story is a stunning debut from a gifted talent. (Sarah Sacha Dollacker, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

You will weep with these ladies. You will laugh with them. You will be on pins and needles, wondering who is going to survive the battle and how she will survive it. It's just an amazing story. Check it out! You won't be sorry!

Kris, here's a good one for your Book Club!

IN STEP

This poem reminded me of me, not just today, but in years gone by when I was a stumbling toddler trying to walk with Jesus. I remember those high school years when it was so hard, but of course He was always with me - always! Lifting me up when I needed it, and you know, He often used people in my life to do just that - yes, we can see Jesus in those who surround us and care for us.

I put this picture with it, because it's my absolute favorite picture of Jesus lovin' on the children. It's probably not "politically correct" since all the kiddos are "gueros" (blonde!!), but that's OK! There are other pictures of Him with children who are a little more "moreno", but we'll enjoy this one for now!


IN STEP

By M.W. Philippines

(A 15-year-old woman of the harvest)

Side by side in life we walked,

The Father and His child.

Both homeward bound, we turned;

but while

Sure and strong His stride,

Scurried, stumbled I, the toddler

By His side.

Though first a joy,

but keeping up

With each enormous step

Soon proved in vain, and I,

the child, wept, ‘til. . .

Stopped the Father and

Lifted me with care;

Bore me o’er the rocky plain

and set me, once again,

To scurry, stumble-

I, the toddler by His side.

Talia's wedding shower

Bethie baked and decorated the cake for Talia. It tasted as good as it looked.

All the yummy food that the ladies brought was great too!

The best dish was the rajas con crema (chile slices with cream) -

absolutely delicious!

Bethie and I went for broke buying Tupperware from Kristin for Talia!

Others gave her glasses, plates, silverware, frying pans,

placemats, candles, and much more.

The two teams dressed a bride for Tali, usiing tissue paper.

I certainly hope Tali's dress doesn't in any way resemble this one

worn by her "almost" aunt who they call La Guera (the blonde one!).

Tali chose this one as the winning creation.

Another BEOOOOTIFUL dress, complete with some real-life flowers

and a huge bow!

Gaby, who will soon be Tali's sister in law, gave a very sweet

talk to Tali - and to all of us.

It's her first time and she was nervous, but did a super job!

Bethie served up the cake - there wasn't much left when we were done!

We held the party in the grassy park in front of our house,

and it went really well until it got dark.

We scrambled and found lots of candles, which helped!

Next party, we'll string up Christmas lights BEFORE the party!

40 women and girls, plus 2 tiny girls, plus 2 babies joined us

and we had a fantastic time!

We love parties!

My New Hanging Quilt

Nice, huh? My kids got this quilt for me. It WILL be a hanging quilt as soon as I find a nice dowel and some rings to hang it. In the U.S. that would be easy, just head to Michael's and get everything I need - not so easy here! This week hopefully I can do some shopping around the shops in town and see what I come up with!

Here you'll find pictures of all my family and even all the grandkids: Jeffery, Jesse, Austin, Raquel, Toria, Calvin, Clara, Quincy, Ada, Cameron, Dayton, Elia, Josie, Mikey, Del, Maria, Lluvia, Eden and OOPS, I don't have a picture of Enoch up there yet! But soon I will!! If you look carefully you'll even see a picture of my beloved Carmelita.

And of course there's a picture of Ken! I got in there too, right next to Carmen. So, next time I upload this picture to my blog, it'll be hanging in my bedroom, lookin' good!

Miel en la boca del Leon

I just finished reading Miel en la boca del Leon. In English the title would be Honey in the Mouth of the Lion. But don't look up this book on Amazon. Guaranteed, it isn't there!

My sister in law, Rebecca L. Phillips, wrote this book as "a powerful answer to the fear of cancer." She lived through cancer - twice - and this book was written as a result. Her desire is to help others who are going through the same thing, or something similar, to give them hope.

I liked the book so much, I ordered 20 copies. Ivonne, who owns the Spiritual Journey bookstore, said that people come in all the time asking for such a book, and we have almost nothing on the subject! So, now we will soon have a little book we can happily recommend. My prayer is that this little book would encourage many and that people will turn to the only One who can really give hope - the hope of heaven.

Me a Worthless Coyote

Ok, this isn't the world's greatest poet or poetry, but it made me grin and I just had to share it.

My 9 year old grandson Dayton is now reading Hank the Cowdog books, and of course I'm willing to read them too. So far I've read one, and another is on my list - after I finish my present book called Miel en la boca del leon (I'll write you about that one later!!).

Guts, glory, danger, and sacrifice are all in a day’s work for Hank the Cowdog, Head of Ranch Security. USA calls this book “The best family entertainment in years.” (I might add, for a nine-year old, that is!

Well, one of the chapters in this crazy book was about our hero joining the coyotes and of course he had to learn their "song." And here it is.

Me a Worthless Coyote

From the book The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog

By John R. Erickson

“Me just a worthless coyote, me howling at the moon.

Me like to sing and holler, me crazy as a loon.

Me not want job or duties, no church or Sunday school.

Me just a worthless coyote . . .” and I don’t remember the

Last part, only it rhymed with “school”. Pool or drool,

something like that.

That end of the poem was written by the author, not me! Honest! Like I said, it's a crazy, funny book, full of stuff like that, just the thing a nine-year old cracks up about!

Daniel, Laurie, Priscila and Jonathan

It's always special when family comes to visit. So when Daniel and Laurie Graff arrived, it was very special! Laurie is my brother and sister in law Lee and Becky's daughter. She grew up in Sonora, Mexico, and even though she LOOKS gringo, she's totally MEXICAN.

And even though their children LOOK American, they are more comfortable in Spanish than in English! We had a great time just "hanging out", eating, visiting, and going to the Jornada Espiritual bookstore.

Daniel and Laurie live and serve the Lord in San Antonio La Union, Jalisco. It's a small town of 8,000, so has it's own small-town problems, but God is using them there to grow His church! They left here headed for Queretaro for a Missions Conference, being held at the New Life Bible Church. I will be there tomorrow selling books, Bibles and materials, so it'll be fun to see them again!

And just so you know, Daniel makes fantastical mango salsa! Wow!

Priscila, age 2, with Peanut. Peanut was beside herself with all these wonderful
little and big people to play with!

This hunk is Jonathan, 8 months old! He's adorable to tell the truth and
we enjoyed having him in our home!

Somewhere in Between...

Somewhere in Between...

Betty Henry Taylor

Between the burkha and

the mini there must

surely be a place for a

stylin’ girl to move with

grandeur and with grace;

to sport a happy smile with

snappy class and style;

and more than just

a touch of noblesse oblige.*

A place for “cool” and

“sharp” and high end of

design . . .yet man is not

compelled to veil

his eyes nor turn away

in order to avoid the

smallest bit or hint of

provocative appeal. It

is not right that he

should come to church—

his mind on things

above – and be wantonly

arrested, or mercilessly

tested by my careless

inattention to the manner

of my dress.

*noblesse oblige: the obligation for people of nobility to behave honorably.