this playhouse was constructed out of banana plant leaves

Christmas Carol Conundrum

We've had this conversation a few times since Thanksgiving...

right after "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music begins to play.

"Mom?"

"Um hmmm?"

"Why is this song a Christmas song?"

Long pause

"You know? I don't really know."

So here's my Niger version...

Feel free to hum or sing along.

Rain on a tin roof and candlelight dinners,

Hedgehogs with babies and swimming beginners ~

Kittens that bat at long hair and earrings….

These are a few of my favorite things!

Dark, swirling dust storms with eight twirling children,

Nights at the sand dunes so beautifully barren ~

Tea with a dear friend, nights filled with dancing …

These are a few of my favorite things!

Lost in those blue eyes or hand held in darkness,

Night feeling pretty and wearing a new dress ~

Cold coke (and caffeine) that he’s sure to bring…

These are a few of my favorite things!

When a child’s ill, when the air’s still, when I’m feeling sad…

I simply remember my favorite things

And then I don’t feel so bad.

Blowing out candles when lights become brighter,

Cool morning cuddles, ice cold cup of water ~

Homemade marshmallows o’er campfire roasting…

These are a few of my favorite things!

When a child’s ill, when the air’s still, when I’m feeling sad…

I simply remember my favorite things

And then I don’t feel so bad.

Tiny red fire finch, cool breeze through the kitchen,

Try to speak Zarma which prompts my friend to grin ~

Times under thatch roof spent teaching reading…

These are a few of my favorite things!

Teen conversations, long emails and skype calls,

Sweet toddler antics and Sunday night football ~

Radio programs, kids spreading their wings…

These are a few of my favorite things!

When a child’s ill, when the air’s still, when I’m feeling sad…

I simply remember my favorite things

And then I don’t feel so bad.

Why do you think this song is played so frequently during this holiday time from Thanksgiving to New Year's?

Learning from One of His Valiant Ones

It’s been almost 12 years serving alongside my husband, raising our family, living in a place dry and dusty, difficult and destitute… It is hard to imagine anyone choosing to be here, at least not without the call of God pushing them. But I do. In fact, there’s no place in the world I’d rather be. It is here that God fleshed out for me what it means to be His woman of valor.

I could write about several women who’ve impacted my life: Mamata, struggling to learn to read at nearly 70 years of age, desperately desiring God’s Word and so she continues to plug away, despite ridicule and ostracism from her Muslim family. I could share about Aissa and Alarba, co-wives to a man who came to know Jesus not too many years ago. They, in an impossible-for-me-to-understand-situation, live and love and work together as friends, encouraging each other in their walk with the Lord, working side by side hour after long hour frying fish and donuts to sell in the market, and caring for their uniquely blended family. I could have… but didn’t choose any of those women....

To continue reading, please join me today over at Missionary Mom's Companion. Certainly hope to see you there!

She's Chosen to Follow Jesus

Our sweet Elsie Mae understands that
Jesus had to die on the cross as the payment for her sins...

...she's prayed,

asking Him to forgive her,

to become the Lord of her life,

and to take her to Heaven some day when she dies.

She's so excited.

So are we.

So thankful for God's grace

and His working in the hearts of the little ones He's loaned us.

Ay ga ba Yesu!

So far, a large part of my summer has been spent working with a group of three ladies from our church... Mamata, Aissa and Alarba... teaching them to read... in Zarma!

It has been a ton of fun as well as a huge and time consuming challenge, especially since I don't speak Zarma all that well myself! My Zarma is improving rapidly... almost as quickly as their reading abilities.

God is so good!

God IS blessing!

These ladies are motivated and are learning... rapidly! You should have seen their faces the first time they read the title phrase of this post... It means "I love Jesus!"

...or today, the look on the young man's face (he went as my translator for the very first class) as all three ladies read the beginning of the passage we were examining during today's Bible study:

"Ay ga Rabbi sifa, nga kaŋ ga saaware ay gaa."

("I will praise the Lord, it is He who counsels me.")

...from Psalm 16:7a

I really can't imagine a more exciting way to spend part of my summer vaction... really!

We have two more weeks of class before other responsibilities take over once again. Please pray with me that in this short time that remains, these women will grasp reading and then they can go on the adventure of a lifetime as they begin reading and meditating on God's Word... themselves!

Once I find my battery charger... I'll take some photos, I hope!

Sundays are for resting...

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair grows in me

and I wake in the middle of the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water,

and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into thepresence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

(by Wendell Berry, in Collected Poems)

Although the view isn't exactly the same as that of the author of the poem... although the water isn't still as I hear it rush over the dam... and I'm sitting on the terrace and watching the birds... listening to donkeys bray, water move and leaves rustle... catching glimpses of fishermen with their nets... I'm delighting in God's marvelous creation, a good book and a cup of tea... and either way, it adds up to peaceful resting...

Is there a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon?

Small but mighty... she's a competitor...

...and it was my revelation of the day!

It totally caught me off guard.

...I guess I just didn't expect

such a fierce side

to our sweet little Elsie Mae...

She certainly doesn't look fierce, does she?

Yesterday was full of swimming races and competitions for the students of Sahel Academy... and Elsie Mae tagged along. It didn't faze her in the least that she was swimming against 3-6th graders... she was tickled pink just to be at the pool and a part of all the excitement.

She cracked me up as she swam her races... each time she'd touch the wall, she'd hardly take a breath before asking:

 "Did I WIN! Mama?"

This is the race where she did... and don't forget to notice that smile on her face in the very last photo!

...and they're off! GO ELSIE MAE!!!



Nadia cheering for her lil' sis!



She was the 1st to touch the wall!




See that super big grin of delight?
(Lucky me! I got the happy hug, too!)



Challenged by my child...

"Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for,

my joy and crown,

 so stand fast in the Lord,

my dearly beloved... 

Rejoice in the Lord alway:

and again I say, Rejoice.

Let your moderation be known unto all men.

The Lord is at hand.

 Be careful for nothing;

but in every thing

by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving

 let your requests be made known unto God.

And the peace of God,

which passeth all understanding,

shall keep your hearts and minds

through Christ Jesus.

 Finally, brethren,

whatsoever things

 are true,

whatsoever things

are honest,

whatsoever things

are just,

whatsoever things

are pure,

whatsoever things

are lovely,

whatsoever things

are of good report;

if

there be any virtue,

and

if

there be any praise,

think on these things.

Those things,

which ye have both learned,

and received,

and heard,

and seen in me,

do:

and the God of peace shall be with you."

Phil 4.1, 4-9

One of my kiddos came to me recently, giggling and dying to tell me a joke. We'd just arrived at the pool and said child was refusing to get in until I listened - so I pulled up a chair, patted the seat and the child sat down to begin the telling...

However, just a few sentences into the joke, I had to stop my precious one. The joke had rapidly turned crude and I felt the Holy Spirit clearly say, "You can't listen to this... you can't encourage ******** in the repetition of these types of jokes." The recounter quickly assured me that this was the only bad part and the ending was so funny that it was worth it. That is dangerous ground... a slippery slope...

And I felt totally caught between a rock and a hard place... with more questions than answers and definitely having no clue how to proceed. This was not one of those things I'd learned in Parenting 101...

• Who had told my child a joke like this? (I'd like to give that one a piece of my mind!)
• Hadn't we done a better job of parenting? (Or could this one be innocent and not recognize the implications and innuendo of what had just been said? Umm... I didn't really think so.)
• Why in the world would my kid think this sort of thing was funny - when it was obviously crude? (And why in the world is this child telling this sort of joke to Mom?)
• How in the world do I gently and firmly correct without crushing spirit and damaging relationship? (I need to let this dear one know that I could never approve of such a joke... and neither could the Savior s/he professes to follow - but I also don't want to dam up communication. In some senses, I'm honored to be trusted well enough to have one of my kids share a "risky" joke.)
• How do I let the Holy Spirit be the teacher... because I don't even have any ideas this time?
• What if my child doesn't listen to the Spirit and continues to tell or repeat this sort of vulgarity?
• How do I teach graciously and gently stopping... leaving the scene when one of their buddies begins to do or say something... and the Holy Spirit quietly whispers, "This is not pleasing to me... it should not be pleasing or entertaining to you..."?
• How do I model every day... help teach them to internalize and live every day the words of Philippians 4 scribed above?

It was obvious that feelings were hurt and that my child felt a bit betrayed when I would not listen... but by God's grace, we continued talking. I shared how not listening to the Holy Spirt when He speaks sears our conscience... it hardens us for the next time making it more difficult to respond the way God wants. I re-iterated several times that for me to continue to listen to that joke would be sinful, for me. I shared about how hard it is a) to say no, b) to gently ask someone to stop, or c) to graciously and quietly leave the scene when they won't stop or when asking is inappropriate - especially when someone you want to please or impress is involved... be it peers, an older siblings' friends, extended family, folks from school who don't know Jesus, parents, grandparents, etc.

I also shared how this was the very first time, sitting by the pool with my own child, that I myself was courageous enough to obey- stopping someone from sharing something that would have been sin for me to hear. In the past, if I've done anything, I've simply ducked out of the situation, sometimes deceptively. I had never tried to gently, lovingly and graciously confront. I had never before said to someone engaging in unwholesome communication to please stop, because I was Holy Spirit convicted, found it offensive and didn't want to hear the rest. I had never had the courage until right then, that very moment, with my own child. Would I have the same courage if it was Daddy? or an older friend, an older relative? someone with whom I work? I haven't... yet, but through God's empowerment, I pray that will begin to change.

I think... I hope... it was comforting to know that even for Mom as an adult, self-extraction from a situation that compromises our integrity before our God is scary, hard, sometimes painful and may result in consequences that continue... and continue to hurt. I'm also relieved that even though this was one of the harder parenting conversations I've ever had, the child respondedly sweetly... teachably... to God be the glory!

I'm sure this won't be the last time this kind of discussion takes place. Psalm 1 says, "Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly... nor standeth in the way of sinners... nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." I want my children to have this blessing. I want this blessing. Thus, I must work on this very thing. I cannot change the fact that people I respect, seek to honor, love and trust, and whom I believe seek to follow Jesus are still sinners. Their conversation and actions can be, at times, ungodly, and if I listen, if I participate... I sin, I encourage others in their sin and I lose that blessing spoken of in Psalm 1. And only God knows the power of this sort of gentle testimony before those who don't yet know Him.

This is so important to me, as a mama, that maybe... with the Lord's help... if I begin to model this response before my children... they'll "catch" a biblical behavior that I have no idea how to teach, they'll learn an obedience I'm not quite sure how to do myself.

...Not to mention that I keep thinking back to the theme of one of yesterday's posts: "Why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not do what I say?"

How do you handle this sort of situation in your life,

in your family, with your children?

How do you disciple (or plan to disciple) 

your children (or children with whom you work)

 as they face this very sort of thing?

How do you encourage others around you

to follow those quiet, but difficult promptings of the Holy Spirit?

Words can't describe - it was simply, an amazing, healing night...

Sometimes this place, the people here, take my breath away and leave me speechless...

Always, my God... his holiness, his graciousness... that both exist perfectly in Him and because of Him... and that He gives me vivid glimpses of them in this fallen world... this one who loves words simply has no adequate words...

Except for the Word - God with us - even... especially... when we feel all alone.

I wish I could have captured a picture of the stars... or the moon rising over the crest of the dune... but then the pictures wouldn't, can't, do justice in trying to share that wonderful evening.