After a long week and a trying emotional and spiritual stretch, recovery comes from thankfulness, as demonstrated in the Psalms by David who had his share of trials but stubbornly held on to praise. Much of what I'm thankful for is recycled, renewed, restored. . which reflects what God is doing in general down here in this world. Here are few things from the last couple of days:
The Year of Jubilee, my Birthday stretches on. Tonight our friends from Uganda, the Chedesters, invited our family for a delicious dinner. In this new place I forget what it's like to just relax with people we've known for so long . . and the only people around who share the most significant chunk of our life. Above, with the roses they gave me. Renewed friendships are renewing.
Scott and the kids gave me a Kitengela Glass IOU for my Birthday . . . so we went into their shop this weekend after Caleb's rugby game. I thought I'd replace some of the glasses we'd bought a couple of years ago, which are made locally here in Nairobi from recycled bottles, and which we seem to break rather often. Instead I splurged on two handcrafted chairs (with chunks of recycled glass in the back) for the counter Scott put into our kitchen. It's the new breakfast spot.
These are my other Birthday present, which Luke bought me in a Maasai village, made from recycled rubber tires.
Luke and Thomas this morning, off to the Loita Hills, where they will camp for a week as they visit Maasai villages for their research. The house is already too quiet. Their friendship is restorative to both of them after a year in two challenging universities. I realized that my Swahili lesson today as we chatted about the current family events
contained sentences like this (which are not too reassuring):
Hawaogopi fisi? (don't they fear the hyenas?)
Hapana, wana visu (No, they have knives)
Moe, our houseguest, who has become part of the family over the last week, we will miss her when she goes back to Japan via Rwanda.
And I end with my most thankful highlight of the week, Luke and Caleb with friends after leading Praise Chapel. I miss leading worship, I'm sure that David soared not just from writing Psalms but from singing and dancing them, from playing his harp. It is a great joy to see my kids have at least a chance to do that. There are so many talented musicians here, but this week Luke and Caleb were able to step in, and I'm so glad I was able to run up the hill from the hospital and worship with them.
The Year of Jubilee, my Birthday stretches on. Tonight our friends from Uganda, the Chedesters, invited our family for a delicious dinner. In this new place I forget what it's like to just relax with people we've known for so long . . and the only people around who share the most significant chunk of our life. Above, with the roses they gave me. Renewed friendships are renewing.
Scott and the kids gave me a Kitengela Glass IOU for my Birthday . . . so we went into their shop this weekend after Caleb's rugby game. I thought I'd replace some of the glasses we'd bought a couple of years ago, which are made locally here in Nairobi from recycled bottles, and which we seem to break rather often. Instead I splurged on two handcrafted chairs (with chunks of recycled glass in the back) for the counter Scott put into our kitchen. It's the new breakfast spot.
These are my other Birthday present, which Luke bought me in a Maasai village, made from recycled rubber tires.
Luke and Thomas this morning, off to the Loita Hills, where they will camp for a week as they visit Maasai villages for their research. The house is already too quiet. Their friendship is restorative to both of them after a year in two challenging universities. I realized that my Swahili lesson today as we chatted about the current family events contained sentences like this (which are not too reassuring):
Hawaogopi fisi? (don't they fear the hyenas?)
Hapana, wana visu (No, they have knives)
Moe, our houseguest, who has become part of the family over the last week, we will miss her when she goes back to Japan via Rwanda.
And I end with my most thankful highlight of the week, Luke and Caleb with friends after leading Praise Chapel. I miss leading worship, I'm sure that David soared not just from writing Psalms but from singing and dancing them, from playing his harp. It is a great joy to see my kids have at least a chance to do that. There are so many talented musicians here, but this week Luke and Caleb were able to step in, and I'm so glad I was able to run up the hill from the hospital and worship with them.
No comments:
Post a Comment