queen of sheba

(every now and then i hear that someone unexpected - a friend from church, a relative, etc - has read my blog...which i always celebrate a little bit to myself. but it is also knowing that it could happen that keeps me from venting too much here...it keeps me in check, as it were. because the one day i "let loose" will be the day that my pastor stumbles upon this blog, or my mother, and then where would i be? so if it seems a little 'pollyanna' around here, well, it's all for you, people. and thank you for it, because otherwise this could easily end up full of posts i would regret having written in the "heat of the moment". so mom, if you're reading this, welcome here!)



i had the best surprise last night!! i had arranged with my friend, jaya, that after our small group she would stay a bit late and teach me how to tie a sari. she is indian, and whenever she breaks out her traditional clothes for church, she looks so beautiful!! i wasn't sure if a white girl could pull it off, but i really wanted to try! so, she did - really, it's much more of a "fold and tuck" proposition than a "tying" one. i felt like royalty - you can't help but feel graceful and tall and beautiful, i tell you! and then, jaya told me that I COULD KEEP IT!!! I HAVE MY VERY OWN BEAUTIFUL SARI! look look! (pardon my unpardonable hair - i hate my hair - and my pink slipper socks, they don't really "go"). isn't it amazing!? this is the "im having dinner with the embassador, dah-ling" style, and then there is a way with more of it folded over the shoulder that keeps it out of the way of your arm more. hooray, jaya! thanks!

%$#!@$#@^%$#

you know "those days"? ever had 3 or 4 in a row?

VICTORY!

STEP #1 - Send via "Registered Mail" the extention forms and accompanying fees - payable to "The Department of Homeland Security" - DONE! Go with God, USCIS forms, go with God.

strange but true...

i recently recieved samples of a product line called DHC - skincare based on the benefits of the olive. now, having skin prone to break out, i have always shied away from using oil based products on my skin...and here is a product where the cleanser is basically olive oil and rosemary oil, and the moisturizer is literally only highly processed olive oil. but, what the heck - i'm a sucker for new products, and i was fascinated to think that this would actually clean and clear my skin. so, i waited for a monday (so if i broke out, i would have a week before church!), and cut open the corners of my samples. and OH MY GOSH! i think i love this stuff!! it is amazing - the oil cleanser, which you rub over dry skin with dry fingers, removes all my makeup and leaves my skin so soft, and despite pure olive oil on my face, i wake up not greasy at all, with clearer skin every morning! i have used it 4 nights in row so far, and i am going to use up the samples...but i am seriously considering ordering this! (it comes from japan, and you have to order it online) i think i will miss it when it's gone! how weird is that?!?!

on my mind

man - this visa thing - i am trying to be brave, you know? i have my paperwork all filled out, and curtis should have his finished today...then off it goes into the hands of people who probably don't really care too much. it is very strange to live as an 'alien' in a foreign country. we look the same, and (mostly) sound the same, but we don't belong here. we are outsiders. we have to ask permission to live the life here that we want to live, and that is a little bit disconcerting, if i'm being honest. because this is where we want to build our life, our church and grow up our The Girls. i am reading a great book where the author talks about the fear of loss...and i am definitely working through that. i have to remind myself that what is true is that our life here comes from the hand of God, who has 'made the boundary lines fall for me in pleasant places' (psalm 16:6). it is more than i ever dreamed for myself. and God is sovereign over the 'kings of the earth' (many, many psalms) and there is nothing on earth that is beyond his control. so i am practicing the discipline of fortitude...courage based on the grace and power of God. this is not "airy fairy" faith...this is practical, "rubber meets the road", muscular faith! at the end of the day, i have committed my life to serving God and following his voice. and like curtis says, the worst case senario is that we would serve him in another place, which is no desperate thing. but God knows my heart - our hearts - and that we want to stay here. so ... i am praying, and i am excersising my faith.

Dear Jesus, go before us and make a way. Thank you for all the times you have done that before, and thank you for doing it again. Amen.

blue jobs

tomorrow is the Big Day... the day we start our immigration visa renewal. keep your fingers crossed, pray, etc etc etc. i know that it's just a matter of paperwork and fees, since we are law-abiding residents who pay our taxes, keep the speed limit and have american children, but it's a process that i don't love and causes me no end of stress. thank goodness for husbands. this is definately a blue job!

snow day!

we woke up this morning to the wonder of children who don't live in a snowy climate...."IT'S SNOWING! IT'S SNOWING!" it is amazing to their young eyes! having grown up in western canada, it's slightly less amazing to me...but they have a point. this is our first time in 3 years here that this much snow (and by that, i mean a whole inch) has accumulated! and this being the carolina's, not calgary, they cancelled school today...so the girls are having their first 'snow day' this year. hooray! the irony of this is that in our prior life, they would have trudged to school in up to 2 feet of snow - school only gets cancelled if it's too cold for the buses to run (like, -40F), and they wouldn't think that an inch of snow was special. but here it is special. here it's like something magical and mysterious ... heavy and wet and sticky. i have to say, there's nothing more disappointing than going out to make a snowman and having the snow be too cold and dry to be sticky (you think i'm lying, but it happens all the time). this is great snowman snow! so they are out in their jeans and one-size-fits-all mitts, fall jackets and sneakers, building a snowman - pink cheeked and cheerful - until they get too cold and come in...depositing a pile of wet and dirty clothes at the door. it's the price you pay for a snow day...not bad, i guess, weighed against the wonder in their eyes.