Newsworthy

I wanted to make sure that my loyal blog readers were up to date on the most news worthy events of the week. In case you haven't had time to check out the news yourself, or your job/child has prevented you from keeping up with msn.com, let me help you out.

Did you know that Secretary of State Condelezza Rice is a self-proclaimed Kiss fan? She took time after an important meeting about Iraq to go and meet the band. Thankfully, they were well-informed about current events. Hopefully she got some good advice.

You know, everyone agrees that the current state of our health care system is, well, not really that great. The new solution? Let Wal-Mart take it over. That's right, forget nationalized health care plans people. Wal-Mart, America's number one all-stop, get everything discount store can now solve your health care dilemmas. No health insurance? No problem. With new walk-in clinics and the major expansion of the $4 prescription drug program to include over the counter medication, they have figured out the nation's health care problems that have baffled our elected officials for decades.

For all my readers who are moms, this is for you. A recent study has shown that the more kids you have, the more teeth you are likely to lose in your lifetime. I am sorry to give you this sad information. If you have been wondering about your dental problems, they have now been solved.

And finally, if you have really been feeling like the dog park just isn't cutting it for your pup's social life, there is great news. The first doggie night club has just opened in LA, featuring an indoor pet toilet, doggie dance floor, and muttinis. I think I have figured out where I will taking my next vacation.

Wednesday's Word

I keep seeing this post on people's blog called Worldless Wednesday. I decided that my version of that is going to be the word that seems to be defining my week.

Restoration

res·to·ra·tion / Pronunciation Key - [res-tuh-rey-shuhn] –noun
1.the act of restoring; renewal, revival, or reestablishment.
2.the state or fact of being restored.
3. a return of something to a former, original, normal, or unimpaired condition.
4. restitution of something taken away or lost.
5. something that is restored, as by renovating.
6. a reconstruction or reproduction of an ancient building, extinct animal, or the like, showing it in its original state.
7. a putting back into a former position, dignity, etc.

This is the word that is my heart this week, maybe for this season of my life. I LOVE that God is the God of restoration. He loves to restore relationships, hearts, lives, our very beings. I love that He is restoring and reviving HIS church! Restoration. How sweet. When so much of life seems to be about tearing down, death and sadness. God brings restoration to our lives, to weary souls and to tired hearts. You can feel it deep inside when you ask God for it. Restoration.

So about that yard

I wanted to say a few things about home ownership. While my friend Lindsy was off laying on the beach and getting a tan, I was busy getting some rays my own way. However, there was no relaxing or laying around for me. No, I spent the weekend working my hands raw in my yard.


Now, it is important to note that I am the youngest in my family with older brothers. That means I have not really ever done anything that required much work. I have always rejected the notion that I was in any way spoiled or helpless until I bought a house. I have now been forced to fully accept and even embrace what I like to view as my "hopelessness" when it comes to most projects around the house.


Before you ask, no I had never mowed a lawn in my life until last Sunday. I had never used an electric screwdriver until the day I moved into my house and I am still actually not very good at it. I have still not used a drill and actually once attempted to use an electric screwdriver as a drill. But this post is not about all of my stupid moves in the first month of home ownership. Nope, this post is about my two new best friends.


Please meet Big Red:

She is my very powerful, electric start, self-propelled lawn mower. Not only is she my first lawn mower, but she and I enjoyed my very first lawn mowing experience together! She is so great she could practically mow the lawn without me.

And Little Yellow:

He is my weed-eater. We have not really gotten to know each other on an intimate level yet as I haven't learned how to use him. As you can imagine, my yard needs his help pretty badly. Sorry, little guy, I mean, our relationship is just going to take some time to develop. I am new at this.

So who are these kids anyway?

Since the question got asked (it is a good question since I talk about Mariela a lot but never really say who she is) I thought I would take a second for all my devoted readers who don't have a clue who Mariela and her brother are.

I spent the summer of 2003 living in Honduras with a host family (and my good friend Amber) doing mission work. Downstairs in a small room in their garage lived their daugher, her husband and their two children, Mariela and Arnoldo. I don't have a picture on my computer for 2003 because I hadn't gone digital yet, this is the best I can do...around Fall 2004.

Clearly, I fell in love fast and the feeling was pretty much mutual. Mariela was only three that first summer and I doubt she remembers much about me living in her grandmother's house, but we spent lots of days together just hanging out, especially after I got sick and was banned from leaving the house!

And so, I keep going back year after year. And I help make sure she has some of the things that she will need so that her future will be a little better than it might be otherwise. Mariela is one of the people in my life that helps me remember that lots of people in the world do not have the opportunity to make a better life for themselves without help from someone else. She is a real, living breathing human being that I believe God brought into my path so that we might mutually bless each other's lives and hopefully many other lives down the road.

Fall 2005

Spring 2007 -- As you can see, she is a character!

Spring 2008 with her brother

Loving Honduras

I have been home from Honduras a few weeks and the more I reflect on my trip, the more I realize how great it was. I believe it was my 7th time to go to Honduras in 5 years. There is just something that keeps me going back.

I think it might be her.

There were lots of things about this trip that I appreciated and enjoyed. The first was the chance to go to the beach with Amber, her boys and Mariela. Mariela had never seen the ocean. We went to a pretty authentic, native beach where we watched the fishermen go out in the morning and then we ate the fish they caught for lunch. It was pretty great. I mean, it lacked hot water, air conditioning, and automobiles but there were plenty of geckos and tons of fun in the ocean. Plus the mornings were amazing and I got lots of quiet time to reflect on the Glory of God.

Mariela's first glance at the ocean. We really went to an island that is in a gulf so she couldn't see the vast expanse of ocean with no land in front of her, but I don't think that mattered.

The view from our first room. These are top of the "huts" where they keep the fishing boats at night.



Awesome sunset. You can't see us very well, but the sunset on the water is the great part.

Mariela's first sand castle


Mariela: "Look! I can nadar! But the water is too deep! And tiburones!"

On day two of the beach, we left the rustic dwellings for this much nicer hotel with a PISCINA! I thought the kids were going to go crazy. It was like they had never seen a swimming pool in their lives (which unlike it ocean is not true).

"Yes, I will smile this angelic smile, but I will not get out of this pool unless you get in here and drag me out and I know you will not do that Holly because you just want me to be happy..." Folks, I am going to be in MAJOR trouble with parenting...


Oh, thank goodness for Amber. We alway have such a good time, laughing, resting, chatting and sharing about what God is doing with us and for us! And she is much more firm with the kiddos! If not for her, Mariela still might in that pool at the hotel!


And we did do stuff besides the beach, that was just the highlight. We spent time in El Magote at the church and I spent time with my host family and we took the kids to this beautiful park (where Mariela and Arnoldo would not both cooperate for a picture) and we just had a good time all around. There is this thing, this connection in my heart to the suffering of the people in Honduras and I am thankful that God has planted that connection there and I hope that it always stays fresh, always stays right there next to my heart where I can feel it and feel His love for them.

Something about Isaiah

I started reading, really reading Isaiah in February. I spent several months pouring over the scripture, amazed at the rich content given by the prophet to people of Israel. I think that my view on Isaiah is very different today than it would have been even one year ago and that may have contributed to my love for this book, but in many ways the months I spent in this book awoken something in my soul in a new way.

So you can imagine how excited I was when I saw this earlier today. An entire Dead Sea Scroll with the text of Isaiah is going on display in a museum in Jerusalem. It hasn't been seen by the public in over 4 decades, and now it will be displayed for only three months. Let's see...how can I get over there to see this that quickly...I am working on as we speak...

Well, okay, I am saving my trip to Israel for next year and feeling somewhat sad that I will miss the scroll of Isaiah but my reminded of the amazing God that I serve that preserves His Word throughout the generations!

A few of my favorite Isaiah passages:

Isaiah 41:17-20

"The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the LORD will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs. I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive. I will set pines in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together, so that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the LORD has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it."

Isaiah 42:6-8

I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. "I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols."

Isaiah 52:12

But you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the LORD will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

So many more. Two that really speak to my life are Isaiah 58 and Isaiah 61.

p.s. I have pictures of Honduras and my new house too.