Mother’s Day 2013

I miss my mom today. I am living on an island in the Caribbean and she is almost 1,000 miles away and I can’t just pop in to visit or have one of her delicious home cooked meals. I can’t wrap my arms around her and enjoy one of her wonderful hugs and tell her how much I love her. Gratefully, I can pick up a phone and hear her sweet voice and will do so as soon as I finish capturing these thoughts of her and her influence in my life.

I have always loved my mother dearly but as a young child and well into my teen years I never understood her (self-centered creature that I was). It wasn’t until I became a mother myself that my eyes were open to the sacrifices she made on behalf of her children, of the obstacles that she had to overcome, and of the many anxious moments that me and my siblings put her through. I am sorry to say that a lot of those gray hairs on her head were caused by me.

My mother exudes care and compassion. She probably wouldn’t agree with me because she is her own biggest critic. But it’s those qualities that brought her to the point of returning to college while I was attending college so she could pursue a career in nursing after her children were mostly grown and moving on in the world. I can’t count the times that we would run into people while out and about who had either had my mother as their nurse or someone in their family had had her as their nurse. They always spoke so highly of her loving care and the special time she took with her patients.

Those college years were years of healing in our relationship that had gotten very stormy during my teen years. We became college buddies; we commuted to college together and would often spend time together studying or eating lunch in the school cafeteria. I am so thankful that God gave me those years with my mom. It was during that time that I started to view her as a person and came to admire her dedication to whatever task she had at hand. I was always an average student in school – mostly because I just didn’t apply myself. But in college I became an A-B student and even made the Dean’s List a few times. I attribute that to her example and her encouragement.

My mom is a wonderful encourager. She knows how to speak into our lives words that build us up and is one of our biggest fans. She is so proud of our accomplishments in life, no matter how small, and she is not afraid to let the world know how she feels.

She is a woman of faith. She loves Jesus and loves others with that same love. Just ask the people in her small mountain church in North Carolina or those in her small group from her Florida church, or the women that she helps at the pregnancy center, or her friends, or her neighbors, or her grandchildren, or the myriad of people who have been touched by her faith through her years of involvement in Cursillo and CFO! She and my dad faithfully pray for their loved ones and are not afraid to share their faith or to take a stand for what they believe in.

I sometimes wonder why at the stage in my life where I could be free to spend lots of time with my parents, why God would call me to be so far away from them. But I am here on the mission field in large part because of what they have poured into me over the years. They have helped to shape and mold me, they have been such an example to me of a life chasing after God.

So, I miss my mom today – and lots of other days too – but I am so very grateful that she has and will continue to have great influence in my life.

I love you mom!

We Are Trying Something New

We tried to keep our blog updated regularly but have not done a very good job of late. Part of the problem with that was that one of us felt like she had to write a short story every time she updated the blog ... usually because enough time had lapsed that there was a lot to say.

We have switched to an e-newsletter format (through Mail Chimp) with the hope that we can update more often and keep those updates short enough that you don't have to take a coffee break to read them!

If you are not on our newsletter list and would like to receive an e-newsletter, please send us a message through here, facebook, or shoot us an email and we'll be happy to add you.

One of our January teams making their way through the dinner line in the dining hall.
So far this year we have hosted three teams and are getting ready to host two more Spring teams before we prepare for a VERY full summer. We are so thankful for our teams!

In February we had a break from teams so we got together with several other ministries in town to tour each others facilities.
Here we are touring Caribbean Mountain Academy, a ministry of Crosswinds. This is their team house.

It's Kip's first birthday tomorrow! He is a great dog with LOTS of personality. He keeps us (well, mostly Dick) running up and down the hill playing Frisbee whenever he can.

Gifts from God

This morning was a beautiful reminder of how relational this culture is. I woke up with my mind swirling with the details of the busy day before me -- Language study, details for the upcoming trip to the States, more details regarding a full month of teams and visitors in October that need to get done BEFORE our visit to the States. Before I could even fix my morning cup of tea, I hear that the kitchen and grounds crew are going to go visit one of the cooks who has recently had knee surgery - do I want to go? The first thing that grips me is a little bit of fear because I am still so unsure of my language skills and heaven forbid I sound foolish! But I decide to go and jump in the van to go visit Lucila.

We head out toward the mountain range that is across the valley from the base. I have never been in this area before and it is a beautiful drive. We leave the main road and travel roads that are narrow, gravel, and full of pot holes. We have to dodge a horse grazing by the side of the road and the occasional chicken that runs into the road. We pull over to let a hay laden truck that is traveling the other way go by. They smile and wave.

As we go, I love listening to the friendly, joking banter between Mili, Carlos, Joan, Fico, Juana, Rudy, Hans, and Wilian. And I find that I can actually understand most of what is being said and can laugh along with their jokes. I remember a year ago listening to the same banter and wondering if maybe they were laughing at me and my futile attempts to communicate. They may have been but I have come to know them well enough to know that they are not malicious - they just love to laugh!

As we enter the community that Lucila lives in, Angela, another one of our cooks and Lucila's sister, comes out of her house to wave us in for a cup of coffee. Now I'm sure you are different from me but honestly, if a van load of nine people that I knew drove by my house in the past, I'm not sure that I would have done the same thing. I mean, is the house clean, do I have enough coffee creamer, do I have the time? Somehow those questions don't seem to matter so much anymore.

We drink our cafesita (a small cup of Dominican coffee with LOTS of sugar), leave the van there and walk down a few houses to see Lucila. We sit and talk for a bit, well, I sit and listen while they all talk about her surgery, then we head back to the van and drive back to the base.

As I sit here ready to get busy with my Spanish "tarea" I can hear the guys working on the grounds. I'm sure that Mili is busy in the cabins, getting them ready for our fall visitors. I love how willing they are to stop their busy schedules to go and sit for a minute with a friend so she knows that they are thinking about her. I think back to the many times that I should have put my friendships first and let my business go for a brief hour to be sure that that friend knew how important they were to me. I purpose in my mind to do that more.

Thank you Lord, for the gift of this morning and for reminding me that you created us to be in relationship with each other. Thank you for these wonderfully, warm, loving people that we get to walk along side of, who extend so much love and grace. Thank you for laughter and "cafesitas" that help bridge the language gap. Thank you too for bringing us to this place in our lives, to this country, to these people, to serve You in this way. We pray that we represent You well!