One Little Missionary Far from Home.

"You can give without loving. But you cannot love without giving."~Amy Carmichael, missionary to India




Wow,  I can't believe that Liddy has been gone this long already.  Thank goodness for Skype!  Seriously.  OK, so it drops out on us pretty regularly & Liddy's connection is dodgy but for those few short minutes I can, as a mother does, glimpse my daughter's face ~ which tells me so much more than any words could about how she's doing.

So how is she doing? 

She's pretty tired.  That may partly be the altitude.  She's been working pretty hard.  Even their days of they get invited to participate in activities & mostly people choose to be involved.  It is, after all, why they are there.  She is finding the language barrier difficult ~ not just out & about but in house because there is only one other resident whose first language is English.  She is always getting asked to slow down, repeat, rephrase ~ so the usual way Liddy communicates [which is quick, barbed repartee, witty] does not work.  Nor are the others quite getting her sense of humour.  That is generally an Aussie problem.  The sly, sardonic & often dry throw away comments so typical of Aussies get missed in translation ~ so to speak.  She is missing home, family, friends.

On the other hand she loves Chile & the Chilean people & many of the difficulties are just a question of adjustment.  The team has jelled really well.  Everyone is getting on wonderfully & via Skype I have been able to *meet* & chat with the other girls Liddy is sharing her room with.  Makes me feel a little more in touch because we've never been so far away from each other before & it has never been so long that we have gone without seeing each other. 

Now the team has experienced all the ministries available & have chosen where they would like to focus their time & energy.  Liddy got both her choices.   Her first choice is one of the orphanages working with boys between 5 & 12.  No surprises there.  The children seem to circumvent the language problem also.  There are other ways of communicating ~ which Liddy is very good at so that's all good & as expected.  Her second choice was to work in the arts area.  This was a bit of a surprise.  While I believe, & have said for years, that Liddy is quite artistic, she has always prefered sport & when you have a Star in the house it is all too easy to compare & consider you've fallen short.  Not true, but it is true Liddy's artistic gifts fall in a very different patten to either Star's or mine!  She thinks she needs to strengthen this area & so has chosen it as her second ministry.  I think she will really enjoy it & find it very freeing.

In house the team shares the cooking during the week ~ which must be pretty cosmopolitian when there are 2 Germans,  2 Dutch, two Americans ~ & Lid, the lone Aussie.  And everyone can cook so no kitchen disasters!  Liddy did say she'd had an interesting toasted sandwich as the Chilean bread is sweet but live & learn!  Her days are very full from the moment she gets up in the morning for in house devotions, to when she falls into bed at night after a busy day of bible study & ministry.  She is still struggling to get a routine up & happening for her days;  Liddy does so much better with routine & regularity ~ & 12 hours of sleep a night!

Is she happy?

Very.  She is where God has called her doing what He has called her to do & there is great satisfaction in that.  Her GAP team are doing a great job & once a month someone brings their lap top to bible study so they can Skype together, pray for Liddy & generally include her  as usual.  Great idea for keeping everyone up to speed!

And us?

Well, we all have our moments.  There'll be that moment when something happens or gets said that we just know Lid would so appreciate & turn to share only to remember she's not around.  Those moments are hard.  However, even if she was here we wouldn't be in each other's pockets 24/7 so in that sense it is not hard.  Star & I are always pretty busy & as that hasn't changed, indeed is about to get even worse,  we don't have time to mope.  Both her grandmas are missing her & chat about her endlessly.  They too are finding perfect strangers, people they barely know, have heard Liddy's story & want to know how she's getting on.

Liddy has been too busy to do more than briefly catch up ~ & as I said her internet connection tends to be dodgy, which makes for interesting conversations!  Thank you all our wonderful prayer warriors because your prayers are being answered in wonderful ways.

There is a reason we go away.  For a few days we do something completely different.  Back home it was straight back into all the chores because no one had washed while I was gone.  The washing up had been done ~ just not that day's.  There were invoices to be sent, envelopes to be addressed &, most important of all, cats to be cuddled.  Actually Kirby survived quite well.  He spends most of his time oustside during the day, only coming in for meals when he must & though he wanted his cuddle time he was a pretty happy puss.  Marlow is a cat of another colour & was verging on a complete meltdown when I walked in the door but he has recovered well & has been busily bouncing round & showing off how completely adorable he is.

While we were gone Dino started putting down the drip & sprinkler system for the veggies.  We have talked about this for years but never got around to it ~ well, I wasn't doing the work as I don't actually mind standing round contemplating my navel while I hold the hose.  Everything has shot up so we have started picking even though it's only been in a couple of weeks.  The silverbeet was lovely steamed till it was just wilted &  I don't need a lot of lettuce for Dino's snadwich but so nice & crisp & full of flavour straight from garden to lunch!

Our spring weather has turned overcast & nasty but we are still on school break so life is good.

Those special moments...

"Take away love, and our earth is a tomb."~ Robert Browning

 Star gets the credit for spotting the Eastern Yellow Robin on its nest on the Wetlands Walk Saturday but I id'ed it.    I get such a thrill out of little moments like this.

 Flowering Mistletoe on the Wetlands Walk.  So lovely. There are 90 species native to Australia; 2 root, the others aerial. 71 of these species are only found in Australia.

 My mother & my daughter sharing one of those moments!

Saying it with L♥ve.

Sunday

Why be afraid of tomorrow when today is all we have? ~ Sir Walter Raleigh.

 When we left home on Friday I had a migarine niggling but what I did not want to have to do was put Star behind the wheel on the open highway.  A leetle more experience required I think.  Thankfully by Sunday I was feeling fine again & we headed off to here.   It was absolutely glorious.  The old forest has been left & the garden planted  thoughout.  Grassy open spaces are intermingled with dense forestation & parkland.  The shelters are well spaced so even though there were a lot of people around it did not feel crowded & it has all been done by volunteers over the last 10 years or so!

 Mum & I eyed of the large hollow pieces of rock being used as bird baths enviously.

 The stone sculpture garden was truely reflective of the vision for unity of body, spirit & earth.

 Huge variety of sculptures.  I love the dark rock & many of these were fun pieces with a little frog to be found somewhere on the rock surface.

 We walked the lagoon circuit

And wandered gently through part of the Botanical Gardens before heading home for a quick lunch & the movie in the village theatre, which happened to be Elizabeth: the Golden Years, which we have but so glorious it is always worthwhile seeing again ~ though it does set Star & I off requoting Elizabeth to the Spanish ambassadors...I have a hurricane in me, Sir, that will strip Spain bare when you dare to try me! ~ which really is a wonderful quote & delivered with such panache by Cait Blanchett.

Saturday in pictures.

 Technically this is Friday.  We detoured because I was suffering *white line syndrome* ~ you know where the black tar becomes a blur & all you see is the white line as your eyes begin to shut ~ & we've talked for years about stopping to actually look in the opal shop ~ so we did.  The opals were lovely ~ & expensive.

 My mother has a knack with the little touches that make you welcome.  These roses are from one of her rose bushes which blooms prolifically all year round & is just a lovely, lovely rose.

 Eat your heart out Liddy because the Wetlands Walk was open & that's where we went first thing on Saturday.  Great walk along the raised boardwalk

 which terminates at the Maroochy River where Mt Coolm rises majestically in the distance.

 Then next door to have lunch at the Strawberry farm where Star & I promptly horrified Ma by deciding that the fondue for two was an acceptable lunch!

 It was very, very good! ☺

 Then on to view the Finnish memorial.  Of all the surprising facts about this area of the Sunshine Coast this takes the cake: the Finns were the first to settle here.  Although it is boggish & prone to low lying pools of water I can't think it was much like their homeland in any other way. Weird.

And to finish the day, a walk along the beach.  It was very pleasant once the heat was off the sand & the crowds had dispersed. We all slept very well!

It's not that we haven't seen my mother at all over the last 12 months; we have.  There was my cousin's 60th & Liddy's farewell & a concert of Star's but, well, there have been other people about & things to do & it's all been a bit hectic. 

Star's schedule does not make getting away easy & of course my mother is no slouch in the socialising department so although I had planned a short break these school hols actually co~ordinating our schedules has been extraordinarily difficult ~ complicated by Dino, who wanted to come & now isn't, Dearest [who needs me round for the invoicing etc on Monday] & the cats, who think I shouldn't go away at all & are threatening dire revenge on Dearest who quails every time *visit* & *cats* are mentioned in the same breath.

Consequentially our visit will be short but it makes a nice mid~point break in Star's vacation & means she will do something beside eat chocolate & watch old movies.  She waded through Gone with the Wind ~ which I declined to watch just for one good line: Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.  Nope, not my sort of movie though I did once try to watch it & gave it up as long~winded & boring & full of unpleasant people who really should have known better.  Yes, I know it's a classic.  That's why Star was watching it ~ but that doesn't mean I have to like it!

Anyway, at some point today our bags will be packed & we will be on a boat for the mainland to drive north, where the sharks are cruising the shallows of all the holiday beaches looking for an unwary snack [I will not be swimming!] so that we can spend a long weekend with my mother & do some family catching up.  The camera is charged.  The garden is watered.  Adieu, Farewell, Sayonara.  See you all Monday!

What we saw at the Shops.

“When cats run home and light is come, And dew is cold upon the ground, And the far-off stream is dumb, And the whirring sail goes round, And the whirring sail goes round; Alone and warming his five wits, The white owl in the belfry sits.”~ Lord Alfred Tennyson

There is a reason I go away when we go on vacation.  If I stay home I work ~ all those things we don't have time for in term time.  Two days it took me to get new tires on the island car & I practically had to beg even then ~ which is what you get when you have one officially retired but only available mechanic on the island.  He doesn't need to work....It's sort of a hobby & if he'd rather go fishing, well....And I still have to take the old tires to the tip!  To~day's job; Star can drive.

Then there was the mainland car  which I had been begging Liddy to sort out because she drove it waaaay more than I did.  I normally only need it at night ~ when the garage is shut ~ but of course she was always in a rush & needing to be somewhere so it never got done.  Yesterday we went & did it.  At least we did what I could afford.  All day affair ~ naturally.  We plan for these things.

So we went & bought movie tickets but with time to kill before our session started were wandering back towards the shopping centre when we spotted this gorgeous man!

 Isn't he something?!  He is a barn owl.  The wildlife rescue people were out in force with a 1/2 dozen or so animals in tow making the most of school holiday crowds to raise awareness.  I think Star sort of quailed in her boots because I am a sucker for a pretty bird & promptly started chatting up the young handler.  Barn owls we have but though we might have them we never get this up close & personal with enough light to admire the snowy chest with a delicate freckling of black, the tawny back feathers, the incredible angles that an owl can turn its head.  Hand raised & not ever able to be released he was inquisitive & affectionate & enjoyed sticky beaking the crowd.

 We came back a little later to visit with Anala, which means place of peace [I told you I chatted this guy up!].  Wedge~tail.  This guy is only tiny with a 3 m wing span & weighing just on 2ks, which is nothing in the eagle world but a whole lot of bird when he is tethered to your wrist.  The wing span can reach as much as 7m ~ out west these guys regularly take lambs or small sheep & have been known to take small dogs [of the lap dog variety] on the island.  Even jessed, even confined these guys are really something special.  I was delighted as even in the mall area he turned into the wind to get the lift as the breeze came through & every so often he'd take of, practically taking his handler with him.

 Yeah, he was affectionate too.  I am always amazed at how responsive wild animals can be when they are treated right.  I asked if they ever flew him, & yes, but he's never out long because he had a broken wing & tires easily.  It will take about 3 years for complete healing to occur.

Then there was this little guy ~ about the size I like them & I had a long chat about the flying foxes ~ I will pick people's brains when the opportunity arises & besides, the guy is the first person I've ever met who loves them as much as I do!

Then, because Star wouldn't choose so I did, we went & saw this:




Star about had a fit when she realised some of it was sub~titled!  Not sure about the story line; think I now need to go read the book, but visually stunning & historically/culturally interesting.  Poor Star.  Even on holidays she gets educated one way or another.

Picked up more seedlings & a grape vine & am now off into the sunshine to dig in the rich black soil & make my cats happy.  They missed me yesterday.  Dearest swears they have to go away with me because they do not love him when I am not around!

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.3John1:4

Christian parents have it tough.  We don't just want to raise decent, moral, caring human beings; we want to raise Christ lovers who will pick up their cross & follow after Him who has called them by name.
 
To that end we pray for our children, with our children & about our children.  We take them to Sunday school & to church.  We send them to bible camp & youth group.  We teach them memory verses & catechism questions, the standard creeds of the faith.  We say grace at meals, bedtime prayers, family devotions.  We talk with them about the things of Christ ~ all of this in the hope that it will be enough, that somehow they will love where we love & that God will become vibrant & real to them.  I've lost track of the grief & heartache I've witnessed as the children of Christian parents reach maturity, turn their backs on the faith & walk away from everything they've been taught.  It is devestating.
 
I have been both the child who walked away & the parent who grieved & I have done a lot of thinking about this.  We do everything we can, everything we know.  We spend hours in our prayer closet in prayer & still we lose our children to the world at a phenomenal & ever growing rate.  We never even know we have a problem until it is too late because while they are young & under our roof, under our covenant, they are protected & biddable ~ then they reach their majority, move beyond our authority & the ugly truth is revealed.
 
Some of it is genetic.  Stubborn strong~willed parents are not going to produce gentle, pliable children ~ not as a rule.  Some of it is just the old sin nature at work.  Some of it is simply we have taught our children about Christ, rather than introducing them to Christ. Some of it is generational curses & some of it is downright spiritual warfare & even after all I've learnt I still get gaught by this one because I just never ever think we are that important!  In truth we're not but because we're Christ's Satan will happily use us to hurt the Father.  I know this. I have seen it in action over & over.  More devestatingly they have looked at us, looked at the church & gone Yuck!
 
Most of mine are big now.  We cover the spectrum from the full blown aethiest to the mission oriented.  I know the joy of discussing Christ with children who also know & love Him, who are walking in The Way, immersing themselves in the scriptures & over the years each has expressed the same concernes:
 

                                  The church is soft

 

Why doesn't the church teach on these things?

 

Where is the power of God?

 

How can I know God?

 

For each, as they have struggled for a mature faith, they have been apalled by the discrepency of what the scriptures teach as to how the church is.  I understand.  How can we, as the people of the Living God, sit through three hymns,  a short inercessory prayer & a 3 point sermon week after week & never once expect the Spirit of God to move through the congregation, ignite the people with His power & passion, set us alight?!

 

Dino, who has just come out of his first full on fast & touched the edges of walking close with God, once asked me, "But why didn't you talk to us about these things when we were growing up?"  Because I didn't know then!  No~one taught me.   As I have learnt, so have I shared.  I warn my children, " It will cost you everything."  I have passionate children.  They're not interested in half measures. 

 

 Now Dino is starting to understand just how difficult this all is.  A little tentatively, because it is all new & he is unsure, he came to me & said, " I didn't get anything...I just asked God to show me what it all means".   And then he added, "But we have to wait....the timing's not right".   I grinned at him.  You got something, I said.  That is what I have been getting.  The time's not right.  We are waiting on others also being ready.   There was a look of wonder in his eyes.  He'd heard from God! 

 

 And this is our starting point; children raised in such a way they can hear from God for themselves; hear from Him, recognise His voice & are prepared to act on His instructions.  Not church sitters.  Not pew warmers.  Not 3 hymns & a 3 point sermon people.  We are living in volatile times. And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: It is not just pretty rhetoric.  It is a Living Truth.  May our children grow strong.  May the spirit of God be a fire in their bones & may the Living God consume them!

What Price Vanity?

The most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder. ~ Salma HayekThe morning light is luminous, the air already warm & heady with scent.  Mist lingers in the hollows & pockets amongst the shadows as I drive Dino to his morning boat & the cats greet the new day with delighted chirrups.  Spring has definitely arrived.


I learnt a long time ago that certain activities are not for me.   I knew I was never going to be a girly~girl.  Perfume is a migraine trigger; make~up gives me hives & rashes, itches & sneezes & other unpleasant things.  When I was performing regularly the greasepaint turned my skin into a blotchy, bumpy mess.  Skin care is warm water & a gentle wash.  We don't experiment with laundry detergents.  A lavender sachet amongst the linen is the extent of any perfumery & it is a major catastrophe if our non~allergenic deodorant line ceases production!  My girls have inherited this unhappy state of affairs.

So when I was invited to one of those show & tell evenings for skin care products I very politely declined ~ for obvious reasons.  A twenty minute boat trip inhaling someone else's deodorant has been known to have me hallucinating & spewing & I curse the women who have a preponderance for heavy, musky scents, applied liberally over cigarettes & wine.  The smell of sweat is preferable.  In our overly sanitized world that is not very acceptable but then some of us are forced to avoid certain people for the benefit of our health!

Having not attended the evening I was more than a little surprised to be chased up & presented with a free sample kit.  Being chronically incapable of being rude & saying no I accepted the kit with a smile & a thank you.  After all it was a very sweet gesture.  In my house it was likely to get lost before it got used.  It's non~allergenic, the host assured me.  No animal products, no perfumes, no testing on animals.  I forbore to mention the long list of non~allergenic products I am, in fact, extremely allergic to!

The kit arrived home safely but once out of my bag promptly disappeared, to be searched for frantically when the email arrived wanting to know how we'd found the product.  Now I have a ruddy Celtic complexion that makes me look like a full blown lush on occasion.  Star has the porcelain white skin that sometimes goes with red hair, does not tan & makes her look like she's related to a vampire.  With puberty she has been having a lot of trouble with her skin ~ as I did ~ & the muck she has to apply to it for every performance does not help.  So last night while we watched Bones we experimented.

The cleanser was brilliant.    Not so much for me as for Star.  The angry red inflammation was greatly reduced & our skin was left feeling really clean & silky smooth.  I admit to being impressed ~ especially as neither of us got a reaction.  Ditto the toner.  I couldn't believe it.  Having had so much success we got careless.  We didn't do a test patch on the night serum. Yep.  That was the one.  Angry welted patches rose up on our cheekbones with a burning sensation & despite keeping it well away from our eyes they grew red, sore & puffy.  Won't be using that one again.  And it will be a few days before we can trial the other  samples but I can assure you we will be being much more cautious!  After all these years you'd think I'd know better.  Non~allergenic is rarely non~allergenic in my case

The trouble with weather forecasting is that it's right too often for us to ignore it and wrong too often for us to rely on it. ~ Patrick Young

 The mulch has arrived ~ & just in time.  The larger bananas are throwing their leaves but having investigated I have seen the new furled leaves just poking  out so I know all will be good.

Already it is warm & steamy & the garden is only half done because Marlow was helping &, well, it was warm!  Too warm.  My gardening partner was on the water fishing! No I don't know why.  The sun was shining, the water was pristine & smooth as glass, a light haze on the horizion... why would he be fishing?

My cats are looking unhappy: a sudden blast of warm weather & them still in their winter fur coats! We are on holidays & I have a sick man about the house.  Luverly.  Someone shouldha' told him I was on vacation & it was no time to get sick!