Speaking of "blog"...

...who came up with that word anyway?.....'cause I hate it.

"Hmmm...what can we call this...how about a 'blog!'"   ????????????

It doesn't fit into a very nice category of words: blob blech blurt blip blotch

Not typically words with positive connotations...

And "blogger?"  

A:  "Hi, I'm A, and I'm a blogger."
B:  "And your proud of that?"

At least, this is how the conversation seems it should go in my mind...

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Of course, with the world wide web and a super fast connection at my fingertips, I just looked it up.  Apparently, it is the abbrev-ed version of "web log."

Poor kid.  Such an unfortunate nickname...

Retrospect 2013: Of the Heart

"I must tell you a great truth, Much-Afraid, which only the few understand. All the fairest beauties in the human soul, its greatest victories, and its most splendid achievements are always those which no one else knows anything about, or can only dimly guess at. Every inner response of the human heart to Love and every conquest over self-love is a new flower on the tree of Love..."

~The Shepherd, Hinds Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard

2013 has been quite a year, now that I look back on it.  God had significant things in store for my heart....things that drew me deeper into Him, that fueled my desire to know Him, and that challenged me to take frightening steps of faith.  I'm so glad He did...

Perhaps you can make a couple"dim guesses" from these pieces of a few inadequately expressed ideas...

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As I took steps in obedience and faith towards a long term commitment to and a whole-hearted embracing of the Plateau, God began to grow my desire and excitement for investing in people.  This served to further confirm what I sensed God's leading to be as I realized how perfectly it fit with the heart of Lemuel, which is to make eternal investments in people.  This small shift in perspective increased my confidence and joy in being part of what God is doing on the Plateau...

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God challenged me in areas where I was living in fear with regards to performance and expectations.

And He urged me in growing in my understanding of who and how He's created me....of how I am wired, and what are my strengths and weaknesses...the freeing knowledge of the raw material I have with which to serve Him.  

And He opened opportunities for me to awkwardly apply the things He was teaching me, and to learn from those experiences.  I learned a lot about my self-centeredness...about my need to prove and be justified before others...about the temptation to use relationships for personal gain (I'm not talking about money)...about the need to listen...about the need for patience...

 It feels as though I've taken beginning steps on a new phase of the journey.

Keep running....

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One interesting thing I've discovered:  As God has begun to define the vision of my heart, I realize that its not tied to Haiti, or even to a specific activity.  Yes, I believe that Haiti is where God has me for now; but, if He were to bring me back to Lancaster, or to send me somewhere else, I could keep pursuing what He has laid on my heart...in any place...in any occupation...

As one very wise adviser has observed: Ministry (Or I could call it "Eternal investment") is not a job that you DO.  It is something that happens as you live.

What is that vision?  Roughly expressed, it is to know and love God for who He is Himself, and to help others do the same.

I have been very inspired by the writings of A.W. Tozer who said that he wanted to love God more than anyone in his generation.  I cannot claim yet to have reached such a level of desire, but for quite a few years now, God has been stirring up my longing to really know who He is and what He is like at deeper and deeper levels.

As I pursue that journey, I want to take those I come in contact with along....

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This is where I am at currently in processing through some things.  There are others, but a blog is not the place I would typically choose to bare my soul....take me out for coffee instead.  

Retrospect 2013: The House

The house in which I live now was built as a personal home, but also with the idea of being used as a women's center.  As it is unfinished, one of the joys I have in living there is the opportunity to invest my rent money in finishing the house.  This year, we installed a rain-water catchment cistern, a new gate, and new fencing (see previous post).  This work is done with the hope that it truly can be used as a women's center in the future.

In November of 2011 (this was even before the idea of my moving into the house), a team from Lake Tomahawk, Wisconsin came a built the skeleton of a kitchen.

Click here for a flashback to this time on the Lemuel blog.

Not too long ago, some individuals from Lake Tomahawk returned and helped to sand the framework of the kitchen skeleton.

Just before my trip to the States, I painted, stained and varnished the kitchen (that was a learning experience!).

Here is a little (almost) silent video tour.

There is one advantage to having a semi-open-air house when you have cats (more about them later):  You don't need a litter box, and you don't need to open the door....the just come in over the wall.

That's all well and good except that they make a lot of noise clawing up the screens at night and generate swells when they drop down on the water bed while I'm sleeping....

2013 edition of...The Faces!!!

Sometimes....this happens.

She's the best.

Retrospect 2013: Office Hours

Boy, doing these posts has reminded me many things happened this year!  With the arrival of new teammate, Bonita Sparling, (that is, "new" in November of 2012), the Lemuel House got a makeover.  The Lemuel House was in need of a little TLC, and since Manis and Judy were moving out into their own home, and Bonita was moving in, it was perfect timing.

Because my office is part of the Lemuel House, it also received a new look...

the old look

 

new paint, new wall/countertop/gate entrance, new window access

 positioning art, Vanna White style

Unfortunately, clean, new office doesn't mean clean, new gourdes...

 over-dramatic enjoyment

Thankfully, I still have my assistant...and she still sits on my desk.

Retrospect 2013: Cats

You may remember that last summer, I was given a cat...much to my surprise, actually.  Click here for the post I wrote about it at the time.  You will notice that I kept referring to it as "he" and "him"....I was in denial.   Around Easter, "he" had kittens.....

I gotta admit, they were awfully cute.  Mama, however, was quite annoying (meow meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow), and unfortunately, she began to catch baby chickens to feed her kittens (among a litany of other birds and lizards).  Now it was bad enough for me listening to her and the kittens crunching bones and getting blood all over my cement floor, but there's something else you gotta know:  There are two things you can do as a dog or cat to get yourself killed on the Plateau: a) kill baby chickens  b) kill baby goats/sheep.  So, mama cat had to go.  I gave her to someone else. 

Of the three that were left, I decided to keep the male (far right in the back) and give the other two away.

So far, so good....no baby chicks killed.

"Wait a second," you say, "didn't you say you only kept one?"  Why yes, in fact, I did.  Unfortunately, I made the mistake of giving the white-stocking-ed lady to a girl living temporarily with my neighbors.  When her owner went on a trip to Port, she apparently decided the living was much better at my place.

Ani just loves the cats...

....whether or not they return the sentiment is....doubtful.

Retrospect 2013: Gardening and Re-landscaping

In January, when I returned to Haiti, I also moved into another house.  I've had a blast this year re-landscaping and gardening.  The house sits on some old garden land, and the difference between the earth here and the earth around the guest house where I used to live is HUGE. For the first time I was able to grow salad greens!!

amaranth, kale, mustard, beet greens, swiss chard, basil, dill

Of course, our salads are more of the rogue desert type, not sweet and delicate like the tenderfoot greens you buy pre-washed in the grocery store.

In the words of our friendly intern Elysha,

"It's a little...<clears roughage out of throat>...uh, it's a little...chewy."

(disclaimer: I don't actually remember the adjective she used, but it was something along those lines.)

I love working outside and working with the earth, so it was fun to do some relandscaping...

This is the front of the house....its the closest I have to a "before" picture, although I had already started working.

New, raised, stone lined flower beds going in...

...the angle from the western corner.

 Freshly planted....

...and several weeks later.

Thony was a huge help.  We traded English lessons for yard work.

Woudji tagged along one day for wheelbarrow rides.

We built a stone walkway.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the finished walkway.  We filled in all the cracks with white beach sand....it looks really pretty, but requires constant upkeep.

The left side of the house got a makeover as well.

The pumpkin vines grew even more luscious until the drought really hit hard.  But the aesthetics changed anyway when we put in a rainwater catchment cistern this summer.

Hand dug by some local guys in some of the meanest earth you ever did see, it holds somewhere around 4500 gallons.

I also got a new fence and a new gate. 

This is taken from the outside of the property looking in.

The old fencing was made out of tree branches (see photo below, for example).  They can make a pretty good fence, until they rot out and the goats push through.  Goats (for those of you who may not know), are incorrigibly destructive.  They will push, climb, and/or leap their way through to eat all the vegetables and trees into which you have put hours of back-breaking labor planting and watering.  I have given many a rock-hurling chase to recalcitrant and unrepentant goats.  The new wire fencing has put a (relieving) end to that.

Although gardening is always full of discouragement here on the Plateau, I had far more success this year while the rain was falling than I've ever had.  Even when the rain stopped falling, I was surprised at what didn't die for a while.

You can see: pumpkins, melons, and sunflowers in the background.

Foreground: basil, kale, dill, mustard, and amaranth (as well as a plant called "fèy van" on the far right side that is used as a tea for gassy pain...it smells delicious...kind of like oregano.)

 Sunflowers just make my heart happy...

on my desk, with purple Thai basil

Ani got a sunflower and a personal sized yellow watermelon for her birthday, along with a hand selected sachet of seeds for her to plant.

Home for the Fall

Sunlight streaming through the clouds; eagles wafting on invisible air currents...

(don't look too closely...they may be buzzards...I never really can tell)

....changing palettes...

...magical hot air balloons everywhere...

...whisping, fluttering leaves....

...and Fernando Ortega playing through the speakers...

I'm in love.

This fall I have been discovering new places in Pennsylvania, which has meant quite a lot of road time.  (I may have taken those pictures while I was driving....but I won't say definitely for sure.)  But it has seemed far less dazing due to the beautiful fall weather and back roads.

The people who await you make it well worth it too...

me 'n li'l Lil at the New Holland fair

(authentic Narcisi scarpelles!)

my wonderful college roommate and all her little ladies

Plus many others whose pictures I did not get.  Love to you all!  Thanks for being people in my life!

11 Months Later...

Shall I try to explain an 11 month silence? ....Nah.  Boring.  Predictable. 

Catching up will be the part that is fun and interesting.  Let's really go wild and do it backwards!

Crrrr-aaaaaaaaazy!