Request...

A few weeks ago I, along with my national co-workers, were walking along the muddy road of DS village. As we rounded the corner, the cutest little girl, around 12 years old, came running up to us with a plate full of homemade yoghurt. She greeted each of us with her precious smile and warm embrace and then told us that her mother was sending this dish as a "thank you" for our help.

"Thanks for what?," you're asking?

Rewind with me to a couple weeks before that, when our CDP staff had been doing a house-to-house survey in this particular village. Upon arrival into one of the homes, they informed our team that their daughter was ill. After listening to the symptoms, our staff recommended the mental health hospital that was not too far away and was run by another NGO in town (the one they formerly worked for).

The following week, this family took their daughter to that mental health hospital, where she was examined and given medicine which apparently was working. (Hence, the "thank you" plate of yoghurt.)

Until yesterday.

Yesterday our team was back out working in DS when we were told that this little girl had become extremely ill over the weekend. The family had to bring her all the way into the city, where she was/is currently being kept at the hospital.

A little bit ago, I went with one of my co-workers to visit. The sparse conditions of the building only added to the feelings of anxiety and despair that filled the air. After a room-to-room search of bunches of sick little kids, we finally came across "Sally."

Instead of her sweet smile, we were greeted by her mother, as Sally lay their limp and unresponsive. My heart broke.

Sally apparently has a tumor on her brain. The doctors have suggested radiation. The family is trying to decide what to do.

As I sat there, holding Sally's hand, I was at a loss for words. I asked her mom if it would be ok if I prayed for her, and she agreed. It was all that I could do...and everything that I could do.

HE is able to do immeasurably more than all that we ask or imagine.

So now I'm rallying the troops.

Would you please join with me in asking Dad to heal this sweet little girl...."Sally." Would you ask that His power be shown in and through this situation and that somehow, somehow, He would be seen. Would you ask that He would use me and our team to be His instruments of love and peace and presence in this time?

Thank YOU!

I'll keep you posted as I find out more. Until then, I'll meet you before the Throne as we intercede for this precious child and her family....

I just returned from another fun-filled day in the village. My brain is fried, as usual, after 6+ hours of speaking and listening to another language (well, maybe 2 other languages when you consider the villagers practically have their own). I brought my ipod with me today and on our way back in to the city, I informed my co-workers that I was taking a trip to America and would be back by the time we reached the office. They all laughed. I was serious. My head felt like it was going to explode and I needed an escape.

Music. Sweet music.

Now I'm back from my journey and finishing a few things up at the office. I don't really feel like writing out a play-by-play of my day, but I thought I'd share with all of you faithful blog readers some random thoughts that have passed through my mind since this morning. In no particular order....

*Did she really say 10 years old is a good age to get engaged?

*Oh, look at the baby camels grazing on the mountainside!

*The hills are soo green right now. (OK, not "green" like IL in the spring "green", but "green" for the fact that I live in a country which has been in drought for the past 20 years "green.")

*Yep, that little boy definitely just lost his pants in a room full of women. I'm guessing he'll be embarrassed about that some day. Maybe.

*I could use a shower. The second one of the day. Is it really this hot in APRIL??

*I wonder what these women would do if I walked over there and smoked their hooka pipe?

*THIS is exactly what called me to this place 5 years ago. I wonder why it's taken me so long to get here?

One last picture from my day.

Nothing too exciting to blog about. No piercings or tattoos this year. However, I did receive some STRAWBERRY TWIZZLERS! And I even got to share them with my favorite 22 month old...The "D."

Man, I love this kid!!

Just because...

It's my birthday...

I'm...
*Listening to Will Smith's "Switch" on my computer. (And I don't even feel guilty).

*Remembering the fact that this is my 4th birthday since 2002 that I've celebrated in this country. (The picture to the right is from that first trip.)

They've all been memorable. Feathered cakes, salsa dancing, karaoke, dancing in our living room, a Dairy Queen run at the military base. Ahh. Good times. Good times.

*Eating some Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies that I received today in a package from home. Perfect. Simply perfect.

*Looking forward to a grilled chicken ceasar salad for dinner. The month of lettuce has begun!! :)

*Grateful for the well wishes I've received from people near and far. If for nothing else, birthdays are great for getting happy messages from your friends and family! I love it!

Happy Easter Everybody!

It's been a lovely day here in the Ancient City.

Quite a few of the ex-pat community took the day to travel into the countryside a bit and enjoy some time praising Our Creator in the midst of His creation.

And as we sat there--soaking up the beauty, fellowshipping with one another, and savoring some delectable food we brought for a picnic, I couldn't help but be reminded of this...He came to give us life. And not just life meaning the mundane activities that fill up our days. But life in abundance.

I personally hope to continue walking in that abundance...in that goodness...in that fullness of Him.

And I hope that wherever this finds you, you will be able to do the same.

Rejoice! He has risen!

On a positive note...

Sorry if I've been a bit down these last few weeks. It seems like it's been a bit of a roller coaster ride around here lately.

But today is Friday (like Sunday in the States). And it's gorgeous outside. And I'm feeling good.

I spent some time on my rooftop this afternoon--soaking up the Vitamin D, reading "Velvet Elvis," and listening to some happy music.

And even though the challenges of life here don't just seem to disappear, it's nice to have some moments of refreshment in the midst of them.

Rob Bell writes about how being a good "cross-cultural" worker isn't about transporting God from one place to the next. It's about pointing out where God already is. He goes on to say that, "You see God where others don't. And then you point him out."

I love days like today. Days when God is so visible in all His goodness.

He is here.

I just need to help point Him out.

And sometimes...sometimes....I need others to do that for me.

Sometimes my life seems so far out of my control it's not even funny. I'm sure that's how it's supposed to be, what with God being God and all. But still...

Right now I don't really have the words to express all of the reasons why I say that. I just have a heavy heart.

My friends had to close their coffee shop here in town yesterday.
A & J had to move out of their house due to some serious threats on their life.
And in a matter of 3 days my friends' lives have been turned upside down.

Some days the wicked web of sin is so visible in this place, I can hardly stomach it.
And some days it seems as though evil prevails.

But it doesn't.

And I have to fight to convince myself of that.

As I sat with my friends yesterday, offering up chocolate for happiness, I was reminded how little control we have over anything.

Our lives are not our own. The battle is not *ours* to win.

It's HIS.

And in the end...

It all comes back to Him. The One who conquered death to give us life victoriously.

To the one who is “more than just a pretty face”… To the one who has traveled with me to China, Europe and the Middle East… To the one whose mouth once “tasted like a chimney”… To the one whose college roommate believed she was Mary… To the one who has finished 2 Chicago Marathons… To the one who loves McDonald’s as much as I... To the one who was always questioning Owen’s whereabouts, but had no problem following Donna and Dylan as they ran around 90210… To the one who hates Boggle but loves math…. To the one who is a closeted Britney fan… To the one with whom I can do absolutely nothing and still think it was the greatest day ever… To the one who “keeps it real” for dreamers like me (i.e. Why can’t they pick up their trash?)… To the one who can get even the hardest of people to bend with her sweet talk…. To the one who deserves to be the "Golden Apple" teacher every year... To the one who may or may not have tried to look as though she had a "thyroid problem"... To the one who sent the Indians running with her wicked tennis serves... To that "one," I'd just like to say...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

May your day be filled with sunshine, laughter and sweet moments of celebration for a life well-lived. (Of course, cake and ice cream would also be nice!) I love and miss you!!

Photos from the "Day"

In Dari, the word for "village" is pronounced like the English word "day." Appropriately enough, here are some pictures from the "day/ dE."

Besides the fact that my voice sounds as if I've been chain smoking since the time I was in the womb...I'm beginning to feel better!

Some may say it's thanks to the meds, but I'd like to think it's happening because my AMAZING FRIENDS--A & J--brought over CAMPBELL'S TOMATO SOUP yesterday!

Yep, Campbell's Tomato Soup has finally arrived in the Ancient City!

So in honor of the Prophet's birthday (and an extra day off work)--I stayed in my pj's, ate that amazing soup, and scrapbooked. I also may, or may not, have watched several episodes of a t.v. show that I'm ashamed to admit I love (but it starts with: Dawson's and ends with: Creek).

All in all, it's been a lovely day. Tomorrow it's...back to work...April 1st...AND....(drum roll, please)...the CARDINAL'S OPENING DAY!!!!!!!!!!! I should go to bed now to prepare for it all!

Yesterday I thought I was dying. Well, sort of.

Ok, so two days ago I definitely felt some sinus issues coming on. No big deal. I usually end up with a sinus infection or cold this time of year. I could handle it.

However...I was not prepared for the full-on fever, aching, sinus problems, and stomach issues that were to follow! I promise you that there were parts of me hurting that I didn't even realize I had! I'm guessing that my eating out in the villages is finally catching up with me.

The last thing I remember from yesterday, is that before I fell asleep, I prayed..."Please God, take this from me."

Pathetic, huh?

Well, it worked. Almost. My head is still majorly congested, but at least it doesn't hurt to move!

And as I sit here, thankful to be alive :), and finishing up some stuff at the office that I wasn't able to do yesterday, there are a few things that are making me very happy...

1. Rain and cooler temperatures.--I LOVE days like today!
2. Joss Stone (her new stuff and "Soul Sessions") and Jamie Lidell's "A Little Bit More." --If you're looking for some pick-me-up music, try them!
3. The realization that we have a 3 day weekend ahead of us! --Happy Birthday, Mohammad.

So I've been waking up super early these days. Like 5 am early. I don't do that on my own...usually. But the sun's been shining through my windows bright and early and my room has been a little too warm for comfort. (Note to Self: Get some curtains made ASAP!)

I am confident that it will be His grace, and His grace alone, that gets me through the coming summer months. Of this I'm sure.


In other news...it's spring! I love spring (even though it feels like summer right now). And since it's been a while, I've decided to give you some "-ING's." (Don't ask me how "spring" and "-ing" words connect?)

Right Now I'm...
*Display-ing a picture from Busch Stadium on my computer background. (YAY! Go CARDS!)

*Wear-ing my cute, new, polka-dotted flip-flops that Special K sent, along with my cute, new, green head covering that I bought in the Desert with Babs' Birthday money! (THANKS TO YOU BOTH!!)

* Drink-ing a very cold Pepsi. (Well, it's sitting on my desk next to me. I wouldn't want to spill it on Mac now, would I?)

*Watch-ing turbaned men drive by on motorcyles...3 women in burqas walking along the street...and 2 little girls holding hands as they walk to or from school. :)

*Work-ing on finishing up our project's financial reports for the month of March and on a more fun note, I'm creating a new video, which hopefully will be posted on my other website soon.

*Smell-ing lunch being cooked downstairs. It definitely smells like french fries, but the rest will remain a mystery. At least for another 15 minutes.

*Plann-ing what I should bake for tomorrow. My teammate L is leaving next week to go back to the States and get married. We're having a bridal shower for her that will be for both ex-pats and national ladies alike. (I'm just hoping no stupid games with toilet paper are involved!)

*Wish-ing that all my friends would understand Dad's call on their life to come to this land so we could all live nearby and have barbecues and rooftop parties and lots and lots of time to laugh and be.

And last but not least...

*Think-ing that I should get back to work. Even though this time of day is my most unproductive, I should probably try and focus. :)

Sometimes my life is so...what's the word?...extreme. Today, like many others, I find myself coming up short in the word department as I feebly attempt to express what I've just seen and experienced.

This place is such a contrast of beauty and destruction...hope and despair...life and death.

Besides the moment when I watched two old ladies swinging punches at each other and the subsequent conversation I had with my co-workers concerning the WWF that followed...today has been full of heartbreaking stories.

*I surveyed 20 women today and all of them...*ALL*OF*THEM*...have had AT LEAST 2 children die.
*I met with a 12 year old girl who was just married off to a 25 year old man. (TWELVE YEARS OLD!)
*ALL of these families get their drinking water from the sewage ditch.

While the list of stories could drag on, I think I am personally finished for today. My heart is hurting too much. And while I know He is calling the weary to Himself, there are moments like this when I feel the weight of the world on my shoulders.

In case you were wondering, I am alive.

The last 2 days of break with Trickie were packed full of fun. And even though as I type, I’m having a hard time remembering what we actually did…I’m certain that it was good. Right, Tricks? Unfortunately the saying still holds true and all good things really do come to an end.

I said goodbye to my friend late Thursday night (Tricks, I miss you already!) and early Friday morning I made my way back to Ktown. I was supposed to fly out to the Ancient City on Saturday, but after sitting in the airport for 6 hours, they finally just canceled the flight. This seems to be a trend for my traveling adventures in this country so I guess I’ll chalk it up to that.

I eventually made it home on Sunday and on Monday afternoon the family that I live with, along with a team of 7 doctors and nurses from the US, also arrived to our house. I’m convinced that nothing says “Get back to work,” like taking a short-term team out to 2 villages for a 2-day adventure. Somehow I found myself thrust back into the thick of the culture here, as the ladies needed a female translator and there was no one else to help out.

But even though it’s been a chaotic start back into life here, I am happy to be home. I honestly think this is one of the first times since I’ve been working in CA that I can say that after a break and it feels good. It feels very good.

Today begins our weekend and as I sip my freshly brewed Starbucks and prepare to spend some quality time with Dad, I am once again reminded that I am exactly where I am supposed to be.

So I'll leave you with that for now. Happy New Year's & SPRING Everyone...
(March 21st is the first day of the year for the calendar used here. The year is now 1386.)

It's been a busy couple of days here in Vacation Land. For all of you keeping track out there, here's the scoop.

Day 1: Tricks arrived late. And after enjoying Christmas in March with me (thanks EVERYONE for the goods!), we headed off to sleep.

Day 2: What better way to get rid of jetlag and to be initiated into this city than...to shop. We spent the entire day at the largest mall in the world outside of North America. (Correction: Trix just said that we were "probably only at the mall for 5 hours." Apparently that's not a lot of time!) Afterwards we waited in traffic for what seemed to me an equal amount of hours. Uggh. Our attempt at finding the horse racing was to no avail but we did manage to see some camels and eventually made it to another location where we watched "Flashdance" on the big screen under the stars. The movie wasn't the greatest but it was so fun to be outside, sitting on a rooftop in bean bags, enjoying the amazing weather!

Day 3: Sunshine and surf. Ok, not really, because I was too afraid of the freaking jellyfish that were lining the shore to actually get in and swim much. I kept having memories of that "Friends" epidsode--the one where Joey gets stung by a jellyfish and someone has to urinate on him to make the sting go away. Yeah. No thanks! We did manage to enjoy lots of sunshine..a highschool dance off (picture in your mind "West Side Story")...and the lack of gawking men thanks to the fact that it was "Ladies Day."

Later that evening we went to the Hard Rock Cafe and enjoyed the live music. Check out the "Rockstars" pictured here. (Don't look too closely or you might notice that our signs are a little off.)

Day 4: It started out with a leisurely morning hanging around the house. Trix napped and I did laundry. (Special K sent over Tide AND Downey Simple Pleasures!!! I'm in heaven!) We hit McDonald's for lunch and then headed off for a desert safari.

A few highlights from that adventure include, but are not limited to, the following:
1. Dune Bashing...driving sideways, straight up, and straight down and any other way the driver could take us to get a squeel.
2. Camels & Sunset
3. Knee injury from trying to climb a steep dune to see the last of said sunset. (see photo)
4. Crazy Indian dancers
5. Henna tattoos (nasty, according to Trix)
6. Shisha Pipes (AKA "henna pipes" according to Trix)
7. A much calmer ride back to the house

And now lots of laughs as we've relived these memories trying to share them with you. :)

Isn't life grand?

Vacations...Vacations.
How do I love thee?
Let me count the ways...

*Sunshine
*Starbucks
*Cute clothes
*Freedom
*Late nights
*Sleep
*IKEA
*Shopping
*McDonald's
*Laughter
*Outdoor dining...napping...and anything else I want to do
*The Ocean (well, Gulf)
*Fresh pineapple and strawberries and avocado...oh my!
*Swimming
*Rest
*And in just a few short hours....

TRICKIE!! :)

And THIS is why I love this show...

"We all think that we are going to be great.
And we feel a little bit robbed when our expectations aren’t met.
But sometimes our expectations sell us short.
Sometimes the expected simply pales in comparison to the unexpected.
You gotta wonder why we cling to our expectations.
Because the expected is just what keeps us steady…standing…still.
The expected is just the beginning.
The unexpected is what changes our lives. "

~Grey's Anatomy (Episode: Great Expectations)

A Photo and Memories

All photographs are there to remind us of what we forget.
In this - as in other ways - they are the opposite of paintings.
Paintings record what the painter remembers.
Because each one of us forgets different things, a photo more than a painting may change its meaning according to who is looking at it.
~John Berger

Above you will see an image of my sweet friend and I hanging out last week. Just looking at it brings a smile to my face and reminds me just how very much I love that girl.

Although it had been over a year since I last saw her, it seemed like mere days upon our reunion. The hours that we shared ran together with laughter...conversation...new music...coffee...God...men...dreams...apple pie...and Apple computers. Dad has led us on quite the journey since our days teaching across the hall from each other at KIA. And while I'm still waiting for HIM to place us back together in the same location (Remember your email J!), I'll take any moment I can get to enjoy the blessings of this sweet friendship.

Now, I'm not sure what you see when you look at this picture. But if the quote above holds true, then I'm guessing the meaning for you is something different. Now, I'm not really into telling people what they should see or think. But I'd really like to hear your thoughts.

You see, The Crushing One and I challenged each other to blog about our day and see who could get the most comments. Of course, neither of us are really that into rules, and so it's not really clear as to how we will determine the winner. All I know is that, in the end, the loser owes the winner a dinner out on the town. (I'm pretty sure we just wanted an excuse to go out!)

So...click on her name above and see what she had to say about our time together. Then leave a comment for whoever you thought said it better. :)

I know what I think when I look at this picture. And I also know that no matter how much time passes between our visits, I won't forget. I couldn't. This girl has left her mark. And I'm a better person because of it.

Thanks J!!!

I don't remember whose idea it was to go by bus from the north central region of the country to Ktown (read: my own stupidity), but I was pretty sure I was going to die before I actually arrived. (Obviously that didn't come to pass.) I made it. After 3 slips on the ice and 1 semi-accident which involved our bus sliding off of the road and hitting the wall of the mountain tunnel (just a bit)...Ktown never looked so good. Who knew 10 hours could feel like eternity?

But I made it. PTL! And for the next few days that followed, I enjoyed good friends, fresh snowfall, and lots of coffee in the city that I once called "home." Ahh. Good times.

So here are a few pics from my time in the north.
*The kid in the picture above has the most amazing eyes.
*The ladies that you see with me were also attending the seminar. Their nationalities are Irish, Kazakh, German/Romanian, & Korean. We went out for dinner that evening and around the table sat 9 people--8 different nationalities and the ability to speak 13 different languages. It's moments like that which give me a true picture of His very culturally diverse Bride. I love it!
*And lastly the picture to the right is of a man outside the mosque. I'm not sure if it's his job, but he sure had a way with those birds.

Now I have one picture left to share from my last 2 weeks, but I will save it for a post all its own. Maybe tomorrow?

4 more days until I get to see Trickie!!! :)