Happy Fall!
Isn't fall just the best? The fresh, cool air is so delicious I could write odes about it. I wish I could can it in Mason jars and pull it out sometime around July. And the falling leaves and brilliant blue sky. I wish I could eat it on a spoon. Life somehow feels better, the spirit less stifled, and I feel just about frisky. Kinda like our dogs. I love watching this season turn our old, arthritis-ridden dog into a frisky acting young pup. I'm not sure if it accounts for our other, not-so-dear puppy tearing thirty-one (31) articles of clothing off the wash line during our daily absence at the store. Yep, you read that right. I'd write it in Vietnamese if I knew how, to make sure you'd get the point. Once you recover from that shock, lay on the floor to absorb the next. He did it all over again the next day, He did it all over again the next day, after a good spanking from his owner, aka, RuthAnne. That funny lookin' stuff in that sentence was written in Marlett. Just so you'd get the point. I'm not sure what ethnic group speaks that language but maybe it's that group over in Microsoft Fonts, I'm not sure about all that.
Someone should invent the phrase, "Dance in the Leaves." It would make more sense than this lastest phenonomen of catchy phrases such as dance in the rain. Depending on your geographical location, couldn't that be fatal? I'm thinking doctors don't have this hanging in their waiting rooms. I really enjoy rain, I'll just stay under the umbrella, thanks. Why not dance in a mud puddle, or in a snow drift. Then there's Life isn't measured by how many breaths we take, but the moments that take our breath away. If I would get brave and dance in the rain, would that take my breath away?
And while we are being random anyway, I'll throw out something else that wonders me. What does a Hawaiian sunset smell like? We have a candle with that scent and it puzzles me whenever I smell it. It smells really good. But why Hawaiian? Why not Liberian or Ohian? If that scent is unique to Hawaii, I'll have to start saving airmiles. I could smell those kinds of sunsets for a long time.
There's other things that I wonder about too. Like how do the gas station billboards beside the interstate change the gas prices? I'm aware that it's done electronically somehow but I didn't think they make extension cords that long. And I didn't think space satellites could pick that up.
Why does Sonic have drive-thrus ?
And I have body wash called Midnight Pomegranate. It also smells good. I wonder if it would smell better or worse during the day time.
Who comes up with this stuff? I know it's called marketing but I still choose to be puzzled by it.
And this is just word stuff here, which I like, but recently in devotions in the O.T. we read about a widow lady whose husband had died. That just makes it very clear.
Then there are the people who when talking to you start a sentence with, "Frankly," and you think they are going to divulge how much they weigh and instead they say that they think gas prices are crazy high. So different than the Liberians who, when they said, "Frankly," you want to curl up in a hole and close your ears tightly. Because most of their conversations occur in our "frankly" mode and when they get honest, they get really honest.
Which brings me to the greatest wonderment of all.....
How can the human heart contain so much joy and so great pain at the same time? I was sitting here reading over Liberia newsletters and VDRs from a couple of years ago.
Torn between laughter:
I was going through some of my old stuff and came across the following prayer prayed by the lady on the left who I was teaching to read in Literacy Class. I had obviously given them cookies.....
“Oh, Lord Jesus, we thank you for this day. We give our whole country, Liberia
and tears:
Something just squeezes inside of me as I think about leaving. I'm really going to miss all this. Interaction with children. Buying right off the street. Feeling comfortable enough to ask to hold a baby you've never seen before. Little voices calling my name. And little red blobs flying down the road to meet me.
Sometimes I'm not sure if I'm ready to go home or not. Little incidents like what happened 15 minutes ago make me question. I was walking down the road to a shop to buy some cough candy (cough drops) when I noticed in the distance a little blob of red start flying down the road at me. Fast. Throttle wide open.We have quite a few little friends down there so it could've been one of a whole group. I got closer and there coming as fast as her fat little legs could carry her, was little 2 year old Donna, alias, Cherry. She had a huge smile on her face and her look was one of pure joy.
I miss and think about the most ridiculous little details. Such as the kitchen drawer that didn't go in right and had to be coaxed in just the right way.
I miss sitting outside the gate and watching and interacting with vendors, children, neighbors, etc.
I miss our little Vashti. She probably doesn't remember us anymore; doesn't remember the afternoons spent at our place, all the cuddling and spoiling, the cookies and hammock rides. She's a little girl of 3 and I'm guessing a fairly independent one.
I miss church people and their unique ways of just being themselves.
........our Security personnel and the good times we shared.
....... Stinker and Sassy and the hours of entertainment they provided.
........the little formalities that used to frustrate me.
........ holding the bright eyed, curly haired little babies.
.........buying "twenty dollah bread"
......the taxis with their hysterical messages on the back
....... the ocean and palm trees
........Libeera!
Two weeks from now marks our two year anniversary for being back. It's been a good 2 years-tough at times, but still good. There are things that I definitely do not miss about Liberia. The frequent stomach aches and problems due to unknown causes. Pepto Bismal, it was a loyal friend. I don't miss the emotional tiredness. Seeing people's needs and trying to meet the ones that we could was exhausting at times. Having people take advantage of us and our resources put extra stress on us.
I still dream of going back. I'd love to write or design a curriculum for a young girl's class and go back to our church and maybe some orphanages and work with girls. I'd love to see our church girls blossom into dedicated Christian girls who understand, first of all, salvation, and what it means to be a godly woman. Somehow, somewhere in their culture, there has to be a key, something that would make the whole salvation concept click with them. I think of Don Richardson's stories of working with the Auca's and using stories and ideas from their own culture to make salvation understandable.
A good day and wonderful fall to you,
-*-* Vicki
P.S. The fall pictures were not taken by me, nor anybody that I know. It's called clip art. Believe me, if I could take pictures like that I probably wouldn't be painting shelves at an old tire store :)
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