We met our refugee family!

The refugee family that we are helping to sponsor arrived!  They have two cute kids and were all very tired and overwhelmed.  We met them at the airport with the translator and bombarded them with smiles and handshakes and gifts, and then took them to their new apartment which we furnished and decorated last week.  It is in a complex with a lot of other Burmese and Asian families, so hopefully that will help them adjust.  I don't know how much I am allowed to share about this family, so I won't give any details, but we are very excited to have finally met them!  The plan is to periodically take them food, take them shopping, or whatever they need to help them get adjusted to a new culture and a new language.

Please pray that they will be able to learn the culture and language quickly, that the dad will be able to find a job, and for their general well being.  Also that we would know how to help them!

5-4-3-2-1

I apologize for the blog silence, I have been sadly lacking in the creative department recently and haven't had anything worth saying.  Today I dropped James off at the airport.  He is flying to Maryland for an interview tomorrow and for the past three weeks since he applied for this job, my brain has been flooded with thoughts about the possibility of moving to Maryland.  It's all I can think about and it's driving me crazy.  First of all because it might not even happen - people interview all the time without taking/getting the job.  But second of all because it seems like they really think he's a good candidate for the job, so it might happen.  And I'm impatient.  So when I am feeling uncreative, I turn to little quizzes and questionnaires to blog so that my brain doesn't have to think too hard.  Enjoy.

Five Things I'm Grateful For:

1.  My sweet, hardworking, considerate, understanding hubby.

2.  All the traveling I've been able to do in my life.

3.  The financial advice that we received in premarital counseling as well as a dad who modeled smart financial decisions throughout my life.

4.  That I am not colorblind or tone deaf.  Music and colors bring me such joy!

5.  It's Thursday afternoon which means it's almost Friday which means it's almost the weekend!

Four Things I Can't Stop Thinking About:

1.  James' interview in Maryland.

2.  How far away Maryland is.

3.  How cold it gets in Maryland.

4.  If we move to Maryland, I get to quit my job.  One of the upsides.  I've been daydreaming about how it would all go down.

Three Things I Want To Accomplish This Week:

1.  I need to get my car washed.

2.  I'm really going blank on goals for the week...maybe I need to work on that.

3.  I need to file the growing stack of papers to be filed.

Two Things I Am Working To Be Positive About:

1.  The possibility that we may not get to stay in Texas forever.

2.  My job.  Three years is a long time to do something every day that you do not enjoy, but it is also a great opportunity to save money, so I try to look at it that way.

One Random Thing:

1. When I was a kid, I started a newspaper.  I was the editor in chief, the layout designer, and one of the journalists.  My neighborhood friends each got their own beat; weather, sports, neighborhood news.  Then we made 10 handwritten copies of each story, glued them to construction paper, and went around selling them door to door for 10 cents each.  It only lasted one issue before we got bored.

Quick Update

This week I am working crazy hours on a proposal that is due Saturday at 5, so I haven't had much time for the blog.  However, I wanted to tell everyone about an exciting service development. 

Our Hands and Feet group is teaming up with Interfaith Ministries in Houston to support a refugee family!  They are from Burma and are arriving in Houston in a couple of weeks.  We are furnishing their apartment and buying them groceries, as well as helping them figure out how to live in America and how to get around.  I'm so excited!  They do not speak English but fortunately IFM has a translator to help us.

Here's where you come in: if anyone in the Houston area has any furnishings, house stuff, or baby items that they would like to donate to this family, let me know!  We have about a week to collect stuff, and if you're anywhere near me, I'll come get it from you.

If not, please be praying that we would be able to minister to this displaced family and that they would adjust well to their new environment.  Thanks!!

Coconut Banana Bread Recipe

Last weekend I had a baking day and made three recipes; this was my favorite.  It is moist and delicious and the lime glaze on top adds a nice tangy-sweet taste.  I will definitely make this again!

Coconut Banana Bread with a Lime Glaze

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour (about 9 ounces)
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
• 1/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt
• 3 tablespoons milk or apple juice
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup flaked sweetened coconut
• Cooking spray
• 1 tablespoon flaked sweetened coconut
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime or lemon juice

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350°.
• Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.
• Place granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, yogurt, milk, and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Stir in 1/2 cup coconut. Spoon batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray; sprinkle with 1 tablespoon coconut. Bake covered at 350° for 45 minutes, then uncovered for 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Combine powdered sugar and juice, stirring with a whisk; drizzle over warm bread. Cool completely on wire rack.

Reflecting

June 2 will mark my third year working at my job.  Honestly I had hoped not to hit this milestone; I so wanted to have moved on to better things by now.  But for some reason God has kept me here.

It has been a difficult year for me.  The drudgery of spending most of my time in a windowless office doing work I don't enjoy is draining.  I count down the hours until 5:00 and I count down the days until the weekend.  In the midst of it, I struggle to find joy.

This year has also been lonely for me.  It's been a year since we left our church and it has been difficult for us to reconnect.  I yearn for a community to fellowship with and friends to connect with.  It was so easy in college and so taken for granted.  I often feel isolated.  I have prayed for this, but so far God has not said yes. At my best, I know and believe that God's way is better, even if it's harder.  At my worst, I've felt abandoned.

I have been fearful of the uncertainty that lies before me, and frustrated that I can't move forward.  I am weary.  I long for renewal and peace and progress.

And yet it has not been all bad.  This year I have grown closer to my Savior and that has been sweet.  I have done a lot of repenting and a lot of studying and a lot of changing.  I have experienced a Spring season of new beginnings in my soul, if not in my physical circumstances.  I feel different this year.  More passionate, more convicted.  And it is a good feeling. 

There is a song by Laura Story called "Blessings." In it, she says, "what if my greatest disappointment and the aching of this life is a revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy." I identify with that. This world can't be enough, and it is not my home.  Only Jesus is enough.  I often wonder what God is trying to teach me during hard times.  That may be part of it.

I'll leave you with another song that is greatly encouraging to me, something I need to remember when all I can think about is myself.

"And I believe always, always, my Savior never fails!"  And I am so glad that is true.

The Subway Solution

I am sad to say that I have not had a very good attitude toward homeless people.  My whole life I've ignored them and thought of them as deserving of their fate. I mean, if they would just get their act together and actually get a job, they wouldn't be on the streets right?  If they would stop drinking their money and wasting it on drugs, they wouldn't be where they are.  It also doesn't help that I've heard stories of people pretending to be homeless to get the handouts.

It makes me sad when I think of how cold and unfeeling I was toward people in need.  How I thought of myself as better than they are (and sometimes still do...it's a work in progress).  God has been working on my heart and my attitude. The Bible clearly says that Christians should feed the hungry and poor.

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’"   Matthew 25:37-40

I would say that the homeless count as the "least of these."  When we help the lowest people, the most undeserving people, we are obeying Jesus.

In Isaiah 58:6, God says:

 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
   and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
   and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
   and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
   and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?"

Finally, Romans 12:20:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
   if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

God doesn't say only help people you love and care about.  Or only help people who are deserving.  I don't think homeless people are my enemy, but it is not my first instinct to help them.  That doesn't matter.  God says to do it anyway.  Who am I to decide who is "worthy" of my help?  I just need to obey.  God will take care of the rest.

So in light of all this, we decided that we needed to be better about helping homeless people.  But we still didn't feel comfortable giving them money.  After all, I think it is reality that in this country, many people are homeless because of the bad choices they have made, and money may be spent on alcohol or drugs, both things we do not want to donate money toward.  But we could no longer turn a blind eye and pretend they didn't exist.

Then someone from our Hands and Feet group suggested handing out Subway gift cards.  We thought that was great!  There are Subways all over the place here, and it would guarantee that they are getting food from our gift.  My grocery store sells packages of three $10 Subway gift cards, so I bought one and just waited for the right opportunity.

It took a while because we don't see a lot of homeless people where we live, but we finally got to give one away!  It was really neat, I was super excited.  Then when I was going to the mall there was another guy with a sign so I gave him one.  And James had to go downtown this week so he found someone to give one to.  Each time the people have been very grateful and it just thrills me that we've found a way to help without feeling uneasy that our gift may go toward something we don't support.  This past week I got another package of cards to give away, and I have a feeling that this will be something we stick to.

con·tent

[kuhn-tent]

–adjective

1. Satisfied with what one is or has; not wanting more or anything else.

 

I have been having a hard time being content lately.  It's not that I want more stuff, it's that I don't like this place in my life, full of limbo and uncertainty and drudgery. 

 

Right now the road in front of me is foggy and indiscernible and it is unsettling to me.  I like to see what is coming so that I can prepare for it.  My problem is that I don't like where I am now, but I am afraid of what change will bring.  At least here it is familiar. 

 

So I dream about what I want my life to look like and wish that it might be so.  But then I feel guilty because God has given me SO MUCH and all I can think about is what I don't have.

 

I've always had the hardest time conforming my emotions.  Actions are easier for me. 

 

Go clean your room?  Ok I can do that. 

 

Give away more of your money?  Ok, I can do that. 

 

Be content?  Do not be afraid?  I don't know how! 

 

I can act like I am content, but actually changing my heart...I can't do that.  The only thing I can do is pray and meditate on encouraging verses.  Usually that results in God reminding me what I have to be thankful for and me feeling guilty.

 

I am awed by Paul when he said "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." (Philippians 4:12)

 

I hope I can say that someday.