The Joy of Being Loved and Loving Others ~

The past ten days have been a joyous blessing for multiple reasons. First, I am married to an amazing man who loves me and loves the Lord. Second, I have awesome parents who love the Lord and love me. Third, I have the privilege of loving them as well. It was so wonderful to have my parents here, to share our life here with them, to prepare meals for them and provide for them. It was a joy to give back to them just small fraction of what they have sacrificed for me for so many years. It is a strange feeling, to grow up . . . to become independent of your parents and transfer that dependence to your spouse. To everyone here in Honduras we have always been married, but for my parents it was their first interaction with us as a married couple, and our first interaction with them as a married couple. It was so wonderful to just enjoy their company. It was also an encouraging confirmation to me that we are right where God wants us. I was sad when my parents left but at the same time I had an overwhelming sense of peace, a confidence in where God has brought us and what HE wants to accomplish through us. It is a strange sensation to grow up, to move on in life to new familiarities and habits. Stephen and I now have our own routines, our own way of doing things that is apart from our families and it is wonderful.  Not that we haven’t carried with us some of what we used to have with in our families, but we are now our own family. He is now my “home”, my rock, my faithful dependable ever caring “home”. It took me a while to process through what that looks like and how it all works, you know the whole leaving and cleaving thing. But by the grace of God I can now see it a bit more clearly; I can now better recognize God’s design for the family. I am continuing daily to grasp more and more what two becoming one looks like. I am nowhere close to having it figured out but one thing I have learned is that it is a process. The more I look to Christ through His word and prayer the closer I become to having oneness with my husband. I am a blessed girl to be loved my so many people, to have parents that care enough to “let go” in a sense and allow my husband to care for me. To have parents that love me on my good days and bad, to pray for Stephen and I and to still sacrifice for us. To have siblings that bless me beyond what I deserve. To have an incredible husband who is patient, kind, loving, faithful, encouraging, and always there for me, no matter what. And ultimately to love and serve a God who knows the worst of me, who sees the ugly and still forgives and loves. It is so humbling to have the privilege to serve a God who daily offers grace and encourages me in my weakness. And the best part is I serve a God who enables me to love, and that is truly an honor and a privilege, loving others is truly my greatest JOY!

TIH (This is Honduras)

T I H ( This is Honduras)
We have a phrase down here that your allowed to say when things just don't make sense. When the only way to explain it is by saying, TIH - This is Honduras
Like when the power goes out at random times - last week it was off from 9am to 4pm so you just learn to function without it. You still have school, computer class becomes an extra recess and hot lunch might be a little colder than normal but other than that not much changes. It was actually funny b/c that evening I was talking to Calvin and Amber on skype and they mentioned that their power had just come back on after the big storm and Steve and I were like so did ours haha!
 Or when your maid continually puts your duvet comforter on the wrong way, when she puts the buttons up by your heads . . . but she cleans our house so I put up with it and just switch it myself, dumb I know. Or when she matches Steve's socks, he has the dri-fit ones that have a left and Right on the toes. Well she matches the R with the R and the L with the L, makes sense to someone who doesn't speak english - TIH
Or the way they organize the grocery store, it makes no logical sense whatsoever, and then they change it all the time so you never know where anything is . . . Or when you go to the movies here, they are in english with spanish subtitles and it only costs $3.50 - it boggles my mind that people would pay to watch a movie in a language that they can't understand but TIH.
Then, the pot holes - instead of just paving the road . . . they keep filling up the same potholes with dirt, then in rains, the dirt gets washed away and the cycle starts all over again. It just doesn't make sense and yet goes right along with the traffic laws, or lack there of, people drive like maniacs.
Going to the pharmacy, shouldn't be difficult, BUT sometimes they might read your prescription wrong, and then you pay for an injection instead of an antibiotic,are put in a room to wait. Then when the mistake is finally figured out they don't give you your money back TIH!
Or when families in your school are being robbed by the city police, or when children are afraid to go home because of the increased number of kidnappings, here you have to choose daily to live in the security of Christ, or fear can easily overtake you. I am learning that yes THI but I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.Yeah, Honduras has its quirks, and there happen to be a lot of them but it also has its blessings! I am surrounded by people who love and serve the Lord. I am blessed with an amazing husband who works so hard to love, encourage and support me, in this job that continually reveals my inadequacy.  I am privileged to interact with literally hundreds of kids on a weekly basis, most of which think I'm pretty cool! I have the joy of investing in their lives through the avenue of art and that is why all the TIH times don't end up being so bad, because at the end of the day I recognize this is where God has us and this is where HE is going to use us!