Back to life at home

Sunday, May 21, 2023

It's a joy to be home at IESB. After speaking with W, we head home with a group of parents and kids. Laurel does a great job of organizing a family potluck on the Porch.

The kids enjoy the garden.

I make myself a lunch of a vegan rendang (spicy sauce with fake meat) and whole grains. By afternoon, the house empties out and we clear things away.

These cute little sneakers are left behind so we drop them off to that precious one-year-old on Tuesday, driving home from language class.

Tuesday

W's sick - his symptoms are similar to what I had a few weeks ago. You feel a scratchy throat and 3 days later you're sick as a dog. He lays low.

I walk every day and go to language school Monday and Tuesday. My wonderful teacher Ibu Etsha loves to read. I take a few books for her and snap a shot - there's no way I can remember who has which books a week or two after lending them out.

I've forgotten so many verbs! "Please let's review this week," I beg her for mercy. Just before we traveled to Singapore, W found my main vocabulary notebook, "lost" in a deep pocket of a suitcase.

With the notebook back, I can catch up and make the words my own. We form sentences with the words from that collection. Yikes. Focus focus focus.

During break, I watch a man hack out a tree from the steep slope across the street. See the channel he cut in the hill and the retaining wall? (He's in the hole he's cut in the wall, in the center.) With the rainfall, Americans would worry that the upper lot would wash down, but here everything happens in its own time. (No one's looking for a lawsuit, just a solution.)

I cook for myself while the helpers cook for the crew at the house. You can eat a LOT as a vegan and keep losing weight. Today, I can't finish my half-a-potato, mushrooms, onions-and-garlic, cabbage, and homemade seitan (fake chicken). I make it halfway through the heaped plate and put away the rest for supper. The organic farm promises to deliver salad greens tomorrow. Yay!

Watching the kids and parents interact yesterday, it's clear that we need a bigger table in the living room. The 1-meter wood circle is easy to negotiate around, but when people start putting cups and plates on it, it's too small. (Before, below.)

We swap it with the big glass table from our bedroom. The brick-colored base blends into the Afghani carpet. (After, below) 

"Look, the wooden counting game doesn't hang over the edge anymore," notes IbuS. A bonus.

The tempered glass tabletop is 1X2 meters (+3'X6'). It's Robin's design, like the 2 tables on the porch. I stick a short piece of blue tape under each corner. That little reminder seems to keep people from smashing their knees on the transparent edges.

Tuesdays, the lovebird, budgie, and canary cages get cleaned. I add a paper bag inside one of the lovebird cages. They'll amuse themselves for weeks, hopping in and out, using it as a tunnel once they've destroyed the bottom. They tear the bag to pieces, cheap entertainment for them (and for me.)

Several on the team are missing today and we have nothing urgent to discuss. We cancel the afternoon meeting until next week and ask everyone to rest up. W and I work on next Sunday's talk. Having nothing scheduled, I get to the less-important items that have stacked up during travel.

Wednesday

Walk first. I take only one dog. The others howl their indignation as we walk down the street. Today's focus is to write the talk for the week after this one: Matthew 16.

The morning study with the team is about worshipping God. What an amazing opportunity we have as we share the names of God from scripture: 

• our advocate (Job 16:19)
• bread of life (John 6:35)
• my hope (Psalm 61:5)
• Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6)
• Lord of lords (1 timothy 6:15)
• my Redeemer (Psalm 19:14)
• my salvation (Exodus 15:2) ... etc. so many more

Together, we speak the names of God aloud. Then we pause to worship and thank Him for all He is in this world - and to us. God is loving and good.

Outside, the blue rug for IESB Kids is drying on the hedge. Two helpers scrubbed it down yesterday and hung it to dry. So much wouldn't be feasible if we had to do everything ourselves. Who do you need to ask for help today?

Read more:

*You must therefore be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn to the right or to the left. Deuteronomy 5:32

*This assembly may know that the Lord does not save by sword and spear. 1 Samuel 17:47

*Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” Matthew 22:37-39

*Jesus said, “Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’” Luke 10:5

*Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead. 

By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards  those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11:1-6

Moravian Prayer: God of love, help us remember to be love in action and in thought. Help us to depend upon you, and be willing to put into action what you have asked us to do. Help us feed hungry people; help us mend broken hearts. Help us be the mirror that other people look into to see your reflection.

We ask for peace, Lord, inside our hearts, homes, and families, and outside in our communities and the world around us. We ask you to help us bring peace with open hands and hearts without the need for weapons. Replace our swords with baskets of good gifts from heaven to share with others. Lord Jesus, we ask this in your redeeming name. Amen.