Tuesday, September 23, 2025
The blessing of the afternoon is a group who is in hot pursuit of friendship with God. The conversations are life-giving, though we are spread around the planet and in different timezones. Indulging in a coffee-chocolate cookie from Keelee's Quiet Waters Bakery helps me focus. The verse on the back of the wrapper is my prayer:
"My heart says of you, "Seek his face! Your face, Lord, I will seek." Psalm 27:8
Somehow, God is renewing W and my hearts in the middle of a full calendar. How merciful and loving he is. I'm glad to be among his people, reflecting on scriptures, and listening to music.
I don't even have to make supper today. M has cooked rice and chicken, which W brings downstairs for me to enjoy when the meeting ends. It's been beautiful weather all day. The kids are good sports on the hilly 2.5 mile walk but we're all relieved to get home.
It's easy to cook breakfast with Western ingredients at hand: pears, cottage cheese, eggs, and sausage.
Would it be fun to shop around a bit this morning? Once I get moving I change my mind. I go through some cabinets and toss 5-year old canned food from the pantry. It makes me feel shopped out. I sort things to take to our home across the sea, knowing that they're never coming back. Family things like my grandma's 6-piece Bavarian china are enjoyed during our brief stays in Seattle.
"Take whatever you want," my mom tells me each time I visit. "I don't need anything - so please take anything you can use." I keep asking the children and extended family if there's something they would like.
We already have hand-me-downs from my auntie and uncle (tray below), plus furniture and dishes from my grandmothers. We love beautiful things, especially if they are useful. Sometimes I think how nice it would be to pull out this or that, which is stored in another country.
We have more than enough to enjoy and host guests, whether here or back home. "The mother of all garage sales is coming up when you downsize," W often warns me. haha
Our apartment has 2 pianos, so I posted one on Craigslist a few weeks ago. The buyer who sent a $2000 cheque? Scammer. Sigh. The fake paper bounces at the bank today. Luckily W is cautious, so he catches the cheaters and we're not out any money. Why don't people work this hard being productive at real jobs rather than causing misery for others? I have a backup buyer anyway.
Speaking of scams, the blog already has +96,000 views this month. What algorithm is boosting it to the cybersphere? I'm no influencer: why would my journal be of interest? And book reviews or art blogs? Not groundbreaking. Yet writers write. My head is turbulent with words and ideas. I can either blurt them onto pages or explode. (Or lose the memories: friends know my selective/faulty recollections.)
"Don't do anything you don't want everyone to know," Jesus said. "What is hidden will be revealed." Living in Indonesia, everyone knows everyone's business anyway. I try to stay out of trouble. Admittedly, it is strange to visit another country and have a stranger say they read my posts and feel like they know me.
Let's taste some favorites before we leave for home? We order Vietnamese sandwiches from YehYehs. Pretty good.
Baker Academic sends a new book Faithful Futures by Josh Packard for review and consideration as a classroom text. I forward the title to several lecturers and professors: it recognizes the unique flavors and needs of GenX and GenZ, distinct from previous generations.
Thursday
After yesterday's more peaceful pace, we are on the move after breakfast. We visit with a young family who prays for us and whom we pray for. The mom's an alumna and was in W's classes years ago. Those are the happy connections: to know something we did has been meaningful or lasting.
Lunch is at the university with NE Seattle leaders. It's nice to meet in the faculty lounge as a reminder of time well spent and conversations with former coworkers, including the alumni team.
The new university president is a former student and gives a rousing talk to the leaders present.
Supper with Don and Brenda settles our hearts. They are trusted friends and mentors who encourage us to faithfulness and faith.
Friday
People day! starts in early morning at the Third Place Commons, my central location for meeting women from various circles each year.
We start with a visit with heart friends who have traveled from around WA state. It's an honor to meet in person! instead of just online.
Kim shares drinks and pears (oh yum). Stuff continues to flow in and out of my life, even on such a short trip. I pass out three "feather" canvases that came my way yesterday.
A dear WPPR sister shows up after noon to share a gluten-free quiche for lunch and stories about where we are now.
Sue drops in for a few hours of catch-up. What a wonderful day with people we have loved and worked with over the years.
I'm home in late afternoon with time enough to eat leftovers from yesterday.
I show the grandkids videos of when they were little before we say "goodbye for now." W and I are hopping on a plane to TX, early tomorrow morning.
Read more:
*Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. Hosea 6:1
*The Lord said, “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your earnings for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good.” Isaiah 55:2
*Jesus said, “The widow out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” (Read the story in Mark 12:44)
*Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:7-10
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