Fun with billboards

Need I say more?

Public Enemy

We had an interesting development during our after-dinner walk tonight. As we left our driveway we heard the ominous noise of a hard-panting dog quickly approaching from behind. I only had a moment to panic the oncoming canine attack before the friendly head popped between us reaching for a pat-- tail wagging happily. We quickly noticed that his long, pink tongue was covered with black spots, so we decided to call him "Manchas", which is Spanish for "Spots" (oh so original). I'm not sure why we immediately named a dog that had a collar and obviously belonged to somewhat else, but I think a feeling of responsibilty formed quickly. Before we knew it, Manchas was following close by us as we walked, until a car would drive by. A strange force seemed to draw him out in front of the cars, where he proudly pranced as if he owned the road, with no innate sense as to the importance of getting out of the way of traffic. Well, because he was close to us, the drivers would assume that he was ours which resulted in many evil glares for letting our dog roam free in the road. This must have happened 3 or 4 times before he found a new interest-- terrorizing a young man with his small daughter by running quickly at them (wanting only love!). Again, we received the cold stares due to our brazen audacity to let our dog run after a small, innocent child. 5th neighborhood enemy in a 5 minute time frame. We were beginning to become quite embarassed by our new companion, but about halfway through our jaunt, he found 2 dogs behind fences to be much more compatable, and we lost sight of him. We'll miss you Manchas.

Drinking from the Fire Hose

This is an expression that both Scotty and our colleague and friend, Greg, used to describe our interactions with the Hursts this weekend. Greg and Faith Hurst (and their 3 little girls) are co-laborers in the church-planting ministry we are joining in La Paz. The plant has been a desire of theirs for many years and in the past year or so has really begun to take shape as they've put a core team together, consisting of 5 or 6 Bolivian families, the Hursts, and us. It's been over a year since we have seen them, so our reunion on Saturday was sweet and full of exciting news. Greg is a visionary and has worked hard for many months to compile detailed information, which he shared with us over the course of a day. We were a bit mentally overloaded by that night, but even more excited to have concrete details to pray and dream about in the next few months. We adore this family and feel so, so thankful to be working with them and, as it turns out, living next door to them in the beautiful community of Mallasilla. We've decided to share a Llama. Watch out, they spit!

Flying Scotty

Most of you know that we enjoy good movies and we have been adding to our list the classics that one or both of us have not seen. Chariots of Fire came out when I was a little too young to appreciate it (some of you would feel old if I told you how young- so I won't), so we happily popped it into our DVD player on Friday night, looking forward to a night at home with a busy weekend confronting us on the horizon. For those of you who haven't seen this movie or it's been a while since the last time, one of the main characters is a Scottish runner who was a missionary in China during the 1920's. He felt that God had called him to minister to the people there, but that God also made him to run...fast. He said he could feel the Lord's pleasure as he ran, and wanted to use that as a way of speaking out about his faith as he entered training for the Olympics. The uniqueness of this man's running style was quite humorous and the newspapers dubbed him "the flying Scott". He seemed to flail is hands to the side, much as a woman in a heated cat-fight would do, throw back his head, and open his mouth widely. Well, of course, when the movie was over, we had to imitate the flying Scott by running in slow motion in our living room while the other chanted the movie's theme song from the couch (there were many slow-mo scenes throughout that inspired us). If you promise not to laugh (look if you dare), I'll show you my Scott's beautiful re-enactment.

Beans 'n things

I can't blog long cause Scotty and I are about to take our nightly after dinner walk...but I want to catch everyone up on the events of the last few days. Tuesday night we had our first ever Miser Care Team meeting. This group incorporates some of the people we've come to know and love in Charlotte who are committing to meeting on a monthly basis to pray for us and our ministry as well as send care packages, letters, and keep us updated on what's goin on here while we're in Bolivia. We want to thank each of you for loving us in this way- words can't express how deeply grateful we are to have a team like this that makes us feel connected to home. We can't wait for you all to visit us in Mallasilla!!
Scotty and I had a date day on Wednesday because it was rainy and we felt "blah" inside ("blah", as non-descript of a word as it is, conveys a very accute sense of being emotionally out of whack or unsettled). We decided to hit Fuel for some pizza and make-your-own salad (my favorite, but leaves me full for all of 30 mins) and then headed to the uppity Barnes and Noble across from the South Park Mall. For such an intimidatingly ritzy area, I wasn't so impressed with this store, although they had comfy chairs in front of the coffee counter. I spent some time reading "Real Simple", one of my favorite browsing magazines, which claims to give you ideas on how to make your life more simple, but only if you have lots of money to spend on the products that bring about this revolution in your life. In reality, there are a few helpful tips, but mostly pretty pictures for me to gawk at. Scotty wrote some letters, very inspired from the responses we got to his letter writing blog, and then the mid-afternoon hungries got to us, so we retreated back to our house for a snack. However, we made one pit stop to Walgreens to buy a massive remote control with ridiculously large buttons as a joke for my dad. When we got home we made our own Father's Day cards (Scotty's idea) and stuck funny pictures of ourselves on them. I love having a resourceful husband! Wednesday night is always a joy as we meet up with our small groupies for some good discussion and prayer time.
After a succesful haircut today, I decided to try to finish off the mound of white beans I had sitting in my fridge starting to get a little too slimy for comfort. Don't worry, they still smelled fine. :) I mushed them up, added some egg, spices, and coated them in Italian bread crumbs to make bean patties. For a little extra flava, I heated up some marinara sauce to pour over the top....sounds pretty good, right? Don't try this at home. They tasted like chalky marinara patties. My food experiments have turned out great so far, but I have a bust from time to time. At least beans are good for you!

New Friends

Here are a couple of the families we've hung out with over the last several days:

Lunch at Moe's with Ty and Carla Stout, and Noelle (Luke and Cameryn were at grandma's). They are friends from church we've been trying to get together with forever and finally did it over burritos and great conversation.







Dinner at Andy and Teresa Caldwell's, with their great kids Tyler, Shea and Raina. We've been wanting to get together with these friends from SIM ever since we arrived in Charlotte and got to be some of their first official guests at their beautiful new home. We had delicious Vietnamese rice paper wraps full of meat and vegetables, including my favorite, cilantro.


We are so blessed with new friends and old friends and are glad to count you in among that number!

Old Letters

Thanks to just enough caffeine in some chocolate ice cream I ate too late last night while Lisa and I played dominoes, my attempts at sleep were foiled and I ended up in the study for some reading and then sorting through old papers in my file cabinet. The most interesting folders I unearthed contained letters I still had from the years just after college--that time in my personal history when I was just starting to keep in touch with friends all over the country and the world that fell right before the widespread use of email. A couple of observations:

1. It is really great to get a real, hand-written letter. I should write more of them myself.
2. Reading old letters is a moving experience for me, reminding me of things about myself and friends that I had forgotten. Overall, a very uplifting experience--you should try it.
3. Some people have really bad handwriting, or write way too small (I know I did). One point in favor of email.
4. I found some photos in there, too. My mid-90's fashion sense was something to behold (or not).

In the end, I pitched some of the correspondence archives, but kept a bunch of the rest for another time, near the end of a furlough, when I need another dose of entertainment and a reminder of God's gift to me of good friends through so many seasons of my life.

Saturday morning

I'm sure many of you who read our blog already have children...do you have traditions for the weekends? I let myself sleep in an extra half hour this morning (even though I went to bed at a wild 10:30pm last night) and woke up to my morning ritual of making coffee for me and Scotty. I enjoy my half hour of silence and protein shake-making while Scotty sleeps (through the blender- I don't think so- but he's still in bed). We had a plethora of left-over French bread from the famous lasagna evening, so I had predetermined that my protein power would be put on hold for a French toast morning. I had the revelation just a few weeks ago that after you freeze and defrost strawberries, they are mushy, so I used them as topping for the crunchy French toasts. After breakfast, we hopped on our bikes to take advantage of the beautiful day before it got too hot. There are amazing, unique, and cute houses all around us in the neighboring 'hoods, and one of our favorite activities to do together is to ride or walk around and check them out. I think we both take mental notes of things we like in a house for a few years down the road when we are building our own in Bolivia. I thought as I was riding home that I would love to have "Fun Breakfast Morning With Outdoor Activity" to be a weekend tradition in our family, both now and when we have children. I remember a seminar at the recent Women's conference I attended called "How to Make Your Home an Oasis" where the speaker challenged us to make our homes a creative and welcoming environment, especially when kids are involved. For her, Friday nights were "sleep wherever you want" nights, and the kids often chose to make the dining room table into a tent and sleep under it together. They could stay up as late as they wanted, as long as they didn't fight. I get excited thinking about what Scotty and I can create for our children to enjoy. I'd love to hear about fun things that have become a routine part of your family or that you remember with fondness from childhood.

A little smell of heaven

At the intersection of West Blvd and Tryon, there is the most delicious scent of freshly baked donuts (think of the nice soft kind that have crunchy sugar and cinnamon caked on the outside). It's strange for an intersection to have it's own smell, but I promise that night or day, as you drive through, you will smell the sweetness within a 3-block radius. It almost puts me into a trance each time I pass by and certainly has me drooling just a little as I picture my favorite donuts and imagine eating them. When I was little, my cousin and I used to stay up late after our parents had put us to bed and find scrap paper and markers to make "Please buy us donuts!!" signs. We would carefully illustrate them with sprinkles or dripping chocolate icing and then sneak into the kitchen after the adults were asleep, and tape them over the refrigerator, cabinents, oven, and onto the kitchen table. Our message needed to be proclaimed boldly and without fear! We would anxiously run into the kitchen the next morning with high expectations and grumbling tummies, and usually find that treasured box of Dunkins. We were spoiled kids.
I traveled through this magical spot on my way to a women's Bible study at the Pinckneys' yesterday morning, and was thankful I had already eaten so that the power of the scent wouldn't entice me to turn around and pick up a dozen. I was happily surprised at how many women in the church have free time in the morning, and wondered why we hadn't started this bi-monthly gathering earlier. The topic for the day was how to love your husbands- and as much as I adore Scotty, I could use some instruction and practical advice on how to love him better. I received much insight from the ladies who had been married longer than me and was greatly challenged to continue praying that God would change my selfishness into a desire to give of myself more. I struggle far too much with thinking about myself before I think of my husband, and God has been gracious in sanctifying me through him and blessing me with a man that is godly, forgiving, patient, and so loving. We are so enjoying this learning process.
I made my first home-style lasagna last night! Sometimes I experiement with so many different recipes that I forget to make the old classics that Scotty really enjoys. The crowd approved of this one and I felt the greatest success were nice, neat layers that didn't fall apart when I cut them. Oh, the simple pleasures of life!

Fun with missionaries

So good! (For you Homestar fans out there-- think Teen Girl Squad) That's my synopsis of my weekend at Billy Graham's retreat center, The Cove. Women of the Harvest put on a get-away for women missionaries who are home on furlough, as an opportunity for them to relax, be pampered, be challenged and refreshed spiritually, and meet other women who are serving around the world. My time consisted of good food, lots of gifts, prayer, worship, fantastic small-group sharing, beautiful hikes, reading, pedicures, and making lots of new friends. Sounds pretty good, huh? The greatest thing I took away from this retreat was a renewed affirmation and excitement for the call that God has given us to serve in Bolivia. On top of that, I interacted with women in all phases of missionary life and heard their personal stories of joy and devastation- but all pressing on as God gives them the grace to overcome through Jesus Christ.

A first entry for me (Scotty): This past Wednesday, we were invited to join several families from our church to pick strawberries at a farm a little ways north of Charlotte. Team Miser got to work locating only berries of perfect ripeness. To the left, you can observe me beginning to enjoy the fruit (ahem..) of our labors. Do you see the little kids at the bottom right of the photo? There were a bunch more, both younger and older, and I have to say, the most ridiculously well-behaved kids I have met en masse. Lisa and I have already put in our order for several of that caliber (a couple years from now, of course).

That night was the first of a new small group season, so we kicked it off with a cookout and discussion of the book we'll be studying. It's called Above All Earthly Powers by David Wells and is about the supremacy of Christ in a postmodern world. I'm eager to get into it and will hopefully tell you more about it as we discuss it in small group. It was great to welcome several new members to our group, which has grown very close over the past 8 months. Lisa and I then shared with the group an animated movie we have taken to (introduced to us by our friends Jeff and Cris Ramsdale in Seattle) called Spirited Away. It is an artistically impressive, wildly imaginative story of a young Japanese girl who goes on a journey of character development in a bizarre setting. You might want to check it out...

Thursday, Lisa and I drove to Asheville, NC and I dropped her off at a Women of the Harvest retreat at The Cove, the Billy Graham Association's retreat and training center. That mountainous area of NC is really beautiful and that facility is amazing, too, in the style of a huge mountain lodge. I'm sure she'll fill an entry describing her experience of being encouraged and pampered along with other missionary women currently on home assignment. On the way there, we stopped in Montreat and got to see Jake and Sarah Wetzel, missionary friends from Bolivia.

This is the first time since we were married that Lisa and I have been apart for more than several hours! Thankfully, this return to bachelorhood will be over soon--I miss her like crazy.