All Will Be Well- a lesson on hope

Through the love of God our Savior, All will be well
Free and changeless is His favor, All is well
Precious is the blood that healed us
Perfect is the grace that sealed us
Strong the hand stretched forth to shield us 
All must be well

Though we pass through tribulation, All will be well
Ours is such a full salvation, All is well
Happy still in God confiding
Fruitful if in Christ abiding
Steadfast through the Spirit's guiding 
All must be well

We expect a bright tomorrow, All will be well
Faith can sing through days of sorrow, All is well
On our Father's love relying
Jesus every need supplying
Yes in living or in dying 
All must be well

_______________________

I am deeply encouraged by this hymn. It teaches me how to understand the hope Christ secured for me through the cross. It shows me that the hope I have for tomorrow, "all will be well," is not a shakeable hope. Nor is it a hope that only exists in the future. It is a hope that was perfectly secured over two thousand years ago, and because of this hope I can rise up with the hymnist, look at the work of Jesus and boldly say, "precious is the blood that healed us, perfect is the grace that sealed us, strong the hand stretched forth to shield us, all must be well." So when I cannot find it within myself to "sing through days of sorrow", I can boldly proclaim, "all is well"!

In the Gospel all must be, all is, and all will be well because of the God who loved us and gave himself for us. Praise be to him.

- LH


You can listen to the song here for free. I do recommend buying the whole album. 

Dam!

The title got your attention, and that's what I was going for.  Now go here to read about how layers of trash in the Yangtze River are 'thick enough to walk on' and could potentially block the Three Gorges Dam.

--da

An Opportunity to Complain about the Heat

Oh dear, we have really neglected the blog.  I hope those of you who actually come here weekly/daily to see if there's a post (opposed to just relying on your feeder to update) are not too disappointed in our lack of writing.  We really started the year off well, w/ a considerable amount of posts in the spring..but summer happened, and updating the blog was the last thing on my mind.

I'll try to commit to write some later about what we've been doing the past month (most of July was spent in Thailand..however, no pictures).  This morning, though, as I was folding clothes and sweating, and faking complete despair as I opened the curtains that separate the rest of our house from our kitchen/patio area (and therefore also the blazing sun) to hang up clothes to dry, I was reminded of an Andrew Peterson song.  It was one of those moments when you say to yourself, "Gosh, you really do complain a lot, don't you?"  Here's the first verse:

Little Elba how's the sun in South America
Does it shine upon the faces of the poor?
Do they see in it the brilliance of the place that's been prepared
And dwell upon the hope of what's in store?
Or are they just like me, do they only see
An opportunity to complain about the heat?  

So....thank you God, for the sun today.  I repent of my complaining heart.  Thank you for the sun and the rain that you have shine/fall on the righteous and unrighteous.

--da

go here for more Andrew Peterson music and books.

Cable TV and Bathroom Repair

After having a conversation yesterday w/ a good friend of mine about why we don't have cable (among other reasons, there's only one English channel), within a half an hour of returning home, Logan comes in w/ the cable box and an announcement that he's just paid for our cable through December.  The World Cup starts tomorrow, so I guess that alone makes it worth it for him.

Today I'm watching the news while catching up on housework, etc.  I've heard about the World Cup, a bust in a neighboring province on a group of people making fake money, the quality of meat and vegetables right now, a meeting Obama had w/ officials in Japan, the amount of rain the country is getting, and a meeting between Russian and Chinese officials regarding unrest in Kyrgyzstan.  (The Russians looked like the cast from The Godfather, by the way.)  

And, repair has begun on the bathroom upstairs.  :)  Two men were waiting today when I came home from class to look up above our false ceiling at the pipes.  I asked them what their method of repair would be, didn't understand, and then rephrased and asked if they would repair it from our bathroom.  He looked at me like I was stupid.  "No, it is their bathroom that is leaking down to you, so it isn't your problem."  "I know THAT," I replied.  "But from here, our bathroom, it is more convenient, right, to repair?"  He understood that and said, "No...we'll just 挖 (wa...which means dig) from up there."  So...less trouble for us, but I am currently listening to them break up the concrete upstairs.  In all honesty though, it will probably be fixed in a day or two.  Not a bad time table when you have to bust up the floor first.

--da

Around the House

Yesterday I read part of an article in the April issue of Real Simple magazine that concerned time...saving time, taking time to do things, etc.  One of the suggestions was take time to make your bed...it makes you feel like you've accomplished something almost immediately after the start of your day.  I have a friend who once told me that if nothing else got done around the house, she at least wanted the bed made.  It just makes your room look clean, even if there is a pile of clothes to be folded at the foot of the bed.  (For both of these reasons, I make our bed every day.)

Another part of the article suggested taking a week to document every mundane part of your life...from taking pictures of your half empty coffee cup to saving receipts of all the things you buy that week...and then taking some of your pictures, receipts, movie ticket stubs, etc and putting them in a scrapbook.  I don't have time to do that (not many do), and I would have to translate all of my receipts...which I guess would be good practice.  However, I did walk around the house yesterday afternoon and documented a few random things around the house.  So..here's a collection of unprofessional pictures from June 9, 2010.

Shelves hung above our bed.  Bought the brackets (braces? what are those called?) at the fake IKEA around Thanksgiving.  Got the wood at the second hand furniture store.  Books we've got up there:  Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry...I love his stuff!  Chinese Stuff, a book w/ a bunch of pictures of Chinese stuff.  The Two Towers, by Tolkien.  Two books of poetry/story on Ruth and Job, both by John Piper.  A National Geographic magazine on China, and a photo album that Karl and Liz gave us w/ a Bed Bath and Beyond gift certificate in it for our wedding gift.  (Now there are pictures...we spent that money a long time ago.)

Inherited this around December.  Dish towel is from Logan's MawMaw, and the cups we randomly found here in town one evening.  It hangs above our coffee cabinet.

The wall of fame.

Got this idea from Lissa Anglin.  Nails w/ buttons super glued to them, ribbon tied and wrapped around the nails, and pictures strung along.  This is what I look at when I sit at my desk.  Lots of good friends here in front of me.

The wall behind Logan's desk in his office.

Back in my office now, meet Ger/Frances.  We inherited this lovely guinea pig in....April.  She likes green beans, cabbage, carrots, and especially cucumbers.  And toilet paper rolls on occasion.

My cookbooks...which have felt very neglected lately.....we've either been eating out, eating chicken salad sandwiches, or if Logan is gone, I have two pieces of toast or a scrambled egg and call it good.

My bamboo TEXAS cutting board!  I love this!  (Thank you, V!!!)

And lastly, a not so great shot of what our bathroom has been doing lately.  Or, rather, what the bathroom sink of our upstairs neighbors has been doing.  A slow and constant drip...which is making the area behind the tile wet (that's not a shadow) and dripping from our ceiling as well.  We have told our apt. management about it, and they've come to check it out.  The beauty of the situation:  it will be easier for them to tear out our false ceiling to get to the leaking pipes instead of busting up their concrete floor to reach the pipes.......we'll see what happens.

--da

Coffee Trip Round One

Last week I took out a group of dubious ruffians out to 'the mountain' to do a little coffee planting. Below are some pictures and a video of our travels. I think it was a good experience for everyone and I believe will be helpful for the work to continue in this village.

Above is a picture of coffee seedlings that were successfully (hopefully) transplanted into individual grow bags, 2500 in all. Below are bags that were filled and ready to be planted into, 12000 in all. All together there are about 20000 coffee seedlings that need to be transplanted. A lot of work is yet to be done.

On our way home the public bus was full. The next obvious solution was to call a private bus driver in. Only one problem... No electricity for over eight days, and the cell phone towers were out of service. Next logical option... Tractor... Enjoy the quick video... We were on the tractor for around two and a half hours. A ride that should have taken us 45 minutes.

We are going back next week for a few days. Maybe enough will happen to give me new material to write Coffee Trip Round Two...

3 years!

Happy anniversary to my love!

(summer 2006 and wedding day 2007.)

--da

No Water..No Electricity...maybe

There was a notice in our complex today....from 5 am tomorrow morning until 12:00 am tomorrow night (or the next day..whatever is easier to understand) the electricity and water will be turned off.  Fun stuff.  However, b/c our water is heated by solar panels on our roof, there are tons of water tanks on the rooftop and so I'm hoping for enough "reserve" water from those tanks for a shower in the morning.  (I did fill the mop bucket in order to be able to flush the toilets...that's for sure.)

Logan says he'll believe it when he sees it.  They have put up notices like this before but we didn't lose water or electricity.  I can't help but think this time it is for real.  I guess we'll see tomorrow morning at 5 if our A/C shuts off.

--da

anything can be qualified as typical when you live in a foreign country

10:00 am:  Leave the house w/ my passport, Logan’s passport, and a copy of another friend’s passport in order to check at the post office for two packages that we are expecting.

10:05 am:  Run into a lady that I have begun to love dearly over the past few weeks.  She is one of the cleaning ladies for our apartment complex.  She sweeps, mops and empties trash cans all day long, starting around 6 am, but not before applying bright red lipstick and painting her eyebrows on.  After having tons of random, 30 second conversations over the past few weeks, she finally asks me what my name is, allows me to call her by her last name and the equivalent of Aunt, and then we end our discussion on the topic of how ridiculously hot it has been the last few days. 

10:10 am:  Arrive at the post office.  I find the usual situation of a loud crowd of people all competing for service, and I am hesitant to elbow my way through to the front and to the guy I know is accommodating to my stuttering Chinese, but is busy at the time.  My other option is to approach the not so accommodating woman who happens to be entering data into a computer, but without a crowd of people around her window.

After 3 minutes of indecision, I approach the woman. 

“After you are finished with that, can you look for maybe two packages for me?  One is for me, and one is for a friend of mine that has moved, but a package he was expecting did not arrive before he moved.”

She actually smiles, and quickly finishes what she is working on.  Then she looks up at me, and without checking the back say, “There are no packages.”

“You are not able to look?” I reply.  (There is a hint of sarcasm in the way this would translate; however I refrained from rolling my eyes.)

She gets up, consults another lady, who then tells me, “It isn’t a package, it is a letter.”  (As if I don’t know the difference between the two words.)  She does, however, allow me to sign and take the “letter”, which is actually a priority mail envelope..so smaller than a package, yes, but not simply a letter.   

10:25 am:  I leave the post office, head back towards my apartment, but stop to make copies first.  15 copies.  $1.17 USD.

10:28 am:  Cross the street to return to the apartment and pick up my bike before running another errand.  At the entrance, I witness a man try to steal a woman’s wallet, although at first I am not aware that is what is actually happening.  Here, he doesn’t run up to the woman w/ a gun and yell for her to hand over her wallet.  There are no guns, so what you see is not a production of yelling and force and fear.  Rather, I see him simply walking behind the woman, and then suddenly, but so subtly, he inserts what appears to be a long pair of tweezers into the pocket of her skirt.  She feels it, grabs her pocket and then turns towards him.  With the umbrella she is carrying to protect her skin from the sun, she hits him, and undoubtedly curses him too.  As he simply walks away, her two friends have to refrain her from following him across the street and wounding him….both his body and his pride.  Thief:  Fail.  But I have no doubt that he will try again, sooner rather than later. 

--da

Feeling hot, hot, hot...

With that title all I can actually think about is the episode of The Office where Michael and Jan go to Jamaica (or was it the Bahamas?) and Michael brings back the set of drums and plays "feeling hot hot hot" all day long in the office, that one line being all that he can play.

We've neglected the blog....so sorry.  There are a lot of posts in my head, pictures that I want to take...but I just haven't done it yet.  This post is to let you know we are alive...and hot.  My meat thermometer says 92 degrees in my kitchen.  My computer says it is 99 degrees outside.  I am not for sure how accurate those are.  But it feels like 105.  (That would also probably be a total exaggeration on my part.)  I know it could always be hotter...

Stay tuned for new and exciting posts....hopefully.   :) 

--da