Keeping up appearances

Hello all!  I decided that it was time to do a new post.  Today has been so busy...milk, sweeping, mopping, cleaning, laundry, making bread...I'm glad to have a chance to sit down for a bit.

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Mom and I were talking the other day about something, and I thought it might make an interesting blog.

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I have let myself go in the area of appearance and such.  Really.  Of course appearances aren't everything...we should be more concerned with what's on the inside - but when it goes too far the other way, that's not good either.  This is somewhat of a struggle for me...I'm not sure if I'll be able to adequately put it into words, but I'll give it a try.  

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Living here doesn't lend itself to prettying you up.  People look at us differently here {of course} - we're not natives, we live in a different kind of house, in general we have more money than they do, and we're white.  Since people look at us so differently already (we're the ones "Oh, from Amerika!"), I don't dress myself up as much as I would in the States.  I don't want to seem to be saying "look at me!" with my more "fancy" (I use that term loosely) American things. 

I wear flip flops quite literally everywhere I go.  Each morning my hair goes straight up in a clip.  My daily attire consists of a big t-shirt (Most of them are hand-me downs), and an old skirt or kanga I got from the market, or stretch pants.  

Sometimes I stop and actually look at myself...what happened?  It didn't happen overnight, but because three years of being with people who mostly have only a tattered, stained kanga, or tattered, stained pants to wear with a ragged, stained shirt, maybe some shoes, maybe not.  Even so, I don't have to look like a cave woman!  

So I resolve to wear some earrings {Hey, I've worked up to studs!}, and maybe put some lotion on my feet, but the next Sunday an old lady comes to sit by me.  Her kanga is worn and holey, as is her shirt, her sandals are made out of old tires...and her feet.  Her feet are slightly deformed from having such a hard life, her toenails are all split, and the skin so cracked they would be impossible to ever fix.  Then I look down at my own feet, then back at hers...and I had been worried that mine are sometimes dirt stained or not as smooth as I'd like.

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I would love to get all prettied up sometime and have somewhere to go, or have something to do that I have to get a little prettied up for.  But there isn't, which is perfectly okay, but just because some around me are like that old woman, doesn't mean I should completely let myself go.  I'm trying to do better, but I look at that old woman's feet, and it's a strange, mixed feeling.  I want to do better with myself, but as I look back at the old woman smiling at me with her toothless smile, I wonder...how can I?

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{please note: I did not take this picture, and I don't own it...I found it on flicker.com, but it maybe is just a tiny sample...}

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(NOTE: If you stay longer than 5 seconds on this blog, music should start playing.  If you don't want this music playing, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and hit the stop button. :) )

New look

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While blogging this whole time, I hadn't really found a background, etc. that I really liked.  The black and white looked nice, but it didn't really seem to fit "me".  Sooo, I found this that I like alot better!

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I saw the owl dividers, and yes, worked my whole blog design around them.  But my personal favorite is the "Hoo goes there" button.  

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How do you all like it?  Or too many owls....

{Hoo...hoo!}

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"The List" - Hmm, sounds ominous!

First off, Lee and Julia made it safe and sound to Oklahoma!  Thanks for all your prayers!

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So I've made a sked-jool (Yes, a schedule) for myself.  I think it'll be good to have what I need to do written down instead of getting most of them done, but having dust rabbits as my roommates.  In my last post, I said I'd tell some of the things that are on it.

These aren't in any particular order.

1)  I've gotten to be a little bit of a wimpy blimpy (Haha, not really...wimpy yes, blimpy not really.  I can't take credit for that phrase by the way...) so I do some cardio in the morning {all of two mornings in a row now! :) }, and a bit of yoga and stretching at night.  

2)  Cook a few meals a week.  (Doing the dishes is always a given, except sometimes an exception when I'm the one cooking the meal.  Dishes never make my list, hehe, you can't forget dishes!)

3) "Cleaning the house" sounds so quick, but people who actually do it know that it's not for the faint of heart!  Sweep the floors every day, dust on alternate days, pick up all the junk that you just put away...Yes, I think they have legs.  *shifty eyes*     

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Fridays are also mop days - Bucket of water and a towel. 

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Sweep my room, pick up clutter, dust, clean the bathroom.  Thankfully not all on the same day, but in the week.  {*cough* How long has that been there?!}

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Tuesdays and Fridays are milk mornings.  I go outside, get the milk from "Mama Maziwa", strain it, pasteurize it, and put it in jars.  

4)  Bible study - The most important of all!  Very much enjoying these parts of my day!

5) Swahili - I haven't actually gotten around to doing this one yet, but I will!  It'll do me alot of good if I actually sit down and study it some more.

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So there are a few samples of The List!

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So this afternoon I made homemade raviolis!  I actually didn't mess them up, they were pretty good.  It took all afternoon though (literally), to make that and french bread.  It would take less time, but I had to figure out different sauce measurements and substitutes, and quadruple check myself to make sure I didn't do anything wrong!  :)

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I hope you all have a wonderful day!

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Well hello February! When did you get here?

Oh February, what will you bring?  

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Well, in about half an hour we're going to town to do some last minute shopping for snacks, etc. before Lee and Julia leave, going to eat supper, then going to the airport.  Julia's going back with Lee this month to spend some time there and meet his family.  It's been so great having Lee here.  It's been wonderful to get to  know him, and have him be with our family.

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Lee, thank you so much.  Thank you for being what my sister needs...thank you for making her happy.

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~(And what a *cute* couple they make!)~ 

:D

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This month should be great!  Hopefully, I'm going to be able to get alot of things done.  I don't have enough time at the moment to reveeeal all my plans {insert evil chuckle}, but in my next post,  I'll fill you all in.  Oh yay!

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Ok, it's off to town I go! 

:)

 

Please keep Lee and Julia in your prayers as they travel!

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To whom shall we go?

Last night I was doing my Bible reading in Luke 22.  Jesus had told Peter that he would deny him three times.  Peter, of course, had said that he would never deny the Lord.  As we know, Peter did deny Jesus.

{"And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, '“Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.'”
Luke 22:60: But Peter said, “'Man, I do not know what you are talking about.' And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.
Luke 22:61: And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.”
Luke 22:62: And he went out and wept bitterly."}

The part of verse 61 that says, "And the Lord turned and looked at Peter" always makes me stop and think.  It makes me imagine how I would feel if I were Peter...if I had just denied the Lord, not even once, but three times.  Then remembering what Christ told me - turning to look at Jesus...and seeing him simply look back at me.  How ashamed I would be.  Just as Peter was - he went out and wept bitterly.  Just those two verses are so powerful to me.  It makes me imagine the scene in my head every single time.  But the same thing happens to us.  We need to fully realize that God sees all we do.  God is looking at us, seeing everything we do when we do right or wrong.  When we're doing something wrong, He is there, looking at us.  We just can't look back at Him and see Him doing it.  How would we feel if we could see God seeing us when we do wrong?  We should always try to do right and live holy lives.  I think it's possible for us to sometimes forget the seriousness of sin, and forget that God is watching everything we do.

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In the past few days, I've heard of and seen that many people, people who I used to be good friends with, and people I used to know, leave the Church.  It has made me so sad.  They're leaving the Church when they should have been deeply , firmly grounded in it.  Please, please, we must do everything we can to help people like this, ones I know, and ones that you know, to come back to the Church.  And if you think you see someone you know beginning to possibly falter, {maybe it's just some attitudes, dress, actions,   whatever it is...} speak to them about it.  Because my friends, it is so much better to say something now, than to have remained silent, and later wonder if there was something you could have done.

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"After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.  So Jesus said to the Twelve, '“Do you want to go away as well?'  Simon Peter answered him,' “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.'"
~John 6:66-68~ 

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