Monday, October 14, 2013

Little Patients

A couple of weeks ago as I was visiting with a friend on the porch I heard a commotion of kids.  I looked up to see a group of boys walking down the trail talking and laughing.  After a second look I noticed that these boys were carrying another boy.  They would walk a bit, stop and put him down, then pick him back up again and keep walking.  I thought they were playing some sort of game.  But moments later these boys were walking up my porch stairs still carrying their friend.  As they walked up the stairs his head was towards the ground as they struggled to get him up!

They soon explained that this young boy, almost 6 years old had cut his toe with a machete!  His mom wasn't home and they thought they should bring him to me to get a bandaid!

My friend and I couldn't stop laughing!  It was so funny and so cute.  The injured boy couldn't stop laughing. He thought it was so funny that his friends would carry him to our house.  And there was some embarrassment going on too!

Of course I got out my "wound cleaning kit" and cleaned up his toe and put a bandaid on it.  He didn't want a Dora bandaid, I wonder why???

Here is a picture of all these boys together as I fixed up his toe!


Expectations

I don't usually write personal stuff on how the Lord is working in my life but it has been on my heart to share some of what the Lord has been teaching me lately. 

Growing in our relationship with the Lord is often a painful thing.  I don't like pain, especially when it is pain related to feelings and thinking.  I can handle the pain of childbirth but I start to crumble under growing pains.

My wrong thinking in some areas has been growing over the last 18 months or more.  It all started with finding out that I was pregnant with Bea.  I have written about this before and how it took time for the Lord to work on my heart and accept this precious gift He has given me.  But an area that I struggled with from that point on was that having her "ruined" my plans. 

Many of you may know how much of a planner I am.  I like to know what is coming our way.  I like to plan ahead as much as possible.  This doesn't mean that I can't change my plans.  I do like to fly by the seat of my pants too!  The thing is, I tend to think that I am flexible and can go with the flow and change my plans as needed.  But I have realized though that it really isn't true.  As I plan for the future I will think of many different possibilities for the future.  I may have plans A through Z planned out and all are ok.  So if I need to pick another plan, great, I know what to expect. But what happens when His plan isn't any of my plans?  What happens to those expectations I have for the future?

What are those unmet expectations?
Specifically it is language study.  When we went on home assignment I was looking forward to our return to the village with our youngest baby being almost 3 yrs old.  The 5 older kids would all be doing school during the day and Jenna plays really good on her own.  Then with the arrival of Bea those thoughts of being able to be in language study started to crumble.  My only hope was to have a young lady come and teach the kids.  I had also been able to hire a nanny in the past to watch Jenna when she was a baby, so I could do that with Bea too.  God answered my prayers for a teacher and provided Lindy to come a teach our kids.  The kids have loved her and she is doing a wonderful job teaching them. 
Next I needed to find someone to look after Bea.  It would just need to be in the mornings.  At first it seemed we were told that many young ladies would love the job.  Soon though, the list of available girls dwindled.  Then finally a young lady was willing and able...but not till mid October.  I figured I could make it work.  I would hire my language helper to come in and help with the house work while my house helper looked after Bea.  (those 2 ladies are sisters, so it worked for them)  The plan was set. 
Day 1-my language helper couldn't come because she didn't have anyone to watch her kids.  Day 2-4 worked perfectly.  I had a great time getting back into language study.  Bea was happy.  All was well.  The following week it all came crashing down.  The daughter of my language helper was ill.  I figured I could work with it for a day or so.  Then the days just kept going by.  Now a week and a half later, my language helper still hasn't come back to work. 
Monday just kind of topped it all off for me.  I had hoped for a new beginning this week.  Then my house helper didn't show up.  She didn't text.  She didn't send a family member down to say where she was.  Nothing.  It took some inquiring to find out that she had gone to an engagement party the night before and the motorcycle had broken down and she couldn't return.  By the time I found this out I was super frustrated.  Why were my plans not working out???  I want to learn the language!  I want to be able to talk to people here and understand them!  Lindy is not here so I can be just a mother and wife!  By Tuesday morning I learned that my frustration was noticed by others.  But they didn't know why I was so frustrated.  It was then interpreted as anger towards my house helper for not coming to work.  That hit hard.  Still does.  I pains me to know that not only my family was feeling my frustration but the people in the village were seeing this as well.

His plans for me were not any of those A through Z plans I had made.  They were His plans.  My thinking was wrong.  I was thinking that I was letting Him have control of my days and future but when His plan wasn't one of my plans I became frustrated and disappointed.  As many know "when Mom ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!"  Some days Mom was happy.  As things happened as I planned it made for a good day.  But when a day would work out different than any of my plans it makes for a crabby Mom.  I have often said lately that I feel like I am on an emotional roller coaster.  Some days are thrilling and some days are scary.  It's easy to blame hormones and circumstances for how I feel and put the blame on others.  There is wrong thinking.  If I am trusting the Lord in all that I do and trust that He knows what is best for me each and every day then I can be at peace and ride that road that He has for me.  It may be bumpy and it may be twisty but He has me going to the place that He wants me.

 Through prayer and reading His word and listening to Him I have been able to put some of the pieces together.  I have not been trusting Him.  I have been trusting in myself.  That's not easy to accept.

As I started to think through what God was giving me to do, I realized that He was giving me the desires of my heart.  I love being a mom.  I love having babies.  He gave me Bea.  I love being able to play with my kids.  I love being able to cook for them and bake for them.  I love being able to have a house in order when Chuck comes home at the end of the day of working hard at getting this language.  God was giving me the chance to do all these things.  I wasn't weighed down with teaching the kids.  I wasn't weighed down with language study.  I was just available to do what needed to be done.  Instead of finding joy in the tasks He had for me I just became frustrated.

I just read this from a friend, "God is more interested in who He wants me to be than in what He wants me to do."  She was talking about how John 15 goes with this.  As I took time to read John 15:1-11, I was reminded of what I had been doing and not doing.  I have been trusting in my abilities and not trusting and resting in Him.  As I abide in Him, He will bring forth the fruit.  How comforting it is to know by abiding I can know that His will will be done in my life.  I like verse 11, "These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full."  He gives me joy in the things I do for Him as I abide in Him.

Yes growing still hurts.  But I would not be more like Christ if I didn't go through this pain.

So for today I will walk with Him and do as He has laid out for me.  I will trust Him to know what is best for me and my family.  As He allows I will work on language study.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Cloth Diapering

I know that this blog post might not be of any interest to many of you but I am thinking that some of you young moms out there might be interested!
First let me say that I am not the tree hugger type.  I have used disposable diapers for my first 6 kids, except for a year or so with Eli and Hala.  The only reason I used them then was that I got them cheap, laundry was free at Bible school and we were broke!
And I don’t feel that I have to buy everything made in Canada. (Actually that would be impossible for me living in the Philippines!)
So why have I started using cloth diapers now???
When we moved into our village we were on our last baby, or so we thought!  We figured that burying a couple years’ worth of disposable diapers wouldn’t be too bad and I didn’t have the time to wash cloth diapers.
Then the Lord blessed us with little Beatrice!  And at the same time He was blessing us with co-workers, with one in diapers and one on the way.  I started to think of all the diapers that we would be putting in a hole in the ground over the next couple of years.  Then I spoke with Valerie, our co-worker, about her experience with cloth diapers.  She had been using them for years, even in the Philippines where the humidity is high all the time and she didn’t have a dryer.  So I started looking into what was out there.  Was it really affordable?  Were they going to dry when it can rain for days on end?  How does a baby’s bottom cope with extra fabric when it is 30C plus every day?
The first thing I came upon was pocket diapers.  I had used all-in-one diapers before but couldn’t imagine that they would dry on those very rainy days.  My research said that might be the case.  It turned out that Valerie was using pocket diapers.  From what I read and what Valerie told me, pocket diapers would dry well even in the humidity.  Having extra liners would mean that if the liners weren’t dry, you could still use the extras because the “pocket” dries really fast.  I started getting excited about the idea of using cloth diapers again.  But I wondered if it was affordable.  I looked around and started thinking that I should look for a local shop that sells different brands so I could go check them out.  In that search, I came across Glow Bug Cloth Diapers.  These diapers are designed by 2 ladies that are from Barrie, ON.  That’s where my parents live and is just 30 min away from where we lived!  I went to their website and read all about their diapers.  They were similar to many pocket diapers out there but they had done some of their own twists to them.  But the best part was the price!  They are just $150 for 12 diapers with 18 liners!  What a great deal that is!  And they have the cutest prints for boys, girls and now unisex!
So I decided to pray about it and talk with Chuck to see what he thought.
I figured that it would be easiest to teach one of the village ladies to wash them in our twin tub washing machine instead of me spending the time washing them.  It seemed like a great way to give more work to those who desperately want to work.  We do have a dryer and with finally having our solar system on the way it meant that when the weather was really rainy, we could get them dry in the dryer.
After finding a great sale on their website I went ahead and bought my stock of cloth diapers.  I got a great deal and I had 24 diapers for less than $250!
So what do I think now that I am using them???
They have been great!  The only time I have leaks is when I forget to change Bea.  And they are sooo cute!!!
We are still using disposables at night.  I was suggested to do that as the smell can be pretty strong by morning.
Valerie suggested after we got back to the Philippines to get another 12 diapers just to be sure we had enough.  Turns out that Glow Bug Cloth Diapers was having another sale on their newly released unisex prints.  So I ordered them and have loved them also.  They came with 200 flushable liners free!
I am still not an expert on cloth diapers but I do know that I like what we are using.
Lindy asked me the other day if I would use cloth if we were back in Canada now.  That is a tough question to answer.  If I was just starting out having kids, then I think I would use them as it would be cost effective to use them with several kids.  But with just one kid using them with the cost of liners, water, and electricity, I wonder if it would really save any money.
So there you have it!  The new thing I have found!