t. Presbytery visit Monday, April 25, 2011   This past week I traveled a few hours northeast of here to visit one of four Presbyteries in our work.  A Presbytery is simply a body of presbyters or elders/pastors.  Nineteen men meet monthly for mutual accountability, encouragement, and feeding on God’s Word.  These men are the front line of the work here.  They work hard, pray hard, endure threats and insults to champion the gospel in regions of this country where one regularly hears, “Jesus?  Which god is he?”  Their harvest fields are thick with resistant idolatry and, at least in one case, human sacrifice. They are not saints.  They…

  the greatest of days. Sunday, April 24, 2011   High noon in the valley of the shadow When the deep of the valley was bright When the mouth of the tomb Shouted, “Glory, the Groom is alive” So long, you wages of sin Go on, don’t you come back again I’ve been raised and redeemed You’ve lost all your sting To the victor of the battle At high noon in the valley In the valley of the shadow Now the demons, they danced in the darkness When that last ragged breath left his lungs And they reveled and howled At the war that they thought they had won But…

our easter. Sunday, April 24, 2011 We worshiped with friends from America and friends from South Asia.  We met visitors and the kids all got pastel-colored candy Easter eggs.  It was a mad scramble after the service, but we managed to get a couple pictures. After church, we gathered for Easter brunch.  Richey and Keli and family showed up a little bleary-eyed after their twenty-two hour flight from Texas, but we were all very, very happy to see them.

easter eggs. Saturday, April 23, 2011 We were so touched that a couple of friends from back home thought to send us egg-decorating kits in time for Easter.  So we invited some friends and two neighbor families over this morning for donuts and pineapple and coffee and the American tradition of egg-dying.  Vijay and Srini’s wives are out of town this weekend, but they came to join in the festivities, and Vijay brought his four-year-old Anya.  This was Judah and Amie’s first year decorating Easter eggs, and they loved it. Amie, big Anya, and new baby doll Anya.  Thanks to Papa and Nina, Amie now has her own baby doll…

wednesday. Wednesday, April 20, 2011 Sorry it’s been a quiet week here on the blog.  My laptop has been at the Apple store.  It’s an embarrassing story that involves Amie sticking tiny magnets in my cd drive, and me trying to pry them out with a knife and subsequently doing much more damage than my one year old.  As a friend said to me, “It’s not a toaster.”  Point well taken. But thankfully my laptop is under warranty and I got a new dvd player for free.  And finished a good book over my long, computer-less weekend. We have had a nice restful week with David back home (a blog…

  gratitude # 563 – 586.   Friday, April 15, 2011 a new friend, sent at just the right time drinking coffee and munching popcorn and talking about childhood favorite books . . . Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon and Little House on the Prairie Judah is so close to swimming all by himself Amie is gaining confidence in the pool grace for David’s trip this week he is flying home this afternoon sleepovers with Judah in my bed Judah and Amie’s fervent, sometimes-understandable prayers the chaotic, happy fun of pizza night at the Iversons’ Maggie’s new sari Judah nicknames: “Ams” (Amie), “Moms” (Mommy) Judah’s friendly…

  summertime boy. Wednesday, April 13, 2011      

  morning glory muffins. Wednesday, April 13, 2011   Slowly but surely I’m finding my way back into baking.  It looks a little different here, because I have to use ingredients that are available.   We love these Morning Glory Muffins from allrecipes.com.  I halved the sugar, omitted the raisins, and substituted mashed bananas for the apple butter.  Yum. Ingredients 11 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 21/2 cup whole wheat flour 31 1/4 cups white sugar 41 tablespoon ground cinnamon 52 teaspoons baking powder 61/2 teaspoon baking soda 71/2 teaspoon salt 82 cups grated carrots 91 apple – peeled, cored, and chopped 101 cup raisins 111 egg 122 egg whites 131/2 cup…

  one month from today. Tuesday, April 12, 2011   I want to eat a thick, juicy cheeseburger.  Filet Mignon straight from the grill.  Guacamole with big, creamy avocado chunks. Publix bakery Italian bread.  Real cheese . . .  sharp cheddar and fresh-grated parmesan.  I want a huge fried-chicken salad from Ruby Tuesday’s.  And ice-cold two percent milk by the glassful. I cannot wait to drive.  To walk out of the house and climb in the car and go wherever I want.  To change my mind mid-trip and stop by a friend’s house or pick up a mocha from Starbucks. I want to wander the aisles of favorite supermarkets –…

  letting go. Sunday, April 10, 2011   We’re going on five months now.  Slowly but surely, we settle into this space.  We begin to find our routines, our familiar places and rhythms.  We marvel at the ability of human beings to adapt to a whole new world.  We marvel that life really does go on, and, when all is said and done, our South Asia rhythms of grocery-shopping and reading books to our children and bed-times don’t look all that different from those at home. David and Amelie and I have had stomach troubles on and off for a month now, since our early-March trip to the north of…