gifts from holland, canada, and texas!

when i returned from brazil, i had an intriguing package all the
way from holland!  sweet saskia sent me a lovely pink necklace
to commemorate breast cancer awareness month.  she also added
precious tiny ribbons and fun stickers.

what she doesn't know is that i have a small collection of delft
from the netherlands.  thank you, saskia!  i hope everyone will
visit her gorgeous blog, join my joy.

yesterday, another package arrived from canada!  i can't describe
how my life has been enriched by this lovely lady.  she has taught
me to see with eyes bent to beauty and to  express the Lord's love
with gracious sensitivity.  her gift is not only a generous gesture
but an expression of love, because  she sent me a treasure that
reminded her of me.

thank you, dear rosie!  you couldn't know that i have the absolute
twin bird roosting beneath the lamp in my powder bath.  i hope
everyone will visit your exquisite blog, roses and rutabagas, which
delights with every visit.

and believe it or not, i have also received another wonderful
gift all the way from the exotic country of texas!  my dear
friend, janette, from janette's sage, has enhanced my life with
her wisdom, inspiring stories, loving comments, . . . and a
spectacular handmade pillow!

when i told her it looked perfect in my kitchen, she said, "i'm not
sure what you will do with it in there."  :)

so i wanted her to know it also looks pretty in my family room!

well, it would if my family room wasn't on its side.

love,
lea

"if you then . . . know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit
to those who ask Him!"  luke 11:13

monday's mommy mentoring moment

dear emily,

i have a sweet younger friend, uncanny colleen, who has written
a precious letter to her five year old son.  how much will he
cherish an entire letter all about him?  i could imagine her reading
this to him at his rehearsal dinner in 20 years, even though he still
thinks he is going to  marry his mommy.

this reminded me that hans' dad wrote him a letter everyday of his
freshman year at college.  those sweet notes of encouragement are
bundled up next to the ones my grandma had written me.  if we
treasure them so, why don't we write more of them ourselves?

i now realize that my email encouragements to our five children
cannot replace a hand written letter.  a beautiful sheet of paper can
be taped to the bathroom mirror or cradled between the pages of
their bible.  emails are too easily deleted and forgotten.

when shelby was seven, we chuckled at a note she wrote hans in
her careful cursive.

"dear pappy,

we are so proud of the way
you  have led us through.

love,
shelby"

last Christmas, 17 years later,  she hand stitched it onto fabric on
which she had sewn perfectly straight lines to look like notebook
paper.

love,
lea

"simon peter, a servant and messenger of Jesus Christ, sends
this letter to  those who have been given a faith as valuable as
yours, in the righteousness of our God . . ." 2 peter 1:1

autumn with adam and eve

as hans and i strolled beneath glorious autumn leaves, we crunched
the fallen crimson and yellow ones under our feet.   i love these
walks, because we talk about so many interesting subjects,  and
not always our children.  :)

this day we were discussing adam and eve.   hans maintained that
when God asked adam, "where are you?", he might not have been
referring to his location but to the state of his heart.  he might as
well have asked, "who are you now?"

adam replied, "i heard you in the garden, and i was afraid because
i was naked; so i hid."

"who told you that you were naked?"  their nakedness had never
been an issue before their disobedience, and hans wondered if
things might have gone better for them had adam answered, "we
disobeyed and were hiding because we felt ashamed."

instead he revealed that he considered himself unveiled and no
longer covered by God's good favor.  he also demonstrated his
fear of God just like the servant who "knew" Him as the hard
master and hid his talent.  (matthew 25:25)

moreover, adam seemed to consider himself "out", which, of
course, is exactly what the serpent intended.  one strike, and
you're out?

love,
lea

ps.  i am linking to joyce's at "i love pretty things"
      and to ginger and charlotte's at "spiritual sundays."

a pink bunny

my friend barbie was having her early morning devotions, when
she noticed her three year old granddaughter.  barbie invited her
to come pray with her, and the precious little one said she wanted
to ask God for a pink bunny just like her big sister's.

once they had finished praying, barbie said that they needed to
be still and listen if God had anything to say back to them.   after
a few seconds, her granddaughter tugged on her sleeve.

"He said, 'yes.' "

oh, to have the faith of a little one.

love,
lea

"therefore, whoever welcomes one such child in my name
welcomes me."  matthew 18:4

paul, barnabas, and timothy

dear emily,

i am going to try to harness myself to writing a weekly post
for young moms, "monday's mentoring mommy moment."
how's that for an alliteration?  it's my prayer that other older
moms will also chime in with their two cents  and bless your
socks off.

hans says that everyone needs a paul, barnabas, and timothy
in their life.

the view from my brazilian room

paul is that older, wiser one who has something to teach us.  i
lean on many older women who have set a fine example for me
to "love my husband and  children, to be self-controlled and
pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, etc." (titus 2:4)  they
encourage me, pray for me, and give me great advice.

barnabas is the friend who is basically in the same boat and has
children the same age.  my 'barnabases' have been my best
friends for over twenty years.  their kids call me by my first
name, and i hope their grandkids will too!  these are the ones i
complain to when hans has to go out of town again,  i blow it
with the kids, or i want to strangle a teacher.   


last, but not least, is timothy.  it's so sweet to have a younger
woman to pass along the privilege of raising children and a
husband.  :)  she will force us to really examine ourselves and
our relationships, which is good for us.  how can we tell an over
worked young thing to do something that we have never done?

you, sweet emily, are sandwiched in between me and my girls.
how precious is that?  we are paul, barnabas, and timothy.

love,
lea

all saints' day

i have never been a big fan of halloween.  when our children were little, we 

bought lots of treats and had a movie night.  i know, it probably sounds like 

cruel and unusual punishment to not let them go trick or treating, but i just

couldn't feel great about sending them out on  a night dedicated to ghouls 

and goblins.  especially, when i believed in them.

brazilian hibiscus

it never bothered me that other people wanted to celebrate this holiday, since 

that wasn't my business, but it sure upset everybody else that i didn't want to 

participate.  sheesh, you would have thought i was abusing my kids!

it seemed better to celebrate something positive on the following day, all

saints' day.  not as thrilling, of course, to the average 10 year old but still

inspiring.  we talked about those who laid down their lives for the sake of

the cross or their loved ones.  we read stories about paul and silas in prison

or stephen, peter, and john.

corrie ten boom and john wesley were heroes and saints worthy of our

remembrance and remember them we did!  

we also had a dress up trunk that the kids repeatedly dipped into for dress

up at all other times of the year.  you might say they tricked and treated

for a different reason most days of the year.

love,

lea

"the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy; I came that they may have life,

and have it abundantly."  john 10:10

on our way to the beach

our trip to the beach was like a dream.  it is not possible to adequately describe
the verdant jungle covered mountains, skirted by clouds and mist.

we passed so many thousands of containers at port santos, the  largest
port in south america,  it looked like a container graveyard.  each of the
containers was large enough to store a small house.  in fact, some of the
shacks along the road were much smaller than the containers.

the beauty of the jungle juxtapositioned with the extreme poverty was troubling.
these poor people have to pay the most outrageous prices for basic necessities,
which i will share about more another time.   please pray for them.

i was also disconcerted by the animals.  "their cows look so strange."

"mom, those are yaks."  whatever.

then, we turned a corner and saw the ocean.

the sand was so soft and compact that bikes and vendors abounded.

competing with the grandeur of the ocean were the extraordinary, exotic
flowers.  i didn't know that orchids could grow from the trunks of coconut
trees in a symbiotic fashion.

it all still seems like a dream.

love,
lea

"when the Lord restored the fortunes of zion, we were like those
who dream."  psalm 126:1