Garden of Eatin'

Our plot at the community garden is looking quite edible these days (even though Danielle didn't think our little space looked as "put together" as some of the others. But our veggies are bigger!) Val and I have planted corn, onions, beans, tomato and pepper plants, cauliflower and broccoli. Tonight, we took the Somali girls to the plot and they each planted a row of carrots and then watered them. It was great fun!

The girls told Danielle that their family had a small garden when they were in the refugee camp in Africa. They poured out precious water on their corn, tomatoes and onions one carefully-carried cup at a time. That garden wasn't much fun for them, however, because sometimes their father would make them stand in the patch and scare the "sheeps" away. The girls objected strongly to being human scarecrows!

But I think they enjoyed themselves tonight. No sheeps in our neck of the woods!

Two Big Events!!!

First, on Wednesday night, Candyce came home, malaria and all! It was sooo good to wrap my arms around her neck and kiss her Africa-browned cheek. We went for a burger at Red Robin--her favorite--listened to as many amazing stories as she had energy to tell and then tucked her into bed.

The stories from the refugee camp at the Congo/Sudanese border were the most fascinating. God taught Candyce so much about His ways and His character as she stepped out in faith and preached the gospel to hundreds of Congolese refugees. She said it struck her deeply how these people literally had nothing--not even a place to call home anymore. But as Candyce and her group prayed, and the refugees cried out in response to the love of God, He showed up and met them in awesome ways.

Healings, deliverances and many conversions were the fruit of those two short weeks in the camp. As I said in an earlier blog, the local witch doctor attended all the meetings and was not happy about losing his grip on his "flock."
So he complained to the authorities and Candyce, Stephen, Will and Santos were escorted from the compound by U.N. officials.

Candyce also spent a lot of time at the YWAM base in Yei (south Sudan). She learned to cook African food, hauled water, mentored DTS students and came down with malaria while she was there. She told us about a guy at the base, a former witch doctor. His tales of the demonic realities of tribal life are shocking to those of us who live in western cultures.

We are glad she's home, and now we are waiting on Stephen to arrive. He's got to renew his passport, get a visa and then raise money for the trip to Oregon--for the wedding! In case you didn't hear, Candyce and Stephen got engaged when she was over there. And Greg and I couldn't be more excited about another wonderful son God is bringing us from afar. We'll give details on those plans as we get them :)

Big event #2 was Greg's 55th birthday. He's hard to shop for, the most content person on the planet. But in recent months, he's become a total Deadliest Catch geek, and spends several nights each week glued to the History Channel, rooting for his favorites on the Time Bandit. We actually know the parents of one of the crew members--MIke Fourtner--so Greg takes a special interest in Mike's activities.

So I contacted Mike's mom, Terry, and asked if I could book a tour of the Time Bandit for Greg when we are in Homer this summer. She told me the boat would be out tendering then (processing fish from other boats). I asked if she knew where I could get some cool Time Bandit merchandise. Wouldn't you know, her son designs and sells t-shirts and her daughter just happened to be coming to Portland with a load on Friday, Greg's b-day!

Terry gave me a call when the shirts arrived, and I loaded Greg up in the Miata for our mystery trip (he kept calling it a wild goose chase). He was totally stumped when we pulled up at Clackamas Junior College, where Terry works. I drug him up to her office and he still didn't have a clue until she held out a Time Bandit t-shirt for him to admire. I captured the moment in film ;)

Needless to say, he was surprised. And thrilled. Maybe someday he'll get to wander about on the now-famous crab boat and meet the notorious Hillstrand brothers and Mike.

Speaking of Hillstrand guys, Dave Hillstrand (one of the brothers who doesn't work on the Time Bandit) took me out fishing a few years back (on a friend's charter) and helped me hook a 175 lb. halibut. I guess fishing just runs in the family!

faces only a mother (alpaca) could love . . .

from our trip to Central Oregon . . .

mother's intuition

I woke up Monday morning with a fever. While I have my share of aches and pains and health issues, I rarely experience an elevated temperature--my "normal" reading is usually a few points below 98.6.
So being feverish and all, I cancelled all my appointments for that day and climbed back into bed. As I drifted in and out of sleep that morning, Candyce kept coming to mind. In fact, a very strong impulse to pray for my youngest daughter nudged me throughout that day . . .

As I shivered beneath the covers, I wondered about Candyce's health. I prayed for God's healing touch, for His comfort and grace. I even got kind of charismatic and rebuked malaria and every other exotic illness I could think of (I was running a fever, after all).

I woke up with a slight fever again on Tuesday, so called in sick at the organic farm where I volunteer. Again, I felt prompted to pray for Candyce's health and welfare and did so often throughout the day. I felt a lot better when I went to bed that night . . .

. . . but woke up with a fever this morning.

I had stuff that had to get done at work (my "real" job at InterAct Ministries), so I popped a couple of aspirins, ate a peanut butter cookie (remember, I'm mildly delirious) and drove to Boring, praying for Candyce a good part of the way. I felt somewhat better when I arrived (the cookie?) and set about my tasks, thinking I could leave early if I got to feeling worse.

About 9:30, my cell phone rang. I could tell by the number, it was Candyce!

"Mom, I have malaria," she informed me, sounding small and tired. "They tested me last night and it was positive. I got sick two days ago and have never felt so wretched in my life."

She went on to describe her burning fever and relentless pain that wracked every inch of her body. She'd been unable to sleep the past two nights because of the pain--she told me that just the pressure on her skin from lying on her cot was unbearable.

"Mom, I'd get up at night and go sit outside and cry--I wanted to talk to you so bad."

So I told her about my strange illness and how the Lord had used my fever to prod me to pray for her. We were both amazed to realize how our sicknesses coinincided--and how I'd felt led to pray for her during her most painful and desperate times.

Candyce has almost finished her malaria treatment and was told that she'll feel better in a few days. Her specific prayer was that she'd be recovered enough to travel to Uganda on Saturday, to prepare for her long trip back home on May 20th.

So, even if you aren't running a fever, please keep my girl in your prayers!

randomonia

this post will be a scattered rambling of recent events . . .

Hiked to Angel's Rest yesterday, which is a rock outcropping overlooking Columbia Gorge. Beautiful day, lots of people out soaking up the sunshine. A chippie tried to lure Scout to her death at the top, but in all we had a lovely hike. My knees didn't hurt at all and this time last year I thought I might have to give up my favorite sport because of the pain.

Speaking of healing, I am sleeping like a pro again! For three weeks now, I've enjoyed deep and blissful sleep without drugs or even herbal sleep aids. Even the crazy frogs in our backyard and midnight calls from Candyce don't keep me awake these days--truly a miracle! The Lord may have just gotten tired of my whining and fixed whatever was out-of-whack in my sleep-deprived body, or I may have stumbled on the "cure"--calcium! Yep, that well-known and inexpensive supplement. A friend told me to give it a try 3 weeks ago and I started taking two caps each night before bed. And voila, I'm sleeping!

I also started on a second hormone med about 6 weeks ago and my doc upped my bio-identical hormones a bit. So my sleepy wonderland could be the result of several things. I told Greg this week that my body feels more balanced than it has for years. Ahhhh, thank You, Lord!

Speaking of late-night calls from Candyce, she woke me up from a dead sleep two nights ago and we chatted for nearly 10 minutes! I'd been in such a deep state of slumber that my mind never really did kick in and I couldn't think of all the things I really wanted to ask her. But she jabbered away happily while I listened. She's in Juba and loves it (Juba is the capitol of South Sudan), she can't find her plane ticket (yikes!), she hasn't been sick at all (except for homesick). She didn't get to meet Stephen's mom yet, but did meet quite a few of his extended family members. She's heard from an itinerant evangelist that God continued healing people even after they got kicked out of the refugee camp.

Then the phone went dead, as it always does when the minutes run out, and I finally thought of all the questions I needed answered. But I fell right back to sleep and woke up the next morning wondering if it had just been a dream. But Candyce had changed her facebook status to something about Juba, so I knew I'd actually talked to my daughter . . .


Speaking of dead--NOTHING I'VE PLANTED IN THE TUB 'O GRUB OR MY YARD HAS DIED!!!!! The curse of my not-so-green-thumb has been lifted and my precious little crops have survived. I've made two salads from greens I planted in the hot tub and everything else seems to be flourishing. I've moved my plants around a bit as I've noticed them not caring much for shade or sun and they've really seemed to appreciate it. The tomatoes seem the most finicky--at first, they drooped because it was too cold for their liking, but now they are drooping because of the warmth of the sun (and we are only talking feeble a.m. sun, mind you). The tomatoes are all in pots and I've been bringing them in at night, moving them in and out of the sun, trying to keep them happy.

But it's May now and it's time for them to get with the program.

Speaking of programs, I helped Linds address her wedding invitations last night. They are beautiful, painstakingly designed and created by Lindsay, Nich and friends. Unfortunately, she spent so much time and effort on the invitations' appearance, that she overlooked vital information--like where the wedding will take place! And by the time she realized this omission, over half the invitations had already been mailed! But not to worry, she just made up little post cards that could be mailed separately or added to the invitations still waiting to be sent.

I told Linds this was actually a brilliant move. She's been so stressed about too many people at the wedding (actually, at the reception. That facility is about 1/2 the size of the church where the ceremony will take place). So why not invite people to the wedding and not tell them where it is? It kind of made sense to me.

Speaking of Lindsay, we are going to a rummage sale/craft show at a hip restaurant in Portland today. I love this crazy town! We can eat gournet mac n' cheese and rummage through other people's stuff at the same time--how awesome is that?