Category Archives: El Salvador

Love me, love my soap nuts

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You have to do something BIG for your 50th birthday.
I chose to begin life with soap nuts. 

It was destiny, destiny I tell you that the box of soap nuts arrived on my 50th birthday. I don’t usually air our dirty laundry (horrible pun) but now that it’s getting clean, let me brag for a moment about my new cleansing agent.

Do not be afraid, my friends, these are only soap nuts. 

From the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains, several pounds of the dried shells of the sapindus mukorossi trees have found purpose in the suburbs of North Carolina. Oh how I wished I had these nuts when my oldest OS was a lowly plebe just starting at West Point. My olfactory buds have suffered greatly from the mounds of West Point laundry. There have been times when I have nearly driven home from the airport with the windows in my SUV open because Nate smelled really bad. Oddly enough it wasn’t due to poor hygiene, it was his clothing. When I informed Nate that he REEKED, he expressed confusion not knowing whether it was the cheap laundry detergent he was using or the frequently used washing machines on post. I’m still in disbelief that he went to see his bonita in El Salvador with that unpleasant odor attached to his clothing. 

The Soldier and his bonita in El Salvador. He’s going there for Spring Break.
Clean your clothes well before you leave to go see her, Nate!

But perhaps I have found the solution. My chest swelled with pride when Nate came home recently and I introduced him to soap nuts. While he was a bit skeptical about Mom and one of my latest “things,” here’s what I told him about the newest addition to the family. 

This is the equivalent of at least eight loads of laundry
  • Our clothes are cleaner – Imbedded stains have nearly disappeared. Without any additional spot removers or bleach, the soap nuts are kicking stains’  butts. It’s shocking how fresh and bright our clothes and linens have become. 
  • Our clothes feel nicer – Dare I admit I now even enjoy folding clothes again? Please don’t tell anyone else in the family. The texture of our laundry is more authentic. Ungainly t-shirts hold their heads up higher, towels have absorptive confidence. Who’d have thunk?
Soaking them soap nuts

And here’s a really weird thing I’ve noticed 

  • Our clothes even sound better – As someone with sensitive hearing, sounds influence my daily life. The sizzle of popcorn after the kernels have just finished exploding delights but I’m drawn to the brink of insanity by the smacking of lips or the licking of fingers. A very prominent person in my life does the latter so I’m quite familiar with this sound. And while it might sound really strange to most people, I have noticed the laundry sounds different and I never perceived the sound of laundry until my encounter with soap nuts. 

Enjoy this brief “music” clip of my soap nuts. For artistic purposes, I included some almonds in the picture. Do not use almonds in your laundry! 😉

  • No residual odors – Have ever washed your face with a wash cloth that smells like it had cleaned an armpit? It has happened too many times to me and I’m sick of it! Especially frustrating is when I know that the towel was freshly cleaned and still throw it out because the smell has lingered. Well friends, that is a now thing of the past. With soap nuts, there is no funky smell. I cannot detect the body part previously scrubbed with any towel. 
  • Much less lint – the dryer has about a 10th of its previous lint! I guess that’s a good thing, right?
  • No odors – aside from the slight vinegar smell of the soap nuts, my nose detects no chemical odors or perfumes.
  • Fun to use – I just soak about six soap nuts in a small muslin bag, immerse them in warm water during my washing machine and that’s it. After the rinse cycle, I just hang my nuts on the knob on the cabinet until the next time. You can use the soap nuts for about 4-7 times before they are done and then I just toss them in my backyard. They are eco-friendly like that. 
“I’m taking these pants and my mom’s soap 
nuts to college!”
  • Take up less space, weigh nearly nothing – As we prepare for our middle OS to attend Moody Bible Institute in the fall, Aaron will have his own supply of soap nuts quite possibly with a small monogrammed muslin bag. 😉 I might even give them as gifts for his college bound friends. Aaron will surely be the coolest guy pursuing a ministry degree and he will have more room in his dorm. Perhaps he will even wear his homemade bibliophile pajama pants to the laundry room and send the ladies into orbit!

“I think West Point needs soap nuts!” 

Here’s some more information if you are interested in learning more about soap nuts. Many times I have purchased products and been disappointed. My experience with soap nuts (click this to see how they work) has exceeded my expectations. Thanks to my Himalayan Mountain treasures, I can now proclaim, “Bring on the stinky Soldier! Send hither the malodorous minister! Come nigh thy athletic ginger, your mother and her soap nuts await you all with open arms.”

A friend sent me this link, thought I’d pass it along. 

Wednesday remix – no more land tortoises

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So sorry for the Wednesday remix delay. I knew what I wanted to post and it was a matter of scanning the pics, etc. which always takes longer than usual.

Can you say ouch? I can. 

On a side note, I’m having elbow surgery on Wednesday. It’s not major surgery but it might delay some posting since it’s my right arm, my “writing arm.” Time permitting, I might create some advance posts in the interim.


But back to the remix… Tonight I offer my post in honor of my oldest OS who spent two weeks in El Salvador with his bonita and two weeks with the fam this summer. With all that he has accomplished as a young man, Nate has embodied the Romans 8:37 spirit in being “more than a conqueror” in so many ways. By his example, Nathan has shown me how to Do Hard Things. In recognition of our collective swimming accomplishments both past and present, behold my toe-headed boy back in 1995. 

Nearly all known floatation devices were employed. 
The only kid on the swim team with the works. No shame. 
This is sweetest sugar boy I’ve ever seen in the pool!



There is nothing more precious or inspiring than seeing your child doing something you, yourself cannot do. Replete with floaties, nose plugs, swimming goggles and a noodle, that boy persevered. He didn’t worry about how he looked, my OS just wanted to stay alive during the swim meet! Cheering from the pool side, I was crazy proud of him!

As you can see, Nate didn’t inherit his daddy’s natural love of water. At least for a short while, my OS possessed his mama’s land tortoise qualities. 


Go Nate, go! You can doey it! He has come a long way as a cadet at West Point since completing survivor swimming his yuk year. 


Then in a strange twist of genetics, I believe that this summer, I came to inherit his determination. 


Oh and I can barely believe what I’m about to tell you! It’s no coincidence that AT THE SAME POOL, I jumped again into the deep end of the pool with even less forethought. And then although lacking any semblance of finesse, I stepped/jumped off the diving board 15 times yesterday. Here’s the amazing footage and it’s ok if you laugh, just keep it to yourself. Every time I see this video, I feel incredibly embarrassed and joyful. My youngest OS informed me that I “frolicked” off the diving board. Kids these days…

Years separated our victories but we have broken through barriers. Nate was one of my heroes when he was five and will always be as a man, son and Soldier. 

Thank you, dear readers for your messages both public and private. Keep doing your own hard things, if I can do it, so can you by the power of the Lord. 

Wednesday remix – with a pull and a prayer

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Your words of encouragement in regards to my swimming victories are spurring me on! Thank you, friends and family! In subsequent posts, I want to share what I’m learning, less about swimming techniques per se, but the greater aspects of my quest for aquatic magnificence.

They have nothing to do with today’s post
but seriously, aren’t they adorable?

Oh, and love, I want to share glimpses into love between a Soldier and his bonita. But more on that later…


Until then, I came upon something I wrote eight years ago about Aaron and a loose tooth. Still brings a grin to my heart…


Call me a wimp. Call me a baby. Call me the worst mother in the world. I don’t care, I just couldn’t do it. 


Aaron’s loose tooth would have to stay in his mouth until he could pull it. I’m not a good gore person and if you haven’t seen a tooth dangling from your kid’s mouth lately, one day you’ll understand. Strange as it may seem, the Lord used this experience to draw Aaron closer to him in a real and tangible way.


Losing a tooth isn’t an easy thing for the W-H’s. Some families’ teeth casually slip out one day with nary a wiggle. Our OS’s teeth are very stubborn. They like where they live and can be freeloading tenants. Aside from myself, I’ve only assisted one person in losing a tooth.


(Enter 70’s time machine…) One day accidentally on purpose I punched my sister Lorri in the mouth during a fight in the station wagon. While our parents were out of the vehicle, I gave her a knuckle sandwich which consequently sent her tooth flying. 

No knuckle sandwich necessary in this pic!

We searched and searched but never located the tooth and thanks to my natural charm and urgent begging, Mom and Dad never found out.


(Return from time machine…) Our middle OS lost his first two teeth at the dentist’s office. With a few good yanks, the dentist produced two adorable baby teeth which Aaron happily placed under his pillow for the Tooth Fairy.

I don’t recommend Aaron as a dentist
but oh the personality!

Now with budgetary concerns, Aaron’s loose tooth would have to leave the old-fashioned way. Each morning, Aaron showed me how loose his tooth was getting. For two days, my OS lingered in the bathroom, the only tools to expel the tooth being his boyishly dirty fingers and toilet paper which he used as a gripping device. Meanwhile I stood in the hallway clutching my stomach afraid I was going to pass out. He might as well have been giving himself an appendectomy, it grossed me out so much!


With utter determination, Aaron pulled and grabbed his central incisor. Possessing all the courage an eight year old can muster, he shut the bathroom door and with amazing bravery, mightily tore at the remaining root. Free at last, free at last, the battle was won, the tooth was out!


However, that wasn’t the only time Aaron lost that tooth.

I can’t believe we still have this in the house!

At bedtime, he prepared to put it under the pillow. It was the first tooth he had ever personally pulled and suddenly, he could no longer find it. He cried and searched. We combed the house looking for it. Maybe it’s in his pants in the washing machine, I wondered so we jetted downstairs only to find soggy jeans with empty pockets. This tooth was originally placed in a special Tooth Fairy container, where was it now?


That night as Aaron lay on his bed, dejected and forlorn, he asked me to join him in prayer. Aaron led the intercession and though I don’t remember what he said, Someone did. My OS drifted into sleep hoping that God, in His mercy, would locate the missing tooth in time for the Tooth Fairy to make her delivery.

I was even more surprised to find this assortment of 
dental treasures! Why are we saving these? 

In the wee hours of the night (pun intended), I awoke at 1 am and used the bathroom downstairs. Normally I frequent the potty in the master bedroom but for some reason I didn’t and…yep,  

“You found me!”


that’s when I spotted it. Aaron’s Tooth Fairy container and the pearly white  he had misplaced in the downstairs bathroom!

Aaron woke up in the early morning with a huge smile, astonished that the Tooth Fairy had actually arrived. A crisp one-dollar bill magically was found under his pillow. He was delighted but as for me, observing what was placed in Aaron’s heart was more valuable. As I shared in his excitement, my OS told me, “I’m glad I prayed. It actually works. God is real!”



Matthew 18:19 says, “Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.” Aaron humbled himself before the Lord and received his heart’s desire. If I would have yanked that tooth on my own, perhaps he wouldn’t have seen in a very real way how the Lord values all of our supplications.


With a couple of tugs and a simple prayer, Aaron received a true wisdom tooth and a tiny, shiny bright testimony to God’s faithfulness. 


Gotta a tooth story? Ever entered a 70’s time machine? I’d love to hear!

Wednesday remix – staying pure

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I’m a day late on Wednesday remix but the message I’m sharing today is timeless. Love and purity aren’t things bound by time! Come on now!

From April 2009 – when our OS were 12, 14 and 19 years old….
This guy does think about other things besides basketball! 
On a beautiful spring day, my husband and I were going to attend the wedding of a co-worker. While running errands with my orange haired, freckle face OS looked up at the sky and commented, “This is a perfect day to get married.” It was an unexpected but lovely comment from Ike who concerns himself more with perfecting his jump shot than on mushy stuff like love and marriage. While driving with him in the passenger seat, our youngest OS also informed me that he would like a beach wedding. I didn’t know he even thought for a second about such things but my heart burst like the sun that morning.
Aaron makes a covenant with us and the Lord. 
Then in February, our 14-year-old son participated in a True Love Waits ceremony at our church. My husband and I stood alongside him and slipped the purity ring on his finger. This was our son’s decision, he was not forced or bribed to be a part of this. Aaron had chosen his ring and eagerly anticipated wearing it. Our middle OS went to school the next day and everyone noticed the ring on his finger. When asked about it, Aaron confidently explained the pledge he made to his future bride.  (He still wears it to this day!) 
We all made a promise to the Lord and each other. 
While meeting his peers at West Point back in 2009, a fellow plebe asked my son to tell him all the things he had done with a girl. 


Without preaching or sounding arrogant, Nate was careful to not speak. He didn’t want to sound hesitant or apologetic with his proceeding answer. My OS recounted to me that he just said nonchalantly,“I’m just chilling on that stuff.” My hunch is this guy doesn’t hear that response too often but according to Nate, he seemed to respect my son’s decision.  
(Fast forward three years and now he’s still holding true to his convictions. Nate is in love with a beautiful young lady, read this post and this one for the sweet story thus far!) 
Nate and Lu…they are so cute together!

During my eight years of working in the field of sexual purity, I heard so many heartbreaking stories. It would be easy to think that there isn’t a single young man with self-control and respect out there. Not true! The Hubs and I are doing our best to raise and prosper three of them! We need to encourage the boys and men in our midst to do as Scripture says in Psalm 119:9, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word.”

The beginning of our family started on September 5, 1986.
We never expected the Lord to change our hearts on so many things
and allow us reach for higher standards.
What do these three things have to do with each other? Am I merely writing these words to impress and brag about the precious family the Lord has given me? It’s true I am fiercely proud of my sons but I share this with you to give you parents of daughters a ray of hope too. There are some good guys out there. I share these brief glimpses into my family to tell you parents of sons to esteem the young men in your life and encourage them to prosper in honor and integrity. 

Cupid goes to West Point

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Chuck Norris hangs with the cadets.

Many important people have come to West Point.

Chuck Norris

and Miss USA although not on the same day…

Someone seems pretty happy to be near Miss USA!

Someone seems pretty happy to be near Miss USA!

Geraldo Rivera has stopped by WP and

so has The Prince of Orange.

"Hey everybody, I'm the Prince of Orange! How you doin?"

“Hey everybody, I’m the Prince of Orange! How you doin?”

Of course Presidents have traveled to WP and

so has Aunt Em all the way from Ohio!img_0918

Yet, I think that if you asked my oldest OS who was the sweetest person to recently stop by USMA, he’d say Cupid.

Cupid brought greetings from El Salvador!img_3498

February 14, 2011 was Nate’s first Valentine’s Day as an official “boyfriend” or as they say in Spanish “novio.”

Nate and Lu began their official dating relationship about seven months ago.

If you haven’t read any of the background story and you like modern-day fairy tales, click here and here.

I respect their relationship because it is based on the right things and they are trusting in the Lord as far as their future together is concerned.

Long distance relationships are difficult but Nate and Lu seem to make it worth. Can you say, “awww”?

From the moment I met this young lady (and I remind my OS that I met her first so he owes me BIG time), I knew she was special. You know your son has a great gf when she asks YOU for Valentine’s Day ideas. We conspired and came up with a plan. Since it is hard to celebrate this day with thousands of miles separating a couple, we enlisted the help of friends at West Point.During the day, Nate got a message that he had a package to pick up. He arrived at Central Guard Room and here’s what he received.As we all know, nothing says “Te amo“ more than a flashy Spanish Valentine’s Day card.  

Interestingly, our WP Cupid connection doesn’t speak a word of Spanish but according to Lu, the sentiments were just perfect. In addition, my oldest OS from the world’s great parents got a gift certificate to Sushi King, a sushi restaurant that also serves deli sandwiches located in bucolic Highland Falls.

If love alone could have flown Lu to West Point, I know she would have delivered her gifts personally. We pray my OS’s gf’s visa is approved in the near future. Nonetheless, we are thankful for good friends who believe in nurturing relationships between two awesome people. Last year for Nate’s 20th birthday, he also went to Central Guard Room. After hearing his name blasted over the loud speakers announcing he had a special package. We sent him this…

He traipsed back to his room with this cheerful bouquet.

I don’t know, which is better, teenybopper balloons of Miley Cyrus or the sweet love and friendship of a beautiful Salvadorena? DUH!

What makes tulips more beautiful? A beautiful girl from El Salvador!

Speaking to my OS and hearing joy in his voice is cause for year-round celebration.Check out the pretty tulips Nate sent Lu!Incidentally the Hubs gave me tulips on Valentine’s Day when we were dating.Good thing Cupid is a world traveler!
Even Nate’s Great Aunt Em stopped by WP!
The look of love? EW!
Happy Valentine’s Day 2011
The Hubs and me with our good friends who are also Cupids in disguise
Last year Nate celebrated his 20th b-day with Miley – HA!

Cooking in a Restaurant

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a pupuseria in El Salvador, doesn’t that look pretty? 

It was Saturday afternoon and Nate and I were on a mission. Much like the special training missions he goes on at West Point, my OS and I were focused and ready, steely-eyed and single-minded. Our task was significant. Nothing was going to stop us.

Our task – to procure ingredients and learn how to make a traditional Central American dish worthy of the fine country from which it hails. (Proclaimed in a loud, official voice with great gesticulation) A country whose name is on our lips more than I ever expected. A country I visited on a true mission trip from the Lord and while there serendipitously met a beautiful girl with whom my OS is now in love. The girl is Lu. The country is El Salvador, the dish, mi amigos…(cue dramatic music)

a pupusa
a real pupuseria in El Salvador
the adorable couple in El Salvador during Christmas

Nate had announced his desire to make pupusas for the family prior to arriving home for a brief visit. With two trips to San Salvador under his belt, he has embraced both his girlfriend and these thick, hand-made tortillas with gusto. A few months ago, Aaron and I happened upon a local Mexican restaurant that makes pupusas. A coincidence? I think not. Aaron was getting his driver’s permit and this restaurant is literally next door to the DMV! How convenient that it is only ten minutes from our house!

So my Soldier/OS and I drove to Tarascos Restaurant and went inside. 

Good salsa, great pupusas, lovely people!



Without hesitation, we each ordered a pupusa. A casual conversation began between us and the employees. Nate practiced his Spanish per my prodding. I think it’s so important to speak another language! As a French major, I actually understood some of the conversation. These people were warm and friendly especially when Nate explained that his girlfriend was Salvadoran. It appeared that they weren’t used to Americanos coming in and ordering pupusas.


Nate making his first pupusa

We inquired about how to make the perfect pupusa and before we knew it, the cook had invited us back to the kitchen. We had personalized instruction from Lillia who showed us how to make pupusas! Honored that she was taking the time to demonstrate the technique, Lillia invited Nate to try to make a pupusa himself. Pupusas aren’t hard to make at all but seeing her skilled hand prepare them was invaluable.
I predict that one day this guy’s gonna open up his own
pupuseria in the States! 





My little cutie-patooty and his pupusas!

So how did OUR pupusas taste? Aaron and Ike were rather unimpressed. Nate felt as if he was tasting play-dough. I didn’t think they were that bad. They were definitely better than the pupusas the Hubs tried to make a few weeks ago. Can you say “blech!” 

We did everything according to her instructions. I was a keen observer and despite the lack of flavor when we tried to make pupusas at home, we need to not give up. There wasn’t a secret ingredient mixed into the corn flour but maybe it was the seasoned griddle Lillia used, I’m still trying to figure it out.  I’m not giving up on mastering this dish though, I assure you! I just finished the book The Art of Eating In and feel more compelled than ever to master tasty, interesting, economical meals for my family. 

We are praying that one day, Lord willing, Lu and her family will come here for a very special cooking demonstration.  

Even though our pupusas weren’t as good as the ones in El Salvador and at Tarasco’s, we remain blessed and optimistic about the future of cooking and of love. When the world feels so close and people get along, it is cause to rejoice!

Ring, ring!

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If the cliche wasn’t so true, I wouldn’t use it but where has the time gone? Nate is now ring shopping!

Two cuties in El Salvador

If your heart skipped a beat, and you’re like “Wha?????” settle down there! If you imagined our OS searching for a shiny bauble for a Salvadorena beauty, I’m sorry to disappoint you. We’re not there yet.

Nate is ring shopping for himself and deciding about the type of ring he wants as a 2012 graduate of the United States Military Academy.

* June 2008 R-Day, my boy walked by us in the parade and oh how I wanted to run and grab him take him away from all these people yelling! Nate had made his mind up, he was going to West Point and I couldn’t stand in the way.

During an impromptu visit home (which aside from Ike’s flu, made it the best MLK weekend I’ve ever had!) Nate showed us the brochure featuring his ring options.

What a huge ac- complishment for our OS to be on the other side of the 48 month experience known as West Point. I sat beside him on Sunday pondering that the eager, determined teenager who entered West Point on that most notable day is now a competent, strong leader and man.

I like this figurative place as a WP mom.

You see, I’m strategically positioned to be content about all that he has done while not giving too much worry to what he’s going to do AFTER graduation. I can celebrate the cool stuff like my OS getting a ring and block out the “other things” like when and where he will be deployed. Not. going. there.

Let’s just concentrate on jewelry, shall we?

What makes a West Point ring especially significant is the symbolism literally melted in the ring.

Following the death of a West Point grad, some families, upon the bequest of the departed grad or simply to pass on tradition, donate the ring back to West Point. It’s called the Ring Memorial Program.

The ring is then melted and the shavings are used to help create a new ring.

When West Point grads receives their ring, they have a part of the men and women of the Long Gray Line with them.

* This is the march back from Buckner where Beast was held – a momentous event!

The design of the 2012 crest features two swords symbolizing the graduates going from a cadet to an officer. I will stuff my purse with Kleenex as I see this ring on my boy’s finger. Partially because it will be no small feat to get a ring over his  gi-normous knuckle and also because I will be bursting with pride.

Next year, the Hubs and I will attend the Ring Weekend. Nate will be on the receiving end of Ring Poop which thankfully has nothing to do with #2!

I will buy an expensive new dress and possibly several new outfits for the event.

The Hubs and I are attending Financial Peace University so I guess I’ll need to start saving up right now because this girl is gonna bring it! 😉 I won’t be wearing anything like this.

WOW!

Personally I like matching shoes.

But perhaps something like this?

Hmmm…This might be a little over the top but then again, maybe not!

As the mama of three sons, it’s rare for me to talk bling in this household so I’m going to cherish this moment and not hurry to the next!

The Bible in the kitchen

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I awoke one morning recently and found, for the SECOND DAY STRAIGHT!!!!,  that my OS had failed to empty the dishwasher. To put it mildly, I very much dislike emptying the dishwasher. I’ll clean a bathroom, scrub a toilet, even mop a floor but DON’T and I repeat DON’T go to school and leave me a dishwasher full of clean kitchenware. Consider yourself warned.


I didn’t go berserk because I didn’t have time. And that’s because of the next thing I saw in the kitchen. 


Check it out. 





I observed a Bible and a pair of glasses on the kitchen table both belonging to my middle OS. Let me tell you, it is really hard to stay angry about a full dishwasher when you behold this sight.



Aaron has a faithful morning ritual. At 16 years old, he wakes himself up early, brews a cup of French press coffee and reads Scripture. Specifically he awakes at 5:45 every school day and reads two chapters from the Old Testament and two chapters from the New Testament. Donned in a homemade robe I made him years ago, sipping java, Aaron and the Lord spend time together. 


When I was his age, I didn’t even own a Bible. I had a book of prayers used in the religion we half-heartedly practiced. But as a teenager, I would never had considered owning, let alone reading the Bible. It would have felt “too holy” which I know sounds completely stupid but I’m being honest. Vaguely I recall that my mom had a Bible which she kept under the bed. My dad would have teased her if he found her reading it. When he died, my mom got the Bible out from under the bed and we searched for some Bible verses to use in his funeral. 


At last count, we own at least 22 Bibles. Many of them have a sweet story about how one of us acquired a particular Bible. 

A Soldier’s Bible was given to Nate during Beast



For example, during Beast, Nate got a small, pocket-size Soldier’s Bible which helped him survive those dreadful days. 


Lu, Nate’s gf, gave him a Spanish Bible during his first trip to El Salvador. 

Lu and Nate in El Salvador

The Hubs offered one of his many Bibles to an owner of a local coffee house who said he didn’t own one. 


When my father-in-law moved locally, he blessed us with this Bible heirloom.


I love that we don’t just possess The Word. We claim it as truth. We read it, talk about it, study it. 


Things have changed in our family, the family the Hubs and I have created and our extended family too. There is no longer any shame in reading The Word. There is no awkward hush if you mention something you learned during a Bible Study. There isn’t a judgmental whisper because you believe every word to be true.

Here’s Ike holding one of his Bibles

Hebrews 4:12-13
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.


As much I want Aaron to faithfully do his morning chores, I think he has successfully mastered a much more noble task. 

When the answer is "No"

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The post I wanted to share was that a very lovely Salvadorena was coming to our house for Thanksgiving. I had grand words to share with you in the spirit of keeping this sweet fairytale going. 


But sometimes God has a different answer. Since I believe the Lord is the Author of Life, He is writing this story. So my optimistic post has changed. 


Ergh. It would have been a ridiculously happy post but as of now, the Lord has seen fit to not allow Lu’s visa to be approved. 


We are really disappointed but probably the most bummed guy in all of North America happens to be my OS…
It’s times like these where the Scripture about giving thanks in all things is put to the test. 

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

The challenge is how do I say thanks to God when I don’t like His answer? How do I say “yes Lord” when I have a son who had his heart set on the Almighty rubber-stamping his lovesick request with a big giant, “Sure Nate!” Of course, I realize there are bigger requests of a far more dire nature. Here are three families that are leaning on Jesus with each passing day. Ella’s family. Lily’s family. Adam’s wife and daughter. If I were God, I would certainly have triaged the prayer for Lu to get a visa and thought I was too busy with more important things than to concern myself with something so small when compared with these folks.  

But I’m not God. He doesn’t work like me and that incidentally is a good thing! 😉



“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.
 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9



I know the Lord heard us praying for Lu to come to visit even if it appears His answer is no. He didn’t ignore our request, He just gave it a different reply. My OS and I must rejoice that we serve a God who recognizes all prayers. I find comfort that Jesus doesn’t tell me or my OS that He doesn’t have time to listen to us. What an honor to trust and know with certainty that He hears my cries. Whether I’m in the tub, sitting at church or in my prayer closet, God inclines His ear to undeserving me. As a follower of Christ, I have constant access to the Shepherd who hears the cries of his sheep. 
Unless things change and the Lord intercedes in a big way, we will all resign ourselves to Lu not gracing our table this year. We’ll make some pumpkin pie and I’ll take some pictures and pretend that she ate a slice. Yeah, it won’t be the same but we will still give thanks even if we all have a little tear in our eyes.