I'm Making a List

I know, I know. We all do it. There is something irresistible about it. We look at that big blank calendar for the new year, and think of all the possibilities. So we sit down and write out some resolutions. I do it and you do too, right? Sometimes I do okay, but there are years I am a miserable failure. Still, I figure it's better to at least try to "reform" , then just sink into complacency. So here I go again with my New Year's resolutions. At my age, I try not to make them too hard. In another words, they are possible.
1. Sometime this year, I hope to add in weight-lifting to my fitness routine, if finances allow. I figure adding to my muscle/bone mass can only be good for me.
2. I want to lose 4 more inches around my waistline in order to take me out of the high-risk group for diabetes and cardiac disease. this is possible, as I have lost 4 1/2 inches this year!
3. João and I will work through Jaime and Judith Kemp's devotional book in the mornings in our devotional times together.
4. I will try to follow Robert Murray McCheyne's Bible reading plan. This is my most ambitious of all. It's a tough plan to follow, but I chose it because it is so different. It begins the year reading all the beginnings - a chapter in Genesis (beginning of all beginnings), Matthew (beginning Jesus' ministry), Acts (Primitive Church beginnings) and Ezra (rebirth of Israel after her captivity). Four chapters is a lot to concentrate on, but I'll give it a shot. If I find it too distracting, I'll go back to my plan of studying a Psalm everyday.
5. João and I will begin writing our devotional book for couples - 365 meditations. I hope to at least finish 3 of my 6 months.
6. After exploring the art mediums of acrylics and oil painting, by the end of the year I will define in which area (or even areas), I plan to invest in with my art (specialization) instruction- grafite, colored pencil, pastel, watercolor, oil, acrylics, or painting or drawing.
7. Carry through on my commitment to teach an English Sunday School class every Sunday. (It starts this Sunday. Starting is easy. Hard is finishing.)
8. Invite two couples per month for supper. These two couples would be from our church leadership (if they are not married, I would invite two singles).
9. Work harder at completing things around the house - if I use a glass, I'll wash it, if I use clothes I'll put them away. I want to stop just laying things down to "get to them later". I don't want to let them accumulate and get out of hand. Having a twice a month cleaning lady helps with this resolution.
10. Although I am timid on this one, I want to try harder to consciously mentor young women. I tried last year and wasn't totally successful, but I did give it a start, at least. My mentoree moved away! I believe God will send me the right person (s).

Not too many, right? Not so hard. How about you? Will you have an resolutions? Will you keep them?

16 years and what do you get?

Another day older and deeper in love!

On Monday we will be celebrating our 16th wedding anniversary. I can’t believe it, can you? Here in Brazil, it is called the Sapphire celebration. Sapphire’s meaning, of course, is blue. (By the way, I will accept all sapphire gifts you wish to shower down on me). I know in the North American psychology blue is not a good thing, as in to be “blue”, but here in Brazil, it is just the opposite. If all is “blue”, that means all is going well. We paint things blue to represent calmness and tranquility. I would have to say that would be a good evaluation of our life together – tranquility and joy. We so enjoy our lives together and it seems we make such a good fit. Waking up each morning, married to João is a constantly renewed joy for me. Thank you, God, for this gift to me. I am grateful everyday!

No Grinch Here!

Our Christmas celebration yesterday was, once again, a reminder that the “grinch” will only steal your hope and joy if you let him! Pearl and her daughter Sandra invited us to spend Christmas day with them. I had been a little disappointed that I had been unable to work out having a table full of people for Christmas dinner, so when we received the invitation, I took it as providential. It was, since I came down with severe gastroenteritis. I still am not eating anything except mashed potatoes (well, today I added mashed carrots) and mint tea. I am not contagious, or even feeling sickly, but certainly not up to cooking a big meal.

Pearl was so excited that João and I were coming, that she couldn’t sleep. I felt so very honored by that. She has been confined to bed for a long time and apparently her only real sadness is not being able to get out to church. She listens on the radio, or watches on the internet, but it is not the same thing. Our presence seemed to symbolize the church body being present to her. Her joy and laughter were contagious and we had so much fun. I couldn’t eat much. She couldn’t come to the table. But who cared? We celebrated the joy of Christ’s birth that was so much more real to me in that moment than in a million pieces of pumpkin pie! It was a moment of real communion, with God and my fellow man. Nothing or no one can ever take away that joy – ain’t no economic crisis big enough for that!!!!

Feliz Natal and Merry Christmas

João, Mia and I, on this Christmas morning, wish you and yours a wonderful Christmas celebration. As you can see, Mia’s favorite place to sleep is under the tree. I hate to take it down, as she will really miss it. She had a fun time jumping in and out of wrapping paper and boxes last night, so who says cats don’t enjoy celebrations?

João and I had a nice and quiet and enjoyable Christmas eve together. I had brought back presents from my family in the US, so we had fun opening them. We also had presents from friends, church members and the girls. It was an abundance! My husband suffered immensely, but he drug himself out to the shopping center yesterday (all by himself!)

and found a present for me. It was a surprise and I loved it. I guess you can’t miss with jewelry, right? I am holding it in the photo. It is a 18k tulip on a gold chain. I just loved it. I must say I was very happy!

For João (and me too!), the big gift was a sound system. I pooled together money from my family for him and for me and bought a CD/MP3 player. Oh so modern, you can even plug in any USB device to play music. I miss the good old days of just plugging in and turning on anything electronic, and we spent a long time getting it all configured. But we had fun the rest of the evening playing the radio, CDs and even hooking up the MP3 player. Hope the neighbours didn’t mind as we tested out the volume!

In a short while we will be going out to Christmas lunch as a member’s house and are looking forward to that.

Although we emphasize the food and presents, I know you know that is not the most important thing to us! We love Christmas because it means that Easter is coming. If Jesus had not come, then there would be no redemption story. I share one of my favorite Christmas verse:

Have the same attitude among yourselves that was also in Christ Jesus: In God's own form existed he, And shared with God equality, Deemed nothing needed grasping. Instead, poured out in emptiness, A servant's form did he possess, A mortal man becoming. In human form he chose to be, And lived in all humility, Death on a cross obeying. – Philippians 2:5-8

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2008

My own tulip festival in the middle of winter

Today I had my last art class of 2008 and I pushed to finish the project I’ve been working on all month. I went slow and easy, afraid of destroying my work. I like doing flowers, so I chose this photograph of tulips. It really is a gorgeous picture and I loved it immediately. My problem was trying to actually make the watercolors look luminous and bright, and also try not to be too realistic or detailed. My teacher says my style is absolutely not abstract, that I am too well behaved with my brush. In another words I am not totally comfortable with a brush. I try too hard and my work is very “contained”. This was supposed to be a loose, sort of abstract work. I started off that way with the leaves, and then I just loved trying to do the tulips with light and color and got carried away. Frankly it’s really the first water color I’ve done that I really like. I think I’ll even put it in a frame. I like the glow and I like the dark background (that she tried to persuade me not to do!). She has suggested I try doing several larger works for framing in my apartment. I might just take her up on that idea. I finally think there is hope for watercolors, which is a huge step for me, as I seriously considered chucking the whole medium. I hated it at the beginning. I do want to get back to pastels, though, as I just loved them and only did one drawing. Maybe I’ll take a whack at these tulips…

P.S. Don't forget to respond to my poll at the left.

Christmas Cantata

Yesterday, Sunday, before the evening service, the children did their Christmas cantata. It was interesting idea, as a group of children imagined how Christmas was from the point of view of the bugs. So as you can see, we had spiders, bees, fleas, lightning bugs and even ladybugs.

It’s hard to believe when we first came to the church and the children’s choir sang, there were only about 10 kids or so. The children’s worship team has done quite a job integrating the children from the “invasion" next door and the kids who come to church. In addition, one of our seminary students does local evangelism and has been able to add a lot of kids of live nearby.

The cantata involved about 90 children if you can believe that. It was quite a production to get things rolling, as a goodly portion of the kids don’t count on parental support or help. When you do a project like this, that is so important. So it was necessary to buy the uniforms, and do the make-up at church (I helped with the ladybugs). There was an all afternoon practice on Saturday. We provided the kids with a supper. I even chipped in with a pot of rice. Some of these kids only get a decent hot meal at school or church. After the practice, they gave everyone a backpack full of school supplies (our new school year will start in February), as that’s what the kids wanted for Christmas. It was a quite a job for Clare (our coordinator) to raise the money and buy all the supplies for 100 children!

The neat thing about this cantata is that each type of bug sang their presentation and so everyone didn’t have to learn everything! Of course at the end, everyone sang everything. It was pretty impressive seeing that many kids.

They ended up bringing “Mom and Dad” and their aunts, uncles and cousins, so even at 5PM, the church was almost full. You know how parents are when their kids sing. We even had a priest present… I think the kids or their parents told him about it. He liked it and even stayed for the evening worship afterwards. In fact most folks stayed, so our Christmas service was quite full. It was a contemporary service, with typical Brazilian music, although we did close with Silent Night, complete with falling rose petals from the ceiling.

In our morning service the main sanctuary choir did pieces from the Messiah, so it was quite a contrast! Made for a great Sunday. We won’t be doing services on the 24th or 25th, as we decided not to swim against the current. No one complained. We did provide folks with a program for a home worship service. We have no fancy plans for Christmas day, since this is the year the girls will go to their mother’s house. Christmas, however, is always special as we celebrate Jesus’ birth.

Sound of Music

João, Elly, Bernardo and I had a rewarding and delightful evening yesterday. Elly was able to get discounted tickets for us to attend the Brazilian "broadway version" of the Sound of Music. The tickets are quite expensive since it is a topnotch production with all the bells and whistles. We were thrilled when she found this special bargain and we could accompany her and her boyfriend.
I even got to wear my brand new shoes. A friend from church took me out shoe shopping in the afternoon and bought me a new pair of shoes for Christmas. I just love them. Ever so comfortable and cute!!!
This close to Christmas, on a Friday night I was a little concerned about traffic over to the other side of town, as well as parking at the shopping center. It turned out to be no problem at all and we arrived an hour early, so we had time to enjoy some delicious crepes at a restaurant, before the show began.
The show didn't start until 8:30, and since it was a three hour production, that meant a late night for us old folks, but we were so enthralled, we didn't even feel the late hour.
From the very beginning, I couldn't help doing some comparison between the theatrical production and the movie I know and love. It was also fascinating to hear my old favorites translated into portuguese. The adaptation was fabulous. I ended up liking it better than Hollywood's version (what else is new?). It took me back to Indianapolis when I was 13 and went downtown to see the movie. I think I went with my grandparents and they bought me a souvenir book of the movie. I read and looked at the pictures for hours on end. I was given the sound track record some time later and I listened to it so often I actually wore it out. I knew the story and songs by heart. I dreamed of the day I would discover my romantic Captain Von Trapp too. At one point in the play, when Maria and the Captain discover they are in love, I even got all sappy. I turned to João and told him he was my Captain Von Trapp. It's nice when you get to live the happily ever-after of your childhood.
I was so impressed with quality of the singers,the excellent sets and special effects, as was the rest of the family! From these photos (lifted from the play's website) you can see the quality of the production.
As an additional bonus, on the way home we got a long, good look at the gigantemous (no, that is not a word, but you get the drift) floating Christmas tree out on the lagoon. Since it was after midnight, we didn't have to fight the horrendous normal traffic. It really is quite a show with the lights changing colors and formations.
It made for a memorable Friday. Was yours as fun?

Art Expo

Look, Mom, and I helped! My art teacher is having an exposition of her students' work. Each student got to submit one piece. My how her studio has grown from just 4 students that we started with. I never know who will be in class these days. I didn't have time to really attend, I just stopped in to drop off my art and then take a photo of everyone's work. It's really quite impressive. Look what the world would have lost in terms of beauty if none of us had studied with Gabi. Cool, huh? Don't forget to click on the pictures so that you can see them in a larger view in another window.

This is Summer????

Since we are on the other side of the equator, we are entering into summer and this week it was really hot until today, when we had the picnic with all the church employees. As you can tell by my photo, I spent the day all wrapped up in a blanket, as I was freezing to death. It was rainy/cloudy and windy and we were out in the “country” where the wind came “whistling down the plains”. Despite the shivers, we all had a good time. We had a great barbeque lunch and lots of fun playing games, talking and generally playing around. As you can see by the two photos (men and women), we have a lot of church employees. They include, of course, the staff from our school. It was a long day, as we had to drive about 90 minutes to get there and back. The picnic was at the church’s camp. It is pretty much undeveloped there, but right beside it, some church members have a small apt. building with efficiencies, where they spend their vacations.  One of my favorite things is the fish pond. I know, I must be incredibly simple-minded to stand and feed fish and watch them eating. But I did enjoy it. I also enjoyed swinging. What can I say?  I never grew up.

It’s a busy time of year for everyone with so many activities for the end of the year and Christmas. I still don’t know why we try to cram all our parties into one month of the year. When I saw Mia lazing under the tree this morning, I thought to myself, that’s how I want to live this Christmas season: slow and easy. So take it slow and easy yourself.

Cats Are Cool

HAVING FUN

As you know Sadik and I live in Canada where we have five or six months of very cold weather. During most of that time, Sadik doesn't go outside very often since it's so cold. It even seems like it understands that because once the cold weather starts, he pretty well stops asking to go outside. But that attitude changes once the weather begins to warm up and the snow melts. I don't know if he feels the sunshine and the longer days, or if he knows by instinct, but once springtime arrives he starts sitting by the backdoor begging to go outside again. When I open the door, he practically knocks me over to get outside. He immediately runs to the end of the yard where he climbs halfway up the tree and then jumps back down again. Then he runs and sniffs all the flowers, and nibbles on the grass. He chases the squirrels and birds and generally plays until he is tired and lays down under one of the trees. Although he is not a young cat, he seems like a little kitten who is all play and fun.

Near where Sadik likes to run and play, in our backyard, is a grade school. I can see and hear the children playing everyday at recess and at lunchtime. They seem as happy as Sadik, as it is a huge grassy area where they can play. They throw balls, play games, jump and run and do lots of screaming. First thing in the morning, when Sadik hears the children playing he runs to the door, starts crying and looking longingly at the door as if to say: “Let me go outside and play with the children”. I go with him and the children love to look at him and watch him play through the fence.

As I told you, Sadik is no baby kitten, since he is six years old. That is like being 51 in people years. That means he's close to my age. So neither Sadik nor I are little kids anymore. That doesn't mean, though, that we can't have a good time like kids do. Sadik has reminded me how much fun it is to play. In fact, I have bought a bicycle and I am remembering the fun of riding my bike.

It's great to be a kid and it's really fun to play too. It's sad to me to see “grown-ups” who have forgotten how to have fun. It's even sadder to me to see kids who have forgotten to play with friends, run, jump, climb trees, ride their bikes and play games. I think it's just fantastic to remember that Jesus was child just like you and me. When Jesus grew up, he didn't forget the joy of being a child. He liked jokes, friends, and parties. He also liked being with children. I like to imagine that he is joyful when he sees children running and jumping and playing, having a good time.

Seeing Sadik having a good time playing outside, makes he give thanks to God for my good health that allows me to also play outside. It also makes me give thanks to him for fun, for joy, for enjoying life. I hope you don't just stay inside watching TV, playing on the computer or enjoying video games. I hope you get outside (even in the cold) and enjoy the wonderful world that God gave to us.

For that reason, I am going to stop writing and go outside and enjoy playing with Sadik. Why don't you find a few minutes to do the same thing?

I Habe a Cold

Bery wonduhvul day. Bad cold and dentist. I can’t breave and dentist fills my mouf wid coddon and odder stuff. Do you understand? Id is nod a good day, no… Now I habe a cold and a toofache. Nod a habby camper. I wend to bed for resd ov day and worked on my drawing ov a cad. That made me much habbier. I like mai siamese cad I did in colored bencil.

Seriously, I did come home from Vitória with a cold and everyone is laughing at the way I talk. I don’t feel that bad, but I sound pretty funny. And I did hit the dentist today. Gotta love having dental work done here. My original crown fell out in June and today I got the final crown glued in. It took, well, let’s see… a visit to put in cement and let that sit for a month to see if I needed a root canal (no, I didn’t). So then I go back to have the tooth drilled out and a temporary crown made. Then I return to have an impression made. I return to have the crown glued on and it shatters into a million pieces. I go back and have the tooth drilled out further and make another temporary. Then I go back to make another impression. Then I return for a fitting of the metal undercrown. Then I return to do a color match on the porcelain crown. Then I return to have the whole shooting match glued in. Only 9 visits, not counting the two times I had to run in and have the temporary re-glued. Along the way I had two other teeth filled and had minor gum surgery (all on separate occasions). Since I so LOVE going to the dentist (NOT!!!!!), ask me how much I enjoyed all this. Today the glue has sent my nerves into raging pain and I am hoping this doesn’t mean something bad for the tooth, since it hasn’t hurt at all through all this!

Our trip to Vitoria was just grand. We enjoyed the church where João preached. (The photo to the left is of the church - I have no photos because mysteriously my camera's battery was not charged, although I had fully charged it before travelling. But my niece did send me a photo of our family she took in front of the church.) His family came out each night and that was great as well. Many of the young people I worked with in Vitoria came to the church to see us and I was just ecstatic to get to see them and their children. I was in my early 30’s and they in their late teens/early twenties back in the 1980’s, so now we are all middle aged. It meant so much to see them. It is great to live long enough and stick around enough to get to see some of the results of your ministry. My time in Vitoria was so very short, around four years, and I’ve been gone for 20 years, so it’s amazing to me that anyone still remembers. It was a great reminder of the blessings of ministry and how important it is to be faithful to calling we have been given.

PS: To my non-native English speaking readers, I am sorry for the first paragraph. It is written in "cold" dialect. Just read it outloud and try to imagine how someone with a cold sounds! (Substituting "v" for "b", "th" for "d" or "f", "s" for "d", etc.

PSS: Next day - no more talking funny and no more toothache. And thanks so much for your "reactions" to my blog. That helps me a lot.

We’re off, but not to see the wizard

Just a note to let you know we are off to Espírito Santo, where João will be preaching over the weekend. I will also speak to the women of the church. I remember vividly searching to buy the land for this church back in the 1980’s, as the city of Vitória was growing out in this direction and there was no Baptist church in the neighbourhood. It was really hard to find a piece of property. But buy it we did (the State convention in partnership with the mission board) and now the church is celebrating it’s 20th anniversary. I am looking forward to seeing old friends as well as João's family and generally enjoying staying on the beach! (Oh the sacrifices of ministry!)

Just so there would be something to look at, in case you don’t like reading without illustrations, I am including two of my recent art efforts. To the right is a Macaw, done with colored pencil, a medium I am really struggling to dominate. It is a very precise medium, but in this study (it is very small, about 4x6), I feel like I made some breakthroughs in blending without making a hole in the paper.

To the left are two watercolors I did in class last week, with the specific assignment of doing something stylistic (not realistic) in only 15 minutes. The two paintings are of the same scene, one a general picture and the other an enlargement. I both like and dislike the watercolors. They were actually fun to do, but I felt they look very childlike or primitive. Believe it or not watercolor is a similar method to colored pencil, in that you do layers. What I just can’t seem to get the hang of, is leaving “white” around the edges and emphasizing the highlights. I am missing this week’s class, but I think that next week we will be working more on that. Oh, there is so much to learn and I am so slow to catch on!

Sleepy time

"Sadik! Quiet. Sh-h-h-h-h-h! We are trying to sleep.” It was 3AM and Sadik was meowing very loudly. And in my ear. Unfortunately Sadik liked to sleep by day and play at night. The problem was that I “played” by day and slept at night. It was a serious problem and no one was very happy in our household.

I started thinking to myself: “My, oh my, how Sadik and I are so very different.” As a general rule, most cats do like to sleep in the daytime and stay awake at night. I think that's because they have special eyes that let them see better in the dark than my eyes. Their whiskers also help them to navigate at night. That helps the cats to be wonderful nighttime hunters. God gave the cat the ability to find food that way.

That's not all that's different about us. Have you ever noticed how a cat sleeps? They sleep almost awake. That is to say, that even sleeping a cat is alert to what is going on around him. If you move a little or try to touch a sleeping cat, he will immediately open his eyes. He knows what's going on around him while alseep. That is one way a cat can protect himself from danger. He gets his rest, but at the same time he can run from an enemy.

There are lots of other differences between Sadik and me as well. He sleeps all curled up with his nose touching his tail. I could never sleep forming the letter “O” with my body because my back bones wouldn't let me do that. I am not as flexible as a cat is.

Neither can I jump like a cat. Sadik can jump from the ground straight up to the kitchen sink, or even the refrigerator if he want to. It's really incredible to see how high a cat can jump. For that matter it's pretty neat to see how a cat can squeeze into tight spaces, as well. Sadik can wiggle underneath the couch, even as big as he is. I can barely fit under the bed! Nor can I fly. Well, Sadik can't really fly, but it looks like it when he comes running, jumping from the sofa to the table to the chair, as if he were flying. All of these characteristics are important so that he can climb trees, run quickly, hide away if necessary, hunt for food, etc.

Something everyone notices about Sadik is his beautiful long fur. It is so soft that it is like silk. It's hard to resist hugging him and petting him. Although I have never given him a bath, he stays clean and smells good. That's because he bathes himself with his tongue. He has so much fur that it takes him a long time. Have you ever been licked by a cat? Their tongue feels like sandpaper. God made it that way so the cat can clean his own fur.

Besides being beautiful , Sadik's fur is useful. It's really really cold where we live in Canada. Although he is not especially fond of cold weather, every once in a while he likes to go outside for a couple of minutes. His fur protects him while he is outside. It's his own personal fur coat. Sadik even has special fur between his claws, on his paws that help him walk on the snow and ice.

God made Sadik in a very special way. If he made a cat with such care, imagine how he made you and me! Isn't it just fantastic the think about how God made us in such a special way? Just thinking about all I can do makes me want to say thank you to God.

By the way, we finally came up with a solution for our little problem of not being able to sleep at night because Sadik made so much noise. We were able to make a space for him to sleep in the basement of the house where he would have food and water, his bathroom and plenty of space to run and play at night. We even put in a bed for him where he could rest when he got tired of playing. During the day, he and I play together a lot. He chases after his play mouse and the ping-pong balls, we run up and down the steps and he sleeps in my lap or right beside the computer. At night, when I am in bed asleep, he eats and plays and makes all the noise he wants, without keeping me awake. Isn't that great that God gave me a brain to work out that solution?

Tired and Happy

I am almost too tired to post, but have only 7 more minutes until Thanksgiving is over and I wanted to say how grateful I am! God has given me so many blessings this year. It has been a wonderful year and I am full to overflowing with gratitude. Today we celebrated Thanksgiving at my house with our family and one other family as well (our minister of music). I worked really hard preparing the food (all from scratch) and decorating the house as well. It was so worth the effort. We had lots of food and lots of visiting and a very nice worship time at the end. I enjoyed it all. It was nice to have children present, something I missed last year. Mia made her presence known passing under and around our feet and knees. She loved the children and adored all the cuddling and attention. So she too had a great Thanksgiving. I have so many blessings, that I would never finish this entry if I were to count them all. Tomorrow I will try to write about some of those blessings. For tonight it is a big thank-you, to the readers of my blog. Most of all it is thank you to God Eternal for my life and salvation. Happy Thanksgiving.

Feedback, please

The other day we had friends over for lunch. Sebastião was João's roomate in seminary, but they also grew up in the same town in Espírito
Santo. Sebastião and his wife, Rosali, were missionaries in South Africa, so now that they are back in Brazil, we try to get together when they are in Rio. We all have a lot in common and enjoy our visits. And in this photo you can see why I don't really consider myself all that short here in Brazil! I love being around people who make me feel a normal sized person.
I just discovered a new feature on blogger and since I love "new" things, I thought I'd try it out, in one more "desperate" attempt to get some feedback. Some of my readers (like you Donna - hey thanks) comment on the blog and some others send e-mails (thanks Carol and Marilois), but I know most people, for many reasons don't comment. I understand. I am a regular reader of several blogs and I myself never make a comment. Now, however, at the end of each entry is a place where you can check off your opinion of that particiular piece. It is anonymous and easy. Just click on the box that describes your reaction to what you have read. You'll notice I don't give you a chance to say anything unkind - I'm not that brave, but you do get to opine about whether you found it only ho-hum, somewhat interesting, or WOW! Try it out sometime. It won't hurt and it make help me as I decide what to include on my blog.

Scaredy Cat

Sadik was all comfy in my lap when my husband turned on the vacuum sweeper. Wow! What a reaction I got. Sadik was panic-stricken. He scrambled off my lap so quickly that he scratched me, something he never does. He was so startled and afraid that he totally disappeared for over an hour.

To tell the truth, most cats I know are afraid of noise. All you have to do is turn on a hair dyer, or the blender and Sadik, or most other cats, is hiding under the living room couch.

When I lived in Brazil, Baby and Dolly were terrified on December 31^st. Do you know why? On that night, at least in Rio de Janeiro, all kinds of fireworks go off. They are loud and long. Usually I didn't see the cats again until the afternoon of January 1^st and even then they were wary and their whiskers full of cobwebs. The two cats hid somewhere in the house that no one could find them at all.

Do you know why Sadik, and Baby and Dolly are so afraid of noise? I think it's because their mother taught them to be afraid. A loud noise could mean DANGER. It could mean an enemy was approaching or that they could be hurt by something. We know that a vacuum sweeper or a blender aren't going to hurt a cat and certainly are not the enemy, but Sadik doesn't know that. Early in his life he learned that a loud noise represented danger and so he runs from it. Poor little Sadik. I could explain things to him, but he wouldn't understand my words. He can't control his fear, so he lives being startled.

I surely am glad I am not a cat. Can you imagine how it would be to live being terrified everytime you heard a blender? Still, I must confess that there are things I am afraid of. I am afraid when I hear strange noises in the night. When that happens, do you know what I do? I pull the sheets up over my head I figure if I can't see anything it can't harm me. I act a lot like Sadik, don't I? I don't fit under the couch in the living room, but I do fit under the covers in my bed. I could act differently than Sadik, trying to stop and think a little bit about the noise. Even better than that, I could talk to God: “God, I don't know what that noise is, but it makes me afraid. You told me that whenever I am afraid, to trust in you, so I am asking you to help me to trust in you. Help me to remember that you will take care of me. Help me to give away my fear to you!” When I actually pray that way, do you know what happens? I go to sleep. Really. My panic goes away. I don't have to hide or feel such terrible panic. It is such a wonderful feeling knowing I can relax and trust God.

I enjoy Sadik, as my pet, but I am glad I am me and not him. I don't have to live my life running away from noises. I don't have to hide when I am started. I can run to God and He give me the peace and calm I need. With God's presence I am no “scaredy-cat”.

And Fun Was Had By All

Today is a holiday in our state of Rio, so our church had an outing at a farm about an hour out of town, at the foot of the mountains. Although yesterday was rainy and chilly, today there was actually sunshine, although the clouds did move in early afternoon. The temps were quite nice today. So João and I drove out to the "sítio"(farm) where are folks were and enjoyed ourselves immensely. It was a lovely spot, the company was good and nature cooperated. After leaving there, we drove a short distance to visit a church member who was at their weekend cottage. It was a surprise visit and we all had a lot of fun drinking coffee, eating (what else?) and just visiting. Since we are daylight savings time now, it doesn't get dark until about 7:30, so we got home a little before eight, not having to travel in rainy dark weather.
I took a lot of photos of flowers and even had time to do a sketch of one flower. I hope to draw it in graphite, colored pencils, pastels and water colors to show the difference of the various mediums. I put together some of my photos from the day, together with a hymn and thought you might enjoy watching/listening to it. I wish you a day as beautiful and as relaxing and as much fun as ours.

No Grandma Moses

As you can see, I am no budding Grandma Moses. I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that watercolor will not be my specialty. But I am nothing if not stubborn. Believe it or not, it is very similar to the use of colored pencils, of which I am also not a great fan. Exactly for that reason, I just keep plugging away. I don’t think I like “exact” things. I love charcoal and pastels and graphite because they are very forgiving. You can smudge and smear and blur and still have a great effect. If you work too hard on colored pencils you bore a hole in your paper. (I am famous for having a heavy hand!) With water colors you just get a mess. Things tend to run. Also I am having a hard time mixing colors. I just can’t get the tones I want. So much to learn and such a little bitty brain!

Here are some of my latest efforts. The daisies were surprisingly easy. The boat was hard, but then I didn’t enjoy drawing a boat! Since I love flowers, I tried the tulip. It may look easy, but it was days of work, layer after layer of colors. I know I got the shadow too big on the flower, but that was because of a bleed – too much water on my brush.

If I ever get completely over my sinus infection, I’ll go back to doing pastels – with a dust mask, but I just don’t want to risk it right now. I bought a couple of great books the other day at the mall, so I am doing research on the subject right now. I also plan to do some more study on color theory. In the meantime, I have to work on some writing projects, so my paints will dry for a few days. Right now it’s time to go do my Leslie Sansone walking DVD. Three miles today!!!!

A Tropical Snowman?

Don’t you just love our creativity?

Today, our day off, we went to the mall and had lunch at Applebee. The mall is already decorated for Christmas and there was a line of mothers with their babies to take photos with Santa! But I got the biggest kick out of seeing the snowmen scattered around the mall. Wait? What country am I in? Oh yeah, I’m in Brazil. I am sweating (even in the air-conditioned mall) and there stands Frosty. By all rights he should be a little puddle of water. And I ask, what does this image have to do with Rio de Janeiro? (I should really be asking what it has to do with Christmas as well.) I know I have a collection of snowmen I decorate with, but after all I am an American with all my traditions. How do you think Brazilians relate to peppermint sticks (which don’t exist for consumption), evergreen wreaths (where no evergreen trees grow), and snowmen (in a city where 65 degrees is our COLD winter weather). Oh the joys of globalization. So I had to take a photo on my cell to let you know Frosty has come south.

Floating Away in the Music

Last night… well last night was SO special. The month of November is the month of music in Brazilian churches. Our music minister has promoted several concerts in our sanctuary. Last night was the inauguration of our grand piano (full) that had been in restoration for a long time. We have been using our baby grand (1/2 grand) in the sanctuary. They brought in the full and baby grand and put them head to head. A former member, who is an internal concert pianist, Patricia Bretas, gave a concert. She also played a couple of duets with a young man from our church, who is also an international pianist.

There is a popular song that says “My Soul Sang” and let me tell you, my soul really sang last night. I don’t even know how to explain how much I soared. The grand piano had so much sound and she really did make it ring. She gave technical intros to each piece that helped us to understand the structure, etc. At times I thought she must have had 20 fingers. She danced on keyboard and my heart and soul danced with her. I heard the pain and grieved with Lizst. I ran and jumped with fun with Rachmaninoff, I worshipped with Bach and appreciated Beethoven.

They ended the evening with a contemporary arrangement of “Ode to Joy” and it was so beautiful that I was sure I was going to levitate off the pew. I wasn’t sure I was still present, thinking perhaps I had floated off to heaven. Now I know why the piano has 88 keys. They are all to be played. And now I understand why someone would practice 8 hours a day. Surely made me want to run out and buy a piano and start studying again. Maybe I will one of these days.

A Book Worth Reading

I am reading, in fact close to finishing, a book that I find so compelling that I want to share it with you. I don’t do book reviews at all, but this is a book some of my friends may enjoy reading. It is called "Love to Eat, Hate to Eat", by Elyse Fitzpatrick. I can’t even remember where I read about and chose to buy it. In fact when I saw it in my pile of books that I had ordered while in the US, I was surprised. The last thing I want to read is a book on dieting. I know about diets. I know they don’t work. I know I haven’t been able to get a grip on what doctors usually call a creeping weight problem that goes along with middle-age/menopause. I don’t need anyone to tell me I need to lose weight. I am intelligent and I have mirror in my house. Nor do I need anyone to tell me to eat less exercise more or to eat more healthily. I know all that and even know how to do it. Despite my resistance, I opened the book and started reading. What do you know? No pep talks! (I went to one weight watchers meeting and all the cheery pep talk made me want to throw up.) No recipes. No weight goals.

I guess I would describe the book as a Bible study. A Bible study for all of us who struggle with food. It is not particularly a book for people who are overweight, but for those who feel that food is just too big of an issue in their life. From living with my husband I know that there really are people who just eat, and don’t give much thought to how much they eat, what they will eat or even when they will eat. It’s hard to imagine, since so much energy has gone into the whole subject of “food” in my own life. I think about it. I make plans about food. Whether it be about eating junk food or healthy food, I do tend to obsess! I am either joyful about the prospect of eating or down in the dumps because I have eaten. Guess that explains the title, huh?

And I even have rather a martyr syndrome, often complaining to God that I just don’t understand why I have to so short, with such greedy little genes that turn most things I eat into plump little fat cells. Trust me, God has gotten an earful in that area. Probably the most meaningful thing I have read is the chapter about slow steady growth in sanctification – learning to name your sin (and miraculously she does not think being overweight is a sin. The sin is letting anything, except God, to control your thoughts, actions, etc. It’s about idolatry. It’s about damaging your witness. It’s about preserving your life. It’s about being the Holy Spirit’s Temple. Well, you get the picture) and hating that sin just like God does. Me I want a quick fix and not a marathon in sanctification. I mean after so many years with this as an issue in my life you’d think it would be resolved by now, huh? God could fix this really fast, couldn’t He? Anyway, Elyse writes: “This struggle is used by God to increase your hatred of your sin and your love for Him’ it causes you to be humble and continue to rely on Him; it trains your hands for war. God has many uses for abiding sin, and we must resist the discouragement that would tempt us to seek after a different method (something quicker, easier!) than His own.” (Fitzpatrick, Elyse. “ Love to Eat, Hate to Eat” . Harvest House Publishers, 1999, pp 151-152.)

That alone would have made the book worth reading for me, but there is so much more. She has a very helpful acrostic based on the letters in D—I—S—C—I—P—L—I---N—E—D Eating, that has Bible verses to read. I especially love her emphasis on giving thanks. Frankly, a lot of what I eat doesn’t lead me to thank God, and if that is the case, I shouldn’t be eating it (like Pizza), or I need to ask Him to help me to be grateful (for boiled okra!). That really works, too.

I am making changes. I may even be slightly less obsessed with food (ever so slightly) and learning just to be grateful, enjoy the good food God has given me, have fun exercising and not worry so much about what I look like (love this quote from the book: “God didn’t create me to find joy in my reflection in the mirror. Because I’d be living contrary to God’s truth, Id never find satisfaction in that pursuit.” – p. 41.)

Teaming this Bible study up with some of what I have learned from Dr. Oz’s book on health, is changing how I eat, how I think (or don’t think so much) about food, and even my exercise patterns. Have any of you ever heard of Leslie Sansone’s DVD’s for walking in your home? What fun they are! Not hard at all, but a quick way to building fitness.

The good news in all of this is new joy, more time in Bible study and prayer, more energy, better health and this week I was surprised to find when I stepped in the scales at the pool I have lost 12 lbs. Maybe an old dog can learn new tricks after all.

“Be holy because I am holy,” says the Lord.