Scott and I have been house/ puppy sitting for the Blacks this weekend. It was a great treat to hear that they were spending Sunday night also up in Nelspruit, so Scott and I got an extra night alone. This has been one of the biggest blessings yet (other than our anniversary stay in Mbabane). And Skulky, the 9 week old Boerbel- Rhodesian Ridgeback mix puppy, has been an added bonus. He’s smaller than Sequoia was at this age, but every time he goes down for a nap, I think it’s just a chance to grow a little more. And I forgot how often puppies pee. You know that when the puppy gets up from a nap, it’s automatically time to go outside. All that napping surely fills the bladder. I just wish he liked his own toys as much as he likes my fingers, toes, and pant legs.
This has been a blessing for our marriage. Just sitting in eachother’s presence, even if we don’t say anything, has been a reminder of living alone. I’ve loved being able to cook for my husband (alone),as it was something I took pleasure in back in the States. We’ve eaten 3 squares a day (that don’t include cereal and PB&J. I’ve made eggs (scrambled, sunny-side up), burgers, stir fry, steak, and some amazing hash brown potatoes.
Saturday night around 11pm, the phone rang. It was my five bestest friends in the whole wide world. Denise, Jess, Becky (also my sister-in-law), Rachel, and Jodi. They called at the conclusion of Rachel’s baby shower… she’s expecting in August. They didn’t want to find out whether they’re having a boy or girl, so sometime in August I see pictures of either Joshua, or Ashley, or Abigail (they still haven’t settled on a girl’s name). I love the name Joshua, as it’s also one of my favorite books of the Bible. Joshua is so much more than “be strong and courageous”, it’s also a translation of the name Jesus. It’s also symbolic of going into the Promised Land, of stepping into our inheritance, of taking hold of the work God has set before us.
I believe I wrote a blog way back in January about the 42nd generation. Take a look at that one again, because we need to take hold of our inheritance every day. Can’t say I do that every day, but that’s why Scott and I needed to come on the race, to get drastic about the inheritance the Lord has offered to all of us. If I were at home and actually stepped into the Promised Land, I’d be going door-to-door, I’d be handing out free food (outreaches), I’d be praying for people, I’d be visiting people in the hospital, I’d be hanging out on the streets of Boston with the homeless. I’m sure there are lots of fatherless kids at the high school I worked at (I could even name a few), but I didn’t do anything, least of all show compassion.
Rach, I hope you don’t mind, but Joshua is on our list somewhere too (if God blesses us with a bunch of boys, we’re highly likely to have a Joshua in there). It gets harder and harder to find names when everyone gets to the baby stage of life before you. So there’s bound to be repeats… it’s actually a compliment, you did a good job picking names. Just as Scott and I still love the name Jacob ( my nephew is Jacob), and the girl’s name Lily (one of our friend’s baby). Scott has a list a mile long of all family names he wants to use, so I suppose adoption will happen at some point along the road.
I know this blog is all over the place, but because our phone call got cut off on Saturday, I feel bad that I didn’t get the story on what’s going on in your lives. I feel like I dominated the conversation a bit, answering the fire of questions and all. It was wonderful anyhow to hear your voices, and it really felt good to know that your with me along this journey. I’m so blessed to have friends who remain friends over time and distance. Trust, honesty, caring, and love. Those are the benchmarks of the friendship I have with each of these girls. We have our disagreements and arguments (sometimes we don’t talk for a couple of years), but that’s all they are, disagreements, they aren’t friendship endings, they are a small blip on the radar.
I’d love to have those kind of friendships by the time we leave the World Race. As I turn over this new leaf of actually letting people in, and doing the tough stuff of relationships, I’m looking forward to lifetime friendships (not to replace, as those 5 girls are irreplacable) to cultivate.
