psalm 43

"Clear my name, God; stick up for me
against these loveless, immoral people.
Get me out of here, away
from these lying degenerates.
I counted on you, God.
Why did you walk out on me?
Why am I pacing the floor, wringing my hands
over these outrageous people?

Give me your lantern and compass,
give me a map,
So I can find my way to the sacred mountain,
to the place of your presence,
To enter the place of worship,
meet my exuberant God,
Sing my thanks with a harp,
magnificent God, my God.

Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
Why are you crying the blues?
Fix my eyes on God-
soon I'll be praising again.
He puts a smile on my face.
He's my God."

Psalm 43 from Eugene H. Peterson The Message

Maybe all of those "loveless, immoral people", all of those "lying degenerates", all of those "outrageous people" were actually really horrible people who had nothing but evil intent. Or maybe they are just selfish young adults who think that you should stop whatever it is that you are doing in order to attend to what they want at the moment and then get angry at you when you don't. Or maybe they are just someone who swerved right in front of you and then yelled and shook their fist at you when you almost hit them. Or maybe they are just kids who look you straight in the face and lie to you so that someone else gets punished instead of them. Or maybe they are just your own kids with bad attitudes who don't want to obey. Or maybe they are just fellow believers who want to let you know that they think that you're not doing/being what God wants you to do/be after you have just opened your heart to them. etc, etc...

Why am I losing sleep, feeling anxiety, trying to fix it, when they are in God's hands and only he can bring about true change in their lives? Why am I down in the dumps, crying, feeling bad, when I know that my God is in control? When I seek him, God will show me the way into his presence, he will put a smile on my face, he will bring me to the place of worship and I will praise again. He's my God!

Angelica's a Teenager!!!!!

Angelica's 13th birthday was on September 11th. She started celebrating by opening cards and gifts from different people at Metzler Mennonite Church (she says, "Thanks to everyone!") and gifts from different family members. She's thrilled with her new camera, so now we might have more interesting pictures to post! Later we invited the live-in staff and a few of Angelica's Finca friends over for dinner and cake. Angelica insisted on baking two cakes! One chocolate cake for her and a non-chocolate one for Caleb (who will be celebrating his birthday soon), since some members of his family do not like chocolate. She also loved her gifts of clothing, jewelry, purse and other things from her friends.









































































And Andrea made her a peanut butter ice cream pie, which we all enjoyed!!

???????????

Does anyone know who this strange person is?















Ok, I'll give you a hint...




















And here's something that most people who know me would never expect to see me pouring, but when it's Dia del Nino (Children's Day) here and someone else is buying the treats... :)

new life

There have been about 200 trees planted down behind the "white house", which is the house we live in. They include eucalyptus, orange, peach, guanabana, lemon, mango, banana, plantain and papaya and maybe some more that we're forgetting. EVERYONE is waiting for the fruits of their labor! :)

beautiful things

Here's that beautiful mango tree that everyone wants to climb, especially during mango season.















Can you guess what it's hiding?











































































































We do really have a nice view from our back porch, but sometimes it takes something extra special for us to notice it again.