Blessing Brag

 It is not often that I have several "stories" running around in my head like my husband does. Seriously, ask him sometime about how many stories he has to write. But right now I have at least 4 blog stories waiting to be told. The one I started on yesterday by copy/pasting some of my recent Facebook posts to combine was accidentally lost because I don't understand Word's desire to "recover" recent work. I assumed it was saved as I left it, NOPE. So I have now moved that one to "next in line." 

"What's a Blessing Brag?" you might be wondering.
It is when you get to brag about how God has used you to bless people. 

Blessing #1 The Printer Blessing
Probably more than a year ago we tried to sell our old printer and failed. That was because God knew that this month Dan and Lisa would need a new printer. Their old printer has worked to print off paper after paper of God's word in the village but didn't want to give anymore now that they moved to Yaounde. All our computers communicate with our old printer so we sold them the newer one. 

Blessing #2 The Bike Blessing
Maybe 6 months ago I thought we could sell the last bicycle we brought over. (Bicycles brought over are a story in and of themselves. But that is for another day.) One of the girls thought she'd still ride it some so we waited through the summer months. She never did use it again so up for sale it went. You guessed it, someone really needed a bike! Marc had been stuck walking for quite a distance sometimes to catch a ride for work. Now, after a bit of repair on the old bike he'll be on the go with less cost!

Blessing #3 The Clothing Blessing
Subtitle: Recycled Missionary Clothes: People change shape. Kids grow up. People leave. These are all reasons that we "recycle" our clothes. So as long as I can remember being here clothes have been sold and given away to other missionaries, local people, orphanages, and even to prison inmates. Our story is no different. Recently I have had an abundance of clothing to send to new homes. Maybe our shape has changed a little but mostly it is kids clothes that are no longer needed. So, I have been selling and giving clothes away since last Friday. MarieAnne bought the Tuxedo pants and jacket that Kevin used to wear for our formal event at school. (Oh, that Tuxedo, and a few others, were donations from The First Baptist Church of Atlanta that we got many, many years ago. So the story is even longer than the part I tell.) Anyway, she bought a pile of clothes from me and the Tux was in it. Her son will enjoy looking sharp. More clothes were sold to employees at school. MORE clothes were given away today to my garden helper, Elijah. And EVEN MORE clothes were given to Emelda who will send them out East to families who have next to nothing!

Blessing #4 The Combination Blessing
Through the sale of the printer, the bike, the clothes and the financial gifts of our supporters we have been able to help with three medical needs that otherwise we could not have helped with. 1) Vicky's back: hmmm, how do I summarize? Well, she'd been in pain a long time and God arranged so many details for me to be able to take her to a chiropractor and pay for her treatment. Even the chiropractor is surprised at her recovery! 2) Emelda's son: There is a problem with Joel's eyes but we really don't know what at this point. I've given her some money so they can do follow up work. 3) Elijah's son: This child has had infected tonsils repeatedly, I believe. The scheduled him for surgery and we just could not help with the cost. Normally we always try to contribute something even if it is just a small amount toward medical costs because these things are just not in the budget for many people here. But, like I said, through the sale of stuff, and more stuff, we gained a little to share. It really wasn't much more than a drop in a bucket of the cost of the surgery but Elijah was SO delighted to receive it. The young child has already had the tonsils removed and will return to school on Monday.
Oh, and there really is a 4th one that Kevin pointed out to me. All the money that comes to us is just blended together for us to live and Emelda's salary comes from that and Emelda tithes at her church and that tithe goes to help pay teacher's salaries in the North so kids can go to a "church" school instead of a government school; that is Combination Blessing number 4.

Do you have any Blessing Brags to share?

 

A Brief Travel Log

 

This is the view from my front door for the next 10 days. Not exciting, I know.  But, I could use some “not exciting” for a while. I will use the time to calm down from all the activity of the past 5 weeks of travel. I’ll dive into my studies in homeopathy. I’ll have all the time I need and want to spend in prayer. I’ll have plenty of time for exercise and PT for my shoulder. There is fairly reliable, if not fast, internet here at the center where I need to quarantine for these days for the safety of everyone so I can download as many of Michelle’s Faithful Workouts as seems appropriate. (Is all of them too many?) Everyone should look up Faithful Workouts. Michelle Spafadora has a fantastic ministry of gospel and workouts and good food! 

I wish I had thought of this theme, “View from my front door” back on July 18 when I started this 5 -week journey to visit family, friends, and experience life in the grand U.S. I would have taken more intentional pictures. I spent some quality time with all the family I could get to in this short time and that COVID-19 allowed me to. Those days were fantastic, of course, but I am glad to be just over a week away from being with my wonderful husband who encouraged me to go ahead with this trip and my dear Charis and Channah who are waiting patiently (or not) for me to come home again. 

  My first door was the Roger’s cabin in Carroll County:A wonderful, peaceful place to rest and simply existin God’s world. This was “home base” where my suitcases stayed until they and I left at 6:30 AM five weeks later. 

  If I wasn't here I was out shopping with Kaiah and sometimes Bradley or enjoying time at the Hancock's farm. Charlie and Donna are wonderful to welcome my clan over anytime. It's a gathering place for all of us whenever we find ourselves in the area. (Our families have been friends now for 3 generations.)

 In case you can't name those in the picture: l to R, Luke, Josiah, Drew, Bradley, Kaiah, Caleb.

 

I'm keeping this picture big cause Fin, the newest animal at the farm, is so darn cute!

My second door was one on Lookout Mountain, another place of beauty. TheCaldwells opened their cottage to me for the time I was in the south to see everyone down there. I enjoyed the company, of course, and the stunning mountain.

 What I did not enjoy but am glad God sent me, was 8 visits to Dr. Lesser’s office, the office with 3 chiropractors with a heart for God and people. They put my shoulder right, among a few other spots, after I slipped on one of those mountain trails.

My third door was that of the Presbyterian Church’s missionary loft in Elizabethton, TN. This was a short stay as I delivered Caleb back to Milligan University where he prays that he can complete an entire year of school. Will you pray with him?

Then I returned to Lookout for a couple days before journeying to my fourth door. I spent two lovely days with Jim and Jacque Rotruck, fellow missionaries in Cameroon quite a few years ago.  Again, of course, the company was fabulous and Jacque’s cooking is excellent. We enjoyed incredible weather and meals by the pool. I made my way back over the Appalacians to my “first” front door a couple days later. 

 YOU KNOW I DIDN’T take highways all the way to all these destinations. Check out my FB page if you want to learn the whereabouts of a few back roads. (Maybe I’ll compile those and my “comparisons” in a blog later this week. I’ve got the time.)

 

 After many hours of packing the heaviest suitcases our family has packed since the airlines lowered the limit to 50 lbs per checked bag, and one more road trip that included back roads to Delaware and back to get that a COVID-19 test, and  a few more visits with friends, on Wednesday morning bright and early Bradley drove me to Dulles Intl Airport and I arrived safely with three 70 lb bags and two carry-on bags approximately 35 hours later at Nsimalen Intl Airport. (Oh, I would be in trouble if I did not mention that it was Kaiah doing a lot of the packing of those three suitcases, which she has done several times now over recent years, and Bradley doing the weighing multiple times of those three bags.)

So, here I sit and the Cameroon Training Center, Yaounde, Cameroon with nothing but time on my hands and memories in my heart. 

P.S. I forgot about one of my travel days, the one when the black bear nearly wandered onto the road in the North Georgia Mountains. Kaiah and Bradley had joined me on Lookout Mountain for a few days to also visit with people and they needed to fly back to Maryland to get back to work. So, a second trip to Atlanta in 4 days, (we had to pick up Bradley from there since he didn’t drive down with Kaiah and I a few days before). I dropped off the kids at the airport, and like usual, I couldn’t drive straight back on those awful busy roads so into the mountains I went. And there, just on the west side of Ocoee National Park, little bear came out to say hello. (Nope, no picture, happened too fast)