Pre-Clean Clean

Pre-clean clean

I like to pre-clean before my haus meri (maid) cleans. I know for a fact…I am not the only one who does. You know what I’m talking about right? I have a haus meri who comes once a week to wash dishes, hang up clothes, clean the bathroom and do whatever else we need done around the house. In return we pay her, build a relationship with her, practice our Tok Pisin, and don’t have to do the “nasty” stuff. But before she comes I always find myself wiping down the counter, stacking and rinsing the dishes, straightening the living room, etc.

It’s not all madness, really! My mindset is, I put away the things that are meaningful to me so they are out of her way. Okay, maybe it is a little crazy, but it makes sense to me. There are days where I have rinsed and stacked the dishes that I think to myself, “Well you might as well just wash it.”

Living in a place where everything is work, I do not feel bad about hiring someone to clean once a week, even though I could probably do it myself. Instead I will spend my time bleaching vegetables, deboning chicken, debugging lettuce, making homemade yogurt, sour cream, bread, tortillas, and ice cream. And in my spare time I will hang up clothes and step on big fat cockroaches!

The pre-clean is necessary for a good clean!

Drawing the World

A few days ago I looked at my classroom and decided, it was time to change the bulletin board. Unlike many teachers, I actually do not despise changing them. I have the opposite problem, I like it too much! My creativity just runs ramped and I tend to waste time doing it "just right".

Since our next unit is on where we live in the world, I decided to draw the earth and have little people holding hands in the middle of the earth. The words around the earth would say "Go into all the world". Great idea...however, drawing the earth is certainly not an easy task. I thought it through for a few days and when I finally found a circle I could us to trace, I got busy.

After tracing and cutting out my beautiful blue circle, I was faced with the task of forming the land. But...which view of the world would I do? Would I put North America in the middle? Would I put Australia and PNG in the middle?

All my life I have grown up seeing world maps in books, on walls, and in stores that feature North America as the "center of the world". But when I came to this side of the world, Australia and PNG were in the middle. This made me ponder. Why do we put North America in the middle?

Is it because we believe North America is superior to other continents? Do we do this because the majority of our students are from North and South America? Is this actually creating a nation of "North American" focused individuals? Or is that due to lessening of emphasis on geography, history, and world studies in our school systems today?

Despite all these thoughts I decided to put Australia, PNG, and Korea in the middle, seeing as all but two of my students are from this side of the world. Unlike my PNG kiddos, my America ones will have little problems knowing where they are from and the countries that lay in proximity.

Praise the Lord

In church this week we sang a song called "Let Everything That" by Matt Redman. As we sang each line:

Let everything that
Let everything that
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord

I began to think, if everyone doesn't know the Lord than how can they praise Him. That's the reason we are here, doing this job, so that all people will be able to praise God like they were created to.

May the rocks not have to cry out! May the Lord be praised by every nation on the earth!

Revelation 5:9-10, 13
"from every tribe and language and people and nation
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God
and they will reign on the earth"

and they will all say
"To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power
for ever and ever!"

carry the burden

Ever since I can remember I have been a person who "cares too much". Yep, you read that correctly. I have met people who are brutally honest, some who don't really care if they hurt people as long as they are honest, and some who don't really care about others feelings and put their focus on their needs above others. I've met people who care for just a few and do all they can and some who give quick answers to "solve the problem". But I am a care-to-much person.

I battle with all of these mindsets...even my own. When you are a care-too-much person you tend to carry A LOT of burdens. Sometimes, you even carry burdens for people you hardly know. To be honest, I could probably name on one hand situations when I have carried/sympathized with people I don't know well, but for the most part my heart goes out to those I have a relationship with.

A care-too-much person can often become incapacitated, depressed, deeply saddened and even begin to feel the stress and anxiety of the person who is ACTUALLY going through these things. I tend to do this. Since being overseas I have noticed it much more than I did while living in the states. I don't know if it's because those that I love are far away and so I feel burdened by the lack of ability to "help them". Just real quick, don't you think it's interesting that we think we can truly "help" everyone. We think, "If I am just THERE with them, I will help and their problems will be less or relieved".

After being here about five months or so one of my friends in the states started really struggling with some things and a friend here began to struggle with something. I believe I was also going through transition, finding my place here in this community, and adjusting to a new way of life. These burdens were soooo heavy that I became moody, unsociable, irritable, and even had many sleepless nights. My mind was constantly focused on my friends and my issues.

Then one day, I stopped and realized, we were never told to carry the burdens of the world on our shoulders! Why was I trying to do it? Did I not have faith in the one who has already put them on his shoulder? I prayed and asked God to change my care-too-much personality to a give-it-to-God personality with a pray-first attitude.

This past week I heard from a dear friend of mine who lives back in the States. She and her family are struggling with some tough things. When she told me about this I remember closing my computer and walking to school. My heart began to feel heavy with burden for her and I felt my worry rising inside of me, when all the sudden I began to pray. It was like God had reminded me that he didn't want ME to carry THEIR burden.

The rest of that week any time I thought of them, which was all the time, I would say a prayer for them. HE is in control. HE knows their hearts and their minds. HE is ABLE to carry those burdens. And HE is able to hold my friends, to comfort them, to wipe away their tears, to direct them back to him, to love them, and HE will pick them up when they are weary.

Yes, I still struggle to let God take these burdens from me. I am thankful, however, to see that He is teaching me and growing me in this area.

I pray that you will not be care-too-much people but instead be a give-it-to-God people. I love my friends and the best thing I can do for them...for you...no matter where I live...is lift you up to my Father who is completely capable of holding the burdens of all mankind.

with love, Amanda

there may be a caterpillar

On Friday I got the opportunity to observe in the second grade classroom at the school where I teach Kindergarten. During writing time, the students were asked to do an outline before they wrote their accordion paragraph.

One boy wrote about Teen Center. Some Friday nights a number of the teens run a "restaurant" that we call Hamburger Night. At hamburger night you can get all kinds of food and socialize with friends.

This little boy wrote something similar to this.
Topic: Teen Center
Teen Center is soooooo fun! You can get hamburgers and chips (that means fries for you Americans) and they are big. You can get milkshakes. They also have salads which may have caterpillars. The milkshakes are cold. You should go to teen center. It is the best!

His paragraph looked pretty similar to this. I read it and thought, "wow, what advertisement". This little guy is not even fazed that there are caterpillars in the lettuce, he probably thinks it's cool. But the fact that he just moved on and kept describing the milkshakes makes me think that it is just a normal thing to him!

haha....So come to Teen Center and there may be a caterpillar in the lettuce....but it's fun and yummy!

Gotta love kids!

A Proud Sister

My brother and I have many differences and have come a long way in our relationship since we were children. We have learned to listen, encourage, and support each other in many decisions we have made…especially over the past few years. I have come to see him as a godly man, dedicated manager, loving father and husband, and I have learned some important lessons from him. I am proud of my brother.

Over the past eight years my brother has worked hard to become an owner of a Chick-fil-A restaurant. In high school and college he worked many positions in Chick-fil-A’s in North Carolina and later felt like he could make this a career. Through prayers from friends and family members and encouragement he has come a long way.

I was proud to travel on this journey with him. I was thankful for the opportunities available to me to visit him at every store he managed, to help with his children while and his and wife worked together, and to get my “day of work” each year on Black Friday. I have seen my brother listen to his employees, work out difficult problems, take a store that is about to be closed and make it into something that other Chick-fil-A managers talk about over coffee.

When I was in the process of raising my support to move to Papua New Guinea I was realizing that I might not work in my brothers next store, if there was one. One day my brother called and asked if I could drive to Virginia from North Carolina to watch his two children for the day. He explained that he and his wife needed to go to an important meeting…one that might result in him being owner of this store. I recalled how I had felt right before he called, discouraged. I was making very little money and each day balancing between speaking arrangements and part time nanny jobs. I had just been informed that I was not needed to work on Wednesday but was needed the rest of the week. I told my brother yes I would be there and hung up the phone.

I am so thankful that I was not working that day so I could be there for my brother, like he had been there for me so many times. He was offered that store and has done some amazing things with it. It was almost as though God gave me this last experience with my brother and his store before I left to remind me that He has my brother and his future in his hands. A few days ago he was acknowledged at a seminar. He was 1 of 5 recognized in his region. Since we were not able to attend he sent us a video clip and some pictures of the event. When I heard my brother’s name called, tears rimmed my eyes. I am so proud of him. He has matured so much over the last few years and I was thankful that I could be there with him while he moved, transitioned, prayed, and worked hard. I hope that God continues to bless him and his family as they seek to do his will in whatever He puts before them.

freezing flour

Woke up this morning with the intent to make yeast rolls. I am having guests over for lunch after church today and wanted to get a head start on them since they take so long to rise. I used up my four and realized i had not put the new pack in the freezer. Not quite knowing why we put flour in the freezer, I began to open the bag. Cutting the red twine that held it together I kept seeing little black bugs. When the bag was completely opened I noticed along with the black bugs were little tan worm looking creatures. Appetizing huh!

Hmmm...maybe this is why we put flour in the freezer!

I decided my baking was going to take a little more work. I pulled out the sifter and got to work removing my little friends from my white flour. A little discussed, I sifted and dumped them in the sink. Some, however, remained. Deciding that they would be cooked in the oven...I moved on to finish baking my bread.

All this to say...be thankful you don't have to freeze EVERYTHING and look before you eat!