wanted to post about my husband’s awesomeness.  That’s it… just that.  I’m loving being married to him and think he’s great.  A few of my favorite things:  he’s a little odd (those of you who know him personally or have read previous posts know this).  He informed me last night he has a fear of his eyes being poked out, therefore I can only come so far with my fingers, elbow, random object, to his eyeball.  He is very considerate of my time and space and most of the time my feelings.  He is an excellent dish washer despite how much he dislikes it.  He’s really quite funny in one of those ways that you have to tilt your head, squint your eyes, and think twice about what he said kind of ways.  I like shopping with him and having his opinion on fashion (it’s ok, you can giggle at that).  And, most of all, I love that he loves to read my thoughts about himself on my blog.  Although I really believe him to be awesome, I was highly motivated to post something new today… something interesting… something about his awesomeness.  I’ll let you guess where the motivation came from…

Here’s how this morning went…

Tony has gotten his morning coffee and is sitting on the bed waiting for me to get up. He looks to the wall where I have hung a very nice Southern Living plate rack and displayed two very cute teal plates with brown flowers - perfect for the room. He responds with, “It’s very weird to have plates hung on the wall in the bedroom. What led you to do this?” I asked what he would rather have hanging there, and he replied, “A picture of Brittany Spears.” I then questioned, “Which Brittany… pre or post crazy?” He stated that definitely pre-crazy Brittany would be better, but due to the craziness, that has even knocked pre crazy Brittany down from a 10 to a 7. Of course I had to then ask, “So… what do I rate?” His very clever response was, “Baby, there’s no scale for you. You’re above all that.”

He then looked me in the eye and said, “Now, that’s something to blog about.” What I THOUGHT I heard him say was, “Now that’s something to lie about.” He then had a big laugh that even my subconscious was being a little self-conscious. And then he said that he wished we had a web-cam in our house because our life really is that entertaining. (I’m sure you would probably disagree.) The best way I know to describe many of our conversations is to direct you to pay attention to the Sonic commercials with the husband and wife. Then you’ll see a little glimpse of our normalcy. And speaking of a web-cam of our entertainment…

That leads me to also share our experience with nature last weekend… (the following is rated NSAL - not suitable for animal lovers)

After the break in the rain, Tony was finally able to mow our yard for the first time this warm season. Because of all the rain, the grass (and many weeds) had grown to mid-shin length… on the way to jungle-esque. As I walked across the front yard after he had finished to look at one of our many troubled flower beds, I noticed lots of grey fuzz scattered along the yard. It looked like he had emptied and tossed the dryer junk in the yard. I asked what it could be and he came over for a closer look. His solution was that we had a gopher in the yard and he must have run over it with the mower. (Now, there were no “parts,” only fuzz. So, I figured we had a bald gopher running around somewhere in shame.) He was in the process of spraying the house for spiders, bugs, etc. and still had the pesticide in his hands. Naturally, the next response was to spray the odd fuzz. It then began to move a little. We jumped back a few steps and realized the fuzz was ALIVE!

Tony proceeded to the garage to get the shovel to knock what was thought to be a gopher-like rodent living beneath our ground. As he hit the ground with much of his might, our fuzz ball began to wince and cry. Luckily, our “go-to neighbor” Bill was sitting in his yard enjoying the nice day. Good ‘ol Bill came over to offer his wisdom. Immediately, he ruled out gopher due to the fact that there were no mounds or trails in the yard. He then stuck his hand through the pile of fuzz into the hole (as Tony and I both held our breath) to uncover 4 baby bunnies. Although we found they were still living after the unintentional torture, we decided that they would be slightly mutated and brain damaged. Tony was miserable most of the remainder of the day, but they have since left their home and we hope are happily jumping around. He is outside again now mowing, so we’ll see what new discoveries we have this weekend… stay tuned for more… entertainment?

The last several weeks have gone by in a blur.  There has been so much in preparation for a new adventure…  at the end of March I traveled to Brazil with several of our juniors and seniors.  It was my first time out of the country (I knew and have been affirmed that going to Canada doesn’t really count).  Everything seemed to be smooth sailing until just a few weeks before departure.  We had great stress over getting visas approved for students under 18, but we pressed through the challenge.  My super-prepared and mostly organized self had a difficult time not knowing every detail of what would happen - the schedule, knowing exactly what to and how to pack, how to answer questions, etc.  So, it was a little uncomfortable even in the preparation stage.  Because you have to know - I don’t willingly do much that I’m not SURE I will succeed in.  For example - I don’t play basketball beacuse I’m no good.  I don’t really enjoy playing Monoloply with my dad because it’s almost certain I will lose.  I have sworn off snow skiing because of several devastating falls.  I choose not to face all situations that require confrontation for fear I might be wrong.  And so I knew in signing up for this trip that I was up against some big unknowns and I had no I idea of what to expect.

We received our visas and passports the morning of departure (nothing like cutting it close) and all traveling was a breeze.  We flew overnight and immediately headed off to meet some new people upon arrival in Sau Paulo.  You can read a few more details about our days on David’s blog (www.davidmccaman.org) because he updated fairly regularly to inform families at home what all was going on. 

It was an experience like I’ve never had before.  I hardly knew what to expect each day as we traveled to a few different areas, met different people, did different things, ate different foods, tried desperately to understand a different language… I feel like I did a lot of observing.  I watched as our students learned about a new culture; I watched as children ran down filthy dirt roads made of rocks, sewage, sharp objects and went in homes that were constructed and filled with whatever they could find.  I watched the missionaries continue to build lasting relationships with people who didn’t have much hope; I watched Brazilian young adults study Scripture and extend their zeal for Christ through everything they did.  I watched our group smile, laugh, play and hug children and people who didn’t understand much more than the fact that we were there to help and care.  I watched as several of our teenagers worked harder than they may ever have planting trees, shoveling gravel, sanding walls, and learning to be flexible.  I felt often as though I was living in pages of National Geographic or whatever current magazine is publishing Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s latest service (haha).

And here’s what I saw…  This is what loving is all about.  This is what serving is all about.  It’s not about what’s easy.  It’s not about what’s comfortable (because a lot of the week I sure wasn’t).  It’s about seeing God’s creation and noticing their needs.  It’s about realizing that Jesus served the poor and healed the broken hearted.  It’s about continually doing things to grow in your relationship with God.  And the more He shows you of His world, the more He shows you of Himself.  And the more God shows me of Himself, the smaller I become.  He must become greater and I must become less (John 3:31).  I am confident in knowing that God has designed me to work with teenagers in America, but I am also confident that He needed me to go beyond my bounds to learn and grow.