Don't get Mad... The Finale...

       Greetings!  I noticed I've gained a few new followers this week.  Welcome!  Please (No really, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!) feel free to leave a comment below... I graciously accept all feedback, encouraging statements, funny stuff, and good ol' kicks in the pants.  And, thank you for stopping by.  I appreciate it!
          Now, before we get started, I must warn you that this third installment promises to be a doosie of a long one... Because, I have promised myself, come Hades or high CO2, I'm wrapping  it up tonight.


Recap:
   The story of two rookie missionaries on their first journey back to the United States... How one of them stopped the other from succombing to madness... And why the GRACE of God is much more than a mindless cliche.  


If you'd like to catch up, I've provided links to PART ONE  and   PART TWO


       Let's see, where was I? Broke? Covered that.  Infant in tow?  Check.  Ah yes,... Completely refreshed we boarded the plane...  Ten-ish hours later we landed in Miami, and we immediately boarded another airplane, were picked up in Detroit, and lived happily ever after...  Or, maybe all the stinkin' flights headed to Michigan were full that night...  Did I mention we were broke?  Not broke as in "not a lot of spare cash", but rather,  broke as in, "We can't ride the pony at Meijer" broke.   Sigh, time to consult that "God" guy again.  We prayed, as we made ourselves comfortable on some familiar airport benches.  Michael put in a phone call to the person who was to pick us up the day before (until that didn't work out), to tell them not to get us now (because, that didn't work out).  Now, I'm a goin' rabbit trailling a bit here, but every time I had traveled through Miami, I thought, "It would be so nice to stay in the Miami Airport Hotel, maybe someday... "  Hmm, guess what the voice on the other end of Michael's phone conversation offered?  
     I really enjoyed the free night and room-service breakfast at the airport hotel.  But, what to do about the fee for missing our connection flight on the previous day?  Yeah, we prayed, on the benches.  We still had no money, but we got in line for the next flight anyway.  We handed the woman at the counter our tickets for yesterday's fights and asked how much it would be to change itinerary.  Her reply - "IF I look that these and see that you missed your flight yesterday, I'll have to charge you $200 each.  But (she flipped them over and handed them back), I'm not going to look, please board the aircraft and enjoy your flight."  YES.  That REALLY happened.
      Upon arrival at our final destination, I began unpacking our urgently needed items, like Desitin and baby wipes.  As I searched through the contents of the diaper bag, my fingers found themselves grasping an unfamiliar object... the wrapped gift from our God-sent hosts in Buenos Aires!  Curiosity at peak level, I unwrapped it... Are you ready for it?  It was a ceramic christmas ornament displaying  an all-true bible verse (you know, as opposed to all the rest of those nutty Bible verses).  It said, "DIOS ES AMOR", which is Spanish for "GOD IS LOVE."  Two weeks after our arrival, I drank in the smell of eggnog and cinnamon as I admired the Christmas tree, my eyes and heart being drawn to one very special ornament in particular.  
    Who knows what ugly chaos might have ensued, if I had gone with my initial reaction at the airport in Argentina (to throw a tantrum and worry myself into a mild stroke)?  Jesus, Thanks for what you showed me on that journey... and thanks for that ornament, it's still my favorite.  And Michael, thanks for your wisdom.  Also, I like your goatee.


There you have it.  I love you guys.  Thanks for reading.

1st John 4:8  "...God is love"....  Romans 8:28 "...All things work together for good to those who love God"


Christina




PS. - I realize the type on this entry is ridiculously tiny... I'm working on it.

Don't get Mad... the continuation...

Perusing some of the archives of this place (I stole that from FRESH MOMMY's blog), I happened upon a promise to finish a story... I am making good on that today...

Dont Get Mad...the continuation...      Click HERE for Part 1

     Seven years ago, a young couple phoned the airlines to confirm that the flight that was to return them to their homeland was indeed leaving at Eleven o' clock.  Upon verification of departure status, they (infant in tow) had one H -E - half circle - K, of a taxi ride, but, by the grace of God, arrived safely at the airport.

      9:59pm - To my husband,  "Michael, this is our gate... why does the sign say "PARIS"?

     To the man at the desk, - "Sir, We are here for an 11:00 flight to Miami..."

     His reply - "Let's see... hmm...It looks like that flight was changed... yes, it left at 11:00 this morning."

     To God, Satan, the angels, and the frightened man behind the desk, "WHAT!!!!???"

And, before I could sputter another word, my husband said something very, very wise.  He told me, "Stop." I obeyed, curious as to why he wasn't a bit more flustered by the situation.  Then, very calmly, he said, "I think we just need to allow God to do something ... Let's pray."  (That guy sure is a good influence on me.) We had no money for food, or a hotel... and the next flight to the United States didn't leave until the next morning...  We were five hours away from anyone we knew.  But, we had a faith in an all powerful God, who, we asked to take care of us in this difficult moment.

The airport had a couple of metal benches. We asked the lady at the information counter if we could camp out on them for the night... She hesitated, then looked at our precious baby, and replied... "Yes."  (Michael noticed she was reading a bible as we approached.  Fascinating.)

Two adults, one hungry infant, 240 lbs. of luggage, and a couple of 4 and a half foot benches... We made ourselves as comfy as possible.

Not long after, the same woman asked to speak with us... We thought we were getting kicked out for the night.  Instead.... "I spoke to my parents, they have a luxury apartment nearby that they aren't using right now, if you feel comfortable staying there, they will take you there, and bring you back in the morning."

Now, we don't usually encourage leaving with strangers in a foreign country, but we felt peace about this incidence...

We were picked up by a lovely couple (WHO SPOKE ENGLISH), and taken to a magnificent apartment (Which also happened to have A CRIB) We were given food... we chillaxed a bit while we watched cable,  hot baths....etc..and in the morning, they brought breakfast and a wrapped gift.

Completely refreshed, we boarded the plane, and guess what!? There's like an hour more to the story.
I guess you will have to come back again for part 3.  Do you want to hear the rest?

Tune in tomorrow:  Same bat-time, Same bat-channel...


"BAM!", "SOCK!", "POW!"

Christina

PS.  (What would my posts be without a "P. S."? ... Shorter, I guess.)

Here's a song, with...., forgive me Dan Moen, painfully outdated music. The words are appropriate though.  Do try and make it through it for me, will you.  Click on the photo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zo3fJYtS-o&feature=related

Winner Announced!

You guys are pretty good.  You all over-guessed, which makes me feel kinda more special and more well traveled than we really are :)  (I think you were guessing places our luggage has made it to.)

I awarded 1 point for the following ACTUAL countries we have been to (I deducted 1 point for incorrect guesses) :

China
Japan (airport only)
India
Malaysia (airport only)
Honduras
Argentina
Chile (airport only)
Costa Rica
Mexico
Belize (airport only)
England
Estonia
Finland
Canada
and last, but never least, our favorite country...The United States of America

I also awarded half points for countries we have plans to minister in, but have not yet made it to.  They are:

Thailand
Italy
Kazakhstan
Russia
Peru

Smiles...  Good try, you've known us the shortest amount of time so don't feel too bad with 1.5 points.  You were the only one to get Kazakhstan

Crystal Rae... You cannot just say, "I say what Smiles said."  Silly Lazy head ; P (I love you!)

Gloria... You were SOOO close.  Great job with 6 points!  You were the only one to guess USA.

And finally, the winner is.....

Jennifer and Danabanana tied for the win with 6.5 points.  I was impressed. (Jennifer, England is in Europe, but I couldn't give you credit for naming the entire continent.)

Tie breaker Question:  (It had to be something really obscure since you both know so much about me)  I have a scar on my left kneecap.  It is shaped like a letter of the alphabet.  Which letter is it?  The answer with the letter closest (in numerical sequence) will be hold the title and receive the prize.  You have 24 hours.

Also,  If any participant feels that my math is off in some way... Let me know, and I will double check.

Goodnight Everybody!

Don't get MAD. Get GLAD!

Oops, you did it again.  Yeah, I'm talking to you, DELTA AIRLINES.

So, my husband and I have come to accept our 50% lost luggage ratio when we travel with this particular  airline.  (Note: ALWAYS make room for an extra pair of skivvies in your carry-on. - Note Again: NEVER make room for an extra pair of tweezers in your carry-on.) However, Delta has never (before now) erroneously shipped our belongings to multiple nations on the wrong continent .  They have my full standing ovation for that one.  I am truly impressed.  Michael, I have the utmost respect for you, coordinating these nation-wide events.  It is even more impressive that you are poised to do it naked.  Imagine the publicity. (I for one will be tuning into the live feed;)
     Dear reader, please stay with me. I promise I am about to make a point. And because I love you,  I will include a story, in effort to recoup from last night's poorly executed weed smokin' post:)

Here goes, It is a long one, but I will try to shrink it down as much as possible.

We had been in Argentina for two months (seven years ago).  It had been a tremendous victory for us, but it had also been far more trying than we had imagined.  Before the move, I was feeling pretty good about using my Spanish for two months on this amazing adventure.  It was the one class in high school that I did pretty well in.   I pulled out all the guns on only the first day, and soon realized I hadn't as much ammo as I had imagined.  As it turns out, "Hello.  Where's the bathroom?" and "Do you like the salad?" will only get you so far. Also, I had almost died from Pneumonia.  ( We never shared that with any of you before because my mother is already feeling only so-so about this whole, daughter-in-a-foreign-country bit.) In addition to the aforementioned dilemas, I had, in a moment of frustration, torn apart my 500 page "How-To-Raise-A-Healthy-Baby" books.  "Where in God's name do you get alkaline-infused organic mango-cranberry juice in this country anyway!?" To say the very least, when it came time to visit home, we were ready.  We loaded up in a taxi and trusted Argentina's  Evil Caneval, to get us to the airport safely.  We were concerned about how our little Lucy would handle the five hour drive.  Fortunately for her, we made it in only three.

Part Two:  The Airport (full story will have to be it's own post)

Arriving two hours ahead of schedule, we had some time to kill.  Lucy and I did some shopping, while Michael sat on a bench doing the same thing he does after an hour with me in the mall (stayed with the bags and begged for water).  Paying six-times more than what we could have paid for the same thing hours ago completed (We had to get rid of those pesos somehow.),  the three of us proceeded toward our gate, excited to be headed back to the good ol' U. S. of A.

Part Three:  The gate (I know it's getting long...)

"Michael, our gate must've changed because that sign does not say Miami.  It says Paris."
Nope, our flight had been re-scheduled. We would be there another day.  It may not have been that big of an issue, 'cept we was broke with nowhere to go.  I was about to seriously blow up on somebody, anybody at that point. Thankfully, my husband got to me before anybody needed to bust out the pepper spray. "Let's be calm about this,  I think this is one of those pray and trust God kind of moments." (My criminal record is still grateful for those anointed words of wisdom.)  We did just that.  God did amazing miracles, and it worked out better than we could've imagined. (Different post guys.)

What I'm getting at is this;  there are going to be moments where you have the opportunity to be flaming mad, and nobody would blame you for it.  But if we hold our tongues, and give God an opportunity to show Himself instead, we will never be disappointed.  He will work it out even better than we could have planned.  Michael may never see his suits again, (he may), but he knows God's provision well enough to know it will all work out,  IF he allows the creator of the universe to get involved.  I am sure looking forward to the awesome story of how God takes care of the situation.  Don't worry, I'll let you know what happens.

The moral of the story seems pretty evident to me, but it is way past my bedtime and I have some doubts about my coherency.  I may have to revise after a nights sleep.  Let me know if you get it.

 I LOVE YOU ALL,

Christina

I bet it was a noogie.

I feel a little clumsy coming to you with this post after a "popcorn night".  Oh boy, I shouldn't have used that term because now I have to explain it, and after explaining it, I may forget to write anything about noogies, which is what you are all dying to read about.

   The original popcorn night began one evening in Argentina when we were bored out of our minds and hungry for a cheap thrill.  Ok, actually we were moving soon and we were working our tails off packing items from the kitchen cupboards.  In the process, we came across about two pounds  of popcorn kernels.  That's not an exaggeration. We always had a lot of kids over, and movies and popcorn were expected; so we bought it in bulk.
      Mmm... popcorn... We were a little hungry. "Poop", Michael exclaimed, using the word he favors when he is deeply disturbed. "We packed the lid to the pot." (Note, Don't make popcorn in a pot without a lid - just TRUST ME on this one.)  And I'm not sure what kind of conversation lead up to what we eventually did with the popcorn, but somehow we ended up with a bonfire and a bucket of kernels soaking in a quart of canola oil. (Note again, ALWAYS use sufficient oil when making popcorn.  I learned this the hard way.  Really, ask Matt or Shaena Poehner, or their dutch oven, or their stovetop, or their counter top, upholstery, smoke detector... ( Look for my upcoming bestsellers, "Military Kernels" and "Microwave Kisses".)
    So anyway, we dumped two pounds of kernels onto the fire.  The neighbors later confessed they were concerned we had machine guns.  It was just that glorious.  Popcorn flew out of the pit in every direction.  At first we tried to catch some of it in our mouths.  However, upon succeeding to capture it with our tongues mid-air, we discovered things flying directly out of the fire pit were uncomfortably warm in our mouths, and then we just ate it off the ground. (Yeah, yeah, eeww,... whatever.)

    And back to the term "popcorn nights".  See, I knew it would eat up my whole post. Popcorn nights are when the kids conspire against us, using their telecommunication skills to come up with excuses to "pop" out of bed.  And they are just like the heaven bound pieces of popcorn.  As soon as one goes back down, another jumps up in its place.  Last night was one of those nights.  "Can you scratch my back?", "Mommy, can we pray?", "I just had such a powerful bowel movement my sheets need to be changed." - That last one was Noah, just for the record.  I got to bed around five.  Lucy has to be on the bus at 8:20.  You do the math.

  You still really want to know about the noogie huh?  In a nutshell (where does that phrase come from ?), In Mark 10:16, special mention is made to Jesus touching the kids' heads and blessing them.  Personally, I think he was givin' 'em noogies, but I'll let you come to your own conclusion.

My sincere apologies for the meaningless detour,

Christina

It's a hookah, It's a bong, it's SUPER... HOT!

I have received various requests for STORIES, STORIES, and MORE STORIES.  Here's one from our earlier days in the ministry.

     Only days after giving away nearly all of our possessions, we boarded an airplane, baby (and diaper bag, and stroller, and computer, and camera, and backpack, and car seat) in arms,  and headed to  South America.  Nineteen-ish hours later we landed in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina.
  
     We were met in the airport by three young men holding a white piece of paper with the word "LUSK" on it. Although we were exhausted, they seemed like fun people and I was excited to meet them.  The only English they spoke however, was catch phrases from the highly popular reruns of "Mork and Mindy" and "Alf".  Go ahead, say "Nanu-nanu", and "Cats are tasty." out loud in your best latino accent.  You get the picture.
     They guided us to a white van with the famous "praying hands" custom painted on the doors.  We had no idea we had FIVE MORE HOURS to drive before reaching our final destination.  About half an hour into our journey, we stopped at a gas station to use the potty.  I had been waiting for this moment for years. "Ok Christina," I said to myself, "you are finally south of the equator.  When you flush,  find out if the water really does swirl in the other direction."  The toilet was a powerful one though, and with one mighty woosh, the water just went straight down.  I was kinda miffed about it.
  
     Walking back out to the van I saw our three guys at a vending machine.  It didn't dispense sweet and salty goodies though.  You put a coin in this machine and it dispenses boiling water.  The guys filled a thermos and we loaded up again.  Curious about the whole hot water thing, I pointed and asked (with my eyebrows) what the hot water was all about.  They were only too happy to show us.  They took from a backpack a "mini-mug" with two handles instead of just one.  "Aww, that's a cute little tea cup.", I thought to myself.  My thoughts of cuteness vanished when they took out a metal pipe straw and filled the cup with crushed green plant leaves.  I, being rather sheltered and innocent as a teenager, racked my brain with all the paraphernalia terms I had heard tossed around back then.  Was it a "bong" or maybe one of those hookah things?  One of the guys poured water from the thermos over the green stuff in the mug.  Then he passed it to one of his buddies.  They kept filling it and passing it between the three of them, then the unthinkable happened.  They filled it up and INSISTED we drink from it too!
     "Ok, Michael.  What do we do?"  "Uh...well...we don't want to offend them, but obviously we're not going to ingest drugs.  Especially you, breastfeeding the baby."  In that split second we silently begged God to give us guidance.  Both feeling peace about it, Michael went first.  Poor guy, the water was so hot tears ran down his cheeks.  Sensing it may be too hot for the unaccustomed Americans, they added some bottled water to mine to cool it down some.  This was our first taste of Mate (mah-tay).  No drugs in the Argentine version, but you might not want to drink it in Peru.

Whew!  There's a lot more story to tell here,  but it may have to wait for another posting.

Seriously, I love you for being interested.

Christina