Hailey turns 12

Today is the 19th- Hailey’s 12th birthday. I would say that its hard to believe that she’s twelve, but I actually find it hard to believe that she’s only twelve. She has always been very mature and independent- perhaps a little too independent. As our friends can attest to, I was beside myself when she went off to music camp for a week the summer after 2nd grade. Here was this second grader wanting to go off to camp for a week completely alone to a city two hours away! That’s how old Jackie is right now. I just can’t imagine it looking back. Hailey has made amazing progress in her spiritual growth since we’ve been here. She has a tender heart and is a peacemaker for sure. I just read the comment that my niece Bonnie left on last weeks’ posting, and it made me realize how similar she and Hailey are. Bonnie is a great singer and is at college on a music scholarship, and Hailey has a lovely singing voice as well. Both girls have similar personalities too. Hailey has shown amazing endurance and patience lately, thanks to the many prayers of our friends and family.

This week, the girls and I went to a ladies’ group meeting at the Indian lady’s house. She is the one married to a Dutch guy. I’ll call her Ruth. They have a nice house and their cook makes incredible food! We get the royal treatment whenever we go there. The girls and I went over ourselves last week, so Ruth and I could socialize for a few hours. The agenda for the ladies’ get together was to learn bead jewelry work. Ruth is incredibly talented in so many things, like pastel drawing and doll making, and she is also an ex-lawyer. She makes amazing jewelry and wanted to show us all how to make a bracelet. Mind you, this isn’t just stringing beads on a thread. Its more like sewing. It was a really difficult stitch, but once I mastered it, I was hooked on beading! We took our work home to finish before the second lesson next week.

The nice thing about this beading is that it allows me to listen to sermons while I’m sewing. I’ve done this the past two nights, and I was amazed that as I ‘randomly’ chose sermons on my MP3 player, they were exactly what I needed to hear each night. What struck me in the sermon from last night was how God answers prayers, often in ways we might not neccessarily like. For example, if someone prays to be more loving, God may put a person in their lives that is not just unlovable but downright unlikable. I recalled many of my prayers over the past few months. One was a prayer that the girls would be each others’ best friends and have a bond that would last a life time. Its hysterical to think that here they are, spending 24 hours a day together with no other friends for 6 months! How’s that for bonding?! I had prayed many prayers long ago about us getting out of our comfort zones as well. I can only imagine how many other prayers God is answering through this trip. I was struck with guilt and shame over being down so often while being here and felt a huge need to confess and repent over it. I felt like such an ungrateful child. I am determined to lean more on the Lord and be grateful in all things. In his tragedy, Job in verse 1:21 said ‘The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.’ It’s not like I’m suffering any tragedies, but it’s a great reminder to bless the name of the Lord ALWAYS, in whatever circumstances.

Its been interesting- each morning when I wake up, I have a worship song in my head. It’s a different one each day. As I go over the words in my head, I’ve come to realize that it’s what I need for that particular day; that I need to think about and embrace those words. Its been quite uncanny. If I had memorized more scripture, perhaps God would have brought passages to mind each day, but I guess He’s using the limited resources that He has to work with. :) Its just one more reason why I’m so glad that I’ve stopped listening to the secular music that I used to listen to. The last thing I need is Morrissey (80's music for you young-ins) in my head- with songs like 'Girlfriend in a Coma', 'Unhappy Birthday', etc. 'Meat is Murder' is still okay, though. Just kidding!