Joy for Joi, Week 15

This particular Joi is a beautiful spring day, so I was quick to get all the towels in the house washed this morning so I could hang them out on the clothesline in the warm sunshine.  About 5 minutes after I got all 12 towels nicely pinned up, I started to smell an acrid, toxic smell -- and then noticed large clouds of black smoke billowing over the wall from our next-door neighbor's yard, settling right over my clothesline.  (I'm not sure what he keeps burning over there, but it's awful!)  So back outside we ran, scrambling to gather the wet towels back into the house.

Sometimes the futility in this broken world is enough to drive me crazy!  Thankfully, though, God keeps shining out His promises in time, simple and good reminders to keep me smiling and stable.  This morning when I woke up, I happened to read the lyrics to "O Love That Will Not Let Me Go," and the words have stuck with me all day...

"O Joy that seekest me through the pain,
I cannot close my heart to Thee;
I trace the rainbows through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain..."

My "Joy Dare" notebook continues to fill... evidence of a God who loves me in details and in capital letters.  


Here are some of my favorite things this week:

+ Lilacs are blooming!  It's been a very long time since I've lived in a neighborhood with lilacs, and I have definitely missed them.  This week it has been fun introducing my children to my all-time favorite scent in the world!  (They like it, too)

+ Children who remind us to pray.  A few times this week one of the kids has suggested we pray for something when I did not think of it.  On the way to the ambassador's house over the weekend, Pete and I were getting exasperated by how many times we got lost and had to keep turning around.  (Our idea that each street should have its own name, and that street numbers should actually go in order is not shared by all in this city apparently.)  At just the right moment, a little voice in the back seat said, "Why don't we pray and God will help us!"  So we did, and He did... we arrived at the house less than 30 seconds later.

+ Colsen not having a concussion after I was afraid he might last night.  Today he's back to his normal self, spending about 80% of his day in this tree, as is his custom.

+ Seeing Peter's face when my computer "fix" worked.  Our laptop has no battery and power cord had finally died.  Finally, out of desperation, Pete talked to friend Oleg about getting it repaired (the answer was "Sure!  It's probably the connection jack. I have a friend who can fix it on the other side of the ciy")  We weren't sure we were ready to turn our computer over to a complete stranger and just leave it there for a few days (since we have all of our sensitive info on it).  So I said, "Well, if it's just a problem with the connection, maybe we could shove some aluminum foil in there and that would work."  Pete wanted to laugh at me, but humored me... and oh, I loved his face when it actually worked.

+ Pete's new class.  It meets for 8 nights in a row, 3 hours each night, which seems strange, but that's what it is.  I'm thankful to see him making a difference in this grad students' lives.... even if they are 80% female.  (How does he keep getting classes like this?)

and

+ Singing "Father Abraham," in Russian with the kids at church on Sunday.  It was just fun.