Food Tour

This past month we've had some fun food experiences. Babysitters have been coming out of the wood work, so we have been taking full advantage.

Our food tour started off with a hole in the wall Vietnamese place near our old neighborhood. There's about 10 tables in the restaurant and it's owned by an older couple. When we went for lunch, the Vietnamese man stopped and talked to us each time he brought something to our table. His wife was in the kitchen cooking and you could tell he was so proud of his wife as he bragged about her food. The food was delicious. The word we kept using was fresh- everything tasted so fresh. We loved eating the food, while hearing this old man tell us about the homemade sauces his wife made and seeing his cute personality and pride in his family business.

Last week we had some of our friends treat us to dinner at a new Mexican restaurant. It more like a Mexican bistro type place verses your typical place with mariache band playing in the background and pinatas hanging from the wall. The presentation of the food was art and the flavors bold. It was yummy- especially the sangrias. One thing that stood out to us was actually in the bathroom. They had old black and white photos of wedding pictures (we're assuming it was the owner's parents) hanging in there. Again, the touch of food and family- we loved it.

This week we went for Greek food. One of the Greek Orthodox churches in town hosts a luncheon every Friday where they cook up some good Greek grub. I've heard about it, but have never gone, so we ventured out there. As soon as I stepped in the door a whiff of incense hit my nostrils and I immediately thought of my childhood. Greeks love to have actual incense in their services as a representation of our prayers. You have to get used to it, otherwise you'd probably get a head ache every week. Anyway, we satisfied my Greek craving and on the way out we noticed the bulletin board: "Lambs for sale for Easter. Call ..." Seriously, where else will you find a bulletin board advertising lambs? I'm sure Gus or Pete or whoever is selling the lambs will sell out this Easter. Every Greek home has one cooking away come Easter morning. I used to love my dad's lamb he made at the holiday.

So, it has been a fun month having our own little "Taste of St. Louis". Lots of variety, good food and creative atmospheres.

Zoo

We took Liliana to the zoo for the first time this week. Fun. I just love to hear her giggle when she gets excited. Sometimes she gets so worked up she almost has to gasp for breath.

Besides the pufkins and wanting to climb in the water with them, I think the second high light of her day was eating snacks next to this animal that was a cross between a zebra and I don't know what. The bottom half was striped black and white and top half was brown. Interesting little creature. Oh yeah, she did try to kiss the glass where the monkeys played until Mommy pulled her away. Gross germs..

All in all it was a fun morning at the zoo.

Part 2

Last week I was struck by the word delight. This week I am too, only in a completely different context…

I was reading what Paul had to say in 2 Cor 12-
“That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecution, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

I had to re-read it.. I DELIGHT in weakness…

This takes on an entirely different context for me. I admit that I don’t delight at all in my weakness. In fact, I don’t like them at all. Yet, it is my very weakness which is the threshold for Christ’s power resting in me. If I didn’t have weakness or hardship in my life, why would I have to lean on Christ and press into hear His voice and see Him work things out? If I sincerely want His power in my life, then there is no other option but to delight in weakness. It is in that place that an exchange happens, where I admit my need for Jesus and He rescues me.

Same with Liliana.. she is just a toddler and is weak. The other day she was playing with her toys and her foot got stuck in her little storage container. She tried as hard as she could to get free, but she was too weak. She cried to me for help and I was able to rescue her. She didn’t try to hide her weakness or difficulty; she knew I could rescue her if she just cried out to me in her struggle.

Same with Chris.. if I didn’t have difficult days or weak moments, when would he have opportunity to hold me and encourage me and be my “knight” to save the day? All he would have would be an independent wife living a separate life, instead of being one and leaning on her beloved.

So, I am re-thinking this word delight and hopefully I can learn to delight in all things.

DELIGHT

The other day Chris told me that he delighted in me. He often affirms me, but there was something different about this particular compliment. It was a word of life that went deep into my core and something I find myself meditating on the next days to follow.

My concept of the word delight has changed since I have a daughter. When I am with her I find myself constantly pausing to declare how cute she is or to watch her and smile at what she does. Just seeing her walk around the house with her big cloth diaper butt sticking out or her hair that sprouts on one side when she wakes up from her nap brings me joy. At night, before Chris and I say our good night prayers, we talk about the cute things Liliana did that day and just delight in her together.

Then there’s her delight.. she finds joy in the simplest pleasures. A few days ago I took a bunch of her different colored socks and put them in a Ziploc bag and she had a ball taking the socks out, putting them back in. She played with it over and over again. I don’t know what the “Toy of the Year” was that they advertise in those parenting magazines, but I don’t think it held a candle to “Socks A La Ziploc”.

Then of course there is Jesus’ delight.. both His delight in me and my delight in Him. Often I’ll be driving or going about my day and just sense Jesus’ smile. What an amazing feeling and gift!

So, I am thankful for the word choice Chris used in expressing his love for me the other day. I still like to hear him say the standard, “I love you”, but “I delight in you” spoke such a fresh breath of life into my entire being. :-)

Prayer Partner

I am so thankful for the gift of prayer. I am realizing more and more in this season that there are all sorts of prayers and that they bring life.

The prayer I am rejoicing in today is the gift of "praying for one another".

I have a prayer partner that I talk with once a week. We share about our week, what God is teaching us, struggles, good times, temptations, etc.. It has become a life line for me.
It seems kind of simple and doesn't last more than an hour, yet there is something dynamic about sharing life with another like minded human being and week in/week out taking time to share and listen to stories from the week and then always ending with a time of praying out loud for one another.
(okay, i just realized that was a huge run on sentence...)

Life is good when we can just pause and reflect on life. I am glad God is teaching me more about this and using my prayer partner as well. :-)

Words

This afternoon I finished a book by Eugene Peterson. He is the guy who wrote "The Message" translation of the Bible and he is profound. Sometimes when I read I have my journal sitting next to me so that I can jot down a quote the gripped me and reflect on it later. Here's what I wrote today:
"We use words for communion and words for communication.
Words for communion tell stories, make love, nurture intimacies, develop trust
Words for communication buy stocks, sell cauliflower, direct traffic and teach algebra
Both are necessary, but the gift of words is for communion: a part of myself enters a part of yourself."

A few weeks ago Chris and I were caught up in words of communication.
Three days a week, we have this small window of time we see each other. He leaves for work at 4:45am and gets home around 2:15. I leave for my part time job at 2:45, so we have a half hour to eat lunch together before I go. On this particular day, we realized when the lunch was over that we just passed on a bunch of information to each other, rather than doing life together. We felt ripped off. There was no communion in our lunch- it felt like a business meeting and we hated it.

So, we decided that from now on, lunch was reserved for what we call"doing life together" or as Peterson puts it "communion". This time is sacred for sharing cute stories about Liliana or a funny thing that happened at work, or a nugget God shared in morning prayer time. Then, as soon as I get in the car, I call Chris on my cell phone and while I drive to work, we communicate. We go over necessary details that have to be exchanged. It's a great set up.

Dance, Dance, Dance

I have this habit of praying the Psalms. Most days I will read 5 Psalms out loud as part of my prayer time. It helps me settle in my thoughts towards God and David has a way with articulating his emotions that is so helpful.

So, the past few days there have been references to dancing in my Psalms reading, so it made me think.. if I had to name my top 5 dances ever, what would they be? So, here goes.. (in no particular order)

1. Greek dancing at my wedding- Greeks are into group dancing. They form this opened ended circle and have various simple steps they do together. At the beginning of the circle, there is a leader that holds a napkin in their left hand with the 2nd person in the circle, then everyone else joins in, holding hands. The leader picks which dance sequence to do and leads the way. When I was a little girl, I would go to the Greek festivals at church and watch the older girls dance and dreamed of one day being able to lead a Greek dance at my wedding. So, my day finally arrived and I loved it! In fact, one of the things I look forward to in heaven is Greek dancing around the throne with other Greeks. I can't wait- it's so fun here and can't imagine how fun it will be there.

2. Teenage dance clubs- I am a child of the 80's- big hair, big costume jewelry, and stirrup pants. When I was 13-14 years old, my friends and I loved to go to the 3 big teen dance clubs each summer- Coca Cabana, CandyBand and R-9. Each week we would dance our little hearts out to Madonna and Prince. Such good times.

3. Dancing at church- I grew up in a very traditional Greek Orthodox church. In high school I started attending the Vineyard, which has to be the most opposite worship experience from my GO up bringing. I remember learning about the Holy Spirit and seeing people raise their hands up in the air when they sang, which was so foreign and kind of weird to me. After observing this for months I came to the point one Sunday, where I really just wanted all that God had for me and let go of my conservative approach to worship. I danced in the back and it was so freeing. It marked a whole new level of connecting with Jesus and even now when I really want to connect at a heart level in worship, I will sometimes just dance in my room.

4. Dancing with Chris- Too personal to go into on a blog, but it is def. my top 5.

5. Dancing with Liliana- When we were in Texas waiting for our paperwork to clear, there's a song I asked Chris to download that combines a few different Psalms..
Oh Taste and See that that Lord is good... You've turned my mourning into dancing, put off my rags and clothed me with gladness.. And I will rise and I will praise.. I will sing and not be silent... Oh Lord, my God, I will give thanks to you forever....

I remember putting that song on repeat, holding Liliana as tight as I could, dancing around the living room with a flood of tears of JOY. I literally felt an exchange take place that day. For almost 3 years my life had been one continuous season of mourning and finally God was replacing it with gladness. I could not thank God enough. I danced and danced until I ran out of breath and could do it no more. It was a beautiful moment in my life that I will never forget.