Edges of Your Field

Leviticus 19 was in our Bible reading this week. Verses 9 and 10 intrigue, convict and compel me. This is a law that was put in place as a protection for the poor.

When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the Lord your God.

This law is repeated in Deuteronomy 24:19-22.

When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.

The spirit of this law is this: God is generous, openhanded and extravagant toward us. His people are to reflect His character. God was instructing the Hebrews to provide for those in need. He instructed them to do this by leaving the edges of the fields unharvested and to NOT go back over their fields a second time to collect the harvest they missed. It's a picture of not using up every ounce of provision on ourselves.

There's Got to be an Easier Way

Recently, we were watching the Olympics.  Specifically, we were watching the Cross Country Skiing.  Those guys have to ski 18 miles!!!!! (with lots of hills!!).  It looked brutal.  Josh commented, "There's got to be an easier way to win a gold medal!"  Seriously.  - like maybe being the 2nd man in the two-man bobsled (all we could figure out that he did was push the sled for 5-10 seconds, then get in and duck), or curling............ what is there to say here? 

I Never Thought I Would Say This

Hooray! We're staying in Alabama!!!

Twenty-five years ago, when Robert and I were dating, we were talking about different places we might live. I remember telling him at that time, "The only two places that I DO NOT want to live are Alabama and Mississippi." Twenty-five years later, I found myself facing an eminent move and not wanting to leave.

One year ago, Robert had to close his residential construction business due to the crisis in the housing industry. We were so blessed for him to be offered an engineering position with Barnhart Crane out of Memphis. So, for the last year, Robert has lived out of a suitcase and has traveled to and worked in either Memphis or different parts of Texas. As we looked toward our future with Barnhart, a decision had to be made as to where we would go. Houston, Texas has been the location on both of our hearts and minds. In December, we even traveled to Houston to find a place to live. We were all set to go. We were just waiting to hear from Barnhart on some final negotiations on the move package.

Squeezing Every Ounce of Fun Out of Every Inch of Snow!!

Ok, when you get as little snow as we do in Alabama, you learn to make the most of it.  Our kids squeeze every ounce of fun there is to be had out of every inch of snow.  This is evidenced by the following videos.  Notice how much grass you can see through the snow!!! 

I had to rag Crawford for his terrible take-off.  It's apparent he is NOT a seasoned sledder! :-)

A Beautiful Young Lady

Bekah turned 14 on January 9th (while I was in Africa). We finally got around to celebrating her birthday. She is really starting to look like a young lady. It made me feel a little nostalgic so I decided to pull out a few old photos and remember "my little girl".

Meet Ephraim

I'd like to introduce you to Ephraim.  He is the manager of the Ethiopian Guest House where we stayed during our trip to Ethiopia.  He was one of our guides and translators.  Ephraim was kind, likeable and had a deep confidence in God's sovereign control.  I was blessed to be able to spend some time getting to know Ephraim.  I hope to have the opportunity to work with him again.

Listen to his testimony.

Listening to Ephraim's testimony reminds me of a verse we read recently in our Bible reading.  It is found in Genesis 41:52.

Before the years of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On.  Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, "It is because Gods has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household."  The second son he named Ephraim and said, "It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering."


Ephraim embodies this verse.  Even though he has walked through sustained periods of suffering, God has made him fruitful.  He has brought him to salvation and has inspired Ephraim to take the message of hope to other young men living on the streets in need of Christ. 

Selah Grace

I was reading about baby Selah on her caregiver's blog site. Check it out at:
http://www.servinghischildreninuganda.blogspot.com/
See the October 24th entry (end of it). She has made incredible progress. Renee literally saved her life!

Made With Love

hoThe following is a picture of Katie's girls with their new hand-painted t-shirts and home-made (is that the right word to use here?) skirts - made with love from the girls in Birmingham. Thank you Vlach family for coordinating this effort and for spending so many hours "sewing in love".

Irresistable Grace

I've made a new friend. His name is Sammy. Sammy is a guide/translator for the Ethiopian Guest House where we stayed. He has been with us on most of our escapades in Addis. I recently found out his story. Sammy's family lived in a leper colony. However, when Sammy was 4 years old, he came to live on the dump at Korah. He lived there for 8 years with some other childhood friends. At age 12, Sammy tells that he and a friend decided to go and try to join the army. They did this because they were so tired of being hungry. They figured that in the army they would at least be fed. Twelve years old. Army. They walked a day to wherever the army recruiting area was. Unfortunately for them, they were "found out" and sent on their way back to the dump. Hunger is a fierce motivator, so they tried again. Again they were turned down. Somewhere in their journey, the boys happened upon a Young Life mission team. They were welcomed in to the group. They were shown love and care for the first time in 8 years. They were also told of the love of God and his care for the sick (lepers). This story resonated with Sammy, and he committed his life to following Christ. Because of his new relationship with the Young Life team, Sammy was able to leave his hopeless life on the dump. He stayed with this team and was discipled by them for four years.

Christmas Day in Ethiopia

The Dump:
Today is Christmas Day in Ethiopia. We spent it at the dump. Yep, that's right. We took Christmas to the dump today. The dump is in a part of town called "Korah". Korah comes from the Old Testament word that means "cursed". It got its name because Korah began as a leper colony. Today, The slums of Korah, backed up against the city's trash dump, have close to 80,000 people, consisting of lepers, HIV/AIDS patients, prostitutes, widows, orphans, etc. To find out more about this area, visit Michael Halcomb's blog at helpkorah.blogspot.com. It is a very informative site dedicated to helping the impoverished people of this area.

Mother Theresa's HIV Orphanage

Entry by Amy Watkins:
We left beautiful Uganda yesterday and flew back to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It was an uneventful flight and for that I was very grateful. We are back at the Ethiopian Guest House and will be here until we leave on Sunday. It is so different being in a big city versus the beautiful countryside that we experienced in Jinja and at this point, I would have to say that I prefer the smaller villages to the huge, dirty, polluted cities.

Travel Day

Today was a travel day. We left Uganda and traveled to Ethiopia. Whew! Not sure why that was so grueling, but it was. My throat and lungs were so full of smoke (from cooking fires), exhaust, and dirt from the dusty roads. I had to eat Tootsie Rolls from the candy bags we brought to keep my throat coated so I wouldn’t keep coughing (no cough drops around)!!!

Uganda and Ethiopia are dramatically different. Uganda is lush, green, tropical rain forest. Ethiopia is dry and dirty. The region we worked in Uganda was remote village life centered around dramatic Lake Victoria. In Ethiopia, we are working in the capital city, Addis Ababa, which is big, poor, dirty, and loud. Should be interesting.

Canaan Children's Home

In the afternoon, we went to another orphanage called Canaan Children’s Home. It was started by an African pastor named Isaac (his wife’s name is Rebekah – by the way).

He shared his testimony with us. The short version is this:

He was a young pastor in the 1970’s when Idi Amin came to power in Uganda. Persecution followed as Amin desired to rid the country of all white people, foreigners, and then missionaries/Christians (kind of Hitleresque). He, being a Christian pastor, was rounded up together with some other pastors and arrested. He was taken to a facility where he was beaten and tortured. He was asked to renounce his Christianity. He refused. He, along with about 30 others were taken out to be shot. Through a series of “circumstances” he ended up only being shot in the arm, but since he was so covered in blood from his previous beatings, they did not recognize this. He, along with the others that were shot, was piled in to a truck. They were driven out to a big hole in the ground and dumped. Providentially, he ended up on top of the heap. He said he heard God tell him, “Arise and get up. You will become a father to the fatherless.” He survived and was eventually reunited with his family. The first orphans that were brought to him he accepted reluctantly, but since then, God has grown that orphanage so that now there are over 100 children there. He has become the father to the fatherless, an example of our Heavenly Father.

Karamajong

Today we went to visit a group of people called the Karamajong. It was alarming! I have never seen anything like it. Katie from Amazima started a feeding program for this area because it was so poverty-stricken. Every day, Monday through Friday, Amazima goes to this area and feeds the children: posh and beans. Posh is a cornmeal-based food that is filling but inexpensive. I have never seen such poverty, sadness, hopelessness, struggle, and battle for survival in my life. I can’t tell you how many instances of children caring for children that I saw. Where were the parents? I honestly don’t know. Were they working and leaving their small children alone during the day? Were they sick? Were they dead? I think it was some of all of these.

African Eating

The food in Africa has its challenges.

Church in Uganda

Our group went to an African church this morning (see video). Amy was disappointed in how Americanized the church was: they had microphones and sang some of their songs in English. Amy went to Kenya 20 years ago and heard singing out in the villages – a sound, she said, you would never forget. She was disappointed that we did not have a similar experience to that.

Mission trip update from Amy Watkins

It has been several days of intense travel to Africa and we are weary but God is most certainly sustaining us. Tuesday night I was able to get about 4 ½ hours of sleep (preparing to leave the country for 12 days) followed by 3 hours on Wednesday night (had to sleep on the plane and when I finally fell asleep, they woke us up to eat at what was 3:30 AM to our bodies) and 2 hours Thursday night (flew into Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at about 8:45, but due to the lines and inefficient systems, we did not leave the airport until about 11:45). Our team was taken to the Ethiopian Guest House where they had supper waiting on us (don’t forget it is about midnight at this point). We were so grateful for their thoughtfulness that we sat and ate though most of us just needed a bed. After dinner at midnight we were asked to go outside because they had a special treat for us. Following them outside, we see an awesome bonfire, fireworks and sparkling apple juice! They had remembered that it was New Years Eve and they wanted us to celebrate just right – incredibly thoughtful and very fun, even if we were functioning on less than 8 hours of sleep over a two-day period. So between the New Years celebration and lots of people having to get in line for a much needed shower, bed time did not come until about 3 AM. We had to be up bright and early the next morning as we were to be at breakfast at 6:30 so we could load up and be back at the airport at 8:00. We were headed to Entebbe, Uganda where we will be spending the next four days and then we will head back to Ethiopia to spend the rest of our time before heading back to the states.

Happy New Year from Addis Ababa

Up Friday morning at 5:30 (3 hours sleep; 6 hours sleep TOTAL over the last THREE nights) to take showers and head out for the airport for our flight to Entebe, Uganda. Rechecked 60 bags, stood in more lines and waited for our flight to leave. The flight from Ethiopia to Uganda took 2-3 hours. Most of us slept the first hour or so. However, we were all jolted from our sleep by some severe turbulence. I have been on many flights and have even experienced significant turbulence. This situation was very scary. At one point, the plane dropped so much that the wine from a glass hit the ceiling of the plane. This same wine landed on/in Sandra Watkins’ hair and clothes. One of the flight attendants fell and was hit by the cart from which they were serving. They (the flight attendants) all went scrambling and running to put the stuff away and get buckled. When it was all over, the pilot told us it was a volatile cloud that was undetected by radar.