Saying goodbye again...

Hortência and Nathália - two precious young women of God - lived with me at Friendship House for several months. Yesterday they left to return to their mother's house in Porto de Moz...and took a piece of my heart with them. Last night I cried; again this morning I cried...as I lifted them up to our Heavenly Father and asked Him to keep their hearts safe and their minds pure.

We had our ups and downs while they were here...love sometimes hurts, but it's always worth it. Rich Mullins once said, "Quite often, we extend love to people because we want to change them." He believed we ought to love for the sake of love, with no expectations. He said, "Even if a person fails to respond to our love, our kindness, or our forgiveness a thousand times, we are called to keep on loving."

The few times that the girls and I were at odds over rules of the house, I know I heard Abba Father say, "Just keep loving them." So that's what I did, and they will remain in my heart for the rest of my life. For them (and many others I love), I pray with Paul:

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Ephesians 3:16-18 NLT

Now, Father, who's next? Send more of your precious daughters for me to love on, please.

Assassinas!

So...my life here is often laughable, but sometimes the laughter is a little painful! When I returned from my visit to the States, I learned that one of my dogs, Bella, had escaped from our yard and killed 5 of the neighbor's chickens!! FIVE!!! Very angry neighbor...costly mistake of leaving the gate unlatched...the neighbor lost 5 chickens, I lost R$100 to pay for them.

And remember my blog about nature at work (the dead kitten eaten by vultures)? Well, it turned out that my other dog, Minnie, was the one who killed the kitten!

So both our dogs are killers (assassinas in Portuguese), which means we all need to be more careful to keep the gate latched. And potential robbers beware!! (oh, I forgot...both dogs are very friendly with people!)

My missionary friend who gave me the dogs says it's a genetic thing...their parents like to kill chickens and other small animals, too. Great! The joke's on me!!

nature at work

While I was in the States, my son asked why I wasn't posting as often to my blog. I responded, "Because mostly I just live my life, day to day. How interesting is that?

He responded,"But Mom, that's what we want to hear about...your day to day life in Brazil!"

So...this morning I woke up thankful for my life and the beauty that surrounds me. Then I looked out the window and saw a dead kitten lying just outside my gate. As I was pondering the gaggy task of getting rid of the body, along came a flock of urubus (vultures), and quickly took care of my problem for me!

Nature at work, here in Brazil! (I decided to spare my followers the graphic photos) Tchau!