This is living...

The middle-aged couple owns a mansion, but decided to build another as an investment.  When the time came to sell, the buyer offered their asking price, two million dollars.  But the couple has become attached to the home and now the husband isn't sure he wants to sell.

I turn off the TV, shaking my head in astonishment.  Two mansions, and he's not sure he wants to give one up - for two million dollars!  Whatever he ended up choosing, I'll never know, as I have finished folding my laundry and the teenage girls are due to come over soon.

We're going to make brownies and continue a series we started watching last week.  Usually I set up the living room to make space for the twelve of them, but today I decide to wait until they come and allow them the opportunity to participate more in the experience ;).

When they arrive, we move the coffee table into my bedroom and pull the vacuum out of the hall closet.  There's a willing volunteer, but she doesn't know how to use a vacuum.  I give her a quick lesson of how to turn it on and off, and then move into the kitchen to start brownies with the rest of the girls.

It's a package mix, so there's not much work required.  But when I ask them if they would like to put pecans in the brownies, their reaction surprises me.  They ooh and ahh over the luxury of being able to add pecans to brownies, and comment on the amazing life I lead.  I tell them that maybe one day one of them can be the administrator, and they laugh at the thought, one of them telling me that I dream too big for their life.

We toss pillows and blankets on to the floor and the girls take their places around the living room.  I turn on the show and sit in the kitchen to keep an eye on the brownies and watch the show from there.  But my mind continues to wonder over what just happened.

I will continue to reflect on this in the days to come, but it won't be until a week later, as I am translating the morning devotional for a teacher, that I realize the lesson I will take away.  The passage we read is God's promise to Abram: "I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing." Genesis 12:2

And you will be a blessing.  Blessed in order to bless others.  It doesn't matter if we have been blessed with a bag of pecans or two mansions - we are called to bless others in turn.  For some reason, probably having to do with sin and human nature, it can be such a challenge to bless others with our material possessions, with our actions, with our thoughts and words, etc.  May the people of Christ rise up and be a blessing.

Guard Duty

"If you walk past my office and it looks like I'm sleeping, I'm not.  I'm just thinking with my eyes closed." - me to the accountant this morning. ;)

I am pretty tired this overcast Monday morning, probably because I was the "guardia" this weekend.  This basically means that I am the one on call for anything that comes up from Friday at 5:00pm until Sunday at 5:00pm.  It is not my favorite, but it certainly isn't as scary now as it was my first few times on this assignment.  And I thought it might be interesting to share what a typical guard duty weekend is like around here.  This my be long, but if you're ready, here we go...

A weekend of guard duty thankfully does not mean that I stand by the front gate for 48 hours ;)

I take Friday off to rest, going downtown with friends and taking care of some grocery shopping.  I plan to stay home for lunch, but I change my mind when I find out that we will be having sardine taquitos in the dining hall.  Who knew I would end up enjoying sardines so much?  But there's something about those taquitos that's just delicious.

I do manage to rest for the remainder of the afternoon, until 4:30pm comes and I pull myself together to walk over to the office.  Once there, I work out a few issues that have come up during the day and receive the "guardia" envelope from the accountant, with gas vouchers and cash.  She also gives me her keys, as she does every weekend.

At 7:00pm I am in the auditorium, ready to record the puppet show the elementary school students and teachers have prepared for us (Pinocho - Colegio Oasis).  It is a fun evening and everyone heads back to their houses afterwards.  I do a lap around the property to make sure all is well, closing a few doors along the way.  I go to bed early because I have an early airport run in the morning.  The head cook will cover the guard duty for me while I am gone.

On Saturday morning at 5:00am I am in front of the visitor's center, loading suitcases into the car.  We head over to the airport, watching the full moon near the horizon the whole way.  We get to the airport at 5:45am, the girls check in and then their grandmother treats us to breakfast at the airport restaurant.  They go through security, and the grandma and I take some seats near the arrival area to wait on the group coordinator who is scheduled to get in from Baja at 7:30am.

We get back to the children's home at 8:30am.  I head over to the school to get set up for my children's class.  Church starts at 10:00am, where the cook returns to me the envelope and keys, explaining to me that some money is gone because she paid the tractor guy this morning.  I work out a ride for the "snowbird" couples who would like to go to Walmart that afternoon.  I plan a vehicle for the group coordinator to pick up the grandmother's grandsons who will be arriving tonight.  I approve two other vehicles for two more outings tomorrow.

The children's class goes well, with the kids coloring as they listen to me read about Saul's death in 1 Samuel 31 and 2 Samuel 1.  Kind of heavy stuff for elementary, but they do well.  I know the adults have finished their service around 12:00 when the teenage boys' housefather calls me to ask if he should gather the offering that was given.

At 1:00pm, I head over to the dining hall to eat lunch with the teenage girls.  They don't have a housemother right now, and the visitor who has been helping us is resting on the weekends.  After lunch, I'm called back over to the home to talk with a woman who came to make a donation because she read about us in the newspaper.

I stay out at the picnic table in the front for a couple hours, doing some work on my computer and letting a few teenage girls use my iPad.  The cook calls to tell me someone needs to go pick up some donated bread from town.  The teenage boys' housefather says he'll go and all his boys pile in the van with him.  The girl in charge of school supplies asks if anyone will be driving for her.  I call my roommate and she helps us out.

After a while, I head back to my apartment.  I work on my computer and clean until my friends come with some pizza they picked up in town.  We play a game, and then I start getting phone calls again.  The youth group needs cups.  Someone needs to pay for personal use of a vehicle.  It is already dark when a woman from MaryKay comes to try to sell us some products.  I take that opportunity to do my evening property check and close the front gate.

I am up at 5:00am the next morning to start my laundry.  The moon is so bright and the morning so nice, I feel like I should walk around again.  But I am still in my pj's, so I decide to just return to bed until I can put in the next load.  I find out later that two teenagers snuck out of their house at that time to break one of our rules, and I'm reminded of how valuable it is sometimes to go with your instincts.

I go eat breakfast with the teenage girls at 8:00am and remind them of my invitation to hang out this afternoon.  I spend the rest of the morning finishing my laundry and preparing one of the apartments for the executive director who will be visiting us this week.  The cook asks for money because she needs lettuce and avocado for lunch.  It turns out we have fried fish for lunch, a nice treat!

The teenage girls join me after lunch and we make chocolate chip cookies.  It is fun to see them learn to use a blender and gain confidence in taking hot things out of the oven.  We also start a program on tv that we will hopefully get to continue over the next few weekends.  After three hours I send them back home to clean and get ready for dinner.  I get a text from the cook that her daughter has broken her arm and she's taking her to the doctor, but dinner is covered.

Finally it is 5:00pm and my guard duty is finished.  I can see now why I'm a little extra tired today...  And perhaps you're tired too if you just read through all that.  Thanks for sticking with me.  Maybe we should both go take a little rest now :).