Field Hand's Angel

If it sounds over dramatic or dumb
Then you've never been a kid wishing it was noon
Longing for your neighbor's pool on a 100 degree day
After hours of dust raised by five pairs of boots
A plastic bag of soda is holy nectar straight from heaven

Dreams of cannon balls so real you can hear the "kaplooosh"
Instead of droplets of water, heat waves make the plants dance
Out of the baking oven, squint, sure enough
Ice cream sandwiches hand delivered "Enjoy" - God

Lumpia and BBQ, I'm convinced that's what angles eat
Every time you made it you remembered those hungry kids
We'd plaster our faces to the window and watch the hand off
Impatiently waiting for Dad to get back in

Every Christmas a gift
A toy or two for the little one
Candy for us to split

Why did you do it?
You never got anything in return
Working, serving, you never gave up or quit

Unable to really move or speak
Grandma remained a Catholic devout
'Cause you faithfully served her communion in a Mennonite nursing home

Loud, sweaty, grubby, cranky, you saw
And I'm sure heard us at our worst
It was through a pair of Filipino hands God kept Elijah fed
And if God let's you into His kitchen
Man I can't wait for that feast

In honor of Pete & Candi Blanco

Musings about a Dust Pan

I realized today that we’ve gone through countless brooms in my lifetime, but we’ve always had the exact same dust pan.

Yellow Arrows

On the Camino Portuguese you mostly follow yellow arrows that are painted on various things, trees, rocks, random poles etc.

Here are some thoughts from my journal.

“We’ve learned when at a crossroads with no way mark to go as straight as possible. If after a bit you still don’t see one, go back and try the other way. (Yes applicable to life). 

The arrows remind me of the pillar of fire by night and cloud by day that God lead Israel with.”

10 Cent Miracles

“10 cent miracles?” I hear you ask, allow me to explain.

A 10 cent miracle is whenever you pray, or need help and God let’s you see what He’s doing. It’s what our trip in Europe was full of.

Sometimes they’re something unexpected, like a free place to stay in London for two nights. Or when we couldn’t get a hold of anyone at that free place, and were hopelessly trying to plan how to get there Emily’s friend just showed up.

Sometimes they appear when you use your brain or listen to Em’s gut and don’t stay at the, 100% guaranteed you’ll catch some horrible disease hostel in Oxford. Instead we ended up at a jolly bed and breakfast where no one puked their brains out at 3 am.

A 10 cent miracle was the amazing place we stayed in Cerri Italy.

Sometimes they’re a specifically answered prayer, like the fridge, hot water boiler, and tea that was provided in our above mentioned room.

Sometimes they’re a stranger setting you straight. On the Camino when we were walking and searching for way markers we couldn’t find, someone would on their own, stop what they were doing and set us in the right direction.

And sometimes a 10 cent miracle makes no sense. One of the days on the Camino I was positive I would be writing a blog about how we had to quite because Emily’s Achilles was acting up. After four hours of indecision, and being positive (at least in my mind) walking was wrong, we set out again. At the end of that gut wrenching time, we hadn’t come up with a better plan, so we decided to hike and see how her foot was by the end of the day. This time on the way out of the city I was more ok with the thought of walking. The amazing part, Em’s foot was fine for pretty much the rest of the day! It remained sore for the rest of the hike, but we finished it.

A 10 cent miracle was when we were allowed into a private garden to pick figs as the rain started pouring down. I realized later that was the hardest it rained all day, and in that moment, when I was the least than excited about walking in the rain again, God gave encouragement in the shape of a fig.

Why 10 cent miracles? One of the days we were “hiking” through an industrial zone, after awhile we decided to take a break at some shrine or memorial that was on the side of the road. I took my shoes off because my feet needed to air, and I sortta had some blisters by this point. While we were eating I knocked my backpack over and some stuff fell out which I put back in. We finished resting and headed out again. We’d gone maybe a block when I had to stop and get whatever it was in my shoe out. I thought it might have been the moleskin on my toes had come off. However when I reached into the shoe I discovered it wasn’t moleskin, it was 10 cents. It was like it was dropped in there from heaven. Hence in the sprit of Brother’s K (one of Emily’s favorite book), 10 cent miracles were born.

The cool thing, they’re still happening. In San Fran Mom was looking for a place to park, and after unloading the groceries at my brother’s apartment she drove around trying to find something. 10 minutes later she came back, I didn’t know until we left, she’d gotten a spot right outside the apartment.

The thought behind 10 cent miracles isn’t to put God in a box, or limit what He can do. It’s simply a way to recognize His work and marvel at what He does, every day, big things and “small” ones.  

When we were waiting in Santiago (the end of the Camino) for the bus to take us to the airport, I dropped 10 cents and couldn't find it. Some how it seemed fitting... 

Home

The thing with being by the window on an 11 hour plane ride is that it's much harder to get up and move around with two people between you and the isle. So I sat there the entire flight; reading, trying to sleep, eating, I even watched three movies! My legs were very happy at the end when I got to stand up. I haven't decided yet, but I may prefer the isle for flights longer than 6-8 hours. (Shocking I know.)

I must say the flight was much more "classy" than Ryanair, the flying commercial, but the safety demonstration was less epic. 

The real excitement happened at the airports. Here's a recap.....

Yesterday I became the random person who got pulled aside in Frankfurt and "searched". The whole thing was so funny. I made a mistake and made eye contact with a aimlessly wandering guard on my way to the bathroom. (At last I understood when he asked if I spoke German). I was trying hard not to laugh as they patted me down/checked my bag, I think it weirded them out a little because I kept chuckling. But we give Casey so much flack. The guy examining my bag, must have felt self conscious. because he was kinda clumsy in putting stuff back. Before that I had to unzip my bag in Salzburg for security, to show my water bottles were empty. Anyway, in addition to making me think of my sketchy brother, it seemed similar to when I would try to get ushers for MH, so I actually kinda felt sorry for them. As I laughed my head off of course.

As I was waiting at the airport a small girl either thought I was someone else, or I was wearing something that made her think of someone else. She kept staring at me even at the end of the flight! and kept trying to tell her mother something but it wasn't in English. (I think she cried every time she was awake on the flight. She'd work herself up to the point she'd be coughing). 

To end this very long email, when I was tying to get your bag out of the trash bag and on my back, the security beagle took an interest in my backpack that was on the floor. So I had to unzip my bag and show the food I had in there. Actually the guy asked if I had fresh fruit in there, and I told him I had some in there earlier. He basically believed me I think, but just had to "check".

I always knew it would be harder for me to get back into the country than leave. My flight got in at noon yesterday, but I didn't get home until 10:30 pm. Mom, the little girls and I drove around San Francisco sightseeing/waiting to meet up with my brother who is studying there this quarter. It was a long day, and sadly for my Mother and sisters I was a bit overtired. 

Flying and lessons learned: 6 am flights not necessarily so great. 3:20 wake up calls SUCK! I do like airplane food. I love Ryanair's safety demonstration. It's the best part of the flight. 

Oh and just to set the record straight, I did get a new knife in Spain, but it's a lot smaller.