11 February 2009

funnies

a few laughs from the past week...

- you know it's a doosy of a monday morning when you're writing text messages before 10am that say "there is mutiny on the ward due to feces on the veranda"...true story (albeit a long one), no joke. You've gotta laugh!
- the little nutrition patient named Baluku whose emaciated-except-for-his-swollen-belly self was sitting on his bed during rounds, looking wide eyed and desperate, wearing only a tattered black leather jacket with a red furry collar...emaciated but doing it in style!
- the little snotty nosed, only wearing a shirt, toddler who while Sarah and I were walking up the road, slowed his/her gait and gazed up at us with a precious smile and greeted us with a high pitched, respectfully slow, "wesaiyo-eh!" Ah! Made my week.
- the remark I made last night when trying to recall the location of Scotch Whiskey production that I read about in the Economist..."is it in England?"...Nathan coolly replies "ah, Heidi, that would be Scotland...you know, Scotch?" Right :) I promptly took a sip and practically had an asthma attack while he and Pat watched me cough my head off and have a bit of difficulty breathing for the next 1/2 hour..."I'm okay, really I am"..."uh, I don't think you actually are" Nathan replies, handing me a glass of water...evidently me and Scotch don't really get along.
-explaining to the wife of a Christ School teacher that my bright red face after running, which I pointed out matched the red kikoy I was wearing around my waist...heaven forbid you leave the Christ School gate wearing pants with nothing wrapped around on top!...would in fact return to it's normal color after I cooled down a bit...silly muzungu.

"sisters, sisters, da da da da da da da da, sisters"

I've been thinking a lot about my sister lately...for lots of reasons, she sent me a fabulous Valentines Day package recently, she's having a birthday soon, and I've been getting a few quality emails from her as of recent, with tales of what's going on in her life and heart, so anyways, I found this picture of the two of us from, um, a long time ago actually...her freshman year in college, so the fall of 2004 I think? yeah, a long time ago. (Historically we don't really take many pictures in our family...of each other, that is - and she claims she got the shortest end of the stick being the youngest and all...)...but anyways, here's to Carebear, and the (intelligent, fun loving, witty, strong, courageous, kind, thoughtful, passionate, beautiful and fashionable) gift she is. Love you, Care.

08 February 2009

away

being away is a double edged sword...

No one that I've known for longer than a year lives within thousands of miles of me...that's hard. Sunday afternoons are a time that I feel that distance pretty acutely. For most of Sunday afternoons (my time) everyone that I know and love is fast asleep. I miss them.

At the same time, their lives have gone on while I've been away, as has mine. Being away has given me new perspectives on life, the freedom to do and be things that I have never done and been before, the opportunity to learn more about myself, about the world, and about my God. It has given me a new appreciation for the ones I know and love, who I miss dearly, and for many other things I never would think twice about if I hadn't moved away.

And moving away has given me opportunity to get to know and love new people in my life. Some of those are the dear ones I live with here, that I call "team;" they are precious to me. I learn things from each of them every day, some are extraverted and some are not, some are "big men/women" in the eyes of this community and some are not, some are superstar athletes and some are not, some are artistic and some are not, some are soft spoken and some are not, some are young and some are mostly young :), but all of them have contagious smiles and laughter, all of them are creative and intelligent, all of them have all kinds of crazy stories to tell every day, all of them are learning more and more everyday about who they are and who God is, all of them have lives and relationships and personalities that are unique, and all of them love me in their own way and I love them.

Old and new, far and near, God has blessed me with communities I'm really thankful for.