Fresh Perspective

I have only flicks and fleets of memories of her.  I remember her tiny kitchen.  She was always bustling about in it.  I remember that we could do no wrong.  She thought we had hung the moon.  I remember her love for fresh flowers and her garden swing.  The tiny postage stamp back yard.  The tall fences and watching her have chats with the neighbors.  I remember her buying me new shoes and clothes.  I remember her giving me a necklace.  Also little dainty pottery that was her mothers.  She loved life.  And loved EVERYBODY who danced in and out of hers.  In was better then out.  The last time I saw her was when I was 8 3/4 months pregnant with Aubrey.  Over 15 years ago.  She had bravely come to America to visit.  We walked on the beach.  She worried and fretted over me in my pregnant state and assured me over and over again, “It will be over soon, my love”,  speaking of the quickly approachin...

Last Saturday afternoon, we decided that we would go for a drive/ride.  Kind of like the “Sunday afternoon ride”.  Kind of…….. It was decided that Aubrey would drive the motorbike with Darron as the “licensed driver” on the back.  In Indonesia, a 15 year old can drive this way legally if they have a licensed driver with them.  The rest of the family would tag along in the car.  Several wanted to ride the bike, so blue jeans and jackets were put on as protection “just in case”.  Destination: Sentani lake to take in the views. I held my breath as Aubrey navigated the coconut bridge and muddy incline.  I prayed when we spotted a drunk man standing in the middle road.  He had just stopped another man on a motorbike and took his helmet and was wearing it.  Aubrey and Darron made it through.  How would we fair?  Jacob recommended, “Lock your door, Mom.”  As the drunk man was within a foot of our car, I gunned the engine and shot ou...

Having never raised a liter of puppies before, I never truly knew the meaning of “dog pile”.  I quickly learned those first few weeks of puppy life that they LOVE to dog pile.  Sleeping all on top of each other.  Nursing their mother, scrambling all over each other.  The bigger the pile, the more content they were.  At times they would cry having already been fed.  I could simply pile them all into a laundry basket and they would quiet right down.  That laundry basket helped us babysit those first few weeks. By week three, the puppies all had teeth and we began to introduce food.  Which they attacked with great eagerness.  Now 3 times a day the puppies get very excited when they see their food coming.    The puppies spend most of their day outside.  As the work of them inside, was just too much to keep up with.  We tried to put them in a little pen, but it just drove the mother crazy.  She found a way to get get t...

Last Saturday we joined the faculty for the Adventist school and church members at the beach.  Most of them had left the afternoon before to camp.  At 3 in the morning it rained so hard and continued raining until 6 a.m.  Just the thought of riding on the boat in possible rain was enough to make all of us not want to go.  However, when I am the speaker for the day…..kind of hard to make wimpy  excuses like, “It was raining, so we didn’t feel like coming”.  So this grass widow, awoke the children, fed them breakfast, packed the lunches, gathered the gear and out we headed for a day of ministry by 7 a.m..  Jan and Bob Roberts kindly joined our excursion, despite the fact that they had only been back in Papua 48 hours. As I have mentioned before this is one of my most favorite drives in Papua.  Something about forging rivers, dodging dogs, chickens, cows, people, potholes and then at last catching glimpses of the sea peering through tropical leaves...

For 17 years now Darron and I have been blessed to know Jeff and Missy Jordan.  We are endeared to them for many reasons.  #1.  They are a pastoral couple.  #2.  They have 4 boys just the right ages, to give each of our boys a buddy.  #3.  Everybody thinks Missy and I are sisters.  For the first time this summer we stopped explaining that “no we are not sisters”  , instead we just smiled and shook our heads in agreement when asked. Their hearts are mega huge.  Jeff is deaf and his job is being a pastor to the deaf all over the world.  He live streams his sermons into a virtual church ( www.deafchurch.org )  and travels at least once a year to a foreign country.  Both the Philippines and India have welcomed his work.  Many other countries would love Jeff to come…..but how much can one man do?  Missy goes way beyond the call of the “typical” pastor’s wife.  Countless times she is Jeff’s voice and Jeff’s ears...

Honestly, I did not want to homeschool again this year.  I have already clocked in 10 years of home schooling.  The been there, done that tee shirt is tattered and torn.  Though given the variables I knew what was my duty, the best interest of Jacob and Nathaniel and my mother’s heart calling.  Refreshingly I always drink in the break of summer holidays and use some moments of the time to do research, for better curriculum choices and activities.  Also this summer we spent time having evaluations done by a Doctor in Psychology/Education.  The end result was dyslexia.  I was terrified at the fact that I would be fully responsible for educating my children with a special need.  I’m not a teacher.  When I questioned the Doctor if she thought I was crazy to return to Papua in our given circumstance, she assured me that there was no better place then for my children at home with me and that there was no guarantee that any given city in America wou...

For the last 6ish months we have been driving over a washed out bridge.  Creatively, the road construction crew simply piled dirt and rocks upon the broken, twisted mass of concrete and thousands of cars and motorcycles pass over it daily.  At times sink holes have eroded out and treacherous falling in of “the repaired bridge road” have taken us down to single lane passing.  This is the only way for us living out in Doyo to get into town.  So for the Boyd taxi driver, she passes over this bridge usually at least 4 times a day. When the big yellow excavator went to work last week on the bridge and the manual labor people were present, we were excited.  Now instead of passing over the packed down, eroding in, washed out bridge….we are driving over the coconut bridge (yes made from coconut trees)  or depending on the amount of traffic one may get directed to drive down and up through the river and mud.  The Boyd family has given up washing their car....