Homebrew

    Tried something last week.  I dried some of my lemon balm for tea.  I let it hang for about a week and it crumbled and smelled just like loose tea leaves I might buy at the store.  It also makes a good cup of tea.  Added a little honey and even the kids wanted some.

Father's Day Camp-out

I love Dis' Fam. It was a last minute trip so we took the only campground that offered tube rides and seemed fairly family friendly that we could get. It's been like 17 years since I went down the Guadalupe River, and some things have changed. But even with beer bongs, tents stacked together like woodstock, a radio blaring something different out of each one, and no grills left free, we got to fall asleep looking at the trees overhead, hearing locusts and the leaves move.

The second night there it was just us and the fireflies, which neither of our kids could remember seeing before. The stars were all there, unveiled for us, to show they'd been there, waiting for us since we moved from the East Texas piney woods. and that wind. We did have fun: trails, tubing, swimming, cooking out, and rock collecting.

A Couple of Happy Endings

      Okay, so I dried some herbs and they still have taste.  The last 4 batches of soap worked out- even the deformed ones- and are all almost sold.  The wrapping is a little low tech but I like that.  I didn't want to buy anything to do this and my computer has no label making program on it yet so...

Praying For My Friends

       I am thinking about my friends from Texas who will be going back to friends in Ayaviri, Peru soon.  The last visit was a sort of scouting party to see what doors God would open for ministry there and He opened many.  With only one connection in the area, we found many more, partnered with the local Christian church and mayor to show a film about the life of Christ in the public theatre.  And spread the word about Christ and the future visit of the medical mission team, while obtaining the blessing of local doctors. 

      Few of us spoke the language but we still made friends there.  I am thinking about our translators (that's Arturo above with some children.)  It is an intense, short time spent together.  An adventure where you get close faster because you live together, break bread together, and work toward a common goal greater than your own life.  Plus there are so many unpredictable situations in Peru:  protests, police bribes, equipment malfunctions, or the stand-offish way of the Ayamara.  Its a quick initiation into the culture to have no toilets or heat.  Not to mention a chicken's foot floating around in your soup.  

Yoga, Religious Queries, and Zombies

Am heading out tomorrow to visit my husband's family and attend another yoga certification through Yogafit.  I am excited about learning new teaching techniques.  I have only taught for a year now and to a small group, yet I sense that I need to develop my verbal and tactile teaching skills more. 

There was a time when I thought yoga was boring at best and potentially harmful to me spiritually.  The former concern I found unnecessary with my first real at -home session.  Now, I love cranking up some good music and spending a great Sunday afternoon on the mats in the garage.  

I am still studying the spiritual roots of yoga.  Just started a Bhagavad Gita read-along and hope to have a better understanding of the underlying principles, even if I do not share the same perspective.  I am not afraid of moving the body God gave me into yoga poses that are obviously good for me.   I think He created the body to move, strengthen, and stretch long before any system was invented to maintain it.  I am also not threatened by real laws of cause and effect and of natural workings that God set in motion with creation that yogis may be willing to recognize while many Christians are still hesitant to.  ("For as he man thinks in his heart, so he is"- Proverbs 23:7, etc.)  But, I know that I believe in a personal God.  With a distinct personality that I am created in the image of, yet I will never be Him.  We are like family, because of His sacrifice, but we are not one.  I don't see that belief being reconciled to the Gita.  It will be an interesting read, regardless.

My real desire is to help myself and others have healthier lives, moving increasingly toward God's will for our lives, not just in a workout, but in our sense of personal responsibility and our thought- lives.  So I want to think carefully about the message I'm sending, never undermining God's work in our lives.  I think there may be a reason you don't see many Baptist yoga instructors, you know? 

Complete subject change.  Before I sound too good for this world, I saw this book  at the bookstore and it cracked me up.  It's one of those things that you laugh really hard about when you see it briefly (like watching an episode of My Name is Earl as you fast-forward through it to get to The Office) but when you take the time to watch, it gets old quick.  However, Zombies are the perfect foil for Austen's storytelling.  I'm sure I would see Elizabeth and Darcy in a whole new light, albeit a gross one.  But I'm not into grossness, so...