13 Hours of Rain

Yesterday was my “Shrove Tuesday” so to speak. I ate three huge helpings of Apple Cinnamon “Wheat-Free” cake smothered with butter cream icing, brown sugar glaze and pecans (created by moi as buying a GF cake for one’s birthday is nearly impossible). I consumed a plateful of gluten-free pasta with homemade chili. And a day before, I had a large helping of flourless chocolate cake compliments of my dear sister-in-law along with great decaf coffee. Oh, de-li-cious! Today begins the CDEFG-Free diet*. No Coffee/Chocolate. No Dairy. No Eggs. No Fish. No Grains. I have also labeled it as the “No Fun” Diet. The purpose? To provide my stomach a chance to heal. My stomach journey has been a frustrating one, to say the least. More than 18 months ago, something happened to my digestive tract. I started to experience heart burn everyday (as opposed to the occasional once-a-month incident). One day, it was so bad, that I checked myself into emergency to make sure I wasn’t having a hear...

Yesterday, our family invited newcomers to our home for a traditional Indian meal. I am developing a friendship with the Mrs. through a community parenting group I attend with you. This beautiful, intelligent woman is the coordinator of the program. And she speaks the language of your Nana & Nani. Admittedly, I was anxious as we prepared our home for our guests. Is everything clean? Will the food taste good (I’m still learning the art and science of Indian cuisine)? Will we have enough topics to discuss? Will our tradition of grace before a meal offend them? In spite of the questions and misgivings, I prayed throughout the day that God’s peace would fill our home. Even though I consider myself a hospitable person, I do find cross-cultural hospitality a challenge. That may come as a surprise to you, as I am an ethnic minority in this city. Truth be known, I actually feel more comfortable entertaining Caucasians in our home. After all, I have mostly interacted within the dominant...

  There are days I mourn that fact that my birth family is scattered all around the globe. In weak moments, I envy those who have every sibling within a day’s driving distance. And sometimes I sincerely wish I was called to re-located to another corner of the world just to experience adventures along with your Mausi, Mausa, Mamu & Emo. Truthfully, I just miss my family. I miss the synergy of having everyone under the same roof and witnessing your Nana & Nani glowing with contentment. This coming week I turn 40. Yes, forty, four decades or 1.26 billion seconds. To celebrate my birthday, I requested a little holiday with just you kids and your Daddy. I did not want the stress of orchestrating a duel family gathering to celebrate my day (though I have given your Daddy a ten year warning to plan a party for my 50th Birthday!). Neither did I want the reminder of how most of my side of the family was missing (the good-byes are still raw). So, being the control-freak tha...

After three years of attending our church and feeling disconnected with the people in our place of worship, we finally took the initiative to start a care group. Since care groups are not an official part of our church structure (there are unofficial groups meeting in homes), we realized either we had to embrace building community here or we needed to leave to find it somewhere else. To deal with the childcare issue, we decided to hold our care group during your Sunday School program. Thankfully, three other couples joined us on our journey to study a book of the Bible together. And it has been refreshing. Our group is inter-generational. We are the youngest couple with the youngest kids. The eldest couple has grandchildren. We have people representing various church experiences and denominations. We have farmers and teachers; healthcare works and carpenters. We have a multitude of ministries represented from Bible Camp Representatives to Missions Liaisons to Deacons. It is a div...

It is time to update on two previous topics: Kitchen Renovations While the goal of completing our kitchen renovation at the end of last year was not met, I am pleased that we are almost done (and everything thus far was paid in cash). In January, our backsplash was tiled by a professional. And while the price-tag for the work was a steep, the task was completed in two days (as opposed to many frustrating days if we did it ourselves). We have a few more items to address in this kitchen of ours to complete our “low budget” overhaul, namely: 1. Paint lower cabinet interiors. 2. Repair one warped cabinet door. 3. Repair the ceiling around new pendant lighting. 4. Re-stain kitchen window castings. 5. Install new blinds/drapes. 6. Replace current garden door with something more aesthetically pleasing and energy efficient. 7. Add high stools at peninsula overhang. Banking in the Now In September of last year, I was compelled to drastically reduce the use of our credit ca...

In our care group, the conversation went off on a tangent to explore the implications of evangelism. What if that undesirable person walked into our church? What if? Would we be okay with it? Would we accept that person or family with the same grace and love God offers through His son Jesus? Or would we immediately judge them, reform them, and – dare I say – undermine the convicting work of the Holy Spirit by condemning them to an unsavory finality? In addition to these questions, I was also encouraged and affirmed for taking the step of obedience and sharing my words of exhortation with the church the Sunday previous (see On Being a Missionary (Here?) ). What I had to say was challenging and the questions I asked revealed the flawed nature of how the North American church, in general, shares the Gospel of Christ. We equate evangelism with somehow leading a person to attend our church programs instead of leading them to Christ. Deep down inside, we want someone else more qualified to...