Back in the groove

The last few weeks have been busy. I continue to fight with counting the cost a lot. Things seem harder now. The streets seem meaner and the people less welcoming. I try not to say bad things about the country we live in, I don’t TRY to hide the bad things and give you a rose-colored picture of what it’s like to live here. I usually write from my perspective and I am pretty real about it. I have been blessed in the past to truly see things in a very positive light. But for many reasons, adjusting back has just not been so easy and I have begun to see more flaws in the culture and just life in general here.

With that said, the last couple of days have been good. I have begun to gain more perspective and get comfort from my maker. He has confirmed many times that I am exactly where he wants me, which at times has frustrated me quite a bit and left me asking “Why?” But, you know what? It really doesn’t matter. He gave EVERYTHING for me, and even though it SEEMS like a lot, I am giving up SO LITTLE for Him. Although, I have been struggling, I have still been able to enjoy the good things that He has been bringing my way these last couple of weeks. So, here is a recap of some of those good things 

I must apologize for not giving you more information about the opening of the café. It is so wonderful to finally have it up and running, but it also seems like things have been going non-stop since then. I intended to write a special blog post about the opening, but I did not succeed in doing that before this post. I do intend to update the café page and write more about what we actually do there on this page when I have some more free time. In the mean time, here are some pictures of opening day.

We also attended a traditional wedding this month complete with the National dish, Besh Bar Mak, served in a wooden tray, which also happens to be tradition 

The week following the café opening our classes began. It helped me to remember that one of my favorite things about life here is teaching! The way that our students love to learn is priceless and the way that their faces light up during lessons makes my heart smile  :)

The next good thing that happened was today! Today was a really nice day thanks to Curtis. He is a very loving husband and he knows how to make me feel special. The day started with some lovely fresh flowers.

I then made a special pancake breakfast with some warm peaches covered in sugar, vanilla and cinnamon to top them off. After breakfast we shared what we have been learning from Dad this week and lifted up our requests to Him together.

Once we finished that we got dressed and headed out to a nature park to walk around and just enjoy being out of the city for a little while. While we were there we sat down and played cards in a little café while we sipped some coffee.

Later in the afternoon Curtis took me to my favorite restaurant in the city, a nice Italian place called Mozzarella, where we enjoyed an early dinner. While we were there it started raining, so we had to take a taxi home, our taxi driver was so excited that he met Americans that he gave us the ride for free! That was the first time this has ever happened, I guess he was just excited because he had been to America and spoke a little bit of English. Either way, Dad took care of us and blessed us with a free ride.

This evening when we came home we watched part of one of my favorite movies “13 going on 30” and I made the most amazing hot chocolate I have ever made, maybe even the best I have ever tasted!

Here is basically what I did, I melted about 1/2tbs of butter on the bottom of a 2.5 quart pot with about 6 squares of dark chocolate and added ½ cup of Creamer, after everything was melted together I added about 1tbs of Penzey’s Cocoa, then 3 tbs of sugar, 1 tsp of Vanilla and ½ tsp of Cinnamon, then 1 cup of milk. I topped it off with whipped cream and a sprinkle of cocoa. It was a perfect treat for a rainy day

All in all, I know my life is blessed. I have hard times and I struggle with the calling that I have at times too. But I know that despite the difficulties of that calling, I have a Dad who gives me wonderful gifts. Today was one of those gifts