Teaching at a Christian school at Christmastime is nice. We get to sing carols in concerts and recognize them as the worship songs they are. I especially enjoy the last stanza of Joy to the World:
He rules the world with truth and grace
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness
And wonders of His love
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness
And wonders of His love
It was good to sit between two of my most distractible 8th grade boys during a school concert the other night and hear them sing with gusto. I pray that one in particular, whom I know to be a Muslim, will grasp the truth of what he was singing.
Used clothes and process of getting them can be fun. Toi Market is a set of stalls on the edge of Kibera slum, and it's a great place to go when the wardrobe you brought over from the States is feeling a bit ho-hum. My friend Lara and I went a couple of Saturdays ago, and her artist's eye helped me find some clothes beyond my usual blue & purple. And our friendship moved to a new level... See, you can't really put a changing room in a market stall that's 4 feet by 10 feet. Most places don't even have mirrors. So you and a friend go together, ask, "Do you have a place to change?" and you make sure that the curtain they string along the back of the stall stays up while your friend tries on her clothes while standing on her shoes (dirt floor), and you lean back as far as possible so you can answer "How does this look?" when you're standing 6 inches apart. That'll bond you.
Rediscovering the euphonium has also been pleasant. The choir director here is a good friend of mine, and she knows my high school instrument secret. I hadn't played low brass for almost a decade, but she wrote an arrangement that included a baritone, and I performed it last night. I didn't do phenomenally, but I didn't embarrass myself either. It was nice to find that voice again, and the trombone player I was seated next to mentioned that the Nairobi Orchestra is often short on low brass; would I be interested in playing with them sometime? I don't know if anything will come of it, but it's a pleasant thought.
These upcoming days and weeks will also hold a lot- staff banquet tonight, progressive dinner Monday night, Doug's arrival Tuesday (yay!), plenty of hiking and walking and touring him around during the next few weeks. So as you can probably guess, the blogging futures for the next few weeks don't look good. But maybe we'll both be surprised.
So blessings on you, friends, as you absorb the wonders of the Advent season- that God entered our world so very tangibly, and that He always keeps His promises.
Used clothes and process of getting them can be fun. Toi Market is a set of stalls on the edge of Kibera slum, and it's a great place to go when the wardrobe you brought over from the States is feeling a bit ho-hum. My friend Lara and I went a couple of Saturdays ago, and her artist's eye helped me find some clothes beyond my usual blue & purple. And our friendship moved to a new level... See, you can't really put a changing room in a market stall that's 4 feet by 10 feet. Most places don't even have mirrors. So you and a friend go together, ask, "Do you have a place to change?" and you make sure that the curtain they string along the back of the stall stays up while your friend tries on her clothes while standing on her shoes (dirt floor), and you lean back as far as possible so you can answer "How does this look?" when you're standing 6 inches apart. That'll bond you.
Rediscovering the euphonium has also been pleasant. The choir director here is a good friend of mine, and she knows my high school instrument secret. I hadn't played low brass for almost a decade, but she wrote an arrangement that included a baritone, and I performed it last night. I didn't do phenomenally, but I didn't embarrass myself either. It was nice to find that voice again, and the trombone player I was seated next to mentioned that the Nairobi Orchestra is often short on low brass; would I be interested in playing with them sometime? I don't know if anything will come of it, but it's a pleasant thought.
These upcoming days and weeks will also hold a lot- staff banquet tonight, progressive dinner Monday night, Doug's arrival Tuesday (yay!), plenty of hiking and walking and touring him around during the next few weeks. So as you can probably guess, the blogging futures for the next few weeks don't look good. But maybe we'll both be surprised.
So blessings on you, friends, as you absorb the wonders of the Advent season- that God entered our world so very tangibly, and that He always keeps His promises.
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