Bits from Belgium - Week 5

~ Psalm 36:6-10 ~

Bonjour les amis et la famille!

Yet another week has gone by... my 5th week in Genval, Belgium!!!
How are you? How has your week been?
All continues to be fine here.
The weather this week has continued to be nice. Nights get down in the low 50's, days are in the 60's and 70's (Fahrenheit). We have rain, sun, clouds, wind... sometimes all in one day! I enjoy being able to comfortably wear jeans and t-shirts just about every day, plus or minus a jacket in the mornings!
Physically, I continue to be fine. My wrist is healing very well and I otherwise feel wonderful! Have been a little tired this week, but so far have been able to "find" any sleep I've "lost". :-) My good health has been a huge blessing for which I am very grateful!
Mentally, I continue to mostly enjoy the challenges of learning a new language and culture. Interestingly, through my lack of ability to verbally communicate with people around me, I am realizing how much I personally, internally desire and enjoy communicating with those around or with me! I am learning (in many ways!) that sometimes you don't realize the value or privilige of something (or someone!) until it's gone or changed! Such good lessons for me, and quite humbling sometimes too!
Emotionally, I am well as well. This is definitely the area where I feel the most grace and am most in awe of the strength of God to carry me through this. Before this trip I had never been away from my family for more than a week, and certainly not out of the country without them! Emotionally, I wasn't sure how I would handle it all. I realize I'm not even half-way through my time here yet, but moment by moment, day by day, week by week, and through the first month here, I have felt so covered and filled with God's peace, joy, love, and strength. There have been moments and days when I have felt alone or have craved for the strong hugs and gentle kisses from my Dad, soft hugs and sweet kisses from my Mom, messy chapstick-covered kisses from Keri, and smiles, laughter, singing of silly songs, poking, wrestling, pranking, and goofing off with my brothers and Anna... etc. There's a LOT to miss from home, but God is carrying me through this time and helping me see and soak the multitude of things He's bringing and showing me here, as I've desired and ask for! And you can bet that the activities mentioned above will sure be a whole lot more precious when I get home now that I have missed them (and especially the people they come from!) for awhile !
"The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped..." (Psalm 28:7)
Spiritually, I am hungry and being fed. I am being fed from a Source that is always full to overflowing; feeding into a me who is always needing more and prays that I will never stop craving for and from that Source. I'm enjoying the opportunity to read some really interesting books and spend more time in the Bible, thought, and prayer as well. I have also enjoyed some very interesting conversations with the Petries and some of their guests.
Next week I will be pretty much half way through my stay here. I can already tell you that this trip has been so worth everything I've had to give up or deal with to get and be here! I am so grateful for all the support, encouragement, advice, and love I've been given as I prepared to leave, left, and have been here. I often can't describe or put into words some of my thoughts, emotions, and experiences here, but suffice to say... it is good.

To the Belgium Bits! ...
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Mercredi - 8 Août, 2007 - My day off. Nothing incredibly out of the ordinary... just a nice, restful day involving a walk around Lake Genval, a phone call home, and lots of resting, reading, and catching up on e-mails! :-)

Jeudi - 9 Août , 2007 - A little rough of a day, but it's almost over, and tomorrow's a new day. :-) It was gray and rainy all day, and a little chilly. Rough days aren't fun, but they're real life, and we all live through days of "testing" like today. I think days like this are good for us, but it's usually only after it's all over that we realize that!
I'm on for the "midnight turn" tonight, but I really don't mind midnights at all. The only hard part is being "on-call" throughout the night if Rebecca needs me, but I realize that it's not that big a deal if I have to get up during the night because that's really why I'm here! It's not like it's disrupting me from a midterm or early morning work or anything! :-) I enjoy reading, praying, catching up on e-mails, or listening to music while I wait until midnight.
We set up a date (Aug. 20) for me to go into Brussels with Melissa (the girl who stayed her for awhile) for the day. That will be my day off for the week, and I'll probably take the train into Brussels and meet her at the station and then she'll take me around to see some of the big sights in Brussels and maybe do some shopping. It will be nice though because I really would like to go into Brussels with somebody whenever possible, but especially the first few times. Melissa is really sweet and fun and knows French fluently, so it should be a fun day! :-)
The second exciting-ish news is that I tried to make an imitation of Mom's fabulous Indian curry chicken and rice today for dinner! It wasn't exactly like Mom's, but I was satisfied with how it turned out and enjoyed eating it afterwards! :-) I also made a fruit salad with peeled apples, nectarines, plums, pecans (not a fruit, I know!), and get this... fresh FIGS, with a little lemon and orange juice thrown in as well. I think I've realized the real reason I'm enjoying cooking here as well. It's true that the quantities are less and I don't have as many other "distractions", but in addition, I think I enjoy it because it makes me think and feel a bit like and closer to Mom. :-) It's fun to cook "like Mom", or at least try! The closer it gets to tasting "like Mom's", the more satisfied I am with how it turned out. I do get a little... uh... "creative" sometimes, but so far it's been a fun, very rewarding activity! :-) Still haven't learned how to do Belgian waffles... sorry! I'm very happy that I'm actually happy cooking. It makes me feel a little better about possibly having to cook for others in my future! Hee-hee-hee! I was beginning to worry that I might have to marry or hire a full-time chef or something!

Vendredi - 10 Août, 2007 and Samedi - 11 Août, 2007 - Happy Birthday Bethany N! The days are starting to run together if I don't write about them separately! Oh dear! :-) Well, one of these days I tried fennel/celery root for the first time. It was actually rather yummy cooked the way it was! In addition to "the usual", I helped clean out a bunch of bush trimmings. The weather was simply lovely! On Samedi (Saturday), I cooked teryaki chicken and made a sesame cabbage stir fry that my Mom makes. Thanks Mom for the help and directions!

Dimanche - 12 Août, 2007 - A quiet day until evening. We prepared for the arrival of Susannah C. and her dad and again, as well as a couple Israeli friends. Spent the afternoon watching a movie (A Good Year) together. The guests all arrived in evening, and we spent some time visiting with them before bed. Such neat people with such fascinating backgrounds, experiences, and lives!

Lundi - 13 Août, 2007 - Happy 8th Birthday Michael! Happy Birthday Andria D.! Most of the day was spent visiting with the guests. The weather was lovely again, the food was delicious, and human company was better still! I am so enjoying the opportunity to be here and meet so many most wonderful, interesting people! The friends from Israel left in the evening to return home. Wish we had more time with them...

Mardi - 14 Août, 2007 - Susannah and her Dad left for Paris, France early this morning. They should have a lovely time together!
Sometime in the next few days or weeks, there is a good possibility that my next CCI puppy will be born... I've been thinking about that every so often, (it's such an exciting though! :-) and actually dreamed about very young CCI puppies last night. (It was a strange dream... but had newborn CCI puppies in it nonetheless! :-) This morning when I got up, I found a package downstairs from home. I opened it to find an adorable, soft, black stuffed puppy with a yellow and blue CCI-like vest on. It almost made me cry, and I couldn't tell if it was a happy or a sad cry! I told my Mom that I hadn't thought I needed anything like that until I got it... then I realized how much I needed it. THANK YOU MOM!!!! I think it cost more to mail the stuffed dog than it did to buy it! :-O At any rate, it was a lovely surprise and is very special to me as I am missing Steed's graduation with his new partner and Jen's turn-in to advanced training this weekend.
We had Paul's secretary and two of her friends here for dinner tonight. The friends are a mother and daughter from Texas. I enjoyed visiting with both of them and again learning more about people and things I didn't know!

Mercredi - 15 Août, 2007 -
I had the afternoon off today, and will have part of tomorrow off as well. Annie drove me to a Chateau de la Hulpe ( http://chateaudelahulpe.wallonie.be/apps/spip/ ) which is about 10 minutes from the Petries home. It's amazing to walk into there... all of a sudden you feel like you've stepped into history and are in the middle of nowhere! It was absolutely gorgous too! They have actually done several movie recordings there, including one "Maitre de Musique", which the Petries own and I hope to watch! I'm pathetic... but one of the best parts for me was the fact that there were fields full of horses and ponies on the chateau grounds! It was nice to see and smell horses again. :-) There are paths all over the grounds that lead to lakes, barns, houses, etc. Quite the place! I hope to go back to walk and look some more.
I spent two hours walking around admiring the scenery and view, taking pictures, and just thinking a lot about a lot of things. It was lovely, but also very strange for me because I was there alone, despite the fact that there were adults, children, and dogs all around. I learned a little bit more about myself as I realized how sad and lonely it can be to be somewhere so beautiful and have nobody to share it with. Nobody to talk about the stories various sights remind you of... nobody to discuss and praise the beauty of God's creation with. It was still good to have that experience (and I'm sure I will have more while I'm here!). Growing up in my family, this may very likely have been the first time I've gone somewhere like that alone, so now I know what it might be like for others...
It was a good experience for me though, and I knew I wasn't truly alone. I found peace in the fact that I could at least share my thoughts and admiration of the scenery with Someone who was always there with me, even if He didn't verbally speak back to me. I also realized that had I been there with another person, I would have missed out on all the thinking and quiet time I had just with Him. C'est bon.
I will have pictures posted on my blog from the visit to the Chateau de la Hulpe if you're interested in seeing it. I'm afraid it's nothing in pictures like it is in real life...

....Enough of a novel for one week! Sorry so LONG!
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Blessings in Belgium:
* A healing wrist and good health!
* The amazing people I'm getting to meet and learn about!
* The example Rebecca is to all of us!
* The knowledge and experiences I am gaining here in areas so different from those I had at home
* The ability to communicate with "all ya'll" at home and throughout the U.S.!
* The beauty of this place and the world we live in!

Prayer Requests:
* Good sleep during these busy days!
* That I can be humble and serve the way Jesus has taught and demonstrated
* That I might decrease so that He might increase
* That I can love, be a light, and bless those I interact with
* That I will be in tune with and always seeking and listening for His guidance throughout each moment and day

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Merci beacoup!

Au Revoir,

~ MB

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"The Presence and the manifestation of the Presence are not the same. There can be the one without the other. God is here when we are wholly unaware of it. He is manifest only when and as we are aware of His presence. On our part, there must be surrender to the Spirit of God, for His work is to show the Father and Son. If we cooperate with Him in loving obedience, God will manifest Himself to us..." - A. W. Tozer "The Pursuit of God"
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