Bits from Belgium - Volume 3 - Issue 1

Bits from Belgium! (From various e-mails sent out in the past week :-)

June 11, 4:22 a.m. (Ohio time)

Hello dear all!

Just wanted to send you a very quick message to let you know I am safe and sound in Genval, Belgium!!! I will send a longer update later, but just wanted to let you know I made it, and it is WONDERFUL! I am exhausted, but excited and was greeted by not one, not two, but THREE delightful, love-filled notes (two carefully hidden in my bags, and one mailed from Wooster, awaiting my arrival :-)

Off to have some tea with Rebecca. I will write more later!

Happy Saturday! Hope you're sleeping soundly!

~ MB

June 12, 2011

I am doing well. I slept for nearly 12 hours last night (woke up a few times, but was able to get back to sleep). That was so good. Today I have been tired, but much more myself, and much more functional. The weather this morning was gorgeous: sunny, blue skies, about 60 degrees. It is cloudy now and kind of gray. Typical Belgium. :-) Today has been quiet, which is nice. Paul went to the garden store today to get more flowers (their flower gardens are amazing!), and we talked him into bringing two tomato plants home! :-) I planted them this afternoon. I am not terribly confident in my abilities to care for them and/or their ability to grow in the Belgian weather, but we will see!

Some other interesting news around here. Today is Pentacost, which is a holiday, so tomorrow a lot of places are closed. It is a bit ironic that in a highly "unreligious" culture, many very "religious" holidays are observed - even those which aren't really celebrated in the states. Next week, Paul and many people from the European Parliament will be holding a gathering of important people from the Middle-East in a really neat peaceful conference that encourages dialogue, communication, and relationship building. They have been doing this for a few years now, but this is the first year it will be held in Brussels. I don't know a whole lot of the details, but I do know that they would appreciate your prayers - especially Paul, as he's fairly worn down from the events of the past few months and will need strength to help lead this event. It sounds like we all (Rebecca, Annie, and I) might get to go for a part of it as well, which could be really neat! It's next Tuesday evening. Finally, I found out that another caregiver will be coming June 29 (to stay until September), and yet another mid-July (to stay through August). This will be good, as it will lighten the "load" on Paul and Annie, and will also probably lighten things a little for me - although I don't mind and am used to a pretty full schedule when I am here. :-) This also guarantees that I can come home when scheduled... not that I had any doubts that I wouldn't! :-)

I'm doing my first "midnight" tonight (which involves going down to Rebecca's room at midnight and turning her from her side to her back, putting on some braces, making sure she's comfortable, and then taking a pager with me to bed in case she needs anything. If you think of us, pray we all get another good night's sleep! It has been a rather hectic month or two for everybody here, and they're all quite tired. Please pray that they will all be able to rest, relax, and be strengthened and encouraged.

June 13, 2011

"Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt (in full) every situation you believe to be the will of God." - Jim Elliot (Elisabeth Elliot's husband) from "Let Me Be A Woman" by Elisabeth Elliot

Monday, June 13, 2011

The sky is beginning to darken at last (it's 11:05 p.m.), and an almost full moon is shining right in my window. I hope you get to see the moon tonight... the same one I am looking at!

I am very much enjoying my time with Paul, Rebecca, and Annie, and this quiet weekend has been especially nice in helping me settle in. I feel quite like myself now... just a bit tired version of me.

I had the opportunity to go outside for a walk this morning. It was cloudy, but that delightful warmish/cool where just a light sweater is all I needed. The walk was wonderful, and I tried to take in everything that is familiarly new (in other words, familiar from previous visits, but "different" from Ohio). The houses here have quite interesting and varied architecture. Maybe I'll try to take some pictures of them. Many are very narrow and tall (like the Petrie's: 4 floors, very narrow). The sidewalks are very narrow, and most vehicles are small. I think gas here is quite expensive (I'm not totally sure because they sell it per liter, and the price is in euros, and I've never made the effort to do the conversion :-)

My tomato plants are a little pale on a few bottom leaves today, but the rest of the plant looks "ok". We had a peak of sun and I moved the plant that's in a large pot to an area of more sun. I'm not optimistic about their survival (with me as their caretaker!), but I am hopeful!

I made dinner tonight, which turned out okay! Miracles do happen around here! ;-) It was a marsala chicken (Indian dish) from a seasoning packet, with rice and steamed broccoli. Paul and Rebecca are into a TV series "Poirot", about a French detective. We watched one tonight. They're kind of like Sherlock Holmes type mysteries - generally murders, and very complicated, but so fascinating to see how he figures them out. :-)

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

As I type this, a lunar eclipse is taking place behind me. How cool is that? I don't recall if I've ever seen an eclipse, and certainly not one as big as this! It's supposed to be a full moon out, for awhile it was pitch black, then looked like a tiny sliver of moon, and now it's about a half-moon. Soon it will be back to a full moon. All in one night! Sweet!

Tomorrow I hope to take a little walk to Lake Genval - one of my favorite and most beautiful places to think, pray, walk, think, and ponder. It is a gorgeous place. I am so amazed and thankful for how smooth and peaceful my transition and time is and has been here. I have been so incredibly at peace with everything... the busyness, the quietness, the running around, the sitting still. Things sort of ebb and flow here, so there are moments of "controlled chaos" as well as moments of waiting quietly, being available but not doing anything, or just quiet. Both are good for me, and can be outside my "comfort zone". I think that is one of things that makes being here so wonderful, challenging, and growing. There is such a necessity for moment by moment dependence on the Lord, every new hour, new day, situation, challenge... you can't help but spend more time each day and each hour thinking about Him, praying to Him, and watching Him work mini-miracles all the time! It is something I want to learn and practice forever, everywhere, all the time; but is harder to do when I'm "comfortable". Not to say I'm not "comfortable" here, but it's not just my comfort I am concerned about when I am here. "My" comfort is determined, to some extent, by everyone else's comfort, so I'm praying for all four of us (Rebecca, Paul, Annie, and myself). It is a joyful "weight" to bare, and as an author once stated, "Prayer gives us the dignity of causality"... meaning, it allows us to feel a part of something the Lord is doing. What a privilege! Anyhow, I don't know if I make any sense; I'm just now trying to understand myself, and trying to put the experiences and thought processes that I go through here can be difficult sometimes.

Thursday 6/16/11

It's raining here this morning. Funny, because last night I was just realizing I had been here almost a week and we had not had more than one quick rain shower (very unusual for Belgium!) I may not get to the lake this afternoon afterall, but that's okay. There's more time for it later! Besides, this is Belgium, so it could be perfectly clear and sunny in another 10 minutes! :-) The rain sounds so soothing on my skylight, and the clouds are magnificent too.

...God worked another mini-miracle for me this afternoon. As you know, it was raining on and off this morning, with just a little bit of sun. This afternoon, the sun came out for awhile and I was able to walk to and around Lake Genval again. It was so wonderful. I walked, listened to music, took a few pictures, and prayed and thought. As I was walking, some large, darker clouds started to roll in. I wasn't too concerned about walking home in the rain (that's exciting too), but I thought "wouldn't it be neat if God held off the rain just until I got home?" Not quite a prayer, but a fun little discussion with God and allowing Him to do as He pleased. Sure enough, as I rounded the corner to head up the street to the house, it started to sprinkle. I walked inside, and about 15 minutes later, it started pouring down rain and thundering. God is good, and it's little things like that that make me feel so special and loved.