Farmer Tan

My new role at World Impact is multi-faceted. Two mornings a week I work outside keeping up the grounds at World Impact and doing small (and not-so-small) projects. For the last three Tuesdays, I have been helping Ryan re-screen a screened in patio at another missionary couple's house. We took off the molding and old screen, hung new screen, cut some new moldings and re-hung the usable ones, stained the new pieces and water-sealed it all! Whew. I even used a power saw - my dad would be so proud. Even though we work in the morning hours, I have still been increasing my farmer tan. If any of you are unfamiliar with the term farmer tan, it means that my shoulders and tops of my arms are constantly covered by my t-shirt so they remain very white, while the lower part of my arms are exposed to the sun and are getting a very nice tan.

This is the porch. Nice work, huh!

And, I am not only working outside for World Impact, but our new home needs a LOT of work on the outside, so we try to get out in the yard and do things to make our property look better too! I guess I will just have to embrace my farmer tan - but I don't want to!

Picking up random broken branches and trash that we inherited with our house.

Clearing away random, mysterious plants from the side of our house.
Who knows what I dug up!?

Anyone know what these are? They are in the dumpster now.

Is it Cross-Cultural Ministry if we have the same skin color?

Ryan and I took a group of high school kids from the inner city to Morning Star Ranch, about an hour north of Wichita. This camp is a ministry of World Impact. The camp has a policy that does not allow children/youth to attend camp if they have head lice. When getting ready to leave, having done our duty of dropping off the kids, we were approached by the camp director to take two of the girls back to Wichita because of head lice. The girls were not in the group we drove, but from a church plant here in Wichita. I drove them back to their homes and was saddened by their disappointment in missing out on camp. One of the girls said, almost in tears, "I was SO looking forward to just being away from home where it is quiet."

This incident made me start thinking. I have five years of experience in ministry among the urban poor, but I have never dealt with this! All my experience is among the African American community. That is pretty cross-cultural for me. But, what about the cultural among the poor white community? I didn't grow up in that culture either. I never had to buy my own head lice treatment kit from the store like these girls will most likely do. I never had to be checked for head lice before attending a group event. They may have the same skin color as me, but we are worlds apart. And, they still need the love of Jesus.

Pray for Morgan and Ashley. I am selfishly praying that they will be allowed to treat the lice and come back in three weeks to Junior High camp (even though they are a little bit too old).

The Original

I named my blog "Pizza and Ice Cream" because those are two things in my life that I have always counted on to cheer me up! Ice Cream can cure a bad day or emotional experience instantly. And, how can one go wrong with a good slice of pizza? I am also picky about the pizza I like. Pizza Hut is definitely my favorite - I just love the crust. So, I was thrilled when I discovered that Pizza Hut was started right here in Wichita. According to my research, the original Pizza Hut was opened on June 15, 1958 by brothers and students at the University of Wichita (now Wichita State University). The physical building was later moved to the WSU campus! Long live Pizza Hut!

Moving!

There have been quite a few times in my grown up life that I have really needed my mommy. I am sure that I really needed her when I was a little girl. She bandaged my finger when I cut it (but not without first asking, "does it need to be cut off?" or "are ya dying?" Today, I don't need any bandaids, but I sure do call her a lot. I have just moved into my first house, I am now a missionary, I have moved two states north, and I just need my mommy sometimes. I think I have finally accepted the fact that I will always need her. I call her all the time to ask about the silliest stuff. She is mom, she must know everything. I may still think she is crazy sometimes, but it doesn't mean she doesn't know best!

My New Kitchen