God has given us the wonderful opportunity of living in a country where flexibility is key. There are not many rigid schedules here, everything is “tranquilo”, and I really do like this. The culture I grew up in is very similar, it is not an unfamiliar concept.
Oh my, but I am a baby in February. A whiny, ungrateful baby. I can handle the heat of Paraguay in December (Christmas distracts me!), I gather up strength for January and make it through okay…but February? The shortest month of the year? I use it as an excuse to avoid all sorts of things. Laundry, cooking, and playing outside with the girls…those things I know are okay to cut back on. But grace? Kind words? Loving my neighbor? Is high heat and high humidity (day after day after day) a reasonable excuse to put those aside?
I don’t know who Grandma Bodin is, but I’ve been using her coffeecake recipe for years.
Growing up on the mission field I knew many first year missionaries. One in particular that I remember meeting when I was really young. I remember that she cried about ants. There were ants in the kitchen and this made her cry. I thought this odd. Ants are everywhere. Every kitchen is crawling with ants. Since I only knew Venezuela that was a fact for me. My young mind didn’t comprehend that where she came from, kitchens didn’t have ants.