We went to Steve's Grandmother's house over the weekend. We call her Nanny. On every bed in her house is a handmade quilt, most of them were made back in the 60's and 70's by quilting bees. Women would get together in churches and make them for missionaries or other people who might need them. I went upstairs to photograph one that I liked best and Chloe followed me (she is my very talkative shadow) and then Nanny came to see what we were up to and behind her came her dog "Skippy" who has a bum leg. He was shot in the leg as a puppy and was in the pound until Nanny rescued him. So here is the lot of them all on the quilt. 
"The Lord loves to do things that are unexpected, things that are beyond what we can control or predict. It forces our canvas to get bigger. These days I just try to expand first and wait till later to figure it all out. Ultimately , God moves me. He consistently breaks the boundaries (my frame) with which I've surrounded Him. It means admitting my finiteness and rigidity. It means He is dangerously greater than I can define or even understand." (pg. 129) 
Our favorite game to play when we are at Nan's is a game called Chicken Foot . 
In the living room next to Nan's recliner is a lamp and a basket with embroidery, a half finished piece with a cardinal in a tree. The needle stuck in it just so..ready for it to be picked up again. It reminded me of the pillow case I embroidered for her before the kids were born, so I went and found it. Now after seeing it I am excited about embroidery again, something different than this pillow case, that would fit the style of our home. I have always loved the old embroidery where it is only red thread that is used, I am sure there is a name for it. On Monday Steve took me to an Indian grocery store where I stocked up on my spices and we brought home Samosas to eat for lunch. We talked on the way home about my childhood friend Hetal who I have been looking for, for over thirteen years. All the smells brought me right back to sitting in a circle in her kitchen eating dinner with her family. At Nan's, I finished a great little book called Reckless Faith written by a missionary working in Mexico with Orphans. When she describes her ministry plan (a light on a hill) she says: "Living my life on purpose - with joy, adventure, love, and risk." "I want to give away more than 10%, ..I want to say yes to projects and relationships even when they sometimes don't make sense." (pg. 124) 
Coco wants a tea party with me just about every half hour. First we have to "drive" there on her bed, with our purses and toy phones and fake gum. and then we have to go shopping where the frog family runs the supermarket. We usually invite them to join us back at her house for tea. An invisible "Aunt Janet" joins us as well. Eti comes, but only on the occasions where we are serving real food. On Monday she was still in her PJs all busy playing with the 97 cent salt shaker I bought her at Wal-Mart, I was just peeking in from the doorway when I took the picture. Most of the time when she invites me, there are so many things that I have to do in the day but when I drag my sorry butt in and just engage in her world I leave better...happier having done it, because it means so much to her. I am her mother, the person that can make her so happy that she gets tears in her eyes, frantically happy, just by holding her dolls and talking to her invisible friends. 
"I find I'm tempted to categorize my life into "ministry time" and everything else. Sharing my life with Meme (her friend) has taught me that all my moments can be ministry- eating, cooking, washing, watching children, anything I do beside someone else, for someone else. I'm trying to make ministry and breathing and walking in the spirit all the same action." (Pg. 203) | 
