Weekend Wonders

This weekend has been rainy and cool as a low pressure system sits and spins over the Solomon Islands, trying to decide if it's going to grow up and become a cyclone.  The coolness in the air is a balm to my soul.

Another sweet gift I've recently received?  Our thoughtful director did a surprise photo shoot with our kids and gave us the pictures as a Christmas present.  I love how our colleagues are the "aunts and uncles" to fill in for the ones we've left back in the States.

And God always knows when a certain book will help fill in my tired places.  Gayly just sent "Bread and Wine:  A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes" by Shauna Niequist.  I relate to the author in so many ways - things like how she loves to nurture people with good food, how to embrace all of the good things that God gives us, and how she is raising her kids.  Here's a peek into her mind, which echoes my own:

"I want my kids to learn firsthand and up close that different isn't bad, but instead that different is exciting and wonderful and worth taking the time to understand.  I want them to see themselves as bit players in a huge, sweeping, beautiful play, not as the main characters in the drama of our living room.  I want my kids to taste and smell and experience the biggest possible world, because every bite of it, every taste and texture and flavor, is delicious."