A Tale of Two Writers

It was the best of stories. It was the worst of stories. It was athoughtful, well-plotted tale. It was a "fly by the seat of your pants"short story to finish as quickly as possible. I speak, of course, of two of my students. The assignment was the same: write a short story utilizing about half of this week's spelling words. Jillian wrote a page and half about two families who are evangelists, traveling through many states sharing the gospel. Her last sentence reads,"It was busy, but they didn't mind because all of it was for God and God provides."

Third grader Anna Mei took a different approach. There were just too many words to be contained in one story, so she wrote a collection of four shorter works, each about a paragraph or slightly longer. The conclusion of her anthology is this offering. It is entitled, "Alert."

"Today after school, I am going to write a song called "Alert." I'll sing it right now. "Alert. Alert. I love the sound of Alert, ert, ert, ert. Alert, ert, ert......." I love that. I hope it turns out okay."

I will leave it to you to guess the spelling word in use there. If you are "alert," I'm sure you will figure it out.

On another note, we have a special blessing. We met a lovely lady from Australia who is here for a short time to teach English at the university. Her time is almost concluded, but in the few weeks she has left, she wants to do something to help the children we work with, as well as our girls. She is a teacher of art and music. So, for the next couple of weeks, she will come and do an art class with our girls two afternoons per week. It should be very interesting and fun for them!Kerry (the teacher) will also be helping us develop materials to use with the children we serve. It will be great to have some special art projects to share with them.

The Lord is good! Grace and peace!

Cindy Perfume

Yes, folks, in Vietnam there really is a "Cindy" perfume. It comes inseveral "fragrances." It has become a source of amusement for our family. Here are just some of the comments we have come up with...

"Gee, Mom, you're kind of cheap."

"Someone told me to smell Cindy."

"I smell Cindy!"

"Ah, yes, the many smells of Cindy."

"We went to Big C today and three Vietnamese women were smelling Cindy!"

"I spent a lot of time in the perfume aisle, but when I smelled Cindy, I nearly fell over!"

"What's that smell? Oh, yeah...it's Cindy."

And the slogan: "Cindy...stinkin' up the nations!"

I hope something here made you smile (or chuckle, giggle, guffaw, chortle,cluck, snicker, or roll in the floor--hmmmm, now there's an image....)

May our prayers rise today as a sweet fragrance to the throne of God...prayers of joy, thankfulness, faith, surrender, and love.

Grace and peace!

Birthday Boy

Tony's birthday was yesterday. A wonderful day! He preached the message at church...a tremendous word of encouragement from the Book of Revelation. With Kentucky flavor, his sermon talked about "Big Doin's." The main sections were...
A Big Blessin'
A Big Revelation (A Big Deal)
A Big Testin'
A Big Surprise
A Big Harvest
A Big Meetin'
A Big Weddin'
A Big Supper

Tony reminded us all that Jesus is the Lord of all history...and more pointedly, my history. He is the Lord of my beginning, end, and everything in-between.

Tonight we took a motorbike ride along the beach with the girls. It was beautiful, and a welcome respite from the heat--the summer season is upon us!

May you be encouraged by the presence of the Lord today!

Grace and peace!

Solving the deep questions of life

The egg drop!
Jillian's "bubble tube."

Yep, that's one big bubble.

Growing, growing, growing...she's an expert!

Hello, all--

While newspaper headlines may speak of governments, world economics, astounding developments and discoveries, I thought you should know that the really big questions are being answered right here in Danang.

Did you know that a fried egg yolk dropped from a height of 6 feet will follow a straight trajectory to an 8-inch plate, landing precisely on its target?

Do you have any idea just how big a bubble can be "hand made" by mixing just the right combination of water and soap and making a large, rounded opening with your hands?

And, by the way, exactly where in the family budget do we include the demands of the Tooth Fairy?

Rest assured, these and other important matters are being explored in our midst.

The egg question was settled by Dad, to the great surprise of Mom, Jillian, Anna Mei, Elizabeth, Faith and Joy. Bee frequently fixes fried eggs for breakfast. Joy loves the yolk (Faith prefers the whites, of course!). Tony offered his yolk to Joy, who gladly accepted. Then, as we all sat wide-eyed with mouths agape, Tony climbed over the back of the table bench and stood on the seat beside Joy, where he proceeded to lift the yolk to his full height and drop it to her plate below. You can imagine the squeals of delight this magnificent feat of precision evoked.

Anna Mei and Jillian are perfecting the "hand blown bubbles." They have tried shampoo, hand soap, shower gel and dish soap. Anna Mei prefers hand soap. Her bubbles are regularly larger than her head. She can stretch them the length of her torso. Jillian's specialty is the a long, slender tube-like bubble.

Tony recently sent a list of our daily expenses to our office manager in the US. Here were our expenditures for the day...
Household: 574,400 VND ($33.79 USD)
Office: equipment: 60,000 VND ($3.53 USD) business meeting in neighboring town: 100,000 VND ($5.89)Office total: $9.39
Transportation gas: 20,000 VND ($1.18)
Tooth Fairy: 4 teeth @ 10,000 each = 40,000 VND ($2.36 USD)
Why 4 teeth? Well...the girls informed us that we had several dental losses unpaid. :(

Sometimes I wonder how I could ever have deserved so much happiness. These days are precious, wonderful, surprising and always interesting. I have to refuse worry over what struggle or sorrow the future may hold--can this possibly last? Mostly, I just enjoy the moments. And I am thankful.

I am very aware of pain and suffering in this world. I pray that whatever your situation or circumstances might be, that you find comfort to sustain you, strength to meet every challenge, hope to look through the eyes of eternity, and joy born of the unquenchable Holy Spirit.

Grace and peace!

First Easter in Vietnam

The Table Sunday morning


Dawn helps Joy with an egg.



Elizabeth with the finished product!

Jillian at work.

Hello, all--

We had a wonderful, glorious celebration of Jesus' resurrection! I hopeyou did, too. For those interested in details, read on...

We were blessed that our friend Dawn had recently received a box ofassorted food coloring from her mother in the US. Some food coloring isavailable here in larger bottles, but limited colors--I have seen red,green and orange. It is expensive--one bottle costs about $4. Dawn came over to the house and we colored boiled duck eggs. They are larger than chicken eggs, and are readily available here with white shells (all the chicken eggs have brown shells). Dove eggs are also available (with a couple other unknown fowl), but they are considerably smaller.Marissa helped us color the eggs (Tony and Enoch watched a movie) as well, so we had a great time together. The girls had so much fun mixing some new colors and trying different methods of decorating. While I took Dawn home on the motorbike (my first trip across the bridge in the dark), Marissa and Enoch did "egg hunts" with the girls. Of course, by the timeI got home, many of the eggs had been dropped at least once, cracking the shells. Elizabeth ventured to eat one--she really liked it.

On Saturday, Jillian and Anna Mei were invited to go to a beach resort with their friend Lucia and her family. Tony did some fun outings withElizabeth, Faith and Joy, so I could get some things to fix Easter baskets. There are no decorations, baskets, chocolate eggs, plastic eggs,etc. here in Danang. For baskets, I bought a set of small collander-type,colorful, plastic bowls. In each one I put some goodies that we don't often have--pretzel sticks, real chocolate candies, and a small toy. I also put in some things the girls will use in school--cute little rulers,band some small art supplies. On Sunday morning, they were so excited! Tony and I fixed pancakes and scrambled eggs, and he read an account of the resurrection from the Bible at breakfast. At church we had a full house! Six missionaries from Cambodia were visiting, as well as a new lady from Australia. It was a wonderful gathering. Our pastor spoke on what the resurrection means to us: forgiveness from the past, strength for the present, the security of the future.

After church, we had a fellowship lunch together. The church provided hotdogs, hamburgers, and french fries. We all brought the rest. I had baked a peach cobbler that morning. I left the house earlier than Tony (I lead the worship singing), and when he was taking the cobbler out of the toaster oven, the rack tipped and the whole thing landed face down on the kitchen floor. :( Not only did we lose a dessert, I spent a good portion of Sunday afternoon on my hands and knees cleaning it off the floor. :( :(

Sunday evening, Marissa, Enoch, Duc, Linh, and Sally joined us for supper. We had chicken and dumplings. We watched the first half of "Ben-Hur." Part 2 will be shown Tuesday night. Then, the bedtime preparation train had to roll out of the station. It is a production.

It was a great day. Anna Mei declared it was the "best Easter of her life." Jillian was a little more pensive. Holidays, of course, make us all more aware how much we miss seeing loved ones.

The Lord is good. Thank God for the victory He gives! Thank God for the victory He IS!!!Let us rejoice in His resurrection life!

The Great Watermelon Caper

"I can't believe we get to do this!"

"All done!"

Hello, all--

One day this week, while we were together eating lunch, Faith and Joy were enjoying their favorite portion: watermelon. The discussion turned to musings about just how much watermelon these two 6-year-olds could eat. Being the focused, in -the-know kind of guy that he is, Daddy proposed a luncheon for Faith and Joy of only watermelon...as much as they wanted to eat. We asked Bee to buy 3 watermelons, and slice two of them (each on a platter), keeping the third in reserve.
The next day, the twins squealed with delight when they saw the mountains of watermelon at their places. They ate and ate. Finally, Faith said she was full. She had eaten about 90% of the watermelon. Joy was still munching. After finishing the whole watermelon, Joy, too, said she was fully satisfied.

You might think that they would be tired of watermelon. Not so! They were each ready for their usual 6-8 slices after their meal at supper tonight.

Though not so scientific, the watermelon experiment was so much fun. We have 11 people for lunch every day around our table (7 Brewers, 2 Eubanks, Chau, and Bee). I don't know who enjoyed the whole event the most.
Grace and peace!

Into the Wind

Jillian gives a ride to Joy and Faith. They are in front of our gates on the sidewalk.

Hello, all-

Today, Jillian and I went on a little fact-finding mission. As we try to be good stewards of all we have, keeping our grocery bill down requires constant vigilance. So, we went price-finding at Big C. Up and down the aisles, comparing brands. Interesting.



On the way home, it was 5 pm rush hour. The traffic was maddening. I had to stop in the middle of three intersections to avoid hitting another bike that refused right-of-way. To complicate things, the wind had really picked up. I felt gusts push against the bike, giving us an added little bobble. I was thankful for my mask, glasses and helmet--at least my face was protect from swirling leaves, a few stray pieces of paper, etc.



While driving home, I couldn't help but think of how I noticed every bump, uneven grade, and sand-covered spot in the road. On a sunny day, they are hardly noticeable, but in the aggravation of the wind, every little thing raises another challenge. It's like the windy, stormy situations in life. Minor obstacles and imperfections are not given a second thought when theday is smooth and circumstances favorable. But let the wind kick up, and the journey get testy and slow. Suddenly, minor things are not only noticed, they are annoying (at first), then grating. Just like my drive home, with some extra care and attention, with some perception of the causes of difficulty, the trip can be made with a minimum of hassle, anger or frustration.



May you find peace in your journey today!

My Scribe

Anna Mei

Hello, all--

We just finished lunch, but a couple of funny things happened this morning and I want to share them before I forget.

First, for some unknown reason, Anna Mei has developed a keen interest in the Old Testament book of Daniel, so much so that she is copying it (word for word) in a notebook. Today, when it was time for her spelling test, I told her to get a piece of paper from her notebook. She said, "Mom, I can't use that paper! I don't know yet how much Nebuchadnezzar is going to need!" Since I am not copying the book of Daniel, I gave her a paper from one of my notebooks. :)

The second thing that made me laugh today was more visual in nature, but I will try to describe it. Every day we are a group of 11 that gathers at our table for lunch (7 Brewers, Marissa & Enoch, Chau and Bee). So, there is a lot of chatter and the noise of dishes, etc. Faith was sitting next to me at one end of the long table. Near the opposite end was the object of Faith's affection: a platter of watermelon. Now, remember, Faith is the littlest of our group--her dad calls her "Little Bit." She obediently ate her vegetable soup and french fries, then asked me if she could eat watermelon. I said yes. To the table, Faith said "Pass the watermelon,please!" in a clear voice. In all the conversations and eating, no one paid attention. Faith let her back slump, put her elbow on the table, and slapped her right palm to her head, letting her head rest there. She was a woman who had lost hope of getting the watermelon. Of course, I had her make the request again, and she was rewarded with a lot of watermelon. In the end, she and Joy each ate 7-8 pieces. One other thing about Faith that blesses me each time I hear it. She loves for me to lay down beside her--day or night. Whenever I do, she wants to make sure that I face her, and she says, "Put your face on me." I can't help but think how much joy we bring to God's heart when we say,"Father, put Your face on me."

May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.