Five People Who Annoy Me on Planes

I just finished seven different flights in about a month. Four of them were around 9 hours in length. With these experiences freshly in mind, I’m honored to present:

Five People Who Annoy Me on Planes

1. The Rush-an. These people will knock over little old ladies to get on/off the plane first.

2. Cologne guy. They need to have a separate section for these people in the back of the plane.

3. B.O. guy. Put on some cologne. Seriously.

4. The Natural Lighter. The whole plane is dark. Except for one window. WHY won’t you use the overhead light to read? Do you not see people trying to sleep?

5. The Cell-Phone Addict. WHAT is so important? Turn off and put away the phone when they ask you to. And quit hiding it under the chair like you’re in 4^th grade. And you are not the exception.

What annoys you about certain people on flights you've been on?

-TR

Quote

Micaiah saw me crying this morning and came over to talk to me.

M: "What's wrong, Mama?"
J: "I'm really missing your daddy right now."
M: "I know, me too. But sometimes you just have to cry it out."

I have an amazing five year old and an amazingly wise God for giving her to me!

-JLR

Prayer Parallel

I had a revelation this morning. This week I have been struggling with being so far away from Tim. We're more than halfway through his trip, but it must be an emotional slump of some sort-- the excitement of him leaving on this great adventure has passed, but the excitement of his impending return has not yet arrived!

As I sat here in tears this morning missing the man who knows me better than anyone else in the world, I was struck with the realization that this parallels (or should parallel!) my relationship with Christ. I can get busy and distracted with various things and go a few days without talking to God, but I start to fall apart if I go too long. I'm not talking about Bible study or praying through a list of prayer requests (though those things are also important), I'm talking about meeting with God in a personal way-- hearing His voice, knowing Him and being known by Him. Tim was able to talk with me for a few minutes this morning on the phone, and just hearing his voice secured me in my relationship with him! I was comforted in an amazing way knowing that he loved me and cared for me and would be praying for me even from so far away. This was a huge encouragement to take all of my emotions to God-- that He cared even more about me and what I was going through than my husband ever could!

Sometimes I feel like God is so far away. But other times I wonder if it's only my perception or the expectations that I put on God to be something He isn't. I am more encouraged now than ever to pray and to spend that personal intimate time with Him. It's like hearing my husband's voice.

-JLR

Goodbye

We said goodbye to Tim today-- he's on his way to Tanzania for almost a month. While he's there he'll be joining a language survey and also doing some research for his MA thesis.

I'm not sure if it's fully sunk in yet that he'll be gone for so long. In our 7.5 years of marriage we've only been apart for a maximum of 5 days at a time. I could probably count those separations of 3-5 days apart on one hand! I'm sure some of you think we're wimps or codependent or something, but our family philosophy has always been to do our work together-- that we're BOTH missionaries working on the same team. And Micaiah, too, for that matter. She's a part of our family and we want her to understand why we do what we do.

Yet, there was no way we could justify the expense of us going with Tim, especially considering we'd just spend most of our time in a guesthouse somewhere in Tanzania. We would be in the way on the survey and only distract him from his research. Still, a part of me was so sad seeing Tim get into the queue at the airport knowing I wouldn't be going with him!

Safari njema, Timo. Tutaonana mwezi ujao, Mungu akipenda!

-JLR
ps... I told Tim he could post on here from Tanzania if he wanted and/or was able... just a heads-up to watch for who is writing each post so you're not confused!

Camping Trip

I've been really bad about posting pictures in the past few months. Here are a few from our camping trip to Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park in SE Missouri. Micaiah was an awesome helper as we set up our tent. We went with my sister/brother-in-law and a bunch of friends, so there were plenty of friends for Micaiah to play with! The park had been flooded a few years ago and just opened up this spring. We could still see where the flash flood had gone through and destroyed so much of the beautiful landscape. If you're not sure what Shut-Ins are, it's basically a part of the river where the water gets trapped. There are lots of huge rocks with water flowing over them and pouring into small waterfalls and pools... it's basically a naturally formed waterpark! On the way home we stopped by Elephant Rocks State Park. It's very close to Johnson's Shut-Ins and is basically the large rocks without water. So much fun to climb and explore! I think this is the famous "fatman's squeeze"... fortunately we all made it though just fine. :)
Thankfully Micaiah has a little superwoman in her blood... she held up these boulders, no problem!

-JLR