18 October 2008

Thank you, God

Thanks for my life and the way it is playing out. Thanks for 29 years of Your mercy. Thanks for sending me to Nicaragua. Thanks for making it hard on me sometimes so that I see how good You are when it gets better. Thank you for the family I came from. Thank you for the family that I will start with You as the head that I don't even know yet. Thank you for my friends that have helped me make where You sent me home. Thanks for the Bible...it's a really good book. You did a lot of really cool things that they wrote down in it. I'm glad it's not fiction...it makes my life more fun to know that You did all those things and You do not change and will still do them for me today! Thanks for making trees...I really like them and the wood that comes from them. Thank you for Andrea (show us all Your will as to where she fits in my life) and how much she has taught me about You.

Thank you for not expecting me to earn my way toward you.
Thank you for understanding me as I am and being cool with the fact I can never repay you.
Thanks for Jesus.

Love you,
Eli

16 October 2008

My Girls

I had a fun night playing with some of my favorite kids tonight...and it was actually an all around great day all day. I walked in the shop this morning to Greg blaring some worship music, and that just kind of set the tone for the day. The guys at the shop have started dedicating the first 10 minutes to pray for everyone there. Two guys a day, rotating days...I love that idea, and I'm so proud to be working with guys that think like that! We are up to 34 guys now, and I am learning a lot about how important it is to make "deposits" in people's lives. Naturally, given the nature of our work, Greg and I have to critique and correct things quite often. It is so obvious how much better a man takes that critique if you continually build him up when he does well, and show him respect on a day to day basis. You have to make deposits, or you will go bankrupt when you have to make a withdrawal. (I learned that from my mom.) Today I actually got caught up enough on design work that I got to go build something in the shop! That's a big deal for me, and it was so much fun. All I made was a little table that I promised a friend some time ago, but it felt good to have the free time for a day to get in there and work with the guys. I do that all the time at installations, but it just doesn't have the same "home" feel as getting dirty at "our" shop. It really does feel like family among those that have been there since the first few months: Greg, his wife Sam, Armando, his mom Vilma, Roberto, Francisco, Danilo, Oscar, El Peludo, El Pelibuey, Reinaldo, Luis, and Elvis. I love those guys, it's such a blessing to go to work with them.

Then tonight I went to Casa Havilah to help with homework before finals tomorrow. We had some goofy fun with the camera on my computer. Those girls sure do make a lot of deposits.

Enjoy!