Look Back. Look Forward: May Tending

April.

Listened to the donkeys in the neighborhood whinny and the bells around their necks rattle.

Sifted 10 kgs (22 lbs) of wheat flour into 4 gallon ziplock bags and stopped counting all the live bugs I found.

Prepared everything we ate this month in our own kitchen.

Gave rice and flour to a sweet friend who is running out of food.

Celebrated Easter in a way that really wasn’t all that different from last year but was more special, more thought out, and more intentional.

It was a hard month in many ways but a good & grace-filled month overall.

A favorite memory from this month: Our first Passover Seder meal that we did (and led) while FaceTiming with a few family members & friends.

Verse of the Month

Joshua 7:10

¹⁰ The Lord then said to Joshua, “Stand up! Why have you fallen facedown?”

This might seem like a random verse for this time in history but as I was reading through the book of Joshua, this verse seemed to jump off the page. Click here to read how this verse challenged me this month and to learn about a simple practice for confession in any relationship.

Adventure of the Month

I guess a lot of people have had this adventure so far in lockdown but there honestly wasn’t even anything else that comes close to an “adventure” so, here it is. We hadn’t been on lockdown for long but my husband’s hair was calling to be trimmed. I am really bad at hair—like couldn’t even put my hair up in a ponytail until everyone I knew had been doing that simple task for a while. So I wasn’t going to be surprised if I accidentally butchered my husband’s hair but to our surprise, it turned out all right, thanks to this instagram video. And I even used sheers (or actually sewing scissors to be exact) for the top.

Favorite Foods or Recipes

We had these amazing Hot Cross Buns with Cardamon for Easter dinner and ate all the rest of them throughout the week. They were so good, I couldn’t bare freezing them for later.

Loved These Fluffy Orange Cranberry Muffins from Cookie and Kate. Since we don’t have fresh cranberries, I used dried but it still turned out delicious.

Books I Read or Listened To

Gay Girl, Good God: The Story of Why I Was and Who God Has Always Been by Jackie Hill Perry

This book is amazing! Not only is Jackie real, vulnerable, and honest, but she points people to Truth all throughout her book. She is an incredible writer and weaves her story together like a beautiful work of art that points to her Maker.

PS. If you don’t have the Scribd App, you need to check it out. An unlimited amount of books, magazines, audiobooks, kids books…. all at your fingertips.

Creative Outlet

One of my favorite creative activities this month was putting together this Expat in Lockdown bingo board on Canva, a free app and website for design.

Revisiting My April Tending List

monthly 

• celebrate Passover Seder meal & Easter with my husband  (yes, it was awesome)
• go hiking and hammocking (hammocking mainly took place on our balcony. Not allowed to hike this month)
• organize documents on my computer (organized some of them but not to the degree I planned to)
• continue the cross-stitch project I started  (only did a tiny bit more. want to work on this some more)
• get into language lockdown rhythms ( yes!)

weekly 

• blog  (yes)
• online B study (yes)
• linger with the Lord. Be still 
• have house church with my husband  (yes!)
• meal plan amidst the limited resources (often, my plan forms two hours before the actual meal)
• check on my national friends (miss them)
• have heart conversation with a friend or family member  (yes)

daily 

• morning independent lang study (sometimes)
• daily build up my husband (yes, trying to)
• 30 min (at least) outside unless raining #balconylife (yes, favorite is working out on the balcony these days)
• write in quarantine journal. who did I connect with, what am I thankful for, what I did that day… (yes, haven’t missed a day yet)

May Tending List

monthly

• Invite a friend to do virtual workouts & speak truth 
• continue cross-stitch
• write instructions about how to make kombucha in the language I am learning
• Plant basil and snapdragons & tend to their growth
• Plan how we want to celebrate our anniversary

weekly

• Pray and sing worship songs with my husband
• Focus on learning the things in the language that I’ve been putting off
• Renew my mind with the Dwell app
• check on my national friends

daily

• Enjoy the sunshine and #balconylife
• Abide time journaling
• work out