A Dinner, A Man, & A Pinched Nerve

On to a few lighter topics for a while!

At my stellar Hot-Lanta conference, I had the lovely opportunity to dinner with family. Everytime I go to Atlanta, I love it. The traffic I could do without, but we fortunately had a hotel at just the right place so that we never had to sit in any of the bumper to bumper.

It's a great city. Every suburb has it's own personality. Buckhead has been my favorite. The old buildings, the beautiful new buildings. And the restaurants! So many choices, so much good food. We met my aunt and cousin at a two-story fish. Literally, this thing was enormous! But it made it quite easy to find the place...

The food was spectacular, the company was so good to see after so very long. We weren't sure if it had been two years or three...or more. That's never a good thing. Promises to meet again sooner. "Please come up to Michigan...you said you would last year!" I'm keeping my fingers crossed this time.

We stayed very late. We talked over everything. I think we were one of those tables that the waiters talk about back in the kitchen. But sometimes you just have to stay.


Saturday night--back in Michigan. Charles Mulli was speaking at our church. The organization that we stayed at and served with in Africa is called Mully Children's Family. The orphanage that he started from the ground up. A man who was abandonded as a child, left home alone for months while his parents ran to another city to find work. A man who lived by begging, by stealing, by going from home to home to find someone who might help him. He finally got work, and not just that but he found Christ. Finally, he had hope that Someone actually cared about whether he lived or died. He was wildly successful. After many years, he owned several businesses, land, vehicles and was very wealthy.

But he knew he was meant to do something else. God had a different plan for him that didn't involve him being rich. After some time, he realized he was wealthy so that he could minister to other children living on the street like he had. Children who sniffed glue or gas or found some other drug. Kids who had no family, or the family they had beat them or sold them or abandonded them. His heart was for them. All of them.

There are five locations of Mully Children's Homes. All around the country of Kenya. Charles has adopted over 1200 children. Given them clothing, food, shelter, love and the knowledge of God. They all call him Daddy and run to him whenever he is there. I can't think of a better example of the love of Christ than Charles.

All that to say that he was visiting our church this weekend and it was so good to see him again. To hear his familiar voice and to strain to understand his words through his accent. That beautiful accent. Our group got another chance to be together and just hang out together. Sometimes it still feels weird not to see them every day.


Sunday. A beautiful day. Sunny and not too cold. Singing with hundreds of kids. Praising and playing. And a pinched nerve. I don't know when it happened, but it got steadily worse over the day. So that by the end of the evening I could hardly get off my heating pad on the couch. This morning finds me sore. I don't think it's pinched anymore, but everything aches. I am getting so old. It makes me worry that I will have a difficult time carrying my children. So I just try not to think about it.

Now we are all caught up. If you were able to read this post and the one before it all the way through to the end, I commend you. Apparently I am really wordy lately!

So, what is going on with you? What is the one most meaningful thing that happened to you this week? One word or a paragraph, I want to hear it.