laughter | Jonesbones5

Tag Archives: laughter

Drowning Out the Rain

It’s raining. It’s pouring.

I live in the Northwest and our weather over the past week and 27 months (ok…I am slightly exaggerating) is nothing to brag home to Mama about.

My husband is packed for a business trip to Hawaii…leaving tomorrow. Apparently you can use the words business, Hawaii, and ministry in the same sentence when you are talking about a pastors conference. I looked at his suitcase tonight and his swim trunks were at the top of the pile, and possibly I struggled with a little tintsy intsy bitsy bit of jealousy (ever so small). I really do love my husband and am so happy he might get the opportunity to swim in the 85 degree ocean under the warm sun of the tropics (wink wink).

Can I just hear an amen when I say that living in the northwest this time of the year can be a challenge?

Yes, it is green like Ireland, but friends lets go visit Ireland and get out of this muck. Let’s get out!! How do you survive the ever constant rain and darkness without anti-depressants and sun lamps? I have asked myself this very question for 40 plus years and then I found a job that involved travel. But even with the travel, I struggle so…if you don’t travel how do you handle it? Boy, do I struggle with the darkness. I just have to find the little things that bring beauty and light into life. Today it was the sound of laughter…it drowned out the rain.

Thankful that laughter is louder than the rain.

Tags: children, family, laughter, Northwest living, Seasonal depression

Comments 2 Comments
Categories Family, Life as a woman
Author Patricia

Laughter that heals the brokenhearted

28 Feb

Laughter is beautiful!

You would not believe the goofy faces, dances and tickling I had to do to get these shots!

I love the smiles, the giggles, the kisses and the hugs of these children. Here is Diva girl again (my nickname for her). She is just the sweetest thing you ever laid eyes on.

I have one more night here in Ethiopia before I fly home. We said our goodbyes today to the Compassion Development Center in Debre Zeit where these children live. My heart is full and the stories will forever stay with me. This was my second time to this place. Seeing the kids this year was so much fun and it was awesome to see how they have grown. They were all the more eager to share their lives with us and it was such a privilege to be here again.

Behind these smiles, these children live in difficult conditions. “Please take my child with you,” a mother said to one of our team members; a mother desperate for her child to have a better life.

I sat with a mom the other day as she cried while expressing the difficulty of finding work that sufficiently meets the needs of herself and her child. It’s hard to imagine living on $11 a month. I would say it is impossible, and as I visited the homes of several families this week, I learned that this was the average income. Living with this kind of poverty brings so many problems too. Mothers leave their children alone to find work. Sometimes they move away or get offered jobs illegally in foreign lands only to be brought into slavery.

20% of the children in this Compassion center are either orphaned or live in a child led home with an older sibling. The conditions are not good.

But in their smiles and laughter, you wouldn’t have guessed it.

As I said goodbye to the children, they gave me their kisses again and again, and in their broken English they would say, “I love you. I love you,” then kiss my cheek. It’s hard to leave them behind knowing that even tonight they sleep on dirt floors and in homes that are not always safe. It’s hard to get to know these children and let them go and I am tempted to guard my heart from feeling too much as I think about the fact that many of these children don’t have the kisses of a mama or daddy. It’s rough my friends and I have to remind myself that God is their Shepherd and these are His precious lambs.

Their laughter is like a beautiful song to my ears. In their brokenness, they still find the tune of their heart to express a smile and giggle. I love it, and I see the gift of life in them and love of a Savior.