...over spilt coffee!
So, I'm sure at least some of you are familiar with the phrase, "no use crying over spilt milk." Well, I would never do that because I don't really like milk to begin with. The only thing it's actually good for is coffee and cooking. Technically, I spilt the milk that was inside my coffee, yet I was beyond crying at that point because my list of mis-haps had gotten so long, that I laughed and headed for a camera instead.
(I'll explain the glass jar inside the coffee cup later)
Have you ever had a day like that? Where everything just seems to go wrong? Well, I've had a series of them and thought I would share some of them with you and a little of what I have learned thus far. Hopefully you will get a chuckle out of most of them. For those of you who really know me, know this is normal. Those of you who know me only through Poland have been somehow spared from my clumsiness so far. (until Thanksgiving, that was)
Happy Birthday: Joshua's birthday (my bro) was Nov 14 and I called to wish him a happy birthday only to get his voicemail. I started into the song and got through "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you...." and totally blanked on the words. All I could remember after that was monkey and too...not gonna call him that. Who forgets the words to Happy Birthday!?
Pumpkin Pie Party: We were going to start at 4 and the first people showed up at 5. Lots said they would come and then a number of them ended up sick. Sad! We still had a lot of fun - just a lot later than expected! Just one thing on top of others that didn't go as planned.
The Rotten Egg: My first and hopefully last experience ever! It was my turn to make Sunday lunch - and I decided to make quiche. It's easy, right? Got to the 5th of 6 eggs and it was ROTTEN. It squirted and landed on my upper arm, running completely down it, while the rest ran through my fingers and the crushed shell ruining the other eggs already in the bowl. With the overwhelming smell, no more eggs and quite grossed out I threw it away, opened the window washed off, etc. and ran out the door down to the bazaar for fresh eggs and finished making the pie filling where we have home group.
No Walnuts, Soup or opening car doors for me: I went to the dentist to get fillings (that should be one in it's own - can we say ouch?) and decided eating solids might not be the best idea that evening. I headed to a store to get soup - nope - it didn't want to scan so no soup for me. The lady tried explaining and asking if I really wanted it and I couldn't respond because my tongue and mouth were still numb from Novocain. (Not that my Polish is good enough anyway) The following day, the same thing happened with a bag of walnuts at another store. Was already a little bummed and went to get in the car. I kindly waited as this lady was trying to park next to us and she pulled in soooo close. I figured she would back up and straighten out but NOPE. My friend actually had to pull the car out before I could get in it.
The Kicker:
All this happened in a matter of ONE day -
- I fell out of bed while trying to stand and turn off my alarm, hurting my wrist and foot because my entire left leg was asleep and I didn't know it.
- made coffee and tried to open a small jar of sugar and the whole thing, jar included, fell into the coffee cup, splashing everywhere. (yes, that's what is in the coffee cup above if you were wondering)
- went to get the pie crust dough to start making the pumpkin pies for our Thanksgiving meal only to find the birds had gotten into it while on my balcony the night before. (There was no room in my fridge and this usually works just fine for free refrigeration but not this time!)
- was on the 2nd to last spice for pumpkin pie and dropped the thing into the mix. That was fun fishing it out of egg, milk and spice goop! Thankfully everything including my hands were clean.
Then the phone rings and I ran some stuff down to a friend, came back up to finish the pie... only to realize the following day during our Thanksgiving celebration meal that I FORGOT THE SUGAR after over half the pie was gone!!! OOPSE. I felt terrible. We had some of our Polish friends with us who had never had a traditional Thanksgiving meal before. Most had never seen a turkey cooked whole. lol... Out of all the things I could have ruined, I ruined the pies. Hopefully another first and last.
After all these things happened, at least I understand that it's so much better to laugh than to cry. You get out just as much emotion but you don't feel half as bad. These were all minor instances and distractions...but even those - over time - can become very overwhelming.
When you feel like nothing is going right or will go right.
When you add up the time spent fixing them or cleaning it up and you have lost almost an entire day of ministry because of timing setbacks.
When you have to ask "why!? why me? why now?"
When it's embarrassing or frustrating.
When you want to crawl in a hole till better luck comes your way
When it's topped off by you inbox being flooded with more bad-news emails.
When it's out of your control...
If laughter doesn't feed your soul, this knowledge will:
God is bigger than all of it and in complete control.
What is above our heads is under his feet and well within His capability to handle it.
That through everything, my needs are still met.
Forgetting the words to Happy Birthday and stumbling through the message actually caused a good laugh followed by a reminder of "yep, that's my sister". Family ties span oceans.
It's ultimately not my timing, but His. It's not my will but His. That because fewer showed up, I could spend more time talking with each person than feeling too stretched. (pumpkin night)
That when we run across a rotten egg in life, the smell doesn't last forever. And, that sometimes it creates a good reason to start fresh.
Although Novocain may numb the immediate pain, sometimes the pain is deeper than a quick-fix. Also, things don't always go my way, or the way I think they should. Accept it and find another way.
It can be one heck of a wake up call, but at least I'll be more aware, more cautious, and won't do that again. (falling out of bed)
As for the coffee - When my attitude is a little too bitter, add some sugar and everything smoothes out nicely.
And the pumpkin - sometimes we need to be humbled. We all make mistakes...I'm not perfect but as soon as I start acting perfect, I'm bound to screw up somewhere because you can only go so long without making a mistake - innocently or intentionally.
Some things have disaster written all over it from the beginning...do you take the challenge and learn through the process? or do you give up before you start and never find out what you can accomplish?
I still ask "WHY?" a lot...there's nothing wrong with that. Just know that you may not always get an answer...there may be no apparent reason that is revealed to you at that moment, or it may come years later. We may never know why things happen, but there is a reason.
I know who knows the reason, who can explain the why.
I know the Lord my God is in control - and in that, I find peace.
One of the things we did this summer was help at a kids camp in a neighboring town. A father and son came from the States to help teach the kids American sports. We taught them baseball, kickball, ultimate frisbee, disc golf, etc. On the last day, the kids went to a local castle for the day. The theme was fairy tales, so they acted out their stories on the castle grounds. The kids had a chance to dress up in baseball gear and/or football pads. I took portraits of whoever wanted one.
At least the end was rewarding! A dip in cold glacier water will certainly numb any pain in your feet. So, off came the shoes...then the socks... followed by an "OOOOHHHH!!!! that's cold!"
Not only did we have a relaxing time at the lake, but we had a few "cultural moments" too. It's not uncommon to see women hiking in their bra, bikini top, etc. and men in just shorts. Well, apparently one guy was quite hot...and I turned my head in time to get a full, bent-over shot of his olive underwear. My teammate, Joe got the best shot expressing the situation I think. My face says it all. We laughed for days at this!
84 year-old Wladsylaw Mazur was shot 3 times, twice in the neck and once in the arm. He worked in a machine shop in Warsaw before the war. Recalling what happened, he explained that he laid very still at first and they thought he was dead until they noticed he had moved closer to a puddle of water. After shooting him again, they left. Still alive, somehow he managed to crawl to a place where he was rescued. As his brother had always told him, beautiful nurses took care of him until he was well and then transported to Flossenburg concentration camp in Germany for 8 months. Mazur made his way to Italy and eventually England where he met his wife and lived for 4 years before moving to the USA in 1951 where he lives in New York to this day. 
Talking with this man made the walls of the museum come alive. I've always walked down the streets of Warsaw's Old Town with some understanding of what had happened so many years ago. To hear it from the lips of someone who survived was a treasure I will hold to for many years.
It only got better that week. We drove home in time to see the sunset over Warsaw. I didn't have my long lens with me, but the tall building near the center is the Palace of Culture and very much in the heart of Warsaw's center. It was a "gift" from Stalin, showing his power over the people.
Now for some fun stuff. The group worked in the Jewish Cemetery clearing off gravestones so they can be photographed and documented before the jungle of weeds and trees grows back up around them. The cemetery covers over 70 acres (33 hectares) of land. The longest stretch of Ghetto wall still stands, separating the Jewish and Catholic cemetery. A bunker and tunnels in back sections were used to enter and exit the Ghetto. 
But, this is what struck me most this time. These are photos of the most harmless yet most interesting of the bugs and icky things we found in the "back 40". I sadly discovered that ticks like me, that snails make sad crunching noises if you accidentally step on them and that orange slugs aren't as gross as they are fascinating.
The light hit just perfectly after clearing off the stones. Then you get some beautiful images.
At the end of the week, we took the group to Treblinka and to Sucha - the Wood Architecture Museum. This is of some of the buildings at the museum by a lake where some guys were fishing. It was quite relaxing after visiting such a hard place to see like Treblinka.
On their last night, we went back to Old Town for some last minute shopping. I grabbed a cup of coffee and started people-watching. The evening grew darker and things got interesting. I noticed spotlights not normally there but didn't think much until we were bombed with poems on bookmark type flyers. Thats when we noticed the red mood rising.
It's the best I could do but you can actually make out the shapes in the moon when I pull it up a little larger.
After catching the moon, I photographed the flyers falling into the Old Town streets. One hundred thousand fell; red or black with poems in Spanish and Polish on the back. Warsaw is the 4th city to take part in The Bombing of Poems. Cities that have experienced ariel bombings in the past have taken part in this. We found something about it on facebook explaining the event. Here's a link - it's in Spanish, but there's a few videos of the event. I was right there near the flame throwers. 
Greek beaches are rocky... and the water is really clear.
