A Blessing Only God Could Arrange

I just really love the way God works! We've been trying to plan this trip since the Spring, but it just wasn't coming together. We were thinking it may not happen even now, but we really felt the urging from the Lord to just step out in faith and GO to TEXAS! So... we obeyed!

So many things have just "fallen into place." I'm sure God has had them planned all along!

This house we're staying in is one of those things. Our church's mission house is occupied. Most missionary housing is occupied & reserved years in advance! This was one of our hesitations about coming. When you are a family of seven (or even two) it is quite the task to find housing for 3+ weeks. That is a long time to be a house guest. We wouldn't ask. It is WAY beyond our budget to pay for housing for that long. So we began the search for missionary housing. Thanks to some suggestions of a dear friend, we found this house through another church! It has been just perfect right down to the fenced in backyard with a wonderful swing set!

Well, let me tell you something else about this house! It is actually the location!

First of all, it is in a wonderful neighborhood that has been here at least since the 50s. The houses are well taken care of, and this seems to be a close knit community in the heart of Arlington. Yesterday evening before supper we took a walk down a nearby street (the one we are on is very short). It was just beautiful. We learned today that it used to be pecan orchard which would explain the numerous pecan trees in the boulevard and in the yards. We met several others out for walks, too. Such nice people!

Well, we got home & ate supper. Then I decided to look someone up in our addresses. You see, when we lived here our pediatrician was Dr. Molly Hansen. I loved her. She was like a grandmother to me & the kids. I had so much respect for her. She was great! When we moved, she said she wanted us to stay in contact with her... so we have via mail. Well, we don't do a lot of mail anymore. She's retired from her practice. I didn't have a phone number to call her, and I never had e-mail for her either. I was going to send her a note to ask her to call us if she was able so we could get together while we're here so she could see the kids and we could visit. She has written us several times over the years we've been gone.

Well, you may know where this is going... when I looked up her address, it seemed VERY familiar! The house number was exactly the same as ours... 1513! That was odd, I thought. Then I noticed the name of the road. I was pretty sure it was the road we had just walked down earlier! Could that be? Well, then I noticed the zip code was exactly the same as ours... so I "mapquested" it. Sure enough... she was one road over. Dano walked over after the kids were in bed to verify the address was in the exact same spot as our house just one street over!

So this morning, after Virginia's morning nap & snack for the other kids, we went on a walk to see if we could find Dr. Hansen.

When we rang the bell, she came to the door and was delighted to see us. She even called us by name! She quickly invited us in. We had a wonderful visit with her and her husband. She wants us to come back for dinner. She plans to come by when she is out walking. She even asked if we'd be speaking at a church because she wants to come hear us. Isn't that neat?

So, you see... this is a blessing only God could have orchestrated. Who could have imagined that someone we were going to try to "find" would be one street over from a house that just happened to be available for the time of our trip? God loves to work out the details!

Now let me tell you more! You see, this house hasn't just been sitting around empty. It has been occupied, but when FBC Arlington got back to me about housing, the missionaries in the house were just leaving! When I talked to the husband of one of the ladies on the board for the housing (who happen to be good friends), he asked me how we managed to get this house. I told him I just called, and it was available. He said that was pretty much a miracle because this house was ALWAYS occupied! Well, that just confirmed that God had this house reserved for us!

May you have a blessed day knowing that God is concerned about the details in your life, too! Sometimes we just have to step out in faith and let HIM take care of them!

Blessings,

Melinda =0)

Arlington Playdate Planned

Next Tuesday, October 27th, mark your calendar for a playdate! Susan Bryant has graciously opened her home (really her yard) to us to invite YOU over for a playdate!

If you are reading this, you are invited! Of course, I realize if you aren't in the area, you probably won't make it! =0)

Who: You!

What: Playdate with Melinda & the kids... come & go or stay the entire time

When: Tuesday, October 27th 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Where: Susan Bryant's Home: 1303 Sonora Court; 76012

Bring: Lunch for you & your kiddos if you're able to stay; maybe a quilt for sitting on

Kids of all ages welcome! If your kids are all in school, you can still come!

If you can, let us know* if you hope to make it. You can just surprise us, too, if you're suddenly able to join us! I really hope to see you next week!

If this date doesn't work for you, please contact me so we can work something else out!

Blessings,

Melinda =0)

817-274-5218

*you can comment here, send me an e-mail, contact me via facebook, or you can call!

Correct Phone Number

817-274-5218 Earlier I posted the wrong number. This is the correct one. Sorry for the confusion.

We're in Texas!

At the Texas-Arkansas border about 2 to 3 hours from Arlington.

About 7 p.m. Saturday night we arrived in Arlington, Texas! Yea! Around 8 p.m. we arrived at our housing provided by First Baptist Church of Arlington!

Here is our contact info while we're in Texas:

Dano & Melinda Whited

1513 Larkspur

Arlington, TX 76013

817-274-5218 (corrected from before... I put the wrong number... sorry! This is the CORRECT number.)

We are soooo blessed to be staying here. It is a wonderful house which is well taken care of! We were greeted so warmly where we picked up the keys and by another lady here at the house. We had food in the pantry & refrigerator so we didn't need to go back out for supper! Praise the Lord! After feeding & bathing the kids, we put them to bed in hopes to be able to make it to church on Sunday.

Surprisingly we did make it to church, but we didn't quite have our act together to make it to Sunday school. How wonderful to see so many friends. If God called us back here, it would be easy to say "yes."

After church we were greatly blessed. We were invited to a luncheon that was being held at a Sunday school teacher's house. It was the "young" couples class which means it was a lot of our friends! Fun! What a blessing! Our kids had a blast, too. What a great start to our time here in Texas!

Today we're kind of taking it easy... recovering from the trip, doing laundry, & finishing unpacking.

Feel free to give us a call or come by for a visit if you're in the area! We're just off of Fielder just South of Park Row.

Below are some pix of OUR Texans.

Love,

Melinda & gang =0)

Olivia, Derek, & Emma

Olivia lacked about 2 months being 4 years old when we moved away from Texas. She is now 8 years old. She still has some memories of living in Texas.

Derek turned 2 years old just a couple of months before moving. He's now 6 years old. He thinks he has memories of living in Texas. I'm not sure. =0)

Emma was only 8 weeks old when we left Texas for Ohio, BUT she is still a TEXAN!! You really have to live here to understand the importance of that! =0)

His Wings Newsletter - October 2009

Hopefully you can click on the image to make it bigger so that you can read it if you did not receive it via e-mail. If you'd ever like to be on our e-mail list, please let us know!

Blessings,

Melinda =0)

Chicken Feet

Recently I baked a whole chicken for dinner. As we were finishing up, Derek said, "I wish it would have come with chicken feet." That reminded me of a story I never wrote.

During our recent ICC course (you know, the course that had us going to the African church up in Charlotte where Olivia & I went to the wedding), we were told we were having a family picnic on Saturday, and attendance was required. All the food would be provided. Based on the nature of this course, I began to suspect that this might not be just any ordinary picnic! I told my kids that we *might* be given something STRANGE to eat. As you may begin to suspect, I was right!

The picnic location was Jungle Jump Off. This is a location at JAARS where they have week-long camps for youth groups which teach them what life is like in a REMOTE location without any amenities. It teaches them this because they LIVE it!

As we all showed up at the location and waited for everyone to arrive, we noticed there was no food. Soon we were told we were taking a walk through the woods. Our kids love to walk through the woods, so this was no problem. Eventually, we reached a gathering place where we were given some instructions. From there we continued on our journey until we reached the place for the picnic. Once there, we were given further directions.

Basically, here is the information we were given:

We would be having lunch in a different culture, and we needed to follow all the rules so we wouldn't insult our hosts.

We needed to:

Remove our shoes

"Wash" our hands

Sit on the ground

Men would sit together in a circle, and women & children would sit together

Women would serve the men first before eating or feeding the kids

Men are served oldest to youngest

We'd eat with our hands

As you can imagine, these instructions kind of rub you the wrong way. Even when you know this isn't "real," it makes you realize how set in your ways you are. Of course, I don't think there were any of the men who were having a hard time with the rules. =0)

We started by removing our shoes. Next we ceremonially "washed" our hands which had NOTHING to do with cleanliness. As a matter of fact, it was kind of gross. We lined up while dirty water was poured over our hands from a bucket using a ladle which means the water was used and reused as people went through the line. Ick.

The men sat in their circle. Then we had the children sit down while the women served the men. Just as they were all served, we thought we'd be able to start serving the kids and ourselves. But nooooooooo, we had to wait til all the men were completely finished… not just served. And shockingly, some men wanted seconds.

Wesley waiting patiently for the children to be served. He's sitting next to a friend's daughter.

What were they served, you ask? Well, I'm still not sure. It didn't look so appetizing, but actually it was pretty tasty. The meal was some African type meal. The sauce was some sort of peanut sauce served over rice with tortilla wedges. A boiled CHICKEN FOOT was placed right on top! (Yes, it was a chicken FOOT… not a chicken LEG.) To drink… water that looked dirty (but I think it was perfectly fine water that had some spices or something added to it just to look dirty).

Dano's partially eaten meal with his water. By the way, Dano did finish this and got more, I believe.

The funny thing is… when the kids & I were talking earlier that day, we said they just might make us eat chicken feet! Fortunately, this was not my first experience with this item. When I taught ESL in Texas, I had a friend from China who made some for us at our request! What do they taste like? Not much. As you can imagine, there isn't much to a chicken foot. Basically, it tastes like chicken skin or fat. Nothing I would ever crave, but nothing revolting. However, the looks leave something to be desired.

Back to the picnic… as you can imagine, most people had no desire to eat the chicken foot. Some didn't even seem too thrilled about the rice and sauce. The children were especially hesitant. Surprisingly, Olivia (our oldest and pickiest at times) tried the meal. She stuck with the tortillas. Emma and Wesley were not too thrilled with the dish. They didn't want to even taste it. Thankfully, they did eat the tortillas. But then there was Derek. Despite his thin physique, he eats like a horse. This day was no different. Not only did he eat his rice and sauce and tortillas, but he ate his chicken foot. Then he began to ask others for their feet! By the end of the picnic, he earned the nickname "Chicken Foot."

Virginia was there, too. (This was really a picture of her which is why my head is almost cut off.)

Olivia after her meal.

Emma inspecting her "water." Notice her untouched meal. I think Derek took her chicken foot.

"Chicken Foot" himself. Not sure if you can see how filthy his face and hands are. Remember… no utensils!

So WHY did we have to do this? Well, it was just another opportunity given to us via ICC to see "where we were." This picnic allowed us to see how we would react in a very NON-American setting. How did it make us feel? Why? It was an opportunity to see how our kids would react.

All in all, I think our family did GREAT! Our kids waited "patiently" while the men ate. At least they enjoyed the time with the other kids while waiting. Overall, it seemed everyone there did great. Of course, we had the added advantage of knowing this was just for a couple of hours for one day. How would we react if this were a daily occurrence? How would the hosts react if we insulted them unknowingly? How would our children really act if they realized this was all they'd have to eat every day? Well, we don't REALLY know the answers to these questions, but one day we will.

We are looking forward to serving overseas one day, hopefully soon. We have no idea if we'll face a situation like the one here, but we do know that we'll face many situations that will be out of our comfort zone… way out of our comfort zone. We also know that the God who called us will also provide what we need. We are so thankful that He provided a way for us to attend this Intercultural Communication Course (ICC). During the month long course, we studied and discussed World View, Suffering, Moral Purity, Bible Study, Interpersonal Skills, Language and Culture Acquisition, Spiritual Vitality, Marriage, Phonetics, Partnering, Contingency, Multicultural Teams, Crisis Management, Counting the Cost, Different by Design, and Stones of Remembrance. As you can see, we had a very full month! And I think whenever we eat chicken, we'll be reminded of our adventure on a hot, summer day in North Carolina.

Other entries about ICC:

A Full Plate

All Dressed Up

All Dressed Up (part 2)

Dressed for Church…African Style

Dressed for Church...African Style

I realized I never posted these pictures of the girls and me dressed up for church in the African clothes we borrowed from several different missionaries now serving here at JAARS. We attended the church for four Sundays during our ICC course. The first Sunday we wore "normal" church clothes. Of the remaining three Sundays, we wore African clothes twice. The other Sunday they had a "casual" Sunday, and we dressed appropriately. Unfortunately, the boys didn't have any special clothes to wear during the month. I didn't hear Dano complain. =0)

Although attending this church was challenging with the long drive and the long services and the heat and the language barrier, I find myself missing it... especially the people. Funny how that works, isn't it?

I hope you have a blessed Sunday!

In Him,

Melinda =0)