March 16th:
Went to fellowship bright and early (9am). John and Mary's group joined our group for the week since there were quite a few people out of town. I received an email last night that was disheartening. Though encouraged to be with fellow Christians, I felt discouraged as we started the Scripture reading. We began in Hebrews 10; as we continued reading through chapter 12, verse 2 leaped off the page - "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame..." The events of last week, combined with the email I received last night have made me feel a burden of shame that others keep trying to load on top of me. My natural inclination is to defend and justify myself; once I realize this is futile (I can't change the shape of my eyes, I can't make others understand why I am here), my feelings quickly change to anger against those trying to make me feel ashamed. Reading Hebrews, I was reminded that my Savior, though blameless, had shame cast upon Him. And that in the midst of it, He despised the shame and reached beyond it, extending love to His accusers. Encouraged to pray for help to reach beyond my own injuries and love those who would point a finger at us.
March 17th:
Headed off to the soccer clinic at 8am. It was bitterly cold, but I warmed up once we started running with the girls. I had to train the goalies by myself today... they learned how to dive for the ball without hitting their elbows. Since I've never taken soccer lessons, I had to "wing it" based on a video I watched and some tips that the other coach sent me. No one broke their elbow, so I think we did alright. Got a good workout running up and down the field, but strained a muscle (probably because of the cold) when I started playing with the bigger girls. By the time we left, it was snowing heavily and starting to stick.
When I got home, I took a nice warm shower, then went over to Mary's for a cup of tea and some leftover curry. Around 3:30 we went over to Lisa's and visited with her until Andy and John arrived back from Erbil. Dan and Julie came over and the seven of us headed to Texas Chicken in two taxis (the guys at Texas Chicken told us the week before that they would be open on either the 15th or on Saturday, so we figured we would wait until Saturday just to be sure). As our taxi pulled up to the door, we noticed a sign that said, "Closed." After conferring with the group in the other taxi (and expressing our disappointment), we decided to go to Malta Restaurant. It is a fancy (rather expensive) restaurant and the food is excellent! I ordered lamb (just so I could tell Dad what it was like - lamb is one of his favorites) and it was really good. The most popular dish is "et sotte" or beef chunks cooked in a skillet and covered in cheese. Mary shared a bite with me - delicious!
Went back to Andy and Lisa's afterwards for Shamrock Shakes - vanilla ice cream blended with mint and chocolate pieces sprinkled on top. We watched a few Brian Regan clips and had a nice time of just being together.
