Carrots, Eggs, and Coffee

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up, she was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved and a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen, she filled three pots with water and placed them on the stove, soon the pots came to a boil.

In the first she placed carrots, in the second eggs, and the third, coffee beans. She let them sit and boil without saying a word.

In about 20 minutes she turned off the burners. She fished out the carrots and placed in a bowl. She pulled out the eggs and placed in a bowl. Then she ladled out the coffee and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked , "tell me what you see."

"carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied. Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted they were soft. The mother then asked her to break the egg. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to take a sip of the coffee.

The daughter smiled as she tasted it's rich aroma. The daughter then asked, "What does it mean, mother?"

Her mother explained that each of these objects hadfaced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. It's thin outer shell had protected it's liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, it's inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they changed the water.

"Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "when adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or coffee bean?"

Am I the carrot that seems strong but with pained adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, breakup, financial hardship, or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings pain. When the water gets hot it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are likethe bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are the greatest do elevate yourself to another leve? Or do you become soft and hard hearted?

Which one are you?

Panama City Beach 2011

I went to PCB last week with my family and had a great time.  It has been a dream of mine, since I was about 9 years old, to swim with dolphins.  I found out a few weeks before we left that my dad wanted to take my nephew to this marine park, well we looked it up online to get prices and see what all was there & guess what?  They had a place to swim with dolphins.  I was so excited and was determined I was going to save the money to do it.  Well, my best friend offered to pay for half of it for my Christmas present, she knew how much I have always wanted to do it.  At this point I was beyond excited and could not wait to for it to get her.  It was so much fun & I am so glad I got to experience it.

Brennan :)

She was singing to me

Definetly would love to do that again sometime.  Awesome experience :).  Here are some other pics from the beach

The most amazing sunsets every night

Love this little boy!!

We had to ride the train a million times, he loved this!

My bro & my handsome nephew

These sting rays were very close to the shore the last 2 days we were there.  This was taken from our balcony on the 17th floor.  But the were in about ankle deep water and would wash up on the shore, we counted 30 one day.  It was crazy!!

I will add more later when I get them all uploaded :)



India & Nepal 2011

I have been back for almost 3 & I miss it so much!!  I would get back on a plane tomorrow if I could!  This was the best experience of my life!!  I was blessed to meet some really amazing people!!  I am so glad God made a way for me to go!  Everybody kept telling me that I wouldn't like the food (I am a very picky eater and usually don't try new things) and I wouldn't be able to handle it because I am a germ freak, but I just knew this is what God wanted me to do & the food wasn't that bad at all, it was actually really good :).

The people there were so happy to see us.  They would light up when we walked in a room.  They didn't judge us because we were different, they went out of they way to make us feel welcome.  They were very hospitable and welcomed us into their churches and their homes.  Some of them even cooked lunch & dinner for us.  The kids there were so precious and they would follow us around like we were movie stars or something :).  They loved having their pictures taken and we loved taking pictures with them.

I wish I could post all of them but I have way too many :).

One part of the trip that really touched me was when we went to this school and got to talk to some of the teenagers there.  Most all of them spoke English well, so they got to ask us some questions.  There was this one young lady that kept asking a lot of questions & the teacher said she had been asking questions about God.  You could tell she had a lot of questions and wanted to know more about God but we ran out of time with them.  My heart is still breaking for that young lady because I could tell she wanted to know more and we didnt' have time to really minister to her.  But, I know that God says we are just to plant the seed.  I pray that God will cultivate that seed and that she will come to know HIM as her personal Lord and Savior.  I loved the time we got to spend with the kids and the youth there.  They loved seeing us and welcomed us , some of the little girls had taken time to make all of us flowers, they were so excited that we had come.  I wonder what our churches would look like in America if all of our youth, and adults, were that welcoming when new people (that are totally different from them) come into our churches.

Here are some pictures, I wish I could put more but I had 600 :)

This is the church that my church helped to rebuild

We got to help do a BSI (Bible Skills Institute) graduation

I loved that the buildings were so colorful :)

Our group with Steve Cahun at the Refugee Camp

Butanese Refugee Camp

We were so excited to have KFC :)

This little boy stole all of our hearts.  His name is Mischel & he was precious.  This is Heera & Margaret's son (our awesome hostesses while in Silguri)

Nap :)

This is where they go to worship

They bathe in the river, along with all the goats, pigs, & cattle :(

This was our transportation from the Indian border to the Nepal border :)

On our way to the airport, a little nervous for my first long flights :)

Our room in Kolkata (Calcutta)

Someone lives here.  I am so blessed & take so much for granted!!

Getting ready to board the plane from Kolkata to Silguri

Finally at our destination :)

Some of the food we ate, actually really good!

1st eye camp

Beautiful view outside Heera's home

Some of the girls at the church picked flowers for us, so sweet!

Nepal :)

We did 4 eye camps and saw around 800 people.  It was tough to see some of them because they had so many problems that they thought we were going to be able to fix them.  But they were so excited that we had come and kept thanking us for being there.  It really made me realize how much I take for granted!  We had around 50 salvations, Praise the Lord!!

We made some great friends while we were there!  Thank you to Heera Singh & his wife Margaret for opening up their home to us.  Margaret cooked for us and it was wonderful!!  They were such a blessing to us!!  Also, the week wouldn't have been the same without our awesome translators, David, Kerry, & Napoleon, we couldn't have done it with out them.

I will try to upload more pics later on another post.  There are just so many, it's hard to pick.