Delight

Greetings from our patio! It's almost done. OK, actually, we have about 5 more things that they need to do -- one involves a major drip that's pooling up in the outer part of the patio. But, it feels like such great progress that I brought a rocker and side table out to have my quiet time here this morning. Wonderful! When Lucy arrived, she burst into laughter with "Madame cannot wait any more time!!" So, I was enjoying it so much that I brought the laptop out here, too. In Paris, we bought an extra long phone line so that I could be online out here. Marvelous!!!

And I'm listening to Chris Tomlin singing You Do All Things Well! Indeed, every perfect gift is from God. "You made it all. Said 'let there be.' And there was." Those lines and the lines from Indescribable go through my mind as I walk around the camp everyday. The variety in each tree, the uniqueness of each flower on each tree is truly indescribable and uncontainable. "Who imagined the sun and gives source to its light? Yet conceals it to bring us the coolness of night?... Awestruck, we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim, 'You are amazing, God!'" Each time I step outside, it is with a sense of anticipation in entering another new adventure. Trees that I thought weren't flowering trees suddenly are filled with little buds. New blossoms seemingly pop up over night. I was chatting with the gardeners about it yesterday and one came over to my house later, saying, "Madame, I want to show you a new flower!" We walked to the other side of the camp and he pointed with a huge grin toward an emerging blossom. Exquisite!

Every grin on every worker seems huge, I've realized, because on a dark face those white teeth just pop!!

So, today, John the Gardener (though he jokingly calls himself John the Baptist) is coming over with the rest of the new plants that he will be planting in the front of the house and around the outside of the patio. (The front entrance is UGLY -- 3 air conditioning units, some broken bricks, and gravel with some tiny struggling and neglected plants.) He already painted some cement pots and brought some great plants for them for inside the outer patio area. John is an older guy, walking with a slight shuffle and hunched over from years of kneeling in front of plants and dirt. What a dear man. I am bracing myself because I know he will occasionally ask for money or a gift because he "keeps Madame happy with her flowers." A small price to pay and certainly the guy can use a tip sometimes, oui? And tomorrow, Lucy's friend, an owner of a nursery, is bringing some potted indoor plants that I will purchase. Add to that, the little water fountain Jim bought me in Paris -- we will have ambience ready to burst! Anticipation is half of the delight!