Standing at the bottom of the mountain, looking up.

Had an amazing day.
After a rather intense free-roaming pit bull experience (they are quite common here in Fayettenam) we got the kids in the car early for once and headed to mass.
We had a visiting African priest from Tanzania who was there to speak to us about the HIV/AIDS pandemic and what we could do...His organization was particularly involved with nursing aids orphaned children. He made a very moving sermon and it renewed my commitment to work for peace in the Ivory Coast among the lepers in the Raffierkro colony, which has somewhat fallen on the backburner since the birth of Ishod and what not.
I was particularly marked by the thankfulness I experienced when I realized that in his village, no one had ever SEEN electricity, and that we took for granted nearly everything they might experience with amazement here in the US. Honestly. Five dollars is a world of difference over there, it kinda sickens me that I think it's "not much."
Even though Wayne is still unemployed, we felt moved to give to this man's ministry (the Little Brothers of Jesus and Mary) and to pray for him and his mission...we hope you will too! Just a tiny little sacrifice on our parts makes the difference between hope and hopelessness for them.

We rushed home so I would make my Carmelite meeting on time.
The trip to Raleigh is always so interesting. I ride down there with Bill and Diane, and we talk and pray and sit in silence and it's glorious fellowship. Diane is such a kindred spirit-- She reminds me of Dvora in a lot of ways and is a very warm, motherly, nurturing and prayerful person. I hope to be even 1/8th as spiritually mature as these women by the time I reach their age.

About halfway there, as we were praying this beautiful rosary, we had the surreal experience of driving right past a car that had just been in an accident. It was on fire, flames leaping out of broken windows and what not. I had never seen anything like it before, it was eerie and sad. Cars were lined up about a half mile on either side and thick, black smoke was creeping across the sky from the location of the burning vehicle. It seemed such a wierd thing as we drove by in what seemed like slow motion that inside our car we were at total peace and practically drifting through heaven and outside the world was so scary and harsh and dangerous.

We got to the meeting just as the business bit was closing, and then took an hour for formation. Which was awesome. Instead of sitting with the professed folks today (which I just LOVED last time as we studied the spiritual impact of the French Revolution through the eyes of the Martyrs of Compiegne) I was in class with the newest carmelite postulants, who were studying the Rule of Life (Regular blog readers: see how God has a sense of Humor?)

It was a fascinating subject though, and I discovered that Carmelites have the shortest and easiest rule to follow of all the orders-- ironically, since a life of prayer is neither easy nor short!

Afterwards, we had our 1/2 hour of mental prayer / meditation during which I discovered just how LOW on the mountain of Carmel I am.... I'm usually pretty good about stillness but for whatever reason, today was a challenge-- I was fidgety and sleepy.
Then we prayed the liturgy of the hours together-- I cannot describe the beauty of the Carmelite LOH. Just gorgeous.
After that I was privileged to see four members of the community take vows and make temporary promises--- soooo cool!
We then had a giant feast to celebrate the feast days of Our Lady of Mt Carmel and the prophet Elijah.
And since Elijah and His chariot have made it traditional to bless our own chariots on his feast day, we did a Byzantine rite of car blessing, parading through the parking lot chanting as we blessed everyone's vehicle!! Which was AWESOME.

I also discovered that two of the Carmelites there are French speakers--- from Canada, yay! In fact, they are a homeschooling catholic family with eleven kids-- awesome!
you can check out their blog at www.timetokeep.blogspot.com
There is also one other French Carmelite.
The more time I spend with these people the more I see why they are so close. I definitely feel at home there, even though I'm a little bit out of place. I can't wait until next month!!! I've got TONS of reading and studying to do now, so I'd better go....

I prayed for all my blog readers today :)