first grade apology

Joshua came home with a note in his school bag the other day that read:

"Dear Joshua, I'm very sorry. I didn't mean to hit you with the rock. Please forgive me. Love D" If only relationships were always as simple as they are in first grade.

housing issues

The landlord of the new house for the Liberian refugee family isn't moving along as fast as we'd like. He told us a week when we signed the lease last Thursday, but he isn't even coming to start work until tomorrow. And that's if he shows up. He originally told us he'd be here yesterday. We'd appreciate prayers that the family will be able to get into their house soon. I'm about to lose it here. They're nice people. It's just that there are 10 of them. And they don't know how to use the bathroom in a sanitary fashion, so I have to wipe the toilet every single time one of us needs to go. And they don't have any sense of personal property, so they use our personal stuff. (Peter found curly black hairs in his razor. It's probably best not to think too long about that one.) And they wash their muddy shoes in my sink when I'm distracted, so Peter has to get a plumbing snake and unclog the drain. And they aren't gentle, so they break things. (I no longer have a tip on my very expensive and previously thought to be indestructible Cutco paring knife.) And you get the idea. It's not their fault. They don't know any differently, and they're not used to being indoors for any length of time. I'm just worn out and ready for them to spend the day around the corner instead of in every corner of my house. So I guess I'm saying that you can pray for a quick move into their new home and my sanity between now and then.

check it out

You need to read this post because it will make you stop to think and also because there's a picture of an unbelievably cute former orphan at the end.

a little view into our world

The past two days have been crazy. Some of the things that have happened in this house make me laugh. Others make me want to cry. I desperately wish I had a nanny cam in every room so I could watch all the chaos in my free time many moons from now. Here's a little spontaneous fun from my living room on the first afternoon after we finished sorting all the family's new clothes. The adults were at the social security office, so I was hanging out with their 7 kids and my 3. I had fun taking video until they realized what I was doing and swarmed the staircase to see themselves on film. (Be sure to note the great outfits the two older boys are wearing for their harmonica performances.)

they're here

My adrenaline is still pumping, so I thought I'd post quickly while I still have the energy. I went with 2 other women tonight to pick up the 10 Liberian refugees we're sponsoring. They were extremely quiet, almost unresponsive, when we talked with them, but they were probably exhausted and confused. I'm pretty sure no one told them anything about where they were headed or what would happen when they arrived. They almost all know English. The oldest 2 children (20 & 22) actually can speak quite clearly without dropping all the ends of the words as Liberians normally do. They must have been around Americans quite a bit. The 22 year old read a street sign on the way home, so he must have had a decent amount of education. They are clearly Liberian, based on the pile of chicken bone pieces left behind after they chewed them up and sucked out all the marrow. After a quick meal, we split the family between 3 houses to sleep, but they'll all be back here early tomorrow. I showed the mother and two of her daughters how to use the shower. We ended up flooding the floor because they were so intrigued and kept pulling the shower curtain out to look. I broke the ice with the 6 year old who's staying with us by getting out Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head. She thought they were pretty funny. Of course, she then decided that toys were fun and got in trouble with her mother for not going to bed. I think they're asleep now, so I'm going to go relish the peace for a bit and then try to get to bed early. That's a huge challenge for this night owl, but getting up at 6:30am will be a much bigger hurdle.

a piece of my heart

I have so much I want to share but so little time to blog right now. We had a big weekend (hopefully pictures will follow soon) and then a busy few days getting ready for our Liberian refugee family to arrive tonight. I woke up this morning thinking about the family and all they've likely been through and about trusting God's goodness when it's hard to see. Then I started thinking again about the song that we sang in church two weeks ago. I hadn't heard it in a while. It goes like this:

Blessed Be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful 
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name

Blessed Be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name

Every blessing You pour out 
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering 
Though there's pain in the offering 
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out 
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name

As we were singing the other week, I had an overwhelming memory of singing this song at Grace (NJ) while we were in our adoption process. For those of you who were around then, you'll remember that it was a crazy time... a long wait, a lost referral for Moses and Saturday, Garty being hospitalized and near death more than once, another long wait. I remember singing this song with unstoppable tears streaming down my face, trusting God's goodness but wishing to see it more clearly. Nearly two years later, the floodgates opened again as I sang "blessed be your name" with my 3 beautiful kids standing next to me, but now I cried tears of joy. We weathered that storm and are now enjoying God's great blessing. It won't be the last storm for us. But the truth of these lyrics doesn't change no matter where we are in our journeys. It's as true for the 10 Liberians we will meet tonight as it is for us... and for you. I hope that today we will all choose to bless the name of our good God.

why we love life in Norristown

Yesterday we got up and went to our bilingual (Spanish & English) Sunday worship service. We sang in both languages, and the service was fully translated back and forth except for the special music when a Tanzanian sang "What a Friend we Have in Jesus" in Swahili. After church 17 of us had lunch at a friend's house. The adults around the table included a single Mexican guy, a white American married to a Tanzanian, a Mexican couple, another Anglo married to a Mexican, and a Brit who was there alone but married an African. There were a bunch of kids, too. I spoke English from the time we arrived until right before dessert and then got sucked into Spanish conversation with the Mexican contingent for the rest of our visit. Our life is so much more colorful (literally and figuratively) than we would have dreamed 10 years ago. And we love it.