This Cheered Me Up!

One of my old students from Taiwan just posted this video, and said she missed me.  It made me so happy and so sad at the same time.  *sigh*

Nice Night

We just walked home in the dark after taking Ana out for her birthday, surrounded by jungle and the sounds of crickets and the river rushing, and the smell of rain on the air.  And for some reason, I just felt so content and peaceful for the first time in a while, like I didn't have to worry about all the stuff I didn't get done today or had to do tomorrow, and could just hold Rick's hand and smile.

Cristofer on Racism

(This story collected and shared by Cheralyn Post.)

Cristofer: *gasps and grabs my arm!* What happened to your arm?
Me: Um.... what do you mean? Nothing happened to my arm.
Cristofer: No, something's wrong with your arm!!
Me: No, really... nothing's wrong with my arm. What are you talking about?
Cristofer: Your arm! Your skin is white!
Me: Um... that's okay, honey, I was born that way.
Cristofer: Oh... wow... I am so sorry that happened.

Forgotten post from Thanksgiving

   I’ve been reading what everyone is saying they are thankful for, and I didn’t know what to say.  So I did something I tell my kids here to do.  I sat down, stayed quiet, breathed deep, and waited and listened for my heart to tell me what it was feeling.  Here’s what surfaced:

  I’m thankful for my friends, both those who share my faith and those who don’t, who’ve been keeping up with what’s going on with us here, and have been giving support and friendship through it all.  You have no idea how much even littlest encouraging comments have been helping me through the days.  And for those who’ve stayed even closer and know more, I couldn’t do this without you.

  I’m also more thankful than I’ve ever been before for my parents.  Every day I’m here, I realize more and more how much they gave me, how much they loved me, how much they made me who I am.  Thank you for being the parents God wanted you to be.  And thank God for giving you to me.