sha-la-la-la.

The good...

We had a great dinner with our Bethel family tonight...so good to have them here, to catch up, and to see Haiti a bit through their eyes.

The frustrating...

For three full days now we have had very little to no internet, and while I realize missionaries of the day got annual letters written on animal skin, but we rather count on have access to the "world"...it's been frustrating.

Due to not having internet, we found out today that the same Sandy that barely spit on us a few days ago is nailing New Jersey, which unfortunately is where Uncle Don, Eric and Jeremiah were supposed to fly out of tomorrow to come spend 1-2.5 weeks with us doing some big electrical/mechanical/boy projects.

We just finished building bunk beds in the guest room, Lily decorating their door, buying food and working on the schedule to accommodate, and Matt, especially, has been SO excited for family and friends from home.  And Aunt Brenda had a suitcase full of necessities and goodies for us.   Bother.  Life comes with it's disappointments.

Hence, no posting.

The funny...

The whole ordeal with the cake.   Night before the wedding:   Noel-"Can I come at 6 am to get the cake Saturday morning?"  Stacey, "Sure."

7:00 AM:  Noel- "Can my sisters and I come and iron all of our clothing and all of the kids clothing and the wedding party's clothing?"  Stacey, "Of course!"

9:00 AM: Noel- "Can we borrow a bunch of totes to transport all the clothes and cake in?"  Stacey, "Sure!  Let me box them all up for you."

11:00 AM, fixing lunch for other friends and other friends are here:  "Can you take the cake off the stand it is on, wrap the stand in wrapping paper, and put the cake back on it, without ruining the cake?"

Hold your breath....Stacey:  "No...I can't do that without ruining the cake."  (look there.  I said no.  AND I assumed that the cake could indeed be WORSE)

11:45 AM, still with friends, chasing the girls, doing laundry, finishing lunch.  Noel's sister: "Can you collect flowers from around the yard and make 6 bouquets, one for each member of the bridal party?  And we have to leave in 30 minutes!"

Stacey:  "I'm sorry!  I just can't do that right now!  But you are welcome to walk around the campus and gather whatever flowers you would like and use my scissors and string!"

Ta-DAH!  I can and I DID.  Yes, I realize that technically I did not say "no."  But I did. I did say no, mind you...eventually.

And then, to top it all off, when the wedding was over, and everyone went to the reception, and the groom stood up to welcome and thank everyone, he instead told everyone that due to lack of funds, there would be no reception, gave his regrets, and everyone went home.

Which yes.  Means there was no reception FOR the cake.

or the Pringles cans.

And the hilarious...

When Lily came home from school last Friday, I asked her the typical, "What did you learn?" and she gave me her typical, "Nothin'."

But then, said, "No wait, I did learn a new dance and song today!"

"OH, show me!" I said, excited to hear a song about Jesus or colors or counting.

"SHA-La-La-La, SHA-La-La-La!" she burst out, hands on her little hips, shaking her rear with all the attitude she had.

Adorable and hilarious as it was, I realized this must have been a dance/song she learned on the playground, not in class.

"Did you learn that from your friends?" I asked.

"Oh, no!" she replied.  "My teacher taught us and taught us it today, and we all had to practice a bunch...MOM, you're not doing it right!  Teacher said, Sha-La-La-LA!"

OK, so...I don't know what I'd do with 60 3 year-olds, either.  If Lily's having a blast with other kiddos, I'll keep working on ABC's at home :)

So, all weekend she's dancing this song, and by this morning, even had Sofie shaking her hips and singing "la-la-la-la".

So, this afternoon, at the start of women's Bible study, the kitchen/laundry/house ladies and I were chatting, and I was telling them about what Lily is learning at school.

"The other day, Lily came home from school and told me her teacher taught her a song.  Then, she started singing and dancing."  I showed them Lily's little dance, laughing at how silly...thinking they would, too.

OH NO I DIDN'T.

Immediately, Paulcine jumped up from the table, threw her hands on her hips and sang through all eight verses of the song, dancing and singing, quickly joined by the other women, all between 40-60, chanting off the melody seriously and dancing like school girls.

I'm sure I just stared.  "Oh.  So....  Wow! That's a real song then, huh.  Huh.  Everyone learns that in school?  OK!  I like it!  Well...Sha-la-la-la!"

I was laughing so hard afterwards, thanking the Lord again for this culture and family He has brought into my life.

Everything, so different.  The realization that so very little of that matters.  Only HIM.