small joys

As these last few weeks have been speckled with hardships of friends and family far and wide, my heart has been working overtime to keep up with my emotions, my time with Jesus being the sweetest and most necessary times of my day.  Man, have I sought Him and man, has He met me, speaking overpowering reality into my heart.

When we have those moments of truly seeking and knowing who He is, and who we are in Him... there is such truth to be found:  truth of His love, truth of His joy, truth of His Hope.

I'm grateful.

So, here's a few little thing from this past week that have brought small joys!

1) When all Lily's classmates came home from school Monday with their student badges, Lily hadn't yet received hers, and was devastated.  Today, Lily came bounding through the gates, excitedly showing me her new badge.  She laughed, sharing with me how she was the only one of her classmates who smiled for their picture.  When I saw her name, I laughed, too :)

2) Before Cindy left, we were able to meet for lunch, and catch up and laugh and share and better know how to pray for each other.  While I'm so just...SAD to see her go, I'm grateful for this downtime we had with her and thankful for the precious times we have had to live and work together as friends.  We miss you, Bud and Cindy!

3) Last night, as Lily and I were finishing her homework, I looked up to see a small tarantula crawling towards Matt!!  They joy was that Craig was here from Georgia (teaching Christian Marriage and Family), and smashed that hairy thing!  Matt's face cracks me up, too...

4) Craig, Deb and Pam are here and bringing lots of good conversations and friendship to our lives.  Yesterday, Deb made cookies with Lily, and Lily's had a great time in the afternoons enjoying our residential wildlife with Pam.  Matt had the opportunity today to translate for Craig and Deb's class.  We continue to be really thankful for the men and women teaching at Emmaus!

5) This sounds trite, but Sarah's mom sent us the first three episodes of Downton Abbey, Season Three, and all our American neighbors have been coming over after the 8 kids are down to watch.  It's been such a special treat to not have to wait a year till the whole season comes out on DVD, and to watch with friends!  (Though Matt and Sarah are now yelling things like "Good-day, Lady Aubry" and "You look so smart in your livery!" back and forth).  THANK YOU, Mrs. Gentry!

6)  Tomorrow Junior turns 30, and for his birthday we are doing the one thing you can do when something is special...go to the beach!    We're all battling colds, but hopefully tomorrow we'll be feeling better and ready to celebrate this milestone in his life...which of course, he thinks is no big deal.  

7) I know I've mentioned this several times now, but even WITH the painful bill this week, we are just so thankful to have such GREAT internet.  This week has carried none of the frustration, missed deadlines and inability to talk to family and friends that that past 100 weeks have carried.  We are SO incredibly thankful that Mark searched and searched and pushed and pushed to make the impossible happen, and that Sam's tweaking it to make it as wonderful as it is!

SO...more pictures tomorrow of Junior's big day!  Thank you, so many of you, for your heartfelt encouraging emails, and most, for your prayers!!!