A typical lovely day in the life of Connie

As I reflect tonight on the day I had today, I'm amazed at how typical and yet how lovely it was. This morning I had breakfast and Bible study with Elsa, and then we went grocery shopping. When we got back, I played with Michael and Jo Lien a while, which was fun because they were both in really sweet and silly moods. I fed them crackers and cookies, and taught them how to blow kisses, and it's their new favorite game. Watched part of "The Little Mermaid" with Thang Ngaih and Lian, who have watched it enough now to quote parts of it in a hilarious Jamaican-Burmese accent. Then Thang Ngaih asked me to help her with her English homework for about an hour while the kids napped, and she was so excited to learn (among other things) how to write a check (though she laughed because she said she has "No money to write on check!").

Then I worked on my Ruth lesson for a bit, but I was sitting by my window (here below for you to see), so I was slightly distracted by the beauty of the fall colors and the activities of the volunteers outside... This wonderful group of people from Ohio are here this week to serve, and they chose this day to rake the leaves under the massive trees surrounding I-House. This ended up being a full-day task, because it was a crisp and windy day, and leaves were falling constantly, so every time they cleared the lawn, they had to do it again an hour later. I spent a good part of my day being highly entertained at the sight of the volunteers toting the rakes from the front yard to the backyard... and to the front yard again... and then to the backyard again... and "rinse and repeat." Nature was not their friend today.

Finally, the great autumnal outdoors beckoned me enough to make me put on a sweater and venture forth. To my delight, I found some Somali friends in the backyard - a woman and four of her six kids. She was checking out her corner of the community garden and the kids were making grass-and-leaf huts "for tiny people." I explored the acre with them, searching for the brightest and prettiest leaves to decorate the huts with. When our noses got too cold, "Mama Jayne" called us inside for pumpkin sugar cookies and hot cocoa. Then more kids showed up and I talked with them (even got a hug!) and helped them work on their homework for a while, and helped their mom with an official government letter she needed to write.

Came back home and everyone was upstairs, so I had dinner and tea (my fourth cup of the day), and went back to Jayne's to color a picture of Sally Brown (as in, Charlie's sister) in a sparkly princess dress - yes, I have sparkly crayons - and read a book that I just can't seem to put down this week.

Can't say every day is this wonderful... I've talked with some of you about some real challenges that have come up in the past few weeks, and everyone has difficult days. But I am so glad that this is my life right now... I'm so glad God has me here, and that I get to do life with the internationals and ministry staff here in Fort Wayne.