(Left: The front of our house. Jillian, Faith and Joy are on the 2nd floor balcony, Anna Mei, Elizabeth and I are on the 3rd floor, outside the room we use for the Orphan Voice office.) Hello friends!First of all, let me say thank you to all of you who have written encouraging notes! Our email is up and down here, as is the phone,so I don't always have time to respond--I usually just want to write something and get it sent! I thought I would go through the house room by room and give you some more details of our life here. For those of you with "big picture" mentality, feel free to skip the rest of this message.Our house is a 3-story duplex. There is a courtyard in the front, with large gates that remained lock 24 hours a day, opened only to let us or those we choose in and out. The gates are locked with LARGE, heavy padlocks and the keys are hung on a hook inside the door of the house. The courtyard is divided in half by many beautiful potted plants and trees, courtesy of our landlord, Mr. Bo, who lives on the other side of the duplex. Each side is about 10 feet by 15 feet. Two polished stone steps bring you from the courtyard into our living room. The whole house has tile, as do all the houses and buildings here--much easier to keep clean. Our living room is quite large, I'm guessing 12-15 feet wide and about 30 feet long. Before you think of it as palatial, keep in mind that our motorcycle must be parked in the living room every night! All the walls are white, flat paint, unfortunately. The doors are varnished wood with glass panes. To lock/unlock them requires four different keys. The doors remain open all day to help the air circulate. We also use two oscillating fans. Our living room has two chairs and a couch, a coffee table, a small table for a TV/DVD player (we play our DVDs since we get no channels in English). I found some pictures for the wall and our friend Duc had one large, two medium and four small ones framed for a total of $9 (I love it!). We also hung some baskets on the wall hat we found at a local market for $1 each. One exciting incident happened the other evening when we were watching "National Treasure"--there was some commotion in the courtyard, but thankfully, I didn't really payattention because of the action in the movie. I noticed that Enoch jumped up and shut the doors. Later I found out that Mr. Bo's dogs had been chasing a rat that had come into our house from the street. The chased it back outside and then executed their vengeance on it. They are not large dogs, so we have been praising their bravery. Much to my great relief, I have not seen any more rodents nearby. There is quite a lot of building going on in our area, so I'm sure it attracts all kinds of vermin.That tells you about the living room. I will tell you about the kitchen here next time I can write. Know that we are well and at peace and experiencing joy and grace in the Lord. I wish the same for you all.We hope to begin language study this week. We have found a teacher (from Australia) who gives lessons. Her husband is Vietnamese and they have lived here off and on for a few years. She is fluent and has many students.I must go. I hear little voices (yes, I admit it) calling me to the lunch table. I think the natives are more than restless, they are HUNGRY!
