Hello, all--
Faith lost her first tooth today. She was so excited. She must have carried it around with her for three hours, grinning from ear to ear to show the full effect of the little gap on the bottom row of teeth.
Jillian and Anna Mei have both had me laughing out loud as well.Yesterday after school we walked next door to a little street cafe next to our house. An elderly Vietnamese woman runs it. Like most private businesses here, it is a little tin shack, open on one side. There are small plastic tables and chairs. She sells sodas, peanuts, snacks, etc. We have exchanged smiles and a few greetings as I have learned some Vietnamese. Jillian, Elizabeth and I went there after school to celebrate Jillian's completion of her first researched report (on George Washington Carver). Any way, I decided to try out some of my language skills on Doe, the proprietor. I asked her "Ban co khoe khong?" which means, "How are you." She smiled and disappeared behind her counter and came back out with a cigarette lighter. She must have thought I wanted to smoke. I thought Jillian would roll on the sidewalk. I was going to try again, but Jillian stopped me. "Mom," she said emphatically. "Don't say anything else. She might come out and give you a tattoo!"
Today, the girls had a science test. We are studying flying creatures, and this unit was on the migration of birds. One of the questions was, "What are some of the dangers that face migrating birds?" Anna Mei must have taken the plight of the poor little birds to heart, because her answer read, "Hunters! Airplanes! Storms!" (It made me want to add, "Lions and tigers and bears! Oh my!")
It has been a good day, even though the rain returned with a vengeance. Through some friends at church we have met a family from New Zealand who have two daughters, ages 11 and 9. Jillian and Lucia (the 9-year-old) have hit it off nicely. Olivia is the older daughter and Joy has taken a particular liking to her, probably because Olivia will carry her. Tonight the girls and I had dinner with Carrie (Lucia and Olivia's mother) and another couple at Carrie's house. Carrie's husband Russell had to work. Tony had to be with a group who was doing a program for the children at the Dai Loc orphanage. It was very pleasant. Jillian and Lucia went swimming out in the rain (no lightening, just rain)--Lucia's house has a pool. They loved it. Carrie is homeschooling, so we talked a lot about curriculum, classes and other mom stuff. Russell is in banking. They have been here a couple of years--long enough to accumulate an oven, microwave, coffee maker and clothes dryer. (sigh). She had actually baked brownies. The girls ate and ate (we had western food--ribs, potato salad, grilled vegetables, garlic bread). By the time we got home, they were so tired. As soon as Tony got home (shortly after we did) he and I carried Faith and Joy upstairs to bed. They were asleep in a couple of minutes.
God is good. These days of homeschooling, with the girls so young, are flying by so quickly. I don't want to take this time for granted, for I know it will pass all too quickly. Jillian got to talking about perfume today, and Elizabeth told me that when I was away for a few days ( before we came to Danang), when she missed me she would go into my room and smell my pillow. How sweet is that? When I think about the blessings in my life, the oven, microwave, coffee maker and clothes dryer don't seem nearly so important any more.May the events of this day remind you of the Lord's goodness in your life.
Grace and peace!
