Linh holds a squid head, part of the menu.
Anna Mei does a back flip on the moonwalk.
Me with two of the teenage girls.
A crowd gathered for Keith's balloon sculptures.
The lizard.Whew! I had thought that things would slow down when school was out. Wrong! After a clean up day on Friday, on Saturday, we headed out of Danang in a van to Hiep Duc, about 2 hours away, to look at possible sites for an orphanage. There were 14 of us--our family; Marissa and Enoch; Duc, Linh and Sally; Chau and Bee. It was a great day, but lots of driving.
Sunday was a whirlwind. It was raining, so we took a taxi to church. I was privileged to share the message (I shared from Exodus 33:14,14), "Show Me Your Ways." In the afternoon, the girls were invited to a birthday party, so we were out again.
Now, about the "kids" in the title of this note...
Monday was International Children's Day in Vietnam. We were asked to do something fun with the children at Dai Loc. Yea! We were able to take a large "moonwalk" castle for the kids. Also, we had activities like face painting, balloon sculpture, juggling, bubbles and an impromptu "nail salon" for the older girls. Bee supervised a special meal like she did at Christmas, and then we finished the evening with a showing of the movie "Bolt."
The kids were so happy! Our group of 14 was joined by Keith, an English teacher here from Michigan; and two friends of the girls--Lucia, from New Zealand, and Hannah, a dual citizen of Vietnam and the US (we celebrated Hannah's 5th birthday with her on Sunday).
Even though it was hot, hot, hot, the kids didn't seem to mind. They laughed and played, and lined up for balloons and face painting. They enjoyed watching Keith and Enoch juggle, and some of the kids tried their hand with Marissa at face painting. Anna Mei and Jillian started out painting nails, but the girls quickly got into the spirit of it all and started painting each other's nails.
After dinner, one of the younger boys (about 9 years old) came up to Duc and said, "This food was SO good! I ate and ate and ate!"
We shared a little about friends and encouragement before the movie. Planting seeds, always planting.
We passed out snacks during the movie. Afterwards, we hit the road for Danang, arriving home a tired, dusty crew. Then showers and to bed... except for the excitement of a creepy crawly critter...
When we got a home, we discovered a large spider in the entry way at the house. Actually, the girls spotted it. I had walked next door to Doe's cafe to get a cold Sprite. I could hear screaming, and I wondered why Tony wasn't calming everyone down. When I walked in the door, the girls were in a far corner huddled together. Tony, Duc, Enoch, and Keith each had a large shoe in their hands, doing battle with the long-legged beast. It was a hard-fought battle with intermittant jumping, squealing, and shivers--and that was from the men. :) In the end, Keith and Enoch chased it out, Duc stunned and clobbered it, and Tony finished it off.
The other critter story happened on Friday. Marissa came into the office and said that a large iguana had followed her into our house. With camera in hand, we all went downstairs to see the varmint. Tony said on the way down the stairs that he needed to see the size of the creature to tell if this was a job for him or for Bee. I learned later that he was thinking if it was large, he would wait for Bee!
Our large iguana turned out to be a healthy gecko (I think). Although not impressively large, he was quick enough to make Duc dance, sending us all into fits of laughter. We finally chased him out. The dogs, Caphe and Basille, were safely locked inside, since the Bo's were not home. So, the creature lived to see another day.
Today, motoring toward Dai Loc in the 106 degree heat, I had to laugh. A few years ago, I would never have imagined myself in some of these situations...and loving it!
God is good...all the time!
Grace and peace.
