recovery.

And today, we recover.

We woke up this morning as the kids crept out of our house. We shared the last of the rice and curry from yesterday and enjoyed one last movie together. The parents started moving belongings back across the street, but have continued to cook under our driveway awning. Partners brought plenty of rice and noodles yesterday, so there is a little extra for the community this weekend.

Stephen also saw that one of the families had a charcoal cooker that cracked yesterday while being used by everyone. He thought it would be nice to replace it, particularly since they had already had so much stress on them. Sometimes you can just sense the small things that might be the last straw, and this was it. He went down the road and bought a new charcoal cooker with two bags of charcoal for $2; he said she was so surprised and grateful, she just kept repeating “thank you” in Burmese.

Sometimes I think its more important that we watch for little opportunities to bless them rather than look for things we can keep up. For instance, I can’t really provide jobs for them right now or cook a meal for all the kids once a week. But, I can look for the little girl that needs a hug today, or the mother that just needs her stove to work–or something to work.

Andrew, the Partners volunteer that came out to help us yesterday, graciously showed up at 7:30am on his Saturday off. He helped us clean our house–dishes, sorting toys, sweeping, and more. Really, it was so kind of him, and our house was much improved by mid-morning. I’ll probably be catching up on laundry–washing all my sweaters (or at least the ones returned…), the blankets and sleeping bags, sheets, all of our towels, and the couch covers that got a bowl of soup spilled on them–for days, perhaps even weeks since we don’t have a dryer!

So, now, we recover. We spent more time with the community this week than we have in a long time, with about seventeen hours spent at the hospital before Thursday, and all day Friday with everyone. We might need another vacation; or perhaps our vacation was more perfectly orchestrated than we thought!

Thank you for all your prayers and support of our work here. Everyone has been very encouraging, and it’s so welcomed. It looks glorious, but my selfishness shines through it all. I did cringe when the soup was spilled on my lovely couch, and I am washing all the pillow covers for fear of lice. I’m a little sad when I see scratched paint areas and water rings on our tables; or the three used Q-tips I found shoved in our couch and one stuck to the wall. I think they were really excited to have found our Q-tip stash in the bathroom.

I know what I should do, but I’m still growing in the love to actually do it.  And really, there are so many people that keep us here, from regular support for rent and food to sweet packages full of toys for the kids, kind words sent to us over email, and faithful prayers.

Thank you. And please don’t stop praying 🙂