what keeps us smiling.

Thankfully, we now have a functioning water pump & air conditioner, and electricity throughout our home!  It wasn’t the easiest day among the many languages and more frustrations, but hey: we’re all in except for clean water.  And that should come soon, right?!

Until then, we’re celebrating the best part of our days: the community that keeps us smiling at every encounter.

Last night I went to the clinic with a ten-year-old boy and translator. The little boy has had a swollen ankle and knee for over a week, so we went to get an X-ray and some medicine. The doctor speaks great English, allowing me to know what is wrong and then translate into  Karen and onto the parents in Burmese–and it might be my new favorite clinic as we were in and out in less than an hour!  Our challenge was with the assistants. They only spoke Thai, so the medication was given to us with Thai instructions, which I understood very little of.  Mong Ey knows some Thai, so I let her listen to them and then asked in Karen if she understood. She said yes, and we headed home.

It was at home when they were looking at the medicine and talking for quite some time. I asked again if Mong Ey understood the instructions, and she said yes. Then she pointed to the date–5 August 2556–at the top of the package and asked if she should give him five pills. Five pills?!  I said no, that was in fact the date today, and the instructions were down here where it said to take just one pill a day…and wondered to myself what she was going to do when she got to the 2556 of the year?!

Just a few minutes after getting home, we were sitting down to dinner when a few kids at the back door ask for water. As we’re giving them some, a naked three year old little boy came bursting through the door and ran into the kitchen. Stephen tried to tell him no, to remind him of the boundaries, but he was boundless. He exploded into the kitchen, making all the kids in the doorway laugh at Stephen’s failed attempt to stop him and his grand naked entrance. Embarrassed, he fell to the floor and cried for his sister. Adorable.

After school today, a sweet little girl stopped by to give me flowers before she even went home to drop off her bag and lunch box.

I let three little girls come in to play, at which point they hid their shoes behind the door to prevent the other kids from knowing the opportunity. They asked to play Dots on my phone, and with just three of them, I said yes. They each took one turn–the usual amount they get to play–and then asked to play again. I said yes, they could keep passing it around with each person playing once and then sharing.  The opportunity at endless play delighted them–and one little girl jumped up and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

Another little girl climbed up on the table next to me and laid on my arm while I typed this blog.
So much love.