a notable evening.

We are headed back to the States in just four days, and that means there are lists, lists, lists everywhere. It’s kind of difficult to live and love on two different continents, but that is another post for another day. Or probably just the heart of every day & every post.

But in the middle of all this, there are some really lovely things on that are worth noting. Last Saturday, we had nothing significant on the schedule. I had soup in the crockpot and was working on a few odd tasks while Stephen was putting the finishing touches on a video project; and there was a greeting at the door.

Kyaw Htet & Nyein Nyein are a young couple in the neighborhood. They are 19 have been married about a year. They have been joining us at the tea shop some weeks, they helped us coordinate the Christmas lists, and Stephen has all sorts of schemes of how he would like to hire Kyaw Htet in the future. They are full of potential and just really lovely.

And they invited us to dinner!

We weren’t really sure what we were invited to at first. It seemed like they wanted to go out, so we agreed and climbed into the car, kind of unsure if we were the ride, invited along, or maybe if they just wanted us to treat them to dinner? We went for it anyway, because sometimes we do just that.

They ended up directing us to a little grocery store, where they picked out a variety of items and declined our splitting the bill. After we got home, they said to wait a little while and they’d come get us.

And then we were treated to dinner at their house, where they had set out places for us and cooked up suki–a spicy Chinese noodle soup with vegetables, chicken, tofu, & crab. We chatted over our noodles in broken English, Burmese, and Karen, because really, that’s how we do life these days!

And that was our notable evening. Though we’ve been invited over to many neighbors homes, it is usually for big parties and events. This was our first double date in the neighborhood, if you will! It was also completely on them and up to them, just to treat us.

It’s always hard to leave, when you feel you are a part of a group here. It feels unfair that just two members of the group have special privileges to fly and see family and eat delicious food and sleep in comfortable beds.

But it also makes us so thankful for these friendships and so excited to return!  It is such an honor that God has given us such a time as this to simply be in this community. It such a gift that we can slip into a community so unlike us, and still return to a community that knows our roots and the weird reasons we wear pajamas {another blog post for another day}.  It is such a gift to have notable evenings with such exceptional friends!