Sofia's Birthday/Events

Today is Sofia's 5th birthday! Sofia is very confident for her age, and a petite "singing doll". She started piano lessons this year. We love the videos of her singing in church and look forward to the pictures on the family's blog of her birthday.

As I write this, men are working on our house. They backed a big trailer into our drive that houses weatherization materials. At the moment, they are re-calking all of the windows on the outside. (I had never looked at them!) Next, they will replace old weather-stripping on the doors. Last, there is a huge machine with a long hose that comes through the house and goes into the attic. It blows extra insulation. With the promise of higher energy bills this winter, I am so grateful for this work being done! I'm also looking forward to not having to dust and vacuum so often!

Yesterday, I had planned to go swimming but had my plans changed. After classes, everyone met in the lounge to say good-bye to Frank, our student from Columbia. I was drafted to cut and serve lemon cake. I'll miss Frank. He was my private student for one hour each day. I'm sure he'll come back to the USA with his wife. He is a surgical equipment engineer and has requested Johnson and Johnson to transfer him to the States. Frank asked me for an English Bible because as a Catholic he had never had one. I was remembering that when our cruiseship made a stop in Columbia, our tour guide told us that many Columbians were converting because the Catholic Church was allowing the people to read the Bible for the first time.

Yesterday was the last day of class for Session #11. After giving back essays, Aziz asked me to explain Thanksgiving. I drew silly pictures on the whiteboard and gave a simple history of the holiday. The Saudi students were fascinated by the reason that many of the people left Holland and England. My explanation took about 10 minutes. Then, I was asked, "What's Christmas, teacher?" I wasn't prepared for the reaction when I finished. Those students have the softest hearts, and are spiritually awake! Everyone had moist eyes! One young man,who is married and has a baby, asked if his family could go to my church at Christmas. Muslims still get their heads cut off if they convert, so I let him know that they are welcome, but I'm very careful not to vocalize my beliefs without being first asked.