After writing an update, Steve and I always wonder if we are finally going to start running out of things to write about, but each weeks brings new fun and new realizations.

The fun last week was the Titchie Talent Night. I know Steve wrote about it, but I can’t help but say something. It was too…too…too! First, let me brag on OUR boys who really did have GOOD acts! Matthew played piano and did very well, although Jessie, the dog, did try and succeed in upstaging him on his first piece. JT and 4 friends did a funny skit that was actually funny and not inappropriate! As for the others, let’s just say that choreographers around the world can rest assured that there is no eminent threat to their jobs.

Another funny actually involved the scare we had with Steve’s eye. We had to rely on those who have been here for years to help us find a doctor and navigate all the hurdles in making appointment and getting there, etc. Well, we arrived at the office and were a little nervous. We sat down in a very small waiting area to wait. As I began to relax just a bit and begin to look around I noticed that the only other people in the room were pregnant women. Then I noticed a large poster about menopause on the door leading to the examining rooms. This all gave me pause. I reminded myself that the woman who helped us get the appointment was a nurse herself and she had actually lived here for 26 years. Still, I was uneasy. Then I glanced around the room again and found another door with a large poster of the eye. Whew! I guessed we were okay after all. Turns out the eye doctor’s husband is an ob-gyn and they share a waiting room.

On the Realizations side…

I am realizing that when you have never known poverty, you can’t comprehend it all at once. It is a layered process. You see it for the first time and shake your head and hurt. Then you see a picture in the newspaper of a starving old man (very similar to pictures you see in the States about famine and world hunger), but this picture has the man’s name and where he lives, and you realize that hunger hurts individuals. Then your friend Grace tells you that her 13-year-old son fainted at school and was taken to the hospital. He was severely anemic again. And you realize that hunger is affecting people you know and care about. God is enabling us to help Grace’s family. But there are so many others.

I want to share an encouraging and challenging “Grace” story. Please pray for her, she is such an amazing woman. (Pray especially for her husband who does not know Jesus) She, having barely enough to keep her family going, is very concerned for one of her friends who has 6 children and whose husband left for Nairobi to find work and has not returned (or sent money) in months. Grace sells samosas and tortillas to earn money, besides working for us. She has just taught her friend to make tortillas and has given her friend all of her tortilla customers. What a challenge to me. She gives out of her need. I only give out of my plenty.

And finally, a prayer request for me. I have been asked to take over the Bible study held each week for the local Vegetable Ladies. The woman who has led it for years will be home for 4 months for her daughter’s wedding. I feel God wants me to do it, but I feel inadequate. That’s probably a good way for me to feel. When I feel capable, I don’t look to the Lord as I should. Please pray that God will give me grace and a heart to really understand these women and share God’s love with them in ways that they can receive it. I’ve wanted God to strip the “western stuff” away from my perception of the Gospel God answers prayer.

Thanks again for standing with us in regards to Steve’s eye. All is still well! Bless you all.

Love, Nancy