Oh Happy Day!!

This week has been pretty crazy. It was the end of the trimester--lots of topics to squeeze in and alot of homework. The boys had their big Spanish tests. We were trying to do various other things as well. It was crazy.

Two days ago, when I was in my grammar class I caught a glimpse of Tully walking into the administration building (okay, okay, it was really hot, and there are alot of windows, and it's the end of the trimester,and at times my mind wanders to the goings on and beautiful surroundings outside) and he was holding a box. A box that looked suspiciously like a package from home. It was very intriguing to me as we weren't expecting anything. Sometimes we get a head's up that a package is on it's way.

When I got home from class, Tully had the box sitting on the kitchen table for me to open. It's always so much fun when we get letters, news, and packages from home! I opened it and it was filled to the brim with Girl Scout cookies! Our dear friends from Columbia (formerly of Greer), Michael and Lucie Bingham and their family had sent it to us along with two cans of tomato soup--in case we ever get in a pinch with our Sunday night tradition of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. Margaret, their sweet daughter, is a Girl Scout this year and wanted to send us some cookies. They couldn't decide which ones to send because they knew we would probably have many favorites within our family, so they wound up sending us a box of each!

When the children came home from school, I am SURE our neighbor Claudia heard the whoops of joy that went up when they realized we had received a package of Girl Scout cookies!

Now is the hard part: rationing them out! : )

Thank you, thank you, Margaret!! (And Lucie, Michael, and Joshua, too!)

Goodies from Home

Sometimes it feels as though we're in a time warp here. It's easy to imagine things in the US are as they were when we left them in August and again in early January. We have some friends from Maine who arrived here last April, and they say the same thing. They feel everything in Maine should be the same as it was last April. Living in a different country, it's hard to believe our family and friends have been through seasons changing, children growing, parents aging, jobs working--in general, life lived without us. It's strange.

Yesterday, we got a slip in our post office box that said we had a package to pick up at the post office. Excitement was thick in the air as we waited in anticipation until today when Tully could go pick it up (you have to take your passport and walk to the post office to pick up a package). I was studying during a break when Tully got back to school with the package--we opened it together and oohed and aahed over everything--chocolate chips, Valentine's candy, stickers, and balloons for the kids, magic markers, notebooks (which are really expensive here), and in the bottom were two Greenville News newspapers and a Family Circle magazine--WOW! News from home--it was wonderful to read about all of the happenings in our city firsthand. It's also a good reminder for us that everything there is moving right along without us, as it should, just as things are moving right along here.

In our time here of learning Spanish, one of the biggest encouragements we have experienced is knowing that our journey in missions is shared among the body of Christ. Sometimes that encouragement fits into a box lovingly packed and neatly filled with goodies from home. . .