A time to mourn...

Grieving with friends in Clarkston and around the world.

Sovereign Lord, our prayer is that you bring beauty out of great sorrow, as You have shown Yourself faithful to do throughout the history of the world.

Deadly van crash for refugees in Clarkston on their way to work

Fires sweep through refugee camp in Nepal

Parents

It’s fun to not just keep up the wonderful friendships that I already have in Clarkston but also to meet the new arrivals as they arrive. America is still new… scary in many ways, and also full of possibility. It’s in the first few months that they are most open, have the most time, and are eager to make connections and open their hearts and homes to an outsider. There are so many questions that an American can be very helpful with. After those first few months, they often (hopefully!) have a job, have rooted themselves into their own culture community, and don’t normally need quite the same amount of initial advice and assistance. This isn’t always true, but generally what I’ve found!

Yesterday I met a group of recently arrived refugees from Nepal. Not long after entering their apartment, I found myself graciously handed a cup of steaming hot chia, which I eagerly and thankfully took. Mmm-Mmm! One of the men had just received info about choosing a doctor for their medical plan, so Michael (friend in KW who introduced me to this family) helped him look at the big, daunting booklet of about a thousand names of doctors. I had fun chatting mostly with the women and children, trying out some Nepali, of course. Always fun!

Inevitably, when I meet new friends, I will be asked the following questions “Are you married?” “Where are you from?” “Where do you live?” “Do you have brothers and sisters?” “Are they married?” “Do they have kids?” “And father and mother? Where do they live?”

Through the typical series of questions, the connection is made that I do have a father and mother and that none of their children live with them.

Their face turns to surprise and confusion. As mine turns to discomfort and guilt creeps in my mind.

“Who takes care of your parents?”

My automatic response would be one of assuring: “No one. No one needs to!”

But that just won’t go over well. To their ears especially, parents just aren’t left by their children. It’s dishonoring and neglectful of one’s duties as a son or daughter. As the last one not married, it’s my duty to take care of them.

So, I try to explain and get across the language barrier. Yesterday, this is what jumped out of my mouth:
“Oh, they are very young! People see my mom and say “Your mom? Or your sister?” They are young! And strong. And I really live here and in their house too.”

Dare I mention that they really still take care of me? Dare I admit who still does my laundry and washes the dishes and cooks? Enh, I think I’ll leave that detail for later!

"There's water. On the floor, water..."

Just had to share the excitement... Amy had left for church just a few minutes ago. Well, she just rushed back in and announced "Makadi (I know I'm spelling that wrong) is having her baby!" Camera in hand, she's off to the hospital. :)

Apparently her husband just called and said "There's water. On the floor. Water." Hm, that's definitely a sign!

Amy had an amusing conversation with them about a week ago. They were telling Amy what date she should come to take them to the hospital for the baby's birth. Amy was a bit confused, trying to understand if she was getting a C-section. Through many exaggerated hand motions, she finally got her question across and the response was "Oh, no!"

It seems that since the doctor gave them a due date, they took that to mean that the baby was coming on the due date. Period. Not approximately then. Their new baby boy would first see that light on that day. American doctors must have some kind of power! ;) Special pill maybe? Only God can call that baby out when He sees fit.

Praying for that sweet couple. And very thankful that Amy is able to be there with them.

A gem tucked not far away from KW

Milan Park is just a couple miles away from Kristopher Woods, my apartment complex. It's a small little park, and unknown to many in the community, I believe. But it's been perfect for beautiful days when it just would seem wrong NOT to enjoy some time swinging, sliding, dangling from monkey bars, and building sand castles! Diya and I, and most recently Modi and Sarah, have enjoyed several afternoons there.

It's also kind of "famous". :) It's mentioned in Outcasts United as a site where Fugees soccer coach Luma and others fought for rights to play and use the otherwise fairly unused soccer fields. Great book. Definitely recommended.

While I'm on that tangent, my school, where I teach, is launching a new summer reading program; all the teachers pick a book and every student in the school signs up under one teacher to read his/her book over the summer. Then we'll discuss it in the fall. Great idea, but just a little skeptical as to how it will really pan out. Hopeful, of course, but just a bit unsure. My first book choice was Crazy Love by Francis Chan (you haven't read it? GO READ IT.) but that didn't get approved. So, I decided to pick Outcasts United instead! :)

Returning back on track... Saturday morning was georgeous - Modi, Sarah, and I headed off to the park before 1:00 Bible Study! (Which was SO fun! Bible study was definitely highlight of the... week, probably. Wish I had pictures of that. I should post about that later.) Diya was having fun at Goodwill with her dad and recently-arrived aunt and couldn't come to the park with us. :( We missed her!

Modi and Sarah happened to meet some friends there - a dad and his 4 youngest. Modi and Sarah go to their house on Sun afternoons for Bible study. The kids had a great time together, and I enjoyed playing some and taking a few breaks for studying Nepali since they easily amused each other.

It's been great meeting some random people at the park. It's such a relaxed, safe environment for the most part that it's easy to chat and get to know people while the kids are playing together. Last time we met a mom and her little daughter Juniper (Couldn't forget that fun name!). Modi and Sarah were so sweet and patient playing with her... and talking with the mom was fun for me. Turns out she was in Africa a couple years with the PeaceCorps and learned French! As I like to tell my students, you just never know where you'll be and get to use French! :)

I'm very thankful to have somewhere very nearby as a sort of "escape" from the apartments that can seem like a jail at times for those refugees who just don't have many opportunities to get out. Of course, even better is Stone Mountain, which isn't all that far away, but a bit more of a trek. :)

Driving...

I was leaving the apartment complex on Tuesday afternoon when I roll down my window to wave to Tukala. With a big grin, she proudly yells over at me "Hannah, when can you teach me driving?" I excitedly respond, "Really?? You got it?"

Getting past the written test to get the learner's license is a huge hurdle, especially for refugees who don't know a lot of English. Good grief, I don't even understand some of the questions sometimes and have a hard time memorizing strange figures about blood alcohol levels and details for when to yeild to blind pedestrians and how many feet before turning I'm supposed to turn my signal on. It's been an almost insurmountable obstacle for some of my friends, that has sent some on 2-day road trips to other states where the tests are given in their national language (Nepali or whatever else). While some do pass on the first or second tries, I've known some to take it a dozen or more times before passing. It gets discouraging and can make very intelligent people feel somehow unintelligent. It's also not something their pocketbook enjoys having to pay for over and over again, it's humiliating having to ask for transportation to try yet again, and it's never fun to have to give up another morning waiting in line and trying all over again.

So you can imagine that when the questions are successfully answers and the screen reveals the awaited message:

PASSED!

there is much rejoicing!

I'm so happy for Tukala - no more studying and worrying and frustrations with that side. Now just learning how to drive! Which is a whole other new obstacle, of course... She did well her first time! She was nervous but quite enjoyed it. I was nervous about communicating through language barriers, but it seemed to go pretty well. We had a good time!

Let's try this again, shall we?

Hi there! It's me again. :)

It's overwhelming thinking of blogging again. As I contemplate what I could post about, a million ideas rush at me at once. But for the sake of NOT overwhelming any potential readers out there (Hello! *waves* Anyone out there? *peers out*), as well as myself, my goal is to start out slowly.

What has lured me back? I was recently talking to someone who's been helping me as I'm starting the process of preparing for joining Wycliffe (more about that later!), and she encouraged me to really pray through how I should be preparing myself now for departure and ministry, even though I'll likely not leave for more than 2 or 3 years at least.

Wise. So I've been thinking about that off and on, what that means, what I need to work on and through and try to accomplish.

I am not a really good long-distance communicator. I don't like it. I want my loved ones close to me, like in Clarkston. Visiting, spending time in person, doing activities or just hanging - that's the language I naturally use to show love. Phone, skype?... :/ eh, no thanks.

But if I do go overseas one day, finding myself cut off from family and friends, I feel I cannot ignore this problem and eventually find myself in bad straights because I've gone lax. That would be a huge opening for Satan to attack with discouragement, self-pity, and loneliness.

So, that's what got me thinking about blogging again, a potentially good tool for me to use in long-distance communication. Why not start practicing now? Plus I'll really enjoy sharing about what's happening here and now... as long as I get into the habit of doing this!

My goal is to be informative, encouraging, and interesting. Please give any advice on how to succeed in such a goal ! It doesn't really come naturally!

What makes you enjoy reading blogs? Feedback would be helpful!

I thought I'd end with a quote from a dear friend here:

"Back in the camps, I didn't really feel like a refugee. But now that we're here in America, I do."

And then another quote from a fellow partner in ministry:

"I've been asking Jesus to show me how HE would show hospitality to ME. I think He would always lend a listening ear, always welcome me in His home if I came to His door, always love me and care about my problems."

We've been called to be the hands and feet of Jesus. That's a huge honor and daunting task at the same time. May God give us grace to grow more like Jesus... because I sure DON'T feel like Him AT ALL most of the time! And may arriving refugees find in us a welcoming attitude so they don't feel like outsiders who are invading "our" country. Truly aren't we all refugees here, awaiting passage to our Eternal Home?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFLGOBvE_q4

a quick update

I really did aim to sit down and finally write a real update. I've been neglecting this lately. So that was my goal. And then I got to talking with one of my wonderful roomies. And then a couple sweet girls dropped by and we played "home". We took turns being babies and crying for peanut butter. And now I'm finally getting to writing a post and I'm looking at the time thinking "I get up early, I still have a couple things to do to be ready for tomorrow... bed time soon!"

So here we go... a short update, but an update nonetheless.

The internship is over... it seems so long ago. Changes are made, people gone, others have come in, an entirely new schedule is taking over. Early rising made bearable only by my famous peanut butter-banana-plain yogurt-and-amazing-Mommy-home-made bread. It's truly my motivation to get me out of the bed in the morning. It was wonderful being back to them.

Classes are going fine. It's an adjustment having more than twice as many students as last semester. Large class sizes plus one more class than before means LOTS of students! I'm still trying to get names down. This year I'm really trying to focus on reaching low enough to reach the students who struggle a lot and teach them skills to help them get through. I wish I could be more personal, but with so many students, it's just hard.

And then after an exhausting long morning of teaching, followed by planning and grading and getting my ducks in a row, I'm trying to arrange my schedule and time so I still have energy to continue getting out and about in the wonderful community I'm living in. I always feel a little like I'm living on the edge, about to crash under the load of everything but still somehow staying safe on solid ground. But I doubt that other people's lives are much different. Job and ministry is a difficult balance. But I still can't fathom adding having a family! (or even a husband for that matter!) I take my hat off to you moms and dads. You amaze me. I don't think I'm tough enough for that.

Well, I have more thoughts and things swirling in my head. But I'm heading to bed. :) I'll leave with these pictures from a fun visit from the parents and Aunt Janet and Uncle Tom this past weekend!