More pics

Alemaheyu. The younger brother of Tekalign. :)

Abreham and his grandmother.

This is the wall right outside the restaurant I "frequented."

Photo update

So. I uploaded nearly all of my photos onto Facebook. But I'm sure most of you haven't/didn't/won't look at those photos. So I'm going to post some select few. I'm also going to try my hand at editing. I'm just fumbling around not really understanding anything(AKA clicking "Auto" numerous times).

A kid at the first football game held at the Academy.

This is the guardian of Natnael.

Grain Support distribution.

Grain Support distribution.

A Call to Faith

If I could only pick one lesson that I learned from my 4 months in Ethiopia, then it would be this: Faith.
God taught me faith before I left--providing $5,000 for my trip. God taught me while I was there. And God is teaching me now.

I would like to share with you a devotional of sorts on the subject of faith I wrote during my last few days in Ethiopia. It's a long read, but please read it.

Faith. It is something you can allow to control you, or something you control. We can allow it to be our steering wheel, or we can make it a bobble head on our dash board--we have it with us, but it's not significant enough to change our direction or to affect anything else.

We can wrap our faith in rags of doubt and bury them in a chest, claiming to have faith but not really have it.

It can be small, medium, or large. And even the smallest amount of faith can do amazing things. We can call out to the mountain “Get up and go into the ocean” and it will. But that's a crazy thought. It's not possible and it's ludicrous. How can simply having faith and commanding a mountain to move cause it to relocate? But God says it'll happen even in the tiniest form of faith.

Of course, when doubts come in, our faith becomes hidden, transparent, and destroyed. Focusing on the limitations of what we hope to accomplish will create in us a doubt that squelches our faith. But the key is to focus on the Master of the impossible. To focus on the One who created that mountain and that ocean and the laws of science that make us doubt the reality of the promise.

God calls us to faith several times in His word. He asks us where our faith is; he offers to expand it; he requires it. It's essential in salvation; it's essential in sanctification; and it's essential in simple life. Without faith we put God in a box of possibilities and thus limit his grandness. When we don't allow God the opportunities to show up in indescribable ways we begin to get accustomed to His portrayed limited powers. We begin to get used to the idea that God can't do something. We stop asking Him to do amazing things because we've come to the point where we've forgotten that His amazing acts haven't stopped since the Apostles' day and we've stopped believing in His true and unlimited power.

God brings us to bridges to test our faith. Sometimes the bridges are the only way to go, so we are forced to choose faith and continue forward or choose doubt and turn backwards. But sometimes the bridges are forks in the road. One fork is flat, stable ground and the other is a teetering bridge dangling over the chasm of jagged rocks and gushing water. Our immediate thoughts are to take the stable over the dangling. Sometimes the choice isn't even dire as far as sinning or not, but we do miss out on opportunities to challenge God at his promises. (And God loves it when we challenge Him at his promises. He wants us to come to the point where we test to see if His word is actually true or not.)

So the thing is: what fork are you at? What does that alternate bridge pathway look like? Is it impossible to cross? Is the wind too strong, the chances of falling too high? We know God will keep our feet from slipping when we are following His way; therefore we can have an opportunity to see whether His word is true. We can step out on that bridge, feel the wind sway our bodies precariously over the expanse of imminent death. We can even close our eyes and allow the Spirit of God to hover over and flow through our bodies, urging each member forward in His direction. We can have faith in His Spirit to direct faithfully and safely. Sure death may scream at us, injury taunt us; but we know God won't let us slip since we are allowing the Spirit to lead.

Now, this bridge could be anything. What job to take; where to move. It could even be a larger issue like whether to adopt, who to adopt; which country to move to when we know God wants us at one of two or more places.

But I want to present the bridge of sponsorship. It is at least a bridge I see in front of me. And it is a bridge I wish to introduce you to consider crossing.

With my trip to Ethiopia for 4 months, I've seen numerous stories, numerous families, and numerous needs. Some families live with a disabled guardian/parent, some live with siblings barely older than them, some live under the care of an aging grandmother and all living in the same room. The need is great; the hardships are long and severe.

When I first came here, I had no thought about sponsoring. It never crossed my mind. Maybe adopting when I'm settled in with a wife after college, but nothing else for any time soon. But after about a month here I've been confronted in my mind with the thought. At first I perhaps had a more selfish view and considered sponsoring kids who connected and bonded with me while I'm here (or more specifically, one kid in particular). But now it's not so much as a bond with the kid, but their needs. But even with the reality of their needs being the main issue, God has given me a connection with the few kids I've been considering sponsoring at one point or another in my life. One kid has three siblings living together in a single room (with two or three additional rooms: “kitchen” and bathroom). Two of the kids are fully sponsored with BCI, one is 1/3 sponsored, and the kid I'm considering sponsoring has no sponsors. So, the family is living off of whatever money the mother can earn (she has HIV and is getting sick a lot) and two full sponsorships and one sponsorship. But there is still a kid without any sponsors and one who just has one. And there is a baby, so the need for nutrition is at a somewhat higher level for her, the baby.

Another kid has just one sponsor. He lives with his grandmother who takes care of him and three other kids. Two are older from what I understand, but it didn't seem like they provide much money for the family. And there is also another younger child—a toddler. But this kid has only one sponsor for all of them to share.

Another kid isn't in the program. He parents died years ago and was taken in by his neighbors. I'm not sure when he was taken it and how many kids there were then in the house, but now there are six other children besides him. Two are 2 years old, the rest go up in age to the oldest who is around 13(I think this kid, who is being considered being sponsored, is actually the oldest, though there may be a girl who is around 15). This kid tries to earn money by selling things on the street, but it isn't safe for him for at least the reason of his health. People don't wash their hands well—if at all—here and he could risk getting diseases through that or through cuts. Of the 7 kids who live with the older woman, only two are in the BCI program.

And each of these kids has demonstrated a bond and connection with me. Which helps indicate at least who I should sponsor at first. Because all BCI kids have needs, all kids have relatives or guardians who have HIV or who have died from it. A lot of kids have little sponsorships or are the only sponsors in a family of four or more. But obviously I couldn't sponsor each and every kid on my own. Nor has God given me an impression to sponsor each and every kid. He has impressed me with three kids to start with. Each need at least 2/3 sponsorship.

I have no job. I have no cash hidden away. I have college next semester. And I desire to come back here for a trip. I have a lot of things I need to save and pay for when I start my endeavor into college and the rest of my life. And once I do get a job, the most probable thing would be me getting a basic job with a semi-minimum wage pay.

Sponsorship is $30/month. So, full sponsorship is $90/month. In order for the one kid to get in the program, he needs full sponsorship. So, to add it all up I would need to pay at least $180/month. But that doesn't count full sponsorship for one kid. It just gives him 1/3 sponsorship. To give him full sponsorship, the total would be $240/month. That's nearly $3000 a year.

It may be that God wants me to fully sponsor these kids ASAP, or just one at a time as faith increases and God provides.

It's ludicrous to think I can do this. It's rather stupid to commit myself to this. Perhaps it is stupid. Maybe it's unsafe. What if I'm able to pay for half a year, but once that ½ year is up I'm unable? Wouldn't BCI be upset? Wouldn't the children be heartbroken? Wouldn't their faith drop some because God finally provided and then it was taken away from them?

Maybe I should think about it in that light. Not that I can't pay $3000 a year, but that once I start sponsoring these children, why would God then snatch it away from them? He is a loving God, not a cruel God. He promises that He will supply every need of ours according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. So, it's not so much a matter of me. I don't need that $3000 dollars. Those children need the money and He will provide their needs.

It's amazing how I don't even need to worry about them “keeping their end of the deal” as far as faith goes—because they have it--if not even more than me. It was interesting one day when I decided to buy groceries and God made it so that the normal thing that would be bought wasn't available so the next thing on the list of needs was bought, and that was sugar. When I presented the mom the sugar, she was ecstatic and told me she and her family had just run out of sugar that morning and she told her kids that they needed to pray to God to provide it. And guess what. God did!

We are so used to an easy life that we are blinded to God's working and God's provisions. We don't think about when an item at the store is there or not that as being God's provision. We live with the flow. But when you live a life where even the basic necessities are an unknown of when—or if—they will arrive, you will see God work more often. Not because He cares any more or less, but because we have our blinders lifted from our eyes. We can see more and more of Him. When we have neighbors and friends and families all facing bridges of faith with necessities, we can see Him working in their lives even when He isn't immediately working in ours.

So, faith is as natural to them as breathing. It's a part of their life that they cleave to because they know it works. A lot of times it's more of a head knowledge for us because we don't need to have faith or need to see God work. We're fine without Him and we can live with what we've got.

But with faith, we also need the Spirit. There are two ways we are told to walk in in the Scriptures. We are told to walk in faith and in the Spirit. We can walk in faith, throwing ourselves onto those bridges forcing God to come through on His promises. And we can walk in the Spirit. But we can't walk in just one way.

If we walk in only faith, throwing ourselves onto the bridges, then what happens if the bridge we toss ourselves on isn't the bridge God wants us to cross? What if, even though it requires faith to cross, He wants us to cross a different faith-bridge? We'll teeter and totter and slip and fall. Not because God isn't faithful, but because He never promises to protect us when we are out of His will.  So we need to walk in the Spirit; be led by the Spirit. And it's impossible to walk by the Spirit if we have no faith—because we will be led to the faith-bridges and forced to have faith or neglect it. Therefore, we need to walk in the Spirit and allow Him to guide us to the faith-bridges. Then we can know for certain we can cross that bridge with full protection and provision because it's God's will for us.

So, when we come to the fork in the road and both are conceptually God's will (as opposed to turning around in the faith and pursuing the world), then we must pray. We must plunge into the Spirit's presence and allow Him to fill our every being. Allow Him to surge into our feet and hands and allow our minds to give God the reins to our lives. If He wants us to cross the faith-bridge, then He will direct in that way. If not, He'll take us through the stable ground until the next bridge or the next.

Bearing that in mind, I believe we are at a fork. At least I am, and I feel God wants me to present you to this fork as well. Before you take the step toward the bridge or away from the bridge, wait and commune yourself into His presence. Figure out where His Spirit is urging your members to turn and then follow that. As you step into whatever direction, faith will build. If it's away, you may have doubts as to why He doesn't want you sponsoring. But have faith to know He knows what He's doing. You have, after all, allowed Him to take rein and control your body. So have faith and follow.

If it's toward the bridge, you may think it's ludicrous, that He's not directing you that it's emotion. Just pray all the harder for God to remove emotion from the reins and place Himself there. You may also realize you have no money for this. Therefore to prevent financial crisis or the demise of your family, you think you shouldn't sponsor these kids. But if God is leading you, He will provide for you and the sponsored child.

Perhaps it's slightly more complicated. Perhaps you are considering sponsoring, but you have plenty enough money to sponsor and therefore maintain in a comfort bubble, not committing to more than what you can do, thus not having faith since it's in the comfortable budget. (Now, I'm not saying going into debt is the goal; that if you don't have the money to do it that's the way to go. Remember before that just because it may require faith that it doesn't mean it's necessarily of the Spirit? Well, if God doesn't direct you to sponsor more than you are immediately able, then God isn't directing you at this time. It still requires faith to step into a commitment of sponsoring. Who knows if certain funds stop flowing? Who knows if you have a sudden expense need? Other than God, that is. So, whatever God is directing you to sponsor, if He is calling you to sponsor, and then sponsor that amount. Not more. Not less.)

The option to sponsor a child is one of faith. The option of whom and for how much is decided by being led by the Spirit. I've already explained my bridge. I have three kids, all of whom need pretty much full sponsorship. I don't know who I should sponsor. I don't know if I should sponsor all at the same time. I'm pretty confident God does want me to sponsor each of these three kids. But when, I'm not sure. He may just want me to sponsor one kid now and add as faith increases. Maybe He wants me to plunge myself in His promises and sponsor each of them.

And at the same time I feel a call to bring to light these children. BCI is a great organization, but it's too small to affect too many families. And it won't branch out until most of their kids have full sponsorship. Which is wise, because otherwise they would be spread out too thin. It's our duty to consider sponsoring children already in the program in order for more kids' lives to be impacted--both through their physical needs and their spiritual ones. (For example of spiritual, each kid is required to attend their respective churches. Though their families are not, they have to get there somehow and why waste the time going back and forth? So therefore the families are affected as well as the individual kids.)

But I've heard the figure of children in either Debre Zeit or all of Ethiopia is 10,000. We have in the program about 143 kids. That's about 1.5% of the children. Children that are starving, that are orphans, that are roaming the streets because they have no other place to go. (My goal is not to guilt trip or anything; just simply bring to light the reality of the situation. We have 143 kids in the program, but not all are fully sponsored. And because of that, we cannot reach out to more kids. And then BCI is at a standstill because they are wise enough not to spread themselves out too much.)

So, consider sponsoring a child. You can either sponsor $30/month or you can sponsor more.

1 John  3:17-18

“But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”

Chicken Pot Pie

So, I figured I could spice up my blog with a weekly entry(or more often, depending on my mood) of food preparation. In Ethiopia, even the simplest meals take time. Everything is done by scratch. No Domino's, no BK, no TV dinners. And if you want to have meat in your meal, you need to plan several hours ahead so you can dethrost the meat(there's no microwave option here).

So, tonight we had Chicken Pot Pie. A lot of it was different than the normal CPP meal. No pie crust, so we used cornbread as the top of it. No cream of chicken; but luckily Jonnett found some soup mixes that had Cream of Chicken soup. We used that, but had to mix in some milk and flour to thicken it. We can't just go out and by some chicken breasts, we have to buy the whole chicken. So we boiled that for a little while and

shredded it like normal.

I was in charge of making the cornbread crust. It turned out pretty well, so the meal wasn't ruined by the crust. :)

In Addis we found some bags of frozen mixed vegetables, so we used one bag tonight instead of cutting up fresh veggies. We mixed everything together, put it into a pan, and then drizzled the cornbread crust overtop. It was good. :D

Of course, with any meal, there were dishes to be cleaned. And not having a dishwasher means dishes are to be done by hand. But we don't have a hot water knob, so we have to boil our water and then combine it with cold water to get to a cool enough boiling water to wash with.

Yup, so I hope to post more of these. 'Cause cooking is fun, and it's interesting to see what we can and can't do with cooking in Ethiopia.

Next entry, though, should be with some pictures of me teaching music and ASL. ...Maybe. No promises. :)

---

Ingredients:

Chicken

Green beans

Carrots

Red onions

2 Packets of Cream of Chicken Soup

Milk

Flour

Cornmeal

Sugar

Eggs

(I'm not feeling really putting it in how-to-make form because it's all the same except we used cornbread as the crust. And just used what we could with what we had.)

Test drive

Just some random picture to test out uploading pictures on here.
Get ready for a new blog series. :D

Blog #4

Before I got here, I planned to do all sorts of blogging. Recording everything. I expected to be able to just jot down what I've experienced. But that has become difficult, and I'm unsure why.

I mean, it's not like I'm sitting on my butt all day twiddling my thumbs watching my time fly by out the window. I teach half of the day on Monday and Tuesday. And then I teach sign language in the evening on Wed-Fri, after teaching some at the school.

When I can, I go on homevisits. And I'm trying to figure out going to one of the churches each Thursday to play with some kids during the women's Bible study. (Which gives me a blog update idea for later on in this blog).

But I still can't find the words to blog, even though I have time in the evenings or mornings on alternating days to type up some blogs or even write in my journal. As far as my journal goes, I usually just forget. I like to journal about important things, and all days aren't important. Like, tonight was fun: we had a game night with New Zealand, today I experimented with chicken melts, but it's not blog-worthy in its entirety, and I've never been one to journal about normal things—everyday things.

I don't know. Maybe when I get home and show people photos, I can tell stories along with them. Afterall, photos are 1k words.

So, to actually blog on my events...

1. can't even remember what I last blogged about. So, excuse any repeats...

We went to a Children's Choir in Addis Feb 3. It was run by some Korean organization. The choir sang songs from around the world: Ethiopia, Korea, America, Germany(I think), and a few others. I recorded most of the performance, but I don't know how well it came up because the lighting was stagelights and my camera isn't made for night-time performances. But I think it did OK, I haven't watched the videos though.

...Feb 3. It's—as I am typing this—Feb 25. Just a few days late.

I don't know why this is so hard. Maybe it's because there are a lot of things that happen. Or maybe it's because the weeks go by fast and the days blur together. I mean, it's already Saturday night. It's already a few days short of me having been here 2 months.

It's strange to have alternating feelings toward the length it is until I leave. It's 58 days. Less than two months. Most times it feels too soon. Some times it feels far away. And I don't like feeling either way. Because when I feel it's too soon, I feel like I'm making a declaration of not missing anyone, not caring about anyone back at home. But I do miss people—if not everyone. And I do care about everyone.

But at the same time I feel that if I miss home, then why am I here? I'm not here for my own comforts. I'm not here to satisfy some sense of right-doing. I'm here because I've been called. I'm here because God's directed. I'm here to serve. (Which reminds me of another blog tidbit later on). I'm here to love, to connect with these people. I'm here to allow the light of Christ in me to shine so these people can have a deepened hope in God. They already have such a great faith in God. Do you remember that story about the sugar and the family who ran out of it that morning, but God provided in response to their faith. It reminds me of the widow who used up all her oil and flour to make bread for Elijah. She had no money to just go out and buy more, and she had none in reserve for emergencies. It was all she had, and then she and her son would go hungry and die. (Of course, as nurturing a mother as she was described in the Bible, she would have died of hunger before the son because she would sacrifice her food so he could eat.) But then this man came in, hungry(but, mind you, most likely not knowing the same hunger the widow and her son knew), wanting something to eat. So she baked him bread. God honored her and she never ran out of oil and flour again.

Faith in service, despite a lack of means, gets rewarded. I know the family's situation here in Ethiopia wasn't identical, but still, she had faith God would provide and He did. The widow had faith God would provide(obviously not in the way that happened), and He did.

Do we have that faith? Do we serve God or His people, even if it makes us uncomfortable? Are we running low on food, and God impresses on us to feed another of His children—even if they have more food or more money? Are we running low on money, and God wants us to do something for one of His children but we “have no money” to use, so we ignore it?

1 John 3:16-18 talks about that. If anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother have a need, but shuts up his bowels of compassion from him...how does the love of God dwell in him?

But I feel I've rabbit-trailed.

58 days. It's like a war of love. If I miss home, I feel like I love home more than I love these children and these families. But, if I have a lower level of dread or displeasure at leaving Ethiopia, I feel like I'm loving these families more than I love my family and friends.

It's a weird middle ground. But maybe my focus should be on neither side of the fence, but instead on the Sun that shines on them both. God's will is obviously best, it is on his face I should be focusing. Not my family's or the faces of these impoverished souls.

Afterall, that is what we are called to do. Love God. Deny ourselves; follow Him. Peter stepped out on faith onto the waters that crashed about them all. He remained on firm ground so long as he kept his eyes on Christ. But when he began to look about him, at the waves and the storm, he began to sink. Sure there is chaos here. Sure people are starving, sure families are torn apart, sure people are hurting. But I've stepped out to follow Christ. Not them. I was called to follow as my focus—not serve. If by following Him he leads me to serve, then that's what I'm supposed to do. Peter did step out into the waves around him. I'm sure his feet got wet, I'm sure his clothes got splashed, but he didn't sink if he focused on God.

In Luke it talks about Mary and Martha and Jesus. Jesus came to their house and taught. Martha served, Mary sat and listened and learned. It says that Martha was distracted with her much serving. She went up to Jesus and accused him of not caring that she was working alone while Mary sat, doing nothing, listening to Him teach. Jesus then tells her that she is anxious and troubled over many things. But only one this is necessary. He explains that it was Mary that chose the good thing, that that will never be taken away from her.

Martha was anxious and troubled that she would be able to serve the master of the universe adequately. She was in his presence, and she wanted to make sure she didn't pass this opportunity up by being lazy. She wanted to serve Him with all she had, running around tirelessly. But she became irritated doing it all alone when her sister was in the same position as she was, but she was sitting and not doing anything.

But it was Mary who chose the good portion. She chose to sit at Jesus' feet and learned more about whatever it was that Christ taught about. She didn't worry about making sure Jesus was fed, clean, or comfortable. She wanted to know more about Him, more about His word, more about His will. She wasn't distracted like Martha was. I'm sure they both heard the same lessons, the same teachings. But Martha couldn't pay attention because she was distracted with service. Mary simply sat and listened.

God isn't saying not to serve Him. He wants us to deny ourselves, pick up our crosses, and follow Him. He blessed those who fed the poor, clothed the naked, and gave water to the thirst—he said they did those things literally to him when they did it to the least of people. When we serve others, we serve God. But God doesn't want us to be distracted with much service that we don't hear the lessons He is teaching to us. God speaks to us through various things in the day. He speaks through music, through His children, and through His word, and through our consciences. But if we tone everything out so we can serve more and more, we totally miss the opportunity of His presence with us.

I feel like I'm all over the place...

So, when I went to Zion Church during one of the Lady's Bible Study, I hung out with two brothers who live on this church compound(alone, no parents. The oldest boy is like 13, and the younger is about 8), and his friend(who is the pianist at Zion). At first we just sat around, hardly talking. Neither of us really knowing how to have a conversation—either because of language barriers or just lack of subjects. But at one point I asked them what they wanted to do, and Adana—the 8-year-old—mentioned wanted to play football, but they had no football. I reminded him of the beachball I brought the last visit, and he seemed to consider it, but the conversation kind of ended. We moved locations as the pianist came until finally he went into their house and got the beach ball and we played football in front of the church office. We didn't play officially at first because there were only four of us, but we eventually added another player so we could play 2-on-2. It was fun, even if I did break my flipflop and had to play on rocky soil barefoot for a little while.

But I'm really enjoying it here. It's fun, and I'm learning a lot about God and myself.

So, my two main things for coming here(or at least my mission plan) was to teach ASL and music. ASL teaching is going well. Apparently her sponsor bought he Signing Made Easy sometime in the past, so she had already been going over that book, learning the signs. Obviously, for learning out of a 2-D book, there were signs not signed properly, and obviously for being an English book, there were words she wasn't understanding but copied. My initial plan was to deal with the book last, but when I learned she had already learned everything in the book, I decided to go off of that and re-teach it all, correcting what needed correcting and explaining what was unclear.

In my classes I started out with Fekerite and her brother Teddy. They both seem to enjoy it. Once I finished the book, I gave them both a test. Fekerite scored 56/75, and Teddy scored 59/75. He was ecstatic for, what I'm assuming, having a higher grade than Fekerite. He was jumping around, smiling widely and laughing/squealing.

I've now added another Foster Home kid, Adana. He seems to enjoy it as well. I'm trying to make these classes more fun. (Any ideas would be appreciated.) I plan on playing Jeopardy with them. I'm nearing the point of having taught them everything they need at this stage, so I just need to build on their comprehension and usage skills.

As for music classes, they're going well, too. I'm just now getting into notes and their rhythms and rests. Grade 3-4 are the most receptive, I think. Grades 5-6 are borderline. There has been an ongoing music class already, so I'm replacing the teachers while I'm here. So these kids have been taught this stuff already, and I think it's evident in what appears to be their boredom level.

But it's all good. I'm enjoying it. They're learning at least a little. And I'm not being tarred and feathered. So pretty good all around.

So, yeah. That's about it. I've rambled on enough about random things. Time to say ciao.

Buahala.

Blog #3

Ishi. It's been a while since I've blogged. But days flow together. Some days are hectic, other days are not so hectic and I forget or I want to rest.

I started teaching music Tuesday of this past week. I taught grades 1-6 twice, except for two classes (Grade 3 and grade 5, I think) that were for Monday. It's fun. They've had music classes before, so what I'm teaching right now isn't groundbreaking information, but they seem to enjoy it. At least most classes.

They're understanding, to a degree, what the Treble Clef is, and its musical notes; and what the Bass Clef is, and its musical notes. Hopefully by the end of Feb I can introduce musical instruments to them. Like my roll-up piano and the recorders.

Wednesday I started teaching ASL at the Foster Home. Fekerite is picking up well. She's understanding most of the signs and can relay to the different signs. Her brother Teddy is taking classes with her as well and is apparently really enjoying it. My last day for the week I finished the 8^th or 9^th chapter and so I went back on the entire previous chapters in review, and the closer I got to the end, the more he piped up excitedly, trying to beat Fekerite to the punch.

Another Foster Home boy seems interested also. The first two days he tagged in at the end, and the last day he was in for at least half of the lesson, attempting the signs and answering review questions.

Monday I went to visit Tekia(I might have written about him earlier, but he is one of the kids I met on home-visits.) When I was at his house the first time I asked his social worker, Nigist, if there was anything he needed specifically and she told me afterwards that he needed shoes and clothes. So, having been given my month's advance Monday, I went shopping for him. We went to a little clothes store and he picked out what he needed and liked. He ended up getting 3 pants, 2 socks, 1 shirt, 1 pair of shoes. His social worker was betam distonia, and he was happy too, though he was shy and reserved he didn't really show it in the store, but we could tell as we parted ways that he was happy.

The upcoming few weeks are going to be interesting. Tomorrow and Friday I'm going on home-visits, and today we're finalizing plans on a VBS-type thing for Tues-Thurs of next week. It might be a choir portion, and then life-skills training, and activities.

Then the following week I start up teaching again. I'm really enjoying it.

It's whenever I sit down to write these blogs that my mind goes blank. I can never think of what I did, or what I will do.

I'm going to try to take pictures of ASL classes tonight since Jonnett is coming with me. (My camera doesn't have a flash, and I teach at night time, so I can't take any with mine.) And hopefully when I start teaching again Jonnett can come with me and take pictures. I can't really take photos myself since, well, I'm teaching.