Humbled.

This place is humbling us. But in a good way. I think. :)

But it's incredibly challenging.

Another side effect is that I am rendered somewhat speechless as to being able to explain what we're learning. Which is so... not me. I hope after I process it a little bit I can find the words to share some of it, because it is GOOD stuff.

The kiddos are doing good, the big kids especially. They have been very well-behaved in their classes and LOVE their teachers. Today Nia asked if she could NOT sit with our family at dinner and sit with one of her friend's family. And so it begins... Tomorrow the big kids are going on a field trip. :)

There are a few things we'd love you to be praying about:

• Josiah is kind of missing us during the day I think. He's not used to being handed over to a caregiver and the "transitions" have been a little hard. He's not used to NOT being with me.
  
• Please pray for endurance. That probably sounds weird-- but this is pretty intense stuff. I have the feeling we'll continue to drink from this fire hose for the next 2 and a half weeks.
• Please pray that God would continue to impress on us His love and help us to rely on Him.
• Please pray that we'd stay healthy-- the altitude here has affected us more than I thought it would.

Okay, one funny story to close us up here before bed... this actually happened a few days ago.
We went to Build-A-Bear to let the kids each build themselves a new best friend since we're making them leave all their friends behind and all. The idea was that we wanted something special that they could bring with them through all of the upcoming transitions-- Colorado, HCH, Jacmel-- somewhere, Port Au Prince-- somewhere, back to HCH, back to Jacmel--somewhere.

So they made their RIDICULOUSLY OVERPRICED animals and named them. Nia named her VERY pink bear, Presley, after her best little friend. And Nico named his dog, Chelsea, after his babysitter. (Josiah also named his elephant Presley, but that's because he's a copycat.)

So after the whole Build a Bear thing we're driving in the car and Nia says,
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"Mom, I think I want to give my bear a middle name."

And I say, "That's a good idea. What name do you want to use."

And Nia says, "Probably Mary."

And I say, "That's a pretty name. What made you pick that name?"

And she said (and I promise these were her exact words,) "Cause, you know, she's the mother of Christ the Lord and all."
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Good point Nia.
How can you argue with that?