Life is Lovely

I had an amazing week last week, lots of things that made my life lovely and full.  One of those things is my work with the IRC through an after school program at the Boise Language Academy.  I cannot even begin to describe the heart I have for these kids, my kids.  I volunteer in the afternoons, for just a few short hours each week to tutor the students in English and participate in activities with them.  They are so incredibly grateful for the additional opportunities to practice English and I am so incredibly grateful to be around such amazing people.

{a little bit of lovely from my garden}

Last week was our first week, so we spent our tutoring time going over the rules of the program.  Then students interviewed one another and shared their responses.  Wow.  How easily we take for granted just being able to ask and answer the question "What is your name"?  And how blessed I am that my native country is America.  I think the thing that so many people do not realize about refugees is that they love their native country as much as we love America and because they have sought refuge within America, they will never be able to return to their native country.  My kids are between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one and have left behind mothers, fathers, and siblings to be in America.  My kids are happy to sit in desks an additional two hours after the school bell rings to practice English.  My kids have witnessed genocide, torture and the worst of humanity.  But my kids represent the best of humanity.

{can you believe the color of these?!}

As part of giving it over to God, I am trying to give him control of my desires too.  I think He's already done that in my switch to education (eh hem the semester before I would have graduated with a degree in journalism) and is continuing to do it through my marriage and my kids.  I told Mr. Cook the other day in a conversation on Skype that if he ever gets deployed again, I'm going to deploy too.  I want to teach in a refugee camp.  I asked him to put it on his list of things to think about, that one day after flight school, after we've been home and have just gotten to be us for a while that maybe we could go be with our kids together.  He said he'll add it to his list.  Just like I did when Someone asked me to put it on mine.

Head on over to Blessed Little Nest and share what's making your life lovely these days.