Love from the States!

Today is St. Patrick's Day!  And although we are not Catholic, I think it is a fun holiday to celebrate as far as the festivities.  I LOVE green!!! Apparently it's the color of the spring season in the states, so I've heard.  So today I am head-to-toe in green clothes from my ponytail holder to my shoes that Susan got for me.  Usually I make green pancakes and green eggs to celebrate the event, but we do not have any food coloring.  I have collected 4-leaf clovers since I was little.  I have jewelry(the ring Adam got me in 2002, and the necklace and earrings my mom got from Japan) and towels and clothes.  Some might think that it is paganistic for me to do such a thing...4-leaf clovers...isn't that believing in luck?  Well, I would like to say that to me, 4-leaf clovers represent the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit and God's grace.  I think it is an opportunity to share the gospel.  It's by grace that we are saved, through faith and not by works. Anyway, I would also like to take this time to point out that in the Bible, Peter did not want anyone to bow down to him in person, so why would we bow down to his statue??...tangent, I know but still relevant on this day.

This week (it's only Tuesday) has been a week that we have been showered with gifts from home.  A dear friend of ours who sang in our wedding, Julie, sent us a care package with lots of goodies in it including pancake and biscuit mix and the coveted syrup.  Also included were three issues of The World of Gospel magazine.  This is a fairly new magazine that is circulated in the River Valley area.  Well it just so happened that Lydia Joseph-George, the editor/creator, was dropping some off at the post office so Julie put some in there.  Lydia told Julie to have me e-mail her to see what I thought of it.  So I e-mailed Lydia yesterday to tell her what I thought.  She was sooo nice! She is a former 5News anchor and reporter, so I told her how I always wanted to take my passion for news and meld it together with my passion for getting the "good news" out there.   She told me that she would be interested in having me write some stories maybe every 2-3 months.  Of course I'm thrilled.  I would love to communicate what is going on in the world through my missionary eyes.  So that is a praise for me!  

Also this morning, a package arrived from my mom, dad and brother.  In it was Valentine's candy and brownie mix and Skittles and green St. Paddy's Day dish towels to name a few.  She also got Nic the green goblin ...so now he has the villain!  Yay, now we get to fight the bad guy all over the house. At this moment, he is whining because the tiny yellow ball that the goblin throws won't stay in his hand.  This should be fun. Anyway, we greatly appreciate people thinking about us and sending us pkgs.  I almost feel spoiled.  Really we can make it just fine in a foreign country without syrup and pancake mix and comforts from home.  We are fine without all that.  But it sure helps the mood around here.   

Well that's all for now.   Just wanted to update.  Thanks for all the love!!!