February 14th, 2011
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Today we celebrated Valentine’s Day in a special way with our ladies. We started the day out serving them breakfast, followed by a trip to the beach where some ladies who work with Threads of Hope gave them massages… on the beach! Of course we guys paid a fair price for giving the massages and in this way we help them generate more income too.
After the time at the beach was over we came back for lunch and then the girls had the afternoon free so they could go love on some girls they had met. Dinner time came around and we were privileged to have a karaoke machine set up in the front yard! As we were eating people started playing around on it and once we men had finished washing the dishes we sang “Take My Breath Away” by
Berlin for the girls, giving them each a rose. Karaoke proceeded for a good 3.5 hours and as the girls went in for the night we washed their feet just as Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. It was definitely a Valentine’s Day to redeem past Valentine’s Days for many of the girls, and we were blessed to bless them today.
I also had a good chat with God on the subject of authority while waiting around the beach as the girls got the treatment. I’ll probably blog about it later.
Oh one thing that I almost forgot: I received a very precious Valentine’s Day card from one of the little local girls that I’ve been playing with over the past few days. It was certainly unexpected and showed me just how much the presence of a godly big brother means to these children. I’ll see if I can upload a picture, but what is written is this:
On the outside she drew red flowers and hearts. At the top it says “To: James” and in the middle of a huge heart in the center it says “Happy Valentine’s Day” and “From: Gail” at the bottom.
On the inside, the handwriting reads: “Thank you for being a good friend for me. Thank you because you played me football [soccer] and volleyball. I hope you will never forget me. What is your favorite sport? Me my favorite sport is volleyball. I miss you very much.
J-ust
A-lways
P-ray
A-t
N-ight
Study your lesson
Love is your inspiration
God is your protection
to finish your ambition.”
Awwwwwwwwwwwww! Kind of makes me want a daughter.
Ew, did I just talk about wanting kids? God, what’s happening to me. Oh yeah I’m almost 26 years old, that’s what. Clock’s tickin I guess..
..
This is more awkward for me than it is for you. I promise.
“Shut up, dogs! I’m about to go to bed!” Bark all night and sleep all day, that’s about all they do. Then the roosters crow at 4am. The animals around here just don’t want us to sleep, I swear. I know what those dogs are saying though:
“Hey stop barking over there!”
“No, you stop barking you idiot, I’m trying to get some sleep!”
“Sleep? That’s what I’m trying to do but you don’t stop yappin! Quit barking and shut up!”
“I’m trying to shut up but this other idiot won’t quiet down! Hey you down there: Quit barking!”
“Hey! Both of you dogs quit barking! Shut up!”
“What? Who is this new guy? You quit barking and shut up!”
“Don’t you tell me to quit barking! You shut up!”
“No, you shut up!”
“No, you shut up!”
“No, you shut up!”
“Hey guys I got an idea. On the count of three we all shut up.”
“All right.”
“Sounds good.”
“I’m down.”
“Ok! 1… 2… 3!”
….(silence)….
“Woof.”
“Aww who’s the wise guy trying to be funny!”
“Hey quit barking!”
“No you quit barking, dog breath!”
“Who you callin’ dog breath! Just shut up already so we can get some sleep!”
“No, you shut up!”
“No, you shut up!”
“No, you shut up!
“….ad infinitum
The roosters have a similar conversation in the morning.
“What the heck are you crowing this early for! Shut up!”
“No, you shut up!”
“Hey both of you shut up!”
“Who you tellin to shut up!”
“All of you shut up, you’re waking the whole neighborhood!”
“No you shut up!”
…. you know where it goes from here.
On the business side of things… I’m technically not fully funded, I’m remaining on the race by promise to pay any remaining balance by the end of the final month. Right now that balance is about $4,000. Please help me pay it down by donating! Also, for security reasons I’ll be out of contact for the month of March. No news is good news.
