Days of Grace: Minha Mae e Meu Pai

Galeria dos Sonhos is over now and I am back in my pajamas. Working on the sewing machine makes me shed my flip flops. I can't use the pedal as well with flop-flops as I can barefooted. My feet are pitiful. They are so rough and calloused. I didn't sleep well last night because of it. And yes, I have lotion. At home. But, I am at the beach house. Today when I got home I watched a whale playing out in the sea for over two hours. Every time he flapped his massive tail and left a spray so so high, I gasped out loud. There was a mouse in the house last night and I really wished Dad were here. Instead I beckoned the guard. But we didn't get it. Just now I drank half a bottle of dirty tap water by accident. A result of Dad filling a bottle for a science lesson and the cleaning lady putting it back with the rest. I grabbed it tonight and took it outside and gulped until I noticed something black in my cup, then something floating in the bottle. Now my stomach is making strange noises. Or maybe I am just paranoid.

Of course I've been thinking a lot about the past two weeks and how fast they sailed by and just what all happened. Roy and Vicki came and were real troopers as they endured life here. It's becoming my norm. I am incredibly proud of them. I am pretty sure it is because they are Southern. We Southerners are a very resilient people. Haleigh, an EC student came too and she left a different person. Her story is her own to tell but it was beautiful to watch her change and grow as a result of being here two little weeks. Vicki and Roy were beyond generous and they blessed me. I needed Mom all day today, to tell me what to buy and what to wear and bring me things and do my laundry and fix my lunch and point out my rough feet and have pity on me.

We did a lot in two short weeks. Dad and Roy ran computer classes for almost 6 hours a day, as my students never wanted to leave. Vicki, Mom and I worked 8 hour days out in the gazebo sewing, taking out stitches and sewing again. They sorted and tagged and cut out patterns. We wanted to complete as many projects as possible for them to be able to take back to be shipped via our Etsy Store. My employees were troopers and kept up with our pace. We have new cloth napkins, table runners, pillow covers, girls' jumpers and bow ties on their way back as they board Delta Flight 201 this very moment. Boys rompers are also now in production.

Haleigh went on a weekend stay out in the "bush bush" and Dad and Roy were supposed to go to a local prison but that got cancelled so we went out to dinner instead. Haleigh, Mom, Vicki and I went to our base about 30 minutes away in the village of Mieze to help out with Milk Clinic. I love Milk Clinic. I have posted pictures here before. Babies and Mama's make the best pictures. We saw some fat, some sick, some well, some really, really frail. A set of twins graduated from the program. We spent a day at Veronica's house in the village and had her family come spend a day at my "house" on the beach.

I hosted a small party for friends to enjoy the beach house and I hosted the Celebration Service here the first Sunday of this month. I tried to show them all that there is to see. I introduced them to my students, my Mozambican friends, my missionary friends, Iris and other. We tasted from the menus of all five restaurants. Some, more than once. I took them to markets, armazine's and barraca's. We combed the beach. Roy practiced driving on the left side of the road and giving way at roundabouts. Our days were full. We all fell into bed each night only to gather again by 8am for another full day. I tried my best to show them my world. I wanted them to see the reality of the poor here, but also experience the hope I see for this nation.

Here is a glimpse for you too. Starting with a day with Veronica: