We got a huge surprise this week. A friend flew through our city on his way to work in other parts of the country. He brought a 50 pound bag of goodies, a surprise, from so many of our friends. Here's what I emailed to them.
To Jonathan and Jennifer, Daniel and Greta, John and Andrea,
Jeff and Jen, Chris and Sarah, Ben and Erika, Tommy and Stacey, Larry and Ruth,
Tim and Becky, Brent and Melissa, Zack and Tennyson, Micah and Lisa, Billy and
Rebekkah (and all the respective kids!),
THANK YOU.
Jim delivered our surprise suitcase yesterday. We were just
stunned. I still am. Lydia has gobs of princess stuff and craft supplies and
homeschooling material and new coloring books! Thank you. I put some of it away
so we can bring it out in stages (she was a bit overwhelmed). You know here all
the coloring books are actually already printed in color. It’s a very weird
phenomenon. Coloring books that you can’t really color in. She wore her apron
today helping me make desserts for our team meeting. She told Molly about the
Cheerios so many times I think that may be Molly’s first word. I have started a
baking drawer in our kitchen full of the much appreciated cocoa, choc chips,
brown sugar, etc. Brian, I think, wants to build something just to use his new
gloves!
We look forward to hanging our beautiful Greta-original
works of art. Wow! Sarah: I thought it was a little weird that you sent a 31
catalogue, but then I read the note on the back! Thank you! All the packing in
Ziplocs and Tupperware…you wouldn’t think that would matter so much, but I am
just beaming at all the new storage we have for our food! (I will still wash
and reuse the Ziplocs…till they die but it is good to know I have many!) We had
grits this morning. Even let Jim eat some. J
A family on our team is away this week. I will cook them mac and cheese
(they have two small boys) when they return. You guys are ministering to our
team. I plan on making cookies to deliver to our neighbors very soon. You guys
are helping us reach our neighbors. (Here, delivering goodies always ends up
with getting invited to tea, to discuss religion, to start a relationship…no
kidding, we have already been invited to a wedding, to a movie night, to
discussions on personal stuff.) Brownies, choc chips…well, let’s just say you
are making me a better helpmate for my sweet husband!
All those little coloring books and stickers and perfect for
attending churches in different languages without childcare. Thank you for
helping Lydia adjust to this new (long, church service….) life. Molly will have
something fun for her birthday (August 2!!) dessert…brownies? Cookies?
Something with brown sugar!!!? She will be happy I’m sure, but also we are
going to “use” her birthday to invite our neighbors. First birthdays are really
big here (like weddings) so this will be a great way to open our home. And
while a cake mix doesn’t seem all that spiritual or exciting, you have made it
easier for me to be a good hostess, not stressed out mommy! Thank you (from
Molly…the little evangelist!) J
We love the kids’ drawings. I can’t believe they can all do
that well. I’m just seeing Lydia make people (big head, little sticks coming
out of them for limbs, etc) and I look at your kids’ artwork and just get
excited for my girls to be able to grow in their little expressions of art and
I feel so at home with their sweet drawings on the wall.
In short, we feel incredibly loved. We are overwhelmed. I
just want to be able to convey how much this stuff means to us, but more…how
much you mean to us. We are very very blessed to have such friends alongside us
on this journey. It is hard to live without a car, a/c, brown sugar, a
crockpot, good crayons…but as I was thinking last night as I fell asleep…it is
extremely hard to live away from you, our church, our friends. That’s my
culture shock. It truly is. We are making new friends, We are loving our work.
We are sure and firm and joyful in this calling. It is a hard calling though. And
a giant suitcase of stuff has been divided up in my cabinets and when all of it
runs out, it will still be a reminder in our hearts of love and partnership we
have with you all. Life with you is half as hard and twice as good.
Much love and much gratitude,
Mandy (for the Stock Household)
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