A Week Full of Love

Grandma Jackie came back for a visit!

We got invited to our sweet Syrian friend's b-day party.  They had so much cake and a unique tradition.  Andree turned 4, so he had to cut the cake with Naiyah and him holding the knife.  And then, they each had to feed each other a piece.  I am not sure if we did not just commit to an arranged marriage:)

For Valentine's our sweet helper Ms. Marshall made heart pizzas for "Red Day" at preschool.

We got to make special crafts sent from sweet sponsors.

The number heart hop was super fun!

One of our sweet moms made us a pinata to break open.

Getting us all in the pictures was a little challenge.

Lunch was rice as usual.  But the surprise was lunch at WISE was red, pink, and white rice.

We got and delivered Valentine's from each other.

We served a special Valentine's dessert to widows and widowers.

Our students were great servers.

And Bro. Dave gave a great message on the history of Valentine's with Christians to end the great evening.

Ladies Retreat

This past week 2 of our long supporting churches were here from Bachelor Creek in Wabash, IN and Elizabethtown, KY to help out at WISE.  It is always such a blessing to have churches come see where they are investing, meet the students they are helping, and get to know them better as partners in this ministry.

And one of their gifts was their ladies speaker, Linda Mirante, who came to lead a retreat here for the ladies of St. Vincent.  What a blessing to be refreshed and strengthened through laughter and teaching.

We made banners 

and bracelets together.

These are my neighbors, moms of my preschoolers,

and sweet friends.

And they had brought 21 in their group, so their 14 men kept all the kids entertained while we met.

Several of the guys just rocked babies for the night.

Then we bused everyone home, which took about an hour as some walked far to get here.

And on the way home, the ladies asked if we could do this every month, I wish:)