At the bank...

Today I made the lady at the bank cry. Yep.

She was processing my check for me...and I made her LAUGH so hard...she was crying.

It was pretty unbelievable. I mean, usually people are entertained by the fact that I can speak some Kinyarwanda. They enjoy interacting with me, asking me questions, etc. But this is the first time that I have been SO entertaining to a complete stranger that I made them cry!

She seriously could NOT stop laughing...even after I walked away and she was trying to deal with the next customer. She would laugh, which would make me laugh, which would make her laugh more...it was as though we were best friends in the 3rd grade!

Needless to say, I caused quite the scene!!

A house FULL of joyful noise!

Joel, Annie, and all four kids have finally arrived safely in Rwanda!! They had QUITE the journey getting back...one of the worst traveling sagas I have ever heard...BUT they are now enjoying be back home. Today the house has been full of the kids squeals and laughs and many visitors coming to greet the family.

It has been so interesting to watch Daniella (5 1/2) go through reverse culture shock...even as a little girl, being able to see a portion of the world and returning to Rwanda has changed her. After about 20 minutes of being very excited about ALL the new toys and things they were given in Australia, she started walking around her room and just looking at all her toys. She started telling me, "But Alyssa, we have so many toys! We can't use all of these toys. We have to give some of them away. Let's bring some to church, to Sunday school...we have SO many toys. Look at these ones, look at those ones, SO many! We have to give to the other children." I tried to capture it on video...but really this does a poor job of showing how she really was reacting!



Daniella's other wisdom she is bringing from Australia is "boys are so stubborn! Why can't they be more like girls?!? Girls they sit nicely. But boys...they stand up...and start running and running and asking for ice cream and everything!" Sounds like she had some interesting experiences!!

And Joella...sweet joella...is trying ALL her best to speak only in English. Adorable. You can't understand her...but adorable. However, she has picked up quite a few more words and the ability to REPEAT English very well...listen to her tell about her time in Australia as prompted by Annie!

Breaking the Silence

Yes. I have been rather silent. Ok, so maybe 10 months accounts for more than RATHER silent...but you get the point.

Speaking of silence, Joel, Annie and all the kids have been in Australia for the past 3 weeks...our house certainly has seemed VERY silent without the 4 little ones running around!! On Friday they will return and the house will once again be filled with the joyful noises of 4 kids ages 5 and under!

Tomorrow will begin another stab at conquering the ever-failing church membership program...Sometimes I think they might have had a better idea when they were just using paper and pencils to track information!! But, I truly am excited about the potential for how our church can track and use the information of our people...great potential. Great Potential.

Joella is 2!!

Yes! Lots of birthdays in our family recently!! Jonathan is now 1 month old, Daniella is 5, an Joella just turned 2 yesterday! We had a little celebration with everyone at home and she was very happy!

Daniella is Five!!

Daniella turned five today and we had quite the celebration with her classmates at school! Joel and I made quite the scene of rushing around town WITH Nathan and Joella trying to get all the necessary things for a wonderful school birthday. Annie kept checking in with us by phone to make sure we were getting teh proper things, since she had to be home with Jonathan. Daniella has been talking about having her birthday at school pretty much since the day she started school and realized this was a possibility--and I think she was one pretty happy five year old!

Visitors

This morning a few American friends visted my church! It is always fun to have people visiting because it makes it even more clear to me how at home I feel at church. It is great because anyone who shows up who is white is automatically "Alyssa's Visitor"--whether I know them or not!

I decided to sit with them in the service nstead of going to be with the kids and I realized how much I do love being with the kids every week! I missed them!!

The little things in life

It's the little things in life that just make me very happy sometimes.

I love the way Rwanda smells when it rains.

They are fixing the road to our house which means I no longer have to drive in HUGE ditches anytime I go anywhere!

Yep. Just the little things. :-)