Happy Birthday Megan and Happy Birthday ESL Class Party

Today I am celebrating Megan's 24th birthday from the same place I celebrated her 23rd on an English as a Second Language Project Partner Trip! Very appropriate since she is celebrating in the same place she has for the last 22 years, in Heaven with her heavenly Father!! I presented today about American families. It wa a very talkative class. The students are curious but nervous to try their English aloud for fear of failure. I was teaching about birth order, telling them I was the firstborn of five children. I asked them how many of them were firstborns also and only one or two raised their hands. I asked again. Then someone said, "They don't know how to respond if they are an ONLY! (how could I forget my audience?!)all of a sudden the tremendous pressure and weight of that fell on me and I was very sad for them and understood better their reluctance to try because they might fail! But then we too have only ONE life to give. One shot at it! How do we leverage for the most impact our one solitary life! In class I shared about American families and the breakup of families. I also talked about how our families expand as we grow older and how I love that! We listened to then sang We Are Family and then I told them about the family of God in the church and how God is our Father so we Are brothers and sisters. We listened to The Family of God via You Tube and sang it together. Interestingly, an unusual quiet and calm fell over the room and I was able to share about being born into His family and the hope I have of seeing my daughter again in heaven. I am praying that those seeds fell on fertile soil and trusting God to water and grow them and reap a harvest from them.