December 14th

Haircuts, Guns, Goodbyes and a Bathtub

Sounds like a crazy mixture but that’s been the last few days. I had an amazing experience in a Barber Shop on Friday afternoon. Ms. Teara took me to get Samuel’s hair cut. Too funny! Apparently they like me though because they talked about me (actually they were laughing at me!) I felt quite intimidated - (I’m wondering if I’m the only white woman that has ever walked in)? But we survived. I was very thankful that Teara was there with me. I would have either left or cried if I was on my own. Samuel did very well. He got up in the chair and he was doing fine until she was pulled through his hair with a comb (well it was more like ripping through them) and you all know how dreaded it was already! So he was trying real hard to be brave but all of a sudden the walls broke and he lost it. He really started to cry and I asked him to stop... didn’t work so I got up and was told to sit down and to stop babying him and that he needed to cry... But I went to him anyway... he got off the chair and now I had a devastated child, a barber who was upset with me, a little girl on my leg and a bunch of guys thinking I’m a freak! So I calmed him down and after the next guy was done Samuel was brave and jumped back up and he was fine. He did VERY good considering! And he looks great. He looks like he’s about 10 years old but he’s so handsome!

All the long-termers left on Friday or Saturday morning. We were left at the camp which felt so quiet but it was good to have some extra time to pack up and do some ‘extended’ goodbyes.

The Samuel’s house is so close to completion but it just didn’t quite get there. Willie is a little disappointed but respects MDS’s decision... but we will be coming back through on our way home to visit. We are so looking forward to meeting them again. Teara and Lester Samuel are such a grateful family! We just love them and thank God for allowing us to be a part of their life! We will never forget them.

Ms. Teara and her girls came to watch the kids while Willie and I packed up our stuff on Saturday. I had a lot of laundry to do so this was a great thing!

We got to ‘shoot’ on Saturday as well with Jason. (we still think it’s interesting that there’s a Rifle Range on a Bible Camp!) It was rather deafening so I left the men to shoot and went back to the house. We had supper together before going into Newton for a Christmas Train Ride in the park. It was such a beautiful evening. God is bringing His glory to us everyday in such different ways when we just look at the surroundings. We are quick to say that we could make East Texas our home simply because of the people that live here. We have met incredible people of faith and hope and love! The local people are friendly and so inviting. And we met a lot of short term volunteers in the last 6 weeks. Many will remain on our hearts and in our contact lists forever! We are thankful for people that give of their time and Willie has enjoyed working with so many different people. He always wished the work week was longer because after 5 days you’ve only just begun to get to know people but we’re learning to ‘get to know’ people faster!

So anyway... we finished our time in Texas with God guiding us through the day of blessings. We went out to the Call Junction Baptist Church where Jason preaches and God spoke to us through him. God is good! He spoke about contentment and encouraged us to want more of God and being good with what God’s given us. And another sweet little smile from God, I heard my favorite Christmas song in church!!! Thank you Jesus!

We packed our stuff on the back of our truck, cleaned our room and then we went to say goodbye to our good friends the Glenn family. I was doing the ‘strong’ thing and thinking I was so used to goodbyes that I wouldn’t cry... Wrong! It was really hard. We hugged, prayed and cried a bit and off we were.

We stopped by Lester and Teara Samuel’s home one more time before we left Texas. Lester showed Willie his gun collection... there were just more and more and more ... and they were all in the bedroom! Yikes. It was so great to see them and they were actually having a family get together so we got to see everyone before we left. The kids just love our kids and we will miss them.

We will miss our family and friends in Texas but we know we will see them again - if not now we’ll meet them when God calls us home!

So we’re now in Lake Charles in a hotel room and the kids were super excited about the full size bathtub (as were Willie and I!)

One funny... I told my son today that I just loved him to pieces.. “Mommy I love you together”. :-)

Goodnight.