Evenings that are just fun!

So we went into the neighborhoods this evening to join our volunteers. At the first neighborhood, while this was the third week for them and they are old hat by now we just thought we would go in to be a support to them. That neighborhood is the hardest one. The kids run around, they don't sit and they don't understand the importance of reading at all. However tonight I watched when our volunteers got out and began to set up their chairs the kids began to gather. I even watched some tearing across the parking lot at break neck speed to get there before the story started. I was amazed to see the kids in this neighborhood sitting on their bottoms, quietly listening to the story, some of them even raised their hands this evening and asked questions. It was fun to see! The numbers in this neighborhood have grown as well. They have gone from about 10 kids to this evening it seemed like there were about 25 sitting there intermittently but most actually stayed and listened.After we finished in that neighborhood we headed over to the second one. That neighborhood is mainly one long side walk with a very busy street right in the middle. When we get there we start on one end and move down until we all cross the street together. As we were rounding up children I sent a couple of messengers to the end of the sidewalk to pick up the others down at that end. A few minutes later I saw our messengers round the bend of the sidewalk with 7 other kids in tow, all of them yelling at the top of their lungs "We love to read! We love to read!" That was music to my ears. After that Robert and I and our volunteers crossed the street with the kids and sat down by the playground to read. We had a great time. There were about 29 kids here. This group is always quieter and their are a much more mixed bag of ethnicities in this neighborhood so it is an interesting puzzle. After we were finished reading, Jay, one of our volunteers went with Robert to visit a new Congolese family. On his way to their house he was invited in by one of our good Sudanese friends for a drink. I was left on the playground with Kerrie, another volunteer. I had promised the kids that I would stay and let them play for five minutes before taking them back. As we stood, waiting for the five minutes to pass, a very kind Uzbek women came and said "Speciba, cai moya doma?" or please come my house for tea. We smiled and I asked Kerrie if she were game and bless her soul she was so off we went. We went in through the sliding glass door of the home, taking our shoes off as we entered and sat to join Feruza in tea. She served us what she called "Uzbek pizza" meat and onions enclosed in a thin phillo dough, tea, cherries, candy and "hleb" or bread. After a bit I was feeling concerned about needing to walk the kids home but knew I didn't dare leave so soon so I began wishing for Jay, who can speak enough Russian to get the point across. As I was wishing for him I heard a voice "the kids said you were here." There Jay stood. I prompted him to tell Feruza that he spoke a little bit of Russian. She was thrilled. He started talking to her and translating for us and soon afterwards I was able to excuse myself and take the kids back. When I got back to Feruza's table they were still talking and having fun. Someone made a comment about the food and I told Kerrie "If she had known we were coming there would have been much more food." Just as I said that Jay began to translate "She says that it is too bad that she didn't know you were coming because she would have made much more." Feruza smiled and use her hands to show a whole mound of food on the whole table. I was so full with the little that we had eaten that I was content that she hadn't known we were coming. She asked them to come the next day for dinner. After we excused ourselves from Feruza's home I parted ways with Jay and Kerrie and went to relocate my husband. He had moved to his third African home by this time and was now firmly planted on the couch of one of my newest favorite little boys. As Robert finished his business with the family I got to make faces and play with the little five year old boy. He is such a great kid. He wants to learn English so badly. He will sit through five books without moving on reading nights. Finally we said our good byes to the family and headed to our car. As we were driving out of the neighborhood I saw a very familiar figure crossing the street. I pretended to speed up the van and act like I was headed toward the person. The young Bosnian father looked at the van first confused, then irritated then he knew and just stood in the middle of the street hands on hips daring me. I have always loved this kid. We pulled up beside him and his wife joined him at the side of our car to talk. She was holding their baby. As Robert was holding a conversation with the parents I was busy smooching the baby on the forehead and teaching her to say "your daddy is crazy" in Bosnian which got me a smack on the head. Just the reaction I was looking for. I then kept saying "Ja volim te" which means "I love you" to her. She is about five months old and adorable. She was kept launching herself and trying to climb into the window of our car. We had a great night. Twas fun! Thanks volunteers for your faithfulness. This is a blessing! It is fun making kids happy!!!