Last week we agreed that if noone showed up for Bible Study tonight we would go out and visit some families.  So of course I came down with a cold and the weather turned cold!  I was determined to go, so Juan, Mayah and I bundled up and headed out.  The first family I wanted to visit was the one that recently moved back after many years.  The mom and younger son were home and quickly invited us in out of the cold.  We had a great visit and Juan was able to share the Gospel very clearly.  I am sooo grateful for the opportunity we had tonight!  When they lived here before the boys were young and I did not know Spanish, so I couldn't communicate with their mom.  When they moved away we longed to see them again and prayed that the Lord would bring people into their lives to continue to share Christ with them.  I didn't expect to get to be a part again years later!  Pray that the Lord will soften their hearts.

The Lord also blessed by having us visit inside an apartment that was warmer than mine!

Did everyone see the snow flurries in Raleigh today?  It was a pretty view from my desk this afternoon!

a picture

I found this picture in my Snapfish account.  It's Holly teaching the Easter Egg lesson in 2004.  They look nothing like this now!

an exciting afternoon!

At the end of homework help today some kids wandered in to see if they could talk us out of a snack even though they hadn't bothered to come do homework.  (The answer was no.)  In that group were some new faces who I had seen hanging around a couple days ago.  The youngest boy came up to me and said, "How long have you been here?"  I asked if he meant how long had I lived here and he said, "No, how long have you been HERE."  I explained to him that we had only been in the current community center since March and he said, "But how long have you been doing this?"   I told him six years and he said, "I think I know you, are you the one I took the picture with?"  And then he turned to question his older brother who said, "Yeah, that's her."  (I would like to point out that his question was not the least bit helpful to me - I had no idea which of hundreds of pictures me and a kid he was referring to!)  At that point both brothers started talking and I quickly heard, "We used to live here a long time ago."  "We came to this before."  "We took a picture."  "It used to be over there." "Where's Brooke????"  "I had a leaf project that we did like 5 years ago."  "Did you cut your hair?"

And somewhere in that stream of words I suddenly realized who they were and was stunned.  They lived here when I moved in.  They were 3 and 8.  Now they are 9 and 14!!!!  They were in the community center every time the doors were open (once the little one turned 4 and was old enough - some of his first English words were "Kids Club"!) and at our apartment all the time.  I have TONS of pictures of them.  (sadly, that was before I had a digital camera)  I clearly remember the Sunday afternoon that I was driving home from Maryland and Brooke called to tell me their apartment was vacant when she had gone to get them for Kids Club the day before.  I do not remember the next several minutes of the drive because I was sobbing.  

They've moved back!  They are living right next to the community center! 

I'm still stunned and can't believe they're back!  They've grown and changed a lot and I'm looking forward to getting to know them again.  Their rapid flow of words when they confirmed that it was me was interesting.  I still don't know what picture the younger brother is referring to, but it obviously was important to him.  I had forgotten about "the leaf project" until the older brother mentioned it (I know it involved Brooke, wax paper and an iron) and it's not the first thing I expected to hear from the 14 year old standing in front of me!

It's so hard when families move and you have no idea where they've gone or how they're doing or if anyone is in their lives sharing Christ.  I am so thankful to have one return and pray that their hearts will be soft and open to the Gospel.