a few of our favorite things

A few of our favorite things from today:

- We got to skype with our home church and share a little of our story with them in the evening worship service. The power was on, the connection didn't drop, and our little girl - who woke up at 1:30am and came out to see what was going on - sat quietly and went back to sleep afterward.

- We went to church yesterday with Wilfred, the man who runs Ibra's children's home, and we got to see some of the kids that Ibra knows. One boy - Elijah, who is about 8 or 9 - was thrilled when he saw me and realized that Ibra couldn't be too far away. He gave Ibra a big hug when he saw him - such a sweet boy!

- At lunch, Wilfred scanned through our visa paperwork for us and noticed that we were missing a form for each of the kids. Thank you, Lord, for pointing this out early. We were able to get these forms from our attorney this morning, and we pray that the interviews on Wednesday will go smoothly.

- Our friends, the Henderson family, invited us and other Aid Sudan family over for homemade ice cream this afternoon - yum! We also got to sit out on the veranda - which is the best in the world, no kidding - and see Peace's twin babies who are only 3 days old!

- Sumaya is running to her daddy more and more. She was wary of him the first few weeks, so it is really wonderful to see her call for him and want to be with him.

- Both kids decided to pray with us before bed time tonight, instead of simply listening as we pray over them. Ibra wanted to repeat phrases after daddy, and Sumaya wanted to thank Jesus for all of her friends in the babies home...especially Frieda (who we pray will be established in her family without further complications), Eric, Jemima and Adam (who came to her home the day before we met her - our new friend Jake got to see the process of him being admitted into the home...such a special baby boy).

- As they were (supposed to be) falling asleep, Ibra spent time teaching Sumaya the words to "Jesus loves me", which we sing every night as we tuck them in. He went phrase by phrase, repeating them until he was satisfied that she knew the words AND pronounced them correctly.

And finally...I've had a stanza from "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing" in my head for the past several days. It's been my experience that when I need to hear something from the Lord, He often places songs in my head to remind me of things that are true. When I'm tempted to get frustrated or worried about how things are going over here, I find that I'm also singing:

Here I raise my Ebenezer - yes, "thus far, the Lord has helped us". Thank you for a smooth process thus far.
Here by Thy great help I've come  - this is true!
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home. - soon!