Thursday our American Life and Language classes were really neat. I was truly blessed by watching the volunteer teachers work with refugee women and children. There was so much passion and love in what learning was going on at the school. I am so thankful.

My life at home has somewhat flipped upside down due to some personal family issues. I’m not afraid to admit that on the website I guess. In some way it’s interesting how much I am learning about myself, others and God in the midst of the suffering and trial. I’m okay but I’ve faced and am facing some real heartbreaking challenges. I was in a place where I could be a stay at home mom and put a whole lot of my time into serving refugees through Asha’s Refuge. But, the newest season of my life has caused me to have to work a paying job full time. It has stretched my heart in many different ways. My time has been limited but I have still managed to find many ways to stay connected to my sweet refugee friends. It has forced me to delegate and move out of the way so that ready and willing volunteers can settle into the very places that God may have prepared them for. I’ve enjoyed the weekend visits and have been able to meet more of the refugee children, husbands and men as I makes visits. The unfortunate happenings in my life have also brought about many blessings.

Today, I visited several refugee families. I so enjoyed my visit with a single mother of nine children. We giggled a lot and I am hopeful that I talked them in to making me an apple Sambosa (like a fried apple pie, something I invented stretching their Somali Sambosa recipe by suggesting that they add chopped apples and cinnamon instead of meat into the triangle pastries they fry) around the days of Ramadan. I also worked with one refugee lady who was recently told by her doctor that she was diabetic. She is currently trying to learn how to take care of herself as she deals with her up and down sugar levels. I took an American friend of mine with me who is also diabetic. The two of them discussed the frustration with daily sugar checks and having to carefully monitor what they eat. I felt it a blessing that my refugee friend could learn from someone who had been dealing with having diabetes a bit longer than her. I always learn a lot as I serve refugees. Today I learned how God allows certain thorns in our side to occur that can feel unfortunate but when seen in a different light, or as time goes by, they become blessings.