some notes

--we have a garden at the valley house with a variety of fruits, vegetables and flowers. each morning, one kid and one staff member are assigned to come early to water it. it was my turn yesterday, and here are some pictures i took while watering:

--today i visited one of our kids who is in the middle of a long hospital stay for a potential case of tuberculosis, which has, since his admittance, been shown to be inactive. even so, he has to stay there for 10 more days. before entering the hospital, a kind old lady handed me a long white cape and told me to put it on. confused, i tied it around my neck and decided that it must be related to some disease-prevention superstition. i then proceeded to walk through the hospital only slightly self-conscious, white cape flapping behind me. my friend then told me, to my relief, that the cape was there just to inform others that i don't have any sort of disease.

--we just started a new book study as a community: miroslav volf’s exclusion and embrace: a theological exploration of identity, otherness, and reconciliation. has anyone out there read it? any thoughts?

--i’ve decided to commit some of my time each week at the valley house to learning the ins and outs of administration. my first assignment? to familiarize myself with and to re-organize the wmf romania procedures manual. i can’t say that administration is a passion of mine, but i do think it’ll be extraordinarily helpful for me to begin learning as we continue thinking of planting a field in moldova.

--every two months we have a get together/meeting for all the north american staff members. this time we decided to grill hamburgers. mmmm…..

lenuţa and monica

rachel, abram and april

joel and simeon

paul, david, josh and robin