M is for Mealtime!

Mealtimes are important to our family.  We eat together all the time.  We talk, go over our day, and share our dreams and troubles.  But this year has been different and really special.  This year we were privileged to share our meals with the students here.

Students come from all over to attend GIAL.  Some live in trailers, some in apartments, or some in the guest house with a communal kitchen.  But they all feel the void of leaving family and friends behind.  We have been blessed this year to share our meals with many students - sharing not just food, but being family too.

We open our doors, squeeze in chairs and maybe a card table, and cook for a few extra.  Some stay and play games or talk.  Some scoot out as soon as the meal is done to work on the long hours of homework necessary here.  Some come for advice.  Some to play with our kids.  Some come to pray.  Some come to talk.  Some are just really hungry.  We have a policy that for the first three visits, you are our guest.  After that, you're family, which means helping cook, clean, read to kids...

What a blessing it is to be able to share our mealtimes!

Sorry for the Betty Rubble face in here, but some of our friends will work in sensitive locations and can't have their faces seen on the internet.

Our children started in public school this year for the first time.  This means we don't get to eat lunch with our kids on weekdays anymore. But God has filled the hole I feel without them.  A few times a week Chris and I go to the dining hall on campus and sit with students, faculty, volunteers, and visitors to the linguistics center.  On Fridays I sit at the French table, where we practice our French, but any other day we sit in the midst of the most bizarre interesting conversations.  If you have never had a discussion with a linguist, you've missed unique humor to say the least!

Every day is an adventure and a gift and we are thankful for MEALTIMES!