new friends and neighbors

for a while now, we have friends staying with us. a couple and their toddler, they moved back from nepal at the 1st of december, after spending 2 years in nepal. doing charity work and educating local teachers all over the country. a wonderful family, we didn't know them very well before they moved in with us. over the course of the past 11 weeks we got to love and enjoy them a lot. our community has been richly blessed by their presence and it we all especially enjoy the restless little boy. he is as happy and energetic as a 3 year old can be.
lots of games being played and books being read to and with him, especially by our four older kids. thea got the tracks for the trains out once more and those tracks have been put together countless times. yup and the tracks, locomotives and wagons go along when they are moving into their own little house, just around the corner.
it was lots of work for them and their workers to finish up all those lose ends. put in wooden floors, insulate and paint the entrance hall, mount lamps and finally move in tomorrow and saturday.

thank you for staying with us dear friends, i'm sad you move away. and at the same time i'm thrilled that you will live just around the corner from us!
in some ways, that's exactly what it means to build community. to enjoy friendships and be blessed by people being put into my "courtyard". becoming neighbors...