Neighbors

Now that the weather has warmed up, people have begun emerging from their homes after the long winter. Many families in our neighborhood garden in their back yards and it seems to be one of the easiest ways for us to get to know our neighbors. One neighbor in particular has become dear to us. She is an older woman (probably in her 60's) who comes from a Hmong family. She doesn't speak any English, and it seems that a childhood injury has left her to a life of disability and communication difficulties. Well nonetheless, she really likes to communicate with us.
"Miss May" as our family calls her sweetly wanders over to our yard to point out the weeds in our garden, share some strange exotic plants she has grown, or just say hello to our kids. She chatters away and likes to giggle when the kids do funny things, and the whole while, no one has any idea what she is saying. Usually I just smile and nod my head while thinking to myself "so this is what it will be like to live in another culture without language."
Today she wandered over while we were about to have dinner, so we invited her in as we sat down to eat. (She never accepts our food, but she likes to share hers :) We prayed for our meal, and James took the opportunity to read a short psalm as we began to eat - something he does often. As he read Psalm 23, we prayed that somehow, someway, God would be able to share with Miss May the love of Jesus...with God, all things are possible.
Then she proceeded to chatter away, while we ate our dinner, about what seemed to be the tornadoes that came through our area last night.?.

Here is a picture of her with Hali as a baby. She really loves babies. Can't wait till she figures out there's another one coming.