San Francisco: wind blown hair, hummus and laughter

Those three words sum up this past week.

I know everyone said that it would be cold here, but I'm still going to complain, it's cold. Like 4 layers, scarf and boots and I'm still cold. But the cold calls for great coffee, hugs and conversations. That I'll take.

Hummus. I used to hate this stuff. Never saw the point in it, but now that we have about 5 different kinds in our refrigerator, it's grown to be a staple food group in my daily consumptions. (along with dried fruit and trail mix) If you've never had Trader Joe's 'Tahini Sauce' go out right now and buy some. Seriously. I put it on everything.
Oh healthy, organic, fair trade eating, my stomach will not be happy to leave you and return to the DC in the future.

I don't recall the last time I've laughed this much. Vroselyn (the bday girl from the last post) is Hil-ar-i-ous. Seriously. She brings so much life to our house. She goes on these rants and gets all worked up about them and puts so much emotion and starts waving her hands and yelling...I can't even explain it, but it's great. Everyone in the house is usually on the verge of tears we're laughing so hard. She has these great phrases too like, "GET IT!" or she'll put her arm up and wind it back like she's going to hit someone and throws her arm down towards the ground yelling, "BAM!". Then don't get me started on the dancing...
Okay I guess you just have to meet her. Come up here and do so.

Continuing on laughter, I love the women at my internship. Natasha and I are always laughing with them. I played Wii sports with one of them today and we ended up dancing and jumping around while playing ping pong, yes ping pong. Okay, it was more of me dancing and jumping, she just laughed at me.
Last night at City Crossroads Kailee (6 years old) was asked to pray over the meal, but some of the boys were laughing before she started so she didn't want to pray anymore. Finally we convinced her to ignore them and pray anyways. The boys again let out a little snicker as Kailee began to pray, 'Dear God, Please make Titus, Silas and DeMarcus stop laughing. (looks up and glares at them). Amen.'
It took all of my strength not to burst out laughing myself.

Smiles, laughter, joy.
God places these in our lives when we need them the most.
Seeing and knowing the environment that the kids live and play in outside of CityCrossroads, seeing the pain behind the eyes of the women at Freedom House and knowing that sitting with them, playing Wii, talking to them, playing handball, wearing silly bandz...can make such an impact, although it may seem so small of an action.

Thank you God for the moments in my life where I can spread your love through something as simple as a smile and a laugh. It amazes me how you work in these ways, establishing new relationships and creating the most beautiful experiences.

I hope you laughed this week until your side hurt and you were gasping for air. I hope you continue to laugh and to spread God's joy through every interaction.

Chinese New Year Festival--