"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.  In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.  In this love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us."

1 John 4:7-12

The Lord keeps bringing this passage back to me.  I hear my Deedee every time I read it saying "I can love because I have been loved, and I can forgive because I have been forgiven."  I am learning every day here - to spend time abiding in God's love, so that I can share that love with others.  I think that's the point - to learn to love and be loved, even when all of us are all the time "messing up."

AIS has chapel every Wednesday morning.  It is one of my favorite times - bringing everyone together - children from literally every tribe and every tongue and nation.  We meet outside, under this amazing cross - made of all the flags from the countries represented in our school.  Muslims, Christians, agnostic children stand together to worship the true God.  It's pretty amazing.

My eighth graders are working really hard right now - and I wanted to show off some of their drawings! They are creating a "floating art museum" using correct 2 point perspective - some of them are looking really cool!

We had a meeting with a parent go on too long after school, and so we didn't have much time at the orphanage today.  I did have a chance to run up and show the director a sketch of my idea for a mural on the outside wall.  We will see what she thinks!  I want to get the silhouettes of the children at the orphanage now - hands lifted in praise.

Please keep my friend, Erin in your prayers. Her cancer has spread into the tissue surrounding her lymph nodes - and she is going to start radiation as soon as she recovers from her surgery last week.  She and her husband, Matt are trying to decide where to receive her treatments.  Please pray for their decision, for joyful and peaceful spirits, and for her physical healing.

Love you guys and miss you tons.  Blessings.