October 6th, 2010

Today was another day of firsts for Maely. Having lived in a village with no electricity all of her life, she had never experienced the joy of eating ice cream.  Pat took her to Edalynn's in Lynden which serves the best ice cream in all of Whatcom county.  Here are some pictures of Maely's first ice cream experience.

Decisions, decisions....

And now the sampling (thats my favorite part)

After sampling every flavor in the store....she's getting close to making a decision....

And the winner is.....STRAWBERRY!

Up to now, we have been focusing on Maely's experience but I would like to take a moment and focus my lens briefly on the responses of those she has come into contact with.   Everywhere we go, people are moved by her story and the outpouring of love and support they have shown her makes me so proud to be an American!  The day after she got here (last Sunday) we discovered that Maely had a very bad cavity that was causing considerable discomfort.  Judging by the size of the cavity, she must have been in pain for quite some time and had just learned to live with it .  When we explained to her that it could be fixed she was glad but wanted to know if it was going to hurt.  We assured her the dentist would do everything he could to make is as painless as possible.  Pat checked around Bellingham today to see if there was a dentist office that could fit her in.  Within minutes she called me at work and said that Dr. Chamberlain at Creekside Dental Clinic had not only squeezed her in for an appointment Friday morning but also said he would do the work for free. I tried not to be jealous of the fact that it took me six weeks the last time I had to get a dentist appointment, but I consoled my wounded ego with the fact that I was just going in for a cleaning and this little girl was in pain.

 Over the last three days, complete strangers have given this little child of God hugs, costume jewelry, put money in her purse (yes, she now has a purse!) and bought her enough clothes to fill a suitcase.  Some of our family members have committed to providing her family with long term monthly support once she returns to her village.  In short, she has just been overwhelmed by everyones kindness.  The beauty of it is...as much as she has been blessed by the kindness of perfect strangers, those people have walked away with a look of joy on their face, peace in their heart and a spring in their step that money can't buy.  God is using this child to remind us all there is more to life than making a living, and its better to have nothing, than to be possessed by our possessions.

This afternoon after I got home from work, Maely wanted to ride on the tractor again..only this time she wanted to DRIVE!  My excitement over her willingness to try something new, was quickly overshadowed by visions of her driving my new John Deere mower through our three rail vinyl fence and into the pond.  So thinking quickly,  I compromised....and made Pat ride on the mower while Maely drove.  Now you would think that was a brilliant decision on my part and the look on Pats face below would seem to confirm that.... except for one little fact.  Notice the mowers direction of travel?  Notice the angle this photo was taken from?  Now consider this mower was traveling aproximately 15 miles per hour when this photo was taken from....15 feet away.  Okay, you do the math. That look of concern was NOT out of fear for her own safety!  Fortunately I managed to dive to safety with nothing injured but my dignity.  Of course her peals of laughter as I frantically dove for cover did't help much either!



Okay, tomorrows adventure, hotdogs at Costco, a meeting with Grandpa Al and who knows what mischief will result from that encounter..