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LOL... Sitting here thinking how do I best describe Hannah. Quirky? Eccentric? Wacky? Special, extraordinary, creative, full of wacky energy, fun to the max or maybe what the kids call her, "Khung Khung Dien Dien, (VERY CRAZY)
Whatever I may call her I have not seen the passion this young lady exhibits for our kids. She first came several years ago with her mom and grandmother, Ann Moore. This is her 3rd trip.
She had to have surgery but a few weeks before her trip and insisted with the surgeons and parents she MUST go to VN! Last summer she stayed for 2 months and has stayed in touch by you tube videos of crazy fun and wacky science experiments.
She's in Danang for just a month this year. But have a feeling this will not be her last trip here...
When planning my return to Da Nang, Vietnam there were several things I knew to expect. Inescapable heat, congested streets, and a fire-breathing dragon bridge to name a few. What I did not expect was just how much I feel like I fit in here. Now don't get me wrong, I still stick out like a giant, white popsicle melting in the summer sun, it's a different kind of fitting in. The kind where you realize those weird quirks you've had all your life not only are useful, but also have the potential for making someone's life better.
This year I tried something new: building my own green screen. It interested me and the endless possibilities it created for videos was intriguing. (I make videos to keep in touch with the kids over the winter and show them experiments I otherwise couldn't). So I made a green screen and brought it here to show the kids how movies and TV are made.
Now our kids are romping with the dinos and dancing on the beach. I didn't receive any grand training, yikes I don't even speak the language, and yet by just sharing my interests, I was able to expose them to something completely new.
Returning for a second year in a row is revealing far more than I anticipated. For one, these kids grow fast! More importantly they are growing on the inside. When I came last year, two little boys had just arrived at one of our homes. They shied away from me and did not engage the other kids. Fast forward to today where the youngest boy came and sat right beside me, smiling as we made whatchamacallits (popsicle stick crafts infused with imagination). That's what love does. It give people a safe place to realize their potential. Love transforms us, both when we get it and when we give it. Like the young woman whose family learned of her pregnancy at 8 months. They told her should would have to leave the child at the pagoda (temple) or leave. Filled with love for her still unborn child she searched the internet and found GIBTK. Now she and her child live in Father's House, with the mother studying toward a new future together.
In Psalm 23 it talks about a cup that overflows. I always assumed it meant overflowed with wine, meaning he was prosperous and wealthy. Now I wonder if maybe it's not a physical cup at all, but one that is overflowing with love. Because in between the heat and the crowds and the noise, I have witnessed moments of beautiful, unconditional love. The love of a mother for her sick child, or a sister for a troubled sibling, precious moments, that have filled my cup so it overflows.
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| With GIBTK team at 15 year celebration |
P.S. GIBTK has 2 great volunteer bedrooms, the best staff (translators) and a bunch of kids who would love to spend time with you.
Hannah
><((((º> BBlessed
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