Tour de force (but not really)

For those of you who can not come visit me in person, and mostly for my madre': a link to a tour of my new apartment for this school year. :o)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S_hDPhS_ns&feature=youtu.be


And some pics of my day spent studying on our balcony in the breeze of a wonderful Massachusetts summer day. (The humidity went for four days and thankfully broke some today!)

I AM is Here and I Am Here

I have arrived. Once again. Happily. I was welcomed, by my friend and new roommate Kelsey, "back" to Boston as I saw her through raindrops. Funny to be welcomed back to CA and then back to the East Coast in such a short span of time. And yep, the sky opened up and a summer rain-shower came pouring down right after I popped into Kelsey's mom's car. My face lit up. Refreshing rain in this humidity. And rain just equals a happier me most of the time. To me it was beautiful weather. But then it got better. I spotted a rainbow. A BIG rainbow. All the way across the Charles river. A full rainbow. I texted the fam. Pop replied that it was a sign of God's peace and God smiling on me as I entered Boston. What a pleasant thought-not only that, but what pleasant truth to my spirit. God smiles on me everyday. He smiles on us all, I wish people were awakened to see it.

My apartment is such a nice place, friendly, old-fashioned, family-fueled. This old building has survived many tenants as the Landlords diligently take care of it. I am now a part of this apartment family. And it is a good family. Our landlord "Parents" are a Polish couple, the wife I have met. She likes tea just like me and she drinks it out of a jar sometimes. (When it's iced tea.) We hit it off. She had me taste a leaf. No joke. This lady knows my heart. ;o) The Polish couple's daughter is Agnes. She was my first point-of-contact for this place. She is nice, to the point, and has a wide smile. She has done this so many times before, but she's patient with my questions and has carried a coach, beds, desks, dresser, chairs, and rug into the room for Kelsey and I. (I did not pay extra for this.) I asked about the garden, which is wonderfully wild and free. They shall cut it back when the season changes and I am free to plant some herbs of my choice but "no marijuana." Deal. No pun intended. They already have mint leaves in the garden, so I shall pick them and dry them for the winter.

As the tour has concluded I am left with one of my two new housemates, Pavithra. She is from Indian and went to school to be an electrical engineer. Currently she's a software engineer. She did a fabulous job of explaining to me what she does. My non-engineer wired brain understood more than I didn't understand-a plus. This wonderful woman made me a typical Indian dinner, with plenty of spices from her tin of Indian spices. I was pretty thrilled. She laughed when I took a picture of the spices. We asked each other lots of questions and were both happy to note we are both clean! Whew. In the middle of dinner Stashu came in. He's an older Polish gentleman who has lived and worked here for ten years. He is a friend of the landlords and does work with fences in Boston. He is kind, apologetic for his lack on English (no apology needed), polite, and excited to have other friendly faces here. He smiles a lot and takes our hands and kisses them in greeting and goodbye. He is a true Polish man who was a policeman in Poland and can make a special Polish tea. (!) When I asked about his family, he departed for his room and came back with a photo album of, mainly, his granddaughter. I looked over the album appreciatively and showed him a picture of my nephew, Judah. Stashu also has a little machine that helps him translate Polish to English and vice a versa. We used the machine a bit, and though it is slow, it works.

Changing voices: I appreciate the patience we all have as each of us comes with our own way of communicating and our own voice. I am happy there are three different cultures represented in the kitchen. (Add Kelsey and you have 4!) Stashu says in Polish that I'm a "beautiful neighbor." Pavithra translates the beautiful part and Stashu tells me the neighbor part. I smile. "Yes, we are very close neighbors!" We are all happy. Pavithra says she's never known people who are "as Christian" as Kelsey and I. I think this is the beginning of a wonde

rful, grace-filled, and kind-hearted people filled journey. We have the makings of a beautiful apartment family!

God is good, all the time. I am so grateful. So thankful. He blesses me so well. May you be touched by The Lord's loving kindness in your life.
"The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart exults, And with my song I shall thank Him!" Psalm 28:7 and my spirit