Time is going fast. Right now I'm just chilling in a rocking chair, and I'm thinking about last week at this time, when I thinking pretty much the exact same thing, that time is going really fast. It's just kind of a weird feeling, having expectations about going on a trip for months and months, and thinking about it and planning it, and then actually being right in the middle of the trip, realizing that it's getting closer to the end. I still have a good amount of time here, and I'm not longing to leave or anything, but it's just going by quickly, which is good.

On monday I went with Michelle and some visitors of ours to visit a family. We visited the family of one of the students who comes on Friday, Jefferson. Their family is quite poor, especially now. One of their sons was killed in an accident in June. A couple weeks after that, one of their other sons had a bad accident, and was in the hospital in critical condition. We went to the house assuming that he was still in the hospital, but when we got there we found that he was home, and although he looked like he was doing really well, he had 8 blood clots in his brain and had to go to the doctor for more tests. Needless to say, the mother was incredibly sad, and is struggling with being depressed. The two boys were the ones that help with bring any money or food to the family, and without them, life is incredibly difficult. We brought them packages of food, for which they were incredibly grateful. We sat and talked with the mother, and before we left we gathered around her and laid our hands on her and prayed for her. Not much can be more humbling than her situation, but hopefully we were able to be some comfort to her.

Every Monday and Wednesday I get to ride the van home with all of the mothers, because I walk a student home who lives near me. Her name is Claudia, she's 15 and has Cerebral Palsy. And she's the coolest. I think that we're pretty good friends, every day that she comes she'll always give me a high five, and she always seems to be in a good mood. On Friday I was waiting for the bus to come pick me up near the highway, and a school van pulled on to our road, and Claudia was in it, and we saw each other and she gave me a huge grin and a wave :) She has a hard time talking clearly, she needs help walking sometimes, and it's difficult for her to control some of her hand movements for finer things. But despite that, she's incredibly positive, and that humbles me as well.

So many things to be humbled by.

Derek