Hi!

When I woke this morning there was a cool breeze blowing in my window and the sky was cloudy. It looked like rain and the thought was very refreshing, except for the fact that I was considering doing some of my laundry today and it would need to be line dried. I still have clean clothes, so I decided laundry wasn't important and enjoyed the cool air.

Mom and I went down to the kitchen at about 7am and baked some Russian tea cakes from dough we had prepared last night. We got them out of the oven and rolled in powdered sugar just in time to join the other volunteers for morning prayer, so we set the trays of cooling cookies on racks in larger trays of water to prevent ants from infesting them before we got back. (Ants are usually abundant here. This year's variety is very tiny, but it doesn't take long for swarms of
them to congregate around anything sweet.) The improvised moat under our cookies worked well and we didn't find any ants in the cookies when we returned to re-sugar them and put them safely in Ziploc bags. We made cookies for the rest of the day, taking an 1 1/2 hour break for lunch/siesta and baking again until El Jordán closed at 6pm. The total cookie count is now at just over 1800.

I sat out in the courtyard while the students and their children were preparing to leave El Jordán. One woman, who I taught how to make cookies last year, asked if I would be teaching again this year. She said she had forgotten what I taught her and can't bake anyway because her kitchen flooded once and her oven hasn't worked since, but she wanted her 16 year old daughter to come and learn. I haven't talked to Corina about baking classes this year. Many of the ladies who come have already had a class with me in previous years and I know most of them don't have ovens of their own, but I'm willing to teach if they have an interest. We'll see what happens.

I also enjoyed the little children in the court yard. One little girl came up immediately when I sat down and gave me a big hug. Mom was sitting next to me and got a big hug too. You can tell that many of these kids are hungry for love and attention. One of the little boys must have gotten tired of following his little sister around and watching her, so he picked up the toddling little girl
and set her in my lap. When he saw my camera, he insisted on taking our picture. I enjoyed it all, but the little girl didn't want to stay in my lap for long, she wanted to be off exploring and I let her go. Next thing I knew, her brother had scooped her up again and this time dropped her in Mom's lap. The frustrated toddler was ready to cry, but just then her mom showed up and reached for her. After that, the little girl was all smiles.

It wasn't long before everyone left for home and Mom and I headed up to "our" apartment to make a light supper and relax for the rest of the evening. The rain never really materialized today. The sky spit a few drops mid-morning, but by noon the skies were clearing and it was getting hot again. I didn't get any laundry done today either, but perhaps I will tomorrow.

In Christ,
Medin