Feeling Blessed

    Last night I received an email from a potential sponsor. They had some questions with regards to our beliefs and our affiliations .  I can totally understand  why , so I didn't mind answering then.  Certainly not the first time we have been asked.  Over the course of the evening it did provoke a lot of conversation around the apartment here , and I am sure more then a few homes there.hahaha.

   Questions that I would have been able to answer with one or two words.. questions that would have appeared so strait forward only a few years ago , suddenly seem so complicated against the back ground of Central Asia.  Answering these questions amplified to me how we wind our way through an old world here.. full of traditions and beliefs that are as varied as the people that hold them.  I have come to realize that when drawing the line in the sand,  I must be so careful in determining where and when  that line should be drawn..
 
   We were up late answering the email, then had an early start for the day, so the email was on my mind today.  Our first stop of the day was to an Easter celebration .  As we arrived, It was a little while getting in as we were slowed by so many kids coming for hugs.  these kids go to the finest school in the country, and as I looked around , I realised just how many of them are only able to go because of the incredible sponsors that we have that are paying their tuition.   The production was incredible ,  but at the end, there was a closing song preformed by the kids .  It was in Russian, but it was a song that I knew well.  With out understanding the exact words but knowing the message what they were singing , I was overwhelmed.. I saw the love and the joy on the faces of the kids , and I could some how just feel the message they were singing .  As I listened,  my mind bounced back and forth between those on the street we had passed on our way to the hall that had no hope and those that stood before us now.  Children who have come from such hopeless situations , now stood before us and sang of HOPE. Children who a short time ago may have never experienced what love can do,  now hold such a special place in our hearts.  

I thought to myself , this is what its about .. allowing ourselves to be open to LOVE ,  I thought that I was going to be able to hold it together , but as soon as the concert was over Sergey made his way over to me and gave me a big hug... I wanted to share with him the joy in my heart seeing all these kids today , but knew that speaking at that point would not have been possible .

All the different projects and people we work with are never far from my mind, but today I once again was able to see them as  individuals , I was reminded that after all is about the One... funny.... that was the message of today's concert.