The calm before the storm

In another 30 minutes, guests will begin arriving for our 3rd and final Easter egg coloring event of this past week. We have 8 children whose parents have notified us about their presence. We may have several more coming who just show up. That would be ok, as we always prepare for a few drops ins.

This group, like the previous ones, will be an international hodgepodge. Two of the children, a brother & sister, have a Polish mother and a North African father. Another one has a French father and mother from Niger. Another has a French mother and father from Indonesia. Another one's mother is from Cameroon. Another one has French parents, but Jewish heritage, as well as one great grandparent who was American. Another has French parents, including a mother who is a professional painter who studied in England for 3 years. Another one is a neighbor in our building with a father who works as a flight attendant for international flights.

We love the mixture of peoples in our neighborhood and people in our lives. Some we see regularly, while others pass through Paris for short times. One of my former Wheaton classmates arrived in Paris on Thursday with her sister. I hadn't seen Ranita in a couple of decades until now. She and her sister have graciously brought many items for us, so it has been like another Christmas.

Yesterday my wife met with Liz, a Brit settled in Paris who teaches English. She graciously gave my wife all sorts of advice and material on teaching English to children.

We have been blessed by many people's generosity this week. We have enjoyed getting to share some of our resources from God with friends from the neighborhood and from around the world this week.

My older daughter is currently at a local cafe making chocolate eggs with some friends. She'll be back with a friend in an hour to color eggs here.

Now it's time to get to the final preparations for today.