A much needed update!

Since it's been quite awhile since Mindy and I have updated our blog, I thought I would take some intiative (and take a break while studying for finals) to update you all about what's new living in Frogtown!:)

 Since we moved in to our house we've kept hearing that there was going to be a family moving in to the other half of our house SOON. So, we thought it would be maybe one or two months before we had new neighbors. Well, we learned rather quickly that "soon" is a very relative term. This past Februrary "soon" finally arrived and new neighbors moved into the other duplex half of the house. We learned that the family that would be moving in was not only new to this neighborhood, but new to this country (aka they just stepped off a plane from Thailand) as well. We learned that they were Karen (pronounced "Ka-Ren") refugees, an ethnic minority group from Burma who have been heavily persecuted. They had been living in refugee camps for over a decade now in Thailand.

I will probably never forget the first time we met this wonderful family. Mindy and I decided we didn't want to overwhelm them too much their first night in the U.S., so we waited a few days before we decided to go over and visit them. After a few days, the anticipation to meet this family was growing so we decided to make some chocolate chip banana bread as a house-warming gift. We weren't sure if the family knew any English, so we excitedly looked up how to say a few words in Karen to introduce ourselves. Suprisingly, the translations we found online for "hi, how are you?" "my name is ____" and "what is your name" were correct and we were able to have a very basic convo with the family!

However, we weren't quite as lucky with the house-warming gift we made. The word we had found online for bread "goh", apparently did not seem like a word they had heard before. So, needless to see there were a few blank stares from them when we tried to explain what we brought over for them as a gift. We later found out that there is that the family had never had bread before, so they thought it was a cake!

 The following months we got to know the family members really well, especially the daughter named Poem who is the same age as Mindy and I.  Even though she only had a year of English in school in Thailand, she is very fluent. It has been incredible building a relationship with Poem because similar to Mindy and I she really has a heart for justice and learning about social justice struggles throughout the world. Poem's determination blows both of us away. She is such an inspiration to both Mindy and I and I can't wait to see what God has in store for her!

The family members living with Poem included her two younger brothers who are both in high school, her grandma, mother, father and her little brother (who is 3 or 4 I believe). Her little brother is such a character! Every time we would go visit the family in their duplex he would get a ton of energy and pretend to be a boxer, flailing his arms and throwing punches in the air. He would always be wearing a "Rooney" soccer jersey, so they called him "Ronnie" after the renowned soccer player. He would run up to his family members (and even Mindy and I sometimes!) throwing playful punches at the person and then say "yah-eh-nah" (which means "I love you") in Karen and make the sign-language sign for "I love you" simultaneously. Countless times the family served us meals when we came over to visit them. Their generosity continues to astound me.

 I could probably go on and on (and I'm sure Mindy could too!) about how incredibly blessed we have been by this family, but since it is finals week next week I just wanted to give a little overview:) Sadly, the family decided to move after 2 months of living here, but fortunately for both of us they are still living relatively close by, only a 15 minute drive to the other side of St. Paul.

Two days after Poem's family moved out we received another email from Urban Homeworks that a different Karen family who had just arrived to the U.S. would be moving in the NEXT day!! It was great getting to give this family a house-warming gift of a traditional Karen desssert (plus we didn't have to try to explain what it was!). We have just started to get to know the new family that moved in a little better (they moved in in April).

The other day was absolutely beautiful outside and the kids from the new Karen family were playing outside. Mindy, Kori (one of our other roommates) and I joined them for an intense game of backyard soccer and "keep away".  Another neighbor kid came and joined us as well. Even though it is difficult for us to communicate with one another (because we don't know that much Karen and they know a little bit of English) it continues to amaze me how much God uses simple actions, such as laughter or a smile, to speak more than any amount of words ever could. The youngest daughter, who we think is 5 years old, couldn't stop laughing. Every time we would throw her the ball she would erupt into a fit of giggles, accompanied by one of the most genuine smiles I've seen in my life.

That day, playing outside on a hot, May day with neighbors from various ethnic backgrounds, ages and places in life was truly heavenly.

Reflecting on that day and all of my experiences living here in Frogtown over the past few months, I cannot help but smiling when thinking about the relationships that Mindy and I have built with these two amazingly, genuine and loving families. I cannot wait to see what life-changing relationships Mindy and I will make with even more people on our street this summer! As always, we welcome guests with arms wide open and would love for you to come experience a slice of our life livin' on Blair Ave.

Peace & Love,
Sarah:)