Congrats Grads!

Recently, we had a blast of fresh air from America. It has come in the form of 14 girls from the ages of 18-25. All of the girls are taking their summers off of school, work, or play to join in our projects here. it's been exciting to see india again through fresh eyes, to see how their hearts break for the things that have become average and everyday for me. I feel exhausted and refreshed and renewed all in the same.

With all the craziness of getting new girls adjusted to the climate and culture, some days it feels like the world is falling apart, but I'm able to manage okay.

Mostly I wanted to share a story of the girls that just graduated from our stitching program here. The girls have known for a little while that their time was coming to an end, but it was such a precious day on Wednesday when we were able to throw them a graduation party.

We started class like we do every day, with a story. After the story, we had each of the girls share a little about what they hoped to do in the near future with their acquired sewing skills. Some were already pretty sad to not be coming in every week for classes. Coming to class had become a place for legitimate community and sharing every week for them, it was more than just learning to sew for them.

We shared some Indian snacks, coke, cake, and laughs. Then we presented all the girls with a laminated graduation certificate, graduation prize (gold-handled fabric scissors), and gave out prizes for the best attendance and highest marks for their final exam.

We didn't really know what to do with the next hour, and the girls were begging us to dance, so we did a little bit of the macarena and then played "Little Sally Walker." For Little Sally Walker, you stand in a circle, chat the following rhyme and then when you say "stop," you dance in front of the person you've stopped in front of and do a little dance. The girls were hysterical in that they were so embarrassed, but it was so much fun.


Little Sally Walker walkin' down the street
She didn't know what to do
So she stopped in front of me
And said, "hey girl do your thing, 
do your thing and switch. 
Hey girl do your thing, 
do your thing and switch."


Then as everyone started to head out and say goodbye, the tears started to flow. It's been 9 months of finally having the girls learn to trust one another, respect each other, learn how to sew, and hear stories daily about the goodness of Jesus.

Since the girls have graduated, they've come to visit a few times. We're keeping a sewing machine in the center where the girls can come and stitch when they have time, and I hope that becomes more frequent. I will miss each of the girls dearly.