Tour de Cafe

Three years ago at Catholic Charities' annual 'Tour de Cafe' I had just started volunteering with an ESL class and walked up the stairs with two little African children from the ESL class in either hand. Little beknownst to me, I would meet the man who would become my husband that night, and his initial attraction to me would be my apparent love for internationals. You can read here for the rest of this story under the "How We Met" section of our "KNOT" page.

The 'Tour de Cafe' has been a special event for the past two years because of that. However, not only is it special because it's the place where I met Daniel, it's special because it's the night when we at Catholic Charities celebrate refugees by having a coffee, tea, and treat tasting of food from all over the world as well as music and art presented by the refugees. This man is a former ESL student of mine and I currently tutor his son. Daniel is his employment case manager. He is from Burma and of the Karen people group. He is a phenomenal artist. Here are some samples of his paintings.I also tutor four of the kids in the this family. The father, grandmother, and baby stayed home this night. There are 10 people living in a four bedroom apartment - grandmother, parents, and seven children. Can you imagine? They are such a sweet family with hearts that love the Lord. During Christmas Catholic Charities gives Christmas gifts to our families through Toys for Tots and private donors. I was teaching ESL to these parents at the time and got to deliver their Christmas gifts. The oldest daughter wrote me the sweetest letter thanking me for the gifts and speaking blessing over me from a passage in Psalm 12. So sweet!