God Loves Bad Guys

     I have been back in Madison for just over a week now (although it kind of feels like it has been forever), and I'm pretty much back into the rhythm of things. Now that the fall DTS is on outreach, I am living in town with my friend Kenzie. Next week, we will be moving from the house we are currently in to the house of another YWAM couple, where we will be living for the remainder of my time here. Its really good to have that settled, because up until Monday, I knew that I had one week left here at the Applegates, and I had nowhere to go after that.
     Preschool is totally back into the swing of things. Last week, it was a fairly mild day, and we had access to a sled for once, so we spent quite awhile outside, sledding on our backyard hill. The kids had so much fun! I'm hoping to be able to buy a few cheap sleds, rather than having to depend on parents bringing one in for the day. Even if I have to pay for it myself, I think it would be worth it.
     On Tuesday, I talked to the children about how much God loves everyone. It is something that I was pondering on my own during quite time the past few days, and so I thought maybe I should talk about it again. I read about King David and how God loved him very much. "Do you think that David was God's favourite?" I asked the kids. They all chimed "Yes!" :) So I told them that God loves all of us, and He doesn't have a favourite person who He loves more than anyone else. Then we talked about who God all loves. "Do you think that God loves someone who is a robber?" I asked (one fairly consistent prayer request is that no bad guys or robbers destroy our city). They all shook their heads, emphatically saying "No!" So I told them that God definitely does love the bad guys and the robbers, He just doesn't love what they DO. This apparently kind of blew their minds, because today at our staff meeting, we were telling each other what God had said to us while we were thinking about what 2016 holds. The father of one of my students went, and he started by saying "Well, my son just told me that God loves bad guys but not the things that they do."
     It made me laugh a lot :) And it reminded me again that the children are learning things!
     I love preschool. And I am so excited to hear where it will go even after I leave. On Mondays mornings, I will be meeting with a few other staff members to pray about the preschool and where God wants to take it.
    One other thing -something I never thought I would have to do!- that happened today. Tiff, my one-on-one, came to pick me up to go to Starbucks. They don't own a car right now, but one of the staff who is on outreach is letting them borrow hers. So Tiff doesn't usually drive around in the winter. When her car pulled into my driveway, the front windshield was totally covered in frost still (she lives just down the street, so I guess it wasn't THAT unsafe...). "I was running late already, and I didn't realize I had to defrost the car," Tiff said, "So I figured we could wait here until it is defrosted." Then she looked behind her and saw the brush "Oh, maybe I could try the scraper thing!" she said. She grabbed it, very lightly tried it on the window, and then shook her head, "Nope, I guess we will have to wait." I laughed and held out my hand. I scraped the windshield. Tiff was like, "Oh! It doesn't scratch the glass?!"
     Yes. Today I had to teach a nearly 29 year old woman how to scrape the car windshield...
     It isn't her fault, I suppose. She is from Mississippi.
     Blessings,
          Katie

Before Christmas, the children decorated snowmen. They loved it!

For our Christmas party with the DTS, we had "waffle doughnuts". I ran out and bought all 60 of the doughnuts. I have never felt more American in my life!

One day we were hanging out at the TC when someone told us all to go look at the rainbow that was over the TC. It was directly over it, and so cool!

Being home for 2 weeks at Christmas was great! I love my family! Kyle with his mathematical equations trying to figure out how a game was made, and Joel with his Star Wars kid puzzle!

It was a long drive back to Madison last Monday. I stopped at the Oasis just past Chicago, as I always do. The sunset was super pretty!

My dear friend and housemate (to be roommate), Kenzie. She had never had jello before, so we made some in a mini-muffin tray. She decided to try and slurp the jello out. So much laughter that night!

My friend Keisha is crazy talented at drawing and (especially) writing. I bought this plain brown notebook, and she decorated it for me. After 23 years, I still can't draw a good maple leaf. Keish can first try! Sheesh! She's in Latvia right now, on outreach, so keep them in your prayers!