The gift of a smile

While Paul was out today taking care of repair work for the scooter, Elijah and I went to go visit some friends riding around on the bicycle rickshaws. The mornings are generally cool during the monsoon (especially if it just rained) so we decided to take advantage of it and get out of the house. It was our first time out together without daddy. It was quite an interesting experience.

I got lots of stares from people as I carried Elijah. I think people were wondering, "What is this dark skinned Nepali woman doing with such a fair skinned baby?" They were also probably trying to figure out if I was his mom. I also passed a couple of albinos. The funniest thing was that each of them would look at Elijah and then me, and give me a smile as if we shared something in common. How interesting, I thought....

But, what brought me almost to tears was when Elijah flashed a big smile at a bicycle rickshaw-waalah and he in return looked at me and unashamedly flashed a big smile back with his rotting teeth completely exposed. Each bicycle rickshaw-waalahs thereafter would smile at Elijah and then at me because Elijah would give each one of them a smile that said, "Thank you, and I think you are great!" I don't think I have ever seen a bicycle rickshaw-waalah flash a smile before.... When I was preparing for Elijah's baby dedication and praying about what to pray for for him, I got the sense that he would bring "the joy of the Lord" to people. I saw that in him today. What a gift and a blessing it is that we could bring joy of God to one another....we are meant to do that.