Emmalita - a sequence

Like many babies these days, 6 month old Emmalita is very aware of the camera on cell phones and she stops smiling immediately upon seeing it.  This time, I was trying to get her to smile when Conny distracted her and here is the result:

We are Fam-il-y!

Today I went to Balboa Union Church again.  The cab driver was very patient with me as I struggled to find the right nouns, verbs, genders and sentence constructions to express my thoughts.  As always happens, as I talked more, I became more confident and more "fluent-ish"  - or so it seemed to me anyway.  As a result, the ride sped by and then, all of a sudden, there I was.

I realized the moment I walked in and was greeted warmly by now-familiar faces that this is the place I am supposed to be (and need to be) on Sunday mornings.  It felt like it felt when I found First Congregational Church of Berkeley - like coming home.

Now, there are a number of wonderful people at UTP.  You've read about them in previous posts, and will read about more of them in the future.  So I don't want to diminish how wonderful they are in any way.  They have felt like family to me since I arrived and have welcomed me warmly and sincerely.

And it's similar at Balboa.

It's like there are two branches of the family - one from UTP, one from Balboa - who don't (yet) know each other.  Both are special.  Both are wonderful.  Both comprise my Panamanian family.  And I'm thankful for both.

Here are some pictures from this morning:

Connie

Emmalitta and her Mom, surrounded by her Abuela
and her honorary Abuelas

Thank Heaven for Walter
who figures things out for us
(like the check)

Pastor Roland

Martha, Emmalita's Real Arbuela (Grandmother)
and Pat in her honorary Arbuela role

Pat, the honorary Arbuelita