Dewali!

Friday night I took Henry to the Diwali celebration sponsored by the students from India. He enjoyed watching the dancing and listening to the music. The campus has a thriving international student body, including students from Vietnam. I am glad to have a place in this rural area of Texas to expose Henry to international culture.

On Sunday I gave a talk in church. The meeting is a three hour block of three meetings--the first meeting is for everyone and Henry sits with me. We usually start out in the chapel and then move into a large classroom with a speaker running from the chapel. For the last two meetings there is a nursery for children 18 months to 3 years of age and Henry happily attends that. But I was worried about him Sunday because I had to ask a lady he didn't know to hold him during my talk. He was okay for the first ten or fifteen minutes--she sat toward the back and he couldn't see me. Then during a prayer over the sacrament (or communion) I heard a baby wailing. I thought it was Henry, but I was reluctant to open my eyes and look out into the congregation, fearing that they would all be looking back at me disapprovingly. Finally I did open my eyes just in time to see my Good Samaritan (which was also the subject of my talk) running out the back door with a screaming Henry. My talk proceeded and I sat through the next speaker's talk, but I dashed out into the lobby during the rest hymn and when Henry saw me he ran toward me like he hadn't seen me in days.