Bob & Martha

You know that quote in You've Got Mail where they talk about a "bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils"? Now that reminds me of Martha Wright. She and I both have a thing for sharpening pencils. Maybe it's the sound it makes when you stick it in the sharpener, or that fresh smell of graphite and wood shavings (mmm), or the look of sharp lead when you take it out.

Martha has a PhD in linguistics, I think. She did her thesis work when they were in Eritrea; she studied Tagrinian (sp?) and how kids learned in the primary schools. I decided I definitely did not want to pursue any more higher education when I saw the size of her finished thesis. ;) Anyway, she and Bob got me hooked on all kinds of good books, like Nigel Barley and Lief Enger's Peace Like a River.

Bob reminds me a lot of my dad in some ways. He laughs at the same things. It was always fun taking an afternoon tea break with him - often greasy from trying to fix one of the mission vehicles or someone else's - and Martha. This year the older kids had become coffee drinkers, having their morning coffee with milk and sugar sometimes before school.

I realize this is a very random posting, but I've just been thinking today about how much I like the Wrights! Lots of good memories. Lol, I just thought of the time Martha and I were peeling potatoes out of a big basket. She picked one up and a big spider ran out, across the table. I had a crazy idea that it was going to get on me so I jumped up and screamed. And I think knocked my chair over...

Anyway, I am so thankful for Martha and Bob's friendship. Letting me lie on their couch last year when I had malaria and was too lonely to stay in the big house by myself, Martha bringing me along to Bible studies in the village, taking me along when they went to Kampala and treating me like one of their family. It's good to have friends like that.