When it rains, it pours

I realized that I have been telling a lot of stories but I haven't been posting any pictures. This is partially because I have been unsure about whether or not I can post photos of refugees. Today I finally decided that if I am not giving identifying information or telling deeply personal stories then if nobody knows, no one is hurt. So after no photos for five months, here are a bunch of photos from events this year:

Our JV christmas card (many of you have seen this and know that there is also an "eye spy" game with this.

A photo of the "tributes" for the JV hunger games in Tacoma last week. Just a reminder, Gresham won.
(In this photo you can see our lovely costumes representing Gresham's "industry" of salons)

This is the famous Manuel during his intake with my coworker

This mom was reunited with her son after more than 5 years apart (he was left in the camps when she resettled)

This is a somali family with the CUTEST pair of kids I have ever encountered. You will notice that Somali men do NOT smile for pictures.

During one of our JV parties we all got "hand dragon" temporary tattoos. The next day at church someone asked me if that was a real tattoo--all I could think was "how dumb do you think I am?" although it would give a completely different tone to that book/movie "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"