Many years ago, when we lived in New Hampshire (1976-1978), Larry worked with Algerians in Burlington, MA. He was training young Algerians how to set up an electronics factory in Algeria. We were originally scheduled to move there for awhile but my pregnancy with Landon changed that plan. Larry really liked these young men, so every Sunday evening we would have four or five of them over for dinner. They were exceptional young men with whom we would speak French and laugh. It was so fun! Who knows if those early talks in French didn’t seal in Lindie a desire to speak other languages? These homesick young men often told of how much they missed couscous. We thought that was a funny name and filed it in the back of our minds.

Years later, as an AA pilot, Larry flew to France and saw a restaurant that served couscous as their specialty. He walked in and began visiting with the owner and his wife. They were from Morocco. A friendship began. This new friend would help us speak French. Once, I stayed with them for ten days. They even taught me to make couscous.

Later on, Lindie would live in France for six months, in the apartment of our Moroccan friends. During her time there, she met the Akil’s, who were originally from…….Algeria. The Aboucheikh’s and the Akil’s never met.

The Akil’s visited Lindie and family for a month. Lindie’s 12 year old daughter went to their home in Paris and stayed for a month, last summer. Every time I go to France I stay with them for a bit, improving my French, and, today, their 16 year old son is here for a month, and, oh, the fun adventure we are having! We have a home in Paris and they have a home in the US!

I find it absolutely SPELLBINDING how God uses these little events in our lives to create a fountain of blessings later in life. If we hadn’t had those young men over for dinners we wouldn’t have heard the word couscous and would have lost out on a very special friendship. I couldn’t have stayed in Paris for ten days. Lindie couldn’t have stayed in Paris for six months. (Their son also stayed with us in the US for a month when he was sixteen at that same time, a sort of exchange.) One word, “couscous,” planted from Algerians led to a friendship, and, then, ended in a new friendship with roots in….Algeria. God paid us back for our kindness to those Algerian boys and put an Algerian stamp on it to let us know.

Another story would be our Russian young man who lived with us for four years. Where is he now? Paris! I still find unusual blessings in my path with a tag on them that reads, “From Russia with love.” Larry’s FREE massage therapist during chemo was from Russia. Her touch helped greatly.

The French chef who passed away a week or so ago was also from Paris and came to us simply from a conversation in French on an airplane between that little three year old girl, Lindie, now grown and speaking five languages, who was, every Sunday, shut out of the conversation in French!

Every seemingly small act you do, God repays later, tenfold. You can’t out give him. He will even put a tag on it so that you know where it came from.

If you ever wonder about our mysterious connections, they ARE mysterious. They are otherworldly, in fact. They are no less than the work of God.

We continue to walk in the blessings while God continues to whisper, “Wait until you see what I have for you around the bend!”

In life, there will be opportunities for you to reach out and help others. These decisions to do so will benefit no one more than you.

An interesting side effect: our family’s favorite meal is now couscous.