Analise’s good friend, Ansley, spent the night with us last night. We enjoyed some outside time yesterday afternoon, and Ansley taught Analise some cheers so they could cheer of Josiah’s scootering.
This morning (after excitedly waking up at the crack of dawn), the girls and I went to the International Tea with their Daisy Scout troop. We had a great time, and Analise even bravely went up front to present their troops charity donation, and shared in the microphone how much they’d given. Their troop was definitely the youngest group there, and I was so very proud of her!
I’ve wanted to blog so many times, yet I just haven’t gotten to it. No excuse… just busy with life, kids, the usual sicknesses of winter, and just plain laziness. If I am to get caught up, it will seem too overwhelming, so I’ll just start right here, right now.
It’s March already! How did that happen?!? Here’s a couple random glimpses that our camera captured recently…
My sweet girl, all dressed in pink and brown, in my favorite hairstyle... braids. She is just so cute.
While Analise and I had a Daisy Scout meeting, Brian and Josiah went to his preschool art show. Here's my crazy sweet boy with his table of artwork.
At a Sunday afternoon bike race (which Brian has placed 3rd and 2nd in!), we found this little possum clinging to a tree that seemed too small for him. So cute!
It’s crazy – I just looked at my blog post about Josiah pulling the toilet paper all the way out into the living room, and I posted it because it was so funny to me at the time yesterday morning – but it almost made me sick just now after clicking our blog link in such close proximity to reading a BBC story and video about possibly more than 100,000 people killed in the earthquake there and an email from Compassion International about the 65,000 compassion children (1/3rd of which live in the Port au Prince area) whose lives will never be the same – if they are still even alive. It puts everything in perspective.
Jesus we don’t have $50, actually all we have is a massive debt so here it is anyway… http://www.compassion.com/
It’s been a busy Christmas season starting with Analise’s kindergarten program at Rocky Ridge Elementary School. Check out these two videos …
4 minute video collage of several songs:
90 second video of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer where Analise and 5 other kids got to lead the first part:
We opened Christmas presents early in preparation for our trip up to Wisconsin. So this was a short video from Sunday morning when the kids had just woken up and been allowed to open one present each:
Sunday morning, Analise was so excited to sing and dance on stage at church during Kids Clubhouse:
Sunday night, Analise and Josiah sang together as part of the Lakeside Kids Music Christmas program. Here is a clip of their songs:
Finally, last night Josiah had his 3 year old Christmas program from the Lakeside Mother’s Day Out program. We had a fun adventure walking over through the woods to Lakeside, doing the program, and then walking back home in the cold windy weather — training for Wisconsin!
Analise is off school this whole week, so we got a little crafty today, doing painted leaf prints around thankful lists. They turned out very nice, and I got a big lump in my throat seeing their sweet answers, and Analise’s carefully printed list, with “Mom” at the top. I’m so thankful!
I just finished reading Andrew Peterson’s latest book, North! Or Be Eaten, and it was amazing! Before I get into the details of my review, here is the summary from the back cover in the edition published by Waterbook Press in 2009:
First they found themselves On The Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness. Now they must make their way North! Or Be Eaten…
Janner, Tink and Leeli Igiby thought they were normal children with normal lives and a normal past. but now they know they’re really the Lost Jewels of Anniera, heirs to a legendary kingdom across the sea, and suddenly everyone wants to kill them.
In order to survive, the Igibys must flee to the safety of the Ice Prairies, where the lizard-like Fangs of Dang cannot follow. First, however, they have to escape the monsters of Glipwood Forest, the thieving Stranders of the East Bend, and the dreaded Fork Factory.
But even more dangerous is the jealousy and bitterness that threaten to tear them apart, and janner and his siblings must learn the hard way that the love of a family is more important than anything else.
I undertook this latest book after having recently completed a re-reading of the C. S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia series and the J. R. R. Tolkien Lord of the Rings series. I would definitely include the Wingfeather Saga alongside the works of these great authors, and I am already anticipating the day that Peterson writes and releases the next book in the series. This book is addressed to a more advanced audience than C. S. Lewis’s Narnia, but without the deluge of history and details that sprinkle Tolkien’s novels. Peterson gives just enough detail to let the reader know that the places and towns the Wingfeather’s find themselves in have a rich history without taking away from the nonstop action and exciting adventures that befall the Wingfeather family. In fact, my one complaint about the book is that there never is a good time to set it down!
If you like The Chronicles of Narnia or the Lord of the Rings series’, I highly recommend the first book in this series, On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness (book 1 in The Wingfeather saga). Be sure to have book 2, North! Or Be Eaten close at hand so you can just keep reading this great story. In fact… Andrew Peterson’s site has both books (signed!) listed for $20.
Andrew Peterson is the author of On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, Book One in the Wingfeather Saga, and The Ballad of Matthew’s Begats. He’s also the critically-acclaimed singer-songwriter and recording artist of ten albums, including Resurrection Letters II. He and his wife, Jamie, live with their two sons and one daughter in a little house they call The Warren near Nashville, Tennessee. Visit his websites: www.andrew-peterson.com and www.rabbitroom.com
Five yaers ago, even at this late hour (remember Steve & Corrie?), my little girl was about to burst into this world and change my identity forever… for the better, as I gained the title of “mother”. So cliche, I know, but I can’t believe my tiny 6lb 15oz wide-eyes bundle has grown into such a beautiful young woman. We had a lovely day (that started early due to the excitement!) with tiaras, bedroom makeovers, friends & family, princess cake, and lots of presents and love.
Ok, I’ve got a text file here with all kinds of tidbits I wanted to post, as well as pictures that I want to post. But I stumbled across this beautiful post about Palm Sunday, my most favorite day in the church calendar.
Palm Sunday. The Triumphal Entry. Palm branch waving, I cry from my heart Hosanna! Lord, Save Me!
I am desperate for a Savior. I am desperate to be freed from my oppressor. I am ready to be lifted from the mirey clay and to have my feet set upon that solid Rock. No more slipping, sliding, stumbling. Just firm and steady ground beneath my feet.
Of course we’ve been talking about love this week. Analise has been practicing her bible verse, “We should love one another” in one breath, while snapping at her brother in the next. Makes me wonder how deep my teaching is going.
But this awesome post reminds me that my siblings are not out of the ordinary. Other families struggle to love one another. And the deeper message speaks to my heart… that love doesn’t come naturally to us. It requires dying to self, and that is a painful business that I wreste with day by day, even moment by moment. So I’ll keep struggling for myself, hoping that in the death of myself, my children will see and learn of the greatest Love… and hopefully, eventully, graciously, maybe we’ll see more moments of loving each other than loving themselves. Some day…
We’re doing well here in Nicaragua. It’s quite an adventure experiencing this place that’s so dear to my heart with the little ones. Actually, it’s hard and very different. But it is so wonderful to be here, and we’ve had some great experiences so far, and I know there are many more to come this next week.
Friday, we traveled with Andrew and Jane Longley and their 2 kids the same age as ours, the directors of Nuevas Esperanzas, up the main well-paved road, onto a dirt road, then onto a road that I’d barely consider a road with our 4 wheel drive. Then we reached a rural farm where we parked the car I was driving. We piled into the Land Cruiser truck, 3 in the front, and 3 adults/3 kids in the back to drive up a barely passable rocky ravine, that is actually called a road to take us further up the side of the volcano Telica. Nuevas Esperanzas has worked with a small primitive rural village up on the volcano to help them build rainwater collection tanks, because they don’t have access to drinking water on top of the volcano. These people normally travel 2 hours down the rocky “road” on horseback to fill 2-30gallon jugs and bring them back for their water use, or the women trek down the mountain to do their laundry in the springs. Amazing.
We bumped and bounced up the “road” that Nuevas Esperanzas is helping them “pave”, which means hand-mixing cement (after hauling up huge bags of cement and sand on horseback) to put between the big rocks of the road. It’s already made a huge difference for these people in being able to get the beans and avocados they grow down to the main road to be taken somewhere to sell. They used to joked that they grew avocados, but by the time they reached the bottom they were guacamole! They’ve done several sections of road already, but they are hoping to find the funding to do several more in the future.
When got as far as we could go (though Andrew said he could drive the rest of the way, but we’d never make it in the back!), we piled out of the truck and hiked 1.5 miles up the volcano to see the village and have lunch in the school. It was quite a huge undertaking with the kids, but they did really well. The people are so wonderful, and it’s amazing to see the tank and to know what a difference it’s made. Nuevas Esperanzas is hoping to find the funding to do many more smaller tanks at various houses, letting the locals do the construction themselves now that they’ve completed the large one at the school themselves. It’s amazing what we take for granted when we turn on the faucet to rinse an apple or brush our teeth.
Ok, enough chatter. The kiddos are getting restless with their movie, so I’d better sign off. Please keep us in your prayers, especially for grace and patience with each other and the kids as we try to dive in and experience this beautiful place. Thank you so much for sharing in our journey back here!
