Upon the request of my dad, I have now updated my blog with something more seasonal. He's eally big on keeping with the seasons. And now that winter is right around the bend I figured I better get my fall spectacular photos up.
Here's a brief summary of fall: It went quick leaves turned colors they died and fell o our lawn Joe cleaned half of them up kids played I was sick Fall 08 Rocked
We went to the zoo in hopes to find Ava & Gabe's real parents. We were in luck, we found them!But poor us, they had been bronzed! So the kids decided to pick their real father's nose. It was truly precious. Now that Joe got back from his LA vacation, we are off & running our school year race. Joe pops in once and awhile then leaves again, but nothing beats the morning with dad. I get to work early, the kids get 2 hours of down time in the morning, and everyone gets to their schools and work on time. MONRING BLISS. Joe's off again to Wichita.
I only took this video because the boys playing were so giddy over winning. They are playing "War" with Gabriella who travelled with us. They were laughing and giggling so hard that they started to forget to take the cards. I guess winning will do that to a person. Sometimes knowing you won is better then the actual winnings. While we were there, we never saw one disagreement, fight, bad remark, degrading, jealous reaction, or dirty look. They functioned as a happy and well established family. They held eachother in the highest regard and took each person's role in the house seriously. Any serious matters are handled with wisdom and serious counsel and is not aired with people who are not involved. The children are separated within 3 houses: Girl house, boy house, brick house. Each house has house parents who live in an ajoining house. They raise the 14 kids in their house like they were their own. There was no distiction between biological children and adoptive children. The center is kept in immaculate care. Each child has daily duties of cleaning and care taking. They keep their home clean and presentable, unlike most of what we saw coming from the homes of the villages. There was such a stark contrast between the Christian Children's home and the non-believing villages, Sue called it an oasis in a dark land, and it truly was and is for the children and for us. Sue is the director of the center. She is almost 70 and stil runs around the cambodian country side like she was 19. She plans on retiring in a small cottage right on the centers back land. She will be in my prayers, God is doing a great work through her.
This is a video of the village people (american joke) singing this is the day in Khmer (what they call themselves, not Cambodian)
This village is a non believing village. But I will continue to pray that the words that theses kids sing will bare witness in their lives.
At the end of our time teaching English they sang a song that they wrote. The words were "thank you Jesus" and it sounded more like Sank you Sesus. It was precious and brought me to tears.
I prayed over the village that Jesus would protect them and that their hearts and ears would be open to learning more English and about Jesus. They take prayers very seriously and pray expecting some results. So I will continue this prayer. They are not use to dealing with a god who is alive and an active listener, let alone a god who answers. The statue of Buddah is dead or sleeping in most of their homes, and they have never questioned this. They also pray to their ancestoral spirits who are mostly deaf, because they don't answer thier prayers.
We were joyously received by this village and the children are forever etched in my heart. Especially the boy on the left in the video who was burned from head to toe. I don't know the story behind his severe burn, but his smile radiated in my heart. He picked up English quickly and was eager to gain my appoval. He loved his coloring book and crayons.
All the children and several parents (who looked 10 years younger than us, but were the same age) colored for 15 minutes and were so happy to receive this gift.
More pics to come.
2 Wednesday's ago we brought all the women who worked at the Children's home together, 3 house moms, 3 kitchen staff, and 1 teacher, and let them choose some jewlery. The jewlery was donated by Athena's aunt. The women also received a bag of shampoos and soaps. They absolutely loved all the gifts. They were trying on jewlery, laughing, watching for the set that looked best on each woman. Some of the ladies wore their jewlery throughout the week. They were very generous with eachother and did not covet the others choice or seem jealous or grabby during the whole process. Thier actions of "here, you choose first" were the opposite of what we saw in the village and throughout Cambodia, which was more me first, mine, give me. I pray my heart can be like these women when I receive. It's gonna take a lot of work on Jesus behalf.
Ava is a picky jumper. She really can't have anyone else on the trampoline, because she is afraid of heights, jumping, falling, jiggliocity, downfalls, up drafts, jerkiness, and the edge (not the U2 member). Enjoy the trampoline cuteness!
This is Ava Eggs. A morning delight for any late riser! A take on scrambled eggs, this cook knows how to throw down some breakfast deliciousness. She only cooks while adult supervision is sleeping. Her prefered cooking hours are between 6-7 a.m. She needs no help climbing into the fridge, carrying heavy egg trays, cracking the eggs, nor scrambling them into a really really small pot. She is completely able to mix her favorite flavors such as maple syrup together into a liquid egg soup. Just give her room to create and cook and you'll have a wonderful surprise breakfast all ready prepared for you, super early in the morning. Clean up not included on the Ava egg preparations.
YUP! I made paving stones. Don't hate. This 3 day process is a patience game. But, I WON! 3 more to go, which equals 9 more days of waiting, and winning!
Joe and I are pursuing the art of yard work. There is a lot of hemming and hawing from one end, but I gotta keep busy and our yard has been neglected for far to long.
Summers sometimes drive me nuts, because instead of teaching, I create a mile long to-do lists. Then I get anxious about doing them. On this weekend's Honey-you-better-get-this-crap-done-now list were the following tasks: finish staining the already 2/3 done massive deck, organize cupboards/garage, set paving stones in the front curb-appeal graden, reset brokem tile in basement, complete ALL laundry, semi clean house, and relax with friends... We got all done but the deck! As Ava says flamboyantly "WAHOO!" It rained 3/4th of the long weekend, so no stained deck for you! But I do have before and after picks of the rest. If you can't tell which is before and after shots, keep it to yourself. We're Proud Memorial Day Weekend Workers!
Ava's happiness Not much has changed with her over all personality. She is still bossy and tries to do what she wants when she wants it, but I just can't help bringing back some good ol fashion Ava maemories. She started creating them at a real young age.
She will be a hard one to raise. So far the trick is give her lots of space, let her reak havok, then watch her slowly clean it all up, occassionally helping, then cuddle. VERY HIGH MAINTANENCE.
