Here are some pics.
21.12.11
Conversations with a toddler, preschooler and a year 1
Brandon and G man wrestling. B punches G in the arm or stomach a bit too hard.
G: "Daddy just cute punches."
B: "Like this?" (lightly tapping him)
G: "Yes"
At family worship on the sofa. We are reading about Adam and Eve eating from the tree.
B: "Do you think you guys would have eaten the fruit?"
J & A: "No"
B: "You wouldn't?"
A: "No, because I can't reach. I'm little."
A: "I would need a ladder."
Talking about the wind with Jolene.
J: "The wind is see-through and feel-through."
M: "Yes, it would be hard to grab and put in your pocket."
J: "Mom! The wind is already in my pocket! See, there is air in there."
M: "Yes, that is true. Good point."
G: "Daddy just cute punches."
B: "Like this?" (lightly tapping him)
G: "Yes"
At family worship on the sofa. We are reading about Adam and Eve eating from the tree.
B: "Do you think you guys would have eaten the fruit?"
J & A: "No"
B: "You wouldn't?"
A: "No, because I can't reach. I'm little."
A: "I would need a ladder."
Talking about the wind with Jolene.
J: "The wind is see-through and feel-through."
M: "Yes, it would be hard to grab and put in your pocket."
J: "Mom! The wind is already in my pocket! See, there is air in there."
M: "Yes, that is true. Good point."
14.12.11
Childhood games
Did you and your siblings ever invent strange and wonderful games?
My siblings and I had a few. One was called "Is it broken?" The crux of the game was to determine if the piece of food being held in front of your face by sibling X is either broken in half or not. Yes, it was a game of full of strategy. The hardest items to fool people with were potato chips. If broken in half it was hard to line up the edges neatly enough to look whole. Also, if you applied too much pressure the chip would crumble due to the stress points already being weak. Ha, I sounded like an engineer there :-)
So that was one game we played at mealtimes.
The other one that I remember had something to do with pretending we were ice cubes. This game could only be played when there were small/med sized fluffy clouds over head and wind. Basically you had to run from one shady spot to another without "melting". When a fluffy cloud passed over the sun you would strategically run from one shadow to another. You had to time it right and make sure your run wasn't too long or you might get caught in the sun and melt. We also liked to run down the street in the cloud shadow and then dive behind a parked car when it outpaced us.
I remember playing something similar to the ice cube game in the car as well. It involved pillows and hiding. Always a good combo.
Our kids have taken on the tradition of making up new games. Today the girls were playing "guess what is on this side of the sandwich?" Is it the peanut butter side or the honey side? Ohhhhh the suspense!
Another game they made up is called "hide N' seek wrestle." Like the traditional hide N' seek you have a someone counting and others hiding. However instead of running to base when found, you have to run to the living room rug and wrestle with the counter. You do this with each person you find. After the last person is found everyone goes to the rug for an all out brawl. Once exhausted or hurt*, you start the game over again. Brandon particularly enjoys playing this one with the kids. You have to watch out for G man though. He has learned how to dish out the elbow and if you aren't on alert you receive one in the face or gut.
*it is always someone gets hurt, never tired
My siblings and I had a few. One was called "Is it broken?" The crux of the game was to determine if the piece of food being held in front of your face by sibling X is either broken in half or not. Yes, it was a game of full of strategy. The hardest items to fool people with were potato chips. If broken in half it was hard to line up the edges neatly enough to look whole. Also, if you applied too much pressure the chip would crumble due to the stress points already being weak. Ha, I sounded like an engineer there :-)
So that was one game we played at mealtimes.
The other one that I remember had something to do with pretending we were ice cubes. This game could only be played when there were small/med sized fluffy clouds over head and wind. Basically you had to run from one shady spot to another without "melting". When a fluffy cloud passed over the sun you would strategically run from one shadow to another. You had to time it right and make sure your run wasn't too long or you might get caught in the sun and melt. We also liked to run down the street in the cloud shadow and then dive behind a parked car when it outpaced us.
I remember playing something similar to the ice cube game in the car as well. It involved pillows and hiding. Always a good combo.
Our kids have taken on the tradition of making up new games. Today the girls were playing "guess what is on this side of the sandwich?" Is it the peanut butter side or the honey side? Ohhhhh the suspense!
Another game they made up is called "hide N' seek wrestle." Like the traditional hide N' seek you have a someone counting and others hiding. However instead of running to base when found, you have to run to the living room rug and wrestle with the counter. You do this with each person you find. After the last person is found everyone goes to the rug for an all out brawl. Once exhausted or hurt*, you start the game over again. Brandon particularly enjoys playing this one with the kids. You have to watch out for G man though. He has learned how to dish out the elbow and if you aren't on alert you receive one in the face or gut.
*it is always someone gets hurt, never tired
7.12.11
Fruit of Spirit Calendar
I think I will turn the fruit pictures into a calendar. I spent some time this afternoon putting the date page together.
This is what it will look like hopefully. I moved the verses to the bottom of the date page so that they can be cut out and stuck somewhere else if desired.
This is what it will look like hopefully. I moved the verses to the bottom of the date page so that they can be cut out and stuck somewhere else if desired.
6.12.11
Fruits of the Spirit - Part 1
Some more memory verses made pretty. I think I will turn this into a calendar when finished.
Here are the first two.
Here are the first two.
4.12.11
Won't you be my neighbor? Part 3
Just a few pics of the red snapper at dinner time. As I said before it was delicious!
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| Ingredients |
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| Fish prep |
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| Ready for roasting |
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| After 30 mins. A feast! |
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| Customer #1 - Not sure why B's drink is in her hand? (!) |
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| Customer #2 - Ready to eat! |
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| Customer #3 - Taking this very seriously |
2.12.11
Won't you be my neighbor? - Part 2
Sorry this is a few days late.
I thought I should at least do A's b-day post seeing as though it too was already late. So our recent neighbor experiences...
Last Sunday the kids were playing outside and the neighbor boys ended up coming over to hang out for awhile. While talking to the boys we learned that their parents had kicked them out of the house because they, the parents, were trying to tile the kitchen floor. I realized that with the kitchen in disrepair the neighbors might have troubles cooking up dinner that evening, so after going back and forth about it we asked them over for a BBQ that night. I don't know why I was hesitant (is anyone ever hesitant at inviting unknown people over to their personal space?), it was a great opportunity to serve them while they were working on their kitchen. We had been praying for an opportunity and here it was.
We all walked over to their house and invited them over. They took us up on the offer and came over for a BBQ letting their new kitchen tiles rest a bit. They ended up staying almost three hours. We really had a good time talking to them about the school and community around us. We also told them about why we moved to the area (church re-plant? and talked about church in general for a while. A good time and we are thankful for the opportunity God gave us.
Their boys go to the school around the corner from us. It was good to talk to the the mom and dad about the school as we are considering sending Jolene there in a year or two. The school is only to grade 6 and has about 400 students. Not very big. It is a block from our house so she could easily walk there or ride her scooter. We will see how next year goes.
So take the opportunities as they come. Playing outside in the front yard/street is great when wanting to meet the neighbors. This is especially true on Sat/Sun when people tend to be home more often. During the week we hardly see anyone outside.
We get over there to see that the entire driveway is covered with fish, large fish. Apparently red snapper to be exact. Theo told us that he had been away all week fishing and this was the catch. He also said they had caught about 40 snapper, although one of the eskies (cooler) fell off the back of the ute and had tossed its contents all over the highway. Theo, being the very generous neighbor he is, offered us a snapper. I told him we would take one off his hands but that I didn't really know what to do with it after that. "I'll send my mom over", Theo replied.
Come Monday mid-morning, Theo's mom knocked on the door. I grabbed the fish form the fridge and we went out back. Here is what happened next.
We roasted the snapper that evening. It was delicious. The kids had seconds and thirds. We ate the entire fish. I boiled the head and made soup out of the stock. It turned into one big gelatinous mass while sitting over night in the fridge. Kind of funny looking the next day when dumping it into the pot. The soup was supposedly better then the fillets, according to B that is. I don't know if I would agree. I would have to say that they were both very tasty.
While we were watching Carol clean our fish the story of Jesus going to recruit his disciples came to mind. They used to be fishermen but were then called to be "fishers of men". Spending time with people in whatever form it may take is certainly part of being fishers of men. Helping others out and then be willing to accept the help and generosity of others. You never know where the conversations will go. I am thankful for the opportunity to learn from Carol and thankful that Theo was willing to share some of his catch.
I would like to have him over again soon to talk more about work and life. He told us that he wants to study banking so that he can be a banker and make lots of money. I asked him what he was going to do with all his money? Gu said "buy things." I asked "like what?" Gu responded "I don't know, maybe anime." I couldn't help laughing at that answer. It would be nice to talk to him more about having purpose in life, how materialism will never satisfy and other heart matters. Maybe in the future.
Gu is certainly not someone who is easy to have over. I always feel like I am interrogating him and he hardly ever asks us questions. Hospitality isn't always easy or comfortable, this is one of those situations. We are learning that there can be silence for several minutes in our conversations with him and it is OK. I am also learning to interpret his answers a bit better. I think learning to listen carefully and keep trying are the key lessons we are learning with Gu.
I thought I should at least do A's b-day post seeing as though it too was already late. So our recent neighbor experiences...
#1 - Answers
We have been praying the last few weeks that some opportunities would arise to either have the neighbors over or at least spend some time with them.Last Sunday the kids were playing outside and the neighbor boys ended up coming over to hang out for awhile. While talking to the boys we learned that their parents had kicked them out of the house because they, the parents, were trying to tile the kitchen floor. I realized that with the kitchen in disrepair the neighbors might have troubles cooking up dinner that evening, so after going back and forth about it we asked them over for a BBQ that night. I don't know why I was hesitant (is anyone ever hesitant at inviting unknown people over to their personal space?), it was a great opportunity to serve them while they were working on their kitchen. We had been praying for an opportunity and here it was.
We all walked over to their house and invited them over. They took us up on the offer and came over for a BBQ letting their new kitchen tiles rest a bit. They ended up staying almost three hours. We really had a good time talking to them about the school and community around us. We also told them about why we moved to the area (church re-plant? and talked about church in general for a while. A good time and we are thankful for the opportunity God gave us.
Their boys go to the school around the corner from us. It was good to talk to the the mom and dad about the school as we are considering sending Jolene there in a year or two. The school is only to grade 6 and has about 400 students. Not very big. It is a block from our house so she could easily walk there or ride her scooter. We will see how next year goes.
So take the opportunities as they come. Playing outside in the front yard/street is great when wanting to meet the neighbors. This is especially true on Sat/Sun when people tend to be home more often. During the week we hardly see anyone outside.
#2 The Red Snapper
That same Sunday we were outside talking to some other friends who stopped by the house. We noticed something going on in the drive way of our next-door neighbors and decided to wander over.We get over there to see that the entire driveway is covered with fish, large fish. Apparently red snapper to be exact. Theo told us that he had been away all week fishing and this was the catch. He also said they had caught about 40 snapper, although one of the eskies (cooler) fell off the back of the ute and had tossed its contents all over the highway. Theo, being the very generous neighbor he is, offered us a snapper. I told him we would take one off his hands but that I didn't really know what to do with it after that. "I'll send my mom over", Theo replied.
Come Monday mid-morning, Theo's mom knocked on the door. I grabbed the fish form the fridge and we went out back. Here is what happened next.
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| Taking the scales off |
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| The girls watching intently |
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| Taking the guts out |
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| Removing the gills |
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| Wash |
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| Egg sacks. You are supposed to dip them in flour and then fry. I forgot. |
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| Gills |
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| Inside of eye |
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| Head for fish-head soup |
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| Yum! |
While we were watching Carol clean our fish the story of Jesus going to recruit his disciples came to mind. They used to be fishermen but were then called to be "fishers of men". Spending time with people in whatever form it may take is certainly part of being fishers of men. Helping others out and then be willing to accept the help and generosity of others. You never know where the conversations will go. I am thankful for the opportunity to learn from Carol and thankful that Theo was willing to share some of his catch.
#3 Keep Trying
After trying for several weeks Gu finally came to lunch (he moved in with a fellow classmate several months ago). We tried to arrange something a few weeks ago, and then for Thanksgiving and then finally for last Sunday lunch. We enjoyed catching up with Gu. It has been several months since he moved out, making it difficult to keep in touch with him.I would like to have him over again soon to talk more about work and life. He told us that he wants to study banking so that he can be a banker and make lots of money. I asked him what he was going to do with all his money? Gu said "buy things." I asked "like what?" Gu responded "I don't know, maybe anime." I couldn't help laughing at that answer. It would be nice to talk to him more about having purpose in life, how materialism will never satisfy and other heart matters. Maybe in the future.
Gu is certainly not someone who is easy to have over. I always feel like I am interrogating him and he hardly ever asks us questions. Hospitality isn't always easy or comfortable, this is one of those situations. We are learning that there can be silence for several minutes in our conversations with him and it is OK. I am also learning to interpret his answers a bit better. I think learning to listen carefully and keep trying are the key lessons we are learning with Gu.
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