What does a 10-year-old love?

 

She loves to plan, design, and create.

 

She loves to experiment, decorate, and grow up.

 

She loves to analyze, observe, and adjust.

 

She enjoys the final product and loves to display her work.

 

Happy Birthday, Eika Lou!

What is holding you up?

For the past 3 months, Hank and I have been working through the Sonship study as part of our preparation for working with World Harvest Mission.  So far we have spent considerable time and energy working to chip away at all the defective foundations we use to hold ourselves up.  We are climbing under the pier of our appearance, finding that in so many areas we have been using rotting wood (faulty delusions and ego-boosting comparisons) as supports instead of the massive columns of granite we thought were there.  It is exhausting work.

What if we don't do this now?  What if we give it all a quick once-over and call it good enough?  We might be able to cruise a while longer, propping up with an extra accomplishment here and appearance of having it all together there.  But what about when the heavy stuff comes?  I mean the really heavy stuff of life, that will find us whether or not we move our family into the territory of hippos and crocs?

So we are chipping away, dragging out the driftwood and hauling our stubborn selves back onto something substantial.  What can hold us up?  

Here is our verse to memorize this week (paraphrased by an over-tired woman who should be in bed instead of writing because her throng of children won't take pity on her tomorrow morning despite the fact that it is Saturday):

May the God of all expectations, ambition, and reverie fill you with all jubilance, refreshment, wonder, and contentment of your soul as you depend on him, so that you may bubble over with hopeful anticipation by the energy and sinew of his Spirit!

PRAY this for us!

(You can find that in Romans 15:13 if you are wondering.)

 What is holding you up?

Check it out here.

A Wii or a Dairy Goat?

Here is Henry's Christmas wish list:

I'd love to hear your family traditions of giving to others.  Do you get tired of ALL. THE. STUFF. like we do?  Just in case you are wondering, we are not planning on buying Henry a machete for Christmas.  Or an Xbox.  Although I think a new yo-yo is a perfectly reasonable request.

I did realize something though.  This week 2 catalogs came in the mail.  One was from Oriental Trading, an entire company that sells nothing but junk like this:

  

The other catalog was from Samaritan's Purse, and its purpose was the complete opposite.  It was the Christmas Giving catalog, where you can purchase things like blankets or mosquito nets or a share in a new community well where there was previously no clean running water.

 

The kids always flip through whatever is out on the island where they sit to have breakfast and snacks.  There were dozens of dog-eared pages of slap bracelets and temporary tattoos.  This of course made me roll my eyes and promptly chuck the thing into the recycling bin, but I didn't really think about it until the next day when Henry brought me the other catalog.  "Mom, do you think we could do this again this year?  You know, like we bought the milk for those kids last year?"

It made me realize that although I can't control everything my kids see or hear or are exposed to, I can have an influence on what they think they need.  Just allowing them to be exposed to the fact that getting a milk goat would be a dream gift for so many families is significant.  Putting a jar out to save money together as a family for something like this helps just a little bit to bring the "need" for an iPod Touch into a little clearer focus.

Christmas giving that matters

As the Christmas season approaches (yeah, I know.  It's not even Thanksgiving yet, but the signs are all around us!) it is very easy to get pulled in to the very Western materialism that is gift giving and gift getting.  If I step back a moment and consider gifts I might give or receive this year (or in years past) I see that not many of those gifts meet any real need.  No offense to the gift givers or recipients--I'm deeply thankful for the love and thoughtfulness of family and friends and how it is often expressed, but consider.  I have a warm dry house, nice clean clothes in my closet, fresh food in the fridge and pantry, and money in the bank.  My basic, material, substantive needs are met and the rest is "icing on the cake", right?

How about those who don't have a warm dry house, but live in a hut made of corrugated metal?  How about those who wear the same tattered and dirty clothes day in and day out?  How about those with no fridge and no fresh food who are going hungry every day?  They certainly don't have money in the bank and they have no cake and no icing.

Consider giving something this year that will make a lasting difference for some of these people.  There are many charitable organizations to which you can donate--Samaritan's Purse, Red Cross, Union Gospel Mission, and the list goes on.

I'd like to give two other examples that pertain to Burundi, the place now near and dear to our hearts.

First, watch this video about milk for transformation in Burundi.  It's really amazing to see how this is impacting families and the country.  For some reason I'm having trouble imbedding the Youtube video so just click here.  You also get a great taste for the land and people of Burundi in the video.

Here's the link to Great Lakes Outreach with more info and links for donating.  It is a secure site and your donation is tax deductible under the 501(c)(3) tax laws.

Second, you could also donate to Hope Africa University, a Christian University in Burundi.  This is the school where our friends have partnered to teach medicine and where we hope to participate as well.  There are many current and ongoing construction (buildings, wells, etc) projects that need funding as well as scholarships for the students.  You can give via Friends of HAU--also tax deductible. You can specify how you want your donation allocated--our friends are at Kibuye Hope Hospital.

I hope this gives you some gift giving ideas as the Christmas season approaches.  It can make a real and lasting difference in someone's life.

Climbing

Both of my boys have been climbers since before they could walk.  I remember Henry as a little toddler, tipping his head back to take in the full height of something tall, and asking if he could climb it.  Jude does the same thing.  When Jude saw the skyscrapers in Seattle this weekend, he immediately started talking about climbing them.  The mountains around Banff elicited the same ideas. 

So here he is.  It's not a mountain, but there's risk involved.  A tasty temptation is at the top.  "I climb dat, Mommy?"

 
He is capable.  There are strong hands below for the moment he forgets where he is, but he is steady even above my head.

 
He is strong.  He sees something good, and he is going for it.

Would it taste this good without the climb for it?  No way!

 I love his determination!  I love his exultation in the prize!  I hope for all of my kids that they continue to chase the good things in life with such passion.