Lake Lasalle

One of these days I'm going to go out and clean out the drain in front of our house to avoid the "lake effect" after a big storm.  The neighbors go out and play in it and come out a muddy mess!  When it rains hard all the cars parked on the street frantically get moved.  Thus far nobody has got stuck or stalled their car.

Phone Fun!

I'm still enjoying playing with the photo editing on my phone.  I'm getting better at it.  The nice thing is that you can do it while you're waiting on kids or standing in line!

A Rainy Day's Fun

One rainy day Ana asked for something fun to do.  I went and pulled out my wedding dress (that my mother in law had kept for me while we were away).  Ana happily tried it on and posed for pictures.  She says that she wants to wear it at her wedding--we'll see in another 20 years :)

The Oaks' Spring Fling

 The Spring Fling consists of a parade to show off your costume.  They are supposed to be a person or animal from a country you studied during the year.

 After seeing the costumes you go back to the room and do some recitations together.

 Ana won an award for her Chinese Dragon in art.

 I'm not sure how Chinese it looks, but I suppose it is creative!

Ana chose to wear her Indian costume.  We borrowed some bracelets from Shepherd and painted a henna design on her hand.  She was very pleased with how she looked.  

My New Phone...

It was a deal too good to pass up...an unlocked Amazon Fire for $189 WITH a year of Amazon Prime--which we use everyday anyway.

The camera takes amazing pictures and it is fun to play around with them on the phone.  I have a feeling I'll be taking a lot more pictures of everyday happenings.  The camera in the phone has more megapixels than my Canon!!

We had a nice visit with my Grandma on Saturday as well as meeting Aunt Kim and Uncle Jack for an early dinner at Cracker Barrel.  All in all a very peaceful day--which is somewhat rare for us!  

Maybe You've Heard This Story, But I Hadn't...

Today a fellow teacher shared a devotional about an Australian man named Cliff Young.  He was a 61 year old sheep farmer that showed up to run a 544 mile ultra marathon in work boots, bib overalls, and galoshes.  The other 10 young athletes thought it was a joke.  He didn't run--he shuffled.  He DID NOT SLEEP.  It was the practice of the other athletes to run 16 hours and sleep 8 hours.  His training came from chasing sheep on his ranch to round them up.  He had done this since he was a child!

He kept running and amazingly passed them all, set a new record, and gave all the prize money to the other athletes.  His running style and lack of sleep is now used by all the runners in the race!

It's amazing to me that this man lived his whole life in the middle of nowhere and then one day showed up and did what was "normal" for him to do.  While the other athletes trained year round--he had been prepared by his daily life.

This really speaks to me that we should live our life so that we are ready when our moment comes.  Live so that you are prepared to go all out for that which you were created.

Ana's Baboon Presentation

Video Here

At the Oaks Academy every first grader does an in depth presentation/board on an African animal.  For some strange reason Ana chose the baboon.  She was happy that no one else chose this animal.  I was unable to go as I had to stay home with China and Mitike.  So, Matt videoed this.  If you get motion sickness--don't watch, just listen :)  She did a great job!  I'm glad this school really focuses on public speaking.  When you get used to it as a child, it's much easier as an adult!

Finally...

I got the paint for the birthday and just finished painting today.  I love how it turned out!  With all the woodwork and wall patching, it involved quite a lot of time. It really makes the room feel a lot more welcoming!  Now Matt and I are arguing over whether to redo the floors before adding the quarter round to the base boards :)  Wish me luck!

Mei-Mei has

finally turned into a real basset!  She can frequently be caught napping in the sun!  She still has her puppy moments, but now that she is approaching two she is a lot more chill!  Hooray!

Memphis part 2

 One afternoon trucks showed up and replaced my parents electric pole.  This provided hours of entertainment!  The workers were super nice and showed the kids were they could stand and watch safely.

One night we went out to eat at Memphis Bar-b-que.  The kids liked the pork rinds until they found out what they were and then they wouldn't touch them!  They also had some really good (but not good for you) fried cheese balls with a mustard dressing.  Of course, the meat was good too!

 After getting back to Indiana we had an Easter egg hunt and had a good service at church.  Ana loves her new outfit and getting all dressed up.

It was also nice to get to see extended family.  I always enjoy hearing stories and other bits of wisdom!

Memphis part 1

For Spring Break we drove down to my parent's house for a few days.  It was quite a bit warmer and we enjoyed the sunshine.

 Ana always love to come to this huge playground in Nesbit.  She made an instant friend and played happily.

 We enjoyed some ice cream with Grandma and Grandpa.

 We visited the Memphis zoo one day.  I loved the tiger enclosure.  It reminded me of India.

 One neat thing was that you could get up close to many of the big cats!

 The seahorses were very active and fun to watch move around!

 I loved visiting the Chinese pavilion where the Panda Bears are housed.

 It was fun to watch him chow down on the bamboo.  (It's all grown at a local farm!)

 The gorillas were pretty amazing too!

This zoo is a little larger than Indianapolis' and had quite a few different animals!

An Encouraging Article

As I missed church (and Matt's birthday lunch at an Indian restaurant) this morning to literally wrestle some things out with Mitike, I had some time to read.  I found the following article encouraging! Click here  An older neighbor reminded me the other day that this time in my life is a season--IT WILL NOT BE FOREVER!  This article talks about how hard it is to pray when nothing seems to work, BUT it is still necessary.  I know it is difficult (even for counselors) to understand what is going on unless you've lived it, so just pray for us that God would help us to persevere AND give the team of doctors, counselors, life skill coaches, and social workers wisdom.  We don't want to be stuck--pray we keep moving on.