Christmas Vacation

A time to wear PJ's all day long.

A time to stay up late eating popcorn and watching movies.

A time of care-free, bike ridding, friends-come-over F.U.N.!!!

During the last 2 weeks of Christmas Vacation we had 3 opportunities to spend some QT with dear friends. 

1.  "Happy Birthday Jesus" party hosted by Kelly Ikenouye and her 3 kid crew.

2.  While Malia was kickin' it in SD with Mima and Papa, Zach invited Morgan and Sophia (aka The Twins) over for smoothies and giggles.

  3.  Taryn cruised over with her scooter for lunch and hours of pretend play.

Preschool is just days away, but we'll have these pictures to remind us of all the JOY we had during the Holiday.

A stroke of genius

Today I tied the last rafia bow, marking the completion of the 2010 Christmas Wrap-athon.  The frenzied cutting and taping left behind various treasures on our living room floor.  Oliver and Zachary discovered that the long cardboard wrapping paper tubes make excellent fire hoses, valiant swords, and head-boppers, creating a morning filled with noisy fun.

But the momentary stroke of genius came during the boys' nap when I discovered a brilliant use for the wrapping trash:  Boot Stabalizers.    Just fold the tube in half, place it inside the boot and voila, no more slouchy shoe. (forgive the totally gorgeous photography-- naptime always ends too soon so I'm in a hurry!)

 Now, I'm sure there is an actual product out there to do this very job, but re-purposing is eco-friendly, and totally worthy of mention in Real Simple mag's 'New Uses for Old Things'.

And whenever I wear my boots, the boys get their hose-sword-headboppers back for more fun!

Marinating

Everywhere we go, the friends and family who sent us off to India with prayers and well-wishes ask, with eager expectation, "How was your trip?".  Unfortunately our replies have been quips, or trite remarks like "It was crazy.", and we've left the inquisitive ears void of meaningful words.

This is because our thoughts are trapped in a traffic jam of mixed emotions, and two months later we still don't feel prepared to give an answer.  Our hearts are still marinating in the sights, sounds, relationships, and heartbreaks we experienced.

Here's what we do know.
God appointed us to go, and confirmed this truth to us while we were there.

We became Trustees of the Literacy Mission Center and see immediate needs within the mission that our unique personalities and gifting can be used to ameliorate.

God's ways are not our ways.  We went ready to act swiftly;  God is telling us to slow down and wait for Him to purify His church.

The literacy work IS a good work!  The Gospel is preached and received, and countless Hindu's are destroying their idols and worshiping God alone...and at great cost to themselves.

God wants us here in Moorpark, at least for now.  We maintain open hearts and minds and are willing to do whatever work God may fashion for us.  It is clear that my work is raising 3 little people and doing the very ordinary things involved in being a SAHM (today it is to graciously nurture them through the yucky flu! and to change the sheets again with a smile!).  Marty's work is to commit himself to excellence in the business world, sacrifice at home, and service within our church.

We hope to organize and upload our photos to share with you soon. Thanks for being patient with us and for continuing to support us in prayer.   Marty and my Dad are booking flights today for a 1 week stay in Bangalore to do some administrative work with my Aunt Esther!

Here are a couple of videos to give you a taste of our time in India.     This is such a small sampling...more to come.

A glimpse of Aunt Esther on the day we exited Bangalore and began the tour of the LMC  churches.

   
Marty had the opportunity to assist Pastor Ashok with the baptisms in Palacode.

Many hours were spent in the car peering out the window at the sundry sights and sounds.

Countless hours spent in community prayer and intercession.

We had the opportunity to hear the needs of each congregation from the Pastors.  Here Pastor John Ravi shares about Vellalapatty.

Here we are in Kotagiri at a believer's home where the children from Gideon's Sunday School have come to meet us.

This clip is outside a believer's home in Paradarami where literacy classes take place.  We went to meet the ill husband we had prayed for at the worship service.  Marty is passing out candy to win the affection of the local children.

Oh Christmas Tree

Marty is knee deep in a new position at work, and Oliver is fully committed to a quest of destructive exploration.  The combination of these two forces at work in our home convinced me to  leave the Holiday decorating to Mima and Papa (we will spend Christmas Eve cozied-up in their Encinitas home, and awake Christmas morning to the tree all-aglow and presents below).  I just couldn't add to Marty's list of to-do's "climb into the rafters and retrieve Christmas decorations", and the thought of Oliver tackling the Christmas tree in pursuit of the glowing star topper helped me settle into the vision of a sparkle-less home this year.

However,  Grandma and Grandpa arrived at our home this past Wednesday full of Holiday cheer.  And it occurred to me that Grandpa could climb the ladder, and drive to the tree lot, and hoist a pine-needled beauty onto my SUV, and love every minute of it!

 Zachary was the designated tree-picker-outer,  Jayden was the designated decorating specialist, and Grandma was the lighting designer.  Together the 4 of them made quite the team and in no time our home was filled with the visual brilliant beauty, the nostalgic foresty smell, and the soothing musical sounds of Christmas.

Looking up

I am majorly fascinated by and in awe of clouds.  My children will attest to this fact.   Just ask them what their mom's favorite element of creation is and they won't skip a beat to answer, "the clouds!".

So it is no surprise that nearly every car ride to Target, preschool, anywhere, will be accompanied by my 'oohs', ahhs', and 'whoa's' as God's atmospheric artwork frames the windshield canvas.  3 little voices will join in the exclamatory praise, and soon Jayden and Zachary are declaring what their imaginative eyes see in the shapes of the clouds.

On one recent motor-trek Zach exclaimed that he saw a rattlesnake.  His sister and I tried to assure him that no reptiles were in the car, but he persisted.  Finally we understood his adorable preschool jargon and realized he was seeing something in the sky.  We joined his gaze and, sure enough, a rattlesnake was slithering in the azure heights! 

He makes me laugh

Ten Ten Ten

Jayden Malia 

gleefully celebrated her 5th birthday on October 10th. 

Marty and I were trekking through India on that day, but she certainly did not suffer due to our absence.  We had recorded a Birthday message for her and given her a very large box to unwrap -- a furnished doll house.

(Thank you Costco!!)

 

She received countless gifts.  Some packages arrived via the UPS man, and others by dear friends.  One came all the way from Clara in Annapolis!

  

 Mima and Papa took her to visit Uncle at the Warehome where she and her brothers were marveled by his aquarium fish.

  The Dewey girls delivered homemade cupcakes and stayed long enough for some hula fun. 

 Aimee dropped by with a balloon, and Unjalee brought trinkets for both Jayden and Zachary.

  Mima and Papa had delightful treasures for her as well, including 3 pairs of princess shoes so she can dress-up with her friends.

Family Campout

}"Here's a preface:

We are dedicated and determined to go against the grain of cultural pressures in our child-rearing and day to day life.
To some we are extreme conservatives, to others we appear quite liberal.
It's all a matter of perspective and we are attempting to set our own against the life of Christ.

Here are a couple of verses that came to mind as Halloween approached and we sought to celebrate Fall in a way that would honor Jesus, inspire joy in our children, and not affront our neighbors in a critical fashion.

Philippians 2:15-15
^"Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,"

Philippians 4:8
"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. "

Now on to the blogging...

We thought we had stumbled upon a tradition to replace Trick-or-Treating and avoid all things spooky and evil. But alas, Halloween fell on a Sunday this year and EV Free didn't host the Harvest Festival because they have an evening church service. What to do?
Pray.
I asked God to give us a creative replacement that would be super special and so much fun that bags of candy would not be missed.

On Friday after the jog-a-thon, I was explaining the dilemma to the kids and told them to be praying with me for inspiration. In a voice of elation, Jayden exclaimed that we could have a camp-out in the backyard.
Perfect!
Such a brilliant idea, and one that can be repeated every year with great expectation.

The boys were in charge of Tent set-up. And after a trip to Target for Hot Dogs, S'mores and a lantern we were ready for evening to fall upon us.

Jayden, Zachary and I slept most of the night outside, but around 1:30 the chilly night forced us to our real beds indoors.

Run Around

Bethany Christian held their annual Jog-a-thon last Friday, and both of my kids gave stellar performances running around the track.

Down time in Dubai

The desert air welcomed us mercifully with a cooling trend around 35 C. Dubai is a concrete, commercialized masterpiece and after 2 days of tourism we were satisfied to leave.

Our cab driver from the airport, Sam, became a fast friend and he gave us a personalized night tour of the city. Our first stop was to witness the marvelous water show at the Dubai Fountain. Then we snapped photos in front of the Jumeirah hotel, the Dubai Marina and a few other famous landmarks.There are 2 very large malls in Dubai. One is home to the entrance of the worlds tallest building, as well as a gigantic aquarium that you can scuba-dive in. The other mall is famous for the Ski Dubai resort. We were able to spend 4 amazing hours on the slopes; the first time we've ever skied together! Marty has been many times over the course of our marriage but I've been pregnant or nursing on each of our winter treks to Big Bear so I've missed out on the fun.

In our travels we enjoyed delicious coffee both in India and the UAE. However, it appears these countries have not been affected by the 'super-size' and 'venti' movements, so we collected many strange looks each morning as we ordered pot after pot of coffee.