Wednesday:
Soup de Jour! During the fast, it's all about soup some times, and that's a perfect sort of food item in the winter anyway. But we've got all kinds of fast-friendly soups and vegetables as well, and it's been really not as bad with Mommy making preparations. Of course you miss chocolate and hamburgers and so forth, but eating healthier has been nicer.
It's Wednesday night, and a small group setting once more for us and the kids. It was a more relaxed sort of night, one where we did a few illustrations about the power of our words. To that end, we showed the clip from "Toy Story 4," one where they can't figure out what it is that Buzz Lightyear actually says. Of course, it's "To Infinity and Beyond," but the other characters doubt that, and start saying other things. Yes, we all know what it's supposed to be, and what it's always been. It's just that suddenly there's this seed of doubt, and strong voices that are suggesting it is something else entirely different.
That's the point of the night though, where God's word is one thing and it is what it has always been and always will be. God's word over us is one thing, but the world may have something else to say that is contrary. And the world may have some pretty strong voices in support of that. And so there's the dilemma, which one to believe. Obviously, we know the answer, and that's "To Infinity and Beyond." Yes, the world may think that's crazy because it makes no sense. You can't go beyond infinity, dummy. But we know the truth, because with God we can do just that, and beyond. In fact, God is infinity, infinitely powerful and infinitely capable. And He can take us beyond anything we ever hope or ask for.
Daddy raced home to read, of course, and we read some more of the adventures of Peter Pan, along with Molly and the others. We're reading the devotional too. It's a short time home, just a brief time to touch base, but it's worth the drive to see Mommy and Madison.
Madison is doing well at school still. No clubs today, but she's getting to school early a few times a week for art club and Live to Give. There aren't any other big events coming up soon, but that's because it is January, which is in fact the most boring month of the year. Try as it might, the month is completely reliant on weather to come in and save the day to make things more interesting. This year, it's not doing that at all, aside from the brutal weather up north. But here in Georgia, things are amazingly mundane. And that's okay, I suppose. We need a month to calm down a bit before things rev up once more. Next month, registration for Summer Xtreme starts, a new series "Romans" begins, a new class for actors starts, and there's a few holidays in there and a big marriage conference our church does, plus some vacation time towards the end. Maybe we'll actually get to go do something for that, but I'm not entirely sure at the moment.
For the time being, today was an average day, a little chilly outside, but not too eventful at school. Madison said her day was, "fine," which is to say there was not as much to talk about. She's writing reports on things she finds in the media, studying tectonic plates, inequalities, and playing dodge ball. It's all good, and she's doing well in school. She has good friends, and all is well. That being said, it's not so mundane a month after all - it's a month where we're blessed and highly favored.
Thursday:
We're working on this ginormous project, cleaning up the basement. It's part of the tradition around the Chinese New year, sweeping out the dust. Mommy also cut Daddy's hair, another part of the tradition. But in all honesty, both of these things were needed. The basement is out of control, and we're wanting to get it all organized and clean. We're getting rid of a lot of things along the way, a lot of books and items that will go to garage sales or get donated to friends or elsewhere. It's a project, but it feels better to to come back and see things cleaner, one section at a time.
We've been listening to Chinese music again lately - it's the replacement for Christmas music in January. We picked up a few CDs in China, and a few at EPCOT's Chinese Pavillion, and these are not only good, they're a tradition for us that take us back to the earliest days of our longing to adopt a little girl from China. She's a bigger girl now.
This is the Year of the Pig upcoming, now Madison's second Year of the Pig. We didn't know her the last Year of the Pig, but we did celebrate that year. We were going through a lot that time, but there was this celebration with the Friends With Families from China. It took place once a year in January or February, and was basically an organization of people who had adopted children from China. We were there at all these events while we were waiting for our referral. It took forever, and we kept coming back to these things without a child, and the others there recognized us and wondered what was up with us? Where's the baby? As a reminder, the referral process took us two and a half years, so we had to endure this amazingly long wait. I remember getting a Year of the Pig t-shirt one year, thinking next year - next year - we might get to bring Madison back to this family celebration. I think we had to wait another year afterwards, or maybe two actually. By the time we finally did bring Madison to one of these celebrations, all the kids from before were much older. The huge surge of Chinese children had diminished significantly, and Madison was with a few others on the tail end of the Chinese adoption trend. We were glad to go to a few events, but these had so fewer numbers than previous events, mainly because everyone was growing up. It would have been nice to keep on going to these, but what was once a huge amount of people filling a large area became a smaller dinner, and then nothing at all. That said, we had to find alternate ways to celebrate, which we did. Mostly these were dinners at our house along with the rest of the family. A few years, we've been going to a library in Forsyth that has had Chinese dragon dances, performers, crafts, and other things to do.
This year there's another event with the families from China, and we're signed up to go. Hopefully there will be plenty of people there to meet and share with. If not, we've got other things planned. The Year of the Pig is on the way, and Daddy will wear his t-shirt again, the one he bought 12 years ago, when all we had was a lingering hope of something great coming. Here we are 12 years later, and she's in our house, and it is wonderful.
Tonight we were studying a bit, and also playing some games and watching an episode of Star Wars Rebels. Madison is really into this lately, wanting to go through all four seasons. We're on the third season, just plugging away. We read tonight, and said our prayers. Our government is a mess, and there's a lot of struggling going on for power and direction. This we prayed for, for our President, and for this mess they all have to clean up. Kisses and zerberts afterwards, and then an early night for Mommy and Daddy, who were ready to dive under the covers and read for a little bit before bedtime. It's chilly, and the big comforter is just right for nights like these, in fact really difficult to escape from sometimes!
Soup de Jour! During the fast, it's all about soup some times, and that's a perfect sort of food item in the winter anyway. But we've got all kinds of fast-friendly soups and vegetables as well, and it's been really not as bad with Mommy making preparations. Of course you miss chocolate and hamburgers and so forth, but eating healthier has been nicer.
It's Wednesday night, and a small group setting once more for us and the kids. It was a more relaxed sort of night, one where we did a few illustrations about the power of our words. To that end, we showed the clip from "Toy Story 4," one where they can't figure out what it is that Buzz Lightyear actually says. Of course, it's "To Infinity and Beyond," but the other characters doubt that, and start saying other things. Yes, we all know what it's supposed to be, and what it's always been. It's just that suddenly there's this seed of doubt, and strong voices that are suggesting it is something else entirely different.
That's the point of the night though, where God's word is one thing and it is what it has always been and always will be. God's word over us is one thing, but the world may have something else to say that is contrary. And the world may have some pretty strong voices in support of that. And so there's the dilemma, which one to believe. Obviously, we know the answer, and that's "To Infinity and Beyond." Yes, the world may think that's crazy because it makes no sense. You can't go beyond infinity, dummy. But we know the truth, because with God we can do just that, and beyond. In fact, God is infinity, infinitely powerful and infinitely capable. And He can take us beyond anything we ever hope or ask for.
Daddy raced home to read, of course, and we read some more of the adventures of Peter Pan, along with Molly and the others. We're reading the devotional too. It's a short time home, just a brief time to touch base, but it's worth the drive to see Mommy and Madison.
Madison is doing well at school still. No clubs today, but she's getting to school early a few times a week for art club and Live to Give. There aren't any other big events coming up soon, but that's because it is January, which is in fact the most boring month of the year. Try as it might, the month is completely reliant on weather to come in and save the day to make things more interesting. This year, it's not doing that at all, aside from the brutal weather up north. But here in Georgia, things are amazingly mundane. And that's okay, I suppose. We need a month to calm down a bit before things rev up once more. Next month, registration for Summer Xtreme starts, a new series "Romans" begins, a new class for actors starts, and there's a few holidays in there and a big marriage conference our church does, plus some vacation time towards the end. Maybe we'll actually get to go do something for that, but I'm not entirely sure at the moment.
For the time being, today was an average day, a little chilly outside, but not too eventful at school. Madison said her day was, "fine," which is to say there was not as much to talk about. She's writing reports on things she finds in the media, studying tectonic plates, inequalities, and playing dodge ball. It's all good, and she's doing well in school. She has good friends, and all is well. That being said, it's not so mundane a month after all - it's a month where we're blessed and highly favored.
Thursday:
We're working on this ginormous project, cleaning up the basement. It's part of the tradition around the Chinese New year, sweeping out the dust. Mommy also cut Daddy's hair, another part of the tradition. But in all honesty, both of these things were needed. The basement is out of control, and we're wanting to get it all organized and clean. We're getting rid of a lot of things along the way, a lot of books and items that will go to garage sales or get donated to friends or elsewhere. It's a project, but it feels better to to come back and see things cleaner, one section at a time.
We've been listening to Chinese music again lately - it's the replacement for Christmas music in January. We picked up a few CDs in China, and a few at EPCOT's Chinese Pavillion, and these are not only good, they're a tradition for us that take us back to the earliest days of our longing to adopt a little girl from China. She's a bigger girl now.
This is the Year of the Pig upcoming, now Madison's second Year of the Pig. We didn't know her the last Year of the Pig, but we did celebrate that year. We were going through a lot that time, but there was this celebration with the Friends With Families from China. It took place once a year in January or February, and was basically an organization of people who had adopted children from China. We were there at all these events while we were waiting for our referral. It took forever, and we kept coming back to these things without a child, and the others there recognized us and wondered what was up with us? Where's the baby? As a reminder, the referral process took us two and a half years, so we had to endure this amazingly long wait. I remember getting a Year of the Pig t-shirt one year, thinking next year - next year - we might get to bring Madison back to this family celebration. I think we had to wait another year afterwards, or maybe two actually. By the time we finally did bring Madison to one of these celebrations, all the kids from before were much older. The huge surge of Chinese children had diminished significantly, and Madison was with a few others on the tail end of the Chinese adoption trend. We were glad to go to a few events, but these had so fewer numbers than previous events, mainly because everyone was growing up. It would have been nice to keep on going to these, but what was once a huge amount of people filling a large area became a smaller dinner, and then nothing at all. That said, we had to find alternate ways to celebrate, which we did. Mostly these were dinners at our house along with the rest of the family. A few years, we've been going to a library in Forsyth that has had Chinese dragon dances, performers, crafts, and other things to do.
This year there's another event with the families from China, and we're signed up to go. Hopefully there will be plenty of people there to meet and share with. If not, we've got other things planned. The Year of the Pig is on the way, and Daddy will wear his t-shirt again, the one he bought 12 years ago, when all we had was a lingering hope of something great coming. Here we are 12 years later, and she's in our house, and it is wonderful.
Tonight we were studying a bit, and also playing some games and watching an episode of Star Wars Rebels. Madison is really into this lately, wanting to go through all four seasons. We're on the third season, just plugging away. We read tonight, and said our prayers. Our government is a mess, and there's a lot of struggling going on for power and direction. This we prayed for, for our President, and for this mess they all have to clean up. Kisses and zerberts afterwards, and then an early night for Mommy and Daddy, who were ready to dive under the covers and read for a little bit before bedtime. It's chilly, and the big comforter is just right for nights like these, in fact really difficult to escape from sometimes!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment