The King and I

Here's Madison and Elvis again, and yes, this is one of those things we rescued from the warehouse yesterday.  I couldn't bare to see this one gone, and given that today is Elvis' birthday, it only made sense to have this standing up somewhere.  The question was... where?  And that led to a funny few moments today.  Madison got home from school, and the front door opened, and there was Elvis.  Madison was like, "What the heck?"  Later on, Elvis was in her bathroom, only visible when she opened the door.  Got her again.  It might be an ongoing running joke - it's a little startling to see a life-sized person staring at you when you round any corner.  That being said, there are other celebrities we rescued yesterday.  As for Elvis, already someone spotted this picture online, and was actually having an Elvis-themed party this Saturday.  And then after that, there's a faithful church worker who is a huge Elvis fan and would love this.

Of course, it's not just Elvis' birthday today.  He and Ba-Ba were born on exactly the same day, the same year.  We called Ba-Ba today, and even better, Uncle George was down there to take both he and Nana out to dinner to celebrate.  It sounds like they had a great day, which is what it should be for them.  Good news!

And speaking of good news, we heard from the President this morning, and that was a big deal.  The media has been making it seem like we're going to war with Iran, so last night a lot of us were praying that we would not go to war in the Middle East.  Iran sent all these misses, from Iran to a few US bases in Iraq.  And none of them did any substantial damage, and no one on the bases were harmed.

On the bases, at least.  More on that in a moment.  It's an odd question as to how so many missiles could miss.  Some think it was because Iran didn't want to hit the US, and was simply making a statement.  Others think it's because Iran's missile system was tampered with.  Whatever happened, it was the equivalent of a misfire to one side, and to the other side, a demonstration of might and what could happen if things escalated.  And that is where the good news is:  the President was firm, but not wanting to escalate things.  For the time being, at least, it appears that we're not going to war with Iran.  Which of course is great for Iran, because I hate to say this, but a war with them would be super embarrassing for that country.

So there's this idea of peace, or at least of not escalating things any more.  And that's good news for the entire world.  Because who knows what could happen.

Still, a terrible thing happened last night because of all of this, and that should haunt the folks in Iran for a long time, at least if they have souls.  The United States launched no missiles, and sent no planes.  And yet, feeling a little nervous after shooting fifteen missiles at the United States, Iran spotted something in the air and shot it down.  It was a commercial jet with 176 innocent people on board.  They shot down a commercial airliner.

I'm sure someone will find a way to blame the United States for that.  Anyway, we don't touch on world events so much here, but there was a bit of stress in the world yesterday.

Moving on, Madison is already going full throttle at school.  She's got this sketch book and she's doing some amazing things in art, growing with her skills by leaps and bounds.  I can't wait to share some things here that she's been drawing free style.  She's also going hard into some new math formulas, and yes, that means π!  She's learning how to find the area of circles and half circles and so on.  It's a lot of work with complex shapes, and she's having a hard time with it early on, so we'll focus on that a little more as the week moves on.  

Tonight was church, and it was a great service at KidPak, a large group setting with a great night of worship music.  The kids were all very much involved, which is always touching to see.

We got home, and it was quickly time for bed.  We had prayers and our devotional.  Daddy is writing a new one, and we'll have more on that in a bit.  But tonight we read from the current one, and then of course "Prince Caspian."  We're nearly done with that book, reading about King Miraz and the bad choice he just made.  

We went to bed quickly tonight - it was a very full day for all of us, and we've got a lot to do in the coming days.  But it's all good here, and the world is safe for now.