One Day, One Hour, One Minute

We found our new students a place to live! Thank you for your prayers. God has also blessed the school with a new airplane-one that's in actual working condition. (The other planes the school has are, well, in pieces in the hangar).
Something I've observed lately is how fast things can change, especially when you're not paying close attention. One day the sun could be gracing the earth, warming it in it's golden blanket; the next, the clouds could come rolling in, and the wind and rain could sweep across the ground. One minute you could have your plans in order-what you're going to do, when you're going to, and how you will do it; the next everything gets shattered and comes tumbling down on top of you. Or, one day you could be completely desperate and hopeless, and the next someone could offer you their hand, and, more importantly, hope. It's like when a rose blooms-it stays closed up for a while, then suddenly, one day, it opens, showing the world it's beauty. In just a day, a whole nation can change. In an hour, a whole point of view can change. In a minute, a life can be changed.

Random Pictures

Since it has been a while since I posted about things that are going on (because of the 30 Day Challenge), here are some pictures of what we've been doing.

Faithie, Mom, and I were able to go on a whale tour in Seattle. We did see whales, but didn't get any good pictures of them. Above is some sea lions we passed, resting on a buoy.

We took a mini field trip to a tulip farm, which was something we had never been to in Ohio.

Faithie

Lydia

Oh, that goofy grin she always gives in front of the camera...

Massive field of tulips.

Random Ramblings

Something my family has missed since we moved is Buckeyes. People here have never heard of them. Buckeyes are essential to us "Ohioans", so my family decided to venture out into the unknown world of candy making and give some of these Ohio treats out to people for Christmas. Eli got all into it and mixed the peanut butter mixture himself.

The rolling of the balls, which Faith did a very good job with.

The finished peanut butter balls. This was everyone's favorite part: dipping the balls into melted chocolate.

The finished product. Not perfect, but pretty good considering Faith and Lydia did most of it.

We did our dance/play last night,(the one I blogged about earlier) and it turned out really good. We managed to get a Joseph, so we had a complete cast. He was a real live person, too, so no cardboard needed. I will try to get a video of it up soon. Until then, Merry Christmas!

My mom has had an expressive signing ministry for as long as I can remember. Expressive signing is a mixture of ASL, dance, and drama. I do a little of it as well, and when we came to Washington the doors opened up for us to start another signing ministry. Expressive signing hasn't been done in the western states as much as in the eastern, so people are intrigued by it. Our group consists of our pastor's wife, a woman from Peru who is still learning English, a Khazak woman who is wonderful in dance, a Muslim, and two other woman, along with my mom and me. My point in bringing this up is that we are doing a couple of songs that show Jesus' life on earth, and then him dying on the cross. The second song tells that he then rose again, and that he's not a baby in a manger anymore. We had the first song almost finished, but our assistant pastor, who is playing Jesus, came in and changed a lot of it. The changes were good, but the fact that we only have two more weeks is a little difficult. Also, I'm supposed to play Mary, but we have no Joseph. The guy who was going to play him can't anymore, so we have to find another. My dad thinks we should just paint him onto cardboard and stand him there. I'm thinking that since Joseph has to get up and dance during the second song, the cardboard version is not adequate. Hmm....

A couple of members of our school got baptized the other night. Did I mention it was outside? And it was about fifty degrees out? Or that the water still had ice in it? Anyway, it was a beautiful spot. The snow just added a bit of glitter. The three getting baptized were literally thrown into the water, and the third was dropped. I don't think any of them will ever forget that experience.
One if the students is from Hong Kong, and she is teaching me Mandarin. I'm excited about this because it's a language I've always wanted to learn. It's very complex, and I only know a few phrases so far, but I have five years to learn (it's also for high school credit). I don't think I'll be learning any characters anytime soon.
Faith and Lydia have a new friend named Ellie. She's a native American that does Origami, and Faith and Lydia have figured this out. Now every evening before dinner, poor Ellie is stuck making paper elephants, swans, and baskets. She finally told them to go find her a pink elephant, but Faith and Lydia figured it out after a few days. Little girls, you gotta love 'em.

Random Ramblings

Here in Colorado, the weather is quite mysterious. On Monday, it was freezing cold and snowing (I went for a run). On Tuesday, it was really warm and we didn't need shirts (Rachel and I took the kids to the movies). Yesterday, it was cold again and raining, and now today, it's sunny out and looks warm, but it's chilly.

Our days look like this: in the morning Mom and Dad go to the base, while we (meaning my siblings and Rachel and me) stay home and do school and clean the house. Then we join the DTS students at the base for lunch, and while they go back to class we take the kids to the library or some other fun activity. Then we head back to the base and hang out until dinner, after which we leave for home. Kind of a chaotic schedule, but everyone is adjusting.

On Sunday afternoon we went for a hike in the mountains with one of the staff of YWAM as our guide. It was about a two mile hike, and as we got higher, instead of getting colder, we got warmer. After traveling back down the mountain, nine of us crammed into an eight passenger SUV. At least the view out the windows was beautiful, even if I couldn't feel my feet. :)

This has been Random Ramblings of a homeschooler, thanks for reading.