Settling In

So it is October now - 10 days into it in fact. I have made a few changes on the website to represent some of the changes we've gone through as a family over the past 4, yes 4, months. I went for simple (black and white) with hints of Mexico (palm trees) in the background. My kids are my focal point as we home school here in the States. The picture of them was a fun one, taken in St. Louis, MO the day after visiting a church in the area. We took in some history, too, as we traveled up The Arch in a tram and viewed a film about Lewis and Clark.

Here is a collection of some digital collages I created from our experience that day.

Underground, in addition to the IMAX theater, there is a Mercantile Store which sells items from an era gone by - the boys had fun spinning wooden tops while Bekah perused the various books of dress and recipes from the 1800s.

We have traveled past The Arch, also referred to as the Gateway to the West, several times. We have even stopped to see it, but this was the first time we ventured inside to get a bird's eye view of the city.

Stay tuned for our next great adventure!

Singer or sandwich? (a little snippet from our day)

We were sitting at the breakfast table this morning listening to Phil Collins as we ate.  His voice is well known to my kids, made popular to them by the movie Tarzan.  The song True Colors, came on and they said "what is this?"  To their question I replied, "It's Phil Collins, but a different song he sings." Dave threw in, "and it's also sung by Cindi Lauper."  Not having ever heard this name, Jonathan pipes up, "Silly Whopper?!!!"  

Silly Whopper . . . funny how the message sometimes gets misconstrued bases on our previous knowledge and exerience.  We could ponder that one for awhile . . .

I love our kids - they continue to bring us joy and always give us a fresh perspective on life ;-)

The right of way

This morning might have been like any other, but our schedule is a little weird as we make doctor's appointments and have follow up visits - getting everything in order before heading back to the US.  So, instead of taking the kids straight to school, we headed to the hospital in the opposite direction.  On the way, there are several crosswalks that cause traffic to slow and allow pedestrians to safely get from one side of the busy street to the other.  There are probably 5-8 on the 2-mile stretch between our house and the hospital.  We were about halfway there when I saw the traffic on the opposite side stopped at a crosswalk that we were approaching.  I slowed, not only because it is a literal bump on the road, but figured I would be stopping completely as well.  But it wasn't a pedestrian I was stopping for . . . it was a dog!  The little pooch had the right of way as he quickly passed along the walkway, causing all 4 lanes of traffic to stop.  I laughed out loud at the comic situation, wondering how the dog came to learn this maneuver and amazed at the respect everyone had for this canine (or for the law - not sure which).  

I also wonder if the paths in our lives could be crossed just as smoothly if everyone simply showed respect to one another - I think it goes hand in hand with the "loving one another" that Jesus teaches us in His Word (John 13:35).  Sometimes we feel we have the right of way, when really we would benefit so much from stopping and giving that right of way to someone else.  Lord, help us follow your command of loving one another today.  Amen.