Tidbits: Lenses

• Sometimes I wonder if I am missing out on life because I observe so much of it through the camera's lens.
• Adults may cringe away from the camera, but it draws chidren.
• Images are not subject to language barriers.
• The camera can show you that for which I have no words.

Meet my friend Froggy. We do homework together once a week. It's something we're both pretty excited about. Ironically, he was working on word problems this week. Perhaps there are words to fit being greeted at the door of the afterschool program by Froggy who says, "You came back." Or maybe not.

Working through word problems

Erin went to her first skating lesson. (Her skates have shipped, but they have yet to arrive. She wore the rentals.) She was moving very well. A beginner ice skating class is potentially comical in real life. That does not translate well to the digital still image.

First Skating Lesson

Tomorrow, the Boy will run in the District Cross Country Meet. His mama will be there, watching and trying to capture the moment. And we will later look at the images together.

Preparing for the race

Finally, in three more weeks, we'll leave for a return visit to another world. A place populated by people who have imprinted themselves on my heart.

Rodrigo

Laura and Cinco

Cheapskate

Out of nowhere, last Friday afternoon I looked at the mister and said, "Ice skating lessons!" I then had to frame my reference as a response to his question a week earlier about a birthday gift for our youngest child's 10th birthday. I phoned one of three (Seriously, people, three--- in Texas!) ice rinks within a 12-mile radius to ask about lessons. One was not yet in session, and the call was just in time to register for the next weekly beginner lesson that happens to fall on our only open night of the week. It starts tonight. Her birthday is in November.
So. Yes, the kiddie will receive another early birthday gift since the lessons start before the Big Day. (The stale cupcakes we'll drop off at the school to share at lunchtime the day of her actual birthday may be a little anticlimactic...) In keeping with this year's Early Bird theme, Grandma and Granddad gifted our girl with cash--- probably because she said she wanted a bike. She did not deign to purchase a bike, but instead opted tp sit on her nest egg for a time. This weekend we took her out to shop for ice skates instead of a bike. The outing served as a reminder that our kid has Cadillac taste on a bicycle budget.

The pair she fell for were gleaming white leather boots straight out of Disney's "Ice Princess". They were also priced well above the crumpled bills crammed in our would-be princess's jeans pocket. We left the store with a very sad, disappointed would-be skater and no ice skates. At home, the internet offered up an alternative pair of pearly white leather skates by the same maker at about half the price. Our not-so-little skater will be wearing rental skates for her first lesson tomorrow while we wait for her pair to ship, but she will wear those rentals with the knowledge that her own are on the way. More importantly, by waiting, she's not broke in the acquisition of the skates. That may be the real gift we give her this year.

Treasury

This weekend our pastor stood before a very suburban congregation and talked about building treasures in Heaven. Mmmph. Our group discussion questions kicked off asking about what treasures we are building on earth vs those in heaven. The topic just highlights how much stuff we have in our lives. The area where we live is a place where materialism is more blatant than insidious even with the recession not yet behind us, and it is easy enough to accept that excess is normal. What is not so easy is deciding where to draw the line between what's okay and what is excessive. With the week's study topic, I find myself evaluating much in our home and my own desires for that home.

Loading the 40 ft. container to ship goods to Honduras

Ten days ago, Amy (Nov. Honduras Trip Leader) and I watched as four pallets of the Waits Family's belongings were loaded onto a container to be shipped to Honduras. We were so glad to know that the family's goods were on the way since they would be moving into their home in late November. Laura? She was appreciative, but could not imagine what on earth was in the stacks of boxes that she might possibly need besides some cooking pots. Hmmm. Having visited their new home, I have seen how the place will strip away those desires outside of life's necessity. There is a strong lure in that simplicity.

And I find that in thinking of the vast difference between our friends' lives stripped bare of excess possessions, I see the danger of my own vanity squatting amongst the possessions meant to make our house a home. There is the ever-present risk of a heart that shifts from what is acceptable to the place of pride that is not honoring to God. Our home is a shelter for our family, it was the place of our reconciliation and restoration. Still, I must be wary that I not shift from the wish to offer a place of welcome and hospitality to family and guests to pride in this place. This place is, after all, just a place.

What we do, what we learn, who we welcome, and how we live in this place... those are things that matter. Those are very likely the real treasures which we are storing up. I think perhaps there are possessions which I can choose to pack up and give away. The next Garage Giveaway is only a few weeks away, and there is a personal challenge to go through this house and cull those items of good quality which will better serve another before that event. These are not items which will be replaced, but simply those goods which could do more good elsewhere.

Wash

In 2008, I flummoxed my mister with a crying jag over not having lice. Not because I wanted lice per se, but because ShelleyinPoland had ended up with a case while serving children suffering from the critters. Not having lice on that day meant that I had not been amongst the team loving on those children. It was a very real grief.

Salon Services

An answer to my prayer to be able to minister (as ShelleyinPoland and the team she served with had) came almost two years later. The opportunity to share in shampooing thirty-odd heads of hair to relieve the children at House of Hope of their itchy scalps was presented last March. It was delightful to finally get the chance to act on what can best be described as a case of Holy Discontent. The experience brought relief to the kids while highlighting the issue of a severe water shortage affecting those in Puerto Lempira for Katie and I (who are both very accustomed to turning on the tap without having to consider from whence that needful resource springs). The whole experience was overwhelming, but one that is a treasured memory of that week in Honduras.

When the Reach Out Honduras Thanksgiving Team was given the opportunity to collect 20 RID lice treatments and repeat our "Beauty Salon", there was no hesitation in agreement. It was delightful to contemplate the repeat opportunity to be part of again meeting the kids' need for relief from that too common pest. Out of the blue this week, Mama Tara asked Laura about lice treatments for the children who shelter with her. Last night, Laura e-mailed asking if it would be possible to purchase an additional 13 treatments. Trip Leader Amy immediately responded that her mother was in possession of $100 given that day toward the purchase of the $9-$10 lice treatments. It was with a happy heart that I followed up Amy's response with the news that I had received another $25 yesterday for the treatments as well. While not sure if we have the full compliment of the original 20 treatments pledged yet, I know of at least ten plus two promised by former Operation Prayer Surge (Poland, 2008) teammates ShelleyinPoland and Lisa.

I'm consistently amazed at the blessings that come in sometimes odd packages. Yet, I find an overflow of thanksgiving that this perhaps yucky ministration is the ministry which God offers again because the act of meeting this need for those we serve ministers to my own heart. Again, I find tears coming in response to children who have lice. It is with absolute gratitude that I contemplate the incredible gift of being one of those who will be serving in a way I so keenly missed years ago. Here's to taking our shampoo and comb out salon even further and reaching out to ever more people with a ministry that might not be for everyone, but means the world to me.

Running

Saturday Last week was craziness culminating in a hurried Saturday morning. Evan and Katie were each signed up to support Day Spring Christian Academy in Uganda through their entry fees to compete in a 5K Fun Run set to begin at 8:15. There was a 40 foot container waiting to be loaded full of supplies for the House of Hope and personal belongings for the Waits family in Puerto Lempira beginning at 9:00. No problemo.

Evan sprinting the final yards of the Day Spring 5K

The kids took off from the starting line at 8:13. They ran like rabbits to finish well. The first two runners crossed the finish line in the 21st minute of the race. Evan came into sight third, and right behind him was the light blue, short-sleeved shirt signalling that his little sister was his nearest competitor. Cheering for Evan, I saw him keeping his steady pace that would likely bring him across the finish line at a fair time, but not his best time this season. He knew someone was behind him, but didn't know who until I began to cheer for Katie as she came into shouting distance. The Boy told us that he thought I was cheering for him until it clicked that I was saying, "Go Katie!" He decided to sprint at that point.



The Finish Line



Katie saw her brother putting on speed. She knew they were in the final stretch, and she also began to sprint. I was caught up in cheering, watching the clock, trying to photograph the kids, and being very aware of the time our next commitments looming imminently closer. I snapped a shot as The Boy went by, but missed him crossing the finish line at 24:05. Katie evaded the camera during her final push, but was captured for posterity in the final seconds as she approached the Finish line. Thinking that there would be awards for the Overall Winner and Age Group Winners, but that our runners had not qualified since they were in 3rd and 4th place, we quickly headed to the car after the kids congratulated the top two runners.

The container was loaded while Katie attended a football game and had lunch with friend, and I began to follow up on the idea of such a race as a means of raising awareness and support for the ministry of Reach Out Honduras in Puerto Lempira. It's expensive, but such an event could bring the needed attention of those enjoying a high standard of living to the plight of others who cannot even truly imagine the daily availability of things I consider "necessities" like fruit and vegetables to eat. My mister is encouraging me to keep investigating and preparing for the possibility because the up front expenses could result in great benefits for Reach Out Honduras. "Benefits," which translate to vegetable gardens to feed families currently subsisting on, at best, a daily meal of rice. It could mean needed funds to purchase a vehicle for transportation in and around Puerto Lempira. It could mean the world to a child who receives an education. Such big dreams... and all completely beyond me. This one will have to be God's because I am out of my depth. So. The possibility of a Fun Run to benefit Reach Out Honduras becomes a prayer point that will hopefully lead to taking our kids' hobby and making it one more way that we can serve others.

This morning, as I read through the proposal for races like the one the kids ran in on Saturday, I pulled up the race results. With my mind more focused on Honduras, I was a little confused by the first line of the standings which read, "OVERALL FEMALE WINNERS Place 1 Name KAITLIN MIDDLE CHILD". Eh? Scanning down the list, I was no less surprised to find, "Male 15-19 Winners Place 1 Name EVAN THE BOY".
Oh.my.WORD! I quickly fired off a copy of the standings to Katie's middle school coach and her youth group small group leader who have both encouraged her all season with thanks for their efforts to support her in achieving a win in her very first 5K. I just yelled upstairs to The Boy who was still at home. It was a small field of runners, but is a big reason for celebration in our family with two strong finishes and surprise winning results.

Threatening

Having made my cookies (and eaten none too few, too), this morning's Moment of Truth arrived. The MoT involves stepping onto the bathroom scale that abides in the study. (It lurks behind my desk. I can feel it there now. Stalker.) The number has crept back up to where it was a couple of weeks ago. A couple of weeks during which someone ordered new one-size-smaller jeans. (Uh-oh.) The one-size-smaller jeans fit. They just need not fit quite as well as they do right now, and it's hardly a mystery as to why the scale reveals the return of those lost-and-found four pounds. Dessert + little jeans = strained seams. Today, I am going to substitute an extra couple of miles walking in hopes of relieving the pressure on those seams, and still being able to prance around feeling self-congratulatory in my skinnier-than-I-thought-possible jeans.

Stomped Goblins

We made Stomped Goblins yesterday. That means it's October around here because the cookies are an annual Fall family treat. (I've also heard them called Monster Cookies.) My mother used to make them at Halloween, and she would call them, "Stomped Goblins," saying, "That's what they look like!" Going with tradition, that is the name we use. The recipe follows:

Stomped Goblins
2 sticks butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar, tightly packed
2 eggs, well beaten
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup each: uncooked quick oats, corn flakes
1/2 cup each: chopped pecans, coconut, semisweet chocolate chips, butterscotch chips

Cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs. Sift together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Mix in dry ingredients and add vanilla. Fold in quick oats, corn flakes, pecans, coconut, and chips. Refrigerate finished dough tightly covered for two hours.
Preheat oven to 350. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Bake for 8-10 minutes until edges are brown and center is done.

Sound

The littlest residents of City House wanted to play outside this morning. The one Baby was off to an appointment, so I switched to preschool play time just as the pre-K set headed out to the spacious fenced backyard. This is not an institutional play yard, but a giant expanse of green grass surrounding a shade tree. A covered and paved play patio for ride-on toys and bikes, and a long covered porch complete with rocking chairs make the great outdoors an all-weather play place. Pulling a red wagon around and around the yard for what may well have been miles we sang our ABC's loud and proud, and the little people giggled while I sang "Do Your Ears Hang Low?".
The music came to an end as a helicopter flew low overhead. The boy residents were delighted with the opportunity to crow, "helly-copper" at a real, live whirly bird. There was plenty of time for lots of pointing and naming as the helicopter passed over, and the general excitement remained even after it was out of sight. All the glee of the helicopter sighting was repeated with the appearance of an airplane. The little people were so overcome with joy at the sightings that we began to search the sky. Imagine how pleased we all were to discover that there were many planes headed places that required them to fly right over our heads.

Eventually the time came to go inside for snacks, but we were all right back outside as soon as everyone had finished eating. One of the girls took hold of my hands, and pulled me along looking for more planes. Since there were no more flying machines to entertain us, we put our arms out and became the planes. There were great aerial feats performed all over the grounds at City House's children's shelter this morning. We zoomed and soared until another plane obliged us by flying over so we could resume our grounded pointing and naming.
Too soon 11:30 rolled around, and it was time for me to leave. Fortunately, my shift occurs on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Wednesdays of each month, so I will be back next week to join in the adventures again right away. The 2nd and 4th weeks will no doubt see Wednesdays that are a little dull in comparison. Still, I may just find my heart beating a little faster and a smile spreading across my face in response to future notice of a random plane in the sky.

Shelter

Today will be my first shift at our local children's shelter. City House exists as a temporary placement for children whose parents are unable to care for them. The stories of neglect and abuse that bring the children ages 0-17 to the shelter are only a chapter from the stories of the families affected by City House. When a child or group of siblings are removed from their homes on an emergency basis, there must be somewhere for them to go. City House provides a safe haven. The specialty of the house is more than safety, it is the added security of siblings who remain together while foster placement appropriate to all the ages involved is found, family issues are satisfactorily resolved for the children to return home, or the children become available for an adoption. There is immense variety in both the situations the kids come from and the ways in which their needs will eventually be met, but City House is a safe place to wait for resolution.

Tidbits

• Birthday Party is planned, the guests have all replied with their acceptances, and the girls' books are on their way from an online retailer. Headed over to order the ice cream cake (White cake and vanilla ice cream because her friend does not like chocolate. Love that she's more interested in her guests than herself.) and see if movie tickets can be purchased a week in advance.
• Word from Laura is that all was well with them this morning. She was wishing for friends to assist in the post-storm clean up efforts, and I was wishing we were there to help. I keep repeating, "Soon." Not soon enough, though.
• One of Erin's party guests is actually the daughter of a Honduran Daddy and a half-Honduran Mommy.
• We picked up runners from the Middle School Church Retreat, but ended up taking the girls out for breakfast when lightning caused their meet to be cancelled. We dropped the girls back off in time for them to join in worship and what promised to be a fierce dodge ball tournament.
• The Boy's meet was not cancelled since he was running in another suburb at a later time where there was no lightning. He ran his best time in a race so far this year: 22:13 for 3.1 miles. Run, Bronco, Run!
• We can carry 50 pounds of "stuff" per person to Puerto Lempira in November. We have 10 pounds of baby formula, 35 pounds of school supplies and backpacks, and seven and half pounds of bed sheets. These sorts of numbers are causing the girls to question what we will wear during our stay. Toga anyone?

Projections

Erin's 10th birthday falls the week of our departure for Honduras adding to the usual messiness of scheduling time to celebrate with her friends. (We have learned to always celebrate the weekend before her birthday because the weekend after is almost always the weekend before Thanksgiving.) The idea of trying to work out those party details while preparing to leave the country seemed daunting until Little Bit saw a movie trailer for Legend of the Guardians.
The movie adaptation of Kathryn Lasky's children's series featuring valiant owls having epic adventures comes out today. We talked about the movie as a source of Birthday Entertainment, but Erin was sure all her friends would see the movie way before the arrival of her November birthday. Except that I have spoken with the other mommies in advance, and Erin has asked her friends to wait one week to see the film. We will address both our travel plans and the movie's release by having the Friend Party October 1st.
Next Friday, the girls will be retrieved from the carpool lines and delivered to our doorstep. We will load them all into the Mom Mobile and head to the theater to see the story unfold in three dimensional detail. After the movie, we will feed the assorted precious girls dinner and cake before dropping them off at their own homes. Each guest will receive her own copy of the first book in the series (There are fifteen books in paperback as of this writing.) in hopes of spurring them on to discover, "What happens next..." to the characters they will have seen on the big screen.
While squaring away the details of Erin's "Friend Party", without playing host to a herd of giggling tweens the week of our next mission trip, I have other reasons to be thinking of the planned trip to Central America today. Far from treats like parties and pleasure reading, Hurricane/Tropical Storm Matthew is headed for the region. From Puerto Lempira, Laura says, "Our weatherman friend... has let us know that if current projections are correct, we will be south of where it hits land. We should just receive lots of rain and heavy winds.

Children at home in Puerto Lempira, Honduras

Right now, we are concerned about the people who live where this will hit. We know the types of houses they live in – made of wood, built on stilts. There is no way these homes could survive a hurricane. We are praying for these people today. Please join us in lifting them up.

We ask you to join us in prayer for this entire region."

Access

I do remember staring wistfully, and (truth-telling time) sometimes resentfully at those vehicles sitting tantalizingly near the front doors as I waddled past during all our pregnancies, and, even more so, when wrestling one of those unwieldy infant carriers from the car. Now that all of our babies can enter and exit buildings largely unassisted, I am pleased to find that there are additional spaces unavailable for my use. Someone finally thought to set aside spaces for expectant and new mothers at the market, pharmacy, and hospital. Being fairly vocal in my approval, all three lovies know that Mom thinks those spaces are a great idea.
Last night, as we left Super Store, Erin gave a sound that clearly indicated disgust. When asked what was the matter, she indicated a man sitting in his car in the designated handicapped space as we passed. I saw that his car had a handicapped plate. Unsure exactly what this guy was doing to raise the ire of Little Bit, I asked. She filled me in saying, "That guy is just sitting there taking up the pregnant ladies' space!"

*Oops. Not meaning to vilify "the guy". He had a handicapped license plate, and was appropriately sitting in a handicapped space. Erin mistook the handicapped space for one of those designated for mommies. Her outrage was misplaced, but it struck me because I had wished for just such a spot back in the day.