What we did tonight (podcast)
Here’s a podcast about what the kids and I did tonight. And here’s a picture…
This past week’s Tweets…
- What I'm reading: What are helpful instructive ways to ask for prayer requests during visitation?: This question… http://bit.ly/dMrzDQ #
- Brrrr… frosty morning here in Ixtapaluca, Mexico City! And it's pretty cold OUTSIDE too! #
- The two adults in the family are back from the doctor, and hoping they're on the road to recovery! #
- What I'm reading: Acts 29 Network: Seattle, WA >: http://bit.ly/dVAsRv #
- The program at the community centre went well tonight! Pictures to be uploaded soon… #
- Bundling up to go to the community centre closing program! #
Big Changes for Nathanael
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Big changes are in store for Nathanael! For all of us, actually.
This school year began as a bit of a trial run. Nathanael needs extra rest because of health concerns, and we knew that he would be getting a lot less rest with longer school hours.
In fact, he did better than expected in many ways. He’s been learning a lot, he’s been doing better with his homework – there has been a lot of good news. And it’s been fun having Hannah and Nathanael in the same school for the first time since the spring of 2008.
However, things haven’t been going as well at the school. There’s no need to go into a lot of details, but we’ve been trying to work with the teachers and leadership of the school to make sure he’s getting the education he needs. There have been a lot of meetings, and a lot of prayer, but things have gotten to the point where we feel we need to make a change.
So, in short, Nathanael will not be going back to the school in January. We considered putting him into another school, but we feel that more change and adjustment is not what he needs right now.
So at this point, he will be continuing English and Spanish education at home. We may look for some help with that. We hope to put him into one or more programs (such as swimming lessons again) as well.
He will also have more opportunity for interaction with neighbourhood kids (there are a lot of them!) since he won’t be spending hours doing homework each night.
It will take time to get all the details worked out – and it will be something we’re taking one day at a time. This isn’t necessarily a forever decision either. For both Hannah and Nathanael we’ve taken things one year at a time (while thinking about the future, of course).
There’s no doubt this will be a drastic adjustment for all of us. If you know Nathanael, you know that he needs constant supervision, which means one of us will need to be helping him almost all the time. Leave him for 20 seconds – and who knows what may happen! 😉
So we would appreciate your prayers as we make these changes.
Meanwhile, Hannah and Nathanael are at their school for the last day – well, half a day – practising for the Christmas program! Then the Christmas program takes place on Monday night. Then – holidays!
Microscopic and Marvellous
From a distance, a pebble and a fly may look more or less alike. But the closer you look, the more dissimilar and complex things get.
Here’s another reminder of just how complex and beautiful life is, thanks to the Olympus BioScapes Digital Imagining Competition (put on by the company famous for cameras, Olympus, of course).
At just over a minute and a half long, it’s worth taking a look at:
This past week’s Tweets…
- What I'm reading: Touchstone Archives: Narnia Invaded: Shared by Jim
Fascinating. http://bit.ly/9XNAC1 #
- Finished the practice for tomorrow's big community centre event. It will be quite the evening! 🙂 #
- Ice on the windshield – it's a cccold morning in Mexico City! Pass the Abuelita hot chocolate… #
- What I'm reading: Fooseball and Jerseys: Tonight, rehearsals continued for our closing community center program … http://bit.ly/h6TIyO #
- What I'm reading: Amazon.com: Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts eBook: Gerald Bridges, Jerry Bridges: Kindle S… http://amzn.to/hWthjz #
- What I'm reading: Take Your Pants off Before You Preach: That’s how it was explained to Mike during a visit with… http://bit.ly/fGxhM2 #
- Seen today: "WARNING! This product contains a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer." Who knew? #
- Nathanael just stood still for 3 seconds! I've never seen anything like it! #
- Door lock broken again. If we both leave the house, we'd better come back with a locksmith! If not, we're out for good! #
- Nathanael seems to be feeling somewhat better. He had a nasty day, though! #
- Taking care of a sick boy today. And at the moment, that's quite a bit of work! #
- Nice: http://bit.ly/gUyMnq Conair Soothing Squooshy #
- Back from the English class (practice for next week's performance). Now we're decorating the tree! #
Community Centre Christmas Event Tonight!
Last night was the dress rehearsal for the closing-of-classes Christmas program at the community centre. And tonight is the big night!
We’re hoping to see many of the people who come regularly to the classes related to the community centre – guitar, English, baking, dance, basketball, tutoring, etc. And, of course, we hope to see their family and friends! And then of course there are people from the church, and quite a few we’ve met other places. For example, we talked to a few people when we were handing out flyers with the First Free Team.
So last night I watched as the drama was practised. This was the English class. They will be performing in English, while the audience reads along in Spanish.
Then I helped with a bit of music with the English class – tonight it will be a medley of Mary’s Boy Child and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, and then an a capella version of We Wish You A Merry Christmas. We worked hard on tricky words like earth, born, righteousness, and, of course, Hark!
The program is scheduled to start tonight at 6:00pm. It will be outdoors, and considering that the weather report this morning said it was 5 degrees below freezing, it could be interesting doing things like playing guitar!
Tonight will also be a chance to promote all the community centre activities for the new year. We hope to get off to a great start!
We’re praying for a good turnout and a fun time, and of course a clear message of the Gospel which will be in the drama and songs. There are lots of other things going on this time of year, particularly with the holiday for the Virgin of Guadalupe on Sunday (in our claustro there will be a mass to the Virgin of Guadalupe tonight, for example). So please pray that people would come out and hear about the coming of the Messiah.