A Short "Adeiu"

Well, friends, our “busy seven weeks” has arrived. Grandpas arrived last Saturday, along with my cousin (Dad’s brother’s son). The boys have been VERY busy since then! :) They’ve really enjoyed having him here.

The Bhutanese that we saw were dressed in this style.
{photo credit}

Saturday (the 24th—two days after the second anniversary of the February 22nd earthquake!), they arrived about 3 or 3.15 pm. While we waited in the airport for them, we had an interesting cultural experience! A group of Bhutanese dressed in the traditional costume were waiting there for someone, and each person (from the very youngest to the very oldest) were holding a white scarf. We finally saw who they were waiting for—two men came out of customs, and greeted them. One appeared to be a leader (we noted that he had a red scarf over his shoulder), and the other was the helper. All of the people lined up, and the leader went along the line. In turn, each person bowed to him, and then handed him the white scarf. He took it, put it around their neck, and went on to the next one. I’d guess there were about twenty people there waiting for him!

At first, we thought the leader was maybe a monk or a lama, but when we looked it up on the internet we figured out that he must have been some high-up official or male member of a Royal Family. He was more than likely a high-up official. It was very interesting to observe!

Ken shearing the sheep.

Sunday, Grandpas went to church with us, then in the afternoon we took them to the Aquarium (which we all found very interesting—they had added quite a bit since we last have been there!), then to the water tank on the Peninsula. After being at the water tank for a while, we drove north about half an hour to Ken H-------’s place, where we spent an enjoyable afternoon and part of the evening. After chatting in the house for a little while, Ken (who is a shepherd) showed us how his dogs work with the sheep. Then he took us up to the wool-shed, and demonstrated getting the sheep in the yards, sorting them, and also even sheared a sheep so we could see how that works! He explained the wool press, and how they sort the wool, too. I told Mum afterward, “We have a problem. We just took a field trip (we did yesterday, too, with those Bhutanese), and it’s a Sunday! We can’t get away from school!” It was very interesting, though.

Monday was a fairly quiet, relaxed day. Mum and Grandma made sourkraut (using cabbages from our garden—several of them were 4 kg [8 lb] apiece!), bottled some apricots and froze others, and cooked all the meals. Nathan is slowly learning to walk, and he walked across the room from one couch to another more than three times that day! David (my cousin) lost his carry-on the first flight they took (they had to put it with the checked luggage because there wasn’t room for it in the main part of the plane), but he got it back that evening. He was pretty sad he lost it, so it was a relief when we got it back!

We also decided last-minute that day to go to Dead Boring homeschool writing group Tuesday, so we were all trying to come up with stories for that. In the end, I decided to take Journal of the Wondrous Night, because I was hopeless at coming up with anything on short notice like that.

Tuesday, we went to Dead Boring. In the afternoon, the children had a water fight (none of us participated, though, because we didn’t have any extra clothes—oops!). It was a good day. In the evening, we had friends over for a singing/Bible study/prayer meeting. Wonderful time together! David also used Dad’s truck and drove the four oldest boys to the ocean for an hour and a half or two hours that evening. They all really enjoyed it, and David enjoyed driving on the “wrong” side of the road!

Today, Wednesday, we’re planning on just being here at home. Sounds like Dad is going to round all the boys up and work up some apples and pears. I need to go out and pick tomatoes (we have HEAPS!), and Mum has several things going, too. So we’ll be plenty busy. Elijah wants to make some pear/apple juice, too.

We’re planning (Lord willing) to take a five-day trip to Mount Cook this weekend, leaving Friday and getting back late Tuesday afternoon. Sounds like lots of fun! I can hardly wait. We’re going to stay with some friends that moved there late last year, and run a Hardware Shop. They’re looking forward to our visit almost as much as we are! :) Hopefully, we can visit the Tasman Glacier and Hooker Valley again—they’re beautiful places! At the Tasman Glacier, you can see a lake from melted glacier water, and there are icebergs on the lake! We heard that there’s recently been an ice fall, so maybe there’ll be more than we saw last time. Here’s hoping. :) The Hooker Valley has a river down it, and several suspension bridges (You know, the kind you can walk to the middle on, rock it back and forth and scare your Momma half to death? That kind! :D), a really rugged trail, and amazing views.

So yes, our busy time has started. I’ll try to get some pictures up sometime, but I’m not promising. I’ll see if I can find time.

For now, 

P.S. I’ve also written “goodbye for now” posts on two other blogs I write for:

Love. And Me., at Meditations of His Love Daily

"The following I wrote on night when my heart was full. Hopefully, you can relate a little to it, too! (warning: it’s VERY long!)

Love. And Me.
from an imperfect daughter to her Heavenly Papa

You are the light of my life,
The depth of my breath,
The height of my joy.

I weep from your love,
I gasp at your power.

You are the Creator.
Sustainer.
Upholder.
Filler.

You sweated blood-drops,
You died.
For me.
Read More...

One Girl’s Influence, at the Jewels of Jesus Blog

“‘A young girl went from home,’ writes Mrs. Sangster, ‘To a large school where more than usual freedom of action and less than customary restraints were characteristics of the management. She found very little decided religious life there—an atmosphere, upon the whole, unfavourable to Christian culture. But she had given herself to the Lord, and she could live nowhere without letting her light shine…”
Read More...

Have a blessed two months! Stay strong for Jesus. 

~Esther