New 2 Minute Tuesday

Can you guess who wrote what?



Winks are suspicious but also conspicuous.
They might bring safety but also danger.
You might just want to avoid being suspicious.
I really want to not do that stuff.

A wink

They're friendly, I think

But usually a surprise

I surmise

A wink

A wink

Is sinister, on the brink

Denoting a secret

Caught in a net

A wink

Wink

Quick

Open

Closed

There

And gone

Wink

Friendly

“It will be alright”

“We’re doing this together”

“I’ve got your back”

Wink

Devious

Doublethink

Blind Eye

Wink

Happy

Difficult

Acquired skill

Wink

Quick

Open

Closed

There

And gone

Wink

Wink stood on the edge of the cliff.
The wind howled through the silver and brass pies that stood on the cliff.
The tune, the howling and whistling was eerie but also calming.
The sky was a clear grey-ish blue, it fit his mood completely. Wink looked back,...

Christmas Present!

We decided as a family to pool our Christmas presents into going as a family to the local adventure park for a day with some friends. We did that on Thursday. Now we all have some quite sore and achy muscles from the active workout! It was a blast! 

We spent the morning exploring the water park...

Including the longest waterslide in the world

We enjoyed the fun signs sprinkled around the park too! And we did behave ourselves

 There were all sorts of different slides and activities to try. Of course, we didn't get to take pictures because we were too busy enjoying them and getting wet! The park has photographers taking photos and posts them all on Facebook, where you can go look through and see if they caught you. One favorite was the racing slides with toboggan-like mats to race 6 people at a time. Another was this banana flip slide... fun to watch those riders who knew how to use the slide's momentum for spectacular dives and flips.

Lazy river ride

Banana Flip that Mom and Jasmin declined to try!

After lunch, we explored the dry side of the park. Again, it was a nice mix of easy, lazy things to calm down with, and ultra-challenging.

Grace and Dad both tried the coconut tree climbing, but the bark had been worn so smooth, we're not sure anyone could get up anymore! Aiden opted for the one with a few handles... and he made it to the top lickety-split.

 So then we had to try the Gecko Tower of climbing fun... Jasmin is truly our gecko - up to the top in 47 seconds! So fast we never got a photo :o) Grace and Aiden both made it to the top as well. Mom and Dad gave it a good try also. On the easy side, Dad made it up, but by the time Grace challenged him to the hardest side, sweaty hands and tired forearms did him in.

 The highlight of the dry side of the park is Monkey Business - ropes courses split into three levels with three different courses apiece. No pictures here either - too busy hanging on! We started out everyone planning to do one of each level, but no one made it to level 3...

And, on our way out, we tried a few more crazy things...

Giant slingshot

Bull riding

All in all, it was a fantastic day! Thank you to NiNi, YeaYea, Imma, and others who contributed to this excellent Christmas Present! I'm still waiting for a photo exchange, so I might add more photos later

Two minute Tuesday

A New Year experiment: Two minutes to write about a random word. Can you tell who wrote what?

Read
Something I like to do
A bit too much
The act
Of discovering a new
World
Hidden inside paper
Revisiting old friends
Characters in books
Going on adventures
Falling in love
Defeating dark strengths
Unlock
The unknown
Read

Hi, Reading And Understanding Center, this time what word are we doing: READ!?! Read can be a verb or a noun.  An example is: I can read!!! If you noticed “read” is being used as a noun. Though

There are two ways to read books. One way is to read the book and not understand anything that happened in the book, or, two, read the book and actually understand what it said. The first was how I used to read.


Reading is what I like to do but I don't get to do all that much of it most of the time. I used to read a lot and write down things that I learned or liked about all the books I read. It was pretty instructive. Then God told me to not read so much because I was missing out of what He was doing in real life. So I had to stop reading altogether for awhile. Then I began to read again slowly, mostly only nonfiction, instructive things. Now I can read anything, but there is a lot of stuff I find I'm not interested in anymore and I'm usually too busy to read a lot anyhow.

A Paper of Poems by Grace

A while back I folded a paper into eighths and decided to try write eight poems in the eight sections. I finally finished, and here are the poems.

Find Me

Find me, hidden away

Before the break of day

Is banished into night

Unbroken by a light

Find me

Find me soon.

Find me, weak and cold

Before the dark grows bold -

Enough to see my plight

To make me walk by sight

Find me

Find me soon.

Find me, lost, alone

I don't know what's my own

What thought is in the right

What black lie I've made white

Find me

Find me now

Find me, quickly please

My heart is ill at ease

I'm far away from home

Darkness is where I've roamed

Find me

I need finding

Find me, through the gate

It may not be too late

Before I fully own

The harvest I have sown

Find me

Find me please

Find me, through the lies

That make me close my eyes

To what I've always known

To stop me coming home

Find me

Find me now

Find me, come and find me

I am sore in need

Reach down through the shadows

Find me on my knees

Find me

Will you find me?

Dusk Into Dawn (or When Night is Coming Down)

When night is coming down

Dawn is all around

Tiny twinkling lights

Make the forest bright

The evening glade's now cool

Light hovers o'er a pool

Wind whispers in the trees.

The day that night came down

Twilight wrapped around

Two mountains, strong and tall

The gates within a wall

Unseen by many eyes

A falcon cuts the sky

The faintest, sweetest cry

When night is coming down

Dusk drifts all around

Wand'ring through the lea

Like mist blown out to sea

Colors rare and grand

Are etched within the sand

By sunset fading

The hour night comes down
The evening cool's around

Horses run on plains

Different, yet the same

Ripples through the grass

Signal wind to pass

And fields become the sea

The time that night goes away

When dawn turns into day

The land awake at last

Remembered in times past

It rises up to greet

The light that God made sweet

Dusk turns into dawn

Where

Where

Is it

Book

Toy, drawing

Thing of mine

Where

Are you

Hidden

Little one

Come find me

Where

Am I

Here

Or there?

God only knows

Where

Natural scenes

Mountains

Oceans, sunsets

God's beautiful creation

Where

Location unknown

Lost

Searching, finding

Culminates in discovery

Where

English word

Question

Five letters

A common word

Where

A place

Specific

Right here

On the map

Where

On earth

God

Is everywhere

Even in me

Where

Are we

Safe?

I hope

Safe with God

Delightful Place (At the Beach)

Tinkling, rushing, swishing bells

Sound around my ears

In this safe and quiet place

God allays my fears

Glowing skies and setting sun

Blaze across the plain

Broken by the small ripples

Yet it remains the same

A desert small, a building tall

Seen here side by side

Tiny creatures, clams, and crabs

Swept in by the tide

Climb up now the highest tree

And sit on bouncy limbs

Go searching for small artifacts

Or wade out for a swim

Hammocks swinging in the breeze

The perfect place to rest

Imagine great and glorious things

Put poems to the test

Badminton before it's dark

Sifting through the sand

Gathering driftwood for the fire

To cook a dinner grand

Meat bombs, hot dogs, dough, and fish

Sizzling on (or in) the fire

Though not a new, exotic dish

It satisfies desire

Can you guess this lovely place?

Not hidden, but outside

I sit here by the ocean-sea

And watch the coming tide

Come

(The italics is a different voice)

Come

I'm waiting

Don't delay

Come

I'm saving

Those astray

Come

Shake off

Tangling vines

Come

Remember

Olden times

Come

Stop running

Away from Me

Come

To Me, and

Be set free

Come

My child

Come

Come

A voice

Calling me

Come

I hear

It say

Come

Stop calling

I don't want

Come

He calls

Anyway

Come

Insistent

Calling still

Come

Loving

Tender cry

Come

For freedom

From these chains

Come

I'm standing

By

Come

My life

Flows through your veins

Come

Come and

Try

Come,

Come,

Come,

I will come.

Whalesong

One day

Far away

On a beach

A girl

Dressed lightly

In flowing clothes

Looks

Into the deep

She rocks

And sways

Up and down

The night

For hair

Blown by (the) wind

Stardrops

For a crown

She wondered

At songs

In the deep

Sung smoothly

And softly

Mixing different songs

Tenderly

Made her weep

Decision made

She jumped

Towards the sea

Airborne joy

She was

Blown by (the) breeze

Discovery

Was the key

Diving down

Underwater blue

Showing secret lights

She swam

She saw

Big hulking creatures

God

Made majestic sights

Did You Know

Did you know

Once

The world was made

God

King of the Heavens

Made man

On earth He laid (them)

Did you know

Once

The first man sinned

God

Righteous and Just

Sent away

Man (who was) chagrined

Did you know

Once

The Flood had come

God

Everlasting Provider

Didn't let Noah succumb

Did you know

Once

Abraham was chosen

God

The Promise Keeper

"Your children (will) be like oceans"

Did you know

Once

Israel failed

God

Merciful, Loving

Sent Jesus to prevail

(Technically God promised Abraham his children would be like the sand of the sea)

Aika

(This is a poem about a character I made)

I

Am a Winged One

Hated by mankind

I

Have flown and seen the sun

Many, many times

I

Am named 'Song of Love'

The second only child

I

Think I'll find the One

To reunite our kinds

Called

Blessed

Prayed for

Birthed

A miracle child knows her worth

Hated

Forgotten

Scorned

Stoned

A little child in (a) human's home

Cry

Fly

Soar

Sing

Forgiven child to her destiny

I

Flew to Aro's land

Hoping to start peace

I

Was rejected then

And sent with 'broken wings'

I

Fell from the sky

Struck by lightning's sound

I

Found two brothers who

Though lost, may yet be found

I am Aika

Beach Christmas

We had our Christmas feast on the beach again - a Penang tradition, I think, now.  We planned so many treats and enjoyed ourselves so much, that we went back again the next day... and to our favorite rock beach a few days later. We took a friend and his mom with us and it made it just right - especially since she is a photographer and we are not!

 

We took so much food, that for two days in a row, we didn't cook the s'mores!!

 Of course, there were too many good things to do as well, (like digging a ginormous hole in the sand), leaving the kids attempting badminton well past our brief dusk and on into the dark...

our mountain goat daughter who can seemingly climb any rock...

Grace attempting to copy

success!  But not before slips and scrapes

 

 Beautiful peace at the end of a most delightful number of days