Dalat Sports Day

We missed this last year, but Aiden had a blast yesterday! Each year Dalat International School holds a sports day for their grades K-4, and home schoolers are allowed to join in (a perk of our Distance Learning membership!). 

 There was a good mix of traditional sports and imaginative skill testing activities. Aiden was really impressed with the obstacle course in the gym where they had to climb a ladder and swing down with a rope.

 As Aiden is currently keenly interested in soccer, he was pleased to discover he was one of the top scorers in the penalty kicks activity and that his team creamed its opponent 6-1.

 The end of the morning culminated in a gigantic battle of tug of war.

Over all, Aiden's red team came in second place, so he was well satisfied with the morning. And he still came home humming with energy! Not so the rest of us: Mom and dad are both fighting a cold - Mom is losing her voice even :(

Grace's Adventure

Last week I went on a trip to an Orang Asli (the natives of Malaysia) village. It rained most of the time, so it was very muddy. The village is on the mainland, an hour or so outside of a town named Greik. It's in the jungle.

Carrying our bags up the last stretch to the village

Building a 'mud' stove

Painting one of the houses

Group photo in the very slight drizzle

Petting a puppy named Bungah (flower in Malay). They have a lot of animals: I counted about 27 dogs, three cats, a bunch of chickens, and a pet monkey in the village.

Roasting glazed marshmallows
It was a fun and educational trip!

More Poems from a Rainy Sunday

Can you tell whose is whose? :o)

A Walk by the Sea
Walking
The cliffs
Nowhere in sight

Wondering
Deep questions
Doubting my safety

Foggy
Mist-shrouded
Cold, damp, grey

Waves
Lapping, sighing
Sounds in the silence

Sandy
Seashore texture
Under my feet

Soundless
But not
Everything is muffled

Alone
Yet not
God is with me

Light
Piercing through
The lighthouse beacon

Foghorn
Sounding warnings
To sailing ships

Direction
Lost, found
Guided to home

Home
Safety, security
Warm voice welcome

A Forest in a City

There is always sound in a city

Always a lot of activity

A honk and a shout

With people running about

That is what I call a city

But as the day starts to darken

Lights start to brighten

My eyes start to see something

Way more exciting

Trees of glass reach for the sky

Lit by tall fireflies

Paths of stone lead the way

To places where I can play

Standing tall within it all

Is a tower with mighty power

It tells the minutes, seconds, hours

With mighty hoots within its tower

There is always sound in the trees

always lots of leaves

A rustle and a creak in the quiet

Patter of many feet

But then I open my eyes

and a forest is what it ceases to be

Now it stands a tall city

in my reality.

When Imagination Soars

A country girl once went to town

And stayed in London, uncles "house"

She found that London held a crowd

And took a walk in busy streets

Although the cobbled streets were loud

Although she's lost within the crowd

The girl looks out, away once more

And lets imagination soar

For though a rough and scruffy child

she was a poet deep inside

And in imagination wild

The City: Forest in Disguise

The streets became rivers

The roves became trees

The noise became birdsong 

And rustling leaves

Big Ben became owls

Now howling from trees

The howls and yowls

of alley dogs tree - 

A hunter in ambush

The shot and the cry

The fierce fighting dogs

In the mere passerby

But then - 

The night ends

The day comes

Imagination hid

Inside once more

He Will Come and Save You

Help

ME

While

I

Longingly

Live

Capture

Oppressive

Menacing

Enemies

And

Now my numbered

Days

Stay

Always

Victorious

Enduring

Yahweh

Openly

Understands

He Will Come and Save You
Healer
Everlasting

Waiting
"I
Love to
Listen.

Call
Out to
Me
Erratic child,

And I will
Never
Disregard you."

Safe
At home
Victorious
Established

Yet
Onward to God
Unshakable

Acrostic Names

When school is being done on the run because life and ministry gets in the way...
While walking up our hill from the bus home...
Connecting to Aiden's  current trip through the Psalms....
Composition on the fly...

All the world praise the Lord!
Indeed, let everything praise the Lord.
Don't ever stop praising the Lord!
Even the rocks know to do this:
Never stop praising the Lord

Greatly
Rejoice
Adonai
Cares
Everlastingly

Joyful Jasmin is
Arting today
Smiling as Grinela
Mindful as Milly
Irresistable as Grace
Never stop loving art

Elegant elephants
Lick lizards
Incredulous iguanas
Zip by zebras while
Audacious aardvarks
Boast beautifully
Engaging everyone with
Tell tall tales of the
Houseboat heyday