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The Brain is Fascinating

About an hour ago, Angie fell off her bike!  She was riding down the hill and doesn’t remember what happened.  In fact, she doesn’t remember what day it is nor that she has asked about 30 times so far where Elle is and has no recollection of receiving an answer.  It’s a natural conclusion that she knocked her head.  Any second now, she’ll ask what day it is.  Yep.  Next it will be, “Where’s Elle?”  Slowly the brain will piece things together and realize it is stuck in a circle.  Ha!  Here we go again.  Fascinating.  She knows the name of her choir teacher, but can’t remember that she’s asked what day it is… again. 

Priscilla is rejoicing.  Today she finally got a mulberry tree planted near the clothes line.  It has been grown by a friend and will have three different colour mulberries growing on it.  She’s thrilled. 

This weekend, we’ll be taking a group of young people out to the island for a sleep-over and wake-board for the brave.  The mornings are cold already so it will be interesting to see who can overcome their whimpiness.  I only think I’ll be able to.  IT’S COLD!  We’ll be challenging them to repent and trust in Jesus.  You might like to pray for them and us before Friday.

I’ve had an interesting couple of weeks examining the question of whether God ever hates.  It is without question that He hates sin.  But does He hate the unrepentant sinner?  We looked at the subject tonight at Bible study and some people found it strange to even consider the possibility.  After all… God is love and tells us to love our enemies and to do good to those who hate us and despitefully use us… surely he doesn’t hate anyone! 

Snow on October 3rd

photo (27)While Oz is experiencing record high temperatures, we are experiencing something I don’t recall seeing in the last 20 years.  Today, we were doing “couch time”, (15 minutes before breakfast where the kids read quietly while Pris and I drink a coffee and have a chat).  Suddenly Elle lets out a screech and runs to the window.  Yep.  Snow flakes were falling.  We lost our two youngest girls to the joy of catching snowflakes on their tongues.  Two minutes later and the snow had ceased falling and we were eating breakfast and getting on with our day. 

Yesterday, Pris and I went into Kiev and ate breakfast at a café we discovered.  $4 gets you two eggs, two sausages, three slices of tomato and cucumber, two leaves of lettuce and a coffee (Americano).  It felt like a feminine breakfast, especially without toast… but the atmosphere was nice and it was nice to do with Pris.

The mechanics had worked late into the night getting the van going again and we picked it up on our way.  We got to Kiev and realized that I’d left the van documents and my wallet at home.  We held our breath as we drove past the police.  (It’s a nightmare of insinuations, threats, lies, and trouble if you are stopped without your car documents!)  Thankfully, Jesse could bring the bag in and within 2 hours, we were again legal.  We were to pick Cheryl up at the airport at 1:00, and there are always police out there stopping cars randomly, so it was a big relief having them.

September 2013

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Greetings…

9:00 this Thursday morning sees me behind the keyboard happy to be home. I’ve come down with the cold that has been doing the rounds and feel… crook enough to stay home. Last night, Pris and I thanked the Lord for the blessings of health and for the blessings of sickness. Truly a trust in God’s goodness is a gift worth millions!

So how do we do? All-round-fine. It has been a good summer.

We had a good camp with other believers and a few non-believers on the island.

The annual kids club was well-attended and… good!

We took Priscilla’s parents out to the island for two night’s holiday which was nice.

Jesse and I went to Jono’s wedding and visited his great-grandma, uncles and aunts, and some friends in the process.

Priscilla has started treatment for the problems in her neck which reached a point where we needed to do something.

I managed to get a few games of cricket over the summer. I felt young again… until the following day. Then I felt four times my age! I enjoyed myself immensely.

Galya, our much loved neighbour, died this summer. Her love and care for others is already missed. We attended her funeral. Pris carried the “holy water” for the procession from home to the church and then from the church to the cemetery.

School

youthchairYes!  The school year has started again.  Many students don’t feel like that.  I just had Elle come to me with her Math and with her quivering lips.  What is 92x8?  “I’ve been trying to do this for aaages!”  Ahhh… learning is sometimes

With the start of the new school year, the students are back.  It was nice to be reminded of how much I love some of these guys!  We had many new faces also turn out Friday – nice kids, too.  That is once again in pretty stark contrast to the youth group from another tech college we have Sunday nights.  The kids from there are a rough bunch.  In the pic to the left, they were seeing how many people they could fit on one “poor” chair.

I planted some strawberry plants in our garden Saturday morning.  It was with mixed feelings.  We started a small strawberry farm in a nearby village several years ago and travelled 6 hours to purchase plants – which turned out to NOT be the plants claimed.  The strawberry plants I purchased Friday are good pure Selva plants.  I also know that having them near our home should ensure that these don’t get stolen and sold by unscrupulous neighbors.  We still have the house and property out there and if we find someone to work it, may yet start it up again.  It provided work for a good many people over the three years we ran it and allowed young Christians to “live alongside” some of us older Christians – a healthy situation from a spiritual growth perspective.