Stewart 5

For the first time, my son Arthur (my 9 year old son) knew something that I didn’t.

child: “Do you know what a blue moon is?”
me: “Uh, when the moon looks like it is blue????”
child: “No, it’s when there is more than one full moon in the same month”
me: “Really? Impressive”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_moon

so, explains the expression “once in a blue moon” for something rare (like two full moons in one month). don’t get me wrong, i’m glad to have learned something new today. just not ready to learn it from my eldest child.

This is where it all goes downhill…

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Praise to God - maker of all things, lover of my soul - that I am finally feeling a bit better.  Not 100%, but well enough to actually enjoy this weekend.  And what a weekend.

Friday night, we did a commissioning time for the Kabongos who are launching an Innerchange team in Soshonguve this year.

Yesterday, Melissa, AP, Mairin, and our friend Chris went to a fab concert at the Botannical Gardens in Joburg.  Then, we went and had dinner at a cool little restaurant nearby.

Chris & Harris Tweed, Arthur & Chris all smiles,  Mairin at the restaurant  

Today, we took the kids and Iain’s friend Lukie to an outdoor adventure.  Hiking, animals, and hamburgers - what could be better?  This afternoon we swam at Pangani.

Lukie holds a crocodile (Iain making sure you see it), the boys hiking, swimming (Mosky doing ballet in the back) 

So glad to just chill for the weekend, especially with the hectic schedule we’ve had and given that we are hosting the all-NieuCommunities conference starting this upcoming weekend.  Nice to hang with the fam - nourishing to the soul!

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subtitle: kids…

Mairin likes to play in the garden. She generally gets dirty, but stays out of trouble and has fun. However, she has recently taken to “playing” with the flowers. Here’s today’s work:

looks pretty nice. neat rows of leaves. green contrasts with the bricks well.

of course, those leaves have to come from somewhere (mom and dad not so happy about this part)

so, how to balance response to the artistic value vs. ecological impact to our garden?

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One thing I love about our son Iain is that he dances…. a lot.  He moves to the music playing in restaurants.  He grooves to the tunes in the elevator.  He jumps up for commercials.  He’s sort of got this elbows in and shoulders/butt moving & head revolving thing going on.

Now, if he sees you looking at him while doing this dancing, he tends to get self-conscious, grin, and ask, “What?”  I usually just say, “I love you Iain.”

crud, these aren’t supposed to be sideways…

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This should be our last post on the subject. The following comes after several conversations with our son about the movie.

I think anyone should be allowed to see the Golden Compass. Even Christians should see it. So what if the children kill God in the third book it’s not ever going to happen and never will because it is impossible to kill God. So if you have been listening to the people posting about not seeing the Golden Compass, I say you should think for yourself. It might be as they say, I don’t know, just think for yourself.

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People don’t really celebrate Halloween in South Africa. However, we had a party last year, which means precedent was set. Also, Melissa was just in America, and you just can’t resist all those chocolates and Halloween-themed items, can you?

So, the kids carved pumpkins on Sunday (well, Mairin carved a butternut squash). They decorated the house today - mostly with spiderwebs that we will still be finding next week. Then this evening, some friends came by. It was mostly for kids, so they had candy and played a few games. The adults had a braai (bbq)…. and candy.

The last pic is NOT one of our kids.  It’s our friend Lizzie - the only adult who dressed up!

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Melissa got home yesterday evening.  And, of course, there is lots to catch up on.  She visited with her sister, attended a conference, spent a lot of time with friends, saw her dad, had several flights, and was in America.  We have also had two weeks of life and travails while she was gone.

It’s almost like there is too much to catch up on to even get started.  In the end, most things will come our, piece by piece, over the next week or so.  If the kids will let us, we may get a nice long chunk of time to chat together today, but who knows… the kids are pretty excited to have their mom back.  So, we have this weird, “I know lots has happened and I would like to hear but I’m not sure how/when” thing.

Does anyone else know what this is like?  How do you catch up when lots has happened?

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i’m not sure, but i think the kids set some sort of record today.  they’re all home sick, and consequently don’t have the energy to run around outside (and probably shouldn’t since they are sick), so what else are they gonna’ do?  now for some reason, our kids are actually able to get up EARLIER on days when they aren’t going to school.  and since i’m not feeling so hot, they were up and watching the simpsons for a while before I got up.  I think they stopped around 11:30 am, so that would be probably a solid 4.5-5 hours of simpsons.

i have a lot of friends that would love to spend the day like that!

dear FOX executives…  please do not sue me or shut down my blog because i posted this simpsons pic i found on some other random website

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The boys and I are reading in the Bible from the prophet Amos. Today, we read chapter 3. After reading, I asked them to build something from legos to represent something from the text.

These are “traps” (more modern versions, mind you). “If someone steps on it, this part springs up and lasers trap them…” I don’t know if it has more to do with the fact that our legos most often build space ships, or that lasers and technology are often part of the boys’ creativity. But, nice contextualization…

This actually refers to a great part from the passage (if you like logic, as I do), where God is basically operating like a lawyer, asking a set of questions of His people on the stand, letting their answers build His case.  “Does a trap spring from the earth when there is nothing to catch?” Answer: no.  God is about to explain why He is upset with His people’s actions.   So, when the “trap” = punishement comes, they will not be able to ask where it came from.  Traps spring for a reason.

Check out Amos for more on how God wants people to live!

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“Little Arthur” (as his brother and sister are calling him these days, as compared to his dad “Big Arthur”) turned 9 today! He continues to be an amazing boy and I look forward to all God has for him in the upcoming year.

Take a sec, thank God, and pray a blessing for our son today.

he’s  not as mean as he looks here (and he isn’t drinking wine yet)

with school friends Jonathan, Khumo, Rossen & Neil

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