A Nail In The Hand

It's been another eventful week.  Rick was in Nevada for a good portion of it, so I did my best to keep everyone fed, bathed, loved and educated.  I ended every day bone tired, and knowing there would be more to do the next day.  It is good to go to bed bone tired, you sleep really well, unless someone wakes you up to see if they can snuggle you.

Last night, thankfully, no one tried to wake me up.  Apparently after I went to bed, the kids came home from their slurpy run to the sound of the frog symphony in our pond.  Karsten has been a bit annoyed with this nightly serenade, so he decided to throw some old boards into the pond to shut them up.  Apparently the third time was not the charm, and the board had a nail in it which pierced his hand as it sailed off into the night.  He came running into the house to his two older sisters who tried to figure out how to handle the situation.  Brook apparently was lobbying for a trip to the ER, Madie was not so sure.  They woke Rick up and all decided to wait until the morning to decide.  The PA who saw them this morning said it definitely needed stitches, and sewed him up.

I posted the cliff note version of this on Facebook, and a friend pointed out the irony of a nail in the hand on Good Friday.  It is sort of poignant.  God has done some very interesting things in Karsten's life over the years.  I have learned to trust him to his heavenly father and know that he has a plan.  I had told Karsten not to throw things in the pond, I hadn't envisioned boards when I gave that command.  The frogs are back this evening taunting him with their song.  They have won this round, but I am confident that he will back in the fight.  A couple weeks of laying low will probably do him good.

The older girls had their first two track meets.  One was a surprise event on Tuesday.  They have done respectably, but not what they had hoped.  The season is early, and given that we have no field equipment to practice our jumps, I think they have done well.  I'll miss track season.  It is fun to see the girls work hard and master some difficult skills.

We have been discovering more and more school options.  I have to say that I am really excited about the opportunities we have for next year.  We found a program that offers dual credit for our high schoolers with some very interesting classes.  It incorporates some of the ideas that we heard about at PLU in their international honors program, but they can do it in high school.  We will start the application process and see what happens.  We found an ESL program for Martha.  When Rick called them to see if it would be appropriate for her, we discovered that the lady who teaches the class knew about us.  She was one of the founders of the school we had considered teaching at in Indonesia.  I have been astounded again and again by God's faithfulness and blessing in all the twists and turns we have taken in our life.

A dear friend emailed and offered to let Madie come stay with them for a while and get a change of scenery.  It was completely unexpected, but would be such a blessing to Madie and to us, and hopefully to them.  I was feeling a little bit discouraged by how things were working out for Madie.  We are still very hopeful that she will be able to take a volunteer trip this summer.  We are trying to figure out how to do some fundraising to take care of the travel expenses.  There are some questions we need to answer before we are ready to send her to Europe by herself, but I really feel like this would be a great way for her to grow in maturity and faith.  She just needs to come up with the airfare, and they will take care of the rest.  God has been so good to us, and I have felt so good about the options he has presented that we have not expected in any way.

This Easter weekend has already been beautiful.  The weather is warm.  The flowers are springing up everywhere.  Yesterday while I walked with Eden the smell of dinners being cooked outside reminded me of Ethiopia.  It was such a sweet memory, and a longing to go back.  It reminded me of all the people we have met from Ethiopia, who have adopted from Ethiopia, who are serving in Ethiopia now, it made me so very grateful for our Ethiopian children and all that they have brought into our lives.  We are planning to celebrate Easter with some very dear friends who have hosted us for Easter for many years.  I was thinking about our Easter celebrations of the past.  We have been getting together since our children were all very young.  Many of them are now married and have small children of their own.  It has been a wild ride, and I am so looking forward to our annual get together.  Friends eating, hiding eggs, getting spring sunburns, and laughing as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and life everlasting.  It truly is better than Christmas.

I am thankful for...

Friends that have become family

Gifts paid forward

Surprises

New friends met, and relationships growing

Doctors to stitch up hands

Frogs to inspire boys to do dumb things

Husbands that come home

Eternal life