Let's Go Crazy

This last week was a great week as we finally have gotten into a routine with the kids and our schedule. With all this improved adjustment also came a sense of giddiness as we found ourselves tickled about every little funny moment. We were really getting into the role playing during our T4T (training for trainers) small group. This picture shows our fearless leader, Brett, and his wife Nicole as they helped us to focus on the task at hand.

Of course these moments spilled over onto our children's lives as well. Connor begged me when it was time to get his haircut, "Can I pleeeeease have a Mohawk?" Ken said, "Absolutely not!" I said, "Sure!" Talk about role reversals. We told him he could keep it until commissioning service. He has loved it!

There is a beautiful fountain here at ILC. The kids love to run around it while we adults place bets on who will fall in first. It has been so hot here the week before last (Highs of 103) that when it was only in the 90s this week we spent a lot of our time outdoors. On Father's day we recorded a message for Papaw by the fountain.



Later I got a chance to play some soccer in the tournament. I was more than just a little intimidated by one of the opposing team members who is over 6'3". I learned to just move out of the way when he came towards me with the ball. Now, I will say in my defense that I did scrap it up pretty well with the girls. The South American team did end up winning the tournament with cheers of "OLE, OLE, OLE" resounding on and around the field! Ken had an opportunity to go fishing this week with Anthony. I call this picture "Fisher of Men" since they didn't catch any fish that day.

This last weekend I had the privilege of teaching a CPR class to some of the people here. We had mannequins and a DVD to use for practice. It was a great class and Doug was so nice to help me out in teaching since he has several years of EMT experience. Something important I had to convey to the students...if you are trying to reach emergency services in another country check and see what the official number is for that country. 911 in one country I found out was the number you call to get a pizza.

Last week we completed our contingency training. Basically this training teaches you what to do if you are ever held hostage. Although it was only 3 days of training, it was pretty stressful for some people as they do real life role play with people randomly selected in the group. I had a little training in the military, but it was not nearly as intense as what the people selected for role play went through. Connor decided to have his own scenerio on the playground with some of the other TCKs (Third Culture Kids). They determined that they would use tickling as their form of punishment. Eventually the hostages escaped and made their captor the recipient of some merciless tickling.

Here are a few pictures from these last two weeks:

Connor and Kayleigh show off their new pillows with Miss Bobbie.

These strawberries are "HUGE" Mama!

"Uncle Mark" reminds us to pray for the mentally challenged of Italy.

Our last cultural worship we had Arabic Underground House Church. It really gave me an appreciation for the freedoms we have here in America to worship the Lord without fear of being persecuted. It also reminded me to pray for those that do not have that freedom.