We have just finished our first quarter of the school year and started into the second. The kids are continuing to do well and enjoy the school here. Thanks for praying with us for Ben; we have found some solutions that seem to be making a big difference for him in his classes.
The high school recently had their "spirit week", and Mikayla and Zach performed in some cultural dances. Mikayla learned to hula (the only blonde :) ), and Zach was part of the Chinese dragon (in the middle with the red shirt/khaki shorts).
Ben still loves to play percussion, and he is in the advanced middle school band this year. They had their first concert recently, and they did a great job! Percussion plays multiple instruments, so Ben had his work cut out for him, running all around the back to play different instruments.
Zach enjoys playing guitar, and he was able to work some over the summer doing odd painting jobs (thanks, Grandma & Papa!) so he decided to get an electric guitar with his earnings. He recently had the opportunity to have one special-made, and he is very excited with how it is turning out. Almost done, should be able to pick it up soon!
A couple interesting things have happened this past week. One, we opened the gate to drive the bike out, and the pillar holding up the car and people gate cracked in half! Thankfully, the open gate "caught" the pillar and supported its weight (so it didn't fall on the car) until we could get it tied off. Thankful Steve was home during that particular adventure! Discovered that there was no metal in that concrete post, so it's just surprising it didn't happen sooner. They had to chip it out, add metal and pour new cement. Painting it has been an issue though because it's rainy season so never get a full day without rain.
Another adventure this past week was some flash flooding. Steve and I were on our way home from meetings in town, and the kids were trying to get home from school but couldn't ride their bikes because of lightning storm. While they were waiting, we made it their direction far enough that we told them we would just come pick them up. Then all of a sudden, traffic totally stopped because of flash flooding ahead. We sat stationary in traffic for 1.5 hours, just waiting for the water to recede enough for us to go up and get the kids. Mikayla texted to say the lightning had stopped, should they go ahead and come home? Just as she texted that, we saw the scene pictured below - large plastic road barriers floating down the river on the road that they would have to drive their bikes on. Half a dozen of those barriers floated by while we were sitting there. Texted back and told them they better stay put. :) Once the flood waters had finally receded for the high vehicles to get through (thankfully Steve was home with our 4x4!), we found it ironic that with all the 4-wheeling he does in the mountains, crossing many streams, the highest water he has driven through to this point was 5 minutes from our house...though it took more than 2 hours that day!
Thanks for your continued prayers for our family. So very thankful that Steve has been home for these last couple adventures! :)
