Ordinary Wonder

A few weeks back, the sophomores had to do projects on either a plant or an animal cell. There were a variety of options as to how the project could turn out, but my kids decided they wanted to do edible projects. I had forgotten the agony and creativity and wonder of school projects, but I had a BLAST working with Etien and Aleyna, and we all laughed so hard by the end of the night.

Aleyna's lemon cake example of a plant cell

Not pictured was my flour war with Aleyna. Okay, "war" may be too intense of a term, though we did have flour war paint on our cheeks by the end of her lemon cake making experience. :)

Etien ventured out on making a pizza! He loves cooking and hopes to pursue that further someday. It was so much fun to work with him and try to think of fourteen plus items we could put on a pizza . . . not an easy task.

Etien hard at work on his animal cell pizza

Normally during study hours, the gathering rooms are closed to members of the opposite gender, but with Etien using my kitchen for "homework," we had several guys come wondering through the room, and while they're full fledge turkeys, I have such a blast with them and these girls in ordinary, unplanned moments like those when we laugh so hard and just enjoy figuring life out together.

Aleyna, Mawin, Joyce, Jacques, Nevin,
and Chen being all stalker-ish on the couch.

As for other very important news, Nevin's birthday was last Tuesday! It was special to get to celebrate him and all he is to us!

This was the pre-haircut days. ;)

Nevin, happy, happy birthday to you! I am so grateful Jesus brought you to this dorm and into our lives. I still remember you coming into the kitchen, asking if I was feeling "some type of way." I was confused until I later heard you jamming to the "clean" version of that horrible song! :P I'm pretty sure those four lines were your favorite part of the song anyways. :) Nonetheless, I'll always associate those four lines with your quirky, fun-loving, friendly personality. You are driven, intelligent, and caring, and I can't wait to see where you go in life. 

These verses are for you, Nevin. Praying this over your life, that someday, you will be a declarer of His Light, of His healing, even as you seek to mimic the greatest Healer there is or ever will be. I believe in you! May this year be the best one yet. Jesus is worth everything. I promise.

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

    because the Lord has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor;

    he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

    and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

2 

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,

    and the day of vengeance of our God;

    to comfort all who mourn;

3 

to grant to those who mourn in Zion—

    to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness instead of mourning,

    the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;

that they may be called oaks of righteousness,

    the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. Isaiah 61:1-3

Super Bowl Party and Such

These kids make me laugh so hard!
I enjoy them so much. :)
This is Chen stacking a snack
in his mouth!

Again, my sincere apologies for the delayed update. Sometimes, I get so caught up in living these moments that it takes me time to remember to blog about them! I'm so grateful for this space to catch the memories and hold on to them. Thank you for letting us share them with you.

A couple Mondays back, we warmed up for devotions with a game of Catch Phrase. These kids are so competitive. It's fun to see them interact with each other while they're playing games and see the energy level rise in the room. :) After the game, I read 1 Corinthians 12:21-26, a passage that talks about how in a group of believers, all are important, and when one person hurts, we all do. When we're a healthy, tight knit community, all are affected by one person's pain. We talked a little about Silas and how his pain not only affected him but the rest on the bench. We're a unit. We stick together. After that, the kids wrote notes to him, and we took some time praying for him.

Thank you to all of you who prayed for Silas. He seems to be doing well and recovering well. He has a doctor's appointment tomorrow, so more prayers for that would be great. Thank you so much! We have so much to be thankful for in what God has already done in healing his leg. Praise Jesus! Not something to take for granted.

Etien, Maya, and Nevin playing Catch Phrase.

That following weekend, the boys had an away game, so it was just the gals and Ibrahim home. A couple of the girls wanted to go to town, so we got in my car and went while the rest stayed with Ibrahim. We were glad to convince McKaylah to join us too. :) We had a fun time!

Serena, Joyce, Danae, McKaylah
The typical excitement of a town adventure includes visiting
Albertsons and possibly Shopko. Maybe even MacDonalds! ;)
Photo Credit: Serena!

That Sunday was Super Bowl Sunday. That afternoon, after church and lunch, we headed over to Amy and Tony Fast's house for a Super Bowl party. It was so kind of them to host us with such yummy snacks and a great place to watch the game!

One of Ibrahim's passions is football, and he was all excited for the Seahawks to win. Most of us were. Jacques decided to be countercultural and root for the Patriots. Sadly, there was only one voice cheering when the game ended. Oh Jacques. :) Ibrahim is already looking forward to next year . . .

Zoned in on the Super Bowl game!

There is much more catching up to do on this blog. Coming soon hopefully. In the meantime, thanks again for caring about our lives. Sometimes just caring makes all the difference. :)