The Best Things in Life ARE Free

This has been striking me again and again here in the land of plenty....

I love how much is available here in the good ol' U.S of A and have been doing my share to buy up Christmas presents and "nick nacks" at the stuff mart. We have been to Disneyland, the beach, to the east, west, north of this wonderful land.

With all this wonderful experience I have been reflecting on this: "When am I the happiest?" What truly satisfies? Jesus of course. Everything else it a dim substitute for the bright light of Him. I am so guilty of trying to replace that satisfaction with something else, mostly food and entertainment. They are the Turkish delights that pull me in with the greatest ease.

I truly love the simple pleasures that God has blessed me with:

The free gift of forgiveness and the joy of knowing I am God's child
Watching Sierra toddle around in her footie pajamas
Reading in the sun
Listening to Weston pretend
Talking with family
Singing at church
Jogging slowly and taking in the surroundings
Listening to Peter sing to the kids at night
Seeing Peter laugh with friends
Cooking a nice dinner

I do admit just walking down Main Street at Disneyland is a delight too!

Weston

Weston has been enjoying discovering America. He has seen so many new things. Some of the favorites are still drinking fountains and automatic doors at stores. He also loves shopping carts, fountains and fruit trees. This week he has enjoyed the rollercoasters at Disneyland. He LOVES going fast and being a little scared as he wooshes around the turns and drops. He loves firecrackers too.

He has a great imagination.

Today he woke up a doctor. He decided my arm was broken. He has casted my arm, removed the cast, given me an x-ray and did some stretching for phyiscal therapy!

On Sunday he invited me to his house to watch a movie. First he showed me where to sit on the sidewalk next to the gate and then he asked me what movie I wanted to watch. He had two flower pots and he was pretending that they were dvds. Then he turned it on and instructed me to watch the tv. He was pretending that the movie was playing on the black wooden gate. :)

I think that the preschool age is so much fun!

Crossing Cultures

We are in Arizona with our Mongolian friends, Enkee and Hongroo. It has been a good time together here. It is fun to connect with them in a new way. We are usually in Mongolia always studying culture and asking questions to make sure that we are doing the right thing. Now the roles are reversed and we are answering questions and helping with cultural things. Today we went to Lake Havasu and a friend took us all out boating. It was a such a good time. They have been spending their evenings scrapbooking some pictures of their trip and chatting with some friends in Mongolia on Yahoo messenger.

It is fun to live together and deepen our friendships and experiences together. I will post pictures soon.

Friends on the way

Enkee and Hongroo are coming to California to visit with us. They are in America for medical treatment. Hongroo has been in IL for epilepsy treatment. She was not a candidate for the surgery as hoped. The doctors were able to treat her with the correct medicine and her quality of life has increased dramatically. We are so happy to hear that.

They arrive this evening and will spend the week with us. We will do some fun things together. We are going to Arizona together too.

more pictures---

Pictures

Here are some recent pictures:

We rode donkeys, a tractor and quads at the Barcus' house in Montana. We hiked in the forest too. Weston decided he likes to look at the camera now and that he likes to pose with Sierra! Both good developments, since the last year I've just had pictures of him with his eyes closed or running away! He got a new haircut too!

October Update

We had a great cross-country trip and have been home for about a week. It is good to have the kids in their beds and sleeping a little better again. We have been at some great churches as we visited the States. It has been good to be in church with believers again. It is so great to sing in English and really enjoy the worship.

Weston got his cast off yesterday---the "tickle saw" cut it right off. He also had a follow up with the eye doctor and was able to see the eye chart well. For small children they have a chart that has pictures on it. The first one was a picture of a handprint. The doctor asked what he saw and Wes said, "I think it's a clue." Both the doctor and I were a bit puzzled, then I realized he was thinking of the TV show Blue's Clues. The dog Blue leaves a paw print on clues. I explained to the doctor. We both laughed. The next picture was of an old fashioned rotary telephone. Weston has never seen one of those so he said, "I think it is the thinking chair!" Blue's Clues has a very large chair with circular arms and it looks just like the old phones. By this time I was cracking up!!! I think he must of thought the doctor had a blues clues theme!

Sierra is doing well. Her first word was doggie. She says mama, dada, and more too!