Heidi has written a story.  In classic Heidi style, it is full of exuberance, imagination, and surprise...and it is not "short-winded," if there is such a concept.  We enjoy it and think you will, too.  The project turned out to be a high percentage of our third grade (NZ Year 4) English grammar studies.  It certainly was more interesting than workbook exercises.  Heidi would love to receive feedback, if you care to share your thoughts.  You can download it here.

We don't intend to use this blog to brag incessantly about our kids...but God seems to have given them some talents to be developed.  They are learning to appreciate the arts in His creation.

Heidi is a budding artist.  She has natural talent.  We are excited about the possibility of a neighbour giving her private art lessons in exchange for Lori giving the neighbour's son piano lessons.  We are working on the details there.

Daniel shows promise of being a gifted musician.  He loves music.  It showed up when he was about nine months old.  In a furlough meeting where there was not an evening nursery, the man leading music on the platform was extremely distracted, and pleased, to see baby Daniel trying to conduct each and every hymn. Since the age of one, Daniel has enjoyed sitting at the piano and composing his own music. Mostly it is quite avant-garde, or could be classfiied as modern (hee, hee).  But, he doesn't bang like many children.  He listens, carefully, and attempts to make it beautiful.  One recent day we managed to grab a quick excerpt.  You'll be surprised.  Remember...he's only five!  Hear his composition, and see his self-defense on our video blog here.

This is a true account.  Names have not been changed to protect the guilty. 

The Circumstances

We have a schedule.  Each Monday evening we play a game as a family.  Scott's brother gave us "Worst Case Scenario" in which you guess the best option for escaping random unlikely events.  Our kids love it, and we have played it a fair bit recently.  Friday mornings we have cooked breakfast.  Lori would never bother to cook breakfast, herself preferring (its an addiction, really) an easy bowl of homemade muesli {granola}.  The rest of the family love to eat (not prepare or clean up) cooked breakfast.  Friday morning is a compromise.

The Catastrophe

Wouldn't life be great if our worst case scenario was only bad pancakes?

Is the problem here my parenting style?  Probably. 
Is the problem here my kids' lack of sense?  Probably. 
Is this normal?

Kiwis are well-known for their adventurous spirits and extreme sports.  Bungy jumping was invented here.  One town advertises a vacation of skydiving, bungy jumping, high-speed jet boat ride and a helicopter ride...all in one day.  We shouldn't have been surprised when a friend at church told us they were going to pet lion cubs.  We didn't think we had heard them right.  When Heidi, our animal lover who wants to be a vet, got wind of the activity, she put it on her list of things to do.  When her marble reward jar was full, she requested this activity as her reward, of course.

We did a bit of research and learned that the "lion cubs" were actually now a year-old and we had one week to get there and pet them before they were to be released from this boring life and allowed to live with the mature lions.  Although the event would surely have been more exciting with very young active cubs, their sheer size made petting them an awesome privilege.  In these photos they are about half the size of a full-grown lion.  They were impressive.

Heidi would want you to know that there were clear instructions not to pet the cubs on the head.  When we returned to their enclosure for a second visit late in the day, Heidi forgot the warning and was very impressed with the speed of both the lion cub and the keeper.  The keeper grabbed Heidi's hand away, but not before Heidi saw the lion cub turn his head.  (The photos posted here are earlier in the day.)

This is an encounter our children will never forget.  Would this even be possible in sue-happy USA?

We are continually awed by the incredible creatures that make up God's creation.

Our sweet little boy has turned four.  He is a classic case of "all boy."  In his last month of being three he learned how to swing by himself, learned how to ride his bike without training wheels, and adopted a
yo-yo as his most beloved toy.  The yo-yo is a refreshing change since he spent the majority of his third year worshipping balls...any size, any shape, any game.

Today he said, "Mom, I wish I was you."  Mom was thinking, what?  So the response was, "Why do you wish you were me?"  Daniel's answer, given with a look of great admiration, was simply, "Because I like you."

He thinks literally.  Just before Christmas, we decided at the last minute to try and watch a local children's handbell choir that was performing in a concert at the local cathedral.  We had no tickets and couldn't find anyone who knew how to get them, so we decided to go "and try to get in."  Daniel thought that comment was a little strange and said, "Isn't there a door?"

In Sunday School, when the class was asked what is the first thing they think of when someone mentions God, Daniel's answer was, "Someone very important."

We've posted more pictures of him in a new photo album called "Daniel".

• Sister meets brother
• Play ideas are exchanged
• Compromise is reached
• A great time is had by all