In Our Home ~ February 28, 2010

1- Because we are without a vehicle due to ours "dying" while we were on vacation, we're continuing to be home-bodies. But we're getting some things done around here that we've put off for awhile.

2- One of those things is sorting books. I've culled about two banana boxes worth of books from our bookshelves. We still have a ton of books, but now the shelves aren't as jam-packed. It looks (and feels) much better.

3- Carl sent out his latest edition of "Carl's Capers." This is his monthly newsletter/magazine that he writes to make money to pay for flight school. It's about six pages long and includes what we've done in the prior month, a recipes, a book review, funny sayings, computer tips, photos, household hints, etc. A year's email subscription is only $12.

4- We finished building the quinzee that's in the backyard. The kids have been having a riot playing in it, but it's a bit warm today. It's going to be sad to watch it melt. :( We had fun building it and playing in it.

5- I've been doing some research on one of our latest projects. More details coming soon!

6- The Olympics have been on television the past two weeks. We've spent a few evenings watching the atheletes compete. That's always fun, although we all agreed that we hate to see someone wipe out who has trained so hard for so long.

7- Yesterday we went to World Visions's travelling exhibit on AIDS. It's called "World Vision Experience: AIDS." I really didn't know what to expect, so I was pleasantly surprised at how well-done and well-organized it was. The exhibit was visited was held at a local church, and it was free to attend. What the experience involves is the stories of four children. After you sign in, you will be given the choice of which child's story you'd like to listen to. (You may go through the exhibit again to hear the other stories.) Two of the stories are a bit more graphic, so we steered away from them since we had our kids with us. We listened to the stories of Emmanuel and Babirye. They gave each of us a set of headphones and a custom-made MP3-type player with the child's story on it. The exhibit is made up of different "rooms" separated by curtains. The MP3 player would tell us part of the story and then direct us to walk through the curtain to the next "room." This made the exhibit rather quiet because everyone was listening to their headsets.

Emmanuel was a little boy whose parents died of AIDS. But he had his big brother to look after him. His big brother was nine. These two boys were completely on their own. Relatives blamed them and would not allow them to stay with them. In fact, one of the aunts even took almost everything the two boys had before she kicked them out of her life. So tragic.

Babirye was a twin girl who had AIDS. She got it from her mother. Her father died of the disease, and her uncle came to get her mother when she got very sick. This left the girls alone. A few months later, their mother came back. She had found medicine to help, and now she helps others who have AIDS.

This was a sobering exhibit, but one I'm glad we took the time to experience.

For more information, check out http://www.worldvisionexperience.org/.

8- We're continuing to plug away at our learnin' lessons. This is the time of year when I really get anxious to start completing some of the subjects we're studying this year. I keep having to remind myself to slow down.

9- We said goodbye to a good friend this past week. It appears that a heart attack is the way God choose to bring Bill Winglar home to Himself. Bill was a godly man who will be very missed. He was a fixture in our church. Not only was he still in good physical shape, but mentally, he was still very sharp as well. I will always regret not having him over for dinner to hear his stories of when he was a boy growing up with my Grandpa. Good intentions run amuck. Let it be a reminder to me to not put off until tomorrow what I can do today!

10- Wayne started taking pictures of all the things in our home, for insurance reasons. What a time-consuming, huge task! One I'll be glad to have behind us!

11- That's it for this edition of "In Our Home." May you have a great week.