Just for Fellowship Thread

Dear Wisdom seeker

Your kids are so cute. Thanks for showing us. I really like your avatar picture. You are pretty. I don't think it is conceited to have your picture up. Then again, I do have mine up so maybe I can't comment. I know what you mean about the family photo status. Maybe it's because we're the ones who take the pictues!
I'm not expecting a baby, not quite yet. My baby is 16 months old. His name is Sam, well actually he's officially named Samuel but we mostly call him Sam.
I'm one of the teachers for the cooking class. I started in the program as a participant when I was pregnant. Now I have a job there.
Here is a picture of my little boy. It is a couple months old but I thought you might like it! As you can see he's a sweet little red head too.
I hope the picture part of this post works. I'm not sure if I did it right.

Hi all!

Well, with all the adorable pictures of everyone's kids, I thought that I'd post a photo (from last August) of the stillsmallvoices. This is us standing in the estuary of a stream that flows down from the Golan Heights into the Sea of Galilee.

I remembered last week when the topic was whether we've written anything. When I get called up for my annual stint of reserve duty, I always keep a diary & then send copies to my parents in the USA & my mother-in-law in South Africa. I wrote the following in April 2001, at around 0300, while I was sitting in an observation post high atop an embankment overlooking a beautiful (!) expanse of the central Jordan Valley:
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It is very peaceful up here (let's hope it stays that way!). I've written before in previous years about the night-time being a very special time. It is almost as if the night is a different world. Up here, all alone with it, all alone in it, I feel like I'm taking a peek into this secret night-time world. It is almost as if the night has a presence, a presence that can be felt; but is "almost" only, just beyond our actual, conscious grasp. That is what makes it so alluring, so tantalizing; this is what draws us to it, its very "otherness." I can only be an observer here; the night will always be something mysterious. I can see why the ancients feared, and were in awe of, the night. Perhaps all of this stems from aeons long ago when the little-bitty mammals were nocturnal so as to avoid the big, bad dinosaur reptiles who were active in the daytime. We're attracted to the night because the biological memory of when it used to be our world lingers on in our collective subconscious. (The late Carl Sagan talks about this in his Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Dragons of Eden.)
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I remember way back in August 1993, I was at a little base way down on the Israeli-Egyptian border, about 50 miles northwest of our southern port of Eilat, i.e. really in the middle of nowhere. One night, I drew the all night/wee hour shift. Myself & three other guys were about 20 miles north of the base, on motorized patrol. We stopped for a break. Our Bedouin tracker made coffee on his little portable gas burner & we turned off the lights on the jeep to enjoy the stillness. We were at least 20 miles from the nearest electric light & it was a perfectly clear night. I looked up and just stared in awe at the heavens. I have never, either before or since, seen such a display of stars, the sky was carpeted with them! I could see the Milky Way. I saw falling stars. It was awesome (and humbling). I said the blessing: "Praised are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who makes the wonders of creation." I stood there, just gaping upward, for about 10 minutes until it was time to resume patrolling.

I asked Yohanan a few years ago who put the stars in the sky. "God!" he replied. Then he asked, "He used a ladder?" (Oh, how we love those kids!)

Be well!

ssv

Your children are so beautiful, so are you, Wisdom seeker!

stillsmallvoice, your whole family is beautiful and so is the scenery behind you.

I also sometimes take time out at night just to admire the beautiful night sky. I live in the country (out of town)...so, there are no city lights to take away from the beautiful view.

God bless you and yours.

mle said:

Dear Wisdom seeker

Your kids are so cute. Thanks for showing us. I really like your avatar picture. You are pretty. I don't think it is conceited to have your picture up. Then again, I do have mine up so maybe I can't comment. I know what you mean about the family photo status. Maybe it's because we're the ones who take the pictues!
I'm not expecting a baby, not quite yet. My baby is 16 months old. His name is Sam, well actually he's officially named Samuel but we mostly call him Sam.
I'm one of the teachers for the cooking class. I started in the program as a participant when I was pregnant. Now I have a job there.
Here is a picture of my little boy. It is a couple months old but I thought you might like it! As you can see he's a sweet little red head too.
I hope the picture part of this post works. I'm not sure if I did it right.

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What a cutie pie.

Wisdom Seeker said:

FP, my daughters are close to the same size. They're 3 years apart. I'm actually glad that they don't look a lot alike. The younger is a little jeolous of the elder. They can never be the same because my oldest daughter is blonde and my youngest a redhead so they'll always have to try to be the best "them" that they can be. (I like to dress them alike sometimes though...but the oldest is starting to like her own style, not mine. I thought I had a few more years for that...oh well)I also have a son.

I think your picture is great. I know what you mean though. I had an awful time finding a picture of myself that was clear enough to make an avatar out of. Seems like I'm only in pictures accidently for some reason.

Yeah, this is the first renovation we've ever done. The smell is great. Reminds me of when we bought this house. We've wanted to do this for 5 years. But we just didn't have any extra money. (not that we really do now either)



MLE Am I stupid or something? Did you ever tell us that you are expecting a baby? I missed that. Congratulations!!!!! I say with something akin to envy. My baby days are over. And I can't help mourning the passing of that time in my life. Please tell us more. Is this your first? When is the little blessing expected to arrive?

Cooking class? That sounds like fun. I hate cooking myself. (I didn't read the fine print that said that getting married meant a life of cooking for everyone 3 times or more a day for the rest of my life whether I liked it or not!) But I sort of like the fellowship aspect of taking a class like that.

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Wisdom Seeker...You have beautiful children....absolutely beautiful. I thought I would post a picture of my girls... the picture is 4 generations...
My Mom is standing on the left, My Grandmother is standing on the right, Tiffany (14) is on the left, I am in the middle, and Leah Jo (13) is on the right. This is the most recent one I have ...it was taken this past Saturday.

LoL I thought the three girls at the bottom of the page were sisters!!!
What a beautiful family you have. I want to get my hair done like your daughters in braids! It's so cool!

Tofino is a very small surfer village on the west coast of Vancouver Island. I lived there a few years ago. I grew up in the city, North Vancouver and very rarely had been far away from the city. The first night I spent there, I was in complete awe of the night sky. It was unlike anything I had ever imagined. The stars were pelntiful. The milky way was visible. I had heard of the milky way but I never knew that you could actually see it with a naked eye. I could not bring my eyes away from that sky. The next morning I woke up with such a sore neck from craning upward for such a long period of time. Some of my fondest memories of that place are the times I spent watching the night sky.
Many things happened to me while I was there. I gave my life back to God and began seeking His face. I lived in the bush by myself(with my two cats) for part of the time. The rest of the time I lived in a bus that did not move. Life there was simple and challenging. Work was scarce. I ended up working in a fish plant, scraping the insides of salmon in a pool of freezing water. Standing in the cold with ones hand in cold water all day made for a long 10 to 12 hour shift. Three of my fingers would have pins and needles tingles in them for three days after my one work day a week. I was blessed to have work at all. In the winter months almost nothing happens there.
There are beaches that go on and on for miles, ancient trees, pristine rainforest and much wildlife. One night I heard wolves howling not too far away. I saw bears a few times, many birds and my cat brought a constant steam of mice into my dwelling. Oh well, at least the mice didn't get into my food too often.

mle said:

LoL I thought the three girls at the bottom of the page were sisters!!!
What a beautiful family you have. I want to get my hair done like your daughters in braids! It's so cool!

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If you thought we were sisters...then I guess they both look more like me than I thought. Everyone always says that the my oldest daughter looks like me, but most say that the youngest looks like my husband.

About those braids... she does get alot of compliments on them and on the other hand alot of stares...but she dont care if people stare...she is confident enough to carry a crazy hairdoo like that. Not that I dont like it, I find it refreshing that she is bold enough to be different. I told her that you said you liked them and she said to say thank you. She braids them in the morning before school, takes a shower in the evening and washes her hair and they go back up the next morning. Alot of dedication to a hairdoo like that. She does occasionally wear her hair down, but not a whole lot. Both of my daughters have hair that hangs down below their waist. I could never grow mine that long. Mine gets to the middle of my back and split ends take over.

Wisdom Seeker said:

Thank you.

Your girls look a lot older than 14 and 13 to me. Is it me, or do kids just grow up a whole lot faster than they did when we were kids? Scarey thought as my oldest child will be 12 in June.

I should look and see if I have one of those generational pictures around here somewhere. I love pictures. Especially family pictures.

I was just weeding through some old photographs today. I found a picture of me in the hospital after my first child...and then a picture of me in the hospital after having my second child. Funny how my face is so swollen and irritated looking both times. (I didn't find a picture from my third child) I always had such tough pregnancies. You can sure see that in my face. But one thing is really cool...the look in my eyes. In those pictures I look so content. So thoroughly and completely pleased.

Family is such a blessing isn't it?

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You are welcome.

Yeah, I think you are right...kids are growing up alot faster these days.

I know what you mean about hospital pictures after giving birth...I have a picture that my Mother in law took of me in the hospital when I had my second child...I was holding Leah and I had my head leaned over the side of the bed looking for one of those vomit pans...the look on ny face was just absolutely stunning...oh well, I have plenty of the ones that capture that content look you spoke of.

See ya later...

Ok, here's what's going on with me lately. I'm turning 25 next month, and though some of you still view that as pretty young, I'm starting to worry about getting old. Never done that before. I feel like it won't be long before I'm not in my youth anymore, and I'm already losing my mind, wait a second, what was I saying???

Oh well, we can't stay young forever, plus my mom says they're advantages to getting older, like getting smarter.

God Bless.

Hisbloodformysins

Hi all!

FervidPrincess posted:

stillsmallvoice, your whole family is beautiful and so is the scenery behind you.

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Thank you! (The braids are cool!)

Wisdom Seeker posted:

I think you were over there about the same time my little brother was. I remember watching the news on the off chance I would see him. Nerve wracking times.

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I've been here for just over 17 years (Gad...it's been that long?).

I'll link what you posted about "nerve-wracking times" and another night-time observation I had while on reserve duty. I was in that same guard post I mentioned in my last post in 1997 too. I remember watching a beautiful sunrise over the Jordan Valley. Back in Pittsburgh (my hometown) when my brother (3.5 years younger than me) & I were little kids, we would be afraid to go all the way downstairs first thing in the morning (we were always up before our parents) lest the monsters down there get us. So we'd go as far as the landing on the stairs & then call for Shane. Shane was our big German Shepherd (whom we adored). We'd call for Shane & wait there on the landing until he came to the foot of the stairs, all bleary-eyed & wagging his tail. Then we knew that it was safe to go downstairs (and get cereal & put on the cartoons) because good, good Shane had chased the monsters away. And I thought about this and I looked around and saw that I was armed to the teeth (M-16 with 5 clips, a heavy swivel-mounted machine gun & a box of grenades) on guard against monsters who were all too real. All I could do was remember that time when the only monsters were the ones in two little boys' collective imagination & that could be chased away by our dog.

I hope you post here again.

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Like Manfred the Mammoth says in Ice Age (I love that film!): Wish granted! (Sorry, I couldn't resist that!)

It's nice to meet new people and make new friendships. Don't you agree?

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Yes, absolutely!

You posted about after-the-birth pictures from the hospital. The earliest pictures we have of Da Boyz are on the days that we received them from the Child Welfare Service (which, by law, has sole & exclusive jurisdiction over all domestic adoptions here; all CWS adoptions are closed/blind). We received Yohanan (we gave Da Boyz their names) when he was 4 months & Naor when he was a wee 2.5 weeks. Each time, I remembered a line from the 1985 movie Witness in which the old Amish grandfather tells his grandson, "What you take into your hands, you take into your heart." And each time, right after remembering that line (which I think about alot), I burst into tears. When we received Naor, Yohanan saw me start to cry and he asked, "Daddy, why are you crying?" I told him that Daddy was very, very happy that Naor was joining our family and that he (Yohanan) now had a brother, and that I was thanking God as hard as I could.

Be well!

ssv

hisbloodformysins said:

Ok, here's what's going on with me lately. I'm turning 25 next month, and though some of you still view that as pretty young, I'm starting to worry about getting old. Never done that before. I feel like it won't be long before I'm not in my youth anymore, and I'm already losing my mind, wait a second, what was I saying???

Oh well, we can't stay young forever, plus my mom says they're advantages to getting older, like getting smarter.

God Bless.

Hisbloodformysins

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My husband is turning 25 next month too. Last night he was telling me that he is 1/3rd of the way to 75 and that he's a 1/4 of a century old. It is funny because I remember thinking the very same thing before my 25th birthday.
I was teasing a dear friend of mine on his 25th birthday and asked him if he recalled how fast the last 5 years went by. He replied with a contimplative, "Yes". Laughing I said,"5 more and you'll be 30".

Happy Birthday!

You young people! I'm almost 1/2 of a 100!

I'm singing along with your signature!!