hello, all. rory here.
muffin firmly suggested that I write an update. & since I've been forcing her to eat vegetables & drink water since the moment we arrived, I guess it's only fair.
can I just say up front that I used a Curious George bandaid on someone today? yeah.
moving on.
today was our first full day with our kiddos. and when I say "full," I am not exaggerating. you know when you pour yourself a glass of milk, and there's juuust enough left in the carton that you feel silly returning it to the fridge... so you keep pouring until the only thing saving your kitchen floor from catastrophe is the surface-tension of milk? well. today was that kind of full.
morning worship began at 0740. we walked in the screen doors & were surrounded by the words of an ageless classic. they roll together in familiar rhyme, but each line is dear.
be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart.
naught be all else to me...
we followed our kids through their morning programs, which meant singing, climbing, chasing, feeding, scrubbing, escorting, hydrating, crafting, calming, pottying, herding, and generally keeping small children alive & happy in 90-degree weather (no small feat). my little guy, Pierson, gave me a run for my money. we are at our families' disposal from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m., and a frequent favorite activity is walking down to the beach and/or climbing wall: several minutes of brisk walking up & down an incline adds up quickly after you've walked it four times since breakfast.
I love it. I love the sore feet, the stiff legs, the sticky sweaty hand clinging to mine. the quick little smile of a 5-year-old that makes it all worthwhile. at story time, the reader asked the 4- and 5-year-olds if any of them had a friend they wanted to keep forever. shyly, Pierson's small finger pointed to me. that will keep me running when caffeine & adrenaline can't.
several hours of outdoor activites culminated with tonight's western hoedown, with its square dancing & pie eating & petting zoo & hayrides. that pretty much did it for my tired 5-year-old. sensing a meltdown, I plopped him down by a tree & racked my brain for story material. if only those four stories had been recorded, you'd know a lot more about the escapades of Woody & Buzz Lightyear [Pierson's favorites] than you ever dreamed. bet you didn't know they battled pirates, horse thieves, bad guys, and forest fires. how about that Egyptian princess they rescued? mhm.
the week is far from over, but it's already begun to unearth some old enemies: survivors of a sin nature defeated but never far away. I'm painfully reminded of my own inner failings & my equal inability to fix myself. I'm brought crashing back to the knowledge, again & again, that nothing is about me. if only that truth could hit home & stay there, really stay there, for longer than a moment.
be Thou & Thou only the first in my heart... O Sovereign of Heaven, my treasure Thou art.
but God promises to never give up on the work He began. it is His power that can & will work on my foolish heart. to that I hold.
the adventure continues tomorrow at 0640, so I'd better hit the sack. I'm looking forward to seeing that little face again, for another chance to serve & be served. certainly, our little charges aren't the only ones being changed around here.
High King of Heaven, my victory won.
more soon.
19.6.12
praying to be disabled
muffin-
so. I have a few minutes.
and then I'm going to a hoedown with a ton of children with disabilities, a bunch of crazy awesome STMs, and my own two kids.
their names are michael and leah, and they are eight and nine years old respectively.
I already love them so dearly.
I love everyone here so dearly.
I want to tell you all about everyone here.
but for now, I just have time to take five seconds to share something that happened a few days ago...
during orientation, we watched a video about a boy with down syndrome. in it he gave his testimony. it was the most simple, and yet most profound, testimony I have ever heard.
"we are all made different... I was made different..." he said. then he paused and spoke quieter. "I have down syndrome." he nodded his head and looked at the ground. then he raised his head again and held it high. "but, we also are all the same..." he nodded again. "we all need God."this week, I prayed that God would disable me. that He would break down my walls. that He would make me like these kids I'm serving.
that I would learn to serve Him simply. wholeheartedly. unashamedly.
over and out for now.
hopefully my dear, dear friend rory can write more later. :)
thanks for the prayers!
love,
muffin
so. I have a few minutes.
and then I'm going to a hoedown with a ton of children with disabilities, a bunch of crazy awesome STMs, and my own two kids.
their names are michael and leah, and they are eight and nine years old respectively.
I already love them so dearly.
I love everyone here so dearly.
I want to tell you all about everyone here.
but for now, I just have time to take five seconds to share something that happened a few days ago...
during orientation, we watched a video about a boy with down syndrome. in it he gave his testimony. it was the most simple, and yet most profound, testimony I have ever heard.
"we are all made different... I was made different..." he said. then he paused and spoke quieter. "I have down syndrome." he nodded his head and looked at the ground. then he raised his head again and held it high. "but, we also are all the same..." he nodded again. "we all need God."this week, I prayed that God would disable me. that He would break down my walls. that He would make me like these kids I'm serving.
that I would learn to serve Him simply. wholeheartedly. unashamedly.
over and out for now.
hopefully my dear, dear friend rory can write more later. :)
thanks for the prayers!
love,
muffin
17.6.12
muffin, rory... and sand.
muffin here-
hello from the land of sandy shores, smiling faces, and building anticipation.
[rory: & pop-tarts. lots of pop-tarts. breakfast of champions, you know.]
so earlier, my partner in crime (rory) and I diligently tried to upload a video as promised, but alas, it was too long. [rory: which was a terrible shame, because it was a great video. except for the fact that we filmed it upside down.]
our journey up north was somewhat uneventful. [rory: except for the time we pulled into a gas station & the car alarm went off. oh, and the time we acidentally went 2 minutes out of our way, which put us completely behind schedule.]
we became familiar with the local radio stations pretty quickly. [rory: we concluded that michigan residents must be extremely holy, because most of their stations are Christian. we naturally skipped around until we found the country station.]
our parents would've appreciated our safe driving skills. [rory: you can drive safely at 100 mph. and don't worry, we only went that fast once. most of the time we just went 80... or 90...]
and we arrived with complete confidence knowing exactly where to go and who to talk to. [rory: we even knew where to drive: on the pedestrian crosswalk, obviously. those were designed for cars, right...? we also used our expert navigational skills while trying to locate "the tree." which, apparently, was right in front of us all along.]
we ate a healthy dinner as we watched the sunset on the beach. [rory: poptarts contain REAL FRUIT. don't try to argue with the facts.]
and then we got the recommended amount of sleep. [rory: HA.]
today was orientation. on top of breaking out into prayer groups and meeting a ton of nice people, we also learned a song that made us wanna just get up and dance. [rory: although some may perhaps have called the dancing compulsory. you know. required spontaneity.]
now we are being absolutely angelic and planning to go to bed at the required time of ten o' clock. [rory: thankfully, muffin's laptop is still working off of chicago time. so it's not like we're an hour late or anything.]
well, to wrap things up, I guess I'll just say that tomorrow is a big day for us. our "children" are arriving sometime in the afternoon, and rory and I are thrilled about wearing our musical instrument costumes to greet them. [rory: you better believe it. you wish you could see us.]
so. cheerio from Michigan! keep us in your prayers. :)
rory: in all seriousness, everything has gone really well so far, and we're so grateful for your prayers. we missed seeing everyone at church this morning; hope all is well in chicagoland.
ciao from rory & muffin! until next time...
hello from the land of sandy shores, smiling faces, and building anticipation.
[rory: & pop-tarts. lots of pop-tarts. breakfast of champions, you know.]
so earlier, my partner in crime (rory) and I diligently tried to upload a video as promised, but alas, it was too long. [rory: which was a terrible shame, because it was a great video. except for the fact that we filmed it upside down.]
our journey up north was somewhat uneventful. [rory: except for the time we pulled into a gas station & the car alarm went off. oh, and the time we acidentally went 2 minutes out of our way, which put us completely behind schedule.]
we became familiar with the local radio stations pretty quickly. [rory: we concluded that michigan residents must be extremely holy, because most of their stations are Christian. we naturally skipped around until we found the country station.]
our parents would've appreciated our safe driving skills. [rory: you can drive safely at 100 mph. and don't worry, we only went that fast once. most of the time we just went 80... or 90...]
and we arrived with complete confidence knowing exactly where to go and who to talk to. [rory: we even knew where to drive: on the pedestrian crosswalk, obviously. those were designed for cars, right...? we also used our expert navigational skills while trying to locate "the tree." which, apparently, was right in front of us all along.]
we ate a healthy dinner as we watched the sunset on the beach. [rory: poptarts contain REAL FRUIT. don't try to argue with the facts.]
and then we got the recommended amount of sleep. [rory: HA.]
today was orientation. on top of breaking out into prayer groups and meeting a ton of nice people, we also learned a song that made us wanna just get up and dance. [rory: although some may perhaps have called the dancing compulsory. you know. required spontaneity.]
now we are being absolutely angelic and planning to go to bed at the required time of ten o' clock. [rory: thankfully, muffin's laptop is still working off of chicago time. so it's not like we're an hour late or anything.]
well, to wrap things up, I guess I'll just say that tomorrow is a big day for us. our "children" are arriving sometime in the afternoon, and rory and I are thrilled about wearing our musical instrument costumes to greet them. [rory: you better believe it. you wish you could see us.]
so. cheerio from Michigan! keep us in your prayers. :)
rory: in all seriousness, everything has gone really well so far, and we're so grateful for your prayers. we missed seeing everyone at church this morning; hope all is well in chicagoland.
ciao from rory & muffin! until next time...
16.6.12
northbound
to whom it may concern:
rory & muffin will soon be in a car somewhere between here and there. "there" being, specifically, michigan. this may or may not involve a road trip, some pop-tarts, OneDirection, aviators, a whole lot of bags, a big adventure, & two very excited girls. depending on the cooperation of various electronic devices & the magical substance called "connection," there may also be occasional video updates posted here. so stay tuned and hope for the best (as far as the devices are concerned).
in the meantime, hold down the fort for us. prayers for safe travel would be appreciated. (even though rory & muffin are obviously seasoned veterans at solo car trips. pshhh. don't tell her I said it, but rory has a tenuous relationship with gas stations.) in addition, we hope to be a blessing to the camp families we meet & work with.
we promise to come back tan & full of stories. at least, muffin will be tan. rory prefers to sport the colors of the Polish, Danish, & Austrian flags, in keeping with her ancestry.
don't have too much fun in our absence.
we'll miss you all.
rory out.
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