Sophia sat down while holding a book. Ouch.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
God Grew Tired of Us
If you’re more of a movie person than a book person and are interested in an eye-opening story, watch God Grew Tired of Us.
God Grew Tired of Us tells the story of the Lost Boys of Sudan, a group (actually thousands) of boys displaced by the civil war in Sudan. After reading What is the What, I borrowed this documentary from our library. It’s definitely an eye-opening story. Maybe it wouldn’t be as eye-opening for someone who followed this story from the get-go, but most of the “lost boys” would be my peers, meaning I would have been in elementary school (maybe younger) when they lost their homes and families, walked across their country, and started calling a refugee camp home.
If you want to see America with fresh eyes, watch the scenes in this documentary of a group of Sudanese refugees climbing onto a plane, seeing an aerial view of their camp, eating airline food, seeing an aerial view of New York, walking on an escalator, turning on a light switch, going to a grocery story, asking about our Christmas traditions…. These scenes feature both comic and sober moments.
The whole story makes me think back to a video our church showed before Christmas that tried to answer the question, “What is poverty?” In the video, they defined poverty not by a standard of living, but by relationships. If you suddenly didn’t have a place to sleep tonight or food to eat today, how long would it take you to find a place to sleep and food to eat? How many people could you call that could give you these things? How many people could a Sudanese refugee call?
Anyway…the documentary was well-done. Interesting and informative. Not your typical boring high-school-history-class documentary. I’d recommend watching it.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Letter I
Attribute of God: Immanuel. God is with us.
Bible Story: Jericho…because of Joshua 1:9. I reinforced the theme that the Israelites didn’t have to be afraid because God was with them. Grandma and Grandpa (and even Great-Grandma!) got to participate in this one! The slide turned into the city of Jericho, and the vacuum extensions turned into trumpets. We marched around the city, sounded our trumpets, yelled, and the walls fell down.
Song: Emmanuel
Common vocab: ice cream, ice, icicle, igloo, iguana, ill, instruments, imagination, idea, icky
Give: Delivered art kit to the hospital foundation office.
Activity: Musical instruments. Nothing really new here, but we did a lot of drumming and trumpeting this week.
Seems kind of slim this week, but oh well. I considered helping Caleb make musical instruments, but I decided that he finds enough of those without my help.
Friday, March 4, 2011
imagination
In honor of letter I week, I thought I’d show what Caleb’s imagination has concocted this week.
Who needs a fancy play kitchen when you already have a bookshelf? Who needs an oven mitt when you already have duplo blocks? Who needs a chef’s hat when you already have a stocking hat? (Caleb has even gotten Sophia to play along. “Here, Sophia, have some blueberries!” And Sophia dutifully pretends to eat air. So cute.)
Who needs to make a trumpet or trombone when vacuum extension tubes will do? Who needs to make a fancy drum when you have laundry baskets, toy boxes, oatmeal canisters, baking powder cans, walls…
Who needs a phone when you’ve got a domino?
Who needs a camera when blocks will do?
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
What is the What
Very rarely does a book inspire me to action. In this case What is the What by Dave Eggers did just that.
Reading What is the What made me realize how naïve I am and how blessed I am. Imagine living in a country that has known nine years of peace over the course of fifty years. Imagine eating one meal a day for years on end. Imagine losing your parents, family, and home when you’re six years old and not having anyone to turn to. Imagine calling a refugee tent city home. Imagine moving to the United States not knowing how to use a refrigerator or freezer.
After reading this autobiography/novel of one person’s journey through the civil war in Sudan and his life in a refugee camp, I read a series of news articles to see what has happened in the region since the book was published and to learn the outcome of Southern Sudan’s recent vote for independence. I read some of the country’s history from Wikipedia and browsed the main character’s foundation website. Proceeds from the book are donated to this foundation. They’ve built a secondary school among other endeavors. I also came across this timely series of blog posts, encouraging the support of refugee families coming into Des Moines through this agency. I also learned more about Christar, a mission agency working with refugees among other things.
What is the What does an excellent job telling a difficult story, making the unimaginable real, and a clarifying a complex political situation. I’d recommend spending the time to read it.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Grand Visits
When Grandma’s coming to visit, I don’t hesitate to suggest that Caleb or Sophia ask her to read to them. Somehow I know she won’t mind. :)
This time Caleb got to read one of my childhood favorites Lolly Elephant Says Sharing is Fun. The pages are fuzzy and it was often quoted in our family. What else is there to say?
Unfortunately I didn’t get pictures of Luke’s parents on their visit. Sophia was a bit too overwhelmed and snuggly for me to wield the camera.
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