Scriptures for you

Here is a quick video for you. This is Aaron from last night quoting some Scripture.

Sunday Adventure

Sunday afternoon we went on an adventure.  Of course, we started our day with church, Danny taught Sunday School, Betsy listened to the sermon while keeping Aaron occupied in the cry room.

After church we took a nice walk to the nearby mall for lunch.  On the way to the mall we discovered this beautiful little park with a great pond.  Betsy loved the flowers and turtles so she got a few pictures for you.

  

After lunch we headed downtown to go to a 4:00 basketball game.  We were very early, so we were able to take a leisurely stroll by the river.  Near the stadium we stopped to watch the kayakers.

  

Aaron couldn't understand all these pictures that didn't include him!  He said "Take Aaron picture?" and moved about three feet from Betsy.  We told him to backup and got a few good pics of him!

  

  

  

Then we made our way to the stadium.  The game was between the Singapore Slingers and the Philippine team Air 21.  I think there were more fans from the Philippines than from Singapore, but it was still fun.  At half-time Aaron got a kick out of meeting the mascot.  He is a merlion, the symbol of Singapore, half lion, half fish.

  

  

 All in all, it was a great day!

Today, Wednesday the 24th was the annual "See You at the Pole" day.  We had students gathered in different places around the school praying. 

  

 As a school we have had many things to pray for lately as two of our staff members are having serious medical conditions.  Please pray with us for: 

Tina Ong - She delivered twin boys about ten days ago and has been in serious condition since then.  She is finally beginning to recover, but still has a ways to go.  Tina finally was able to move out of ICU into a normal ward today; this also means that she will finally be able to see her sons!  (She hadn't seen them as of this morning).  The boys are doing ok.  They were born a few weeks early and thus have had to go through extra treatment.  They are now both very near 4 lbs!

Bob Brosius - He is our IT director and has had to have a couple of surgeries recently.  Things have not gone as smoothly as was hoped and it seems there may need to be more surgeries.  Pray for wisdom for the doctors to determine what is going on!

Thank you for all your prayers and support!

Family Fun Day

We had our annual Family Fun Day carnival at the school this weekend. Here is a video one of my students took. Enjoy!

Bossy Neighbors

Having children apparently gives eveyone free reign to pass on any and all words of child-rearing wisdom gained over the centuries.  If you have kids, you know what I mean!

We get advice spanning not only the ages, but also cultures as well.  Anything from sanitizing the world to the dangers of 2 year old thumb sucking.

However, the pinnacle, the most amazing, the greatest piece of advice came from a neighbor sharing a ride down the lift (oh, I mean elevator).  A fatherly-looking gentlemen flashed Aaron and I (Betsy) a huge smile as we entered and guessed that Aaron was about 1 year old.  I kindly corrected him that actually Aaron is 2 years old.  He got a very thoughtful expression on his face and replied, "Oh, he is much to short for 2.  You must make him grow more!"

Well, what could I do?  I smiled and said a sweet, "Thank you."  All the time thinking, "Huh???  Is this guy for real????  OK!"

Yeah, gotta love all the very free, helpful advice from everyone!

Aaron's New Joys

Thought we would simply share some of the Aaron's excitement this week.

Aaron's favorite movie is about a little race car that meets a rusty tow truck.  This week he received a new blanket in the mail.  He was VERY excited!

 

  

Here Aaron is enjoying story time with Grandma.  He loves watching DVDs sent by his grandparents. 

  

This was a new treat.  Can you tell what it is?  Aaron had a hard time at first, but it was fun watching him PPUULLLLLL at the little gummy worm in order to bite it off. 

  

Finally, this evening we got a new tool for cleaning up the toys!  Aaron didn't want to clean up, so I asked if he wanted Daddy to pick him up by his feet while he cleaned up the toys.  He loved it!  I got a GREAT weight-lifting session! 

  

 Love to you all!

Danny, Betsy, & Aaron

Staff Orientation & a New Year

School has now been in session for seven days.  We have had a good start to the year.  I am starting to get adjusted to my class schedule, and am enjoying meeting and getting to know my new students.  This year is a bit more difficult than the past couple of years because I am teaching classes that I haven't taught recently.  But, I am looking forward to rising to the challenge and relying upon God to help me through!

The pictures today are from a recent staff bonding trip to Sentosa (a small island off the coast of Singapore with a few different tourist attractions).  While there we took part in an race through many of the attractions.  It was a lot of fun and allowed us a chance to see some of the things that we don't normally see and to learn a little about Singapore history.

One stop was in Images of Singapore.  This attraction has a bunch of wax figures depicting scenes from the history and life of Singapore.  Here are four pictures showing weddings from different cultures.

 

  

  

  

 

Next stop, the insect garden.  We got bonus points for this picture!  (Our fearless art teacher Sharon.)

  

Here is a picture of my team.  We had a lot of fun.  We were first to finish the race, but missed some of the points and received third place. 

  

Here is the view from the top of the island.  You can see the beaches, and in the background you can see the ships in the harbor.  It is always amazing to me how close these huge ships are to the beaches! 

  

  

 

Thanks again for all your love and support.
Danny, Betsy, & Aaron

The end of summer vacation

Danny reported back for work this last Friday and has been working to get ready for student arrival on the 11th of August.  It is hard to believe that the summer is over!  Please pray for Danny in his preparations, he is teaching two classes that he hasn't taught recently (Physics and MultiMedia) and needs to do a bit of work to prepare for them.  Pray that God will give him wisdom in how to teach these classes.



Please also pray for Aaron and Betsy as they adjust to not having Danny around all the time.  The whole family has enjoyed Danny being around and it will be an adjustment for all of us.



Here are some pictures of what Aaron has been up to lately:

 A few months ago we bought this outfit for Aaron, but it is just now starting to fit in it nicely.  (Sorry, his blankie kinda covers it up.)

A few days ago we forgot to close the gate at the top of the stairs.  In the morning we found this: 

There is a lot of construction going on in our neighborhood right now and Aaron just loves it!  He spend about 10 minutes looking out the window watching the digger work.

Then he got his own tractor out to do some digging of his own! 

Aaron also loves his "Big Car" and is learning to control it somewhat.  He can at least go forward and backwards, hasn't figured out steering yet, and mostly just stops when it slams into a wall!  He has fun though!

Hope you enjoyed these pictures!  We love you all!

Danny, Betsy, & Aaron

A Day at the Zoo

The three of us met some friends and spent the day at the zoo today. Aaron had a blast. He kept running ahead saying, "Go see something else?" We had a hard time keeping up with him!

Here is Aaron with Caleb. They were both doing a wonderful job of sharing their raisins. They each had a pile, but would hand raisins to each other!


Aaron loved the butterflies.

Though he wasn't too sure about this one that landed on him!


This is from a few days ago. Aaron took a break from playing with his new car track to help Daddy sort his change.


Love you all, and God bless!

Summer Excitement

Sorry that we didn't update you all last week.

We have been enjoying our last month of vacation.  We went to the science center last week and have spent many mornings or afternoons on our bikes.  Three different times we have ridden our bikes to visit new staff families that have just moved into Singapore.  It has been fun getting to know them.  While we are dreading the end of our time as a family, we look forward to meeting lots of new people!

Please pray for the new staff as they are adjusting to life in Singapore as well as to new jobs.  Pray for the administration as we still are missing a couple of positions (High School Science, Music, & at least one secretary position).

Thanks for loving and praying for us!

(Sorry we don't have any pictures, we've been too busy playing and keep forgetting to bring the camera along!)

Happy Independence Day

Wow, already July!

We had the opportunity to go to an Independence Day celebration put on by the American Association this past Saturday (yes, the 5th of July. We don't get the 4th off, so the celebration was postponed until Saturday.)

It was a lot of fun. It felt almost like being at a county fair with food booths, activities for kids, and exhibits. The best part, of course, was the fireworks. Here are a few pictures from the event.

On the court directly beside this were a bunch of kids playing basketball with some of the players from the Singapore Slingers (the local professional team). Aaron was too little to play with them, but had a blast playing on his own!Here is a little collage of some of the fireworks. They put on about a 10 minute show.
Aaron really enjoyed it!
A week earlier (the 27th-29th of June) we took a trip with some friends to Bintan. Most of the group are Indian.

To get to Bintan we take about a one hour ferry ride. Aaron loved being on the boat and still talks about it. Today in his bath as he played with his little boat he commented that we rode on a boat on Friday!


Hey, I found a train track Mommy! Aaron spent about 15 minutes driving his train back and forth with Sam in the seat in front of him.I don't care if the ball is in a bag, I still want to play with it!
In the morning we went for a walk. Aaron enjoyed running around and touching all the lights!


All in all, this has been a great summer. Danny is helping out at the school with getting computers up and ready for the new year, but we've also had a lot of time to ride bikes around and to simply relax. God is good!

Later this week we are looking forward to welcoming some of the new families into the country as they make the move that we made 4 years ago.

Thanks for all your prayers for us.
Danny, Betsy, & Aaron

New Adventures

Our church here in Singapore has been renting space in a complex called the Girl's Brigade because the congregation outgrew the old church. However, the Girl's Brigade is no longer available to us. After much prayer and discussion among the leadership, it was decided to remodel the existing property, in a building called Public Mansion. Well, we are excited to share with you that on June 22st we worshipped for the first time in our newly remodeled space. Here is a picture of the sanctuary. We are so grateful to God for providing the funds that were needed to complete this project. Haleluia!!



Aaron continues to show us new creativity each day. For example, pictured below: the "parking hat".


Now that Danny is out of school for the summer, we have been able to get the bikes that some friends gave us up and running. What an adventure that has been! Here you see Aaron proudly putting on his own shoes (a new development) and wearing his helmet to go for a bike ride.


Aaron and Mommy patiently waiting for Daddy to snap the picture before we can go for our ride.


Daddy just loves cycling around with Aaron on behind. Aaron just loves pointing out all the cars, busses, motorcycles, and just about anything else that moves.


On our bike ride today, we discovered two great parks. Aaron played peak-a-boo from this train.



"Peak-a-boo, Mommy, we see you!"


At a nearby park, Aaron found a playmate who brought a ball with him! What fun!!! Aaron worked so hard just to throw the ball to the other boy. Sometimes it even went the right way!


Another new skill: crawling up the slide. "Why can't boys ever just use the stairs?" chuckles Mommy.


After an exhausting afternoon of bike riding and sliding, Aaron is ready for a bath and bed! His car friends like to join him in both. "Hmmm, how many can I fit in my arms and still make it up the stairs?"