ugh

seriously.
6 weeks?
thats about how long its been since i blogged. i'm a disgrace to consistent bloggers everywhere. i'm no longer fit to call myself a blogger. i have a blog. i dont update it anymore. i dont want to get rid of it in case something hilarious happens, or one of my kids does something ridiculously brilliant that i must document immediately.
i've actually have had moments of 'i need to blog about that' over the last few weeks, but as you can see, i didnt. and now i cant remember what any of thse moments were.
thats what i get i suppose. serves me right. maybe i'll be better in 2011......
i dont know that i even have enough entries on here to do a book this year. i think my grand total is 34 counting this one. i might get one more in before the year is over, making it a nice round 35. thats almost three entries a month, though. not too bad, really, when you look at it that way. maybe i will do a book. it will just be a very very small one.
allen wants me to do the picture-a-day thing again. i definitely blogged more when i was taking a picture a day and posting them each week, but at the time i felt like that was keeping me from blogging on a more regular basis. now it seems the opposite is true.

i hope this season is bringing you joy and lots of time with family and friends. we've been so, so busy; busier than i ever remember being before with just life stuff. i mean, i was doing ANNIE last year through the christmas season, and that was a bit crazy, but this year its just been different parties, and get togethers, and drs appointments, and event after event. all fun though, well except the drs appts.
colby is having his adnoids and tonsils out next wednesday. i week from today. 3 days before christmas. the thought i that the excitement of the big day and he gifts and whatnot will distract him from the pain. that, of course, remains to be seen. i hope i'm right. his adnoids are causing an 80% blockage in his nasal passage. no wonder the kid cant breathe!! as weird as it sounds, i'm looking forward to this surgery. i want my little boy to know what its like to breathe normally! merry christmas, colby! we give you the gift of an unrestricted airway. hahaha. or should i say hohoho. :-)

i went back to africa in november, right before thanksgiving, to work with the kids and missionaries at rafiki. my dad and i went two years ago, and i wanted to go back one more time before the missionaries that we know come back home (in febuary). an old friend of mine went with me, actually, i went with her, and we got to do some great stuff with the kids over there.
one afternoon we were playing a game with the 5th graders (5th grade is their level of education, nt necessarily their age. some of them are 14 and 15 yrs old). the object was to pick a category and start a rythm, then to go around the circle saying things in that category without throwing off the beat. we had done animals, colors, and types of food (which is interesting when you have two cultures that eat completely different things). we were trying to think of another category, and one of the boys said, "madam, please, diseases!!!" melinda and i looked at each other, then back at him, and i said, "o....k...." so he started the beat...
malaria...typhoid...flu (that was me)...gonorrhea...syphillis...strep throat(melinda)...AIDS...etc, etc.
they're saying this stuff as though its no big deal, and to them it wasnt. melinda and i still laugh about it, because it was funny to hear these kids yelling the names of these diseases out loud and proud. but it was sobering to realize that that is their reality. melinda and i are thinking of stuff like the common cold and laryngitis. they're throwing out typhoid and AIDS. wow.
we did have a great time with them, though. i got to do some drama activities with them and some scrapbooking with the mamas there on the village. i was blessed to get to go back a second time.

merry christmas to all of you!! may your days be merry and bright! :-)