37% to Goal; 100% to Awesome

We are raising money this summer to fund the refurbishing of a well in Haiti.  It's been crazy awesome to see our friends, our family, our neighbors, and even folks from our days in Puyallup give generously.  When we put up the Give Well page about a month ago, we had no idea what to expect.  Twenty seven days later, we are overwhelmed by God's faithfulness and awesomeness.  Add to that the events of this evening, and this family has a TON for which to be thankful.

Tonight was the boys' combined birthday party at J.J. Jump in Clackamas.  It rocked.  We arrived at 5pm and had the entire place to ourselves.  And this is a big place, people.  Two huge rooms with four bouncy houses apiece and only eleven kids!  It ROCKED!  Did I mention that J.J. Jump gave us a cut rate so that we could donate more money to the well?  They did and we did!  After an hour and a half of jumping, it was time to head for our party room.

Somebody else, a saint in my opinion, had set our tables and put out our food.  The kids arrived hungry.  They ate pizza and watermelon while the grown ups enjoyed a lovely quinoa salad made by yours truly.  During the meal we showed this beautiful video produced by Living Water International.  The kids were super attentive.  When the video was done we let them know that they are now a part of this project.  They are helping to fix a well in Haiti so kids can go to school, so moms and dads can go to work, so people can hear about Jesus Christ, the source of living water that never runs dry.

And then we opened the "gifts."  It's in quotes because these fabulous kids brought their own money to stuff into a jar to help fund a well being refurbished in Haiti.  Nine kids brought $76.50.  People.  That's SO much money in their worlds.  It's a lot of Lego, a lot of pizza, a lot of My Little Pony.  And they gave it away tonight.  THEIR OWN MONEY.  I just love it.

Sidenote:  We homeschool, right?  So my kids will never sell cookie dough or magazine subscriptions.  They won't ask you to buy a wreath at Christmas or a plant at Easter.  They are going to raise money to give people in the third world clean water and help them know the truth about Jesus Christ.  I think that is so cool.  Okay.  Enough with the preaching.  Pictures?  I thought so.

 Our goodie bags were largely filled by Jeff at Living Water International.  Bracelets, stickers, window clings and cool brochures with great pictures.  I bought the shiny blue bags, glow sticks and sticky frogs at the dollar store.  Frogs because we were jumping.  Glow sticks because they are cool. :-)

The finished products.  Is it me or does that kid's face make these pintrest worthy? ;-)

 Awesome kids on their way to the party place!

 This was a super fun activity that I don't really understand.  Stuff shines on the floor and the kids interact with it and it responds to them.  Oh, technology.  You amaze me.

Super awesome seven year old at his birthday party!

 Sweet awesome guest stuffs the jar while Luke watches and eats pizza.  Cool party?  I think so.

 More jar stuffing from fabulous guests!

 Dividing the money between herself and her little brother so they can both stuff the jar.

 Paul clapping with his hands and feet while people stuff the jar!

 Final jar stuffers.  Excellent.

 The boys received this gift to share and one other small Lego set individually.  It was the perfect amount of presents.  They were thrilled.  It was so good.

Paul with his Lego.  He's pretty ecstatic.  This cost $4.95 at Target.  It doesn't take much.

Final sidenote:  I have no doubt that at some point, Paul will realize his birthday is over and there are no more presents.  He's not some sort of saint people.  He'll get a little grumpy that the gifts are done.  I already have a plan for that moment.  We will pull out my computer.  We will watch a few Living Water videos.  We will pray for God to provide the folks who will give to get us to our goal.  We will help him refocus.  I understand Paul's heart.  I am so like him so often.  I want a new kitchen or at least floors and counters that aren't white for the love of Magic Eraser sponges!  But I watch these videos and I read these testimonials.  Suddenly white counters and cracked linoleum matter less.  Giving life, giving clean water, giving opportunities to hear about Jesus matter more to me when I take the time to think about it and refocus my heart.  We will prayerfully help our kids do the same.

Clean Water Again

About a month and a half ago our city issued a boil water alert due to a possible bacterial contamination.  It was a little scary and a little inconvenient.  But it was also thought provoking.  We found ourselves thinking and talking about clean water again.  Two years ago Luke was empowered to raise money for clean water in Haiti.  You can read about how that happened here and the results here.  It was such a cool, Holy Spirit-filled experience for us.  So we are going to do it again.

We contacted Living Water International, wanting a specific goal to work towards, to inspire us and others.  We shared that our hearts are still focused on Haiti.  Jeff, the awesome dude we spoke with, shared that we could bless a Haitian village by raising money to refurbish a well, most likely damaged in the earthquake.  We said an emphatic yes!

We are just in the beginning stages of this campaign.  The boys helped me create our Give Well page this morning.  Anyone can go there and donate toward this goal.  The boys will be raising money at their combined birthday party in early August.  We are all praying, knowing that Jesus Christ is our provider.  He will provide the funds necessary to fund this project.  We can't wait to see how it all shakes down.

We invite all of you to pray with us and find ways to give creatively.  Share the link with everyone you know and everyone you don't know.  We are giving up our favorite sparkling water beverage and setting aside the $5 a week we usually spend on it.  When I got home from grocery shopping today and put that money in the jar, both boys got super excited and proceeded to empty their piggy banks, bringing the total in the jar to around $15.  From small beginnings come great things.  We look forward to seeing what God will do!

These guys are turning a combined age of sixteen this summer.  We are praying that they have the sweetest sixteenth birthday ever as they raise funds to do something real and important in Jesus' Name.

Hiking!?!

You will NOT believe what we did today.  WE can hardly believe what we did today. Let me start at the beginning.

Erik had the day off from work today, but our plan had originally been for the boys and I to head to a friend's apartment complex to swim in the pool and hang out.  The early afternoon weather was not cooperating.  The other mom and I spoke around 12:30, and it became clear that we would need to reschedule.  Luke especially was VERY disappointed.  It took him the better part of an hour to recover during which I formulated a plan.

We all got in the van and headed to the ultra benign fireworks stand about six blocks from our house.  The boys had never visited a fireworks stand before.  They liked it.  We didn't buy a ton of stuff, but everyone got to pick a few small things.  After the fireworks stand, we hit a drive-thru Starbucks and headed for the carwash.  Yes, the carwash.  They love it, and Erik's company pays for it because it's the car their rep drives around.  They want it to be clean.

After the carwash, we headed for a park that is more like a Nature Preserve with the intention of allowing the boys to run around on the trails.  It was closed.  Boo.  We grabbed our smart phones and rerouted to a different "nature-y" destination, REALLY hoping it would be open!

Powell Butte Nature Park was a hit (Luke's exact words!).  We parked the van, got out and were immediately greeted by a stunning view that included Mount Hood, Mount St. Helen's, and Mount Adams.  Beautiful.  I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

 In the visitor's area there are all these different gages of pipe filled in with cement.  The boys spent a few minutes playing on them.

Think of these as the before pictures. :-)

 Paul sits on the largest one.

We started up a paved path, purely with the intent of exploring a bit. Erik had a map.  We knew the boys wanted to get to the forest-y part.  But first we had to hike through this simply stunning, daisy-filled meadow surrounded by views of mountains.  It was gorgeous.  And I got the boys to pose for this picture.

After about forty five minutes of walking, some uphill, but mostly flat, seeing many cool insects and "tracking a coyote" we FINALLY made it to the forest.  And it did not disappoint.  The boys were completely enthralled with the environment.  They walked ahead, found cool stuff and reported back to us.  We even convinced them to walk silently like Hobbits at one point so we could all listen to the forest sounds.  So cool.

 A very cool snail that we spotted.

 Paul just really wanted me to take a picture of the forest.  Here it is.

We probably spent a half hour walking downhill into the forest.  And all I could think was, "What goes down, must go up again...guh...how is this going to end?"  Sure enough the next half hour was spent walking up out of the forest, back to the top of the butte.

When we reached the top of the butte, we still had about a forty five minute walk to where we parked the van.  Okay.  My people have NEVER hiked before.  Guess what?  They did fine.  Yes, Paul was tired but only mildly whiny for the last half hour.  He didn't cry.  He didn't quit.  Nobody carried him.  He and I just trucked along talking about all the water we would drink when we got back to the van.  Because, yes, we headed out on our explore leaving our water bottles in the car.  I don't think we really knew what we were doing.  I know we didn't.

 This is about fifteen minutes from the end and we all just had to stop and admire the view again.

 Mount Hood peeking through the clouds.

After over two hours of hiking, we arrived back to the parking lot.  And this is what the boys did:

Those are the after pictures.  They were definitely tired, but also completely thrilled with the experience.  We drove straight to Subway where Luke ate his very first footlong sandwich.  And a bag of chips.  And a cookie.

All in all, we had an absolute blast and will most definitely be returning to Powell Butte.  We brought home the map and our plan is to park in an area that is by the forest and hike ALL of those trails this summer.  Anyone else surprised at the addition of this activity to the Bangsund repertoire?  Um...I am!  But they loved it.  And it was beautiful and mostly relaxing and awesome.  AND that was on a day when we weren't REALLY prepared for hiking.  Next time we'll have water bottles and shoes with toes!  It will be epic.

Non-Traditional Last Day of School

Today was our last day of school.  Yes, it is Sunday.  Let me explain.  Our last day of school was scheduled for Friday this past week.  It was even looking like we might finish by Tuesday or Wednesday instead.  And then I got sick.

Last Saturday afternoon the fever started accompanied by a sore throat and a dry, unproductive cough that kept me up at night.  Symptoms worsened, resulting in zero church last Sunday and no school for the entire week.  Have you ever tried to read aloud when you couldn't stop coughing and hacking?  No.  Good.

In addition to being unable to read aloud, I knew that the day we finished school was the day I needed to take the boys to the donut shop near our house.  It's tradition.  We drive by this place at least six times every week.  They used to ask when we could go.  Now they know.  On the last day of school (and the first day of school).  Period.  Not having the energy to even take Luke to his piano lesson and sit in the car, I knew I would not be able to accomplish the donut shop this week.

But today is different.  The Daddy-Man is home.  He can do the donut shop!  So, I grabbed my water bottle, took my Mucinex, and settled down on the couch to finish school with the boys.  For the record, this involved four pages from The Usborne Book of World History reviewing all the ancient history we have done this year followed by a chapter from George Muller narrating the peaceful end to his amazing life.  Ever tried to read aloud while coughing, hacking, and crying?  There were a few times that Luke had to read for me, but we made it.  And it was a fabulous book.  I highly recommend it.

Then came the pictures.  I love our curriculum.  Sonlight provides my boys with so many fabulous books that they cannot possibly pick a favorite or even their top three.  I let them choose as many as they wanted.

Paul chose: Roman Diary, Mr. Popper's Penguins, Homer Price, The Last Little Cat, Understood Betsy, Henry Huggins, Mountain Born, Charlotte's Web, Detectives in Togas, The Wheel on the School, Tippy Lemmey, George Muller, and Gooney Bird Greene.

 Luke picked The Chalk Box Kid, Roman Diary, The Paint Brush Kid, Mr. Popper's Penguins, Henry Huggins, The Wheel on the School, A Question of Yams, Tippy Lemmey, The Year of Miss Agnes, Homer Price, Charlotte's Web, The Little Cat, Understood Betsy, Mountain Born, Gooney Bird Greene, George Muller, and Detectives in Togas.

Were there any they didn't pick?  How many books did we read this year?  There were some that didn't make the cut, but not many.  I would say there were probably fifteen other books that we used this year, none of which were bad.  They just weren't favorites.

My favorites?  Sure, but don't ask for a picture.  I'm still in pajamas and the name of my hairstyle is "And I didn't brush my teeth either."  But I can tell you my favorite books from the year.  In no particular order:

George Muller - The true story of how one man, called and equipped by God, cared for over 10,000 orphans over the course of his life, depending solely on the power of prayer and God's provision for all their needs.  Um...life changing book for our household.

Mountain Born - A coming of age story that follows a boy and his bottle fed ewe from her birth through her lambing years.  A leader of her herd, she teaches the boy about both responsibility and love.  Absolutely beautiful book.

Charlotte's Web - Of course I had read it before and probably had it read aloud to me at least twice.  But when I read the passage at the end describing Charlotte's loyalty and true friendship, I was again moved to tears.  It was that well done.

Gooney Bird Greene - Sometimes you just want to laugh.  This is the book to read.  Gooney Bird arrives on her first day in a new school wearing a pink tutu and cowboy boots.  She is an instant hit with her peers and her teacher as she regales them with absolutely true stories of arriving from China on a flying carpet and having her pet cat consumed by a cow.  Seriously. Funny. Stuff.

The Wheel on the School - Speaking of funny, nothing was more fun than hearing my boys repeat lines from this classic imitating my pathetic attempt at a Dutch accent.  The book itself follows a small Dutch village's school children in their attempt to bring storks back to Shora by acquiring a wheel for the roof of their school.  The entire community is drawn together in this quest.  The intergenerational aspect of this book was my very favorite part.  That and hearing Luke say, "Oh! Oh, Jella stole that wheel."

I could easily pick ten more, but I'm tired.  So, I'll end this post with a send up to Reading Rainbow:  But don't take my word for it!  :-)

Special Guests

Memorial Day Weekend was filled with special guests in our house.  It began Friday when Mr. Mark Tai arrived from the north.  Everybody loves Mr. Mark and his visits are always super fun.  I am always impressed how this bachelor dives into our lives, entertains the boys, does dishes when nobody is looking and manages to smile for real after my children melt down in the Starbucks drive thru.  He is simply quality.  I forgot to mention...he and Erik have an absolute blast video gaming together.  It's good for men to have man friends.

A few of my favorite pics from Mr. Mark's visit:

 Mark had been crouching down when Paul leaned over his back to look at something with him.  Then Mark stood up.  Tall dude!  What happened next was Paul being slowly flipped upside down over Mark's shoulder and gently lowered to the floor.  It was quite the ride!

Mark had never read The Boxcar Children.  I think Paul found this tragic, so he had Mark read the first few chapters aloud to him.  I believe Mark finished the book on his own while he was here.  :-)

Just as Mark was heading home yesterday afternoon, our next special guest arrived.  One of the pastors at our church and his lovely wife had a beautiful baby girl six months ago.  They dropped her off around 3pm and headed for their first night sans baby since her birth.  BABY GIRL IN MY HOUSE!!! Okay.  I'll just let the pictures tell the story.

We are all in love with this girl.

 She can do this.  She fits in here.

 Playing with Paul

 Luke plays a game with the giraffe behind her head.

Being entertained by Paul this morning

Baby Girl goes home this afternoon.  We will miss watching her do her thing.  We've spent a fair amount of time just sitting in the living room with her and her toys.  I'm hoping for lots of future visits.  Baby Land is so snuggly and soft and sweet.  And sleep deprived.  ;-)

Whale Watching on Maui

People, if you read nothing else on this post, hear this message loud and clear:  Pacific Whale Foundation rocks.  If you want to go whale watching on Maui, go with them!

So, during the week leading up to our trip, as I lay dying in bed from a head cold, I spent a fair amount of time researching things we could do with the kids on Maui.  I had gone whale watching on our previous trip six years ago.  I loved it, mostly because of the water, the boat, the wind, and the waves.  I like boats.  I decided to see if the boys like boats as much as I do.  I made reservations for the six of us (Dave and Lynne included) to go whale watching on Monday morning at 8am.  I figured with the time change it would be no problem.  Ah, life.  It happens.

If you recall, it was Monday at around 3:30 am that Luke took his tumble down the tile stairs in our condo resulting in some major facial bruising and massive loss of sleep for this mom.  At 6 A.M. I called the Pacific Whale Foundation and explained our situation.  They happily changed our reservation to Wednesday morning at 9am.

Wednesday arrived and we headed to Ma'alaea Harbor to go on the very last whale watching cruise of the season with Pacific Whale Foundation.  We had heard earlier in the week that whales had moved on.  I was prepared for a complete dearth of whales, people.  At the same time, I won't lie, I was sitting on the bow of that boat praying my blessed guts out that we would see something awesome.  I couldn't help it.

A disclaimer:  I don't expect Jesus to answer these types of prayers.  He is not my genie in a bottle.  He is the Sovereign God of the Universe.  But I tell Him the deepest desires of my heart and acknowledge that sometimes they are selfish.  He gets it.  He gets me.  And He loves me.  And I never hold it against Him if He chooses something other than what I would choose.  I know He knows best.

Okay, having made that disclaimer, get ready for it.  About an hour into the cruise, we had spotted one whale quite a distance off.  The captain cruised slowly toward where we had seen the spout.  The law says that you must stay 100 meters away from these creatures, for their safety and yours.  While we waited for the whale to resurface, the naturalist on the microphone shared cool facts about Humpback Whales.  We enjoyed the sunshine.  And yes, I prayed.

Then it happened.  There was a HUGE splash to the side of the boat and we ALL saw this HUGE tail come up out of the water and crash down to the left.  It was NOT a tail slap.  It was a tail throw and if you ask me, it was WAY closer than 100 meters.  Every single person on board gasped or yelled in utter amazement and perhaps some fear, including the two naturalists, the research assistant and the captain.  The naturalist began to quickly explain this was a very uncommon thing to see.  It's called a peduncle throw and involves a fair amount of aggression on the whale's part.  It was awesome.  It was answer to prayer.  And I said thank you to Jesus.

Here are the pics along with a few more details.

A nice German gentleman took this picture.  And then we helped him pick a shirt for the 8 year old in his life by holding it up to our 8 year old.  Awesome.

 Pre-boarding picture.

On board!

Goofy.

Our less dramatic sighting

This is a picture of a peduncle throw...not the one we saw.  I didn't get a picture of that, but this is pretty much what we saw.  Big.  Splashy.  Lots of tail.

 I love this picture.

 Both boys got to help Laura, our naturalist throw the hydrophone into the water.  It was awesome.  We only heard very faint whale song live, but they had some recorded from earlier in the month that we were able to hear.

 The West Maui Mountains from the water.  Beautiful.

On the way back into the harbor, they did a Jr. Naturalist Program inside the cabin.  It was VERY cool and both boys enjoyed it.

Maui Family Dinner Out

Yes, I'm still catching up on the Maui posts.  Yes, we arrived home a week ago.  What can I say? Jet lag?  Regardless, here's a post about our dinner out as an extended family.

On Tuesday evening we enjoyed a wonderful dinner with Dave, Lynne, Krista and the boys.  The boys wore collared shirts and khaki shorts.  The tropics are a magical place, people.  We ate at Monkey Pod Kitchen, a great place to take kids.  It's plenty loud and they have a kids menu.  Lovely.

I don't have a large group picture, but I do have some pretty sweet shots of the boys with awesome people.  Enjoy!

 Handsome Bangsund Men on our lush front patio before leaving for dinner

 The boys love Grandpa!

So sweet!