It's one or the other

Either the music lessons are paying off, or there are two small persons who have watched waaaay too much "Oklahoma."


I'm hoping to catch them singing "Surrey with a Fringe on Top." The animals they name are not part of the "chicks, and geese, and ducks better scurry..."

How to help

If you've seen the grief and loss in the hundreds of pictures coming out of Sichuan (such as "China's Pain" and this article), you're likely wondering what you can do to help. Forces have mobilized, and I feel confident in recommending all of the following organizations. As always, Love Without Boundaries receives the highest praise possible for their efficiency as it relates to the donor's money and overhead costs (3% overhead, almost unheard of in charities, but it's because of their dedicated volunteers):

http://www.chinesechildren.org/Sichuan_earthquake.aspx

http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/earthquake.cfm

http://www.ocdf.org/

Most of the above organizations are working with orphanages, especially due to the fact that there will be many new orphans from this tragedy. Several SWIs are near the epicenter, and you can see a map of them here at Red Thread Maps.

Mercy Corps is already working in Wenchuan, and you can read more info here:
http://www.mercycorps.org/chinaearthquake/

UPDATE: I've been made aware of another medical charity that is on the ground at the epicenter, Heart-to-Heart Int'l.

Praise God!

This is the update we've been hoping to hear: Chad & Jenny and babies are fine! This is an answer to thousands of people's prayers. Knowing the kind of people Chad & Jenny are, I know God is using them to bring comfort and hope to those around them. Jenny's nursing skills are likely being used as well during this tragedy. Please continue to pray for their emotional health as well as their continued safety. I cannot imagine the raw scenes they're experiencing, without the buffer of a computer screen as we are.

Since Dad's phone call a few minutes ago, I've just gotten another email confirmation from an acquaintance in the adoption world, who has a friend, who has a sister living in Chengdu. She writes:

I got information by my friends sister and husband.

(By seven different people)

[Chad & Jenny] are ok!
Taina

Multiple sources! God is gracious. As I listen to the first song in my queue up there on the right, "Hide me away O Lord," I can't help but think how appropriate it is for Chad & Jenny's experience.

Hide Me Away, O Lord

Keith Lancaster

Hide me away, O Lord;
Hide me away, O Lord;
In the day of trouble
'Neath the shadow of Your wings,
Hide me away, O Lord;

Give me Your peace, O Lord;
Give me Your peace, O Lord;
In the day of trouble
'Neath the shadow of Your wings,
Give me Your peace, O Lord;

Safe in Your dwelling place;
Safe in Your dwelling place;
In the day of trouble
'Neath the shadow of Your wings,
Safe in Your dwelling place;

The song that follows is equally fitting: "Give Thanks To the Lord!" We are!

Please Pray!!

With our thoughts and prayers being with the hundreds of thousands of earthquake victims in Sichuan, there is an additional concern that has become personal. Chad & Jenny Graber from IN moved to China to teach English in Chengdu, Sichuan province, but recently moved to remote Wenchuan for a year. You will see in the news reports that Wenchuan is the epicenter of this huge quake. Chad's have not been heard from since it happened, and their families and friends are understandably worried. Another concern is that Jenny is expecting their second child before too long. If you pray, please remember Chad & Jenny and their families. I'll update when I hear something.

UPDATE: Here is an article from the South Bend news containing an interview with Chad's parents.

Tip of the Day

When I get helpful hints, I like to pass them on. This one is to help clean your PC or laptop screens. I found it useful...try it and tell me how it worked for you.

What's blooming at my house

I wish you could smell these!

I got home from China to a totally different yard. It was warm while I was away, and everything popped. The grass is sooo green and soft, the lilacs are gorgeous and smell so wonderful, and I couldn't believe how the Bleeding Hearts had grown. It was such a long, dreary winter and cold spring that it feels strange to be able to go out barefoot and without a jacket. I took my new Canon DSLR on a field trip:These are called "Bleeding Hearts" for obvious reasons--aren't they beautiful?

See how they drip? Buuuuuut, if you turn them upsidedown:

Look! It's a "Lady-in-a-Bathtub."
See her? Look closer--she has a towel on her head, and if you pull down the sides of the "bathtub," you can even see her arms hanging into the bubbles. Many ladies were pulled off this spring off to check if they had arms. :o( They're easy to grow, and come back each spring even larger than the last. When it starts to get hot, they die back and you can plant annuals around them.

New Tunes

Hope it's not too annoying. And sorry to all of you who are sneakily websurfing at work and this blows your cover. :o) Get back to work.

I found this song and it took me back, well, not quite thirty years, but almost. I remember first hearing this song at a restaurant in Goshen, South Bend, Syracuse, somewhere, where there was a lady playing it on a Wurlitzer. I learned to play it by ear, but it was great to hear it performed right by Frank Mills. Over the weekend Doug & I were looking up oldies on YouTube and I found it by going down some rabbit trails! After listening to it about 20 times, I ended up buying the .mp3 on Amazon. I also called a music shop in town to order the Frank Mills Collection piano book so the big girls can learn it and some other really great stuff he played in the 70's. Not much good music came out of the 70's (IMNSHO)---they were waiting until the 80's. :o) Anyone else remember this one, "The Happy Song," "The Peter Piper Theme," "Chickadee," "Plaiser D'Amour?" Some of his album titles make me wonder if copious amounts of c@nn@bis weren't involved. :-O The music is squeaky clean and innocent, so hopefully the titles were just to look/feel cool among his st0ner peers. Sorry for the bucket of ice water washing over that dose of nostalgia. Ever the realist, Val.

Son Worshippers

We went for a walk in the wheat field next to our house this afternoon. It's been cold and dreary all week, and the little peek of sunshine had the girls all excited to be outside again. They were like our tomcats, just soaking it up, and it seemed as if they were sending "thank yous" up to God for the lovely day.