Horsin' Around

 My girls LOVE these horses they have at Costco right now.  Each week we make our visit to see them...I forgot their names, but Faith has named them.

 It will be a sad day when the last horse gets sold since there is no way we can bring these horses to our house.  They have to give the horses hugs goodbye.

Awards

 It seems that the boys have an assembly every Monday at school, and today was a special assembly to recognize the boys' achievements.  Both my boys got an award today.  James was one of six boys in his class to get a class achievement award.  His award was for "consistently using good manners and having a positive attitude."

 Spencer got an award for participating in a program called "The Big Draw."  He drew 20 drawings in a month.

I'm sure the other boys at school got fine awards, but the girls are only good enough to watch Spencer and James and then we were outta there.

Picnickin'

 This afternoon we packed a picnic and went to eat at Black Mountain Peninsula after church.  Spencer's class had organized a get together for the end of year since the boys are moving up to the high school in February.  

Not quite sure what this gal's hair is doing.

 Lake Burley-Griffin

 Of course if we are this close to Weston Park, we had to go say hi to the kangaroos.

 Spencer wants to touch one and he gets pretty close.

We are Grateful

 Aussies don't celebrate Thanksgiving.  We sent the boys to school like any other day, but after school we had a great feast with people who work with Doug.  As I think of this year, the busiest year of our lives, I recognize how very blessed we are.  We were able to move into a beautiful home and then leave it in good hands to move safely across the world to experience life in Australia.  We have been blessed with our wonderful families and a network of friends we call our family.  We have the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives, a world wide church that blesses us every day. We have so much and we are very grateful.

 I'm not sure if the boys even ate anything since they were glued to the xBox and Wii the whole time.

 The girls wouldn't leave this poor dog alone.

 The kid table

All Aboard!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Spencer's Passion

Spencer had to do a "passions" project at school recently.  This project was about anything the student was passionate about.  After much brain storming, Spencer agreed to do his passions project on World War I.  What can we say, he likes weapons and was fascinated with the trenches.  Today at school they had a big reception to look at all the projects.  I must say, this was very different from looking at school projects at our last school.  This was very fancy with lots of fancy refreshments.  James, Faith and Hope  ate a ton.

Mari-Mari

The last day I was in Malaysia, Ben and Margaret took me to the Mari-Mari Cultural Village in Kota Kinabalu.  Mari-Mari means "come, come," and our guide Felix kept telling us to mari-mari as we moved from one village to the next.  I'm pretty sure that's why it is called mari-mari, and not because a group of people is named Mari-Mari.  It is a great place to visit.  It is a smaller version of the Polynesian Cultural Center.  We went to five different tribes of Borneo to see how they lived a long time ago.

That's our guide Felix making rice wine.

At every village we got to do or make something.  We are making dinner in a bamboo tube.

 This tribe had a marriage tent in the village.

 Everyone likes the Murut tribe the best, the head hunters.  As we approached their village, they came out to meet us.

 We practiced our blow gun skills trying to get a poisonous dart in the target.  It was harder than it looks.  In this tribe they needed a human head before any wedding to prove that the groom could take care of his family.

 This is an old fashioned trampoline that they jump on to pull down prizes, heads maybe?

 We got to jump on the trampoline too.

 In every tribe, they have a room for their unmarried daughters in their huts.  It is the high room in this picture.  She would have to climb up that pole to get into bed each night so she was safe from the enemy.  We wondered what she did if she had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

 After visiting the five tribes, we went to their performance.

 I got to dance with them at the end.

They fed us after the performance.  The stuff that looks like salad is very bitter so I didn't eat it, and there is also a fried salted fish that I didn't eat.

What an amazing experience to go somewhere so different from the world I know.  I'm so grateful I got to see so many things.  Thank you, Ben and Margaret!

All About the Food

 I tried lots of different food in Malaysia.  This fruit and vegetable market is where Ben and Margaret shop.  I tried mango stein, rambatans, and another fruit I forgot the name.

 Duck anyone?

 We ate at this restaurant on the water in Sandakan.  The fish you eat are swimming around.

 A couple of places where we ate, they just put a box of silverware on the table for you.

 This little girl with Margaret was our waitress.

 Sounds delicious, mayonaise corn.

 The food you have to try while in Malaysia is a fruit called durian.  Bro. and Sis. Lee bought one and let us eat it one night.  It smells horrible and the taste isn't all that great, but the locals love it.

Fish floss?