Tori finally made it ~

... to Parc W, that is!

The first time Tim took some of the kids, he didn't want to take the littlers as he wanted to go and scope the place out... see what it would be like before taking the whole family camping with lions, baboons and elephants roamin around. That year, Tori was still considered a littler.

We were all going to go last Christmas break - but then the youngest half of our gang all got sick with a really nasty virus and it didn't seem prudent to take off into the African bush with fevers, croup... well, I'm sure you get the picture. One of those sickies was Tori.

Recently, a young man visiting from Belgium, our pastor, his wife and their kids asked Tim if he'd drive them out to the game park, for the day. He agreed... and decided right then and there that it would be Tori's special trip, too.

She had a G! R! E! A! T! time!

Parc W 2011 ~ Note to self: "When sending your family off to an African game park, always make sure the camera battery is completely charged."

Well, as much as I was looking forward to a vacation (any vacation) this year... after staying home last year with the littles while Tim scoped the place out...

The littles and I still missed out.

Our four younger ones were really too sick to go camping {insert very sad face and tiny violins playing as I indulge in a very short self-pity party...} and so Tim headed out with the biggers while I stayed home.

And we forgot to charge the camera batteries before they left, so while they had some great photo opps... and got some pretty awesome photos... they had to be judicious with how much they used the camera.

And they still returned with a plethora of photos!

I'm really not bitter about this, although honesty forces me to admit I shed a few selfish tears being left behind... again... initially... I'm glad we made the choice we did because the younger four would have been miserable had we tried to take them (as would have been their mama) and the bigger five - including Leandra - would have been pretty wretched if they hadn't gone (as would have been their daddy).

So I am glad they had a good time and all stayed safe... although...

• stories about elephants charging the Land Cruiser,
• lion and baboons harassing each other less than a kilometer from camp,
• crazy plunging from a cliff into murky water where crocs could be concealed,
• hikes into the Gorge where they had to engage an armed guard to go with them... (for protection from what, exactly... or do I really want to know?)

...do lead me to shake my head in wonder at these thrill seeking teens and daddy!

Maybe I'm turning into "Old Fogey"

(i.e. an extremely fussy, old-fashioned, or conservative person, fuddy-duddy,

square, stick-in-the-mud, antique, dinosaur, fossil, relic,

anachronism, dodo...)

So enjoy the rest of the photos...

and don't miss a final question at the very end!

Please do tell..

What's your favorite picture and why?

Wordless Wednesday (well, except for the guy singing in Italian) ~ Tell me the story behind this video...

Multitude Monday: 1000 Gifts ~ This is my Father's World

Somedays, we only see traces of God's hand in our day - even when we are peering everywhere in the world around us, searching, looking and hoping to see Him and what He is doing...

Tim and kids didn't see any lions at Parc W... they did see lion paw prints...

Other days, something God is doing is obvious to me, bursting out of the thick cover of days full of activity and the distractions of my own "to do" list...

...or there is just the overwhelming sense, a confident knowledge that this is something only God would come up with... even if finding Him in the myriad of details seems overwhelming.

This truly is my Father's world!

Yesterday, preparing to take communion, the speaker took us to these words in Mark 14:

"After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death. But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people..."

The chief priests and scribes wanted to kill the Lord... they didn't want this execution to happen on the day of the Passover Feast.

But it did... contrary to their schemings, plans and desires... the Savior, the body was broken and the blood was pilled of One and Only who could rightly pay the penalty from our sins, free us from that bondage and make a place for us in the Father's house... completing the picture God had been painting all across the Old Testament of His coming Messiah.

"The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will." (Proverbs 21:1)

Today's gratitude list~

#700 even when I'm not sure of what's going on and I wonder if God really is in control, directing all, because it looks like He might not be, this is and will ever be "my Father's world," nothing escapes His notice or happens without His knowledge and authorization

#701 scary shadows, unclear or unseen dangers, are not suprises to Him

#702 The LORD God [is] my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' [feet], and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. (Habbakkuk 3:19)

#703 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31)

#704 the encouragement that is always present when assembling together with brothers and sisters

#705 the beauty of wide open expanses and strikingly blue skies that remind me of our future forever with Him

#706 our young man who is starting to understand and live the truth of this t-shirt.

#707 so many shades of blue on one small creature ~ the Creator has painted from an amazing palette

#708 caring for these children is a delight, a source of joy and a privilege as I see God's work in and through them



Can you spot the animal hidden in this photo?

#709 sleepy games of God-spy after a busy conference where the littlers told me what they'd seen God doing throughout the week

#710 flowering spiritual life in our sweet four year old who asks so many questions about Jesus, who wants to know why and forces me to admit that I don't always know why but I know God and so that is okay, and who, although she's not yet trusted Him, is seekin and learning... this process of watching God draw one of His little ones to Him never ceases... never ceases to amaze this mama, either

#711 a daddy who leads and tries so hard to keep his dear ones safe from danger



Termite mound and monkey... or something... Can you see both?



#712  how God uses the small to defeat the great, the foolish things of this world to confound what we often deem wise

#713 initial construction to begin today

#714 even though our foe is dangerous and stealthy, we have the weapons to fight this spiritual battle, if we will but use them in the strength of the Lord and in the power of His might