How can you live on a ship??



As a follow up to John's last post about sacrifice, I wanted to post about several of the amazing blessings that are unique to living on this ship.  Sure, we've had to give up certain things, but we also have gained some really great blessings that we never could have had if we weren't here.  Sometimes they seem like little things but this week we have realized all the more how sweet these small gifts are.  These are the things that make living on this ship possible!

 

(List is, in no way, exclusive and is in no particular order)

 

#1 Activities for the girls:  Adalynn is involved in the running club for the kids.  They meet on the dock and run laps once a week and they earn prizes for running 40 laps.  It is a great way for kids to get some exercise and they have a lot of fun too.  It is so special to live in this environment where there are always kids around to play with.  Many of the older girls love playing with Adalynn or holding Cora whenever they get the chance.



 

Pre-run stretching

You can see around her wrist is a laminated punch card to keep track of her laps.



 #2.  Activities for us!  John is on the football (soccer) team.  Last week they had a game at the national stadium.  The game was the crew vs. day workers.  John played goalie and his team won 6-5!  John also gets to play Ultimate Frisbee every week, something he didn't even get to do in Craig.  I have been able to go to Zumba classes and this week get to attend our very own version of a "Chopped" competition (one of my favorite shows in the States).

Pregame team shot

The national soccer team is sponsored by Rio Tinto (the company that owned the mine where John worked in Craig).  Small world.

 #3. Technology. Sometimes you just need a little taste of home.  We are so blessed to have Internet and TV so we can stay in touch with home.  We have channels donated to us and sometimes we get to watch things that remind us of the good ol' USA.  As follow up from last weeks post, we got to watch the Sunday night Bronco game on ESPN tape delay.  It was shown here on Monday morning!!

An Elway jersey we got off a local crew mate.  John played hookie from work for a couple hours to watch the game.



A 34-14 victory!!

 #4.  Community.  It is so great that we can be involved in so many lives. We are constantly surrounded by our friends and other people who have similar passions and desires for missions. It is really wonderful to live in this environment and share life together.  Adalynn's nursery class is learning about Babies and Cora and I came to her class this week to demonstrate how to bathe babies.  Afterwards the kids bathed their dolls in the pool.  This reminded me of our community as I can just go up anytime to be involved in Adalynn's school or other events on board.

The kids wanted to hold Cora after her bath.  They were singing to her and rocking her and Adalynn just kind of stood back wondering what all the fuss was about :)



 #5. Culture.  We are so thankful that our girls get to learn so early that there are many different types of people and ways to grow up.  We have had the chance to spend some time in the hospital this week and it has been so great to see Adalynn bringing joy to those she meets! We are hopeful that this experience will help them to be thankful for the abundance they have.

This is a 3 year old patient who had surgeries to straighten her legs.  Adalynn has befriended her and prays every night for her "owies".  More about this in our upcoming newsletter!