Vacation on Lake Erie

We brought up Papa's air mattresses and inflatable rafts to the beach.

And enjoyed a lot of beautiful sunsets...

And at least one selfie...

Josiah made friends with our old friends' son and nephew.  

Here they are with their fabulous finished fortress!

Renting this cabin at Beulah Beach worked out great!  There was room for Maggie and Lydia to join us for three nights, and lots of games around this table.  Praise the Lord a good time was had by all!

Back in the USA for Summer Vacation

Although Renee caught COVID before our June 16th flight, we all made it back to Ohio to join 

Maggie, Lydia, and Johanna at their grandparent's house. 

 Here's Maggie and Renee enjoying some summer sun in the back yard.  Renee stayed in the basement and outside until she tested negative to protect her parents from getting sick.

Josiah gets a haircut from grandma which he chose, though it may not look like it here. 

And here he is getting a tour of grandma's flower bed.

Josiah Turns 10 Years Old!

Clara helped celebrate and Johanna beamed in from Germany for the party!

His choice for dinner was the best pizza in Mongolia, his mom's! 

Next day a party with his school friends at the trampoline park.

Then for some bungee

jumping in the rain...

And a giant inner tube water ride with Bobby.

Human and Holy Spirit Attention, A Most Precious Resource

I was at a Celebrate Recovery training in 2013 and the founder this Christ-centered program made this joke: “We were going to start a support group for screen addiction, but we couldn’t find anyone with 15 minutes of sobriety!”  Our dependence on screens and their demands for attention has only grown in the 9 years since.

You might think Mongolia would struggle less with screens and internet dependence.  But I would wager more people are on Facebook and other social medias here than in the US. 

 

Our International Mongolian Basketball Academy uses sports to influence kids and coaches for Christ.  While kids and coaches are on the floor, both hands and eyes need to be on the ball.  So they can’t be on a screen.  I believe part of the benefits of exercise to our bodies, is the break our brains get from tech.  The healthiest I feel all week is after our two-hour trainings.

 

On Children’s Day, after an IMBA game against Fellowship of Christian Athletes, we were waiting for our food at Burger King.  You might not think that’s too healthy.  Almost every person out of 14 at our table was looking at a screen.  Two of the kids were playing some video game and holding their phone 6 inches from their face.  The food was about to come, so they were told to put them away.  But they did not.  Someone then accused them of being addicted.  There were no denials, but laughter that someone had said something true.  

 

In today’s world, screens seem now in more copious supply than human attention.  Part of what our kids at the IMBA get for their monthly fee of about 30$ is human attention from a caring responsible adult along with likeminded peers, who put away their screens for at least 4 waking hours per day.  May we all remember to add to our days time we devote to seek God’s face and the faces of real people in real time. 

 

The Holy Spirit is released in those that obey Him.  Let’s continue to see Him work by prioritizing Him and paying attention to real people around us over mindless distractions or addictions. 

Note that this post was written and read most likely on a screen ;D

Departing Friends and Children's Day

Mathias is dressed in his new Mongolian "Hurem" as he has his 'last supper' here with friends Nathan and Jonathan before departing for Ohio.

They both will also be traveling to the USA this summer.

Mathias helped us ship a bunch of suitcases back to our colleagues who now serve in Africa. 

Children's Day was celebrated June 1st by a big basketball game against the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, who also use basketball to reach youth.

Here's our IMBA guys after lunch at Burger King

I think it was a Happy Children's Day!