Building Blocks

Just before we left for South Africa, Mommy found a set of Legos at a second-hand children's sale at our home church in Fort Wayne.  Instead of putting them in our shipment, we decided the bin was small enough to go in our suitcases.  The Legos have been an endless inspiration for creativity in all three boys.  We've been amazed by the height of their towers and the breadth of their imaginations as they set out to build whatever their mind's eye can see.

Here is just a sample of what we have seen . . .

from simple airplanes . . .

to more complex models . . .

to helicopters . . .

to towers of all shapes and sizes . . . 

to "buy store stands" . . .

to bird families on giant perches . . .

and towers of birds . . .

to giraffes and zebras . . . 

With the recent arrival of our shipment, and more Legos, the creativity went further . . .

to barbells . . .

to "dealers" (car transporters, complete with cars inside) . . .

 

and even a giant "Woody" (inspired by a Lego display at a local store) . . . 

There is sure to be more building, and more new ideas.  While each creation may take some imagination to see what it is intended to be, it has been lots of fun to see what they come up with, and to see their pride in what they make.  

Vacation Bible School

Last week was quite an eventful week at our house.  Daddy went on a trip to Swaziland; our much-anticipated shipment arrived, bringing lots of excitement with it; and on top of all that, the boys participated in their first Vacation Bible School.  Needless to say, by the end of the week, everyone was exhausted. 

We have been especially thankful that we have found a church home that the boys enjoy.  After many, many months of traveling and going to different churches nearly every week with new people to meet, the boys were starting to get tired of the constant changes and ready to settle in somewhere. 

From our first week at our church here, the boys began to make friends and through the week were asking when Sunday would come again so that we could go to church.  Last week they were able to go to Vacation Bible School and Mommy helped out in their class.  Noah didn't have his own class, but he was able to tag along with the rest of us and got to make some of the crafts.  Every day they were so excited to go . . . though they barely showed it in front of anyone at the church. 

At the beginning of the week, they wouldn't talk at all; they wouldn't participate in any of the group games; they wouldn't sing, even if they knew the songs; when the children were given musical instruments to play, they just stood and held them, not wishing to make any noise lest anyone take notice that they were there!

By the end of the week they still didn't participate much at game time, but they were making friends, responding in class, using their musical instruments, and even doing some of the motions to the songs.  The theme was a prayer safari, learning the Lord's Prayer, and the boys really seemed to soak in the lessons each day.  Their favorite part of each day was a short skit put on by some of the teens.  They would come home and act it all out again, or guess at what might happen the next day.  One morning Aden told Mommy he had dreamed about the drama the night before!  Of course, at home, they would also sing at the top of their lungs and try to play the games, too.  On Friday they were thrilled to bring home all of their crafts from the week. 

Elephant and Giraffe Safari Binoculars

Crafts from the week, including drums and zebra headbands

Aden's Game

Yesterday evening Aden announced that he had a game he wanted us all to play.  He spent quite a bit of time setting everything up while Mommy cleaned the kitchen.  There were little safari men, animals, a few cars, scraps of cardboard, and some Lego constructions all set out on the living room floor, and each person (including Noah) had an assigned place to sit.

The game became quite complicated, so these instructions may be hard to follow.  But, if you follow them closely to the end, it really becomes quite simple. 

We took our places and Aden began explaining the rules.  First of all, this was just practice.  So, most of the pieces would not be used.  We would only need the little men.  And dice.  He found a square piece he had cut out of cardboard and instructed us that to use it (the dice), we would slide it across the tile floor to another player.  He always told Mommy to slide it to anyone, but Mommy had noticed that there was a certain expected order - she would slide it to Wiley, who was always instructed to slide it to Aden.

Aden went first to show us how to play - he slid the dice to Mommy.  Mommy then slid the dice to Wiley, and Wiley slid the dice back to Aden.  At this point, everyone's man was to take "one step."  We could move in any direction on the tile floor.  But each person was assigned one square tile with all of his pieces.  If your man took "too many one steps" and ended up in another player's square tile, your man was stuck.  He had to wait until another player's man ended up in the same tile.  Then your man could go out, and the other player was stuck.

We played for a while, passing the dice and taking one steps, until Aden got stuck in Wiley's box.  Mommy would have landed there first, since she was a bit closer, but had also been told at one point that she could turn.  Naturally, not wanting to be stuck, she turned just in time and walked along the edge of Wiley's box.  But when Aden got stuck there, it became clear that Mommy was to rescue him.  She was even offered that she could "go free" if she wanted, as a reward for rescuing Aden's man; or, if she wanted, she could stay stuck.  While Aden was stuck, we learned that the animals were there to play with while you waited for everyone else to play and for someone to rescue you. 

Once Aden was rescued, he decided we could play "for real," which meant we could use the other game pieces.  First, everyone had to make their animals dance.  Then we were told what each Lego structure was.  There was a garage, a phone booth, two airplanes, and a house.  But they were really all decorations.  The real game was played over in the corner.  Everyone followed Aden to the corner of the living room, where we were told to sit in a circle and play duck-duck-goose.

So, in the end, the real game is not so complicated after all.