family news

it's been a while since we've posted a bit of family news, so here's the latest, in capsule form:

• n has taken up ballet again, and is rapidly returning to form. she's also learning the lesson that it's sometimes hard to come back to something that you've let lapse (it's been a year since left her other ballet school). we've been proud of her mental discipline and perseverance in pushing through the early trials of restarting.
  

• b was chosen as one of the outstanding science students from her school and rewarded with a trip to cornwall, ontario, where she participated in a special program called rotary adventures in the environment. and what an adventure it was — spelunking in a cave full of bats (including crawling through icy cold water), setting rock traps for invertebrates (including a ride on a motor boat, which stalled), seining (chasing fish down a stream into a net), and exploring a marsh — filled with leeches, bacteria that looked like dippin' dots, and spiders — in water up to her chest. she had a great time!

• m celebrated her birthday last week, and continues her quest to upgrade her wardrobe. she's looking smart these days, according to some of our international student friends, and our family agrees!

• i took a trip to st. louis, missouri for urbana teacher training. i'll be leading one of the 'small' manuscript studies of ephesians — about 260 participants (the 'big' groups will be well over 1000!). i can't remember a staff training that was quite so full; they really kept us busy. but it was productive, and studying scripture with 75 or so of inter-varsity's best teachers was a lot of fun!