Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Similes in Poetry

We’ve been learning about similes and writing poetry for school during the past couple of weeks.  The kids enjoy making pictures with their words and the freedom from complete sentences and punctuation.  <smile>  Here are a few samples:

004

Tucker

Brown like dirt

Fur like soft grass

Barking as loud as the wind

By Isaiah

 

 

 

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Mittens

Black and white like a soccer ball

Fuzzy like a blanket

Purring like a little motor

By Isaiah

 

Chime

‘Chime’ makes me think of jewels,

Or that I did my best.

Maybe it’s a beautiful ballet dancer,

Or a nice cool breeze.

It might be dark purple swirled with light purple--

All in this musical sound.

By Claire

I couldn’t resist joining in the fun.  The topic of my poem was inspired by the blog of a fellow missionary that I enjoy reading.

Duty

Sounds like a sweet treat for a toddler,

But a thankless task for the mother.

If it were a creature, it would be a slow moving ox.

As a day of the week—a dreary Tuesday morning.

It’s colored olive green, khaki…and pink

When the obligation becomes an expression of love.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Out with the Old…In with the New

Our aviation department saw two miracles happen over the Christmas holiday.

089The King Air finally sold!  (See photo on left.)  It had served Bible translation well since its arrival to PNG in April 2003.  Its main job was to fly between our center and the capital of Port Moresby or Cairns, Australia.  It also flew between 60-75 medical evacuation flights to Cairns.  But because it wasn’t designed for rugged bush airstrips, our organization decided it was time replace it with some new aircraft specifically designed for “jungle flying”.

That new aircraft is the Kodiak—manufactured by Quest Aircraft Company in Sandpoint, Idaho.  Our aviation department currently has three Kodiaks in its fleet—all of which are flying constantly.  A fourth was needed to meet all the demands of Bible translation here in PNG.  Unfortunately, the waiting list to purchase another Kodiak was long.  But in mid December, we got the unexpected chance to buy this Kodiak two years ahead of schedule.  (See photo below.)

DSC04580 N77KQOver 12 days, people gave hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Wycliffe Associates sent funds that they had already raised for a plane, and hundreds prayed about this impossible goal.

And God provided.  In a few weeks, this Kodiak will fly to JAARS in North Carolina to be outfitted for service here in Papua New Guinea!  We thank the Lord for providing us with an aircraft that has the potential to impact the hundreds of communities in Papua New Guinea who still don't have his Word in their own language.*

*Kodiak story adapted from https://www.jaars.org/updates/god-answered-our-prayers