Last day of January

Wow- where did January go? Anyone else feel that way?

On Monday, Alex received recognition for having achieved the rank of Star in the Boy Scouts. We're very proud of him. He managed to get his requirements done in good time without much prodding from Mom and Dad. Good job, Alex!

This week has been frustrating electronically speaking. Monday I went to print the kids' school schedules and it wouldn't work. I've printed from this computer with no problem since we got our wireless HP printer. I installed (not without difficulty) the printer software on the Vista machine that Alex primarily uses. It had the same problem. The only machine I could print from was my laptop. Finally Tartan told me to find a USB cable and link to it directly. That does work and suddenly Alex's machine started being able to print- without my doing anything else to it. Then, last night my laptop suddenly went blank. I have no idea what's happened to it. I don't think there's anything we can do with it except take it to be repaired. It's probably out of warranty by now. I've also been unable to load Olive Tree's Bible reader on my ipaq. The install keeps giving me a runtime error.

I think I'm the Empire State building of the house. We recently read an article reporting on the odd occurrence of dozens of cars daily shutting down within a few blocks of the building. Apparently once they're towed a few more blocks away, they work just fine again. We think it's the Daleks. If you haven't seen "Daleks in Manhattan"- then never mind.

Abigail lost her second tooth, finally, yesterday evening. Hopefully the tooth fairy will show up sooner than last time. But she didn't last night.

Hoping you're all avoiding most of the cold and flu bugs out there,
Naomi for the Colliers
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding." Pr 3:5

Orthodontics & orthopedics

What they have in common besides the "ortho" is that they're expensive. :)

Alex just had braces attached to his top set of teeth. At some point they will be joined by a set on the bottom. He decided to have the plastic parts in a plain clear rather than some neon color. Kyrie has already stated that when she has to have hers she wants color. Unfortunately, she almost certainly will have a turn.

To try and fix Aidan's in-toeing, the orthopedist has ordered orthotics to put in his shoes. They cost $300.... each. We were a little stunned, but hope that it'll make it easier for Aidan to run and participate in sporty activities.

Sorry this is so short. I'm coming up blank on anything else remotely interesting to share.

Trusting in the Lord,
Naomi for the Colliers

A new talent.

We have a prodigy in the family. An artist who - before now - never seriously painted. She has an eye for detail, fine motor skills and patience. Surely all the marks of a great artist. Who is this mysterious master painter?
Kyrie. Really! She wanted to try her hand at painting yesterday, so I decided to let her try painting a few of my Warhammer and D&D miniatures. And she did better than I ever could. When I saw her paint that well, I gave her an unpainted miniature. It took her two hours to paint it to masterwork quality. All it needs now is a bit of touch-up (perhaps later this afternoon) and maybe we can post pictures of it.
One might think that I might be envious of my little sister, but I'm actually very important in the painting. I supply the miniatures, the paints and paintbrushes, and my experience in painting. Kyrie's got the talent, I've got the know-how.
Kyrie says she really enjoys painting, so I've pulled out every miniature I've got. I seriously think I saw a gleam in her eye when I showed her the minis. I think my long-waiting Gondorian army won't lack paint much longer...

Trusting in the Lord (to bless our lives),
Alex for the Colliers.