ROOTS AND BEYOND

Last Sunday, we celebrated Josias’ 3rd birthday. He really enjoyed it being in the center of attention. We are really thankful having Josias be part of our family. He really likes animals and he loves to cuddle, his favorite color right now is orange, he likes to eat eggs and he loves to play with water. And he can laugh from the bottom of his heart.

You are loved, Josias!

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Below are some pictures from his special day:

While ironing (and the kids are napping), I am listening to the “Simple Prayer … Simple Life” series of Joyce Meyer. And I have to admit, that God showed me some important things, which I want to put into practice in my life. Let me share some of them with you:

Don’t let somebody else steal your joy!

Make the devil mad and stay happy! He doesn’t know what to do with a person, who keeps a positive attitude in a negative circumstance. When the devil comes, he wants our joy, because joy is our strength. A lot of times, I don’t feel joyful in my daily life or in my daily routine. And it affects many other things or people around me. This, I want to change. The Bible says that spending time with God, will bring joy to you. In the presence of God there is fullness of joy. Refreshing comes, protection is with us and our strength is renewed.

Remain peaceful in every storm!

Peace has been given to us by God, we just need to release it. We have authority over our own attitude and need to learn to do what is right and to respond peacefully, even when it still feels wrong. We cannot have our feelings manipulate us. No matter what happens in your life, keep praying, keep loving God, and continue on with the purpose of God for your life. Our attitude makes all the difference in the world!

Have we shown you pictures of our papaya tree? We planted the seeds in January 2009 and got our first seven fruits in April 2010!

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Papaya is very rich in Vitamin C. We eat it just fresh or make some papaya juice or cook jam out of it. Look how tall he is already!

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The next batch is growing and ripening by now. There are over twenty papayas on the tree!

On February 4th, 1948 Sri Lanka achieved its independence from the British colony to become the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

This year, 2010, Sri Lanka celebrates its 62nd  anniversary of Independence. It holds much significance for the people, since it is the first celebration of national unity since the end of the 26-year civil war, which ended in May, 2009.

This is Sri Lanka’s National Flag:

Each symbol of it represents something of Sri Lanka’s culture and heritage:

• The lion: represents the Sinhala race
• The sword of the lion: represents the country’s Sovereignty.
• The lion’s tail: signifies the noble eight fold path of Buddhism
• Curly hair on the lion’s head: indicates religious observance, meditation and wisdom
• The beard: denotes purity of words
• The sword handle: highlights the four elements of earth, fire, air and water.
• The nose: indicates intelligence
• The two front paws: profess to purity in handling wealth
• The green vertical stripe: represents the minority Muslim race
• The orange vertical stripe: represents the minority Tamil race
• The yellow border: represents other minor races
• The Bo leaves: represents Buddhism and its influence and also stand for the four virtues of Kindness, Friendliness, Happiness and Equanimity
• The color maroon: represents the other minor religions.

Since today is a holiday, we thought of going to a little zoo, that is only about half an hour away. Together with Jasmine and her son Kevin and Jen, we spent the morning at Guruge-Park.

The kids really enjoyed the change. Josias really has a heart for animals. He was thrilled to see the deers, turtles, monkeys, snakes, parrots, squirrels, the lion, horses, goats and last but not least the peacocks. We think, we have no other choice, but to get him a pet in future.

Jocy loves to run around with friends. In the last months, she has grown up so much and likes to do everything by herself - what she usually does very well!

Not only the kids enjoyed the day. Daniel had fun being a part on the traditional “group drumming”. On special celebrations here in Sri Lanka, you usually see women sitting in a circle and playing together on a big drum.

The last few weeks the weather has been very hot and humid here. Sometimes we reach temperaturea up to 104°F (40°C) in our house, since there is pretty much no wind outside. Then we can’t help but take a trip to the beach to enjoy the sunset together with our little family.

Since mid-March Jen from the States moved in with us. Jen is 26 years old and studied graphic design (specialized on prepress software). She is teaching the employees in prepress on how to make the best use of their software. Jen is already a tremendous blessing to the company!

Our kids love her and they get along very well. We are happy to have Jen with us and to get to know her!