The Fishers in La Paz, Bolivia

I Miss Bolivia

blendedworship — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 23:32:02 +0000

I miss La Paz. I miss the flights. Several of my friends have minor mysterious illnesses; I miss minor mysterious illnesses. I miss the sense of purpose. I even miss the bad sermons and worse praise songs. I miss community group and game nights resulting in games of Werewolves and Catan marathons. I miss eating dangerous things. I miss cream cheese being an exciting discovery. I miss introducing kids to hymns and the liturgical calendar. I miss the mountains. I miss long hours with our friends. I miss walking to the grocery, to the restaurant, to the mercado de Achumani, to the taxi, to the Peruvian croissant man we love, to man-breakfast, to calle ocho. I miss knowing and being known.

We’re moving on – forward, following the open doors our Lord provides. I’m seeing Him employing me and my family for His purposes back here. I see this time as having meaning, purpose and great joy.

But I will never, never, never, be done missing La Paz.

Story by Avery, Age 5

blendedworship — Mon, 11 May 2009 23:46:28 +0000

Abby went out for a walk. Then she saw a wolf. And then she couldn’t believe her eyes. She said, “Mother, Mother! Come quick! I met a wolf.” Mother came along. She said, “Oh, dear, that’s only a friendly wolf.” And then the daughter said, “Hello, wolf.” The wolf said, “Hello.” Then the mother went out with the friendly baby girl wolf. So then the wolf said, “I like mac and cheese.” The mother said, “I brought three bowls of macaroni.” They ate it at night, and when they woke up, they felt refreshed.
The End

Photos April/May ’09

blendedworship — Sat, 09 May 2009 22:18:07 +0000

The HIS Staff Dancing a “Carnavalito” from Cochabamba, Bolivia

This early part had a lot of square-dancing moves.

I did well, because on my left and my right were both amazing dance teachers!

Here, you can't tell (due to Anne's expert photography) but we were essentially to shuffle our feet like chickens for 32 counts. Looks cool, though, aye?

We did a little tunnel and ran through it while the others twirled their partners. Super fun.

We were all very happy, proud and tired at this point!

Mary Chapin Carpenter’s Big Bolivian Debut!

After a morning of traditional Bolivian dances, the HIS staff offered their own annual tradition: a surprise line-dance!

We had an amazing time...

What a sweet ol' time. I've decided I am a carpetbagger workin' my way up to redneck.

Woo Hoo!

blendedworship — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:42:03 +0000

Thanks to everyone who prayed for our school’s accreditation visit this week. It started out rough, but ended very well. The visiting team will recommend that we receive a five-year accreditation term. We were proud of our school and all the work our wonderful staff has done to get us to this milestone. A comment from the team: “You don’t expect to find such wonderful educational practice in an old brick factory on the side of a mountain in Bolivia.”

8 More Weeks? Really?

blendedworship — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 21:19:27 +0000

Wow! Two years can just fly by! We are coming off Easter Break and are embarking on the last 8 weeks of our last quarter of the school year – and our last 8 weeks here in Bolivia. It’s surreal, exciting and a tad scary.

We’ll send an update soon, but suffice it to say that you can be praying for Tom to get a job and Anne to have a fruitful and fun time rental house shopping for us.

In His Peace,
Tom and Anne

Avery’s Princess Party

blendedworship — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 20:26:31 +0000

Songs at HIS Chapel

blendedworship — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 21:13:51 +0000

As you may already know, Highlands has four chapel services, and Anne and I help lead the two that are for lower and upper elementary school. The chapel services are simple: usually some fun songs, an interactive lesson (right now, teaching on the fruits of the Spirit), a song of responding to the lesson, and then a closing song (which, right now, includes the giving of fruit to each of the kids) as they head off to the rest of their day.

I’ve had the opportunity to write several songs for the kids’ chapel, and this one (as most of the others) was written to fill a void: a song for the big elementary kids to respond to the lesson.

It takes the ancient words “The Word of the Lord; Thanks be to God” from many liturgical traditions and puts them in a musical context that kids seem to really respond to.

To find the sheet music, you can click here at my worship/songwriting blog.

In His Peace,
Tom

Hike near the Muela

blendedworship — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 20:24:46 +0000

Recent Quotes from Avery

blendedworship — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 00:28:40 +0000

“I’m tired like an astronaut.”

“Do bugs toot?”

“Mom, I really need some ale right now!” (This was said at 4:15 in the morning after waking me out of a deep sleep. I wasn’t sure what she was saying at first, but then I realized she meant aloe. She had a sunburn and we had put aloe on it right before she went to sleep.)

“I want to wear my jump rope tomorrow.” (She meant jumper.)

“Oh, smash that!” (She meant “Scratch that!”)

I have been trying to teach her to touch things more gently, to “pat”. One morning this week she said to me, “Don’t worry, Mom. When I’m at school today, I’m going to tap!”

Songs by Tom

blendedworship — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 20:08:58 +0000

Hey, folks! I don’t know how many of you have been over to my music blog, but I’ve been posting several of my songs, more or less one a week. The latest is one I “co-wrote” with Anne’s great grampa, B.P. Story – he wrote the lyrics about 130 some-odd years ago, and I put it to music a few years back. Anyway, if you’re interested, you can check it out at my other blog (http://blendedworship.wordpress.com).

If you want to see a list of other songs I’ve posted, you can go to the “Songs of the Week” page on my blog.

In His Peace,
Tom