Summer Learning

There are all sorts of occasions for learning. Some call certain occasions “teachable moments,” “learning outside the classroom,” or “the school of life.” I’ll just say we learned some great lessons this week.

Here’s a quick bullet list of our family’s summer learning this past week:

1. Drake Park in Bend would be no fun for kids without ducks to feed.

2. Make a point to take a few pictures of yourself with your closest friends. Here I am, on the left, with my dear friend Julie last week, as our kids played at the above mentioned Drake Park. This is the only picture I have of us. I guess we’re always too busy having fun to stop for a silly picture.

3. Expect your children to find a creative lounging place nestled in the rock in front of the High Desert Museum. And yes, the yearly membership is well worth it.

4. If your van’s alternator goes broke for the second time in a week, and you find yourself barely rolling into a country store in the itty bitty town of Leaburg, Oregon, hope that a God-sent older gentleman from across the street happens by to recharge your battery. Then hope that God answers your prayer of Please let me make it to Springfield, just 15 miles ahead but on a dead alternator and a only a spark of battery, that’s quite a feat. Then pray that Zilkoskis Auto and Electric, which garage the lady at the country store recommended, is open. Then praise God for again answering when the good folks are indeed there and willing to squeeze in a desperate family in a van loaded with eight people on a hot day.

Be thankful that the children don’t notice that you are hoofing it a mile through a drug infested neighborhood with homes adorned by thick plastic over broken out windows, as you make your way to the only nearby park to wait for two hours. Know that God speaks through the mouths of babes as your four year old daughter makes up a song to praise God (which she sings the whole way back to Zilkoskis) for helping us get our van fixed. The French exchange student who is a self-described atheist hears every word and can best receive it from a four year old, not the host mother.

5. Do not be alarmed when your eight year old son wakes the morning after a trip to the coast and can barely get out of bed and walk. It is not a mysterious coastal disease, merely the result of jumping waves for two or three hours, combined with a hike up the hill to see the Heceta Head Lighthouse - along with a tour up the winding staircase which brings one 205 feet above the Pacific Ocean.

6. Know enough to be appreciative when the usually overcast, windy Oregon Coast presents you with an amazing day - a perfect 75 degrees, no wind, few clouds, great waves, children busily working on sandcastles.

7. Take the mother who lives with you to the coast. You know she loves it there. Endure the crowded van, the repeated questions, the frequent bathroom breaks, the snoring nearly 80 year old woman who must share your room on the overnight stay. Just do it.