A Social Network Christmas
Here is a touching and fascinating video. The clip is an artistic take on how the story of the nativity might have read had a social network existed at the time of Jesus's birth. Interesting to note that people "unfriended" Joseph when he revealed that indeed, Mary was with child by the Holy Spirit.
Follow this historical period as it unfolds as a digital narrative. This vignette is great for highlighting the truths and circumstances of our Savior's birth in a fresh, unique way. Four minutes long but well worth the time.
Poverty through kids’ eyes…
In October our family went on an ICM building/mission/vision trip to Bacolod, Philippines with a group of parents, teachers and their kids from Kennedy School. The trip was terrific, made even better by Team Caldwell remaining for an extra few days during which time we visited the pre-school that we sponsor. Afterwards, there was a great demand for the kids to present what they saw, and what they learned, at several Kennedy School assemblies. However, the prospect of speaking to 200 – 300 kids was rather daunting for the kids who participated in the trip. Their ages ranged from four to thirteen years old. I raised my hand, offering to tape the kids recording their presentations that I would then pull together into one video. Below is the video. The sound isn't great – I used an old MP3 player and learned afterwards I should have just used Tess' high-tech i-Phone for better sound quality. Still, the video gives you a view of Philippines poverty and the ICM work through the eyes of children. Speaking of Tess and her better technology (I am very tempted to get an i-Phone) ~ Tantalising Tess organised this entire trip, pre-meetings, everything, pretty much on her own with the help of Peter Fry from ICM. I was travelling, snowed under at work, and pretty much nowhere to be found for which I beg forgiveness.
Kennedy School ICM Building Trip – October 2010
from Charles Caldwell on Vimeo.
U Wish
Conspicuous consumption runs rampant in Hong Kong but rarely to this degree. While on my way to work this morning I found myself stopped behind a gorgeous Ferrari with the license plate "U Wish." Classic, and slightly comical at the same time. Had it been the four door "family-sized" Porsche, I might have found it less comical. Fortunately used cars are cheap in Hong Kong and maybe someday the Porsche Panamera will come down in price enough to make it affordable for me. The Lovely & Talented Tess thinks my Porsche days are over. Tess is the street smart one, so she's probably right. Still, which one of us will say "U Wish?"
Thank you for the very kind comments of the kids picture below. Yes, I know that Tess & I were absent from the photo but stay tuned for our Christmas picture to be posted soon.
Christmas photo – what do you think?
Today the girls performed in Union Church's Kids Christmas Show (fantastic production) and in the afternoon we went sailing on some friends' Jeanneau sailboat. (We actually never made it out sailing because the engine conked out, but we still had a fabulous afternoon on the boat, walking, talking, eating!)
Between church and not-sailing, we dropped into Cityplaza to buy some groceries and snacks. Every few weeks Cityplaza puts on a display or show. For Christmas we found a huge display of Christmas settings for people to take seasonal pictures. "Of course, how brilliant!" I thought. 99% of Hong Kong homes wouldn't be large enough for a truly traditional setting, conducive to festive pictures. In lieu, a whole variety of festive living rooms can be found at Cityplaza until January 2nd. We stopped to take pictures of Sebastian and the Terrific Trio. One of the best shots turned up on my Blackberry. What do you think? (A few other samples to follow shortly.)
Sebastian’s Avatar Cake
Sebastian loved the movie "Avatar." Hard not to love the film (albeit some of the violence and swearing) considering how beautiful the film. Therefore, Sebastian asked for an Avatar birthday cake. This year he took a great interest in helping to design/make the cake (and eat the leftover icing) but didn't know it was going to have a floating mountain until the final product emerged. Below is a short video of Sebastian explaining the cake. The cake was shared with his friends Alex and Adam. The party was held at Paintball Headquarters followed by pizza and cake at our place. For the record, it should be footnoted that Tantalising Tess provided considerable creative input in the making of the cake – despite having never seen the movie – thus she is officially co-creator. In fact, Tess baked the cake giving her two thirds writes to its creation. I only added the icing.
The kids love to shave…
The rugby season is off to a good start. At our first tournament, where the Hong Kong mini-rugby league set a Guinness world record of the largest mini-rugby tournament (2610 players), Sebastian's Sandy Bay team (the Under 10s) won two games and tied one game. (Left: officials announce the audited player total for the day. The last record was set 10 years ago in the US with 800+ mini-rugby players.)
The second "DEA" tournament at King's Park we won two games and tied one game. Our last game we played Valley Fort – "the team" to beat – and won 2 – 1. One of the tries we scored happened after Sebastian won the scrum when it was Valley Fort's ball. Seb (playing Hooker) snatched it out of the scrum with his foot, scrumhalf tossed to flyhalf, flyhalf halfway across the pitch to the 1st receiver in the wing who dashed up to Valley Fort's try line. It was a beautiful play. (Left: Sebastian's team celebrate their Valley Fort victory at the end of the day.)
Third tournament, on our home turf at Sandy Bay, we played four games. Valley Fort came back for a revenge game resulting in a tie. The three other games we won: 7-0, 5-0 and 2-0. I am no rugby expert, but the other coach and I (Tim) are focusing on making sure the kids know where they're supposed to be, and what they're supposed to be doing, at different points in the game. (Left: At the DEA Tournament, Jasper outruns Valley Fort on his way to scoring a try. Thanks for the great picture, Dale!)
The triplets are not doing quite as well although they are holding their own! Carys scored her first try in a tournament at DEA. It was as if she'd tasted blood and played like a fiend the rest of the day. So did Sela, who after NOT scoring a try but playing very well, cried for 15 – 20 minutes. In case you're wondering about the red splotches on the kids' skin… we used leftover fake blood from Halloween to freak out the opposing teams. (Left: proud Carys after scoring her try and the obligatory annual Candy Floss Shot.)
All this rugby makes the kids dirty. We've had a few fun Sunday nights where the kids have "pretend shaved." I give them a big plastic spoon and handful of shaving cream. The boys shave their faces and the girls their legs. In the picture below Jasper watches with a "hair job" from the tournament. Part of the idea is to give Tantalising Tess, who busts her butt all the time for our family, a quiet break. I always attempt to have these baths be "whisper" baths. Can you hear Tess laughing… yeah, these baths don't provide for much whispering and if you think the water looks dirty now, you should have seen it after I washed his hair!
