Archive for April 2009
Updated: 22 Apr 2009 06:28 am by Ron
Filed: Geek Stuff
Tagged: blogging • icons
I just stumbled across this… I’ve used the Pi Diagona icon set for a couple of little test projects and have always been impressed by the quality of these, particularly in looking at what the artist has done with the 10 x 10 pixel set. In going to pull down another copy of the Diagona icons this morning for my on-going effort to develop a new theme for my blog (hinted at previously and coming soon, I promise), I came across the artist’s new “Fugue” icon set: an amazing set of over 1,700 icons rendered in PNG format at 16 x 16 pixels. Amazing!
Even more amazing is that these icons are freely available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license or can be purchased under a royalty-free license for under $50 (USD). Expect to see these icons here in the near future…
Updated: 12 Apr 2009 02:40 pm by Ron
Filed: Adoption • Life in General
Tagged: Li • sleep • soccer
Li, a big box of new soccer balls, and an active imagination (04/2009)
I just never know what I might find when I walk into our living room. Leave a two year old little girl with a developing love of “the beautiful game” — although I think at this point, her love of the game is based on the fact that her adored big brother Ian plays and every match is an opportunity for her to get to spend a couple of hours outside — alone in a room with a box full of new balls and look what happens…
Soccer is in full swing at this point, occupying a big chunk of our lives, and has been accompanied by the usual early Spring soccer weather: snow, wind, rain, wind, sleet, wind, rain, snow, hail, clouds, wind, and the occasional explosion of a ray of sunshine poking through the clouds. Despite the lousy weather so far this season, Li hasn’t missed any of Ian’s matches. She must dream about it, as well; one morning last week when we brought her in to snuggle up in her little bed in our room at about 2:00 AM, she mumbled “Watch soccer?” in her sleep.
The weather has finally begun to turn to something resembling spring, noticeable particularly just these past couple days. I’m guessing we’ve yet a few snow flurries to suffer through before we can really say, “It’s over!” but it is nice to see the occasional crocus without snow, the lawn greening up (slowly), and the first early signs of leaves beginning to bud on one of our trees. With highs in the upper 50’s, we’ve been able to open windows and let some of that wonderful fresh air in, as well. Deb’s outside right now, doing some early season work in the beds and I know the lengthening and warming days are good for both her and Li.
Li has been sleeping significantly better over the past month or so, with only two or three nights that I would call poor. She’s to the point where she usually wakes up around 2:00 AM and we bring her in to sleep in a small bed in our room for the rest of the night. That change alone has made a big difference for all of us, as we don’t feel nearly as sleep deprived as we have until recently. She’s counting to 10, enjoys showers (in addition to her more-normal bathtime), is stringing more and more words together, has finally learned the word “No” (we knew, unfortunately, that would come eventually), and is showing a more varied palette when it comes to mealtime (although, I think she’d live on homemade apple cider and homemade apple sauce if we let her).
Updated: 12 Apr 2009 02:14 pm by Ron
Filed: Adoption • Faith • Life in General
Tagged: Adoption • Li • parallels
Li is pretty excited about getting to wear her new Easter dress to church (04/2009)
We spent Easter last year in Guangzhou, China as we were in the midst of our adoption journey to make Li part of our family and to bring her to a new life here with us. Although we didn’t attend worship on that Easter Sunday last year, we were definitely thinking about the parallels between what she was going through and our own adoption into God’s family.
Again this year, as we celebrate Easter — admittedly in a more traditional way — and talked this morning in Bible study about why this day means so much to us, I am reminded of the parallels… and I am reminded how profoundly these simple acts of love have changed us in untold ways.