My last post bit off more than I could process in a single post. I will have to come back and deal with some of the individual parts some day. But, in looking at more of the big picture of the bible it really gets exciting to read and study all that God gives us through His Word.
Please pray for my right ear. A sinus infection I had for a couple of weeks resulted in a burst eardrum, days of drainage, and I still haven’t gotten my full hearing back. It is improving, but I still have fluid in my ear, a constant high-pitched squeal, and about 50% of my hearing (which is a vast improvement over the near total deafness I experienced for about a week).
Keaton plays weekly with the St. Nicholas football club. He is a part of the 6 year old group. Today his coach told me that “Keaton is a lovely player. My 13 year old son, who is quite a player, noticed him a couple of weeks ago and said that he was excellent.” It was fun to hear his coach praise him. He really does have a knack for the game. He isn’t the strongest or fastest on the “football pitch,” and he therefore has to rely on skill to score and defend. He has developed a lot of skill and consistently pushes his way down the field to the goal. Last week he played in a game of four on four. His team lost 8-5, but Keaton scored all 5 of his team’s goals. He also allowed only one goal when he was in goal as goalie (keeper).
Regan is growing up quickly. She has come alive with her words, questions, and ambition. She learned how to ride a bike without training wheels about 2 hours before Keaton did a couple of weeks ago. She then started climbing trees. She generally doesn’t think that she can’t do something. She just thinks she can.
Tanner is reading, reading, reading, and his math skills have taken off. He seems to be enjoying his studies quite a bit. He often spouts off some new fact that he’s learned, but not in a proud or braggadocios way. He leads naturally and often can be found organizing some top secret spy game with the other kids about the lodge.
We have learned that having a small home is wonderful. It is easier to maintain and God uses it to keep us together as a family, putting us in a position where we have to learn to submit to one another in love.
We ate our first “spotted dick” this week. It’s a traditional English “pudding.” It basically is a spice cake with raisins in it. You can have it served with custard or cream and it really is tasty. 
But, of course, we Rileys (and Lavys) much prefer chocolate. In fact, Tara and I had a chocolate sponge cake served with warm custard all over the top of it and found it to be delightful! We took the entire CDTS to Whitemoor’s tea room and enjoyed a time of tea, coffee and cakes together on a beautiful sunny day.
We had two weeks of beautiful weather, sunny and warm. The English all say that it was likely their summer for the year. J Three days ago the weather changed and we are back to cool and rainy.
One of the things we did this week was watch Jerusalem burn while reading Lamentations out loud. We have been doing an overview of the Bible for the entire week. I thought this picture was somewhat interesting. 
We learned a bit more about our trip to South Africa. We will likely leave on the 23rd of June and will be in South Africa for 8 weeks. We will spend most of our time in Worcester, but we may also split up and spend some time in Durbin and in Cape Town. Some or all of the public high schools in Worcester are opening their classes and grounds to us to do whatever we would like to do, singing, teaching, doing dramas, playing games, leading bible studies, and presenting the gospel. It is amazing how many countries allow open gospel teaching in the public schools. Our cost as a family for the outreach will be about 5000 Sterling Pounds, or the equivalent of about $10,000. Our cost as a school will be about $50,000. Please pray for our entire school to have the funds for this incredible outreach opportunity. All of us still have funds to pray in and raise and we will be buying the air tickets soon. As others are invited to join us, our 20+ group has already grown to nearly 50! We are excited to see that we will likely have between 50 and 70 people working together to reach the poor and needy in South Africa!
