Post-test Lego Therapy

This is the "before" picture as we begin our new project, The Winter Village Cottage. With my wife's school schedule, and her test's this week, we decided to start our Christmas Lego project early.

It's finished...

Since I have Youth Group tonight and will be working late, and since my wife had to work yesterday and I didn't get to see her at all, I decided to stay home and have an elongated lunch break today. We had a leisure-filled lunch, played with the pup and then finished the 1962 Lego VW Bus. Here it is, in all its glory! :)

All the sweet doors and hatches that open and go upwards!

Need to wash your hands? Sit at the bench? Maybe have a glass of wine at the table? You can do it all in this little plaid-curtained bus!

 

The little sign says "Make Lego Models not War."

Rear license plate.

 

A happy nerd. Thanks babe for a wonderful 32nd birthday gift. I enjoyed putting it together with you the last few months!!

My wife is awesome!

After kicking butt on her final for her Nursing school class my wife and I decided to celebrate by continuing to work on our 1962 VW Lego bus and we had a blast!

She is oh so meticulous and methodical!

Not quite!! This is the true, zany side...so, so fun to be with!

 

Before you consume, you better make sure that is BPA free :)

We had a great time watching NCIS and working away...she finds the pieces and I assemble. Last night, as you can kind of tell, we finally got the windows put in with the sweet plaid curtains. Oh how I would love to have one of these in real life!

Eventually we realized we needed to stop and go to bed but our cute puppy needed to go out one last time. Once again, she brought a smile to my face and lots of laughs. But first, when we turned on the light we found him doing this in his kennel...

 "Dad, geesh, why do you have to show the world this picture? What an unflattering pose! I'm trying to sleep, how rude!"

For some reason she thought it would be a good idea to crawl in with him...though his teeth are showing I assure you he was all kisses.

 

A tender moment!

 

Cue the music ... "this magic moment, when your lips are close to mine it could last forever..."

And that encapsulates our celebration of my wife finishing her third class in Nursing School!

Building my dream vehicle...Lego style

Being that my typical Sabbath day is not Sunday because of my work at church I take my Sabbath day on Monday. The last few weeks Cari and I have spent some quality time on my Sabbath resting and working away on constructing my dream vehicle...a Volkswagon 1962 Camper Bus. It is SWEET! Here are some pictures of our progress. And for those who know Legos, there are 2 books of instructions with over 70 pages in each = lots of steps = lots of fun. Cari is an awesome piece finder and I construct since, in her words, this was "your 32nd Birthday gift." Thanks Babe!

Here is the box...yes, that says for people aged 16+...I guess we qualify!

We are anal and like to separate all the pieces into colors...makes it a lot easier and less chaotic.

 Here we are at the beginning, you can see the license plate!

Check out the gear shifter, the gas pedal and the beginning of the bench seat.

Yes, that is a lava lamp to the right, a green goblet on the fold-away table and the sink next to one of the bench seats.

The doors on this side open to show some shelves and drawers, a better view of the table and the sweet black and white checkered floor of the Bus.

From this view you can see the sink and storage underneath and the other bench seat with the goblet on the table.

This is our stopping point for today, book 1 is completed with the tire wells having been put on. Time for lunch and a nap. I love resting on the Sabbath!

Theological reflection on building with Legos

As Cari and I were praying together last night before going to bed I was thinking and praying and giving thanks for the fact that when we build something with Legos, or when kids build with Legos, we are really following in God's footsteps! We worship an incredible God who created ex nihilo...out of nothing. He formed all the atoms, all the pieces, all the layers of our world and put it together. Out of His grace, to this day, He sustains this creation, sovereignly caring for it and His children, us.

Obviously when we build with Legos we are not creating ex nihilo b/c the Lego parts are pre-existent matter that comes in those wonderful boxes. But we get to use our God-given creative juices to build from the ground up, to build layers, people, buildings, environments. What a teachable moment Legos provide!

Our Church is reading through the Bible using

 

http://www.newlivingtranslation.com/05discoverthenlt/dwb.asp

and so we are in Genesis right now and this verse hit me last night when we were praying.

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground" (Gen. 1:27-28, NIV).

The Hebrew for the verbs "to rule" and "subdue" give a sense of being a caretaker, a steward, a protector. So what a fun gift it is to be able to begin to learn these lessons of caretaking and stewarding, as a kid (or as a 31 year adult!), while building and playing with Legos. Let the teachable moments continue!

And in case you were wondering ...



there is actually a person who has built most if not all the Old Testament stories with Legos. If any of you are looking for an early birthday gift for me ;) this is a great idea! How fun!

http://www.thebricktestament.com