i got to go see COLDPLAY last night. man, oh man, it was awesome. i’ll just show you a few pics.
sorry i’m having trouble posting the pics here. please go to www.xanga.com/nizasings to view them… if you wish. but come back here to comment =)
keep dreaming,
niza
alex came home last night from a walk with lucas and said: 
“something is going on out there. there are police cars all over the place and they closed the street to car and foot traffic.”
i got up this morning to get ready for church and turned on the news to check on the weather. the first image i saw was police cars and the 50s style burger joint down the street where we often eat at. i stood motionless staring at the TV… my oldest kids go there a lot with their friends.
the report was about the shooting that took place last night at the parking lot of the burger place. three people got hurt and the suspects got away in a car. i just stood there looking at the TV, my eyes blinking. i was thinking… this is the place we walk to all the time, same place my kids hang out at… this is a very safe neighborhood, lots of missionaries living around here because of the William Carey University and the World Center for Missions… these could have been my kids rushed to the hospital with bullets in their bodies… ugh, blink, blink, blink.
it is not a safe world anywhere. bad things happen to good people all the time and as helpless as i feel knowing that there is nothing i can completely do to protect them, i feel peace because my and my children’s “fate” is in the hands of the One who created us and loves us… key words - loves us.
keep dreaming,
niza
today i heard a radio ad for End of the Spear, the movie about jim and elizabeth elliot and the deaths of jim and their partners and friends in mission. it made me cry.
why do some people choose to leave the known for the unknown? comfort for discomfort? what kind of courage does it take to go move into a jungle and live among primitive peoples who are so different from us, at any moment they can turn on us and kill us because they also think we’re different? i’ve never read the book that inspired the movie (Through The Gates of Splendor by Elizabeth Elliot) but i imagine that that’s what happened.
i also just watched Born Into Brothels. another great example of a life lived for something greater than ourselves. a young woman who is a photographer who chooses to move into the red light district of calcutta, falls in love with the children of the prostitutes and drug addicts, then helps some of them get out of there for a chance of a normal life.
i want to live that kind of courageous, selfless life. but again i ask: “what does it take to leave everything and go?” i don’t know if i have it in me and i’m ashamed.
if you have the answer let me know,
niza
this year for home schooling lucas is getting to do a lot of science. we’re studying a lot about nature as we grow some “specimens” in our home. we’ve done a lot of research on fish, tadpoles and frogs and now a chinese water dragon. it’s been a lot of fun :happy:
so without much ado, meet the newest members of the mcmani clan:
our baby chinese water dragon - GUACAMOLE - basking under his uv light
lucas holding him - due to lucas’ extensive research he is sure “he” is a he
our baby bullfrog - LILI - lounging in her pool - lucas is also very sure that “she” is a she
lucas holding her - i’m so proud, we raised her from a tadpole
i can’t believe a whole semester of home schooling has gone by already… thank goodness… shhhhhhh!
keep dreaming,
niza
my dear friend’s (amy) husband, scott, is a writer for E-Ring. tomorrow night (wednesday) the episode he wrote will air on NBC at 8 pm. our good friend, melvin, who is also the percussionist for our band doSul, will also be featured in the show… well, his hands will be on because he’s an expert on rubix cube, and he’ll be putting together the cube for a scene. hope you don’t miss this show because i think it will be the best one of the season =)
keep dreaming,
niza
so i read michael’s VOX blog (Half Moon’s Sky) and he tells the story of how he gets accosted by two middle eastern boys on the train he’s taking from paris back to where he’s staying. they pick pocket him and they all almost get into a fight.
OK, i’m done being a good mom and letting them go. i want my kids home now. thank you.
keep dreaming… but from now ’til they come home i’ll be having nightmares 
,
niza
first of all:
HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you. may God bless you and fulfill all, or a majority, of your dreams in 2006. may you be embraced by peace, happiness, the good fruits of your labor, friendships and the biggest desire to spread the love of our Jesus like you’ve never felt before.
so, every year i think up a few things i’d like to accomplish the next year, but i never really tell anybody, that way it’s easier to get out of it
this year i decided to let the whole world know… well, those few of you who visit my site. here are the 7 things i’d like to work on in 2006:
1] get back into school… i just applied on line yesterday… yay!
2] start an exercise routine… cindy norman, i might need you on this one =)
3] start cooking from my South Beach Diet book… that stuff actually looks
good… yum!
4] put all 20 years of photos into albums… yikes!
5] read more.
6] more communion with God.
7] to prayerfully learn to live with the “thorn(s) on my side”.
what’s one thing you really want to get done this year?
keep dreaming,
niza
EXERCISE PLAN
As part of my goals this next year, I came across this exercise to build muscle strength in the arms and shoulders. It seems so easy that I thought you might also want to include it as part of your goals for next year.
Begin by standing on a comfortable surface, where you have plenty of room at each side.
Start with a 5-lb. potato sack in each hand, extend your arms straight out from your sides and hold them there as long as you can. Try to reach a full minute, then relax. Each day, you’ll find that you can hold this position for just a bit longer.
After a couple of weeks, move up to 10-lb. potato sacks, then 50-lb.
potato sacks, and eventually try to get to where you can lift a 100-lb.
potato sack in each hand and hold your arms straight for more than a full minute.
After you feel confident at that level, put a potato in each of the
sacks, but be careful!
keep dreaming,
niza
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