Samut Saring Ceylon - Homeschool Blogger

A few more photos before we go

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 16:32:00 -0600

Allow us to share with you with some of the photos of rural Sri Lanka during our stay as we also say goodbye to this country which has been our home for four years...

Logging off now as we embarked on a new journey...

Jose Rizal in Ceylon

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 06:28:00 -0600

We managed to sneak in a bit of Philippine history in our round of errands today.

In between stops, we visited Grand Oriental Hotel near the Fort. We have been there before and we want to visit it again before we leave Sri Lanka.

Why is it so significant?

Between 1882-1896, a physician and a man of letters visited Ceylon four times. To our family, he was beyond ordinary, a man distinguished and known to all Filipinos and even internationally. A linguist, scientist, scholar, writer and a believer of peace. But what really is close to our heart is how he felt about this city, Colombo. Like him, we have landed in this warm and green and friendly city 4 times (2005-2008) and we have enjoyed every bit of our stay. This may be our last chance to see this historical landmark so I took the privilege of freezing the moment.

The man is Jose Rizal, our national hero and here is his landmark here in old Ceylon..

One funny incident here happened when I adjusted my camera lens and accidentally directed it to the port in front of this building. The armed soldiers blew their warning signals. goose bumps almost jumped out of me! It is prohibited to take any photos here save for this building for security reasons. I find it undauntingly crazy at times... it happens almost anywhere here that is why we never got a photo of the beautiful town hall of Colombo.

Anyway, we feel proud to visit a landmark kept and preserved in his name in this old hotel at the very heart of this city.

The Way Back to the Lowlands

Sat, 20 Dec 2008 11:25:00 -0600

I was able to take a few more photos on our trip down to Colombo, my batteries died out early for not having been charged the night before, a lesson that I never seem to learn he he.

But we met up with two families at Haputale and their boys joined us in our trip. It was fun fun fun.

View from Haputale.

Mountainside. The drop was incredible.

The highway

More magnificent views of the land.

Refreshments at a village store.

The ride home by van took us 5 hours.

Ah! Cold yet Sunny Nuwera Eliya..

Sat, 20 Dec 2008 08:17:00 -0600

Words are not enough so may the images suffice..

Reaching Nanu-Oya

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:11:00 -0600

After eight long hours of awesome views and interesting scenery, we start to feel tiresome but we wish it could have been a longer trip..

Vibrant Bea felt so cold she had to wrap herself like a Tamil tea plucker.

Until we caught sight of Fernando (guy in white shirt) at Nanu Oya station. Notice the grey van on the right? That is our ride.

So this was where the train fully stopped and where we got off.

We've made it! Fuzzy took this photo - you might be wondering where he was.

Notice how Sri Lankans are so fond of kids? Lil Ruffin is used to this attention.

Tired but happy!

Ooh la la!

Bye train, bye Nanu Oya!

Nuwera Eliya, here we come!!

We are so thankful God has kept us safe through the trip. It was such a marvelous and unforgettable experience.

Train ride to the Hill Country - People and More Stops

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:00:00 -0600

More interesting photos of train stops and people along the rail.

Rozelle stop.

Town market

Trishaw brothers.

Home bound

Hatton Station.

Yesteryears.

Smiling children waving at us..

Grass gatherer.

Around a bend comes a surprise... we were trying to see how far this van could go within our sight.

Poof! It was gone in a second.

In every tunnel, people aboard tranforms into hooting and howling creatures...

At another station which name escapes me for now.

Grandpa and child.

A 3-legged concrete crossing the river.

Easy walking.

Gathering wood.

The Great Western Station

Tea plucker on barefoot.

More tea pluckers. The train is going faster now I couldn't keep my focus steady.

Most tea pluckers are women because of their light and graceful touch in harvesting two leaves and a bud.

Continued.

Train ride to the Hill Country - Mountains and Tea Estates

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:21:00 -0600

Here are photos of the mountains and tea estates that took our breathe away as we approach Nano Oya, our final stop and where we get off. I am not much of photographer but I hope it captured everything we wish to freeze in our memories.

Evergreens show that we have reached a high altitude.

Sri Lanka has black bears and leopards prowling in the woods.

Still going higher..

Clean, cold crisp mountain spring

The jungle gets thicker.

My soul is bare in the eyes of God...

A land of hundreds of waterfalls and springs.

Mountain cottage overwhelmed by weeds.

This one looks more maintained.

Slowly trudging on, like we do through life..

I have seen many tea estates from a car... It gets a little different and more exciting from a slow moving train...

Outback roads to tea estates.

Tea factory.

Ihalawatala

Half-inheritance?

"... I see the mountain grandeur. They Power throughout the universe displayed."

And waterfalls to admire.

A tree of fire.

Rock solid.

From afar.

And another angle.

Clean. cool water.

And we never got tired of beautiful rolling hills of tea.

Housing for tea workers.

Probably a supervisor's home.

It is untiringly beautiful.

Continued..

Train ride to the Hill Country - Free and Frenzy

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:15:00 -0600

This is not your bullet-speed-spaceship-looking-top-of-the-line-mean-and-chugging machine but we like it. It is a slow yet comfortable and reliable train with lots of space. First, there was no crowd which we often see on jam-packed city metros when life and limb would dangle out of the door. Well, we did some dangling, too... the happy way =), you will see...

But first I want to show you how the aisle looks like.

Yet the seats were all taken.

With lots of leg room. If only the economy airfare has this!

Lil Ruffin had her longest nap since struck with the moving stress.

We had a ball taking each other's photos outside the train in motion.

Don't do this kids without your parent's supervision!

View is much better out here.

Actually others are more daring

I took the picture of another train going the opposite direction.

That did it. Kids saw and here they are!

Monkey see, monkey do!

Hmmm, not too nice passengers were we. So I better shift the topic.

Continued..

Train ride to the Hill Country - Uphill Climb

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:01:00 -0600

No sooner than we expected it, the train started to go more slowly and we wondered why. A cool breeze blew in the wide windows. That's when we realized that we were crawling uphill. The scenery gave way to a more diverse and interesting sight.

The Uphill climb

Rice terraces remind me of Banaue.

The ascent to Kandy by car, as seen from the train.

It is fun when track and road race. A provincial lorry trying to beat us.

First stop, Peredeniya. Remember the Royal Botanical Garden?

Dozing Fuzzy

A village fruit stand

Gathering leaves

Boy with a kite

Train stations are old but efficient.

Looming dark clouds in the mountains seem to threaten our day. An almost invisible kite dares a challenge.

Men replacing old wooden rail base. Notice the white fresh concrete?

Another stop - "thambili" in Sinhalese is king coconut. Must be a place of abundance?

Villagers await the trains arrival.

Wake up, Fuzzy! You are missing lots.

A family waiting for their ride at Ulapane.

Upland rice paddy.

Buddhist flags enliven the road to a temple.

Nawalapitiya.

Washing clothes by the river.

Time drifted by.

Continued

Train ride to the Hill Country - The Lowlands

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 09:51:00 -0600

We promised ourselves this momentous train ride from Colombo to Nuwera Eliya. A must-see for tourists and locals alike as they say. Six tickets, one for each of us and a friend, four days before we bid our farewell, took us to an 8-hour slow but pleasant ride to hill country of Nuwera Eliya.

A momentous 8 hour trip of our lives!

Such madness! You might say. Four days to your flight and you are still sight seeing, after four long years of you stay?

Why do we really want to take this journey amidst the chaos of our move? We hardly had sleep these days and there are suitcases to fill up, yet I will tell you why.

We learned to love this country, its turmoil and tranquility, to gloriously bask in its simplicity and elaborate beauty, to love its tea estates, national parks, bird sanctuaries, waterfalls, hills, rivers and wewas. We love its sun, sand and salty air. We are fascinated with their people, both Tamil and Sinhalese, each unique identity and ethnicity, of how graceful their loops of writing are and how melodious the sound of their words, their cricket matches amidst bomb threats, for their love of Bollywood which infected and humoured us. We love their sarees, sarongs and shalwars, their hoppers: string, egg, plain; their tea: loose leaf or in bags, their cinnamon sticks, coriander and curry leaf, all spices in abundance. We will miss Odel, Thiangra, Cotton Collection, Sen Sal, Blue Water, Mango Tree, Nihon Bashi, 888 or Curry Bowl, or just riding around in a trishaw. We will never get over the freakiness of finding out how elephant dung paper came to be and how monitor lizards can excite street traffic for no driver would think of of a roadkill. We will miss the haunting call of kingfishers, perky noisy squawks of parakeets and soulful songs of the Ko-el. Nor the morning squirrels skittering their way to my kitchen window for breakfast scraps. We will miss our Cinnamon Garden Baptist Church family, cell group, youth and all. For here we found friends (the Raneys, the Hallocks, Plan and more) who are more a family than just friends. aaaah, Ceylon... we hope to touch your shores again.

Just maybe, a train ride closes a chapter of our lives... but in our hearts, we know we will never get enough or will ever get enough of this tiny island, a tear pearl tucked away under the threatening tsunamis of the Indian Ocean, yet it will with hope arise someday to shine!

Ride with us and see what this trip has in store for you... I hope it will amaze you as much as it did us.

Of 200+ photos we have taken, here are some 120 of 'em...

The Lowlands

Can't miss a dogoba.. even among paddy and bananas..

"Doesn't it get any better than bananas and coconuts?"

Kingfisher on pole

Sarong on track

To market. to market.. to buy a big Coke?

We are approaching the hills!

Continued..

They came, they packed

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 06:47:00 -0600

.. they loaded them in a container van and drove away.

A dark cloud seems to shroud our feelings but we perceive a bright sun behind it, a silver lining. It is sad to see our things go even if we know we will still get them once we are in Cairo.. or we may not. But the heavy feeling of having already abandoned the place somehow made us feel that... as if we already have left the country, friends and all, though we still have some few days left.

Last few days...

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 06:43:00 -0600

To just maintain some level of normalcy in our remaining days here which is actually becoming more chaotic each day, we have found time to take some hours lightly and fun by being more creative.

Fuzzy has finally taken up the camera which is usually Vibrant Bea's default mode and got some shots of a fly catcher perched on the mango tree. This is by the way rarely sighted in Colombo and more common in the dry region of the Central Province. I saw a male flycatcher once in it's rare season of having a graceful long colorful tail in Bundala on our first year of our stay. I never got a chance of capturing it's beautiful flight with my lens.

Here is the best shot. I feel like it is going to be a long time before we get to see our next flycatcher.

And to keep the two busy, we bought some crafts from Pakistani brethren who sought asylum in this country because of religious persecution. The children thought it nice to add glitter in these wall hangers. And it did added some color.

And it made sorting and packing a little bit merrier for us all.

Whew! Movers will come in tomorrow to stash our earthly possessions away in bubble wrap, paper, carton boxes and loads of tape... let us see how it will go.

The Lil Ruffin fun

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 07:38:00 -0600

Let me just share some photos of how Lil Ruffin takes the changes in our lives in a stride. She makes it light and easy amidst it all. She just "constructed" her own reading desk. She dons her own costume - a long bib worn frontside back for a cape, VB's headband for a head gear, a helmet, of course, a shiny belt with another of VB's headband as a gizmo, and calls herself a superhero. A playful child.

So to ease the pressure and break the ice, enjoy!

The older kids had fun too spending the afternoon with their homeschooling friends. They decorated gingerbread cookies with glitter candies, chocolate bits and mints. How sweet of them to bring their goodies home to share with the family. And they were yummy!

Well, I must say, inspite of all chaos, it is still a productive day for all of us.

A Taste of Tea

Tue, 9 Dec 2008 08:34:00 -0600

A samowar.

We are avid tea drinkers (and coffee drinkers, too!). But for many years, we have been buying our supply from the most expensive department store in town, Odel and the most widely distributed brand, Dilmah. Compared to other tea brands, this one doesn't come cheap so I still drink other black tea brands which are as good. Dilmah though offers a wide variety of tea concoctions, infusions, flavours and such, and the packaging is simply brilliant and hip (I will show you some photos when we open the boxes at home). We have tried the many flavoured ones and voted for vanilla, black currant, mint as few of our favorites. Vibrant Bea loves caramel tea. My preference is green tea and cinnamon yet I prefer a stronger cinnamon taste so I still add a small bark of cinnamon from the stick. I usually take 2-3 cups of this a day. I also love to steep Earl Grey loose leaf which I take with cream and stevia.

Today, after going around the city, we also decided to go directly to Dilmah in the hope of buying 1-2 boxes, we will be given a good price. So, for the first time in our stay here, we visited them. I brought the camera with me but ooops!... NO CAMS allowed so I just took my frustration and snap shots of this lovely samowar instead, which the manager says is fine. It is sitting in his office. He entertained us in a lovely showroom where we can find all variety Dilmah can offer. The options are plenty and I hope I can buy one of each kind but there were just too many. They have black tea, flavoured tea, organics, green tea, rooibos, infusions, decaf, tea mainly for the Russian taste, tea from the higher lands and lower lands.

We learned that tea harvested from higher altitude is milder and has a lighter hue than tea harvested in the lowlands which are spicier and has a darker color. Hmm.. We also caught glimpse of some lab tests going on which I have no clue what was it about - as there are secrets of the trade. As for tea, I prefer both dark or mild depending on the occasion.

And there is also the most expensive tea which I hope to taste someday. It is called the silver tip or white tea which is harvested only before dawn breaks. These buds are the freshest and youngest of the tips. It has a silvery color. These are handled so carefully and brought to the plant right away after harvest.

In spite of the lack of photos, the quick tea tour turned out well after all. Especially when they let each of us a hot cupful of our choice. Aaah...calmness and warmth.

_________________________

The photo above is a samowar. A traditional tea-kettle or tea-maker of Russian-Turkish origin. Here is how it is used in preparing tea.Want to see more photos of different kinds of samowar? Click here.

Streets of Colombo

Tue, 9 Dec 2008 07:29:00 -0600

We have been plying the streets of Colombo lately attempting to have a last minute round of things we would like to do, see or buy while our day of departure draws near. We did not do much of the bookish stuff lately but we did find the streets an interesting topic on hand, a wonderful opportunity to observe the local setting in the city of Colombo.

Have a glimpse of some of what our lens captured.

It is a little bit blurry from the van window. Carts still thrive on the streets.

Triwheelers waiting for fare.

More triwheelers.

The Fort. The Main Train Station.

King of the Road.

Graceful Sinhala never fails to fascinate me.

If not for the loopy writings, flag and lack of crowd, this skyway looks more like in Metro Manila.

Catching the next ride.

An old building erected during the Portuguese time.

A view of Marine Drive from the Global Tower. The Indian Ocean from the west. I took this picture when we checked a service apartment we might occupy prior to our flight. It was around 4pm and yet the streets still look empty this side of town.

Century- old houses like these are still everywhere.

Beached. Off Marine Drive.

Beating the tropical heat. Marine Drive Beach.

These photos were taken in just one day.

Our First Swim Meet

Wed, 6 Dec 2006 08:25:00 -0600

Right after our lunch of curries and rice at Jenita's place, we had an hour of rest at home tempted to slumber after all that good food but we have to go out again in an hour. Off we went to the kid's first swimming meet at NCC at 2:30pm. Hmm, we didn't know how they would fare in this since they skipped their classes last week due to the chorus of tasks related to our move and of course, the heavy feeling of lunch still resting in our tummies. Kids look ready though. Just to break-in for these events for the first time, they joined the 25m of freestyle, breast stroke and back stroke.

Here are some photos:

We see a lot of room for improvement for them. Fuzzy needs to work on his dive and stroke.Vibrant Bea has to avoid watching other swimmers as she swims as this habit slows her down. As for Lil Ruffin, she will work wonders if she holds that wonder and enthusiasm she has now.

Their progress partly lies on their consistency with attendance and practice as Julian Bolling, the coach, puts it. For me though, it is more of a whole-hearted participation with the sport. They have to enjoy and embrace it to excel. They should recognize that their health, energy and ability to learn how to swim is a gift, a gift from God. The ever-patient and friendly instructors are very helpful in motivating them to attain better than what they already can. The children have been attending Rainbow Swimming Academy for more than 2 years and we will surely miss them all, staff and pool.

Best Sri Lankan lunch ever!

Sat, 6 Dec 2008 08:19:00 -0600

Our friend Jenita is the sweetest. She would always bring us fruit and veggies from her trips to provinces. On several occasions, she brought manioc which I baked into cassava cake.

Today, she invited us for lunch in her home. In the four years of my stay here in Sri Lanka, I would say this is definitely the best Sri Lankan lunch that I ever had, the DH and my kids agreed. Well, others may not especially the locals. The chili is a lot less so the dishes are not too spicy, just enough to tease your palate. BUT it does cater to my palate.. and the kids' too.

In many buffet dinners, I seldom visit the table laden with Sri Lankan dishes. My taste buds are just too sensitive and couldn't distinguish the meats of curries because to me they all taste too spicy and hot. But this is just my honest opinion, I am not a gourmet, maybe for that reason I couldn't tell the difference. Nor do I intend to undermine the lovely Sri Lankan dishes I have grown a bit familiar with. BUT, this lunch Jenita prepared is very different and made me appreciate the local dishes more. Just excellent!

Before we were served, we also had the privilege of watching her cook home-made egg hoppers (bittara apa) and plain hoppers. I never thought it to be so easy. If you want to know how it is done, the recipe of egg hoppers is here. Other recipes of Sri Lankan dishes are here.

We always try to buy our egg hoppers and naan from Curry Bowl eatery and love it just the same but nothing beats anything cooked from scratch which I always attempt to do in my own kitchen at least as often as I could. We love egg hoppers with sambol.

As a local tradition, we were served tambili juice or the refreshing water from the king coconut when we arrived. For lunch, there was an array of beautiful tasty curries. First, we had lovely garden salad and cheese. We had caju, prawn, chicken, bread fruit as main dishes. Sambol came with the hoppers. We had pitthu, red rice and white basmati rice. Papaya and bananas were for desert. It was a marvelous afternoon of delightful gastronomic experience.

2 Weeks Before We Move

Fri, 5 Dec 2008 07:15:00 -0600

Continued from yesterday..

About.com says this is the most stressful period and I could not agree more. Well, it is probably the reason why I started searching the web about moving and realizing I should have started 6 weeks ago to run this smoothly.. And as they say here, "what to do?"

So here goes the remaining weeks.

2 weeks before we move

The checklist includes:

__disposal of all chemical stored in the house. In my cabinets, I have insect spray which I almost never used at all, ant powder for these pests are just everywhere year in and out, wax for cleaning and mostly cleansers for the toilet and kitchen. I will be disposing the ant powder and insect spray soon. As for the cleaning agents, I prefer to keep them until the last day as I love to keep the bathrooms squeaky clean and odor-free.

__ start eating everything in the pantry and fridge. Now, this is quite a struggle as my husband keeps buying food and we keep eating out these days due to the many meetings and errands, we get caught on the road while running errands and have to eat out. People here are afraid of starvation! Ha!

__ continue packing. I am still sorting and not really packing yet. The shipper would come next week with all their paraphernalia and that is when serious packing begins ;-).

_________

Today, we had our read-alouds, biblical worldview and writing exercises. Hmm, I am not quite happy with our distraction these days but then, who says that moving is such a cinch?

Packing and Moving from Week 8...ideally

Thu, 4 Dec 2008 08:01:00 -0600

We have done this before. Oh yes, we have. But now that the time has come for us to leave and relocate again, I must say it IS as stressful and a bit chaotic as the first. On our first move outside the Philippines, we were utterly clueless as to how things should go. I should say it didn't turn out the way I wanted. A lot of the hard bound books got dented, a huge cross stitch project I made broke and some of the kiddie stuff went missing during the transport of our stuff. But I couldn't complain since most of our stuff arrived safely so we didn't bother anymore with the loss. Besides, that wasn't my priority then. My goal was just to pack what I can and fly off according to plan and get settled as soon as we can. Why? When we had Lil Ruffin, our youngest baby, she spent two weeks in the hospital (a week in NICU and another in a private room). We lined up for check-ups waiting for the doctor's clean bill of health so she can travel. She was just 2 months old when we landed on Sri Lankan soil. We prioritized her needs then because our trip relied heavily on how she would recover. Then, we had the older kids attend an international school for awhile so I can give more time for Lil Ruffin. I was completely nursing her.

Hmmm. Now that she has grown healthy except for some allergies, I am sure she can easily cope with the coming move. So, I think.. just hopefully think, it will run more smoothly. I should know better now, too. Do I, really? I have in my mind to check how things should be done before shipper Creasy comes on the 17th. So I googled and thus, learned that there are to-do-lists for every period of weeks prior to relocation, starting with 8 weeks prior to departure! "Ayooo!" As Sri Lankan would say in their own heavy accent when faced with a big challenge..

To-do lists before moving again (based on About.com's Before you Start to Pack...)

8 weeks before we move - Aha! Reality check, we have only 18 days before we leave Sri Lanka to fly to Singapore, 21 days before flying from Singapore to Manila, and 15 days before the final transfer to Cairo from Manila. We have a total of 44 days before we reach Cairo, just 6 weeks and there are trips to two countries in-between . Tsk, tsk! I realized I should have checked in google a lot earlier. Nonetheless, I will try what I can to make an inventory. Here are the tasks, among many others, that need immediate attention.

Conducting a Household Inventory and Packing List.

Collecting and Sorting Records.

Change of address checklist. In our case, this will include friends and family who regular via snail mail. As for utilities, the cut off of the internet service is at the end of the month since we have paid for the house until 18th of January. The telephone, water and electric services will contnue as stated in our contract and the owner will pay for the bill for January.

6 weeks before we move I think it is close to impossible to look for health professionals now. Through word of mouth, we just learned who the good doctors are through other expats who have been here longer. I expect the same would happen when we get to Cairo, so I need not worry yet about this.

And since we use email as our way of keeping in touch with family and friends I have few who has to be informed of our shift via postal snail.

Right now, I am half way to cleaning all our closets except for the bookshelves in the study. That one will take a long and hard work. I have two boxes filling up labeled to keep pile and giveaway pile. Later, I would decide which ones to give away here and the ones to give out in the Philippines.

As for the financial providers, the DH, being in the microfinance field, would definitely manage that. These include our bank savings and credit cards.

A big relief about this move is that all our stuff will be sealed in one big container. My husband's new employer would take care of the shipping. Yet, I still feel the need to make an inventory. I do not want to be caught unprepared in case something goes missing.

4 weeks before we move

I have a few things in mind that go under this list. The things is - I have just started!

__Have the internet connection cut.

__Pay phone and internet bills for the month of December.

__Pay electric and water bills.

__Finalize which items go to Cairo container, to Singapore and Philippines. This is tricky since we have to leave some of our baggage at the Changgi airport storage for a fee during our three-days tay in Singapore. We have to make items that we need to bring in like clothes including gifts to friends in Singapore will not be in this baggage.

__Start finding new homes for our plants. How they will be transported.

__ Keep packing!

All these on top of lessons still to be learned at the homeschool front.

To be continued tomorrow. Two weeks before we move.

Psalm 91 Friends

Wed, 3 Dec 2008 11:32:00 -0600

A special family came over for dinner tonight. We would like to spend a bit more time with them because over the few years since we met them in church, our children and theirs have become good friends. And I found a very good friend in Carol, the mom of this lovely family. I have been immensely encouraged by her stories, her experience and her love for the Lord. What started as a simple playgroup for our kids turned out to be one of the most meaningful friendships I ever have. Our meetings are scarce but well-spent for it is always for me a refreshing, exhorting and definitely encouraging time. I am not a very sociable person and so is my husband. We have very few friends yet we feel blessed that the ones God provided for us here in Colombo while we were away from home are really for a lifetime to keep. They are our family away from home.

I remember during our first year here in Colombo, we have been attending a church for many months yet I have not developed meaningful friendships and felt very isolated. I have prayed for a friend and God gave us this family with whom we share so many things in common, I believe. It didn't take long for me to consider them a part of us. They homeschool, too. And from the many stories we have shared about parenting, discipleship, faith and spiritual growth, about many things.. I learned so much from them. I praise our God in His goodness gave us not just friends but more like a family. They took my children in when I had to go through surgery. God has shown us His goodness and love through this family, the Raneys. Paul, Carolyn, Caleb and Micah, may our paths cross again someday through God's Providence.

They gave us a song.. a beautiful one. A prayer. Psalm 91.

We utter the same for them.

On Eagle's Wings by Michael Joncas

On Eagles Wings

Written by Michael Joncas

Isaiah 40:31

"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run,

and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint."

You who dwell in the shelter of the Lord,

Who abide in His shadow for life,

Say to the Lord, "My Refuge,

My Rock in Whom I trust."

Refrain

And He will raise you up on eagle's wings,

Bear you on the breath of dawn,

Make you to shine like the sun,

And hold you in the palm of His Hand.

The snare of the fowler will never capture you,

And famine will bring you no fear;

Under His Wings your refuge,

His faithfulness your shield.

Refrain

And He will raise you up on eagle's wings,

Bear you on the breath of dawn,

Make you to shine like the sun,

And hold you in the palm of His Hand.

You need not fear the terror of the night,

Nor the arrow that flies by day,

Though thousands fall about you,

Near you it shall not come.

Refrain

And He will raise you up on eagle's wings,

Bear you on the breath of dawn,

Make you to shine like the sun,

And hold you in the palm of His Hand.

For to His angels He's given a command,

To guard you in all of your ways,

Upon their hands they will bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

Refrain

And He will raise you up on eagle's wings,

Bear you on the breath of dawn,

Make you to shine like the sun,

And hold you in the palm of His Hand.

21 days before we leave Sri Lanka.