Supervised H

This is why I don't panic when others in the grocery store panic if H stands up in the shopping cart, he gives me way too much practice in not panicking... and, as can be clearly seen, I have bigger fish to fry...

But I definitely do not encourage it!

So much fun!

L and I had the most fun today surprising mom and dad with a surprise trip to Athens. Mom got the bigger surprise, we walked into the church to see her at her new desk. She was talking on the phone and her chin about hit the desk she was so shocked. She just kept shaking her head and covering her mouth in up most surprise. L sat in her lap, while she was still talking and said several times, "where's pop?" L couldn't quite figure out what was going on either, she didn't know where we were or what we were doing there. The kids and I had packed a care package for mom to be delivered to the church on her first day of work and I decided that I wanted to deliver it myself. We visited with mom for about an hour at the church while she worked, gave her lots of hugs and smiles and then went to meet dad for lunch. We had such a sweet time visiting. What an amazing treat to see dad on a regular Monday during lunch hour. He went with me to run a few errands and kept L very well occupied. I floated back home so happy to have spent the afternoon with my wonderful, amazing parents. It was awesome. Oh and Ek and H? H went home with Susanne and Ek went home with Christy. It was just too much fun. I just pray for my parents that the Lord will continue to show Himself big in their lives, because he is after all!

The picture speaks for itself

Ek has been sleeping in H's room for about 2 weeks. I do not think there is any big reason except that she likes too. Last night, J came down to report they were in the same bed, I begged him to go back up and take a picture, I'm so glad he did.

Just like Mommy

This winter Ek was very different to dress, ok really, she just got an opinion. sigh. She didn't want to wear as many dresses as she did and got to where she wanted to wear them less and less and then decided she didn't want to wear them at all. This made me quite sad because I loved her in dresses, they suited her! I wasn't quite sure what to do, I just didn't think she could cut out a whole category of clothes. Finally last week I got some insight. I was trying to help her pick out something for church, she only wanted to wear a skirt and shirt and I was trying to talk her into a dress, finally she said, "mommy, if I wear a dress, will you wear one?" ohhhhhh. so that's what is it about. She is paying very close attention these days. Last week we were shopping and I saw a dress, got to try it on. When I showed her the dress on me, she just gasped in delight. That's it, I thought. So I am trying and trying to find some fun skirt and shirt ideas for church, but its not easy. She is a very attentive little girl. I bought the dress and guess I need to wear them more if I want Ek to wear one. Today she wore a matching dress to L from last summer and they looked wonderful. I wore a skirt, I wore the new dress last night! At least now I know...

I can't help but mention tonight also what today is. Today is the day my college Lauren went to be with Jesus. It is a bit sad to think of her today. She was quite a treasure in my life for that brief bit of time. I thought of her this afternoon as my L was eating animal crackers like she hadn't eaten before and wasn't sure if I would ever buy her animal crackers again-- For some reason animal crackers were a big staple in Lauren and my freshman diet. They almost always make me think of her. I have not bought them in months for us and thought is was a bit ironic to be eating them today. It is also a bit ironic all the running I've been doing lately with hopes of the big Half Marathon Sunday but am thankful to be home with my recovering husband. I was thinking today how good a run would be and I think I'll go in the morning in honor of Lauren who had such a passion for running and even got to run with the Olympic torch in 1996 in Atlanta. But mostly I think I'll go, as soon as I'm done writing, and go grab my best friend's hands now, my J who is watching bball in the living room, sit Indian style and pray, with great thanksgiving aloud as L and I used to do so often during those sweet days of first walking with the Lord back in 1997. She was a sweet friend. Thankful.

On a much smaller scale

John and I walked downstairs several nights ago after tucking our children into bed giggling at God's sense of humor. We started back over their Bible Story book and read the Creation Story. That day had been our big spring break trip to Macon :) to make a new friend at the Build a Bear Workshop. We had a ball! We went with Ek's friend Caroline's brothers and her mom, my friend Christy. Ek came home with a new friend, Pelly the cat and H came home with Samson the dog. Really- for a boy whose face turns into 12 faces of fear at the sight of a dog, he sure loves to talk about one. And he has on a full football uniform. Pelly is completely girly with a sparkly dress, sparkly shoes, a pink headband and a cell phone. Yeah, I know. So we are reading that night about God creating the world and it was just too easy to talk about what we had done. We gave them a heart. And God gave us a heart to love him. We gave them a bath. Jesus has washed us clean from all our sins. We clothed them. Jesus clothes us in righteousness. We named them and now care for them. God created us and knows us by name and cares for us. It is always great to be able to teach them from their day and that day was way too easy. They are such a joy to be around and a joy to talk to. We had a great time with our friends! And Pelly and Samson are adjusting to life here pretty well.

Good Ride

I got 2 sweet moments on the way to school today, we're off to a good start...

H asked Ek if she had school today, she said "No H I'm on spring break, remember?" Then he asked her if she would come play with him on the playground today while he was a school. Now that is a sweet brother. The background is that Tuesday while I was at Bible study she stayed at church to play with Kardyn in the big kids nursery and got to play with H outside, I guess they had a great time!

Then Ek told me she wished she and H and L were triplets and all had the same birthday and got to be in the same class at school. Then she said she wished she could be sextuplets with H, L, Jack, Will George, and Kardyn. Whew I would be a busy mama!

Growing H

Today at the park, H looked different. I wonder if I will read this one day and see this glimpse of him... he was just walking around playing like he always does. He had on jeans and a polo shirt and his tennis shoes, his face was flushed from playing hard except that place over his right hear that stays white. There was a boy there that is in K4 at Trinity that we do not really know, Ek knew of him. He was a very daring little boy and I could almost hear the song, "Anything you can do I can do better, I can do anything better than you..." It wasn't that H was trying to outdo him, it was just that he was seeing if he could do all the boy could do. And he could, well except the monkey bars. H was just walking around with his shoulders high, his little arms bent at the elbows slightly and he was just joyful and strong. I looked over at a friends little boy who is L's age with his little wiffle ball and bat and his little crocs on and I could just see H there, that was him! So little and cute and now H is growing all the time and getting ready to be in K4. I gave H a big hug and asked him when he had grown so big! He just laughed and let me swing him around. He is a good boy, strong, smart and kind. He loves me and J, he loves his sisters, his grandparents and his friends. I have just been reading about David being a man of valor and I pray for my H that he will seek God and his will and that he will be patient to wait on God's call on his life, serving him all his days.

H two years ago and now

Ewww

Sunday at lunch the kids ate their lunch quickly and were looking forward to their icecream. Ek said in a pitiful voice with mashed potatoes and fried fish left on her plate, "I'm so fuuulllll." and after pausing for a moment said in her most cheerful voice, "Can I have some icecream?!" insert big smile. J told them whoever sat for 5 minutes quietly (while he ate) could have icecream. They did. And it was pretty quiet actually. We went and scooped 2 servings of orange sherbert for Ek and L, and Banana pudding for L, and bread pudding for me. There were no sprinkles. Well since they had added cucumbers to the salad bar after an Ek comment of regret that there were none, I thougth surely they would ablidge us with sprinkles. Miss Cathy went to retrieve some. While waiting J told Ek he would give her some of his peas for sprinkles. We all laughed. She said she would try some. While I was speaking to a friend, he gave her a few. Ewww. That was her thought too. She calmly with a disgusted face fed about 5 spoonfuls of orange sherbert with peas to J until they were all gone, just in time to sprinkle on as many rainbow colored sprinkles as she could. L even had some on her pudding. Hopefully next time she will just wait patiently for her sprinkles, for J's sake that is.

Praying L

Last night we were praying and I was holding L. We usually pray in H's room on the floor after our Bible story but this night we were all so tired and we had finished our book the night before and the kids were sleeping in the new closet (insert explanation here- nah, I'll just let you wonder), so we just huddled up and prayed, each taking a turn. We asked L if she wanted to pray and she bowed her little head and folded her little hands and I promise said, "thank you for the day..." then leaped out of my arms, threw herself on H's sleeping bag (and messed it up and H whined, hey it wasn't a perfect moment) and fell prostrate to pray in her little language. We only know when she's done when her head pops up and she is grinning from ear to ear, and so are we.

Super Saturday update

I wrote yesterday while kids were resting before heading to a family barbecue. J's aunt and uncle wanted to honor their son and his family before he gets deployed to Afghanistan for a year. Whew. I am so thankful to know a soldier like Hank, he is so determined and takes our protection so seriously, he is the kind of soldier we want over there. We were so grateful to gather to send him off. J's parents were there, J's cousin's sister and her family, and J's cousin's best friend and his family. Ok so this is where it gets soooo funny. The best friend's wife's name is Kathie. She is the vice chairman of the St. Patrick's committee and will be the chairman next year. She had been so busy all day and had so much to tell; we had the most fun listening and encouraging her to talk more and more. Her 2 children were with her, one being her daughter Sheila. At one point she refers to Sheila and Lucky within a sentence or 2. I said, "Wait a minute, are you telling me that Sheila was Lucky?!?" Kathie said yes. me, "So Sheila was Lucky at the Pancake supper, the race and the parade?!?" Kathie said yes, if it was Lucky, it was Sheila. I about fell out of my chair, I was so excited. Ek and H came in for a sip of water and I said, "Oh kids, you will not believe, Sheila (who was sprawled out of the couch, exhausted) was the one who was dressed up as Lucky!!!!!" They stared at me blankly. I tried to get more emotion out of them, but only got minimal responses. The suit was in the truck of the car. I was so excited. We take the kids out there when they are leaving, oh wait, did I say 'kids?' I mean Ek, H was scared. Yep that's right, he was scared to see a dress up costume that a 15 year old girl had been wearing. giggle. Ek was even a bit scared to see it. I asked her to try it on but she wouldn't even get withing 2 feet of it. Hi-larious. I just couldn't believe after all the Lucky talk of the past few days that here we had a behind the scenes tour that we didn't even pay for. It was a fabulous ending to the day. And a great day at that. Beautiful skies. Beautiful time together. Thank you God for health, for time, for freedom, for family.

This morning H hobbles downstairs and says his legs hurt. We can always hear him coming down the steps, usually not Ek, she is a bit more graceful, but you can hear every step of H and today it was even a bit louder. He was walking without really bending his knees. oops. Remember that part about not letting them stop? Well we didn't alright. Ek reported that hers hurt too, about a hour and a half later when she woke up. We gave them both some Tylenol and told them they were all stronger because of it. That meant next time they would run even faster because their legs were stronger. I told Ek she would be able to catch those boys even better. I didn't hear another word about sore legs. I already can't wait for next year.

Super Saturday

What a fun day! We began this morning with the 1 mile fun run and it was fun. Ek and H ran the entire mile, holding our hands and finished at about 11:30. I do confess they wanted to stop a few times, but we just cheered them on and they made it. It was so wonderful to hold their little hands while running. I just think that is what this life should be about right now!

Then I was off to my run, so sad that J was not running too. But he cheered me up by telling me they were going to chase me in the car and cheer me on. I saw them 3 times. It was awesome. I knew I would see them between 4 and 5 mile and I was just counting on it. I paused to give them all a high five and couldn't wait to see them at the finish line. It was a beautiful day for running, cool air, low humidity and beautiful blue sky. It was really a lot of fun. I finished just under an hour, which I was very pleased with, it is about my normal time and the course today was really hilly, so I was pleased. I even managed to get a picture with the winner, Susanne is such an awesome runner, she finished at 43 minutes, I was so proud of her.

The kids learned how to run silly from Pops, it is one of their favorite things to do right now. It makes us laugh.

After the race, we came come and made a quick turn around to the parade. Mopsey packed a picnic and we had a great time sitting on the curb and watching 90+ groups go by. The kids really seemed to enjoy it this year, I don't think any of the 3 missed a single group. Even L would sit on the curb and just watch them go by. She was also watching very closely for candy.

Another big interest has been Lucky the Leprechan. Our first spotting was at the pancake supper, then at Ek's school, then at the race and finally at the parade. H was horrified the first time but warmed up to him so much so that after the race today he said, "Lucky is going to be so happy to see me at the parade, he'll probably say, 'hi, H!'" But he wasn't quite brave enough to stand in front of him to have a picture taken, Ek was.

Also so wonderful that Pops decided this was their St. Patrick's Day tradition, he has been with us 3 straight years, mom 2 straight years, we love spending this day with them. They were great cheerleaders today.

Big baby L

It is amazing to me how much L is learning from her brother and sister. I won't mention pitching fits, oh wait, I just did. Today I saw her trying to get water in a glass vase from the refridge while standing on a little red chair, trying to unlock the door to the porch on a little red chair and trying to put on my headphones to listen to the ipod. She is a hoot. Another funny thing she is doing is when she is doing something naughty and realizes we see her, she says 'hi' to us in her sweet baby voice. She does it more often to J, but for instance she'll be opening a thing of soap or have some chapstick and she'll look right at you and grin and say, "Hi Daddy, Hi. Hi Daddy, Hi." I'm not sure what her intention is, but she knows she's wrong and I guess she just wants to make sure she is ok to be wrong. It will be very interesting to see this one grow up. (please note her slippers below...)

Beautiful day for pancakes

I think I did it today, I wore my kids out. After school we went to TCS soccer games, then came home and played next door and then were off to the pancake supper. They are tired. We were all dressed for spring and it felt like spring so we went for it. Ek had the most fun at the game, several friends were there for their older sibblings, they all played and played. Several friends brought treats for snacks to have during the game, I kept telling my kids 'no' and wondering why I was worried about spoiling their supper. L enjoyed the pancakes-- ok, really, it was the syrup-- the most but H cleaned his plate. H was confused as to when Pops was coming if we were having pancakes for supper. L managed to spill 3 drinks- 2 teas and 1 milk, we did not earn a parenting award for that one, I think she spilled all 3 in different ways too, I am sooooo thankful for sippy cups. J was just happy that he ate supper, he is improving. It was really fun to see friends out and about, sticky from dinner.

His joy, my strength

H, when given the chance to choose a song on the ipod, generally chooses Chris Tomlin's "Holy is the Lord." Today when we were listening to it at the breakfast counter he set his bagel down to sing with a lifted hand when the song says, "We stand and lift up our hands, for the joy of the Lord is our strength..." Oh it made me giggle. He sang along for a minute before picking back up his breakfast.
Last week we were listening to H's request and that line really struck me, "The joy of the Lord is our strength." I looked it up in the Bible and it is in Nehemiah right after the rebuilt the Temple and Ezra read them the law. They were very sad and Nehemiah was trying to encourage them. I have been pondering on this verse for several days wondering how God's joy can give us strength. I think that when I can have confidence that God, who knows all, can be joyful, then I can rest in my day, trusting that he is caring for me and all the circumstances around me in his great power with his great wisdom. Then today a friend quoted Jim Elliot on her blog, "Wherever you are, be there fully." I think when we can rest in God's provision then we can live in the day, knowing he knows all and will be there in our tomorrow. I think we can strengthen ourselves in the Lord as Daniel did in 1 Samuel 30, when we tell ourselves of the character of God and trust him in our day-- this not only brings strength, but also peace.
Thanks H, for your request.

St. Patrick's Day

I am thankful to live in a town that has a month long celebration centering around a missionary who was passionate about the Trinity. I would like to know the connection to little green men, luck and pots of gold. sigh. We Americans know how to get carried away. Anywho, I am looking forward to our three favorite events, the pancake supper, road race (and the order is right-- eat and several days later run) and the parade. My kids are learning, with continued effort, who Patrick was.
Ek missed her green party today due to an at least 1 and half hour coughing fit last night. When we picked H up from school, H and his teacher reported that they had prayed for Ek and Ek reported that God answered those prayers that she is much better. Hallelujah. Later in the day, H fell and hurt his arm, 5 bandaids later and it is just a little bit better, to Ek while riding in the car and straining to see her from his car seat across L, "Ek, will you pray for my arm, it is just getting a little bit better." Hallelujah.

Compassionate Little Brother

I was very pleased with H's response to Ek in the car tonight... She was playing with a piece of paper and got a paper cut on her lip, she was very upset, it hurt! Saturday night H busted his lip while in the jumpy thing- really its a pretty common occurrence for H to bust a lip. H was offering all kinds of suggestions, "Ek do you want some of Daddy's medicine, that helped my lip yesterday?" (anything in the past is 'yesterday' to H) Ek was very upset and didn't really receive his love well but he kept trying. My favorite was "Mommy, play 'we wish you a Merry Christmas' in Spanish, that will help Ek's lip, wouldn't it Ek?" Ek agreed that Feliz Navidad would help and thankfully I could find it and it did help tremendously. By the time we arrived at dance, it had stopped bleeding and she was fine. I was so pleased with H that he took his trial, learned from it and tried to help his sister though a similar trial... I think we all can learn from that!

Much better!

Whew! It has been a busy 2 days! My upstairs closet began like this...

But after reorganizing, throwing away, and giving away...

Dad put up these...

to make it look like this...

ahhh much better.

Mom was a huge help too, she played and played, even had her toe nails done!

I am so thankful for my parents I just couldn't possibly begin to say. They love us so well, not even including all that they do, but just in who they are. I am blessed.

Brave and not brave

Tonight we went out to some friends' farm for a benefit dinner for a girl who is going to Africa for a year as a missionary. We know her from the coffee shop and she has visited our church. On the way there we heard the expected question, "Do they have a dog or a cat?" Ek said "if they have a dog or a cat I will be brave." H said, "if they have a cat I will be brave, if they have a dog, I will not be brave." We got a kick out of that. They had neither, Ek asked their son. :)
When we got there we saw several friends cars, Corbin and the twins to name a few. They had a big jumpy thing blown up and Ek was 2 steps away when the boys ran up, "Hi Ek!!" and took off running, she didn't even flinch as she ran after them as fast as she could. I would have never, I mean never run after boys like that immediately upon entering a party, I thought she was a brave and fun! girl.
H got right in the jumpy thing and jumped and jumped. One of L's little friends, the twins younger brother was jumping and it was a bit rough for him. I was thinking how nice it was that L didn't want to get it, but it didn't last long. Then I decided to let her climb in herself hoping that would take her longer. She cried and cried until I put her in. She held her own quite well but I was glad when she was over it.
Later Corbin's daddy wanted to hold L. She let him but was so funny sitting in his arms. She didn't move a muscle and kept a very solemn face. All that moved were her little eyes keeping up with all of us. Tracy got a kick out of her and I was so glad L let him hold her a bit.
Ek and H were both very curious about a tree house. It had a rope swing and a zip line and a bamboo pole to slide down, neither could work up the courage to try it, that didn't bother me a bit. Ek told me when we got home she was too scared, I told her that was fine, she could try it when she wanted to.
J was very brave to bid on 2 silent auction items! And won both. I am on my way very soon to a facial and massage, ya-hoo! and he got some gift card to several eating places around town. All the money went to Melissa's fund.
What a great evening. We got to support a missionary, visit with friends and enjoy the kids enjoying the farm.

Outside afternoon

This afternoon I got the wagon out. Ek suggested a trip to the neighborhood pond. So away we went.

They threw rocks in the pond.

H was so in his element!

L is trying to decide if it is her element too.

I think she decided it wasn't... but loves the wagon, so much that...

she pulled it most of the way home with Ek and H on board, with help of course.

H's idea, not mine

H's preschool has a new pet rabbit. The director bought it at the church's yard sale this weekend. I get the idea that the teachers are not too excited about him. Today when H was loading in I asked him if he saw the bunny today. H said no and the teacher interjected that they are hoping someone will want to take the bunny home. I said I did not. H said he did. HA! I told him that he must first like to actually hold the bunny. He said he would pet it! I said I was thinking more in line of a goldfish. H said he doesn't like goldfish. "I don't like goldfish. I want an octopus. He can live in my bathtub." very interesting.

Wednesday afternoon bowling

Today I took my kids bowling. Yeah, that was kinda random. Wednesday afternoon bowling. We picked Ek up from school and met up there with Ek's friend Sophia and her little sister and mother. (Side note, at Moe's afterwards, H went up to Sophia's mom and said, "Can I sit with Sadie?" in his sweet shy voice, oh that just is too much) We had a great time, the kids laughed and it was just fun to be with them.
I listened to a sermon recommended by Kim last week that was talking about the difference between being childish and childlike. Childish, in my week later summary, is selfish and whiny. Childlike is trusting and dependent. Our goal is to be like the children, like Ek was on our travels, peaceful in the care of her father, in regards to our Heavenly Father. In the sermon though he talks about pursuing relationships with his kids, taking them out for late night donuts and searching for bugs with flashlights. That was extra encouragement to go bowling on Wednesday. I really want my kids to know I love to be with them, I love to play with them, watch them and hear them. Then hopefully they will listen to me too. Now I know I don't need to do big grand things with them to spend time with them, I just wanted to today. So we bowled.
I just finished a good long study of Esther. It was such a great call to seek God where He has you to live with boldness there, today. Now its the day after and that is always a bit of "now what God?" And I think the answer is the gospels with these thoughts: If Jesus said, "Follow me" where does that mean he went, you know- so I can go too. And If Jesus didn't ask us to do anything he didn't do, what did he do?- you know so I can do it too. By his power. To my neighbors which include a great husband, 3 really sweet children, an amazing family and a whole host of friends and a bunch of strangers. I think it has a lot to do with spending time with the right motive. Which is why I bowled today, just to spend time and love well, encourage, cheer, watch, laugh, high five.
So before I go read, a few more notes on bowling... because the camera was a home, along with my socks, ewww, I stopped off to Susanne's to borrow some. giggle. Bowling was a hit, or a ball, puns intended. Ek did great, with bumpers of course, but she and Sophia had just as much fun giggling, tap dancing, running around, doing cheers from cheer camp, pretending their pretzels were people and on and on in between turns. H loved bowling, he was a bit almost nervous to be with all girls, we usually have a boy around for him, he asked several times for Jack and Ben to come, and they couldn't come but he bowled very well, loved watching the pins fall (we had to remind the girls to look back to see theirs fall), and toward the end he bowled a lot of my balls as well. His daddy would have been proud. How did I do? very well actually, oh wait, we did have bumpers... never mind. L didn't seem to feel all that well, she kept sneezing and massive amount of snock (thank you Ek) would go everywhere, sorry- maybe too graphic. Then we were on to Moe's and home for small group. Ek and H are busy talking in H's room, maybe they will be asleep here pretty soon. I know I'll be.

Reflections in the mirror

Today after Bible study H and L and I headed to the park for lunch with friends on this beautiful day. There was a huge crowd of us there, maybe 8 moms and a large group of beautiful playful happy children. Again, the bit hit was a wagon, I've got to get mine out! L thinks she is so big and had a ball, climbing the stairs, riding in the wagon, reporting to me to get another grape, greeting all the babies, she smiled and smiled. H had a great day too, his biggest fun, other than riding in the wagon with L was going down the big tunnel slide and under Kardyn's legs at the bottom. OH- after L had ridden in the wagon for like 20 minutes she got out and tried to pull 2 of H's friends in the wagon, they giggle and giggled as she tried to pull them, then one hopped out and pulled while she "pushed." hilarious. So after we played and played we got into the car and I was hoping to get L and H started on their nap on the way to get Ek. L had other ideas. I have turned my rear view mirror down to see the kids, ok to spy on them, H bugs L so much I need to keep a watchful eye. So they began by mostly giggling at each other, I'm not sure if either knew why. Then they practiced their pretend whining. I know its pretend because periodically they break out in giggles before returning to whining. sigh. Do they really need practice? Then they returned to all giggling at each other. Then L would stick her barefoot over to H for H to tickle. Then more pretend whining. Then the real whining began, so I pulled over and gave L her ba and duck. H tried very hard to be still and quiet according to my prompting and L feel asleep. ahhh. While L was falling asleep H was kinda grimacing, I was watching him really closely to make sure I hadn't hurt his feelings while "prompting" him to be quiet! He finally caught my eye and I smiled at him. We smiled back and forth until he broke out into a giggle. I looked away to keep his giggling quiet and when I looked back he was working hard to make his fingers into a sign language "I love you." Oh, that melted my heart. I love that little guy.

Toe nails and Rocking chairs

My girls seem to be enjoying this hint of warm weather...

Saturday was one of the first days of flip-flops, Ek's request is not something I would think to hear from a 5 year old!-- "Mommy, lets go to the mall and get our toe nails done." Oh goodness. We didn't but I wish I would have loaded her up right there on the spot and taken her for a pedicure. I guess I could have just gotten out a bottle of toe nail polish too. Ok, next time I'll be more prepared to hear such a statement!

Yesterday evening I was cleaning up the kitchen from dinner, the kids were in and out the front door playing, L noticed someone was missing, she went to the bedroom and found J in the closet, "mm-on Daddy," and took his hand to take him to the porch, she showed him to a rocking chair, patted it and said, "Sit!" He did, I think his heart melted a bit too. She knows how to enjoy a breezy warm Sunday evening!

Wait

Last week while I was praying for my Dad, the Lord impressed Psalm 27 upon me. And I do mean impressed, I was so impressed by God in that Psalm and given great courage to wait and see what our great God is going to do in our lives. I especially loved the last line, "Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!" My heart wanted to shout back, "Ok God we will, we will wait!" So today while listening to the sermon at church I was so excited to hear this exact line again! And I love when God expands his teaching! "Wait for" in the opening line means in the Hebrew, "To bind together by twisting, to collect, to be gathered together, to be joined, to meet, to lie in wait for someone, to expect, to await, to look for patiently, to wait, to hope, to be confident, to trust, etc." (that is from the Greek-Hebrew Key Word Study Bible) So here is my pondering thought. There are times in the Bible where we see waiting like Ek waits for me to pick her up from school, she knows I'm coming, she waits patiently, expectantly. I think of this as we await Christ to come back down through the clouds, we're watching, some days more patient than others, but expectant. There are also times when we wait like H, repeating his request over and over and over, and did I mention over and over? That boy has some amazing focus. I think of the widow who went to the judge with her request over and over. But I think in this verse I like to think of how L waits for her meals. pause to giggle. She waits on my hip. She watches my every move, she knows exactly what I am doing, she only gets impatient when I put her down because she can't see the progress anymore. So I think tonight as "I wait for the Lord" to heal J, to bring breakthroughs to Dad and Mom, to see fruit of my labor in my kids, to see Him come through the clouds... I know I can wait in his strength when I wait bound together with Him, like this defination suggests... waiting in His Word, in prayer, in worship... wanting to believe I will grow impatient when I climb away and lose sight of who He is-- His goodness and His love-- and what He is doing. I guess I have always viewed waiting like Ek waiting on me to pick her up-- she can't see me until I am there, but she knows I'm coming. Now I am thinking I can wait on the Lord with the Lord-- with him, watching him, listening to him. I think that is a much nicer place to be. I guess I will also think differently of my throbbing arm while I fix dinner with L on my hip, she just thinks it is a good place to wait, and I guess it is.

H's family portrait

Last night J was not feeling well so Ek set out to make him feel better, she drew him a picture of a blue sky, yellow sunshine, green grass and she and J with "I luve you." Precious, adorable, so sweet. H wanted to make one too. So I encouraged him to start with green grass and blue sky. Then he added the sunshine. Then it was bedtime. all done. Tonight he was ready for people. He made a circle with eyes and a smile, actually the first was more of a frown. He practiced several times and then he was ready for a family portrait.


That would be from left to right, H, L, Ek, me, J. Ok so I did me, but that was all, he was asking for help and so I showed him how I could make me. He did himself first and then made he and I to hold hands. L is the pink on "playing on our arms." Then J is a bit bigger than me and then Ek was on our arms too. I suggested after it was just he and me to put an "H"over him and a "M" over me, well that turned into putting and H over all of us, that seemed to be very important. I am very proud of him, nothing like learning something new. He was very pleased with himself. This really opens up the coloring world, what will tomorrow bring?! Way to go H!

Soccer afternoon

Today was so beautiful, sunny and warm! Ek said she was sure glad it was now summer. tee-hee. As we pulled up to Trinity to pick up Ek, I had my cell phone in my lap hoping to find friends to join us at the park, but we didn't have to make a call-- Cat and kids were there on the soccer field. I pulled over and asked if we could join them, and we did. It was so fun to watch the kids in an open field with a bunch of balls. The kids stuck to their appropriate partners as usual. Ek and Kardyn mostly ran, I don't know how much I actually saw Ek touch a ball, except maybe to look them over. H and Will ran with balls all over the field, they also lined them up and took inventory. H was very concerned that the babies kept the smallest ones and did not want anyone else to play with those. At one point though, H and Will came flying down the field toward the goal while dribbling the ball to shoot a goal, they are both quite the ball players. Maddy was adorable, she is so interested in the soccer ball, she is barely walking and yet was managing to tap the ball around with her feet. L was somewhat interested in the balls today, she wanted to make sure Maddy had one, but mostly she talked on my phone and gave hugs to Maddy and tried to keep up with the bigger ones at times. She was dressed in a sweet white dress with purple butterflies and she acted like it! And was quite distressed to see the condition of her black sunday shoes when we were leaving the field. giggle. Ek and Kardyn did race full sprint from goal to goal, Kardyn beat Ek pretty well and I think EK is pretty fast, Kardyn's stride is huge, she is going to be an awesome athlete. They had fun watching the big girls practice too, they were mesmerized at times. No pictures of the afternoon, hope this painted it though.

"Grandparents Day"

I am soooooo grateful for my children's grandparents. They are sooooooo blessed to have them who love them so dearly. The care for them, play with them, provide for them, act silly with them, pray for them and discipline them, well occasionally. I am also grateful that my kids do not need "Grandparent's Day" to see their grandparents but it is a very nice excuse to invite them to school for a song, a take home craft and a snack, with lots of smiles in between and mixed around. H had a very nice first Grandparents Day although he ended very tired. It was fun to see him at his school, hear kind words from his teacher and see what he likes to do on the playground, of first priority was playing on the 'pirate ship.' Afterward we headed to Brian's subs because he did not want vegetables at Blue Plate, but I did tell him I'm choosing next time. ;)

L may not look like she is enjoying the slide in this pic but she is--- I couldn't get a picture at the bottom when she is in full grin running to go down again.

Cuse me, cuse me

All of my kids love to talk on the phone, L is no exception. I usually call mom after dropping Ek off in the morning to check in. H usually begs to talk to her. L has been taking notes. This morning after I dropped H off, while I was talking to mom she said, "Cuse me, Cuse me! I onna tak." Oh gracious, time is moving way too quickly! She is going to be asking for her own cell phone before I know it.

Weekend in review: the trip home

One day we will want to remember the details of our trip home, especially Ek. So we were supposed to fly our of DFW at 5:30. Mom calls to say we should probably check the weather for snow. What? It was 70 when we left on Friday and I almost didn't bring jackets. But true, it was snowing in Atlanta. For some reason, known only by God, our flight was the only one that afternoon from DFW to Atlanta that wasn't canceled. We kept watching it be pushed back, from 5:30 to 6:15, from 6:15 to 7:30, from 7:30 to 10:30, from 10:30 to 11:10, from 11:10 to 1:30. I was really pretty shocked when we got on the plane actually. So Kim, Wayne and Brennan kept us company until about 9. We left the airport to get dinner and then played right outside security. This is when they were watching their paper airplanes that Wayne had made them.We didn't really see a need to rush through to sit on the other side when we could sit with them, but maybe we should have. We were sitting like 20 yards away from the security checkpoint when it closed. How strange. and how strange that we didn't even see it happening, I guess the girls were that entertaining to us! So we had to go to another terminal and go through security before it closed, very exciting, a ride up a huge escalator which always brings big smiles (and was a detail she has already told H about), and ride on the skylink, a huge highlight for Ek. When we got to the gate, Ek and I cozied up on the floor with our bags as pillows and read some books before falling asleep. Then we got up, zombie walked over to the plane, took off and fell asleep again, Ek sprawled over our laps. Then we arrived in Atlanta silently walking to get luggage and find mom's car covered in snow. Ek was so excited to see the snow until she felt how cold it was, I was going to get a picture of her with some really pretty snow covering some flowers, but it was way way to cold. She slept again all the way to Dublin, took a bath and went to school. What an amazing trooper she was. I couldn't help but think of spiritual application. She was in J and my care, so she just kept on doing as she should, playing, reading, eating, laughing, smiling-- while we took her where she needed to go. She asked questions, she made requests, but she always trusted and always believed we were caring for her. Yeah, I can learn from that. Oh and I'm so grateful to be home, even if it took all night, I was so happy to see H and L and mom and dad, change my clothes and I can't wait to sleep in my bed. Home sweet home.

Weekend in review: Overwhelmed

Sunday morning we went back to our beloved TBC. It was so wonderful to be there, to see faces we love and to hear music and teaching we loved. When we were in the Brindley's class I just started to tear up. I got to thinking about what those 4 years meant in our life, now that they are hindsight. They were so hard, we were so far from home, we worked so hard, there were so many life things that were built into us while we were there, how to be married, how to know God for ourselves, how to love those are us, how to love ourselves, how to love our babies. I guess I can see a bit more now of the amazing impact those years were. The time with especially the Brindleys and the Ranslebens and how well they loved us, how patient they were to just watch us slowly grow. I guess I just see now the fruit of their labor in us and I just couldn't help but well up a bit. Not to mention to sit in the class where I first brought Ek to church and to be with the people that loved her and watched me get ready for H. It was a hard place to walk away from and yet because of the time there I can. I know we are where we need to be. I know we are here now for the relationships that are here. And I'm really glad I've got the people in my home that stayed the same! And I'm so glad that God keeps making ways to see those out there in the Lone Star state that we do count family. I am so grateful to that those wonderful Texans keep a place for us in their lives as well. Ahhh, good weekend.

Weekend in review: Ek

This weekend we went to Texas for J to go to a continuing ed meeting, ek and I tagged along for fellowship. We thought it would be a nice time to give get undivided attention and for her to see her birth town. She was quite pleased with the idea. We had a wonderful time traveling there. I can't remember the last time I was able to give her all my attention for hours on end. We played cards, colored and talked. I love spending time with her, she is delightful. When we got into Temple and pulled onto our old street, Kim asked her if anything looked familiar, "nope." That's ok, it sure did to us. But when we got into Kim's house, Kim said to her, "do you want to go back to Brennan's room and play?" and she took off in the right direction, so I guess there is some memory there. She and the girls had a wonderful time. She and Brennan played hours of babies, legos, games, the just had a ball. We were able to see good friends on Saturday and just rejoiced over the happenings of our lives and the greatness of God. Sunday we went to church and it was a bit overwhelming to me to be back in a place so full of good memories (that's another blog...), Ek is so big now! She sat so still and quiet and begged to go to class, where she knew no one, to be with other kids. Sunday evening our travel home was not quite what we expected (look for that upcoming blog too...), and Ek was am amazing trooper, no whining or complaining, she was just along for what came next. She was anxious to get on the plane and so playful and fun. She and Brennan had a ball flying paper airplanes and playing with balls made from a sock. Ahhh the simple things. It is wonderful to see 2 girls who can just find ways to play in a room full of toys and in an airport terminal. Ek slept along the way when we told her to which included an airport floor, an airplane sprawled across me and J's laps and in the car. When we got home at 8 this morning she was so ready to go to school. I tried to convince her to stay home and watch cartoons, play and snuggle, but she wanted to go, she didn't want to miss Spanish, "We learn something new every day mom!" So she went and said she had a great day. I think the trip was probably a nice vacation for her too, from her everyday life, no sharing, no getting along. She is just a delightful girl and I'm so glad we took her.