Monday, June 23, 2008
His Eye Is On The Sparrow
Tonight after supper, the boys and I were outside. Keith left on his bike for a leadership meeting at church. Hannah woke up shortly after so I went in to get her bottle. At some point after that I looked out the window to check Josiah and didn't see him in the back yard. I looked out the front and he wasn't by the road, so I assumed he was just somewhere where I couldn't see him. I sat down to feed Hannah and when Logan came in I sent him out to look for Josiah. He couldn't find him. Then Caleb came in and I sent him to look. He couldn't find him. I was getting really concerned. By then Hannah was done so I asked Logan to "babysit" her and Caleb and I looked again. I went all through the house and yard and asked some neighbors who were in their yard. Now I was really worried. I called Keith and he said he'd come right away. I decided to take a little walk up the road (in the direction that Keith had gone, in case Josiah had followed him.) As I went up the hill I saw a man walking our way carrying a little person in a red t-shirt. Thank you, Jesus! When I got to them, it was a stranger and Josiah was whimpering. The man said Josiah was heading for the highway and he knew right away he was lost. He said he has a little guy about the same size. I asked if Josiah was crying and he said not until he picked him up. He thought he scared him a little. I said, "good!" He said Josiah pointed the way toward home. What relief! As I walked back with him, I was telling him how he could have been hit by a car or got lost. Through his sniffles he said, "I didn't!" He just doesn't get it. But I really hope it scared some sense into him!! That's why I have gray hair!
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Our Four Biggest Blessings
Caleb...
- got his cast off on Thursday. Everything seems fine, but he doesn’t have full range of motion yet.
- is quite happy to be finished with school for the summer. (It’s just the desk-work he’s not fond of…)
- said the other day that he wants to be a biologist when he grows up. That wouldn’t surprise me.
- got a microscope and had a lot of fun with it recently.
- had a major wipe-out on his bike last week, resulting in various wounds and a big bruise. I’ve instituted a “no jumping” policy for the time being!!
- had a virus last week with a high fever.
- could happily spend most of his time reading, riding bike, and playing with Lego.
- is changing from a little boy to a big boy.
- has a strong sense of “justice”.
Logan...
- is very fond of his little cousin, Alabama. They can play together for hours – mostly “house” or some other make-believe game.
- gets to be the ring-bearer for Auntie Rachel’s wedding. And Alabama is the flower girl.
- is almost definitely partially color-blind. We have eye appointments in a couple weeks.
- learned to ride bike without training wheels this spring, and has since graduated to an even bigger bike.
- still sucks his thumb. I’m in the market for that nasty-tasting stuff you can put on their fingernails or thumb.
- isn’t so fond of practicing piano right now. I’m trying to keep it light and fun for the summer, but still help him not forget everything he learned.
- is cheerful, enthusiastic, emotional (sometimes whiny) and dramatic.
- can often be heard singing as he does jobs or plays.
Josiah…
- learned to ride the little bike with training wheels in the last week or so. He’s so happy he can ride around the patio with his brothers!
- got a bug-bite on or behind his ear the other day and his ear got all swollen. He looked like a little monkey.
- can talk a blue streak now. But he’s still hard to understand sometimes.
- is starting to eat better. What a relief!!
-likes to communicate with whining and yelling. I keep hoping that consistent and patient correction will yield results!!
- tries to keep up with his big brothers.
- can pee in the potty almost whenever he tries - but doesn't tell me when he has to go.
- is “very two”.
- is stinkin’ cute!
Hannah…
- is five months old!
- could roll over both ways a few weeks ago, but isn’t doing it much now.
- is on a bottle now, but I’m still pumping some b.milk for her. She doesn’t seem to like soy formula or goat milk very much yet. So, feeding her is still a struggle, but not as bad as when I was nursing.
- was dedicated to the Lord this morning in church.
- seems to look quite a bit like my brother Matthew’s girls.
- doesn’t have much hair, but what she does have is strawberry blonde. And there’s a little tuft on the top of her had that sticks straight up most of the time.
- liked to “growl” last week.
- “found” her tongue today and started clicking it.
- is a sweet little huggable bundle!!
- got his cast off on Thursday. Everything seems fine, but he doesn’t have full range of motion yet.
- is quite happy to be finished with school for the summer. (It’s just the desk-work he’s not fond of…)
- said the other day that he wants to be a biologist when he grows up. That wouldn’t surprise me.
- got a microscope and had a lot of fun with it recently.
- had a major wipe-out on his bike last week, resulting in various wounds and a big bruise. I’ve instituted a “no jumping” policy for the time being!!
- had a virus last week with a high fever.
- could happily spend most of his time reading, riding bike, and playing with Lego.
- is changing from a little boy to a big boy.
- has a strong sense of “justice”.
Logan...
- is very fond of his little cousin, Alabama. They can play together for hours – mostly “house” or some other make-believe game.
- gets to be the ring-bearer for Auntie Rachel’s wedding. And Alabama is the flower girl.
- is almost definitely partially color-blind. We have eye appointments in a couple weeks.
- learned to ride bike without training wheels this spring, and has since graduated to an even bigger bike.
- still sucks his thumb. I’m in the market for that nasty-tasting stuff you can put on their fingernails or thumb.
- isn’t so fond of practicing piano right now. I’m trying to keep it light and fun for the summer, but still help him not forget everything he learned.
- is cheerful, enthusiastic, emotional (sometimes whiny) and dramatic.
- can often be heard singing as he does jobs or plays.
Josiah…
- learned to ride the little bike with training wheels in the last week or so. He’s so happy he can ride around the patio with his brothers!
- got a bug-bite on or behind his ear the other day and his ear got all swollen. He looked like a little monkey.
- can talk a blue streak now. But he’s still hard to understand sometimes.
- is starting to eat better. What a relief!!
-likes to communicate with whining and yelling. I keep hoping that consistent and patient correction will yield results!!
- tries to keep up with his big brothers.
- can pee in the potty almost whenever he tries - but doesn't tell me when he has to go.
- is “very two”.
- is stinkin’ cute!
Hannah…
- is five months old!
- could roll over both ways a few weeks ago, but isn’t doing it much now.
- is on a bottle now, but I’m still pumping some b.milk for her. She doesn’t seem to like soy formula or goat milk very much yet. So, feeding her is still a struggle, but not as bad as when I was nursing.
- was dedicated to the Lord this morning in church.
- seems to look quite a bit like my brother Matthew’s girls.
- doesn’t have much hair, but what she does have is strawberry blonde. And there’s a little tuft on the top of her had that sticks straight up most of the time.
- liked to “growl” last week.
- “found” her tongue today and started clicking it.
- is a sweet little huggable bundle!!
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
10 Years Together
I did say I’d tell you more about our anniversary, so here goes. It’s hard to believe we’ve been married 10 years. That’s ¼ of my life! Keith asked me awhile ago what I wanted to do for our anniversary. Well, since we still had a nursing baby, I knew it wouldn’t be anything big or far away. But I told Keith that in about a year and a half when Hannah’s old enough to leave for a bit, I want to go on a nice little trip to somewhere fun – like maybe New England in the Fall. Oooo, that sounds really nice!
So, for now, we stayed close to home. On our anniversary I made a special supper. I was planning for it to be really nice and then in the afternoon, I realized that Caleb’s cast was really moving – or rather, his arm was bending a lot – so I had to quickly take him in for a new cast. I thought that might trash my plans for a nice supper, but we managed. (Keith helped). At least we ate on china and had chocolate cake!
The next day, we had a really nice treat. My Dad gave us a coupon he had for one night at the executive suite at a local motel. (Dad had worked there last year.) The room was recently remodeled and was really nice. Glenda came about 2:30 to stay with the boys (Hannah went with us), and then Dad and Dru came a little while later and stayed overnight with them.
We checked in by about 3:00. I felt like I was in the city (until I looked outside!) . We napped, watched TV, went out for supper, sat in the hot tub, watched a really fun movie (National Treasure), played a game of Settlers, ate… You get the picture.
The only drawback was that it was on a Sat. night, so we couldn’t really sleep in. We had to get moving in order to make it to church on time, but it was still really nice and relaxing. A really nice little break from “normal” life!
Oh, and we got each other gifts. This is what I got:
Anyway, I’m thankful for my dear husband, and all the good memories of the last 10 years. It was good to celebrate together!
So, for now, we stayed close to home. On our anniversary I made a special supper. I was planning for it to be really nice and then in the afternoon, I realized that Caleb’s cast was really moving – or rather, his arm was bending a lot – so I had to quickly take him in for a new cast. I thought that might trash my plans for a nice supper, but we managed. (Keith helped). At least we ate on china and had chocolate cake!
The next day, we had a really nice treat. My Dad gave us a coupon he had for one night at the executive suite at a local motel. (Dad had worked there last year.) The room was recently remodeled and was really nice. Glenda came about 2:30 to stay with the boys (Hannah went with us), and then Dad and Dru came a little while later and stayed overnight with them.
We checked in by about 3:00. I felt like I was in the city (until I looked outside!) . We napped, watched TV, went out for supper, sat in the hot tub, watched a really fun movie (National Treasure), played a game of Settlers, ate… You get the picture.The only drawback was that it was on a Sat. night, so we couldn’t really sleep in. We had to get moving in order to make it to church on time, but it was still really nice and relaxing. A really nice little break from “normal” life!
Oh, and we got each other gifts. This is what I got:
This is what Keith got:
Anyway, I’m thankful for my dear husband, and all the good memories of the last 10 years. It was good to celebrate together!
Sunday, June 15, 2008
A Good Weekend, A Plan For This Week
It was a busy, but good weekend. Friday was officially our last day of school. In reality, we're going to continue a few things through the summer, but it will be some of the "fun" stuff and Logan's language arts. (Maybe he'll learn to read this summer!) I thought we should have some kind of celebration - so we went out to Subway for supper. Yay! I didn't have to cook! :-) Afterward, I went to the church to look through some garage-sale stuff from our school that closed. I got a microscope for the kids and the boys had a blast looking at stuff in it that night and Saturday.
Saturday morning I zipped over to the church where they were having our annual garage and bake-sale and bought some fresh donuts. Oh my goodness, were they ever good! After bringing the donuts home, I went back to the church to help clean up, etc. After that I did a few errands and hit another garage sale (all by myself!). I found a few really cute things for Hannah. It's so fun to buy girl clothes!
The rest of the day was busy with odd jobs, going shopping with Caleb and Logan for Father's Day presents, making pizza for supper, and making food for today. Dad and Dru stopped in for a bit to get Dad's Father's Day can of mixed nuts. I was Bone Weary when we went to bed!
Today in church Keith led a special time of blessing and prayer for all the fathers there. He had them all go to the front to be prayed for and it was really touching. Josiah and Anne Jisca came today to have baby Korban dedicated. Then they and Derek and Scotty (Elise was gone for the week, coming back tonight) came over for lunch. We had our traditional Father's Day strawberry pie and it was delicious! (Dog gone it, I over-ate!) :-(
In the evening we had our Father's Day ball-game and potluck. Unfortunately it was cold and rained part of the time. Anne Jisca and I got there just as it was starting to rain, so we just went to the church. I think the die-hards who played ball had a good time, and the food and fellowship was good.
So, that was the weekend. Now I'm looking ahead to this week. I was talking with Iris last week about the vacation they just had and I realized again that I'm a workaholic and hardly know how to relax. Sigh. But part of me just longs for some rest. We've been so busy for so long! Iris challenged me to take a few days at home and just have a "vacation". So, that is on my agenda for this week. Here's my plan:
* We're not doing any school this week at all - unless we feel like doing some reading.
* Tomorrow I'm going to work hard at a few projects that seem rather pressing:
- Wash windows and put up the rest of the screens.
- Wash and dry the laundry - folding is optional.
- Fertilize the trees that we planted last year.
- "Round-up" some weeds in the driveway, and grass around the trees if it isn't raining.
- Start catching up the budget, check-book, etc.
* For the rest of the week, I'll work on the budget for 20 minutes/day. (I'm really behind.)
* Here's the hard one: Tuesday and Wednesday are Vacation Days, with only the minimum amount of cooking and housework allowed. We're going to play games, visit people, go to the park and hopefully have some friends over for lunch. I'm going to read(!!!) and maybe even crotchet! Oh, and take naps! And blog. Now that I think about it, maybe we'll need Thursday for vacation too! I grabbed "The Atonement Child" and "Unspoken" by Francine Rivers from the church library tonight. :-) So, that's what I'm up to! Hopefully you'll hear from me in a day or two.
Saturday morning I zipped over to the church where they were having our annual garage and bake-sale and bought some fresh donuts. Oh my goodness, were they ever good! After bringing the donuts home, I went back to the church to help clean up, etc. After that I did a few errands and hit another garage sale (all by myself!). I found a few really cute things for Hannah. It's so fun to buy girl clothes!
The rest of the day was busy with odd jobs, going shopping with Caleb and Logan for Father's Day presents, making pizza for supper, and making food for today. Dad and Dru stopped in for a bit to get Dad's Father's Day can of mixed nuts. I was Bone Weary when we went to bed!
Today in church Keith led a special time of blessing and prayer for all the fathers there. He had them all go to the front to be prayed for and it was really touching. Josiah and Anne Jisca came today to have baby Korban dedicated. Then they and Derek and Scotty (Elise was gone for the week, coming back tonight) came over for lunch. We had our traditional Father's Day strawberry pie and it was delicious! (Dog gone it, I over-ate!) :-(
In the evening we had our Father's Day ball-game and potluck. Unfortunately it was cold and rained part of the time. Anne Jisca and I got there just as it was starting to rain, so we just went to the church. I think the die-hards who played ball had a good time, and the food and fellowship was good.
So, that was the weekend. Now I'm looking ahead to this week. I was talking with Iris last week about the vacation they just had and I realized again that I'm a workaholic and hardly know how to relax. Sigh. But part of me just longs for some rest. We've been so busy for so long! Iris challenged me to take a few days at home and just have a "vacation". So, that is on my agenda for this week. Here's my plan:
* We're not doing any school this week at all - unless we feel like doing some reading.
* Tomorrow I'm going to work hard at a few projects that seem rather pressing:
- Wash windows and put up the rest of the screens.
- Wash and dry the laundry - folding is optional.
- Fertilize the trees that we planted last year.
- "Round-up" some weeds in the driveway, and grass around the trees if it isn't raining.
- Start catching up the budget, check-book, etc.
* For the rest of the week, I'll work on the budget for 20 minutes/day. (I'm really behind.)
* Here's the hard one: Tuesday and Wednesday are Vacation Days, with only the minimum amount of cooking and housework allowed. We're going to play games, visit people, go to the park and hopefully have some friends over for lunch. I'm going to read(!!!) and maybe even crotchet! Oh, and take naps! And blog. Now that I think about it, maybe we'll need Thursday for vacation too! I grabbed "The Atonement Child" and "Unspoken" by Francine Rivers from the church library tonight. :-) So, that's what I'm up to! Hopefully you'll hear from me in a day or two.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
My Sister, My Friend
There’s a picture frame sitting on my desk that says, “You have always been my sister, but you’ve been an even greater friend.” There’s a picture in it of Rachel and me in the Canadian Rockies. The frame is actually broken, but I won’t throw it away because it was from Rachel and it expresses my heart so well. I’ve been so blessed to have a wonderful sister, a true kindred spirit.We’ve gone through many stages in life. When she was born and I was 10, she was a novelty – a novelty who threw up all the time. :-) I think I was scared to hold her because of it. I remember when she was around two, or even younger, I decided it would be fun to have her sleep with me (it turned out to not be all fun, since she wasn't completely potty-trained!) About 6 years later, I was ready to do anything to have my own room! At that time it meant moving upstairs to an unfinished bedroom with orange tarps and pink insulation for walls. Anything to have my own space away from that little sister!
But the older Rachel got, the more we connected and became best friends. I remember when she was so excited to wear my cast-off clothing – even when it was still too big for her. Then came the time when I accepted her old clothes. And now I get her to shop for me and get her opinions on clothes because she’s way more hip than me!
Here are some pictures in honor of my dear sis, and her "big" birthday today.
Three years old. Isn't she cute??
I think she's five on this picture.
When she was about twelve, we spent Christmas at the Holiday Inn in Goshen with some family. I told Rachel I'd give her five dollars if she jumped in the pool with her clothes on. Of course, she did it!
Thirteen years old!! With her friends, and Murphy, the dog.
Rachel came to see me when I was in Russia. It was so much fun to show her where I was and what I was doing!!
Of course, when I got married, she was my Maid of Honor. Made her so nervous she almost tossed her cookies! :-)
Rachel has always been a very good Auntie and my kids love her! This is her with Caleb.
Did I mention her brains? Here she is, making us all proud as the first one in the family to earn a bachelor's degree - and with "something cum laude". (Sorry, Rachel, I can't remember exactly which one.) Anyway, she did really well and I'm so proud of her.
I admire many things about you, Rachel: your quirky sense of humor, your ability to write, your passion for justice, your brains, your love for kids (mine especially!), your creativity, to name a few! You are one of my favorite people in the world to be with! You can make me laugh like crazy.
There are so many memories, good ones and hard times, and it’s so good to know that a sister is forever. Rachel, you are my very dear, sweet friend and I love you very much!
Happy 30th Birthday!!!
Remember Me?
I hardly know where to start. If only all the posts I've had in my head for the last few months, could have just written themselves... Anyway, I really need to feed the baby and go to bed, but here are some pictures to tide you over until I can write more. That is, if anyone is still reading this blog! If you are, can you leave me a comment to encourage me to post more? :-)
Iris and four of her kids spent a few days here a couple weeks ago. We had a wonderful, relaxing time. Wendy and her kids came for lunch one day. So that made, let's see, um, 12 kids - plus a neighbor. :-) Fun times!
All of the little munchkins except the babies.
I decided the other day that I have three favorite days of the year: Christmas Eve, Easter, and Going To The Greenhouse. Glenda went with me and it was so much fun to buy flowers and dream of summer. They're actually all planted now, and that was fun too!!
Iris and four of her kids spent a few days here a couple weeks ago. We had a wonderful, relaxing time. Wendy and her kids came for lunch one day. So that made, let's see, um, 12 kids - plus a neighbor. :-) Fun times!
All of the little munchkins except the babies.
I decided the other day that I have three favorite days of the year: Christmas Eve, Easter, and Going To The Greenhouse. Glenda went with me and it was so much fun to buy flowers and dream of summer. They're actually all planted now, and that was fun too!!
Olivia and Evan enjoying Hannah.
My sleepy-head with his morning watermelon.
Ready to get the cast off! (He wasn't so happy when they yanked the pins out. Several days later I still wanted to punch the Dr. in the nose!)
Logan, the drama king!
Yes, it's been ten years!! More details on that celebration later...
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