This One's for the Girls

Easter Lillies

Here are my Easter lillies--  all scrubbed and ready to go.  It was below 30 degrees outside, but they all looked Spring fresh!  :)

Me and my girls

Dad and the boys

He is Risen!

Our Saturday

Maybe not exactly what Noel Piper had in mind-- but here's my feeble attempt in making a tomb out of playdough.  I used to have a paper mache' tomb that I made when my oldest children were small, but I lost it several moves ago...  Tomorrow the stone rolls away.

Easter baskets filled with goodies.

Baby Julianna's first egg hunt.  "Where egg?  Where egg?"  And yes, this was an indoor egg-hunt.  I guess we could have bundled everyone up in coats, hats and gloves, but no one was up for that this year.

Good Friday

The Wedding Planner

Yesterday Ava and I were reading in 2 Samuel about King David and the fact that when God told him  to move to Hebron, he of course had to take all of his wives with him.  Here is a snippet of the conversation that followed:

Ava:  How many wives did David have anyway?
Me:  I'm not sure.  Several, I know that.
Ava:  Oooooh, gross!
Me:  I know!  And what's more--his son Solomon had around 1,000 wives.  (We didn't get into the whole issue of concubines since Ava is like, 8.)
Ava:  Man!  [Silence]
Me:  What?
Ava:  Think about how many bridesmaids there were at all those weddings!

Sporadic Blogger

Cole's been so swamped with doctoral work this summer that he really didn't get a summer.  While the kids and I have spent many an afternoon at the pool or the library, he was either reading (some 3,000 pages) or writing (some 100 pages) in between all of the regular, standard duties of a pastor who has no other staff-members  but shepherds a church that could use two or three!   This last Wednesday over lunch, he looked at me and said, "Usually at the end of a class, I feel that release that comes with knowing it's over; but this time is different because my last seminar was all about how to BEGIN the dissertation.  I feel like I've been running on high for three months now and I need to turn it off but somehow I can't seem to do it.  I have nothing left to give this Sunday in the pulpit."

He thought that perhaps he needed to get away.

I told him that if he could find a preacher, I could book a hotel and pack the bags.  I really didn't think he would do it.  In our entire fifteen years together, we have never taken a "spur of the moment" weekend trip.  When you only get three Sundays a year to vacation with, you don't play fast and loose with 'em.   No, you don't.

So you can imagine how my jaw nearly fell to the floor when he called me an hour later from the office and said, "I've got a preacher."  I kicked it in high gear, booked a hotel  and packed the bags.  We headed out late Thursday night after band camp was over and arrived in the hometown of famous author Mark Twain sometime around 1am.

The next morning we headed out to explore all that Hannibal, Missouri has to offer.  We walked through the caves that Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn tromped around in.  We rode a riverboat down the Mississippi, saw Mark Twain's boyhood home and the home of his childhood sweetheart Laura Hawkins (aka Becky Thatcher.)  We ate a LOT of good food including catfish (Cole's favorite) and fudge (mine.)  Basically, I guess you could just say that we  mosied around and didn't get in a rush for an  three entire days.   Wonderful!

Surprisingly, the kids loved all the historical stuff--especially my older two who had both read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.   The cave was voted as coolest thing we did while the riverboat wasn't as fun as we had anticipated because of the heat and lack of breeze.  (Riverboats go sloooooowwwwww, in case you didn't know.)  We made it back to our town just in time for the church's annual back to school picnic.  Our only regret was that we couldn't stay "just one more day."

Today Cole has spent the entire day researching for the disseration in hopes of having a proposal to turn in by tomorrow.  I pray that he's having good success and and that he'll be encouraged by the time the library closes at 10pm.  In the meanwhile, I'm trying to enjoy the last three days of summer before school starts on Thursday.  I know I'll have a lot more peace and quiet once Thursday comes, but I always dread it a little.  I just love having them all at home with me, y'know?  Even when they're driving me nuts. 

So, if you've been wondering why I've been so sporadic on the blog--well, I'm just trying to eek what little bit of summer I have left with the kids.  I'd say that I'll be more consistent next week, but next week I'll be homeschooling a 2nd grader and entertaining Toilet Baby in between lessons.

But I'll still be around and eventually I'll find my groove with all of the fall activities and, well, you know... STUFF.

More later... 

A Boy and His Knife

He had been wishing for a pocket knife ever since his tenth birthday six months ago.  His older brother had gotten his first pocket knife on his tenth birthday and so Ty just assumed that this apparent rite of passage would be his to share in as well.  However, his mother wasn't aware of the special stigma attached to receiving a pocket knife for the tenth birthday and so although the boy received a  grand stache of gifts, a knife wasn't among them.

The question had come up between me and Ty several times over the past few months.  The conversation usually went something like this:

Ty: Mom, when do you think I'll be old enough for a pocket knife?
Mom:  Uh, well, Ty, I think you're probably old enough for one now.
Ty:  When do you think I'll get one, Mom?
Mom:  Oh, well, I think you can probably get one soon.  That sounds like a good Christmas gift if there ever was one.

And so it went.

Until two nights ago, as we were strolling past the sporting goods department in Wal-Mart and Ty asked his dad, "Dad, do you think I'm old enough for a pocket knife?" 

Cole stopped in mid-aisle somewhere between the Coleman coolers and the sleeping bags and said, "Michelle, do you mean to tell me that this boy didn't get a pocket knife for his tenth birthday?  Every boy should own his own pocket knife by the time he's ten!"

"Oh...well," I stammered, "I think that's a great idea."  We backed the cart up and started assessing the knife collection stored behind the glass case.  There were about one-hundred to choose from, (some looking very similar to the ones I had seen on the news during the O.J. Simpson trials;) but we finally settled on a small Winchester for $11.95.

It's 8:00pm and Ty has been whittling on the same stick all day long.   This kid's as happy as a clam.  At one point this afternoon, he even proudly showed me his first pocket-knife-inflicted-wound--his first battle scar.   

And so I agree--every ten year old boy should be the proud owner of his own pocket knife; but it took a dad to realize the importance of this.  I'm sure glad my husband's the kind of dad who knows about these things.

Life is good.

Date Night

What's your idea of a great date night?  Well, for  my husband and me, it could be a number of things;  but pizza at Buca De Beppo or burgers at Winstead's and a couple of hours to browse around Barnes & Noble are right at the top of the list. 

Except when you bring the kids along.  Then it suddenly becomes a fun family night out.    Yeah for fun family night out!

Except when the kids are bickering and fighting and acting like COMPLETE AND TOTAL PAGANS and your husband threatens not to feed them supper as you're ordering your burgers at Winstead's.  Then it's just a  family night out (not so fun.)

Except when the baby decides to dump an entire bag of Doritos on the floor as you're perusing the piano songbooks and sheet music and trying to decide which delightful book to purchase.    Then the night becomes a total wash.    The only thing that could have made it better would have been if my legally blind husband's contact lense would have fallen out as we were flying down I-35 at 70 mph.  Oh, wait, what am I talking about?  That happened tonight.

I think I had all of the family fun I can stand for one night.  Next time we're leaving the kids at home--I need a date night!

It's Summer, Baby!

 

Now That's a Good Question!

Last night as were were wrapping up family devotions, the kids started the nightly bedtime stall tactics coming up with some really good questions!  Here are a few.  Think about how you would have answered...

If the angels rebelled against God in Heaven, whose to say we won't once we get there?

What's the difference between Hell and the Lake of Fire?

Can you get married in Heaven?

What are the marks of a true Christian?

We were all huddled on the couches for another hour answering those questions--with the last question ending with everyone in the family sharing their personal testimony of salvation.  You KNOWI love the babies--but oh I love this stage of life where you get to have great conversations with your kids.

It's all good.