Catch Up

Work has been nuts lately.  I've been wiped out at home.  Which means I haven't been able to sit down alone (alone being the operative term here) and blog.  So here is a catch up on nearly a month's worth of summer memories.

Sam's last game of his first soccer season!  He loved soccer and we are excited he's found a sport he has fun playing.  I think the point of the game really sunk in toward the end of the season when he had a few super good games, great passing and teamwork.  My Sam is just a free spirit, fun loving kind of boy, so while some of his teammates (especially the girls, for some reason) were all in, game-faced, aggressive and highly competitive; Sam was mostly cracking jokes, making silly faces, laughing and having fun. That's my boy!

Then Lena had her first ballet recital!  The auditorium/hall was huge and packed full of people - we had no idea if she would freeze up there on stage or clown around or what.  But our girl was on spot, danced the choreography, smiled and was the sweetest thing.  She loved everything from the (required) makeup to the costume to the recital itself and keeps asking when ballet will start up again. :)

 

Then it was her last day of preschool.  Lena really flourished in school.  She made lots of friends, was kind and smart and made us so proud at every conference we went to.  Her teachers were awesome and she is very excited to go back next year with her friends.  Her birthday falls just before the cutoff for kindergarten, so she really could go to the big school this fall.  But we felt that she would benefit more from another year of preschool before sending her onto kindergarten. I hope that was the right decision...how do you ever really know for sure?

I brought Lena to work with me one day (because Rich went with Sam to the kindergarten pool day and Lena was jealous:) She was so good at work that I actually was able to get a lot done.  As her reward, she played in the fountains right outside my office before we headed home. 

Next was Sam's field day/last day of school, for which I was able to volunteer. So I spent the whole day with my boy and all his friends playing games, laughing, eating snow cones, singing happy birthday to all the kids who didn't have a birthday during the school year. Sam amazed Rich and I with how much he learned this year, how quickly he learned it, how easily some things came to him and how he persevered at those that didn't.  And we were surprised and awed by his mad artistic skills, about which his teacher (who is the best) spoke to us several times.  We couldn't be more proud.

We are in love with our new town.  We happened onto a street fair one Friday evening when we headed downtown for a bite to eat and had such a lovely time.  It was a very Normal Rockwell night.  Love those unplanned perfect times.

Then Sam cut Lena's beautiful long golden hair one weekend morning while Rich and I were attempting to sleep in until 8:30.  How dare we, right?  So in addition to him being grounded (which has happened to them both a couple of times already this summer), I had to cut the rest for her and even it up without hacking it into a pixie.  There were a few strands that were shorter than I cut, but I couldn't make myself cut anymore.  It could have been much worse...but still...grrrrr...

We've enjoyed some tickets through my office lately.  The first set was for a Columbus Crew game, which was awesome! The game was exciting and fun and, best of all, we won!

Memorial Day...went to visit Nan and Papa's grave and Grandpa and Uncle John's graves.  It was a lovely day, the kids asked a lot questions and we shared memories about these amazing people.

My husband has been in high woodworking gear this summer.  He's been making birdhouses to sell, which are adorable and functional, and he fixed up the second rocking chair I pulled from someone's trash.  He's so talented...one of the too-many-to-count reasons I love this man of mine.

Rainy day artistry. :)

The second set of tickets we got from my office were to a Clippers game.  And this time we had enough for the whole family to join us, which luckily they were all available to do!  Such a good time.

Rich's birthday lunch at Longhorn.

Hanging with Miles on our back porch.

Family bike ride pit stop.

The kids and I have been volunteering with WARM on Thursdays to help serve free lunches to kids who usually get them during the school year.  We've made some good friends and had lots of fun.  This day a firetruck stopped by for a tour and the kids loved it!

Rich set up the GIANT tent Mom and Dad won at a silent auction at last year's Relay for Life.  We kept it in the backyard all weekend and the kids and their neighborhood friends had a blast!

This week Mom took Lori, the boys, me and the kids to the zoo. What a fun day!  It was a little rainy, but we had fun, laughed, ate, the kids pet a snake and some sea creatures, and had up close and personal experiences with a bear and a gorilla.

And today Rich built these for the kids.  I swear, he's so awesome.  I ran to the thrift store and found two old duvet covers, which I cut and draped over Rich's freshly made amazing tent frames, and voila...tepees!  Tepees that are easy to take down and fold up and store in the corner of the garage.  Double score for Daddy!  



Lots of fun summer memories made so far.  I'm so grateful for each one...and can't wait for more!

Enlightenment in a Podcast

My baby girl had her first dance recital this weekend. This is also my Sammy's last week of kindergarten.  And I'll share those photos and chronicle my raving-reeling-mommy emotions about all that very soon (those 6 of you who read can rest easy).

 

But today there is something else I need to share.

 

A month or two ago I discovered podcasts.  (Yes.  I realize I'm a bit late to the game on this one, but hey, I'd rather read a good book than play on my phone, so I blame...books.  Yeah.  Let's go with that.) 

 

Some work day mornings while I'm getting ready, I catch up on podcast sermons from two former pastors of mine, Derik Hines and Ryan Gear.  They have both moved out of state, and I have missed them and their crazy awesome preaching and teaching skills so very much in the years since.  

 

These men have different preaching styles, both of which are effective because, at their cores, they both seek and preach the truth, they respect doubts and questions, they guide and teach God's word with wisdom and strength of faith and honesty and humor and intellect and gentleness and love. 

 

These two are disciples covered in the dust of their Rabbi. 

 

This morning I listened to a sermon Ryan gave called What Does the Bible Really Teach about Slavery and Sexuality?  It is such a necessary message that took courage and conviction to preach, because it's a polarizing subject in so many of our lives and our families and within ourselves. 

 

It may not change your mind.  It may piss you off.  It may open your mind.  It may close it.  It may make you look at the Bible and Christianity in a whole new light. But whatever it may or may not do, please give it a chance to do something....and listen to it.  

 

I think his message conveys wisdom.  It takes these verses that Christians quote when referring to homosexuality and shines a contextual light on them in a very scholarly and thoughtful way. 

 

It's enlightening. 

 

I have never viewed homosexuality as a sin.  Through the years I have read these same passages in the Bible and have been challenged and confounded by them, not able to figure out what they are doing there or how to make them fit into my faith in Jesus' love.  But I continued to try because how can I be expected to explain and defend my faith if I just ignore the parts I don't like?  

 

So I read them again.  And again.  The images they invoke to me are ones of depravity, of pedophiles and degradation and the very depths of perversion and wickedness.  No where was the love between two women or two men addressed.  Just various lewd sexual and other nasty human behaviors. 

 

And people, that's not what being gay is. 

 

It's just two normal blokes falling in love and wanting to make a life together.  Just the same as the rest of us. 

 

I had in mind to write a much more expansive post about this, quoting verses and different interpretations, that Jesus never mentions homosexuality, that certain verses say slavery is ok but being gay is not, that we can (thank god) dismiss the Bible's slavery edicts in today's society without (much) debate but so many continue to hold onto the homosexual verses...

 

But Ryan writes it much better, with much sounder and scholarly authority than I could ever muster.  So go to his blog and read what he has to say.  There's wisdom and love and honest genuine faith to be found there. 

One of Those Days

I had one of those very special days with the kids yesterday.  One of those days that, as a mother who so often struggles under the heavy weight of repetition that makes up such a large part of motherhood...well...it was one of those days that I needed to have.  One of those days from which I'll draw strength and energy and endurance and love when I'm feeling worn down and at the end of my rope with the kids.

One of those days that reminds me why, day after day after day, I continue to pick up the same toys, wash the same dishes, read the same books, fold the same laundry, sing the same songs, vacuum the same floors, play the same games, scrub the same toilets.

(...Hmmm...sounds like I'd be a much happier mother if cleaning weren't a constant part of motherhood.)

Yesterday was an awesome day full of new adventures and fun and sunshine and smiles and laughs and hugs.

I need to make a concerted effort to have more of those days.  Though I'm convinced that it's the moments we try to plan and make perfect and have grand expectations for that always end up covered in vomit or mucus or are overthrown by tantrums or weather or some other perfectly-planned-day-ruiner.

Spontaneity ruled the day yesterday and it was simple and purely joyful.  And I thanked God all day long for filling back up my mommy tank. 

While Lena was in school, Sam and I had our adventure.  We finished his homework at the park (I thought how he sounded out and spelled his answers was so sweet).

Played with a new friend at the playground.

Then headed to Creekside for a fossil finding expedition.

(Yep, his other front tooth is hanging on by a thread. Look how it's all twisted sideways. But he won't let us touch it.  He's so stubborn...wonder where he gets that?)

 

 

We found some cool shells by the water's edge and discovered this giant fossil-covered rock on a walk through the woods.  We spent a long time digging in some rocks, which paid off when Sam found his very own fossil! He was so excited and I was very proud of his patience and persistence. 

I'll miss my one-on-one time with my sweet boy when he starts first grade this fall.  He's growing up too fast. 

 

While Sam was at school in the afternoon, Lena and I set out on our own adventure.  We tried Boyer Nature Preserve right by our house, but it was pretty overgrown and deserted and we both quickly decided it was creepy...guess that's the difference between a nature preserve and a park.  Lesson learned.

So we headed just down the road to Inniswood, which was perfect for us two girls!  Beautiful flowers, gardens, shady spots with benches for resting Lena's tired little legs, wide paths for us to hike down...this is definitely our preferred way to experience nature. :)

She loved this little girl statue and played with it and some of her dollies, which she had packed in her Tinkerbell backpack, for quite awhile.  When she's not Moody McMoodertons, she can be so sweet...

We did a little fossil digging on the paths and found some cool, super smooth stones.   

She was getting tired here.  It was nearly 90 yesterday around the time we were there, though it didn't feel uncomfortable.  But it was also nearing her rest time and I think she'd had enough exploring for one afternoon. 

To keep her going until we could pick up Sam from school, I drove through the Dairy Queen and got her a strawberry Orange Julius (some of which she saved for Sammy).  That, and the ruby "gem" she pried off a plastic crown and stuck to her sweaty forehead, infused her with enough energy to make it home before she passed out. 

They both napped (and I may have laid down for a few minutes myself) when we got home, which is a sure sign of a day well spent...and a mommy tank all filled up!