My Learning Curve: No Farmers Market for my Sensory Boy
They May be Dandelions…
Looming Deadlines
Helloooooo
Mimi Breaks the Block
“There’s Nothing to Eat”
Stop. Take Three Deep Breaths.
At the Mile High Airport
Topsy Turvy Monday
Dimples with her counselor as we said goodbye at camp
Dimples is off to camp. I went to bed last night with a heaviness in my chest and woke this morning feeling the same. I know this is a good decision for her and for all of us; it’s just feels so unnatural and foreign to me. Rather than dig deep into that right now, I’m going to distract myself by writing about something not quite so important.
Dimples is doing pretty well on vacation, but she has a hard time figuring out what to do. I’ve said it so many times, but I still have to remind myself, she is happiest with structure. Free-flowing days filled with sunshine do not bless her little heart. She wants to know what is coming next, which is a bit tough when what I want next is to hang out on the beach with the kids.
We were invited to stay in this lovely home for two weeks – two weeks – can you even imagine! We’ve never taken a two week vacation and I wasn’t quite sure we could pull it off, but Russ could bring his work with him, and much of what I needed to accomplish could be packed as well. With Whidbey Island only a six hour drive and a ferry ride from home, we knew the older kids could join us sometime during our stay. It was perfect.
Then we looked at each other and remembered our vacation last year; it was a huge challenge for our little girl.
…it doesn’t get much more pleasant than this.
See those people way out on the beach? Those are our children playing happily playing while we work. Don’t worry, we’ve spent hours with them today, but now I’m working on homeschool scheduling while Russ works on a report of some sort.
It was at least an hour past his bedtime when I finally tucked Eby in last night. He was exhausted. I stood on Little Man’s lower bunk and reached up to rub Eby’s back as I prayed for him. Just as I was about to give him a hug and kiss, he said, “Mommy, what is the person called before you get married?”
“You mean the person you are engaged to?”
“Yes,” he answered.
“That person is called your fiance.”
A familiar sight on our trips to Seattle.
My dear friend’s husband and daughter just left for Kenya. When Russ and my kids are out of the country, I have to work hard to stay happy and not worry, and I know it is the same for Kathleen. So I came up with a brilliant solution to keep her mind occupied and make the days fly by — I’m taking my youngest five to visit!
I’m heading to Seattle today with Honeybee, Dimples, Sunshine, Eby, and Little Man, where we’ll have two days of appointments, therapy for the girls on Wednesday and a full afternoon at Seattle Children’s on Thursday. Amazingly (and thankfully), Sweet Pea has a rare afternoon and evening off, so we’ll get some special time with her as well. I’m praying for a safe and easy drive, fun with friends, and answers to some questions at our appointments.
Sweet Pea and Ladybug Last Summer
Russ and I leave for Texas tomorrow. It is crazy hot there – yesterday when it was over 60 degrees here, I tried to imagine it more than 30 degrees hotter and I just couldn’t do it. That being said, the heat is a small price to pay for spending time with wonderful people in Texas.
Our purpose in going is to study at TCU with Karyn Purvis, David Cross, and other wonderful folks as our teachers.
I’ve had this photo in a folder waiting to post it since Easter and today seemed like the right time. I have three things to say about it. First, Honeybee was cold and wanted Samuel to keep her warm – she only looks miserable. Second, and more importantly, notice Eby’s bare upper body. It was Easter Sunday and as we came home from church I told everyone to keep their nice clothes on long enough for me to take a quick photo. Apparently I wasn’t quick enough and Eby ran upstairs to change. When he heard us calling everyone to the porch to take a photo, he came down wearing only underwear.
Thank you for all of your kind comments about my anniversary post. I would love to encourage more of you to write about the “story” of your marriage and share it as a comment, or write about it on your own blog and leave us a link in the comments. Marriage is a long journey and the vows we take of better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness or health, offer only a tiny glimpse of our futures. What does it really look like? What story is God going to write with our lives?
Thursday morning we told Little Man it was our anniversary, but he found it rather perplexing. He said, “So…you’re getting married again today?” No, we explained, we are celebrating the day we got married. We finally explained that it was a “wedding birthday” and that made all the sense in the world.
Little Man with a pencil behind his ear - just like Daddy.
Russ and Samuel got home from Kenya this afternoon, and Russ was asleep within an hour. I feel the weight of being in charge all day, every day, lifting off me. The children and I did pretty well in his absence, but we all missed him and the calming influence he has on our home.
I hope to write about their trip, which was absolutely wonderful, but for the moment I want to tell you about a dream Little Man shared with me this morning.
Mommy, can I tell you about my dream? It was a real dream, Mom. There was a big dragon and he was bad. He blew fire. He was next to our house and burned it. Our house was broken. But then Daddy came and killed the dragon with a sword! Then he fixed our house.
That’s the man we love. He protects us, makes us feel secure, and we are safe in his love.
More soon – especially if Russ keeps sleeping.
I couldn't resist sharing one more smile.
Lisa
The Mom Book
This week’s Tuesday Topic comes from me! My question is simple, but I would love to know,
How was your Mother’s Day? Were there any special surprises? For those of you with children from “hard places,” how did your kids navigate the day? Was there anything that made the day better or worse for them?
