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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

It's Been a While...

...since I've gone this long without a blog post.

It's been a while...
...since I've felt this busy.

It's been a while...
...since I've been--and stayed--this exhausted.

It's been a while...
...since I've taken a picture of my oldest and youngest sons together.

Today, as I contemplated all that I need to do to keep this ship of my life afloat, the word "overwhelmed" kept coming to my head time after time.  And then I felt the gentle voice of God speak softly, comfortingly to my soul.  "Don't be overwhelmed by all the things of this world and all the things you feel you must do.  Be overwhelmed by Me."

As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.
~ Mark 9:15 ~

Saturday, August 27, 2011

All It Took

All it took was remembering how, more than four years ago, David wore the same outfit to watch his big brother Josiah play soccer as Shav wore today to watch his big brother David play soccer.  Suddenly, the wheels of time started spinning in a crazy direction.  Simultaneously fast and slow - how do they do that?  My sentimentality was enhanced, I'm sure, by the realization that now, I was sitting on the sidelines, watching one of my sons play ball while my other three sons were nearby...and a new little one grew inside me.  One of the joys of hand-me-down clothes (besides the obvious benefit of saving money!) is the instant flashbacks afforded me as my young ones wear clothes their older brothers once wore.  :)

********

All it took was the song "Be Thou Near to Me" by the group Selah coming on the radio, as we drove home from David's soccer game this morning, to take me back to the emotional days of early September 2008.  On the last day of August of that year, Josiah had an incident in a swimming pool that could have led to him drowning (story is here, here, and here); and my heart was torn like an old rag as I dealt with the possibility of losing my firstborn son.  That song became a source of peace and assurance to me, as I processed the thoughts and feelings of that traumatic moment.

I hadn't heard it for a long time; but today, suddenly, there it was.  And just as suddenly, I was back in that year...when Josiah was only six years old...and he had almost died...and my mind seized up with fear over and over that September as I replayed the scary moments...and my spirit fought to find peace.

"Be Thou Near to Me" helped me win that fight almost three years ago.  Is it any wonder that I get a little misty when I hear it?

Friday, August 26, 2011

Few Words...but a Picture of Love

In Ecclesiastes 5:2, we are given the warning to "let your words be few."  I'm going to heed that advice and take my weary self off to bed momentarily.  But first, I'll simply mention that I'm grateful for love shared by a grandma and her grandsons.
Having Jeff's mom here with us has reminded me of the series of posts that I wrote last fall about my relationship with her through the years.  If you're curious about how things are between us, here's the story:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six
Part Seven

Thursday, August 25, 2011

In So Many Ways, We're Back!

You know when I mentioned keeping the computer off for a few days?  I didn't include the important tidbit of information that my blogging break was due to a trip to California for Jeff and I to attend a conference in Garden Grove.  I didn't think the whole wide world (well, the infinitesimally minuscule fraction of the world that stops by my blog) needed to know that we would be gone.  Neither did they need to know that Jeff's mom would be here, taking care of our boys while we were away.  Some things are better told after the fact.  ;-)

But now, we're back.  Back at home.  Back with our beloved boys.  Back to living our "ordinary" life.
  


Even more significantly, we're back in a different way.  Back to our spiritual roots.  Back to our sold-out, hair-on-fire commitment to Christ.  Back to our go anywhere, do anything, give up everything way of life.  Back to our first love.

And I never want to leave this mountaintop of faith again.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Encore!

Shav doesn't let anything...
...not lack of height, lack of ability, or lack of knowledge...
 ...keep him from making a joyful noise...errr...making music.  That's it!  Music!
Bravo, maestro!  Encore!  Encore!

The crowd goes wild...

Monday, August 22, 2011

I Try to Take Them Seriously...

...but with a ragtag army this comical, how can I help but laugh?  :)
 By the power of example, they even got their littlest brother to join in the war, although he apparently missed the Must Wear Red and Black memo.
 I guess it's safe to say that Josiah started all of this...about four years ago...when Jeff's mom first bought him a Nerf gun, and his passion for weapons took off.
 Now it's spread to all the band of brothers, including this one that I find absolutely adorable.
 The thumb in the mouth is a nice touch on the field of battle, don't you think?
 Even when he tries to be serious...
 ...I find myself smiling.
 But with his eyes closed?  My grin widens.  :)
Silly boys.
Dear, sweet, goofy, cute, dramatic, noisy, creative, loving, cherished, silly boys!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Tobin's Not the Only One...

...that looks so adorable when sleeping that I must go and get my camera to take pictures of him.  It's true that I do have LOTS of photos of him while asleep, but I also love to watch my other boys sleep.  And not only watch...capture.

Like Shav during a recent nap, with his puppy dog from Daddy tucked under his arm...



And David, who fell asleep one night while the lamp was still on for reading time...


And Josiah, who, at 9 years of age, still treasures one stuffed animal:  a turquoise hippo with purple feet...

I suppose, as long as they live under my roof, I'll find pleasure in watching them sleep.

No matter how big they get...

Saturday, August 20, 2011

The Off Button

Sometimes, the most helpful part of the computer is...
 ...the off button.
I've been trying to use it more.  After realizing how many minutes of my day I give to the computer, I decided a little while back to--in normal circumstances--allow myself three windows of time each day to get on the computer, check email and Facebook, blog, etc.:  around breakfast time in the morning, during the boys' afternoon naps/quiet time, and after the boys are in bed at night.  That is not to say that I *never* go online at other times, so if I happen to send you an email or "like" one of your posts on Facebook at a time that is not included in those windows of computer time, please don't yell at me.  :)  But in general, those are the times that I feel fine with allowing myself to be on the computer.

And then, after I'm done?  The best part.  Shutting down the computer.  Turning it off.  Hearing the silence as the motor stops humming.  Switching my attention to other projects and needs.  Focusing more on my boys while they're still young enough to be here, under my roof.  Yes, the off button is a beautiful thing.

I'm going to be keeping the computer off for a few days.  Thanks to the beauty and wonder of Blogger's post options, I've scheduled some posts to publish every now and then.  But I'll be away from the computer, so if you're looking for some kind of online presence or response from me, you won't get it.  Don't be surprised.  :)

If all goes as planned, I'll return to the online world sometime this coming week.  Until then, friends, may your days be touched by the strong, sweet hand of God...and may you faithfully respond, as you hear His voice calling to you.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Baby Blessing: Week 6

I found out on a Thursday.  August 4, to be precise.

Knowing that I had an appointment at my midwives' office the next day for my blood test to check my antibody level and remembering that I had one left-over little ol' lonely pregnancy test in my bathroom cupboard, I gave in to temptation and took it.  Unlike the tests I took back in June, before my miscarriage, this time that beautiful second line showed up almost instantly.  It was dark, convincing, gorgeous.

One of the first thoughts I had as I held that stick was, "How funny that the Spanish word for 'pregnant' is 'embarazada.'  Am I embarrassed about this?  Should I be?"  :)  To tell you the truth, I did feel a little sheepish about it; after all, we weren't supposed to get pregnant before we knew the results of the antibody screen, right?  

To demonstrate how surprised we were by this unexpected joy, I'll just say that Jeff's reaction when I told him (which occurred the following evening, at Purcell Park, during Josiah's family night...the boys were running ahead to the picnic table, and Jeff and I were walking behind when I told him) was this:  "How did that happen???"  It still makes me giggle to think about it.  :)

So yeah, we were a little shocked; but I tell you what, the delight was instant in my heart.  I could hardly believe--and still find it unbelievable--that God was blessing us with another little one.  My dream of having another child--the dream I thought was in jeopardy after the miscarriage and missed rhogam shot--was coming true after all, and I almost had to pinch myself to make sure I was awake and wasn't just imagining it.

Now here I am at 6 weeks, and tomorrow I'll reach 7.  Physically, I feel great, for the most part!  A little tired (but isn't that always the case?), but not the my-body-is-shutting-down-immediately-and-cannot-function-a-second-longer fatigue that sometimes slams me in early pregnancy.  (Well, I had that one day, but so far it's not an everyday thing.)  I've had a tiny bit of nausea a time or two, which is par for the course for me.  For those early speculators on whether this is a boy or a girl, I'd say put your money on BOY...for many reasons...one of which is the fact that so far, this pregnancy feels very similar to my other ones.  :)  Probably the most obvious "symptom" I've noticed is that I get hungry soon after eating; and when I don't eat or drink soon enough, I start feeling very poorly.  It happened when we went to the Bergton Fair, it happened the next day when we went to the Russian wedding, and to a lesser extent it happened the next day when we were in D.C. for a gathering of the church.  I'll reach a point where I think, "Ugh, I don't feel very good; I wish I could lie down; what's going to happen next; will I be sick?"  But then, as long as I consume food and drink fairly quickly, it's amazing how fast the transformation is.  I perk up and think, "Wow, I feel great!  I'm ready to keep going for a while longer!!"  :)

For my week 6 photo, I passed the camera to Jeff when we were at the fair the other evening; and he snapped this photo.  I'm sure a gust of wind or other natural cause must be the reason my shirt is puffed out...and certainly not because I'm already starting to feel a little wider around the middle.  ;-)

Thursday, August 18, 2011

The Best Part of the 2011 Fair

Last year, the best part of the fair was seeing that my friend Emily won a blue ribbon for a great photograph she took of my adorable Shav.

This year, I very much enjoyed seeing the photos she entered and the ribbons she won, as well as the photos entered and ribbons won by a few other friends.

I also enjoyed other aspects of the fair, like...

...Tobin gazing through the cages of the poultry and rabbits...

...funny roosters staring at me...

...my boys staring at thousands of bees...

...eating, for the first time, a deep-fried Twinkie (we shared two, and all of us thought they were good--definitely better than non-deep-fried Twinkies!)...  :)

...seeing the bright lights of the rides show up brilliantly as the sky grew darker...

...watching my sons enjoy the thrill of rides at the fair...

...and so much more (like bumping into friends and chatting for a few minutes and wishing for more time with them).

But without a doubt, one moment at the fair tonight eclipsed all of those pleasures.  It was the moment when we walked into the photography exhibit; and I saw, hanging from the one photo I entered this year, a ribbon.
 It mattered not at all to me that it was third place, not first.  I was just so surprised that I even won anything!  There are so many photos entered, and they are so good, and I feel like such a newbie amateur simpleton in the world of photography.  So to find a ribbon--any ribbon--hanging from my photo felt like the most wonderful surprise.
 No wonder I had such a big smile on my face.  ;-)

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

"I Want to Be an Indian!"...

...David shouted this afternoon, grabbing the clothespin bag from the clothesline where I had been using it earlier.  

After some time had passed, he emerged from his room, looking like this:
I had never stopped to think that a row of clothespins might resemble Indian fringe, but that just goes to show how much I know.
It's a very good thing I have such creative kids who can enlighten me.  ;-)

Monday, August 15, 2011

Filling Our Nest

We have a small sign hanging in the entryway of our home that says, "A Crowded Nest Is Best."
It's a good thing we think so.  ;-)

Did you notice how many eggs are in the nest on that sign?
Appropriate as we welcome our fifth child, nu?!  ;-)

Sunday, August 14, 2011

The Night Was Short. Rejoicing Has Come!

Weeping may remain for a night,
but rejoicing comes in the morning.
~ Psalm 30:5b ~

Before we even expected it, God filled my womb that had emptied during my recent miscarriage; and mercifully, the night of mourning was short--so short that we're still a little stunned by it.

Amazed, too.

Incredulous.

Overjoyed.

Humbled.

Grateful.

Unspeakably so.
If all goes well, we'll meet this little one face to face sometime around April 7, 2012!!!  :)

He who goes out weeping,
carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy, 
carrying sheaves with him.
~ Psalm 126:6 ~

Saturday, August 13, 2011

This Is America

Last evening, we drove through beautiful, nausea-inducing-for-the-weak-stomached, country roads to go to the Bergton Fair.  If you're from around here, you might have, at one point, attended the fair yourself, so you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.  If you're not from around here, just imagine the quintessential small-town podunk  "fair"...
~ a large field of grass, usually empty, but on these nights filled with rows upon rows of cars
~ carnival rides, trucked in and assembled just days before, all lit up, enticing the young to come and ride
~ teenagers walking hand in hand with a boyfriend/girlfriend...or, lacking a "significant other," clustered with a group of friends
~ food booths, selling large quantities of foods, most of them fried in huge amounts of oil
~ tables with wilted produce, the vegetables and flowers having lost their starch in the summer heat, but still proudly bearing blue and red and other-colored ribbons
~ lots and lots of strollers, some holding tiny almost-newborns, their mothers nearby looking slightly frazzled but extremely proud
~ a few Mennonites sprinkled throughout the crowd, their head coverings giving away at a glance their commitment to be a separate people (but even Mennonites know how to enjoy a fair).  ;-)

I looked around me and thought, "This is America."

********

Today we attended a wedding.  It was the wedding of one of Jeff's customers, a guy who became much more than a customer to Jeff through their deep, stirring spiritual talks which occurred whenever their paths crossed.  Truly, Vitaly has become a friend, and he's even been to our house several times, eaten dinner with us, participated in Bible studies, and let our cuddly David sit on his lap during Uno games.

Although Vitaly speaks perfect English and has adapted excellently to life in America, he is Russian...and so is his bride, who arrived on an airplane not so long ago from her native country, speaking very little English, but eager to marry her groom and adapt to life in a foreign land.

The wedding was all in Russian.  To my ears, it was a joy to hear that language flowing so effortlessly from the lips of those gathered because it swept me back to our years in Israel and our involvement with a mostly-Russian speaking congregation there.  I couldn't understand anything that was being said.  Well, I take that back.  I could pick out words here and there:  "slava," Bog," "spasiba," etc.  But besides enjoying the music of the language, it had no benefit to me...and none whatsoever to my boys, who gamely sat through the ceremony, not comprehending a word of it, but behaving quite decently regardless.  Shav kept me busy with pulling things out of the diaper bag to entertain him, but that was expected; and I was particularly proud of how the other three sat quietly and patiently.

During the meal after the wedding ceremony, I spent part of the time in the lobby, letting my boys run off some steam; and while I was there, the photographer (a Ukranian, although he's spent 25 years here in the States) came up to me and said, "Ah, so you're the American!"  Although many (but not all) of the other guests could fluently speak English as well as Russian, I guess we were the only "American" family there.

But were we?  Aren't we all, with the exception of those descended from Native American tribes, immigrants and foreigners to this land?  If you go back far enough, you would find that I'm Irish...and English...and German...and Swiss...and probably some other things, too!  To me, the fact that the families at the wedding used Russian as their first language and haven't lived here as many years as my family line in this country goes back doesn't mean they're not American.

As I watched the wedding today, which was done a little differently than most other weddings I've been to here in the U.S., and as I listened to the rich swirl of a foreign tongue all around me, I paused to consider.

I looked around me and thought, "This is America."

Friday, August 12, 2011

{More} Photos in a Cemetery

I knew, for a long time, that I wanted to go take pictures in a cemetery.

What I did not know is how much my boys would enjoy it...and how they wouldn't want to leave when we said it was time to go home!  When I mentioned that on Facebook a few days ago, I heard from some friends who talked about how much they--or their kids--enjoyed playing in cemeteries, too.  Who knew?  :)

The cemetery trip happened on Wednesday evening, right after we savored a delicious, relaxing dinner at Aroma Restaurant.  These days, the eight of us don't often end up eating out together (because of schedules and budgets), so it was a special treat.  :)

Here we are, in the big white van, on our way to the cemetery...

Jeff, the driver



Dad, in the co-pilot's chair


Tobin, although all I could see of him was his little hand sticking up  :)

Mother, beside Tobin

Shav, in the third row of seats

Josiah, beside him and directly in front of me

David, who shared the backseat with me

And me...when I see this picture, I have one predominant thought:
"I have a lot of gray hair."  ;-)

Here are a few photos from the cemetery, without much commentary (because it is late, and I am tired!)...




On the way home, we stopped by Silver Lake because I wanted to take some more pictures of my parents.


Aren't my parents sweet?  :)

One last look at the lake, and then...
...we headed home.