To Our Children

     One of the things I always made sure to buy when I found out I was expecting you was a beautiful baby book. I had these great intentions of recording all your important milestones, all those fun firsts, all those little details I wanted to remember, always.

     I'm sorry to say I have failed you miserably.

     With you, my dear oldest son, I did the best. I completed most of your first year, but the rest of your book is blank.

     With each of the rest of you, I took great care in filling out everything I could those first few weeks, but after that the pages remain blank.

      The pages of your books aren't blank because I wasn't proud of you, or didn't love you, or wasn't rejoicing and enjoying each of those precious firsts and important milestones.

      I might not remember which tooth you got first, but I do remember your first word. "Papa!" I was the one that birthed you, nursed you, changed 95% of your diapers, and all four of you said Papa as your first word.

      I don't remember the day you enjoyed your first solid food, but I remember how you used to love when I brought out your little baby food grinder and how you used to sit watching me prepare it, waving your arms and kicking those little feet of yours in eager anticipation of the yummy food you were about to get.

     I don't remember the day you were weaned, but I remember how you used to tuck your foot under my chin and held the corner of your blanket as I fed you.

     I might not remember the exact moment of your first smile or laugh, but I do remember how you used to giggle when we played Peek-a-boo with you for what felt like hours on end.

     I might not remember the first book I ever read to you, but all four of you loved the Clap Your Hands book. Both your Papa and I can still recite the entire thing by heart because we read it to you so often.

    The pages of your baby books might be mostly blank, but my mind is filled with precious memories from those days. I was so busy enjoying those moments I didn't have time to pick up a pen and write them down at the risk of missing part of those moments.

    I hope someday you will understand.

    Love,

    Your mother

Learning to Driving

    This is the third round of sitting in the passenger seat as one of our teens learn how to drive.
     It's not a job I ever wanted, but somehow it became mine.

     It's interesting how siblings can be so different.
     Teen #1 sat in the driver's seat, happy to learn how to drive. Meticulous, doing everything with his intense style of concentrating. 

      Teen #2 gave herself an ulcer by stressing about driving. She wanted to know how to drive, but going through the process of learning how was not on her list of things she wanted to do. Curves, other vehicles, narrow roads. They were all a huge grief to her.

      Teen #3 is in the process now. She looked forward to the day when she would get to be the one to sit in the driver's seat. She has plenty of confidence. She had another lesson today. The seat moved forward as far as it goes, mirrors adjusted, and peering over the steering wheel she is in her element. "I'm so glad we live in an area where roads have lots of curves," she says as she happily guides the vehicle around another one as if she had been driving for years already.
      I'm glad it will be a few years before there will be a teen #4, but I can't help but wonder how he will be.

Currently

Reading ... this morning I needed a few Psalms.

The most recent fiction book I read was Star of Persia : Esther's story. I quite enjoyed it. I'm usually not the biggest fan of retellings of stories about Bible characters, but I thought this was really well done. I enjoyed it enough that I requested more books by this author.

In non-fiction I have a stack of cookbooks that I'm enjoying.

Watching ... the most recent movie we watched was War Room. I had  heard so much about it. I liked it, even though it wasn't quite as I had expected. I would recommend it to anyone looking for something encouraging to watch.

Listening ... to the sound of Sharon thumping and bumping around in her bedroom. She decided she wanted to "spring clean" it this afternoon.

Thinking ... that kindness should never ever go out of style. 

 Wearing ... a comfy green polka dot dress that will need a little help after the next time I do the laundry.

Baking ... later this week I'll be baking several kinds of pie. With everything that happened this year I have gone from 52 weeks of pie, to simply 52 different kinds of pie. I'm halfway to my goal, and I'm fully expecting to meet it by the end of the year. 

Cooking ... tonight I'm making roasted potatoes, tuna patties, and a salad with homemade dressing. I've been craving potato leek soup a lot. I went ahead and made it last week one evening, and would love to have it again tonight. For the sake of the rest of the family I won't make it two weeks in a row.

Cleaning ... I want to tackle the store room again this week. Apparently everyone has been plopping things in there all helter skelter, which means it's time to organize again.

Playing ... this weekend included Phase 10, Rummikub, and Hoagie. It was a lot of fun. Steven absolutely loves Hoagie so I played it with him quite a few times. He's at the age and ability where I no longer try to not be competitive. Makes game time more fun! 

Loving ... the cooler temperature we have today. It made marching around the yard with the lawn mower so much more enjoyable.

Electric Fence

     The click, click sound of an electric fence still sounds ominous to me when ever I hear it.

     I was in first grade when my Dad fenced off a new pasture of sorts for a team of draft horses we had at our house for a while. 

     The horses intimidated me since they were much bigger and less friendly than our buggy horse, but even so I enjoyed tagging along with Daddy whenever he filled their tubs of water, and threw a few slices of hay over the fence for them.

     After getting shocked on the fence one evening while helping throw hay to the horses, I tried to keep a safe distance from it, not wanting to have a repeat of that pain.

     One evening I was playing in the sandbox when I noticed Daddy was taking care of the horses. I dropped my toys, jumped up, and ran to join him. The single stand of electric fence wasn't very visible, and I didn't notice Daddy was on the other side of the fence as I ran as fast as my little legs could carry me. I ran right into the fence, catching it right under my chin. I don't know how, but the fence broke. It gave me a nice red mark on my neck that lasted for a while.

      Daddy scooped me up and carried me to the house where Mom fussed over my injury, and he hurried back outside to patch the fence before the horses decided to wander away.

      Last night we spent some time at one of our good friend's house. We sat outside, near an electric fence with a horse that pranced about in his pasture. It brought back this memory. I could almost feel the pain of the shocking wire, and the impact of the fence on my neck once again just by thinking about it. 

Bits of Random

     Narrow winding roads + horse and buggies + vehicles with a need for speed = a scary combination.
     Last evening that combination ended with a vehicle colliding with a horse and buggy at the curve just past our garage.

     Thankfully everyone is okay. Buggies can be replaced, but how scary! I can only imagine how deeply thankful the parents of the young boys who had been driving the buggy must be, that their children didn't get seriously hurt or worse.

~~~~~

     Yesterday LV had a follow up appointment with the surgeon who had worked on his eyes back in February after the explosion.

     We are thrilled, and so very thankful for the latest report. Vision in both eyes is 20/20! God is so good! We are still in awe of the healing He did, especially in his right eye. Even the doctors expected it to be permanently blind. 

~~~~~

      We started our new year of school on Monday. For the first year ever, I wasn't excited about starting, but three days in and I've found my love of homeschooling is still alive and well. I'm looking forward to another great year,

~~~~~

     I'm excited about my blogging plans for August. I've allowed too much time to pass between posts the last while, but I'm gearing up to have a month of posting daily. (except for Sundays)