12/52

Week 12 - April 28, 2013
River - loved this bee
Ahmi -loves fresh air
Israel - the cool kid in town

Kid Conversations

All day I have the privilege of hearing fragments of really great conversations between the boys.  Here are the ones that really stand on their own.

Israel: What does my belly button taste like?
River: Um...Untel Tayub (Uncle Caleb)

Israel to Uncle Caleb: 'You give the best wedgies!'

'Tool Meat!' River says to me with a smile. (I was wrist deep in raw beef while making meatloaf for dinner)

River has recently learned to unbuckle himself while in his booster seat in the car.  This conversation took place after he stumbled backwards from my abrupt stop.
River: 'Heeeey...dot bush!'
Israel: 'I didn't push you River....that's just the physics of driving.'

'River why are you crying....I just licked you.  You lick me all day.!' 

Contents

The contents of River's dirty face includes:   snail guts, pizza sauce, guacamole, dirt, grease, something sticky, and a booger.  It's only 11 o'clock too. 
Ready to leave the house, I say...'River, let's go change your shirt, the one you have on is really dirty.'
'Gno not,' argues the little dirty two-year-old.
I successfully get him indoors, wash his face and hands, and convince him that his moon shirt is totally worth trading for the dirty striped shirt he currently dons.
He gets his cool 'moom' shirt on and is instantly amazed at the glowing letters scrawled across the front.  We head upstairs to find shoes, me ahead of the little twerp who lumbers agonizingly slow up the steps.  I reach the top, turn the corner, and immediately hear *thunk* followed by wailing.  As I turn to investigate the cause of the crying, I notice that River has run into the wall because he is so distracted by the words 'shoot for the moon' across his glowing chest.
That's funny, but even as he lay on the floor oh-so-dramatically, he was holding his head and still staring at his tee.  It's going to be a long and funny day.

A Weekend in Pictures

There were hugs, kisses, bugs and worms held, snails collected, parks played in, and little boys chased until we all dropped. Here are a few moments of our lovely weekend.

11/52

 

Week 11 - April , 2013
Ahmi - has learned the humor of biting me while nursing
Israel - loves his new board
River - making walking cool

Talitha Cumi

Sometimes Most times,  breakthrough doesn't always look the way we anticipate it to.   I have felt for some time now, that along with this huge physical move, that something inside of me was really going to shift as well.  I'm not really sure how I expected it to look....maybe meeting an influential person or having some huge positive life event, I don't know.  I didn't have a super precise picture painted, but I thought it would somehow entail flowers and rainbows.  pffff.

It seems where others breeze through life, I have to push.  Where everyone around me has things provided for them, I have had to contend for them.  Sometimes it's been out of my own strength; not giving any room for help.  But there have been a lot of times when I have something in my spirit that I just know to be mine for the taking, but I have to fight and fight and fight to attain it.

So we move.  We have a house lined up, things are great.  Except that everything falls apart when we actually got here. That's a little dramatic I guess.  Our own housing situation fell apart, but we still live in a safe place with people we love (and in a city we are so happy to live in).  So I really can't complain.  We've been here about 5 weeks, and have had some great leads with homes, only to be left disappointed.  It seems like every unforeseen circumstance has happened, every weirdo landlord has been met, and we still have few leads that I hate to say I have been pessimistically hopeless about.

I have been praying a lot lately and asking what the heck is up with this hold up. Where is the disconnect?  Who can't find a suitable house in 5 weeks in a city where there are hundreds of options daily?   I knew that there was something very specific that was being eluded to.  And since I have rarely taken the easy path in life, I know that this stagnation was most likely a part of the great breakthrough that is yet to come...

Bunny trail...so Sunday at church, our pastor directed us inwardly;  to glimpse into our own hearts, and to try to find the areas where we feel disappointed by God.  He challenged us to ask ourselves  in what areas do I feel God has left me hanging?...where in my heart do I absolutely question God's faithfulness to me?  And when I am able to answer these questions, I will see where my heart has led me to other things.  Idols after all, are individually crafted of things that offer 'comfort.'    He went on to remind us that when we give up our idols, we will trade them for a God who will fulfill everything we fashioned those idols to accomplish.

So 30 years worth of disappointments later, I have still been delaying the ever-needed understanding of what it's like to be able to trust completely.  I have a glimpse.  I trust my husband.  But I can see him.  But what about a God who I realized I thought left me hanging on those dark and gruesome childhood nights?  What then?  My body has formed these memories that my mind says have been forgiven...but what about when there's pressure? I tend to slow down, revert back into myself, and slowly hide from those feelings of where were you.  These questions are slowly being peeled back to expose the rawness of my own feelings and the faith they are perpetuating. 

I have a promise.  To not have to stay where I am.  A promise that turns ashes from a ravenous and destructive fire into something beautiful.

There's a story of a man whose daughter died.  This man, Jairus, sent for Jesus to heal her.  When Jesus arrived, everyone was mourning.  But Jesus walked over to this child who everyone gave up on in death, and spoke the words, 'Darling....wake up.  Wake up.'  And as she arose, I felt a jolt within my own Spirit urging me to wake up as well.  World, I am not dead.  God is answering my questions and overtaking my heart with a trust that I have not known before.  I thought my wake up call would come with sunshine and blue skies, but instead it has come to a girl who God has given a place to wait and trust in him.  When I have asked him where he's been, he's responded with 'Right here darling, giving you an opportunity to wake up; to trust the voice that is calling your name out of slumber.'  The words were 'talitha cumi - darling, wake up'.  Those words also mean 'blessed.'  So as He is calling me to new life, I am not just to passively accept...I am to rise to action.  All of this time I thought I had to DO for myself what God wasn't.  But all he was doing was calling my name and waiting for me to wake up, stand before him, and walk into his blessedness.

The Dragon Park

It has been so fun to explore this wonderful new city that we live in!  We have gone on many adventures, and are pleased to find that we haven't even begun to see even a small fraction of the whole.
We found this park, and fell in love.  There are dragons emerging from the ground that are constructed of mosaic tiles that were donated by local schools in the 70's.  Aside from the cool aesthetics of the place, it has teeter totters that seat 4 per side and bounce you like crazy.  They have swings with armrests and backs that are big enough for adults...yeah, I was fighting off some little kids for that one.  There is the perfect balance of sun and shade.  Huge trees, yet plenty of field for frisbee or picnic lunches.  Here is a little peek of our day there.  We will most definitely be going back!

10/52

 

Week 10 - April 8, 2013
River - a singing break
Ahmi - big grin from the happiest baby alive
Israel - splinters and contemplation

River...or the cat?

Sitting at the kitchen table I hear ~crash~ followed by two little feet running and 4 cat paws scrambling to get their footing. So who broke the glass you ask....

Surprisingly

 

it was...

 the cat
  v v v v v v

 

this is Sissy's 'totally busted' posture

Say Whaaat?!

There are word sequences that you never imagine uttering in life, let alone having an appropriate context for.  Have some kids, and you will be amazed at what you find yourself saying.  Here are some of my households unmentionables.....

'River keep that in your pants.'

'Israel....do not say medieval bad words.'

'Israel!  Take those panty hose off.'

'Oh Ahmi,...don't suck on Israel's toes!'

'River, you cannot HANG from my hair....that hurts!'

'Kitties do not like to be spit on!'

'Gross...don't wipe your nose on my back.'

'We only go pee in the potty River...it is NOT okay to pretend you're peeing on Bubba.'

'Please     quit    licking each other!'

Two & A Half

 

Two and a half is a funny age.  The kind of funny that watches a child enjoy his popsicle buck naked, while totally overlooking everything else.  It's an age where sticky hands are constantly pulling at my pantlegs, and  dirty faces lean in for some lovins'.  

Two and a half is the age of independence.  Of half-coherent words that are somehow understood, cherished, and often borderline profane.  It's an age where there is always some mysterious, foreign object smashed into hair.  A time when dirt is a trophy; it's evidence of a hard day at play, and substance of the heart that is so full of life.

Take a good look, because straight from the bath is the only interval in time where he looks clean.

Two and a half years reminds me that life is only worth living if you are full of joy and curiosity, and seek the treasure life has to offer. 

09/52

 

  

Week 9 - April 1, 2013
Israel - bamboo (and I totally cheated, this wasn't taken this week)
Ahmi - morning moments and adventures
River - cute little Mater bum