Vacation, Part 4

Our trip home from the beach was also a really great time, thanks to a number of things:



We stayed overnight in Richmond with some great friends/college alumni, Caleb & Melissa. (That's Caleb on the right and their oldest daughter, Emarie, in the pool.) They have a rockin' kiddie pool/slide set up in their yard.



Gabriel exclaimed, "Caleb & Melissa sure know how to beat the heat!"

After a great time with Caleb & Melissa, including Daniel visiting their home church Saturday evening with Caleb while Melissa & I stayed at the house with kids, we hit the road for our final stretch.




We'd saved one bag of goodies that Diane had given just for this day. It included activity/sticker books,



...car games (tic-tac-toe is ALWAYS a hit with my crew),



...and even a new toy for the babe!



We literally ate every. single. meal. on the road IN the vehicle, except for one last dinner on the way home. We'd been traveling for 10 hours (that DAY) by then and figured the kids (and we!) could use the break. Dinner also included a brief stroll to stretch legs a bit.

The End.

Vacation, Part 3

Though we certainly did our fair share of lounging on the beach, we also managed to engage ourselves in some other equally pleasurable activities:


A big family game of kickball!



Like father, like son.



Grandma joined us Moms of Littles in entertaining the young ones during the kickball game.



Walking from the playground to the pond to see some ducks.



The kickball game spectators!



We celebrated 3 birthdays at the beach, including Great-Grandpa's.



Daniel turned 30 while we were there and Lexi's birthday was fast-approaching.



Great-Grandma rocked babies in the rocking chair.



Even the littlest of cousins played together!



All cleaned up and smiling before we headed out for a Sunday morning service at a nearby church.

Vacation, Part 2

After 987 miles and about 19 hours of travel, we made it to the beach. Relatives drove in from all over: Texas, Florida, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and New York.

After cleaning up for one group photo, we proceeded to spend the majority of our week thoroughly enjoying the Right-Outside-Our-Door oceanfront.



I think Grandma spent most of the week holding at least one grandchild's hand!



Gabriel's interesting approach to trying to catch fish in the tide pools: hit them really hard.



If Claire looks grumpy, it's because she was. Teething is no fun, even on the beach.



We did our best to keep her well-supplied with things to chew on.



And we felt very grateful for aunts who will hold sweaty babies so that they'll sleep better!



Aubrey preferred the sand to the waves, though by the end of the week even she had "warmed up" to the ocean (temperature highs in the upper 90s forces most everyone to make friends with the water, I think!).



Where's Jack?!?!?!



Cousins!



Bronwyn learned to play frisbee.


Stay tuned for more pictures from our week at the beach!

Vacation, Part 1

I did a lot of this.
(Eric & Lisa, see how carefully I drove??? I was so paranoid about wrecking your awesome vehicle!)



What the kids looked like much of the trip-- the boys were too engrossed in their movie to even look at the camera, apparently.



We were so glad to be with the Story's for 2 days! Mrs. Story spoiled us all.



We went to a playground near the Story's home.



Mr. & Mrs. Story have playdoh!



...and bubbles!



...and a wonderful dog that Bronwyn fell head-over-heels in love with!



Mr. Story sure did love on Claire a lot.



We would have stayed with them a week if we'd had the time!

In the Month of June::

:: Gabriel played his final baseball games of the season. He's learned a lot moving from t-ball (last year) to farm league and has gained a great love of the game, which is rather fun for his dad.

:: We finished our school year on the 4th, and I filled out my last quarterly report the next day. It was a great year and I feel like I learned a lot. I knew I would enjoy homeschooling, but it has been even better than I'd thought.

:: Bronwyn graduated from kindergarten, though we missed her actual graduation to be at the beach for a family reunion. Her gracious attitude about missing the ceremony ("It's okay, Mom, 'cause being at the beach with so many relatives is pretty special, too.") makes me all the more proud of her. We will celebrate her a bit this Sunday evening and take pictures of her with her diploma and tassel just to let her know how special we think she is.

:: We spent a week in Myrtle Beach with Daniel's extended family for a wonderful family reunion! Our set up was just terrific: two side-by-side, 6-bedroom condos housing almost 50 Paladins, right on the water. We could literally walk about 50' and be at our row of beach umbrellas, enjoying the amazing weather and companionship. More details and pictures of that to come.

:: Daniel turned 30! We are not huge birthday gift givers, Daniel and I. I guess if you were taking a poll of "love languages," we would both score lowest on gift-giving. I enjoy giving people gifts, but I honestly don't mind if I don't get any. That said, I felt that 30 deserved a little something special.

Since Daniel has never owned a game system of any kind (neither have I, but I can't say that I ever wanted one!), I bought him a wii, knowing it would be the kind of system that could easily involve our younger kids and provide lots of family entertainment. We've had a great deal of fun with it already. My favorite "game" is setting Jackson and Bronwyn up to play tennis and just watching-- hilarious!

:: Claire got her third tooth (with two more closing in on us). She is officially my worst teether to date-- whining, fever, earache, runny nose, and general discomfort-- but, that's okay, because there are other things she's really very good at.

Like traveling.

:: The kids did their first strawberry picking ever. It was so much fun! Today is set aside as the first jam-making/canning day of the season. I plan to do more next week after either buying or picking more strawberries, since I'm guessing I will only get about 10 pints out of the 8 quarts of strawberries.

:: I have fallen more in love with our home and family, if that's possible. We returned from our vacation at about 9pm on Sunday evening, just as the sun was setting and painting pink streaks across the sky. It smelled as though it had rained a bit earlier, and the grass was damp and cool to the touch. Delphinium waved tall and stately, day lilies were closing up for the day, shasta daisy and yarrow and hosta and hollyhock boasting great promise with each of their many buds.

Inside, all my favorite things: colorful family room rug, clean white quilt on my bed, framed Carl Larsson postcard art, my "fancy" music room with drop-leaf table and lovely armchairs and clunky piano and bookshelves, five beautiful children with lashes resting on cheeks and the peaceful breath of sleep on their lips, a husband who helps me unpack and fold laundry and bathe the baby and wash the dishes and teaches me daily to love this Moment no matter what it looks like and to serve Jesus with abandon and to give Grace without measure.

on my mind

I'm home this morning with baby Claire. She is feverish and has a runny nose and while I suspicion that the cause may be as innocuous as her top teething pushing their way down, I decided to keep her home. I was going to keep Aubrey, too, but she was just devastated at the very thought and so Daniel said he would bring her.

Every time I'm unable to make it to church and some of the children go, I kind of worry the whole time. Daniel always has some sort of responsibility-- whether leading worship or teaching Sunday School or preaching-- and I feel badly that he's juggling so much. Then again, I'm just really glad my little ones so hate to miss a Sunday morning at church. It's a major highlight of their week, and I pray it always will be.

So, yes, Aubrey was sent off with the bigger kids, an extra pair of undies and a second dress along with her. She has been doing very well with potty training, all things considered, and only has had accidents when there are complicating circumstances (like, being at Gabriel's baseball game the other night and the closest bathroom being a bit of a haul from the playground she was busy exploring). I've still been putting a diaper back on her at naptime and bedtime, though I never did that with the others. Why, you ask? Well, I'll tell you: I'm just too tired and grumpy about the idea of washing bedsheets. Dealing with a wet cloth diaper is a whole lot easier-- and even though half of her diapers have been dry upon getting up, I'm just not in the right frame of mind to risk the other 50%.

Other than worrying that Aubrey is soiling the church floors and stressing her daddy out, I'm enjoying my morning here at home with Claire. She fussed and cried and whined for a good bit, and then she finally nursed and fell asleep. I read and prayed a bit in absolute silence. I mixed up a big batch of bread dough in order to replenish our dwindling bread supply. I ate a bowl of ice cream (shhhh...). And then my baby woke again and needed me.

So here I am.

And just now, as I hold Claire close and she reaches her hand up to grab a fistful of shirt, my breath is taken away. She is my baby. I am her mother. What a gift! I dreamed of this-- this thing called being a mama-- but it is daily bigger and better than anything I could have conjured up in my mind's eye. Sure, it's harder than I ever thought. But really, it's amazing. These little people, full of destiny and promise, ideas and hopes, yet undreamed dreams... they look to me. I'm the one they come home to. I get to be the steady hand, the constant soft place, the ever listening ear.

Such thoughts used to scare me. I remember when Gabriel was born and the many nights when I would just hold him and weep. I loved him so much it hurt. I knew I couldn't be perfect for him-- not the way I wanted to be-- and it broke my heart. I wanted to offer him a safe world, only kind people, perfect parenting.

Maybe it's simply that I'm a little more used to the weight of motherhood now and that's why I smile instead of cry. Or maybe, just maybe, it's simply that I've seen firsthand how God makes up the difference. I don't always make the right choices. I do things the best I can, and even that isn't right some of the time. But I serve a great God who doesn't get it wrong. I can trust Him.

That's not to say it's easy all the time or that I never cry any more. Just this week Daniel and I have seen some ugly things come to the surface in some of our children. Let me tell you (in case you didn't know): selfishness is very unattractive, especially when paired with manipulation, criticism and/or physical aggression. But we remind ourselves that these are opportunities to lean into Him, to dig into His Word and break it open to our little flock, to come alongside and pray together, to offer a firm hand and a loving embrace.

And to trust that He will do what we can only do our best to prepare our children for: reach into their hearts, reveal Himself, change and renew and restore.

-----------------------------------

Well, this ended up being quite the stream of consciousness! Kudos to you if you hung in there with me through it all!

Today

Today, Claire, you are seven months old.

I never knew minutes could turn into hours, hours could turn into days, days could turn into weeks, and weeks could turn into months this quickly. If I don't watch myself, I start to choke up and my stomach starts to churn when I think about all the ways I want to love on you and spend time with you before you grow any more, and how much I wish I could make it all slow down.

By the grace of God, instead of grasping, I simply choose again to cherish you the best I can.

At seven months, you continue to delight us. I have to say, you're not as easy right now-- what with your fussing over boredom, fighting sleep occasionally, and wanting Mama and not anyone else most all of the time-- but that's still not saying a whole lot, since you were so very, very easy before.

You have two teeth now.

You squirm all over the place, but mostly backwards and farther away from the very thing you're desperately trying to reach.

You've outgrown your basket next to my bed and are now in "Aubrey's crib," as your brothers and sister say.

You are smart. It is easy to see when you really, really want something because you grab frantically for it, and if I tell you that someone else is playing with it or that it's not for you right now, I think you honestly understand the message of what I'm saying.

You love to see what's going on around you and are very interested in the "action."

You are a very pretty baby. We talk about how you could be a baby model with your dimpled elbows and round smile and sparkly eyes. Maybe we're biased, all us relatives of yours, but, then again, maybe you really are as lovely as we think. (And I think you are.)

You are full of promise and destiny. It's true that I mourn the passing of time (probably too often), but the truth is that I also know the future is a brilliant one for you, my bright bringer of good news, and I'm excited about the days ahead. I'm so thankful to be your mama, to be able to play a part in what God will do in and through you.

Happy growing to you, baby girl!