Spirit Week at Evelyn's School

Last week's "Family Olympics" at Evelyn's school was kicked off on Wednesday with a whole-school parade around two city blocks. Each grade created its own banner and carried it as they chanted and sang on their route. I have no idea why, but I got choked up! See Evelyn just left of center in her yellow shirt? She was SO excited to see me on the parade route, and I was SO excited to see her. I can't believe she's almost done kindergarten.

I just look at our girls these days and get choked up. Usually it's from behind--following them as they walk (or run) ahead, and shake my head in wonder that they are so tall, so old, and so...ours. What a responsibility parenting is!! More and more I am aware of my need to trust God every single day, to turn over to Him the temptation to worry that I'm messing my kids up for good, and just seek His face, His face, His guidance in His Word and hope for daily wisdom and grace. He is sufficient! And wow does He give joy!

Caring for Daddy

The girls and I dropped off Daddy at the hospital this morning before school. He had hernia surgery, which went well. He is home recovering and, while in a lot of pain and very uncomfortable, has suffered relatively little nausea, for which we're grateful.

The girls were SO curious. First, I realized they'd not been prepared entirely for this--Evelyn thought we were all going to the hospital in an ambulance (which she calls a "siren.") So we set that straight. They LOVED it when they issued him his paper bracelet at check-in, and smothered him with hugs and kisses when they left with me to go to school. They are so stinkin' cute!

They are genuinely concerned for Daddy, and we've prayed for his quick healing and that we would be careful, gentle, sensitive nurses for him while he recovers. And they are just a tad distressed that this will temporarily disable Daddy's ability to play "Monster Bed," his most popular home-made game. "Well," said Evelyn this morning, "I guess YOU can play Monster Bed with us, Mommy." Then she sighed, "But it just won't be the same."

So until he recovers, we pray we'll be good caretakers for him. We've got to make sure the BEST "Monster Bed" monster heals smoothly!

No, the kittens are not ours. :)

They belong to a neighbor. I should have counted how many times the girls said, with that I-can-hardly-stand-how-cute-they-are tone in their voices, "Oh, MAMA!"

A Musical Outlet

I didn't realize how much I'd missed singing classical music until I joined this little neighborhood ensemble last fall. Alan took video of the first piece on our concert last Sunday, Poulenc's Ave Verum Corpus. Feel free to listen here. (It's only 2 min. 45 sec.)

It was one of my favorite pieces on the program--it's not easy (we didn't sing it perfectly), and it's a nice balance of "out there" and "accessible."

The concert was additionally meaningful because Mom was the accompanist (wish I had a video of one of our accompanied pieces), her friend Cindy played flute, and Jon and Courtney's friend, Anna, was our guest soloist and fellow working-mom-who-didn't-realize-how-much-she'd-missed-singing. That made for not only sweet music, but sweet fellowship. Very sweet fellowship.

Self Realization

Today Amelia looked in the mirror and said, "Wow! I really DO look five!"

And darn cute, too. Here she is on Monday morning with her mouth full of birthday doughnut on the ride to school.

She turned five today.

She loves to read aloud to her "class" of dolls and stuffed animals (or invisible children), turning the book to face them so they can see the pictures that accompany her made-up stories. She makes up songs, too. And words. "Repungen" was the latest I can remember, although I regret I cannot recall its meaning.

She is tenacious, persevering, and fiercely independent. "No! I can do it!" is a frequent statement, usually accompanied by a swift turn of her shoulders away from my attempts to help.

She thrives on one-on-one attention, and begged me to tell her "birth story" over and over in the car this morning on the way to school. (The part she gets the biggest kick out of is that she was born NAKED! She didn't even have any UNDERWEAR on!! This cracks her up. So does the fact that, when she was born, Evelyn was still wearing diapers and could only say "Buh.")

Amelia loves to snuggle, loves hugs, and melts my heart every time she clings to me and says with gritted teeth, "I love you so much I can hardly stand it!!" Funny, I was thinking the same thing. I can hardly stand how precious you are. I can hardly believe you are my daughter and that the Lord has entrusted you to me and Daddy. I am so proud of you. You are so smart and sensitive. Your skin is SO soft. I love your questions about God, and I hope that we keep asking and exploring those questions together with openness and honesty. I hope you always know that you are one of the best things that has ever happened to me.

You are five today. Happy birthday, Amelia Margaret. :)

Road Trip Hair

These pics remind me that I have to buy another bottle of that "no tangles" spray. All the fun of rubbing your head back & forth against the seat to create these hairball works of art is immediately erased from memory when the time comes to brush them out.

Amelia is counting down to her birthday. It is very cute.

My doggone tongue & birthday bonanzas...

I'm annoyed at myself. Recently I've been "that person" who says something either unnecessary or in an unnecessary way. Last night at Ev's school PTO meeting, her class parent asked for opinions about what to get the teacher as a gift. I blurted out, "As a teacher myself, definitely NOT some little knick knack." Well that could have been said differently. I saw the faces of the parents who'd, well, given teachers knick knacks before. Ugh.

And last week at my ensemble rehearsal, one of the ladies was talking about how much she'd saved at a recent sale. I jumped out with, "I prefer to save by not buying anything at all." WHY did I say that??? Sheesh. Why not just "rejoice with those who rejoice" and say, "that's great?" Besides, (kicking myself in backside) I DO buy things, for crying out loud!

It seems I am living in a state of rush and annoyance and have stopped taking the time to temper my tongue.

Today I received another e-vite for a kid birthday party and actually said aloud, "Oh no." I had both my kids in popular months. There are always lots of invitations, and I always find it difficult planning parties for my own kids and balancing the ones to which they are invited. Before they could read, I'd just confiscate the invitations and RSVP without their knowledge.

And somewhere along the line I lost the joy of planning anything--any kind of party or celebration. It has zero appeal to me. That makes me sad. We've attended the e-vite kid's parties in the past. There are usually about 75-100 people there. Multiple grills are going, several tents of food are set up, music is piped in, an entire side porch is loaded with gifts, and kids are running everywhere. And the parents seem to LOVE it. And their child will likely grow up with these amazing memories of her parties and what a huge deal they were. The hope would be that SHE would feel like a huge deal.

I assume it is ok that planning and pulling off a party like that does not sound like fun to me. It definitely does not sound like fun to Alan. But I want my kids to know what a HUGE deal they are. I want them to know how incredible I think they are, and that they are two of the best things that have ever happened to me. I want them to feel incredibly, incredibly special.

Amelia will turn 5 on Monday.

I'll keep you posted. And I'll gladly accept prayers and advice, especially since I'm sitting here with tears in my eyes thinking about what a precious gift this little girl is to me and how much I long to give her. (Pictures from our Spring Break trip to the Eastern Shore, in an adorable ice cream shop in the historic town of Lewes, DE.)

Up for air!

Breathe.

Home.

Family.

Husband.

Children.

The umbrella of God's love over all of it.

Today I will take some hours off to do yard work with Alan. And breathe. The weekend was very enjoyable but long and required being "on." I'm ready to be quiet inside for a while.

The French press coffee is steeping. French toast awaits. I suppose it is a French morning. :)

How to explain?

Evelyn's most recent question:

"Mommy, what does it mean when someone says, 'Do you want a piece of me?'"

(How 'bout our carpet of pink petals? The ornamental cherry trees were two giant pink puff-balls in front of our house last week. It's one of our favorite signs of spring, and whenever I'm tempted to bemoan how short-lived they always are, I'm reminded that the amount of time we end up vacuuming them out of our house is short lived, too.)