Our Cheerleader

Evelyn was THRILLED when her teacher--also the cheerleading coach--invited her to take a spot on the squad. I wanted to upload the video I had of the cheer, but it was too big. (She is on the far right, BTW, with her head down so far you can't see her face.) She loved putting her cartwheels to good use!

And Amelia loved that, during the after-school rehearsals, she got to hang out with one of her friends whose mom is the "Dramabary" teacher (the combined classes of Drama and Library.)  They would hang out in the library together.

Every Day is a Brand New Chance

The sun rises every morning. How thankful we are for that. 

Lord, show us how to listen, how to respond, how to love in word and in deed.

Every day.

Into Star Wars, We Are

One of my colleagues moved to Florida recently, and, knowing we'd been watching Star Wars with our girls, he passed along these Potato Heads to me. They used to stand watch over his cubicle, and how they stand watch in Amelia's bedroom.

And Star Wars has been SO popular around here that Amelia is having a Star Wars birthday party when she turns nine on May 16th.

Going to make a memory, we will. :)

Geocaching

Before Spring Break, Amelia and I went geocaching with one of her friends and her friend's mom. (Can you tell it was "Pajama Day" at school that day?)

We found a few caches as well as some trails we never realized existed in one of our favorite local parks. And a dead snake. Always exciting to find a dead snake.

For the uninitiated, Geocaching is a formal game of find-the-buried-treasure using your phone's GPS. Geocaching members have hidden caches all over the world. Of course the ones that are the most fun at this phase are the ones with trinkets inside. You get to take a trinket as long as you bring a replacement item. Then you log a record of finding the cache on the geocaching website.

It's pretty fun. Amelia and I took Evelyn the next week and we found three out of four in one of the parks closest to our house. 

Selfies in the Woods

This is my attempt at capturing the three of us on our walk a few weeks ago.

I love their faces. I love the action and fun.

And speaking of action, the other day I dropped the girls off at my parents' house. My dad was graciously watching them while Alan was teaching and I had a gathering to attend. As I was leaving, Amelia stopped me with both hands and looked up into my face. With sincerity, she instructed, "Mom, if anyone attacks you out there, fight them. Fight them. To the death."

Fortunately I was not attacked. :)

Beach Memory

You have to walk through the mouth of the shark to get into this store just outside North Topsail Beach in NC. Or, you can just stand in the mouth of the shark while your mom snaps photos! :)

Being Outside

My girls know I love being outside.  Two weeks ago I was desperate on a Monday evening to be OUTSIDE, and so I fed them dinner and brought them to our closest park, only a mile from our house. I said we would play on the playground AFTER we walked the trails.

Sunset over a field...sisters on a stump...mama filled with joy!

I told them to run ahead so I could take their picture on the trail. They held hands. I sighed.

The heart was their idea. My heart was SO full--being outside with these two beautiful people!

“I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.” -
John Burroughs 

“Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit.” -Edward Abbey

“The more civilized man becomes, the more he needs and craves a great background of forest wildness, to which he may return like a contrite prodigal from the husks of an artificial life.” -Ellen Burns Sherman 

Happy Unorthodox Orthodox Easter!

Since we were scattered this Easter, the extended family gathered tonight instead. Upon arriving, my dad reminded us that this weekend is still the Orthodox Easter, so we weren't really late on our celebration. 

Obviously we had a little fun--inspired by Grandma & Opa's egg hunt and Opa's gift of GIANT chocolate bunnies to each family. My hope had been to crop this picture, taken by Amelia using my phone, but technology stumped me. However, I WAS able to draw a scribbly line around the part I WOULD have cropped if I COULD have cropped it, and it seemed to fit the silliness of the mood of the picture.

This is the picture Anna took using Jon's phone. I guess there ARE differences in those i-Phone generations! And aren't we glad we're a family who lets people be themselves??

Of course we had a good time, and were only torn away from the lingering and animated after-dinner-conversation by the request of the kids, who had planned a performance, replete with costumes. It was an original version of "Cinderella" in which the heroine was eventually crowned Miss America by a stepmother with a British accent.

Easter Getaway

Feeling hungry for warmer climes, we headed south on a last-minute whim to North Topsail Beach, NC. The air WAS warmer. The water? 59 degrees. But that didn't stop these girls from enjoying the waves!

Amelia letting us know how cold the water is.

The beach was generously sprinkled with interesting rocks and shells. Amelia created a village of rock people.

We brought a lot of these rocks home with us. :)

We stayed in a lovely townhouse, beautifully decorated. The back windows overlooked the sound.

We could walk out the back of our townhouse and stroll onto this pier.

These are the backs of the townhouses. Ours is slightly right of center, the end unit on the row of six you can see. You can just make out the orange porch furniture on the upstairs deck.

We found a sweet playground, nature trails, and paths perfect for riding scooters.

The nature trails went out into the sound.

This strip of NC beaches is pretty quiet, and the roller skating rink (which has been here for 51 years!) was THE place to go for some evening fun!

What fun! Alan enjoyed the sunset streaming through the windows as we skated.

Sunset behind the roller rink.

One mom at the roller rink said she used to skate here when she was a kid. Now, she brings her son--he wants to skate every night. (Which will only set you back $6, and that includes skate rental! Chips or soda will set you back another $1.)

On the drive back to the townhouse from the roller rink, the moon was SO gorgeous. We stopped to walk out to the beach to see it reflect on the water.

Girls on the beach with moonlight. :)

We dyed Easter eggs and had an egg hunt in the townhouse on Easter Sunday, and visited a church called "The Gathering." I was struck with how Easter has, in so many places (churches included) lost its place as the Christian's highest holiday. I know that I have not treated it as such in my heart and in our home, and I was convicted about that. I thought perhaps I should prepare for Easter at least as much as I prepare for Christmas--setting out decorations, reading passages of Scripture with the girls, and starting some meaningful rituals that point to the weight and wonder of the Passion. So...here's to Easter 2016, and how grateful I am for the Easter of 2015, which we got to spend as a family at a beach.

50 Years + 1 = Love, Devotion, Companionship

In March, 2014, my in-laws celebrated 50 years of marriage. But the day before we were all planning on heading down to VA to celebrate it with them, my father-in-law was in the emergency room in a great deal of pain. It was an awful stomach infection, from which it took months of perseverance, prayer, and care to recover. How grateful we are that he has, since, experienced good health!

So, 2015 was "50 + 1," and on THE actual date, March 20, we all met at a lovely French restaurant in the quaint, historic district of Fredericksburg to celebrate.

Walking from our parking spot to the restaurant, we spied this wonderful intersection:

We had a beautiful room to ourselves in the restaurant. Look at this crew!

 The girls loved watching Grandma & Grandpa open their gifts. 

Grandma & Grandpa brought their wedding album, photos, memorabilia, and lovely favors for everyone. It was fun to look through the news clippings that had announced their marriage in 1964--especially the clipping from the high school where Mom Blackman was then an English teacher. She and Dad had chosen Spring Break as their time to wed, and the student who wrote the article announcing their teacher's nuptials commented that she would be "returning to the dull life of a teacher" following their honeymoon. :)

The girls got to order off the "grownup menu," and Evelyn loved her salmon!

Amelia found her grownup cheeseburger and fries to be exactly to her liking.

Becky had a beautiful cake made, which we all happily devoured.

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad Blackman! 50 + 1 years of being truly together. You have not only weathered life's inevitable ups and downs, you have done it while growing closer and more admiring of one another. Your devotion is deep, abiding, and laid on the foundation of your mutual faith in Jesus. Thank you for your example!

(This, by the way, is a picture of a cookie. Becky had the most wonderful shortbread cookies made for everyone, with this photo from Mom and Dad's wedding printed in icing.  They were remarkable! And...delicious. I decided to temporarily give up giving up sugar to eat mine...and some anniversary cake...and maybe someone else's cookie, too....and I have continued to celebrate Mom and Dad's anniversary in the weeks since this event by continuing to eat sugar...but if you're going to eat sugar, what a great reason!)