Friday, June 30, 2017
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
the rain in its season and the fruit of the trees
I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit. Leviticus 26:4
Unsure of whether we planned to stay in our current house or not, we planted a small garden this year. Two jalepeno plants, 3 broccoli, 3 free ginger plants from Ms Josie, 8 bean plants, 1 sugar snap pea plant, and several varieities of tomatoes. Oh, and free sunflower plants from HSLRodeo seeds.
Here is the garden when it started:
A few weeks later after lots of rain we were picking tomatoes and enough green beans for our family of 5 every two days or so:
And 2 months later, look at what our sunflower seeds became:
Unsure of whether we planned to stay in our current house or not, we planted a small garden this year. Two jalepeno plants, 3 broccoli, 3 free ginger plants from Ms Josie, 8 bean plants, 1 sugar snap pea plant, and several varieities of tomatoes. Oh, and free sunflower plants from HSLRodeo seeds.
A few weeks later after lots of rain we were picking tomatoes and enough green beans for our family of 5 every two days or so:
And 2 months later, look at what our sunflower seeds became:
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
His favorite people
We had a few really sweet pictures of Daddy and kids this year for Father's Day. Thank you, Michael for tirelessly going to work for us each day and coming home to engage with us. Thanks for the hours of Bible stories and games. Thanks for the H&K. Thanks for the example you are. We love you, Daddy!
Sunday, June 25, 2017
Endearing
Here are three conversations with D that just further endear him to me...
We head to the pool one afternoon and wait for the gate to be opened with another neighborhood family. David politely asks the 9 year old daughter her name. "Excuse me?" She says it again, "Trinity? Excuse me? What was it?" She says it a third time. He still does not understand her. I tell him her name is "Cindy." His response: "Can I just call you Trinity?" (Fortunately, she just grinned...)
The following week we headed to Dallas to visit family. We stopped in McKinney for a late dinner. The indoor playground was empty except for a 4 year old boy there. They played together. Per usual, David never asked him his name, but by the time we left 45 mins later, he went up to the mom and said that we should plan a playdate sometime soon with his son. I had been chatting with the mom for a few minutes but she still looked a bit taken aback. However, that did not nearly describe her look when I told her that we didn't live in the Dallas area but actually lived 4 1/2 hours away!
We were watching an episode of American Ninja Warrior. Out of the blue, David says, "Did you know when girls put on red lipstick, they leave a mark when they get married?" I love his sweet naivety as he of course, was talking about leaving a mark from a kiss.
We head to the pool one afternoon and wait for the gate to be opened with another neighborhood family. David politely asks the 9 year old daughter her name. "Excuse me?" She says it again, "Trinity? Excuse me? What was it?" She says it a third time. He still does not understand her. I tell him her name is "Cindy." His response: "Can I just call you Trinity?" (Fortunately, she just grinned...)
The following week we headed to Dallas to visit family. We stopped in McKinney for a late dinner. The indoor playground was empty except for a 4 year old boy there. They played together. Per usual, David never asked him his name, but by the time we left 45 mins later, he went up to the mom and said that we should plan a playdate sometime soon with his son. I had been chatting with the mom for a few minutes but she still looked a bit taken aback. However, that did not nearly describe her look when I told her that we didn't live in the Dallas area but actually lived 4 1/2 hours away!
We were watching an episode of American Ninja Warrior. Out of the blue, David says, "Did you know when girls put on red lipstick, they leave a mark when they get married?" I love his sweet naivety as he of course, was talking about leaving a mark from a kiss.
Saturday, June 24, 2017
excuses for a visit
We talked Gram and GDaddy into coming down for a few days in May in order to take in some big events. One was the ballet demonstration mentioned earlier. Another the swim lessons. Another was the kids big WOW Spring musical. I forgot my camera unfortunately, so all pictures were taken with my blurry cell phone (don't mind the raccoon eyes on all three of my kids).
We also spent some time at the park one afternoon. (again blurry cell phone)
We also spent some time at the park one afternoon. (again blurry cell phone)
The Memories of May
Here are the "extra" pictures that didn't rank their own post.
Both D and E leave notes around the house for us. David left this peppermint and note for Daddy scribbled on his spelling list.
E loves to write out Love Mom and Love Dad.
Kids decided to pose like headless models in sports store while Mommy looked for shoes.
A and friend G walking into church together. I will get pictures soon of these twinsies. G has inherited several dresses from A while A fits E's old matching dress.
Grinning A with Grinning M.
E looks lovely with her hair in a bun.
All kids looked sharp in their blue and white (with hints of red) for Memorial Day weekend.
Both D and E leave notes around the house for us. David left this peppermint and note for Daddy scribbled on his spelling list.
E loves to write out Love Mom and Love Dad.
Kids decided to pose like headless models in sports store while Mommy looked for shoes.
A and friend G walking into church together. I will get pictures soon of these twinsies. G has inherited several dresses from A while A fits E's old matching dress.
Grinning A with Grinning M.
E looks lovely with her hair in a bun.
All kids looked sharp in their blue and white (with hints of red) for Memorial Day weekend.
Friday, June 23, 2017
Three little fish and how they grew...
I felt a bit behind in hot Houston with an 8 (almost 9), 6, and almost 5 year old who all did not know how to swim. Since it is quite commonplace to have swim parties here, it has been on the agenda for a while but last year's flood changed last summer's plans. This year's decision was made with quite a bit of prayer because class options got quite complicated. God opened the door for us to take swim lessons at the YMCA in May. All three kids were in class at the same time. D and E in a school-age class and A in a preschool class. They were scheduled for 8 lessons.
D came to the lessons with a basic understanding of how to swim (we personally had tried to teach him a bit the year before), but he had one huge flaw. He hadn't mastered breathing. He could kick and perhaps even move the arms, but the minute he lifted his head out of the water to breathe, he sunk like a rock. If he could just swim with a snorkel mask and snorkel all the time, he might make it. David was by far the oldest child in the class but he didn't seem to notice. Within a lesson or two, he suddenly learned the technique of breathing while remaining afloat. By lesson 4 or 5, he found himself swimming so well one would wonder why he was in lessons at all.
Today (about a month later), David is a very competent swimmer and stands a real chance to be able to compete at good level on swim team if he could just get down his side breathing a bit better.
E...well...let's leave E for last.
A began swim lessons much like she approaches life. She dove straight in head first with little caution. She had no fear, even when perhaps she should have. Thankfully Miss Star was always at hand. Her favorite thing to do was to float "seastar" on her back with legs and arms extended. She was quite adept at this. She learned to swim underwater very well and hold her breath for extended periods of time. However, when she came up to breathe, she, like David, would sink. And unlike David, swim lessons did not iron this out for her. Probably because she came in not swimming at all.
However, the end of last week, she suddenly learned to breathe and keep kicking at the same time. She still requires a vigilant eye but she swims pretty well and if she doesn't have too far to go or tire out too quickly, she could make it to the side if thrown into deep water. She also can acquire ring(s) from the bottom of the pool.
OK, back to E. Her lessons went pretty well as expected. I joke that she flunked out of class lessons and private lessons. Well, it is sort of a joke. Not really. She did pretty well for the first 15 minutes of the first class at the YMCA. When she was asked to swim to the side, she started crying. And the sobbing got worse and worse. After class, the teacher encouraged me to withdraw her from group lessons and put her in private lessons. I talked to the Y swim director and she was so kind and helpful and offered to apply the group lesson price to two private lessons and we could go from there (although they normally require a min of 4 private lessons). I had been encouraged to try having her put her face under water in the tub and floating on her back in the tub. Both were successful at home. Private lesson number one. Ms. Lindsay worked with E and tried to convince her to put her head under water...float on her back...trust her at all. None of the above worked--despite bathtub success. Private lesson number 2 she got more belligerent and when asked to jump into the pool (Ms. Lindsay waiting) where she could easily stand, she was so scared that she refused. Ms. Lindsay kindly pulled her in. E jumped up in down in the water laughing but would get back on the side of the pool and refuse to jump in again. Irrational fear was ruling her life. We had been praying (along with many prayer warriors) about this but it was an area of her life she wasn't willing to commit to the Lord. We memorized Scripture, prayed together, prayed separately, talked it over, but nothing was helping. We were suggested to discontinue private lessons until she got over her fear.
Last week- Monday started out like every other pool time. She refused to get in the water any deeper than midway up her chest (and often not even that). She clung to me with all four appendages when pulled into deeper water. Shrieking began. Crying. And finally insisting she get out and sit on the side while her siblings swam. The lifeguards kept giving me funny looks. I knew only God could cure this little one of her fears, but she had to let Him and she wasn't willing to (we'd discussed it). Tuesday--I was watching A swimming and casually watching E out of the corner of my eye but nothing registered until I heard her say, "Watch me, Mommy! Watch me!" She was at the stairs but dunking herself under water completely (the largest source of swimming fear), each time remaining under a second or two longer than the previous time. I just looked at her with open mouth. I asked her if she wanted to try and swim. She nodded and stuck her head under and water and started kicking. I didn't even know that she knew what to do since she had never even given it a chance. She soon added arms and was lifting her head to breathe and putting it back down and swimming progressively further and further down the pool without touching bottom. In a 5 minute window, she began swimming better than A! Within 30 minutes she was diving for rings on the bottom of the pool. From shrieking to swimming in 5 minutes? Yes. That was God. When I see moments like this in my little girl, it is so exciting to see her let God change her.
I have three little fish who all began this summer as wee fry. Each has taken their own course to where we are today, but what a treat to see how far they have come! (pictures taken last week, just 2 days after E started swimming)
D came to the lessons with a basic understanding of how to swim (we personally had tried to teach him a bit the year before), but he had one huge flaw. He hadn't mastered breathing. He could kick and perhaps even move the arms, but the minute he lifted his head out of the water to breathe, he sunk like a rock. If he could just swim with a snorkel mask and snorkel all the time, he might make it. David was by far the oldest child in the class but he didn't seem to notice. Within a lesson or two, he suddenly learned the technique of breathing while remaining afloat. By lesson 4 or 5, he found himself swimming so well one would wonder why he was in lessons at all.
Today (about a month later), David is a very competent swimmer and stands a real chance to be able to compete at good level on swim team if he could just get down his side breathing a bit better.
E...well...let's leave E for last.
A began swim lessons much like she approaches life. She dove straight in head first with little caution. She had no fear, even when perhaps she should have. Thankfully Miss Star was always at hand. Her favorite thing to do was to float "seastar" on her back with legs and arms extended. She was quite adept at this. She learned to swim underwater very well and hold her breath for extended periods of time. However, when she came up to breathe, she, like David, would sink. And unlike David, swim lessons did not iron this out for her. Probably because she came in not swimming at all.
However, the end of last week, she suddenly learned to breathe and keep kicking at the same time. She still requires a vigilant eye but she swims pretty well and if she doesn't have too far to go or tire out too quickly, she could make it to the side if thrown into deep water. She also can acquire ring(s) from the bottom of the pool.
OK, back to E. Her lessons went pretty well as expected. I joke that she flunked out of class lessons and private lessons. Well, it is sort of a joke. Not really. She did pretty well for the first 15 minutes of the first class at the YMCA. When she was asked to swim to the side, she started crying. And the sobbing got worse and worse. After class, the teacher encouraged me to withdraw her from group lessons and put her in private lessons. I talked to the Y swim director and she was so kind and helpful and offered to apply the group lesson price to two private lessons and we could go from there (although they normally require a min of 4 private lessons). I had been encouraged to try having her put her face under water in the tub and floating on her back in the tub. Both were successful at home. Private lesson number one. Ms. Lindsay worked with E and tried to convince her to put her head under water...float on her back...trust her at all. None of the above worked--despite bathtub success. Private lesson number 2 she got more belligerent and when asked to jump into the pool (Ms. Lindsay waiting) where she could easily stand, she was so scared that she refused. Ms. Lindsay kindly pulled her in. E jumped up in down in the water laughing but would get back on the side of the pool and refuse to jump in again. Irrational fear was ruling her life. We had been praying (along with many prayer warriors) about this but it was an area of her life she wasn't willing to commit to the Lord. We memorized Scripture, prayed together, prayed separately, talked it over, but nothing was helping. We were suggested to discontinue private lessons until she got over her fear.
Last week- Monday started out like every other pool time. She refused to get in the water any deeper than midway up her chest (and often not even that). She clung to me with all four appendages when pulled into deeper water. Shrieking began. Crying. And finally insisting she get out and sit on the side while her siblings swam. The lifeguards kept giving me funny looks. I knew only God could cure this little one of her fears, but she had to let Him and she wasn't willing to (we'd discussed it). Tuesday--I was watching A swimming and casually watching E out of the corner of my eye but nothing registered until I heard her say, "Watch me, Mommy! Watch me!" She was at the stairs but dunking herself under water completely (the largest source of swimming fear), each time remaining under a second or two longer than the previous time. I just looked at her with open mouth. I asked her if she wanted to try and swim. She nodded and stuck her head under and water and started kicking. I didn't even know that she knew what to do since she had never even given it a chance. She soon added arms and was lifting her head to breathe and putting it back down and swimming progressively further and further down the pool without touching bottom. In a 5 minute window, she began swimming better than A! Within 30 minutes she was diving for rings on the bottom of the pool. From shrieking to swimming in 5 minutes? Yes. That was God. When I see moments like this in my little girl, it is so exciting to see her let God change her.
I have three little fish who all began this summer as wee fry. Each has taken their own course to where we are today, but what a treat to see how far they have come! (pictures taken last week, just 2 days after E started swimming)
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