Fresh

Spring is here- and so are beautiful flowers! I spied a few in our backyard! All this new fresh life makes me feel alive & revitalized!
I am linking up to:

Playing Dead....

This afternoon, I walked into the living room to this sight. Awww..... the imagination of a child!

The Tale of Solomon & the Bike......

Our oldest son Solomon is very much like me. He does things in his time, with a bit of a stubborn streak. He is going to be 8 years old mid-June, and Peter & I have tried for 3 years to teach him how to ride a two wheeler. We have been completely unsuccessful. It has caused many fights & tears, and this year I decided it just isn't worth it. I have given my resignation as a bike trainer, and completely shut my mouth. I contemplated not even buying him a bike this year (we sold his old one in Colorado), but in April we found a bike without training wheels for $7 at a resale shop. WE took the bike home, stuck it on our front porch and Peter & I didn't talk about it. One of the tires needed to be pumped up, and we didn't have a pump. So it sat for a week. I think the anticipation was building for Solomon, because as soon as the bike was ready he jumped on.

Over the time period of three weeks, Solomon taught himself how to ride a bike. In fact, my birthday present from him this year was watching him riding his bike without falling! It was amazing! And so good to see the look of accomplishment on his face- it was priceless. He is now mastering the skill of braking, and not going so far down the block that I can't see him. Boundaries, boundaries, boundaries- once they start, they don't stop.

Now I am praying that teaching him to drive a car doesn't take 3 years. It's a good thing he is only 8.

Stream of Consciousness

I was looking through my pictures this morning- and the one above really struck me. Mainly because a little over 8 years ago none of these beautiful smiling faces were part of our family. In all reality they weren't even an idea in my head.
When I went off to college in 1998, my belief was I would go through school, find a job and work for the rest of my life. I didn't fathom getting married, let alone have 4 children by the time I was 28. Bottom line I knew nothing of what was to happen in the coming years. I thought I did, but I was clueless.
So here I am at the ripe old age of 30 looking back at God's grace in my life. There is no one like the Lord. He is mighty with compassion, loving when we don't deserve it, - He knit together 7 little lives in my womb, and chose to take 3 of them home to Him. 4 others He gave us the privilege of raising to the best of our ability, and rely on Him for the rest. He doesn't desert you- He is the keeper of promise. He sacrificed His son for all of us- so that we could go home to Him one day and experience the perfection of His presence. And in the meantime we enjoy His beautiful creation & fellowship with others. I don't want to take a minute of my time for granted, but I know that I will. And when I do I can count on Him to forgive me, and lead me back to where I belong. In His glory.
These are my thoughts right now, nothing magnificent and beautiful but true.

$1 for ice cream!!! I am there!

So the last couple weeks at about 7 PM we hear the charming tunes of the ice cream truck coming down our street. The ice cream truck is the icon of summer, you know the season is here when you hear little kids screams of delight or despair depending on their parents pocketbooks.
I am a professed no cash carrier. I never have it, and normally neither does Peter. And honestly most of the time when the truck goes by we haven't even eaten dinner yet. So our kids odds of a cold treat is minimal at best. But last night was a different story......

Right after we ate, we went outside for some bike/scooter riding and that is when we heard the Pied Piper tune. Solomon & Zeke start to jump up and down simultaneous with Peter pulling cash out of his pocket. Everyone's eyes light up- you would think we had never eaten ice cream in our lives! Then a minute and a half later we couldn't figure out if the ice cream truck was driving down our street or the next. Terror seizes all of us, until Peter reassures us that yes, the truck is on our street! Jack pot!! The truck comes, and the kids expect to all share 2 ice cream treats, because normally they are expensive. But this is a magical, beautiful ice cream truck that has WHAT!!!! A DOLLAR MENU!!! Since when did they start to do that!! It is amazing and makes us customers for life!!! Can you get any better than ice cream for $1!!!!!!

After each of our older children makes his/her choice and the truck drives away, Peter goes nuts. He realizes he could have just bought a dreamsicle for himself- but the truck is gone!! So he proceeds to stare Mary's dreamsicle down for the entire 15 melty minutes it took her to eat it. She loved the dreamsicle and probably all the attention that she was getting from Daddy. But all in all it was a wonderful 30 minute time period- these are the things that memories of made of. But I have a feeling that next time Peter will be prepared, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if he walks around with a dollar bill in his pockets at all times from now on, you know just in case. It is the start of a happy Summer!!!!!

Ella the Rockstar.....

This is Zeke when he is sick....

Zeke is our very vivacious, energetic 5 year old. I don't believe that he knows how to stop moving. It is just not in his genes- he can't sit still ever. When he was 18 mos. old he had closed heart surgery. Typically you are supposed to be in the hospital for a week, but Zeke was released in 4 days. The second day we were home, he climbed onto our dining room table grabbed the chandelier and swung as far as he could. I looked up and there he was, my little Tarzan with all his fresh stitches pulling with the motion. Yikes! Needless to say- he is hard to keep up with.

Saturday afternoon Zeke came down with a fever, and I just wanted to give you a look at what he is like when he is ill. It is pretty hard to tell the difference between a sick day, and a well day. Oh well- I'll do the best that I can, and hopefully we won't have to make too many trips to the hospital as the boy gets older.