"Swimming"

The weather has been wonderful since the rain has stopped and the sun is bright all day long. Will and Annie have been enjoying spending the mornings 'swimming' in our backyard. Nate took these fun pictures - enjoy.

too many pictures!

I guess these pictures are especially for the grandparents, but I thought I'd post them anyway, although there are a lot. I like pictures. : )
"I don't know why some people can't touch their toes- it's easy!" : )Relaxing out in the shade after a long day of work - is Annie giving Pappa all the answers for his crossword puzzle?

On the fence...

Here are some pictures of the social activities I mentioned earlier:
Sewing night- Will fit right in with us ladies, crossing his legs while working on his cardboard sewing.
French Club with some middle schoolers

Baking Club with some high schoolers

Life these days.

What to say? It's been awhile since I wrote on here. I REALLY appreciate the comments you readers have taken time to add here and there. My days have been filled with taking care of my kids and planning for the next social thing I'm a part of. Today I taught Sunday School, although I'm still undecided about the value of this both for the students who come and for my family. At least it's done for a couple of weeks now. We have a short break coming up this weekend and the following weekend we won't have sunday school because there will be a chapel service that week (we made an arbitrary decision not to run sunday school on chapel sundays). Anyway, now for preparing for guitar lessons tomorrow, and Bible study and French club Tuesday. Wednesday will be free as the break will start that day. The other things I've chosen to be a part of this year are Baking Club (which is really great!), Sewing night (monday evenings of hanging out with other women to spend time working on our sewing projects and talking), and once a week I play in the student orchestra - it'd be better if I would practice more than once a week! It's been nice to have some things going on to get out and spend time with people.
Other than that, my mind has been on the problems in this country - the persecution of Christians and terrorist bombings, and the upcoming election in the US (actually i'm not thinking about it very much - i'm just glad to be far from TV and political bashes and I pray about what God has in store for our land). More pertinent to me are the 'news' items in my life- the accomplishment of putting up Annie gates in our house, organizing Annie clothes gone wild, bringing in the bukari (wood stove), cutting down candles to fit into my candle holders, fixing tea for my amazing and wonderful husband, FINALLY beginning to quilt Will's quilt, soaking an infection on my finger, sweeping up crumbs from under the table, and washing Will's sheets daily as he keeps wetting his bed due to seizures :( . yes, he has had more seizures. So we are planning a trip to Delhi in two weeks when we'll have more tests done and discuss medication options with the doctor. This is life right now. I'm also anxiously awaiting the arrival of several babies of friends and family - Just got word about Laura's new daughter! Next should be Mary, then Sarah, then Laura before the middle of October, then finally Sasha in a few months. How exciting! :)
So this is life right now. I've recently put up a Bible verse on our bathroom wall which has been a neat picture to me.
Isaiah 40:11 He [the Sovereign LORD] tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.
These days feel like God is carrying us close to His heart and gently leading us. I pray that He'll remind you of these pictures too and of who He wants to be in your life these days.

So thankful.

I just got off the phone with the doctor who saw Will in Delhi a month ago. Will had another seizure last week after 3 weeks of no seizures, and also had a rash appear on his face over a few days. We emailed with the doctor our concern that the medicine was perhaps not working and the rash was a side-effect that would need attention, and he requested that we bring Will down to Delhi again and have more tests done. In the past few days, however, the rash has completely disappeared, so we felt that the trip may not be necessary. We were encouraged to go anyway by a nurse here, and so I called the doctor to find out details about the trip- when he could see us, how many days it would take, what tests would be done etc. When I mentioned that the rash had disappeared, he said that we should continue with the same medicine and just wait. He said that if Will has another seizure, then we should get blood work done and consider a trip to Delhi and perhaps a change in medicine or dose. This response was such a blessing to us as we really didn't feel that the trip to Delhi would be beneficial at this time-- with no real sense of what we'd be trying to accomplish there and no sense of a definite problem with what we're currently doing. We are so thankful that the doctor has told us to just wait and see. It feels good to be in agreement with him about this and it is very nice to not have to go to Delhi right now.

happenings at our house.

I love this picture! What a doll. :)
But she's trouble - "Oh NO! You caught me racing to the toilet again! Maybe if I speed up I"ll get there before you catch me." I don't think she realizes that she's caught between us here.
"Hmmm this stuff is funny and doesn't feel very nice on my knees. I guess I'll have to crawl on my hands and feet."
(Check out the cool slippers.) "How come Will's picture is so much nicer than mine? How does he do that?!"
Show and tell. Evidently Annie doesn't have much to show or tell.

Annie concentrating on her big brother. "I can't wait until they give ME a pair of scissors!"

Annie's "mad bluebird" look. Some friends spent the afternoon admiring this goofy face Annie often puts on and likened it to an angry bluebird face. :)

"Yook! Yook-a-dis!" Will, the socks go on your feet, not your hands.

on being "just a mom"

In response to one of my cousin Laura's recent blog posts about how life is changing and she's finding herself to be "just a mom" surrounded by moms, I thought I'd jot about some of my own thoughts and feelings on this.
I, too, find myself to be, finally, just a mom. Maybe. It's just that in this setting, the past couple of years have made me realize that I thirst for other moms. I long for 'play dates' and to talk about kids. I long to fit into a group where there are others with similar joys and struggles off of whom I can bounce ideas, concerns, questions, throughts and dreams. Being 'just a mom' in my setting has been rough in some strange ways. I think that a lot of it is that it is coupled with feeling very young and inexperienced as well. I feel a bit insecure about having others watch Nate and me parent...-we don't know what we're doing! In this place, I am the only one in many crowds with a little rowdy kid who is 2 years old and acts like it. He doesn't obey or listen or sit quietly or answer politely or behave. He's just a little kid, but I sometimes dread social things because he's the only little kid. Besides that, I'm not very creative and I am finding that I hunger for ideas of what to do with my kids. How to play with them, how to teach them new things, how to pass the time in a fun way. I could learn a lot by watching and talking with other moms if there were some around.
Reading my cousin's thoughts, I'm remembering that I have now deliberately chosen to trade in my 'career' for being a 'stay-at-home-mom'. This reflects a huge change in my heart through the past 5 years. I used to find pride and joy in doing work that pleased people, meeting goals, and being 'someone'. But this has faded for me as I have been learning that God wants me to find my sole identity and purpose in Him, and that when I do that, He promises to fill me up. I find that deep inside God is asking me to love my children, to spend time with them and to raise them to love and know Him, and this year has been a welcome chance for me to do that. I have come to really love and enjoy being a mom - something I never thought I'd be or enjoy! The days can be lonely, however, and often I fail to be the loving, godly mom I want to be. This summer I found refreshment in meeting with other moms to talk about kids and being a mom. Probably my experience is a lot different than my cousin's who sounds like she feels a bit trapped by it all. I am still able to spend time with students, older couples, singles, young married couples - people of all different ages, cultures and religions. My life is rich, yet some days, I just long to hang out with a bunch of moms and discuss kids and motherhood - it might make me feel a little more normal. :)

Signs and Promises

"The whole Christian life can be summarized in our two questions: Who is Jesus? and, What does He want of me? All of us would do well to dedicate our lives to answering these two questions." - Jim Petersen

This quote was a helpful reminder for me recently. I think sometimes it helps to step back from life and reconsider what it's really about. One of my great joys these days is the Tuesday morning Bible Study. We're looking at God's promises and it has been so refreshing and encouraging to meet together and dig into God's Word. I ran into a verse that seemed to clearly express God's whole purpose in giving promises:

2 Peter 1:3,4 "His divine power has given us EVERYTHING we need for LIFE and GODLINESS through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us his very great and precious promises so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."

So far we've looked at God's promises of peace and of strength (which are closely related). We read through the story of Gideon which is absolutely amazing- a story I haven't thought about in too long. But the question arose- does God still give signs to us when we ask Him for them like He gave to Gideon? I'll think on it and try to remember when I've seen this in my life. If you have seen God giving a sign, I'd love to hear about it as well. I love remembering God's promises and how He's followed through.

"Not one of all the Lord's good promises to the house of Israel failed. Every one was fulfilled." Joshua 21:45