Dreams

On most mornings, we ask Luke what he dreamed about. He always says the same thing: "Trains." I don't think he has dreamt about trains every night of his life. I'm not sure he understands what dreams are, despite our attempts at explanations. Either that, or he doesn't remember his dreams.

One day after Anna woke up from her nap, I asked her if she dreamed. She immediately responded, "Yeah." Since that's what she responds to everything, I asked her what she dreamed about. She paused. "Ganddad." "You dreamed about Granddaddy?" "Yeah." Aw, that's nice. We were silent for awhile while I played with her hair. Then she said, "Ganddad fish." "You dreamed that Granddaddy was fishing?" "Yeah."

Hmmm. That was interesting. But the next time we asked what she dreamed about, she again responded, "Ganddad." "Were you and Granddad fishing?" "Yeah." "Were you out on the lake?" "Yeah." "Were you in the pool?" "Yeah." "Were you in the house?" "Yeah."

Again, hmmmm. :)

But the "dreaming" has continued. Yesterday morning, I asked what she dreamed about. She immediately answered, "Hop." "Hop" is one of her classmates at church. Most other people call her "Hope." :)

Then this morning, she volunteered her dream, before I even asked. Out of nowhere, she said, "I jeamed bout Miss Lindsey, Mama."

Wow. I don't know what is weirder: that my not-quite-two year old daughter remembers and relays her dreams to me, or that she remembers to make up what she dreamed about. Both possibilities baffle me:).

Project Life

Anyone who I talk to on even a casual basis probably knows that I am doing a scrapbook called Project 365 this year.  I even blogged about it here. 

And now, as the year is rapidly drawing to a close, I have to gush about how much I have LOVED Project 365.  It was work to take a picture every day, but it does get easier once you are in the habit.  I only missed five days, and each day, I was able to go back and take a picture of something representative of that day.  For instance, I forgot to take a picture one day when Anna was sick all day with a mystery fever.  Well, the next day, I just took a  picture of the Tylenol and Motrin that we had been alternating throughout the day.  And that was my picture for the day before. 

Project 365 is the easiest "scrapbooking" I have ever done.  In fact, I can hardly call it scrapbooking, though I do have a scrapbook to show for my efforts.  Here is what it looks like:

And here is a sample layout from a week in June:

The convenience of it is one of the things I love most about this scrapbook.  The other thing I love most is that it tells about our lives.  I mean, REALLY tells about our lives.  I have been a scrapbooker since high school.  I have scrapbooked wonderful baby books for the kids, and one "family scrapbook" that picks up where Luke's baby book ends and continues a year and half, up to where Project 365 starts.  I put a lot of time into that 2007-08 family scrapbook.  And now, when I look back, I realize that I still don't have a great idea of what our life was like then.  Oh, don't get me wrong.  I see all of the holidays and birthdays we celebrated.  I see the trips we took.  And there are some wonderful pictures from those events.  But I have no memory, and no record (other than my blog, of course) of day to day life during that time period.  And since I'm a historian, as opposed to an artist, that bothers me.  I want to record the blessings of my family's days.

THIS year, in 2009, I know what happened.  I know what life was like.  I know what parks we went to and when my kids got sick and when Gaga visited.  I know our schedule and when we struggled with nap times.  I know when Luke took swim lessons, and when he started preschool, and when he played soccer.  I know when we had good days and bad days.  I know how my kids changed every day.  I know about the phase where Luke always had to wave goodbye to whoever left, and about the time he walked into preschool with no shoes and the teacher had to call us.  I have pictures of his different train layouts.  I will remember the car carts we got at Publix and the cute dresses Anna wore to church and my first experience teaching 2-3 year olds at church.  I will remember because I have pictures.

I have pictures of every time we saw Uncle Mike before he died.  I have a picture of him and Luke holding the lizards they caught together, Luke's first lizard-catching experience.  I have a picture of him and Luke in the attic, where Uncle Mike had hidden a "treasure map" for him.  I have a picture of him lying on the floor with Luke stacking up blocks. 

I have a picture of every day, and that is amazing.

"Okay," you might be asking, "What does this have to do with me?"  Well, I'll tell you.  The woman who designed Project 365 has designed another scrapbook called, "Project Life."  It is very similar in concept except that it is much more flexible.  You can easily do the picture-a-day route with this new kit, OR you can be looser.  I must say, I am SO glad that I did Project 365, but I can't aim for a picture a day again.  It is just too much.  BUT I love that I am taking pictures regularly instead of just once or twice a month.  So I think I'm going to do a spread for the week, just like I did with P365, but this time, I might have all pictures from one or two days.  Just 7 pictures a week, not one pic a day.  Believe me, that is a BIG difference.  And it will help when I get a bunch of really cute photos one day, but nothing for the next two.  With P365, so many cute photos fell by the wayside, because I didn't have enough room.

Project Life just went on sale, and it is less than $40.  Since my finished Creative Memories scrapbooks have cost around $150 (once you buy the album, the pages, the protectors, and the yearly kit), I view that as an amazing deal.  Plus, you don't have to actually "scrap," and yet, you have a beautiful album at the end.

So that's my commercial for Project Life (and I didn't even get paid!).  You can read all about it for yourself here.

Lazy Saturday

Okay, this morning wasn't very lazy because Greg had a flag football game at 8:00 (8:00!!!  WHAT were they thinking?!), and Luke had a soccer game at 9:00.  But now that they are over, we have a totally clear day.  The teen's soccer game that Greg was supposed to go to was rescheduled for last night, so now we have total freedom.  And I think we are going to putter it away at home:).  As an example of our puttering, Greg took some pictures of the kids sharing Anna's rocking chair.  The room is a mess, and Luke is wearing the remnants of his soccer uniform (having ditched the jersey and socks), but the faces are priceless:

The standard, "Cheese."  With Project 365, my kids are so very used to getting their picture taken.  Can you feel their enthusiasm?  Well, Greg decided to try to make them laugh.  See if you can guess what he did:

Man of the House

With youth ministry, Greg is gone many evenings around dinner and bath time.  Apparently, Luke has noticed the absence of a strong male figure in the house at those times and has decided to stand in the gap:).  The benefit is that Anna always has two parents around, even when Greg's not here!

For instance, last night at dinner, Anna was sitting across from me, and Luke was sitting between us at our round table.  Anna dropped her fork on the ground, and I sighed.  "It's okay!  I'll get it" Luke said immediately.  "Well," I responded, "I'm going to get her a clean one, because I don't want her eating off the floor."  "Okay, I'll get her one from the drawer," Luke volunteered.  Then he turned to Anna, and in his best parent voice said, "Anna, I'm only getting you one other fork, so don't drop it.  If you drop this one...[he thought about possible consequences]...you'll have to eat with a spoon!"  "Yeah!"  Anna dutifully responded.

So Luke got up and got her a fork.  A few minutes later, it went clanging to the ground.  Luke looked at me, exasperated.  He sighed. "I'm getting her a spoon."

Later that night in the bath tub, Anna bonked him on the head with a drumstick (musical bath toys...who knew?).  It wasn't a very hard hit, but Luke matter-of-factly took the drumstick from her and lightly bonked her back.  Then he ducked down to make eye contact and said, "Do you see how that feels, Anna?  That's what you did to me.  Don't do that--it hurts!"  (I may or may not be known to employ that tactic sometimes with the kids, especially when Luke does something to Anna.)  He explained it all very patiently and clearly, and Anna wasn't a bit bothered.

Then, when I was rocking Anna, Luke brought her a doll and a plastic toy.  I let Anna keep the doll, but handed Luke back the plastic toy, explaining that I didn't want her to take it in the crib with her.  "Oh," he said, frowning thoughtfully, "I was going to let her have it in the crib."  Well, thanks, Dad, but I'll have to overrule you on this one:).

Along those lines, a couple weeks ago, I gave Luke an apple in the car and then ran back in to get the kids some water.  When I came back out, Luke informed me that "I am turning my ears off to 'apple'."  Turning our ears off to whining or to certain requests is another technique Greg and I employ on occasion.  "Oh, really?"  I asked.  "Why?"  He responded, "Because Anna keeps saying, "Apple!  Apple!"  He looked at me, flustered.  "I think she thinks that this is her apple!"  So then, of course, I had to run back in and slice Anna an apple:).

Lucky Anna.  Not every kid has three parents at home!

Wanna See Something Cool?

So I've been reading this blog for awhile called, "Stuff Christians Like." It is written by a copywriter in Atlanta named Jon Acuff. It is a silly, funny satirical blog about Christian life. He has entries on different phenomena that Christians like, such as "Singing the first and third verses of hymns," "The Crock Pot: a love letter," "Donating junk to church," "Willow Tree figures," you get the picture.

Obviously, the blog attracts long time Christians and church-goers that appreciate a little sarcastic humor.

Every so often, he does serious blogs, and on Tuesday, he wrote this post about a comment his six year old daughter had made awhile back upon seeing a picture of a starving child. She looked at her dad and said, "But that's not real, right? That's just pretend." He said how that was like a punch in the gut to him, and had led him to talk to Samaritan's Purse about ways to use his blog to help people. Together, they decided to try to raise $30,000 on his blog by December 31, which Samaritan's Purse would use to build a kindergarten in Vietnam. He recognized how crazy that sounded, and that it was something he had never come close to attempting, but he really thought it was the right thing to do.

Because I'm a bad person, when I read that, I thought, "Yeah, right. There is no way the readers of this blog are going to donate that much money." A bunch of long term, "seen it all" church goers who can laugh and make fun of our own ridiculousness so easily just do not seem the type to me to open up their wallets when a blog writer starts asking for money.

Well, God gave everyone a big wake up call with that blog. He raised the $30,000.

In 18 hours.

When I checked the blog the next morning, I was amazed. Since then, the Atlanta Journal Constitution has written about it, and Jon and co. are now trying to build two kindergartens instead.

If you want an encouraging experience or a reminder that God is awesome today, I urge you to read the following:

1. The blog where he asked for the money.
2. The blog that evening after they had raised $24,000. Especially read the comments that follow the total up to $30,000. It blew everyone away.
3. The article in the Atlanta-Journal Constitution about it.
4. Jon's follow-up blog after they reached the goal. He asks people to finish the phrase, "God is..."

The answer that immediately came to mind is, "God is bigger."

He's so much bigger than my mind can grasp!

Love Your Enemies

A few days ago, our family was driving to the mall. I have no idea what we were talking about, but it made sense in context when Greg said, "Kids are weird. I remember how in kindergarten, Jason West didn't like me, and I didn't like him. But then when I got to first grade, he decided we were best friends." He paused. "That actually happened to me a lot, where someone who didn't like me decided all of a sudden that they did, for no reason." He continued: "But he really didn't like me at all in kindergarten. He was my enemy. I know b/c I prayed for him every week in Sunday school because we were supposed to pray for our enemies."

At this point, I asked incredulously, "You prayed for your enemies in kindergarten?" "Yep!" Greg responded, smiling. "I prayed for him every week. It's weird, because my mom was my Sunday school teacher, and I don't know if she gave a lesson on it one time or what. I don't know if she asked who our enemies were, or if I even prayed it out loud or not. I wonder what she thought of her five year old son having enemies, or if I even told her or just thought it. But I prayed for him every week."

"Wow, Greg," I said, "Don't you think that might have something to do with why he started liking you and why you became good friends? That might have been God answering your prayer!" "Yeah, I think it was," he agreed.

"Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you."

Such crazy words that it almost doesn't make sense to teach them to children. And yet, I must have learned it, too. I know that I did because of an experience that stuck in my head. It was when I was in fourth grade, during the war in Kuwait. It was Christmas time, and we were each supposed to write a Christmas card for a soldier. I had no idea what to write. The idea of being stuck in a desert at war during Christmas, far away from your home and your family, seemed unbelievably awful to me. It seemed like everything I could think of to write would only make the feelings worse. Out of nowhere, I knew exactly what I should write. It all came to me so quickly. So I wrote a poem called, "A Prayer for Kuwait." I would have never even remembered that incident, were it not for the fact that my mom's friend from church volunteered in the school office. One Sunday shortly afterward, she came to my mom with a dramatic story of how the ladies in the office were looking through the cards, and they all read mine and passed it around and cried. When Mrs. Cathy saw that it was mine, she photocopied it and gave a copy to my mom at church. And then my mom read it and cried. To this day, I have no idea why it was so tear-evoking. It was only eight lines long, and what sticks out in my head were the four in the middle. Ahem,

"And please be with Saddam Hussein
Even though he's to blame.
Help him to take just a pause
And think of all the trouble he's caused."

Okay, T.S. Eliot it's not (maybe they were crying over that rhyme scheme. Or the fact that I'm pretty sure I spelled Hussein, "Husane." Or the extremely lame bell I drew on the front. Really, who can tell with women?:)).

Besides that, I don't think Hussein ever took that pause....

The point is, I remember that and know that someone taught me that we should love and pray for our enemies. (I'm assuming it was my parents.) I remember being worried when I wrote the card that the soldier would think my poem was stupid, but I was not worried that it was the wrong thing to say. I remember being sure it was the right thing.

And now, I've got to figure out how to teach my children that. It's one thing to pray for our enemies. It's even harder to love them when they're around. It was hard recently when a child hit Luke more than once, called him "Poopie," and threw Luke's own trains at him (adding insult to injury:)). It was hard to know how to instruct Luke on how to respond, when my own first instinct was, "Let's beat him up together, me and you." (Okay, just kidding. But my first instinct was NOT, "You know, Luke? He just needs love.") I stumbled through the experience, and Greg and I have been talking about it a lot since then. We still aren't sure exactly what to teach him.

But I did know what to do at naptime. I asked, "Luke, did you have a good day?" "Yes." "Was anyone mean to you today?" "Yes, so-and-so was." "Yeah, he was really mean, wasn't he? You did a good job with him. And, you know, Jesus says to love your enemies and pray for the people who are mean to you. So why don't we pray for so-and-so now?"

And we did. It was a small step, but a step in the right direction. Now, to figure out what to teach him for next time. Any ideas?

Do You Think She Knows Her Daddy Loves Her?

I don't know if you can tell a 22-month old's love language with any degree of certainty, but I would say that Anna's is physical touch.  Luke's love language is not physical touch.  But unlike Luke, Anna is a complete cuddler.  I try to cuddle with Luke, and unless he is in the right mood, he'll have none of it.  But Anna could snuggle all day long. 

Which is why I am so grateful that she has a father who gives her all the hugs she needs.  Like today at Luke's soccer game:

I am so, so thankful that affection is as natural to Greg as breathing.  I try to fill Anna up with love and affection, but I know how important it is that she get that from her father, as well.  She is so blessed to have such a great dad.

Luke's soccer game itself was a different story entirely.  Three year olds and soccer...what were we thinking??  But at least he had fun today.  Wasn't into the game at all, but he had fun:).  That's what counts, I guess!

My Fashionistas

Luke definitely has his opinions on fashion.  Mainly, he has one rigorously applied theory:  his "tops" and "bottoms" must match.  Not complement.  MATCH.  This summer he went through a phase where he adored plaid on plaid.  Couldn't get enough of it.  Nowadays, he prefers a more monotone tableau:  navy t-shirt with navy pants, for example.  A couple days ago, he dressed himself in a long sleeved black Halloween shirt (on Nov. 3), black cords (too tight and short, but he insisted), and because he HAD to have shoes and socks to go outside, white socks with navy crocs.  Excellent.  He was SO proud of his outfit, and since we were going to be home all day, I let it go.  Midway through the day, he couldn't locate his crocs, and so they were replaced with bright green rain boots.  Sometimes fashion theory is displaced by desire for convenience.

Yesterday morning before preschool, he also proudly got himself dressed, and he even shook up his ideology.  He had to change, but I thought it was funny.  And since some friends from church (two sisters and a sis-in-law) have started a fashion blog, I thought I would showcase his (and Anna's) "looks" as an homage.  This one I call:

Individuality, by Luke

I tried to get Luke to provide some commentary on his choices.  When asked why he put his Focal Point shirt on backwards, he replied, "This is the front."  When questioned on the bold choice of pastel seer sucker shorts on a cool fall morning, he quickly became trapped in his own circular logic:  "These are engineer shorts because I'm the engineer...so these are my engineer shorts...and I'm the engineer.  So I have to wear these." 

black t-shirt--Grandaddy's landscaping company, free

striped shorts--part of Easter outfit from Gaga, free

Luke isn't the only fashion plate in the Kirby household.  The beauty of Anna is that she loves all things girly, but has not yet developed opinions on what outfit to wear (key word:  yet).  Unfortunately for Anna, her mother has no manual skills to sew with and not so much money to buy tons of clothes.  Fortunately for Anna, she has many hand-made's from Gaga and Mrs. Nancy at church, and she has many, many hand-me-downs from others.  Here is a prime example.  This fashion entry I call:

Cuteness, by Anna

Mrs. Nancy from church made the skirt and headband for Anna last week out of my mom's favorite fabric, Kaffe Fassett.  I fell in love with them, but I was a little worried that I wouldn't have anything to go with them.  She wore a "dressy" white onesie with it once, but the weather was cooling down.  Then, lo and behold, Anna got a new shipment of hand-me-downs from a little girl in Macon, and this turtleneck and sweater were included.  I was amazed at how well they matched and SO glad that Anna could wear the skirt and headband in cooler weather.

Skirt and headband--handmade by Nancy Tucker, free

Sweater, turtleneck, and tights--hand-me-downs from Nyna Grace, free

Shoes--hand-me-downs from either Nyna Grace or Calleigh, free

Wow, I love how "free" is the common thread between both these outfits.  We are so blessed by loving church family, both here and in Macon.  They keep our kids stylin'.:)