All in a Day's Work

What I love about being a stay-at-home mom is that in one day, you can do "productive" stuff, like:

--change and wash the sheets

--fold laundry

--clean and vacuum the upstairs

--reorganize a cabinet and a closet

--go out to dinner and shopping with your teen small group

--read some of a wonderful biography

And in that same day, you also get to:

--work lots of puzzles

--play with moon sand

--watch several short videos of ibexes and anteaters (based on a query from one of our puzzles, which features several obscure animals. This was probably the highlight of the day. Moms, any time your kid is interested in a particular animal, go to arkive.org. They have great video footage of what appears to be every animal in the world).

--blow bubbles

--have a "meal" of wooden cupcakes in a playhouse

--have a two hour play- and lunch date with friends

--enjoy lots of tickling, kisses, and rubbing noses

Any day with puzzles, moon sand, bubbles, and crazy-looking animals is a good day, in my book. And I love that my life as a stay-at-home mom can include deep relationships with friends, wonderful time with my kids, my own historical education, and blowing bubbles. Now, that's a balanced life:).

Madness and Milestones in Macon

We have been having a great time this week at my parents’ house in Macon.  The kids and I got in town on Wednesday, and then on Thursday, Greg and some Jr. Highers stopped through on the way to Impact.  We all had a blast swimming, jetskiing, jumping off our friends’ dock, and skiing.

Greg and the kids headed up to Nashville on Friday, while we enjoyed another day in the pool and on the lake.  Then on Saturday, Luke turned four.  We celebrated by going to see Toy Story 3 in 3D:

We all loved the movie, even though there was one scary part where Luke announced that it was time to go home.  We assured him that all the toys would be okay, and we made it through:).  Mom and I both cried at the end, though!  We felt like such dorks!

When we got home, we went swimming again.  Luke had been telling me for weeks that he was going to go under the water and learn how to swim when he turned four.  It was an avoidance tactic that he used whenever I would try to get him to go under in our neighborhood pool.  However, the day before we left for Gaga’s house, he started holding his nose, shutting his eyes tight, and putting his face in the water for about 1/2 a second with water wings on.  So imagine my shock when my parents called me outside on Saturday to see the child swimming!

He had been going under more and more at Gaga’s, and even getting things off the bottom of the pool, but still, I was floored!  Not to be outdone, my 2 1/2 year old then decided that she, too, was ready to take the plunge:

Anna is truly not ready to really swim because she can’t touch the bottom, she can’t really come up once she goes under, and she has no sense:).  She is just two, after all!  At one point, I stood her on the stairs and firmly warned her not to try to swim to anyone unless they were looking.  She beamed and nodded at me and then promptly plunged into the great blue yonder, aiming for Gaga, who was about ten feet away with her back turned.  And that would have been the last of Anna, had I not been right there.  So she generally keeps her water wings on, though she now loves to swim with her face under water, eyes big as saucers and with a big grin on her face.

Luke, on the other hand, is pretty legit.  He has now jumped off the diving board twice without water wings and swam to the side (with me right beside him); he has swam from the shallow end to the end of the deep end; and he can both swim under water and doggie paddle.  I am soooo proud of him.  In fact, I have spent much of these last few days just staring at him in wonder and marveling at the fact that my little baby is FOUR.

Clearly, we have all been having a great time at my parents’ house.  As far as I’m concerned, this is the way to spend the summer.  And I’m pretty sure my kids agree with me!

My Little Hottie

I mentioned in Luke's birthday post that Anna loves the heat.  And it is true. She would play outside all day in 100 degree weather if I would let her.  In short, she is crazy.  However, she is not certainly not oblivious to the heat.  On the contrary, little Anna is a pretty prodigious sweat-er:).  But even with a red face and sweaty hair, she still looks gorgeous to me...   

After playing by the pond with Granddaddy, she did enjoy some time with Gaga in the cool house:).

Luke's 4th Birthday Party

If Impact keeps being scheduled at the same time each year, and I have no reason to believe that it won't, then we will always be in either Macon, GA, or Nashville, TN, for Luke's birthday. For the past two years, that has been great, because my parents have thrown elaborate birthday bashes for him. He is getting to the age, though, where he has actual "friends," and so this year, we wanted to have a party for him at home with his buddies. Plus, Greg would get to be there, which was a huge added bonus.

I wanted it to be big and fun, but I also wanted to save money, so I started planning way in advance, and I decided to make my own cake. Now, I think we all know that I am no Martha Stewart, and while I can bake a cake, I wanted to do a fancy "Buzz Lightyear" cake, since he was having a Toy Story party. I bought one of those special cake molds, and on the day before his party, I tackled the project, armed with my trusty inspirational coffee mug

and my neighbor, Molly.

Once the cake cooled, we began decorating, and three and a half hours later, we did indeed have victory:

Yes, be impressed:). I won't show you the picture of how it was supposed to look, or you probably wouldn't be as impressed! But I will tell you that a lot of Crisco was involved in this undertaking.

Anyway, the next day, we had Luke's party:

Two of Luke's "grandparents" from church were there.

More friends, each looking thrilled in their own special way.

Time for cake! Luke is growing wary of the crowd closing in, but he warms up to it.

Most people enjoyed their cake and ice cream inside, out of the blazing heat, but Anna and Granddaddy are both fans of summer scorchers (crazy people, I tell you). Plus, they both enjoy some alone time, away from the crowds.

After cake and ice cream, it was time for presents.

Luke is wearing his new Buzz Lightyear jet pack and wristband. The jet pack has wings that pop open whenever you push the button on front, and it then says some of Buzz's phrases. What cracked us up was that every time it said, "To infinity and beyond," Luke would automatically jump and pretend to take flight. It was like a Pavlonian response. No matter what he was doing, he would stop everything and "take flight" when he heard that catchphrase.

Do you sense a theme? When I told my mom about my Buzz Lightyear party invitations, she told me not to put Buzz on them b/c then, everyone would get him Toy Story stuff. I said that it didn't matter if they did b/c he loves Toy Story. Plus, I thought that that wasn't true; they wouldn't all get him TS stuff. Yeah, so I was totally wrong about that. Luke, of course, absolutely loved it. (And though my mom was initially wary of TS stuff, once she realized how much Luke loved the movies, she apparently went to the TS aisle at Toys R Us and said, "I'll take it." In her own words, she "might have gone a little overboard" :).)

Hannah and Elijah are watching a slide show that Greg had made Luke, which was playing throughout the party. He wants to make a slide show of each child each year to play at their birthday parties. He's such a good dad!

Jesse, John Paul, and Jared.

Erica and Jonah.

Courtney and baby Joshua (oh, those cheeks...)

After unwrapping his presents, Luke took it upon himself to start passing out the goody bags to his friends. I don't know what put that idea into his head, but he was very dedicated to his task.

At the end of the evening, I was exhausted, but also so, so grateful. I was grateful for all the wonderful friends and family who surround us and show God's love to us in so many ways. And I was grateful for my precious, precious son, who is (almost) four. I may spoil my children just a bit:), but it in no way compares to the way that God has spoiled me by giving me those two amazing, life-changing gifts.

On Love

When I think of entering heaven, I picture waking up in a field.

I have no idea where I got that image from, and I think it is a fairly recent development, but I definitely have clear visions of "coming to" in a sloping meadow surrounded by rolling hills and little yellow flowers and a bright blue sky with a light breeze. (Wow, writing it all out sounds a lot more detailed than it is in my mind.) And in my mind's eye, the way I put together that I'm dead is that Michael is sitting there grinning at me.

And it is Michael, jubilant Michael, that I want to see. And now, it is also Uncle Rob, walking proudly toward me, beaming from ear to ear.

And that strikes me as a bit odd. I mean, shouldn't I want to see...um...God? The Bible doesn't even make it explicitly clear that heaven is a big reunion with all of our loved ones. After all, Jesus says that people are not married in heaven. Who's to say that we even know each other? So...it seems a bit misguided that my defining pictures of heaven are of people I might not even see, rather than the God who created me.

But here is my new conclusion to that conundrum: I believe that in picturing the people I loved most on this earth, I am picturing the clearest conception of God that I have.

For some time now, I have struggled to figure out how my natural love for my family fits in to Jesus' admonitions to hate your father and mother and His praise for those who leave their families to follow Him. I just haven't been able to see how my familial love and His words are compatible. But I think I am beginning to understand.

I believe that storge love, the Greek word for love of family, is a gift that God gives us in order that everyone might see His face. Storge love is supposed to be completely natural, and the fact that it often isn't speaks to our depravity. Because that love is a gift. And the reason that God gives us a degree of natural love is because that is His essence. He exists in love. In Matthew 25, Jesus tells the people that when they served "the least of these" in love, they were serving Him. What I get from that is when we love people actively, we meet God in them. Thus, actively loving our families allows us to see God. And that's why when I picture reunion with God, my clearest picture is my brother.

The beauty of Christianity is that storge love is only a starting point. As amazing and powerful as it is, it is merely a doorway into agape love, which is unconditional love for everyone. Storge is merely the deposit that shows us what love can be. Agape breaks that amazing love out of the relatively narrow confines of blood relations and spreads it to the world. The more we embrace agape love in our lives, the more we see the face of God. The more we agape, the more we know God and experience God. The more we agape, the more we live life to the fullest.

And that's how I reconcile my deep, abiding love for my family with Jesus' call to serve everyone. We serve others, not at the expense of our family, but in addition to our family. Jesus' words about hating/leaving our family are just a strong way of warning us not to stop at storge love, but to pursue agape. Storge love is like the talent that the king gave his followers, in Jesus' parable. Agape love is how we multiply that talent. When we neglect agape for the sake of storge, we misuse God's gift to us.

This line of thought excites me. It not only helps me to understand the relationship b/t my love for my family and my love for others, it also shows me how that love is one of the most powerful ways to know and to see God.

Life and Death

My children are not afraid of death.

When the situation calls for it, I will even tell them how certain actions will result in their own death.  For instance, a few weeks ago, I responded to Luke's question of why he could not engage in some ridiculously dangerous behavior with, "Because I want you to go to heaven, but I don't want you to go today.  And if you do that, you will die and go to heaven."  A friend was present at the time and remarked, "I could never say that to my daughter.  It would terrify her."  I totally understand that sentiment, but the truth is, my kids are unfazed by death.  I'm pretty sure it is because death has been a part of their lives for so long.  As a result, their little heavens are starting to get pretty populated.

It all started, of course, when my brother died last March.  They barely grasped it at the time, but their awareness has been steadily growing, mainly b/c Uncle Mike is still such a part of their lives.  Uncle Mike may be dead, but we still play with the toys he gave us.  We still see his pictures around the house and on Gaga's keychain and on her car.  We still tell funny stories about Uncle Mike and accidentally send him balloons sometimes (I know that telling my kids that helium balloons go up to heaven is not the most theologically responsible approach to the situation.  Sue me:)).

Then, this March, Greg's grandfather died, and we traveled to North Carolina for the funeral.  And most recently, Greg's Uncle Rob passed away, and we drove to Alabama for that funeral.

Uncle Rob was born with cerebral palsy, and thus, even though he exhibited undeniable signs of impressive mental acuity, his body stubbornly refused to communicate with his mind.  Thus, Rob could not walk or talk or achieve very much functionality at all throughout his life.  I think that that combination of agile mind and powerless body would have driven me absolutely insane, but the one thing that defined Uncle Rob was his joy.  Truly, he was one of the most happy and content people I have ever met.  The story I keep thinking of is one that Greg told at the funeral.  When Greg was 12 or 13, he was finally old enough to help Uncle Rob when he visited with Grandma.  One morning, Greg and Grandma were alone at the house with Rob, and it was their job to load him in the car.  Much to Greg's horror, he ended up dropping Uncle Rob on the floor of the garage.  Greg said it took him and Grandma about ten minutes to get Rob off the floor, because Rob could not stop laughing.  While Greg and Grandma were both horrified by the misstep, Rob found the whole thing to be hilarious.  That was Uncle Rob.

Last week, I told Luke that Uncle Rob was very sick and that he might go to heaven soon.  Later, I heard Luke talking to Gaga on the phone.  He said, "Uncle Rob is sick, sick, sick."  Then, in his most earnest three-year-old voice, he gently informed her, "He might die." 

Uncle Rob did die, in the wee hours of Sunday morning, June 6, 2010.  Our family was in North Carolina, at a retreat for the leaders of our youth group.  During a pause in the morning busyness, I leaned over and whispered to Luke, who was sitting by me on the couch, that Uncle Rob had gone to heaven last night.  We talked about how that was good for Uncle Rob b/c now he would no longer need a wheelchair or his Touchtalker.  Now, he could walk and run and talk just like we could.  We talked about how we were very happy for Uncle Rob, but how we were still sad for the people down here who loved him.

And that's why I think that my children aren't afraid of death.  They realize that heaven is a happy place, a wonderful place.  One thing held in common by their three relatives who have died is that heaven provided a refuge and respite for them.  None of these three men died suddenly in the midst of health and happiness.  No, they all suffered before they died, to the point where the beauty and superiority of heaven for them could be seen even by those of us who cling to life. 

Because of their deaths, death has become a part of our lives.  And I don't mean that in a morbid way.  Death is a natural part of life, and when we try to shield ourselves from it, we are really trying to shield ourselves from our own mortality, which is not a healthy way to live.  Thinking about heaven and the big picture helps me to realize that my life is just a breath.  It helps me to put my actions into perspective and to realize that I want to live my little vapor of life to the full.  This past year and a half, it has been a lot harder to get swamped by the mundane.  It has been a lot harder to just go through the motions.  Instead, I have felt a profound gratitude for each day, coupled with a strong desire to live every moment for God.  And that makes me not afraid of death, either.

Instead, it makes me thankful for a God who ends our suffering and gives rest to the weariest among us. 

And it makes me thankful for a God who uses the death around us to teach us how to live.

Gaga's Visit

The day Candi left, Gaga arrived, and she came bearing crafts.

She had been feverishly preparing for Camp Canaan the week before, so she brought some of her gear to practice on the children:).  They had stayed with her for a couple days earlier in the month and had spent much quality time at the Craft Cabin on our church's property, so she knew they would love to paint bird houses.

Anna was an especially hard worker, and for a little while, she was partial to this face:

I guess it's the face of concentration?  Anyway, they painted several bird boxes and made two bird feeders out of giant pinecones, peanut butter, birdseed.  Their creations have been a hit with the local wildlife.  The squirrels went crazy over the bird feeders, quickly licking the first clean, and moving on to the second.  Plus, a bluebird took up residence in Luke's orange house within a day of his hanging it on the fence.  Almost anytime we look out, we can see the bluebird flying in or out, with a bunch of pine straw in its mouth.  Needless to say, the children have enjoyed the view from our back windows recently.

Other than crafting, we went swimming, went out to eat way too many times:), and generally just had fun with Gaga.  One evening after dinner, Gaga taught them how to race in the front yard:

They both loved racing, but Anna had two issues.  One, she is the hip-swingin'est child I have ever seen!  She simply flounces across the yard; those hips are going to knock her over one day!:)  Secondly, she sometimes felt the need to take a detour to jump on Daddy:

They are buddies:).

Gaga left on Saturday afternoon to go home, leaving us all in various forms of withdrawal.  Thankfully, we will see her again in just a couple of weeks for Luke's birthday party!

Candi's Visit, Part 2

On Sunday morning, we went to church, where Candi got the joy and privilege of sitting in on a modesty talk that I gave to the teen girls during Sunday school.  Always fun!

Sunday evening was the series finale of LOST...and we may have had a LOST party.  Nothing much, just two couples who are good friends and who are as obsessed with the show as we are.  We had ham and pineapple pizza, in honor the show being filmed in Hawaii, and made S'more pizza for dessert, because "black" and "white" are big themes of the show.  No, we aren't nerds.  We are very cool people, in fact. 

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of our awesomeness.  I may have been just a little too excited about LOST.  And the finale was great.  I laughed, I cried, I rejoiced at the huge Jesus statue and the image of Christian Shephard at the show's end.  Good times.

But I digress.  This post is about Candi's visit, and unfortunately, Candi doesn't watch LOST.  I probably should have confirmed that before I planned a LOST party.  It also didn't help that the finale was 2 1/2 hours long.

But Candi loves me, and she also loves ham and pineapple pizza, so it was okay:).

On Monday, we went to the beach, by way of Andolini's Pizza.

You probably shouldn't take pictures during prayers, but this was too cute to resist.  We also had ham and pineapple pizza for the second day in a row, which signifies a wonderful life.  Then, it was off to the beach!

The following pictures are monumental, because they capture a rare time when Luke touched the ocean water without screaming like a banshee:

Unfortunately, terror soon overwhelmed him, causing him to royally flip out.  This all culminated in a scene where I sat down at the depth you see above and held him in my lap while he acted like he was being murdered.  Because I am such a loving, understanding mom, I told him that we were not moving until he calmed down.  I used every bit of logical reasoning I could think of.  We even reviewed and discussed his memory verse for that week ("God is with you wherever you go.")  Finally, he suppressed his panic long enough to say cheerily, "I'm done!"  "Okay, Luke, are you still scared?" I asked.  "Yes!" he answered with a bizarrely false glee.  Poor thing.  I finally set him free, and he promptly dropped the facade and ran, screaming back to his towel.

We've got to work on that.

Also, Anna got sunscreen in her eyes, and melted down as well.  I ended up taking her up to the pier and rocking her to sleep.  Thankfully, Candi enjoyed the ocean more than my children did, and we ended up having a nice visit. 

On Tuesday morning, I dropped her off and the airport, and on Tuesday afternoon, Gaga came in town!  More on that in the next blog:).