On Your 5th Birthday April 29, 2009

Dear Nolan,

I am writing this for your 5th birthday.  You can’t understand why five is so hard for me.  Five is the end of preschool and the beginning of a whole new part of your life.  You are growing up before my eyes and there are just some things I want to record before the moments slip past.

I love to hear your little raspy, baby-man voice in the morning, requesting either “Panny-cakes,” or “Cim-a-nem Superman” (known as Cinnamon Life to the uninitiated).

I love that you figured out in the fall that working on “Z” at school would mean we were almost to Summer Vacation.

I love the way you fall asleep in your carseat…arms up, hands linked behind your neck, ankles crossed…just the way you have since you were about a year old…and all because you still insist you don’t need a nap.

I love that you talk…all the time…and that you are SO very observant and analytical.  From just this week…

* “Mom, Mrs. Debbie said, ‘No.’”  Me, “No, to what?”  You, “I asked her if we could just NOT eat her snacks and the kids could bring all the snacks.  She said, ‘No,’ because we would just bring candy.”  I suspect this was on a day that you were served veggies…and I suspect that you told her, as you tell everyone, that carrots make you “puke.”

* Looking at your zoo magazine… “Mom, look.  They have porks at the zoo.”  Me, “What are porks?”  You, “Porks are a type of pig and they have red hair all over and they are very wild.”

* “Mom, is there a Wall*E ride at Six Flags?”  Me, “I don’t know.  I don’t think so.”  You, “Oh, it must be at Seven Flags.”

(Incidentally, I hate that you are now calling me ‘Mom’ instead of ‘Mommy.’)

*  Daddy, “Why do you like the Angels?  Is it because they have a cool halo on their ‘A?’  You, “No.”  Daddy, “Is it because you like their stadium?”  You, “No.”  Daddy, “Well, then why are they your favorite?”  You, “Because Jesus has angels.”

I love that you love to be outside, to blow bubbles, ride your scooter, tend to your ladybugs (and instruct them on earthquake preparedness), talk to the neighbor children through the fence, and curl up like a cat in a sunny spot.  I love that you brown like a sugar cookie…and your little, ahem, cheeks stay so white.

I love that you now like to differentiate for us whether you have a “question“…or a “statement“…or “a question and a statement“…or “two questions, but one might be a statement.”

I love that you still love your bath…have since you were a newborn in the hospital.  I am completely amused and charmed by the way you tell me that your day will only be complete if you can have two bath toys instead of one.

I love that you cannot decide if you want to be a “Kung-Foo Teacher” or a “Helicopter Pilot” when you grow up.  When I suggest you could be both, you agree, “Yes, if I am a good ninja, maybe I could have a helicopter for my mo-bile.”

I love the way your little head sweats right after you fall asleep…like you are letting of all the pressure of your day.

There are so many ways you have changed our family and so many precious memories that are becoming more and more difficult to recall.  So, today, I just want to write down a few…in the vain hope that I can somehow slow this moment.

You are my precious, precocious joy.  My darling little boy.  My pint-sized superhero.  Happy Birthday.  I love you.

Mommy

YES! I love these lists! December 30, 2008

I can remember ‘laughing out loud’ when I heard Dave Letterman announce that the phrase “you do the math” was to be banned in the new millennium.  As a lover of words, this article just makes me smile.

By JEFF KAROUB, Associated Press Writer Jeff Karoub, Associated Press Writer – Tue Dec 30, 4:14 pm ET

DETROIT – A movie about a “maverick,” his journey “from Wall Street to Main Street,” his “desperate search” for a “monkey” and a “game-changing” revelation about his “carbon footprint” probably would make the nation’s word-watchers physically ill.

Especially if it were the “winner of five nominations.”

All those words and phrases are on Lake Superior State University’s annual List of Words to Be Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness. The 34th version of the list was released Tuesday, which means, “It’s that time of year again.”

The school in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula selected 15 entries from about 5,000 nominations.

Despite the year’s economic meltdown (which itself wasn’t banished but don’t rule it out for next year), the most entries came from the environmental category — for “green” or “going green.”

“If I see one more corporation declare itself ‘green,’ I’m going to start burning tires in my backyard,” wrote Ed Hardiman of Bristow, Va., in his submission. Nominators also had their fill of “carbon footprint” — the amount of greenhouse gases an individual’s lifestyle produces….

…And it goes on.  For my part, I would add “in these economic times” and “LOL.”

What words or phrases would you ban (or not ban) from the Queen’s English?

Paths December 20, 2008

This post is an update for those who are wondering why in the world our Christmas cards have a California return address.  (It might also explain, if not justify, why they are SO late.)

Most of you know that Tim was employed with McGraw-Hill Higher Education.  Some of you also know he was being considered for an editorial position in NYC.  Many of you were praying for wisdom and discernment for our family.  What was known only to God was that we were headed for the completely opposite coast.

We vacationed this summer in San Diego, CA.  While in SD, we visited with some long-time friends who are working in ministry here.  During that visit, we were asked to prayerfully consider joining the ministry work here in the South Bay area.  We were facing a completely dichotomous choice. 

After much prayer, Tim decided to accept the Student Ministries position with Midway Baptist Church.   I have returned to full-time work for the first time in ten years (*gasp*) and am teaching fifth grade at our Christian school.  We are blessed to have all three children enrolled in our school, so we all head to the same campus everyday.  (Allow me to take this opportunity to say that singularity of destination is the only salvation for my poor frazzled brain. )

This was quite a whirlwind move.  It was not quite four weeks from the time we were officially offered the position to our arrival in SD.  During those four weeks, we had to pack up everything we could, sell what we couldn’t, and take a flying trip to SEMO and TN to visit family.  We hit the ground running with teacher in-service meetings and the genesis of the school year, and we haven’t stopped.  There have been a couple of times that I thought I might collapse, but God has faithfully kept our feet from stumbling.

Tim loves the opportunity to teach and serve our students on a full-time basis.  I think he is thriving under the support and encouragement of our pastor, other staff pastors, and staff members.

The girls have worked hard to transition to a new school, new friends, new curriculum, and a host of other “newnesses.”  They have discovered a real zest for the dramatic/performing arts through some very special opportunites they have had under the direction of our very special Music Minister and his wife.

I am coming to the conclusion that I just might…by the grace of God…be able to work full-time.   I have sixteen fifth grade students whom I dearly love, and whom God is using to teach me fresh daily lessons about humility, mercy, and dependancy.  Wearing three “full-time” hats is a different reality for me.  My prayer has to be, “Lord, cover my in-sufficiency with your all-sufficiency.”  My joy is to tell you that He has…He does…in our home…with our family…in my classroom…with our students…  I delight to tell you that it is going well because of our miraculously sufficient God.

California is VERY different.  I don’t have to tell you that some differences are appreciated more than others.  We LOVE the weather…our average annual  temperature is in the 70s with very low humidity.  We love the ocean, the bay, and the beaches.  We think San Diego may have one of the best skylines of any city.  Most of all, we love the people we get to serve.

Our church is in the South Bay.  We are only a couple of exits up from Tijuana, Mexico.  We can see the lights of TJ from our neighborhood, and the kids like to point out Mexico every day on our way to school.  Many times, I am the only person in my local Wal-Mart who does not speak Spanish…talk about intimidating.   Because we are so close to the border, we have a large percentage of our student population who cross the border daily for an English education.  These families make an immense sacrifice, not only financially, but also in the way of time.  Many of them get up as early as 4:00 am to make sure they have time to wait the 1-1/2 to 2 hours it takes to cross the border.  We are so grateful for the opportunity to meet and serve so many exceptional people.

If you find yourself heading west, we would be so pleased to catch up with you, treat you to some very good (and authentic) Mexican food, show you our beautiful ocean and skyline, and introduce you to some people that God has placed as supremely important in our hearts.

We wish all our loved ones a joyous Christmas and a blessed New Year. 

We will do our best to deliver a very boring update in 2009.

I will leave you with the words of Robert Frost which have rung so true for me during this season…

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Tim, Natalie, and kids

Goblin Feet JRR Tolkien November 5, 2008

 

I am off down the road
Where the fairy laterns glowed
And the little pretty flitter-mice are flying
A slender band of gray
It runs creepily away
And the hedges and the grasses are a-sighing.
The air is full of wings,
And of blundery beetle-things
That warn you with their whirring and their humming.
O! I hear the tiny horns
Of enchanted leprechauns
And the padded feet of many gnomes a-coming!

O! the lights! O! the gleams! O! the little twikly sounds!
O! the rustle of their noisless little robes!
O! the echo of their feet-of their happy little feet!
O! the swinging lamps in the starlit globes.

I must follow in their train
Down the crooked fairy lane
Where the coney-rabbits long ago have gone,
And where silvery they sing
In a moving moonlit ring
All a twinkle with the jewels they have on.
They are fading round the turn
Where the glowworms palely burn
And the echo of their padding feet is dying!
O! it’s knocking at my heart-
Let me go! O! let me start!
For the little magic hours are all a-flying.

O! the warmth! O! the hum! O! the colors in the dark!
O! the guazy wings of golden honey-flies!
O! the music of their feet-of ther dancing goblin feet!
O! the magic O! the sorrow when it dies.

Sea September 6, 2008

maggie and milly and molly and mae

maggie and milly and molly and mae
went down to the beach (to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn’t remember her troubles, and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles: and

mae came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it’s always ourselves we find in the sea.

e.e. cummings

Back to School, SoCal Style August 26, 2008

Fall is here, hear the yell,

Back to school, ring the bell,

Brand new shoes, walking blues,

Climb the fence, books and pens,

I can tell that we are gonna be friends.

–Jack White

Olympic Randomness August 17, 2008

First, I must acknowledge that my thoughts tend towards Olympically-Proportioned-Randomness  at all times…not just during the Olympic season.

Having made the above disclaimer, I must further state that I have missed gigantic portions of this year’s games because WE DID NOT YET HAVE TV SERVICE!

Now that this problem is solved, I just have a couple of Olympic Observations…

1.  The Chinese Mullet…Has anyone else seen this look?  We noticed it in the Women’s Marathon.  Do you think this look will be widely adopted?

2.  Olympic Badminton????…I did not know there was Olympic Badminton!!!  I believe I could have totally dominated in this sport.

With Love August 3, 2008

Make new friends, but keep the old.

One is silver and the other gold.

A circle’s round, it has no end.

That’s how long we will be your friend.

 

We sing this song at the beginning of every school year at DLC.  Somehow it just seems appropriate.  Thank you to all the kids’ friends and their families.  We loved seeing you Friday night.  We count it as a privilege to know you and are grateful for your kindness and friendship to our family.

(And a big thanks to Lori and Aline for the pics…since Slacker Mom forgot her camera!)

Fingerprints July 31, 2008

I started reading in Esther today and was reminded of this…

From John MacArthur…

Why isn’t God directly mentioned in Esther?

…When it comes to God, Esther seems strangely silent.

   In fact, the silence is so obvious that it becomes an argument.  Esther challenges the tendency to demand that God prove His power and presence.  Must God be apparent?  All too quickly we expect God to demonstrate in unmistakable ways His identity.  Yet God has repeatedly resisted human ultimatums.  God reveals Himself for His own purposes, not human requirements.

   Throughout history, God has more readily operated behind the scenes than in plain sight.  The Scriptures are filled with unusual circumstances in which God worked obviously.  But Esther comes close to revealing God’s standard procedure.  God’s fingerprints are all over Esther’s story.  His superficial absence points to a deeper presence.  God chose to be subtle, but He was there.  The events in Esther give us a model for hope when God works in less than obvious ways in our lives.

Lord, thank You for resisting my ultimatums.  Please grant me eyes to see Your less-than-obvious ways.

Preparing for Life on the Border July 29, 2008

…oh wait…wrong border…:)