I was looking through a few boxes in the basement this afternoon, and I found this book from 2nd grade Scholastic book orders (1981). It was a fill-in-the-blank diary of sorts. Jared was excited to see that my favorite game was Twister.
I find it interesting that I wanted to give a million dollars to the "chirch," considering I didn't even go to chirch back then.
My favorite song was Sheena Easton's "Morning Train," or, as I used to call it, "9 to 5."
Doesn't Jared look like such a big boy in this picture? As hard as it is for me to watch my children grow up, it's also exciting to see God at work in their lives every day. I'm noticing so many beautiful changes taking place in their little hearts. It's like watching a garden grow. I'm reminded of a song Kathy Lee Gifford sings on one of our lullaby CDs called, "I Love You up to the Moon"
Caleb won the Christmas coloring contest at our favorite grocery store! He won a $5 gift card. He chose to spend it on cookie dough ice cream and a chocolate Valentine heart. He doesn't look very happy here, but he is; he just didn't want to hold the ice cream because it was too cold.
Have I ever mentioned how much I adore my children?! The kids wanted to listen to The Singing Bible tonight as they fell asleep. A little bit ago Jared got up, came into the kitchen, grabbed his Bible and said to me, "Mom, can you just read me the whole Bible? When can we do another Bible study?" I love this boy! And I'm so excited that he loves God's Word. Every day in school, I read to the boys from Jared's Adventure Bible. Right now we're reading in Genesis. I read a couple of chapters to them each day. He calls this time our Bible study. Isn't this the sweetest thing?
I have to tell you about what happened to me last night. After dinner, I went to the grocery store to buy milk. While I was shopping, I heard, "Would the owner of a red Cherokee come to the service desk." I thought to myself, "this can't be good." I followed a man (who happened to have twin daughters with him) up to the service desk. He also owned a red Cherokee. The employee informed us that somebody had reported a "smoking vehicle that smelled like it was burning." I peeked outside the window and, sure enough, it was mine. The man offered to wait for me and check my car. When I popped the hood, this is what we found...
This is, I mean, was our radiator hose. He knew exactly what to do and explained to me what had happened, why the car was smoking, etc. He was able to slice the hose below the cut and clamp the remaining portion so I could make it home. He even followed behind me until I turned onto my street, just to make sure I made it home safely. I'm so very thankful that this man, an owner of a red Cherokee, was there in the store and was willing to help me. This was no coincidence!
This is enough to melt a mommy's heart...
Caleb, with his arm around Jared
Jared, with his arm around CalebWe just read about the Chinook Winds in the concluding chapters of The Long Winter. Coincidentally, they're blowin' this way right now. This past Saturday it was 0 degrees at 9 a.m., but our temperatures are in the 40's this week. The snow is melting before our eyes, which means we'll have to deal with localized flooding now.
The kids and I got out while we had the chance and what a great morning we had! We headed up north to the county library (we usually go to the city library up the street from our house). I had a few books there on reserve, one of which made Lily squeal.
We hung out there and read for awhile, and then we stopped by Starbucks. The drive-thru was closed due to falling ice, so we went inside for apple juice and snacks. Lily brought her Nellie book (as she calls it) for me to read. We had a very cozy time sipping juice and reading Lily's new book.
On the way home, I had to stop by the bank to deposit the insurance check for our collapsed patio roof (gotta love home owner's insurance!). There, in the parking lot, we watched a crane lift snow out of a grocery store that had closed last week due to its roof collapsing. The crane lifted a giant canvas out of the store and we watched the "worker men" dump large amounts of snow into a pile in the parking lot. The boys loved this! I figured if they had to endure my reading a pink book about 2 little girls, watching this large crane at work was a nice balance.
The lady at the bank gave the kids lollipops...a nice ending to our morning outing. When we arrived home, our neighbor informed us that his cat was missing. He asked us to keep an eye out for him. Gracie has been walking around the house for the past hour calling out, "Kitty..." She loves kitties. She would really like for this kitty to be lost in our house. Of course, this freaks Jared out like you wouldn't believe. He's deathly afraid of cats.
All in all, we had a great morning out. A change of scenery does wonders!
I don't know what else to title this post, because I'm very thankful for the nice man who drove the snow plow through this afternoon.
Phil went back to school today. As most of you know, we've had more than our fair share of snow this year. I would gladly give any or all of it to those of you who envy us. While Phil was out, the snow plow came through and did our side of the street 3 times, creating an enormous 4 1/2 foot berm right in front of our driveway. Phil always goes out right after the plow comes through in order to shovel that hard and packed-down snow. If you wait too long, it's nearly impossible to move. So, I put on my boots and gloves and headed out the door to find the snow shovel. By this time all of my neighbors were outside trying to remove the snow from their driveways, as well, and many of them commented that I seemed to have more snow in my driveway than any of them...hmmm...imagine that.
I jabbed the snow shovel into the berm and the snow didn't budge. I wanted to cry, thinking that it would take me forever to move that snow, and I had 2 sick kids inside the house. I chiseled away at the pile for a few minutes and then prayed and asked God to do something...anything. I didn't want to leave it for Phil, because by the time he got home, the snow would have been worse.
Then the most amazing thing happened. The snow plow drove by, but on the other side of the street. He had gone the distance of about 2 houses before he stopped, backed up diagonally past my house, moved forward, and then pushed his blade through the berm in my driveway. I don't know if I looked pathetic out there or what! I do know how to shovel snow. Maybe he realized that I had an incredible amount to shovel. I'm not sure what he thought, but I thanked him and then thanked God for His provision. It still took me about an hour to shovel out what was left, but I'm thankful for his help, nonetheless.
We had a little family party for Jared tonight. We decided to have ice cream sundaes instead of birthday cake, because we had cake earlier in the week when his cousins were here.
He enjoyed opening his gifts--what kid doesn't!?
After dinner, the whole family played with one of his new games, Twister Hopscotch.
I can hardly believe it! Jared turns 6 today. We're so thankful for him. He's a terrific big brother. He loves God with all his heart. He has a very soft, tender conscience. He's kind to others.
He's a thinker...always asking questions and concerned with details.
And he makes us laugh. Boy does he make us laugh!
Christmas has come and gone. We were very blessed to have family come stay with us this year. Our kids made wonderful memories with their cousins, Morgan and Lindsay.
We played in the snow, went to the children's museum, Sonic, Chuck E. Cheese, played Club Penguin, Build-a-Bearville and Webkinz on the computer and went out for ice cream.
We can't wait for them to come back for another visit!
Aunt Corinne did a Science experiment with the boys while the girls napped.
You might remember when I mentioned Jared's quote, "Mom, Science is about blowing things up."
Does a balloon count?
