Jeff

Jeff is crawling! Just started today.

(and by the way, the Dr. says he does NOT have a lazy eye; and he will probably become nearsighted like his parents and need glasses someday.)

more on Emily

other Emily-isms: "swamich" (sandwich), "there dis it!" (there it is). Also like Katherine did, leaving off the leading "s" of double-consonant words, such that we have "nake", "poon", etc. (instead of snake and spoon). We even have a stuffed snake whose name is "Nake". She has also started calling us "mom" and "dad" instead of "mommy" and "daddy" - I don't know why, but I've given up on correcting her about it. Ah well.

making much of Christ

I loved John Piper's article in World recently called "Marry. Cry. Rejoice. Buy. And do politics as though you were not doing politics".

One quote: "Marriage - good or bad - is for making much of Christ."

Is it not so with other things as well? Every circumstance of our lives is crafted by God in order that we might "make much of Christ" by it, whether it seems to be good or bad. Barrenness or motherly weariness: make much of Christ in it. Health, or debilitating sickness. Joy, or sorrow: for Christ is our comfort in sorrow, and He is greater than our highest joy.

No matter what situation you have, God has given it to you that you might make much of Christ in it. Do not envy the grass that seems greener elsewhere; rather thank God for the pasture in which He has divinely placed you, for you have opportunity there to make much of Christ in a way that others cannot.

"...Political life is for making much of Christ whether the world falls apart or holds together. ... for the Christian the best is always yet to come. Always. The Lord gives and takes away. But He remains. ... The best this world can offer is short and small. In the long run Jesus wins. ... We are here to show, by how we use the world, that Christ is more precious than the world... to show that Christ, not the world, is our treasure. ... Make much of Christ, not Caesar."

Indeed. Make much of Christ - not children, or money, or health, or joy, or the lack of these. Make much of Christ!

quote of the day

"Live simply, love generously, and be kinder than necessary because most everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."

Kid News - November 2008

The children keep growing, and I keep not having that convenient moment to sit down and write about them...

Jeff is 6 months old now, about average on the height charts and nowhere on the weight charts - he weighed in at 12 pounds at his 6 month dr. checkup, while the girls were both closer to 13 pounds at their 4 month checkup, and 15 or so at 6 months. But that's just Jeff. He's very laid back, eats as well and as often as Emily used to, and is developing normally in every other way. And is perfectly normal if you don't compare him to anyone else. :-)

Emily has finally stopped pulling her hair (we think) and is now growing a nice head of it, which actually has some body to it, in contrast to Katherine and Jeff's fine wispy hair. Actually I think Emily's seemed finer than it does now, before she kept pulling it out. I was praying that the hair pulling would stop if the thumb-sucking stopped, and it seems to have. (We used Mavala Stop on both girls for a few weeks, and thank the Lord, it did work for them to help them stop sucking their thumbs. Katherine's teeth and mouth were already suffering from the effects of thumb sucking, and I think Emily's were too.)

Emily has also hit that verbal explosion that Katherine did around that age. She could certainly talk earlier, but in the last 4-5 months she's gone from saying words to almost completely verbal, using more and more complete sentences, etc. She says things like "oh yeah!" and "I need go potty really bad!" and various other cute things.

Here are some funny words and phrases from the girls:

as of June / July 2008:

Katherine:
jingle jom (jungle gym)
moffering ("offering" at church)
smell (spell) something on the fridge
flyswapper (fly-swatter)
take a walk to the stomp (stump)
covereds (cupboards)
coveyholes (cubbyholes)
gab (gap)
escept (except)
(she still says most of these words this way, in November)

Emily (as of June/July):
tempy (empty)
when asked, "Did you...?" she might say, "did." (or "can you...?" - "can't.")
scoop (scoot)
choc-a-nems (m&m's)
thankyou-welcome (thank you)
no-welcome (no thank you)
coo-me-see (excuse me)
pum! (plum)
hop but-day you-you (happy birthday to you; sometimes used to mean "birthday", as in "hop but-day you-you cake")
she counts this way: 3,4,9,12,14
(as of August, this had changed to "1,2,3,8,9", and "happy day you-you" for "happy birthday to you")

Now in November, Emily has corrected most of those to be the correct way to say them, except for "coo-me-see" for "excuse me".

Katherine has learned to read, and does quite well - yay for her!

Emily loves the computer. I never thought it would be my two-year-old to whom I would have to say (more than once a day!), "no, you may not play on the computer right now! Go find something else to do!" Katherine does quite well at it too. They both like the game Peggle (which interestingly is fun for the 2 year old up to the Mommy and Daddy since it just involves clicking the mouse, yet can have some strategy and skill involved as well).

Emily is picking up a few sight words by playing with Starfall which she also loves to do. They both liked Rainforestmaths.com and are hoping there will be a time when its author decides to reopen the site.

I'm sure there's more to tell, but that's all for now. Here's a few pictures.

The girls both love books. Sometimes we have 30-40 library books checked out at once...

Happy Jeff - as usual. What a blessing!

Katherine helping make meatballs one morning - in her pajamas

Play-doh

learning to read

the LORD reigns!

The LORD reigns... and there is no unrighteousness in Him. (Ps.93:1,92:15).

We Christians in the West tend to fear our freedoms being taken away. Our brothers and sisters in hard places rather fear that they might dishonor the name of Christ. They pray, not for times to be easier, but that they might not fail Him.

We should learn from them. Richard Wurmbrand, in prison, put it something like this (in an article I can't find any more...), "what law of God is there that I could obey better in other circumstances? I will not pray to be free..." and he was right. Our flesh could wish for easier times. But our spirits can obey God by His grace just as well in any circumstances.

May we not be afraid, no matter what the election results may be. Trust Jehovah who reigns over all! His goals are not primarily for America's good, but for His Kingdom's good. Nations rise and fall, but His Kingdom is the one that will stand forever, the rock that became a mountain and filled the whole earth! (Dan.2:34-35,44).

Womanly Dominion book

Pastor Mark Chanski has just published a new book called Womanly Dominion [More than a Gentle and Quiet Spirit]. If you're a woman, get this book and read it! It will give you a solid Biblical view of yourself and your noble and influential place in God's world, in His way. If you're a man, read this book anyway, and encourage the women in your life in their God-given spheres of influence and responsibility. (And by the way, if you're a man, I understand that his earlier book - Manly Dominion [In a Passive Purple-Four-Ball World] - is a great antidote to culture's message to men in our day. I haven't read it yet but have heard good things about it. Go get a copy!)

Chanski's message is that God's creation mandate was to both man and woman, to "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over [it]" (Gen.1:28, ESV), and that this mandate still holds today. Men and women are given different spheres of life, fitted by God for different responsibilities in His world, and we are each to go "subdue and have dominion" in the areas He has given us. Not to be passive or sit helplessly in our situations, but to go rule them for His glory.

Halloween

David and the girls are sitting out on our front steps waiting for children to come so they can give them Halloween candy. Katherine is enjoying giving it out, and Emily is too. She wants to do whatever Katherine does...

I went out and joined them after awhile, and we all sat on the steps watching people (and giving out candy). One family came by, saying "Here comes King Kong!" and the dad was dressed up like a skyscraper, and he was holding the baby dressed as a gorilla. It was very cute. (They had two other older children too.)

"I'm little!"

I had recently told Emily that I couldn't carry her around much or hold her much (unless I'm sitting down) because she's too big. Today she said, "Hold me because ... I'm little!"

rolling and teething

Jeff is rolling around, often getting to places where I didn't put him. It's fun to see a little mobility.

He's also teething. It didn't bother Emily when she was teething - she has a high pain tolerance. She's very laid back too, but I guess laid back doesn't mean you get a high pain tolerance to go with it. Jeff is fussy lately, but at least it does appear to be teething and not sickness.

tangible things

I think one reason I like to make drawstring bags is that the result is something nice (I've always liked drawstring bags, even as a child), and it is still just as nice the next day. Something tangible that lasts longer than the meal I made for our supper or the laundry just folded or the neatened living room.

Tangible things are also nice because it is easy to see if you are doing it right or not. Parenting is intangible, unique to each child - and my finite mind does not fully understand the personality and thinking of each child, nor have the wisdom to know how to raise them. My best judgment is only that, and there is often second-guessing. I can't see if it was right, or could be better, like I can with sewing.

On the other hand, the tangible is the temporary. Drawstring bags will perish with the earth, but my child has an undying soul, and in some mysterious way, my efforts to train my child will have everlasting impact, for good or evil. There is permanency to that which is intangible.

"For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:18)

time flies

weeks fly into years
where did they go
how did they grow
     so fast

end of a weary day
oh! did I even say
     I love you
must be a better way
     to make it through

before the years
     are past
and I've lost
     my chance
to be a mommy to you

where to the seasons fly
so many years pass by
and did I even say
     I love you

Devastation in Haiti

Devastation in Haiti
Samaritan's Purse in Haiti

and what can you do
when everything is gone
and there is nothing left
nothing to return to
nowhere to go from here
and all you have is tears

children are gone
they couldn't hang on
and the waters swept them away...

and my light and momentary troubles
are exposed for what they are
my needs and sorrows
shown to be so small

how can you close your eyes
turn the page and say good-bye
send the images away
hope it will turn out okay
"go be warmed and filled"
I hope somebody will
go help and comfort you
but I've got other things to do

good-byes

Someday in Heaven there will be no good-byes
no more silent cries
no more going away
until another day
no more good-byes

do you ever wonder if it's worth the pain
to love a lot
only to have to leave again?

...yet I gain more than I've lost
it's always worth the cost

David's in Canada

David is in Canada with all his immediate family, and his parents, for his Granny's 90th birthday celebration. It's only for a few days - he left yesterday (Thursday) and should be back Sunday night.

I just wasn't prepared for the overwhelming loneliness. I've gone on plenty of trips with the kids by myself, with David being the one to stay home, but rarely has he had to go on a trip and leave us here. My trips always involve visiting family and friends, so though I'm not with David, I'm not all alone either.

I have much sympathy for the wives of men who have to travel a lot (or even a little) for their jobs, leaving them home alone with the children. I don't know how they do it. For believers, God must give grace to handle one day at a time.

Even though I'm usually home with the kids all day, and David is at work, I still get to see him in the morning and evening, and often for lunch. But to know that I can't do that for several days... It reminds me of grief, a thing that could so easily swallow you up and keep you from being faithful in your necessary duties of the day. I'm glad that when he goes on his business trip next week (Lord willing), his parents will be back in town, and maybe we can go to their house for supper some nights.

glorifying God

"Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever."

I had always thought of "glorifying God" as (essentially) "being good such that people would see and somehow God would get glory." However that was supposed to work. But He has been showing me that to glorify God is essentially, to magnify God, the way a telescope magnifies a star: it makes its innate glory more visible to my sight. To glorify God is to be a signpost to Him; to show others His glory, His goodness, His greatness. I can't add to the glory He has, as though my "being good" contributed anything to Him. But He can help me to point out His wonderful goodness to others.

Therefore I can be more patient with my children, because I want them to see in me, what He is like. I want to point them to His goodness by saying through my actions, "this is how God is patient with people."

It gives a Godward perspective on all of life. The main point of my day turns from "how much can I accomplish on my list?" to "how can I point others to see the greatness of my God?"

It means love for my children is more important than efficient blueberry picking, because I want them to know that God is a loving Father, and for better or for worse, I'm one of their models of what a parent is. It makes me want to be consistent in discipline, and more merciful with their failings, because I want to be the kind of parent to them that God is to me.

It frees me from the bondage of relating to God through the law, since the point of life is no longer to "be good". And in God's paradoxical ways, freedom from the law results in obeying it from the heart, not out of fear or legalistic obligation, but as an almost unconscious fruit of wanting to show others the goodness of God. (Instead of "I've got to be patient!" it becomes patience that simply flows from wanting my children to see God in me - to say by my actions, "do you know how good God is? He is greater than all my frustration and all these little trials!")

I never really understood how Paul could say "For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2Cor.12:10). I mean, of course God would help me when hardships came, but to be content with all those things?? But now I see: for when my heart's desire is to magnify my God to others, to bring into clearer focus who He is so that others may see Him, then I am content if the best way to do that is through trial, weakness, and pain. For in those circumstances, God's grace being my strength in weakness will show others that He is greater than those things, and that He is more precious to me than ease and good times.

Now I understand why John Piper says "The chief end of man is to glorify God BY enjoying Him forever." For when I most delight in my God (enjoy Him), then I most want others to see how wonderful He is too, and so I desire to magnify Him by my life and words.

O that this truth would remain clear to me! That I might live it every moment! For truly it transforms all my life.

just for Mom

Hi Mom,

Here are some pictures for you. Not much, but at least a quick glimpse of the kids (and Jeff) recently.

We went blueberry picking today (yay!).


Emily (probably asking if she can eat another berry... more get eaten than saved in her bucket)

Katherine has become a pretty good berry picker (we hadn't been there long, so she didn't have many yet, but she picked at least a pint herself).

Katherine wanted to wear her blueberries jumper since we were going to pick blueberries.



Jeff was either sleeping or quiet the whole time, which was wonderful. He's usually pretty easy-going, but sometimes he's fussy.


David's family says he looks like my brother Matthew. In this picture, he sort of does, though I usually can't see it.



This was on another day, when we finally got a picture of him smiling. He likes to "talk" to people and smile when they are talking back to him. It's a lot of fun.

time-robbing distractions

quote of the day:

"If God would grant us the vision, the word sacrifice would disappear from our lips and thoughts; we would hate the things that seem now so dear to us; our lives would suddenly be too short, we would despise time-robbing distractions and charge the enemy with all our energies in the name of Christ."

- Nate Saint, a few days before being going to meet (and being killed by) the Aucas in Ecuador

noble tasks

quote of the day:

"I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble."
- Helen Keller

little bundle

tiny little bundle of humanity

strange to think I hold
a whole person in my arms
who weighs no more
than a gallon of milk

rain pounding on the skylights
is nice to hear at 2 am
as I lie on the couch
feeding this little guy

9 days old

Little man

Welcome to the world

Baby Jeff was born on May 5th (almost May 4th). The Lord gave us a good labor and delivery at a wonderful birth center in Chapel Hill, NC. And He worked it out for my Mom to arrive the day before so that she could stay with the girls here while we were gone.


Welcome to the world, little fellow.

such a soft, round head
such a little man face
whom will you grow up to be?
welcome home
to our imperfect family
and all our inconsistencies.
O may God's grace be greater!
who are we
to be entrusted with another soul
granted one more child to hold,
to train, to nurture, then let go -
so quickly they say time will go

O may I not be so consumed
with laundry, meals, and daily life
that I ignore my little ones
lose my chance to mother them

baby soon

I'm at 39 weeks pregnant now, and feeling ever bigger and weighed down... harder to get off the couch, tie shoes, etc. :) Since Emily & Katherine were each a week or so late, I'm not counting on the baby coming on time, and actually I hope he doesn't, since neither my mom nor mother-in-law will be here till my due date. At my visit today, the midwife said everything sounds fine, looks fine, etc. Praise the Lord - and I learn to leave in His hands what I can't control. Maybe every mom fears problems with the baby or delivery, but He knows.

Kid News - April 2008

Here's an update on our girls from the past few months...

We got some snow on February 14th. We don't get much here, and I think that was our last snow of winter (we had a little snow a few times earlier in the year). Emily doesn't like walking in it, so she stays on the driveway or sidewalk. Katherine loves the snow, though.

tasting snow

We were happy to see our favorite squirrel Notch back (picture is from March 13th). She's been visiting only sporadically the last several months, and every time she don't see her for awhile, we wonder if she has died. The first time we got a picture of her was in the spring of 2002 (as an adult), so we assume she was born in 2001. She got an ear wound as a young squirrel (hence the name), which is the only way we can identify her. Well, that, and the fact that she will climb our screen door to get our attention ("Feed me!") and will eat sunflower seeds put up on the railing for her. We'll be sad when she isn't around any more. She has actually come quite regularly this spring.

On April 8th we got to go to the Asheboro Zoo with a friend (Susan Davenport) - something I had wanted to do before the baby's born, and finally arranged a day to do it. She insisted on pushing the stroller all day, and was a big help in many ways. Here are a few pictures from that day.

We ate lunch after we arrived (before going into the zoo), and the Canada geese were coming up behind us begging for food (sorry geese, we're eating it). The kids weren't too thrilled about their honking unexpectedly, but they liked seeing them.

Mountain lion

"Miss Susan" pushing the stroller

Kids' play area made of things that looked like bugs and plants

Probably the girls' favorite thing to see was the sea lions, since they would swim and play right in front of our faces at the window. We stayed there awhile watching, and were even there when they got fed.





Then there was the "Kid Zone" where kids could do various things. Here is the puppet show gazebo with puppets to try. First it was just me and Katherine (with Emily watching from the stroller), but then she wanted in on the fun too.








The Kid Zone also included a nice sand play area, which both girls enjoyed very much. In God's providence, not very many other children were there, so they had the place to themselves most of the time they were playing.





We also got to see the zebras, giraffes, and ostriches, which share a habitat. I had never realized how enormous the ostriches were (their backs probably taller than the zebras) or how tall the giraffes were (I think a zebra could almost walk under the giraffe). It was fun to see in person.



Here we are trying to see birds in the aviary. They had several scarlet ibises (sorry - we didn't get a picture of them though), among others.

Meerkat

The elephants share a nice big habitat with rhinoceroses, kudu (see second picture), ostriches, and maybe something else that I can't remember. The zoo had just finished and opened this new habitat area several days before we went.

Emily:
Current favorite phrase: "right here" - which applies to everything... pointing to buttons on Mommy's clothes - "button right here." "Sit right here." Her spoken vocabulary is growing rapidly, not just in number of words, but in ability to string them together into longer phrases and sentences.

She loves to do whatever Katherine happens to be doing. Favorite library book: "Daisy's Favorite Things" which includes a page of Daisy (a duckling) bouncing on a lily pad; when she gets to that page, she will say "Daisy boun, boun, boun".

She knows that lots of words refer to colors, but doesn't seem to know what words go with what colors; so she'll bring over her bead necklace and say, "puple-blu?" or "geen-lellow?" to ask you to tell her what ones are what color. But sometimes she seems to repeat the wrong word on purpose (after telling her a few beads, she might seem to deliberately say a different color than the one you told her it was).

Grandma (who visited over Easter) showing Emily the colors of the beads on her necklace

I had to get a token picture of Emily wearing this dress. It was given to my Mom for one of my sisters when they were little (they were given matching dresses).



Katherine:
Chronic mispronunciations: "moffering" (offering at church). "stomp" (tree stump at the end of the sidewalk - marking the turn-around point of our walks). A recent one was "Mexican tape" (masking tape).

Favorite library book: Sector 7 by David Wiesner - a story of a cloud that takes a boy with him to the "cloud dispatch center". That has led to Katherine's calling a blanket of hers, her "friendly cloud" which goes on adventures with her, "takes care of her", plays with her. Cotton from packing material becomes "clouds" and gets strewn all around the living room. Other blankets of Katherine's become other "clouds" to go with her "friendly cloud." Emily even calls the main blanket the "cloud".

Katherine with her "clouds"

She also likes me to take pictures of various things she does, like Lego creations:

decorating a boat with Lego man heads...

Katherine enjoys playing with bubble wrap. Here she is with a path of bubble wrap, stomping on it to make them pop:



Both Katherine and Emily enjoy playing outside, and many times I have thanked God for a fenced-in back yard, such that they can go out and play by themselves without my needing to keep an eye on them as much.

They enjoy playing with sunflower seed hulls, dry leaves, sticks, dirt - and especially water, mixing it with stuff to make "mustard", pouring it on the plants and into bottles, etc. It's a blessing to have a window of springtime when the mosquitoes aren't active yet, the weather's not too hot, and they can go play out there when they want to.




Well, I'm sure there's more to say, but I can't remember at the moment. Kids grow and change so much. It's hard to capture in a few words what they are like.