Posts

Showing posts from August, 2014

Love’s Labors Stacked

Image
I went through Elena’s room yesterday trying to get rid of the things we no longer need. While I was doing it I ran into a rather large roadblock: 19 blankets, handmade for my kids by people we know and love. Because they are lovely fort-building material, they were scattered all over the room, but after I folded and stacked them I decided I needed a picture… and because pictures are nicer with people in them, plus the blanket pile was too tall to stand up without a steadying hand, what you see below is the resulting photo. 19 is a low number actually, there are probably at least 8-10 more in the other kids rooms, generally in their  beds. I can tell who gave me each one, people we see every week, relatives, relatives who have passed on, people we haven’t seen in years, even one from one of Michael’s co-worker’s wives.  This stack of blankets is a sign of the blessings of community. The blessings of family. The blessings of friends.       But the question remains: I don’t have a b

Screen Free-e-e!!

Image
Inspired by constant requests for the beloved drug - television, computer games, games on the phones or tablet - Michael and I instituted a screen-free month for the month of July. For the kids especially, and with a few exceptions for things like family movie nights, we spent a month trying to see what would happen if we gazed less at the blessed windows to other worlds. And this is what happened: We're back to screen now, but I think we've all learned how much there is to do when "screen" isn't an option! 

Look Who’s Turning Two!

Image
Today Elena turns two! She’s pretty sweet, so I’m pretty sure that the “Terrible Twos” doesn’t yet apply to her. Recently, she’s really started to grow up into one of “the kids” rather than merely being “the baby.” She loves to play with all of her siblings, but Phinehas especially has become a favorite companion lately. It’s the age old story – she laughs at his jokes, so he dotes on her. They all do, really. She’s speaking in sentences, though not everybody can understand them! “I donwanna go to bed” is a frequently repeated phrase. “Daddy’s home!” and “Phinny crying!” are other examples. She is enthralled with dogs and babies these days. When we were in Tri-Cities and my brother and sister-in-law brought their 6 month old over she was very insistent that she “Hold the baby!” She didn’t want to stop. She’s also completely fascinated by their dog, Zorro. Alas, the poor child, the first of my children not to be completely terrified of dogs, is also the only one who is allergic to th

Wedding duds

Image
Dress rehearsal!