Back in the Saddle

I have made it a tradition to give my daughter horseback riding lessons for her birthday each year.  We have come to look forward to spending time together around horses in a peaceful setting outside the busy city every spring.  This year her lessons were held at the same farm where we held her 7th birthday party. 

Horses running home for dinner sounds like rolling thunder.

Photo taken by the 7-year-old who sneaked off with my camera

We had not been there since because it was so far from our previous house.  We thought it would be closer to our new home, but it took me over an hour to drive there because I made the mistake of scheduling her lessons right after rush hour.  The traffic was horrendous, and my nerves were fried when we arrived for our first lesson, but there is just something about a horse farm that soothes my nerves (when I am able to tune out the odors and flies buzzing all around).  Perhaps scheduling a lesson during rush hour wasn't such a mistake after all because the sun set during her ride rendering a gorgeous painting on the canvas sky. 

Riding off into the sunset

It was so pretty, we scheduled her next lesson just a little bit later to miss at least some of the traffic while getting there in time to watch the sun set.  The sky was gorgeous then too.

Our son is the cutest farm hand ever!

 

Here are some photos from her spring riding sessions this year.

Off to fetch a horse after two failed attempts by farm hands, for horses can be feisty!

Without regular "pedicures", Elmer could go lame.

Good old Elmer - too old to make a fuss

The horse who likes to stick his tongue out at you.

Grooming Elmer

Setting up for her first ride in over a year

See ya later, partner!

Eat my dust!

GPS

So one of the complaints at our church with hundreds (have we reached 1000 yet?) of young children is that we did not have a children's choir.  Many of our youth participate in the orchestra, and we have a teen girls' ensemble that travels, but the children's choir fell apart about 4 or 5 years ago, and we've  really missed it.  We sent our daughter to a small country church near our last house for a few years, so she could have that musical theater experience.  She definitely needs an outlet for all her innate theatrics.  Then a dear children's Sunday school teacher at our church stepped up to lead a program.  Glory, Hallelujah!   She's awesome. All her sisters are too.

So the practices began.  Our shy son is like his mama in that he does not like to be perform on stage with lots of people looking at him.  I have no problem giving commencement addresses at graduation ceremonies, speaking to a group of women, or teaching a large room full of manufacturing team leaders who are mostly older than I am.  But to sing or play a role other than myself...on stage...in front of people....that I cannot do.   And I think my son feels the same way.  He has a beautiful singing voice and is quite musical.  I love to watch him bob up and down and tap his toes when he plays the piano or listens to music.  But he initially resisted children's choir and this musical with some passion.  Eventually, he complied and even smiled throughout the performance (a first!).  He nailed all the lyrics and hand motions and also served as a 10 Commandments poster boy.  Great job, Son.  You gave an awesome performance!

Our daughter, on the other hand, lives for the stage.  She is happiest when the spotlight is on her, and she is the quintessential drama queen.  She wanted a lead role in the musical and got a rather large part after auditions only to learn later that the most important practice which was required to keep the part was being held the same weekend as her state gymnastics meet out of town.  We thought she would have to choose, but we eventually worked out a compromise in which we cut our trip very short (postponing our reservations at the Great Wolf Lodge), and she would only miss part of the rehearsals that weekend.

She played the part of Grace, a preteen girl with a crush on a pop star, who learns that such swooning is a form of idolatry.  She had several lines throughout the program and a little solo.

My husband is the singer in the family, not me. So instead of singing lullabies to my babies, I often rapped them instead, even including my vocal beat box at times.  So, I find it amusing that out of all the little solos in the musical this year, hers was in the style of a rap.  I don't think anyone could have delivered a better performance.

Nana and Pops are always so supportive, so they drove up to see the kids in their musical.  Here are some photos taken at the reception following the show.  Our daughter's crazy accessories were part of her costume, although you might find something similar in her closet.

Boy's adventures at his new school

Our son enrolled into a new private Christian school this past January.  He complained that it was boring (and it is for he had most of the same material last year) with far too many rules.  Thankfully, there is plenty of recess time at the school because that's about the only time the kids can talk to one another.  It's been quite a transition for him from the laid back nature of homeschooling, but at least the work was super easy for him.   Despite all his whining, he does seem to be having some fun there.

This past February, his class gave recitations, acted out skits, and sang choreographed songs for the parents during the winter parents' assembly.  He did not smile much during the performance, but he aced all lines and motions as if they bored him.

He seemed to enjoy helping the hungry by packing meals through Stop Hunger Now after he and his sister raised over $250 by knocking on every door in our neighborhood and asking a few family members.  During the packathon, a bell would ring whenever they would finish loading a full pallet, and all the kids stopped working momentarily to cheer. I was so impressed by how courageous our kids were to knock on doors and how generous our new neighbors were with this project.  His class raised the most money on their hall at school, so they will get a class party catered by Chick-fil-A as their reward.

Here are some photos from Colonial Day which was held this past March.  The faculty and parent volunteers went out of their way to make the kids feel like they had stepped back in time.  The kids made paper outfits, churned  homemade butter, carved bowls out of clay, made and played early American children's games like hopscotch and the ball catcher.  They pretended to be handcuffed to stocks and learned how to write in calligraphy using a quill and ink.   All the first graders brought in hammers (imagine over 65 six & seven-year-old kids wielding hammers on the same day at school!) and used them to punch nail holes into framed tin for colonial style art.    He had a blast!

Last week, I volunteered as a driver and chaperone for the first grade field trip to the strawberry farm.  My son's favorite pals got assigned to our car, so he really had a great time.  Often under the shadow of his loud older sister, he doesn't talk too much at home, but he talked nonstop in the car with his friends.  He even sounded a bit bossy too.  That was a side of him I rarely see.


The kids learned about different types of berries and how to pick them followed by free time in the fields picking berries.  The girls looked for the prettiest, largest berry, while the boys had more fun looking for the grossest, slimiest, moldiest berry. The kids visited with the animals on the farm, washed their hands at the hose pipe, and then had a class picnic on the farm.

Random Throwbacks and/or Inspirational Thoughts (aka Facebook Dump)

Marriage and Parenting
When a group of women who became widows during the 9/11 tragedy were asked what irks them today, they answered, "hearing women complain about their husbands." They would gladly welcome socks left on the floor, toilet seats left up, or having their men watch ESPN all weekend long just to have their husbands back. When we look at our spouses from a widow's view, we only see the good they bring into our lives and into the world. (Ideas taken from Gary Thomas' book, Sacred Influence.) The same could be said for our children if we could dare imagine losing them. Let us treasure those we love from a widow's perspective. That was my mantra as I dug through the overwhelming clutter and chaos in my kids' rooms.
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 Quotes  by Gloria Furman from Treasuring Christ When Your Hands Are Full

"When I view motherhood not as a gift from God to make me holy but rather as a role with tasks that get in my way, I am missing out on one of God's ordained means of spiritual growth in my life. Not only that, but I am missing out on enjoying God. No amount of mommy angst can compare to the misery that comes from a life devoid of the comforting, encouraging, guarding, providing, satisfying presence of our holy God." (Philippians 4:9) 

"The gospel stands above and beyond all the the most practical, family-friendly, or cost-effective philosophies of mothering....because the greatest problem a mother has is not a lack of creativity, accomplishment, or skill, but her inability to love God and others as Jesus loves her (John 13:34)."

"Jesus saves, and the fruit of the Spirit [one being LOVE] is far sweeter than the fruitless flowers of mere moral living. God transforms us from the inside out."

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A loud atheist I hardly know just friended me on Facebook. Does he realize how much I love apologetics?  I pray for the Lord will give me loving, yet truthful words should debates arise.

 

Point to ponder:

Throwback Thursday
Who remembers these things we called fortune tellers or cootie catchers? I found my kids playing with them while we ran errands. Now that's what I call a throwback on Thursday.

Since it's Grandparents' Week at our kids' school, I thought a photo of some of my grandparents would be appropriate for Throwback Thursday. Maw-Maw left this world surprisingly when I was in high school, and Paw-Paw joined her before Jeff and I got married, so our kids never knew them. Oh how they would have loved the joy, spunk, and kindness these two brought into the world. I sure do miss them. This photo was taken shortly after my adoption on the morning of my dedication  (Well...they called it a "baptism", but my theology declares it a "dedication", for I was baptized by immersion [Green work 'baptizo' means 'full immersion'] as a believer after reading the Scriptures for myself and realizing that giving witness of what Christ has done for me in the act of baptism is a command that should immediately follow belief, and I was too young to understand faith at this age.)

College...as Bryan Adams liked to sing, "Those were [some of] the best days of my life"

Tornadoes and Business Travels

Thankfully, my husband has not had to do a lot of business travel (Gift #591) since changing jobs six years ago, although he did commute over an hour each way until we recently moved.  His days were long at work and often followed by extended rehearsals at church, but we could at least expect him to be home in time to put the kids to bed.

All of a sudden and out of the blue, his job responsibilities changed somewhat at work, so now he has to travel a bit more regularly.  This last trip fell right after he had been gone all weekend for a Y Guides retreat with our son.  The back-to-back trips are harder because there isn't enough time between them to reconnect and turn over the reins before he leaves again.

While he was gone this last time, I made the following observations:

1) When he is here, I laugh at storms, flash flood warnings, and tornado threats having absolutely no fear. When he is not here, and I am in charge of protecting the kiddos, I become an alarmist making storm preparations that could rival those of residents living in central Oklahoma or Arkansas.

2) He is the stabilizer of our family, bringing balance and peace into chaos, for his very name means "peace".

3) No matter what time zone he is in, I will stay up until it's bedtime wherever he is to tell him goodnight over some mobile device.

4) Absence makes the heart grow DESPERATE when active little offspring manage to wear this mama out.

5) I cannot be in two places at once. We need more margin in our family's schedule so that two different cab drivers are not so often in demand.

6) While I am usually cynical about all things sappy, idealistic, or romantic, if you ask me about him while he is gone, my response could be a country song.

7) I pray for single parents almost without ceasing when he is away, for what they do in each given day is nothing less than supernatural.

8) The blessing of being married to a Godly man brings with it the temptation to rely too much on him instead of putting all my trust in the Lord. Only God can sustain us, save us, perfectly love us, wholly satisfy us, and never forsake us. May we put all our trust in the Lord who will establish and strengthen us and do ever so much more than any man can do or imagine. (2 Chronicles 20:20)

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When your kids seem to be up to no good with yet another sneaky scheme, they may actually be preparing a thoughtful care package to send love and cheer to their daddy during his business trip.  I only wish I had thought to do the same.

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I've often read about how the oldest son in a family was suddenly thrust into the role of "man of the house" while still yet a boy because his father was away at war or on business, or perhaps died too young. Our 7-year-old filled that role last week by admonishing me with these words: "You really should get some rest. Sleep is far more important than doing chores."

That boy is smooth, I tell you, but despite his caring sentiment, he did not schmooze his way out of doing his own chores that night. But the chore assignments here do seem to be having the desired effect because our boy recently asked, "Can we PLEASE eat on paper plates today because I am so tired of doing dishes?"

He is learning that with a little imagination, chores can be fun.  When I asked him to water the newly planted trees, his 7-year-old mind thought he heard me say, "Go save the world by blasting those tall, green, evil ninjas with several hundred rounds from the water gun with the long green hose attached to it."

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My man was born and bred in Oklahoma, so he knows how to prepare for a storm, and he is especially familiar with tornadoes.  When tornadoes have spun all around us in past years, he was there and God is always on the throne, so I did not panic.  While friends a few miles away were having their roofs torn off by a tornado, our son was sleeping peacefully on the sofa while I baked bread and my daughter read books.  We were all perfectly calm while my husband carefully tracked the storms.  I haven't had much experience with tornadoes so my lack of concern was naive.

I did live through the 500-year flood that ravaged Opelika, AL during the summer of 1994 when I worked there for Procter & Gamble as an engineering intern.  I traded steel toed boots and safety goggles I would have normally worn on my job for hip boots as we spent much of the summer cleaning out homes that were completely destroyed by the floods.  Since that experience, flood warnings get my attention.

Rainwater flowing nicely away from the house

The weather predictions while my husband was traveling on business last week were scary with both tornado and flash flood watches.  I saw video images of the devastation in Arkansas and grew nervous, for the forecasters kept saying to run to the basement because tornadoes were coming our way.  My husband always wanted a basement (he is from Oklahoma after all), and the reason we chose this subdivision was because it was half filled with basement lots, but in the end after losing well over six figures on our last house, we had to ditch the basement from our budget.  When I saw the weather reports, I almost coveted my neighbors' basements, for I was in charge of keeping my kids safe, and my husband wasn't here.  Then God's peace, that marvelous peace that passes all understanding, began to seep back into my heart (Gift #592).  I realized that the news outlets were exaggerating for whatever reason, be it out of a fear of lawsuits or out of a desire to drive up number of site hits.

By the time I realized the odds were in our favor, the kids were stoked over the idea of sleeping in the closet.  So even as peace calmed me, the storm preparations continued with the kids. They managed to squeeze two thermal sleeping bags, a bunch of books and a Bible, flashlights, five blankets, there water bottles, more stuffed animals than they can count, pillows, and themselves into the coat closet.  The put a stack of boxes between them so they could each have separate sleeping quarters. The only flaw in their plans is that they left no room for me!   Obviously, they have never experienced a tornado, for they had entirely too much fun with the threat (Gift #593).  My daughter slept there all night long, but my son retired to his comfy bed around midnight.

During my childhood, our family dog was so afraid of thunder storms that he would shred apart our screen door to get inside during a storm. At least once when he couldn't get inside our house, he ran into our neighbor's house, jumped into her bed, and hid under her brand new bedspread. Since bunnies are prey animals who tend to be more skittish than dogs, I wondered how our new pet rabbit would react to thunder storms. He was lounging in the exercise room with me today when a loud thunderstorm came through. Surprisingly, he barely moved with each loud thunder boom. So I assumed our alpha buck wasn't afraid until I found a long trail of at least 50 bunny poop pellets behind him. He is usually litter trained, so my guess is that the thunder scared the poop out of him, but he was simply too macho to act like it.

Grandparents' Day

I'm still learning the ropes at our kids' new school. Apparently, grandparents' week at the school is a really big deal. Large banners are hung to welcome grandparents.  A nice spread of brunch items are available each day in the auditorium.  Classes write poetry, learn songs, and give presentations at various assemblies throughout the week.  Grandparents have the option of taking students off campus for lunch.  Unfortunately, our kids' assemblies were on different days, and Nana and Pops had commitments back home, so they could not come.  Besides, they would be driving up there three different days the following week for a musical, recital, and high tea event.

I eventually learned a little too late that parents should fill in for grandparents who cannot attend. Oops!  I missed my son's performance, but some other parents shared these photos with me.

 

I did find out I should be there in time to attend my daughter's assembly the following day.  When she saw me, her face lit up like a full moon.

Note to self:  Remember how much it means to your children to have you there at each and every event, even though it will seem like you have already attended thousands.

They sang two classical pieces followed by a fun folk style tune about grandma's bed.

Before the assembly, she asked me to video record her singing one of the songs and then send it to her grandparents.  Later she instructed me to post it on Facebook so that anyone could see it.  Her love for the stage and total lack of self-consciousness amazes me.  Well..maybe "self-consciousness" is not the right word for she seems to enjoy being the center of attention.

She specifically wanted me to emphasize that she is filling in for the guys' parts when she sings about the "gal down the road."  She has always been a tad boy crazy, rest assured.

Our son also wanted to submit a video for the grandparents to view, but he's shy in front of the video camera like his mam, and could not get past the first four words, which would be four more words than I could have sung.

When I consider how much my daughter loves to be on stage and in the center of attention, I am conflicted.  We strive to make sure our kids know the world does not revolve around them.  While they mean the world to us, they are not the center of this family.  I want them to identify as an integral part of the body of Christ with each part doing his or her special work without any part being greater than the other.

¹⁴ For the body is not one member, but many. ¹⁵ If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. ¹⁹ If they were all one member, where would the body be? ²⁰ But now there are many members, but one body. ²¹ And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” ²² On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; ²³ and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, ²⁴ whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, ²⁵ so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. ²⁶ And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it^{.  27} Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.  (I Corinthians 12)

I do not want her to think too highly of herself, yet I rejoice that she has not let the opinions of others or the pressures of this world cloud her self perception.  May she see herself as God sees her.  She is His precious daughter, wholly loved and priceless as He demonstrated on the cross.  She should not let any insecurity hold her back, for she is secure in Christ.  So when she sings with great volume and exaggerated expression at school concerts or on private videos or for any audience she can find, I rejoice that she is unafraid and comfortable in her own skin.

I remember being asked by my supervisor to model in a fashion show when I worked retail at Belk's at age 16.  The thought mortified me.  I felt trapped because I could not refuse my boss this small request, yet the thought of walking clumsily on stage with eyes staring at me, surely picking apart everything about me, was too much to bear.  I ran on and off that stage as fast as I could.  To further exasperate my humiliation, they could not find any teen clothing to fit me, so I modeled children's clothing.  I can still wear children's and junior's clothing even as I am now in my 40s, and it's still somewhat embarrassing, though at least less expensive than women's sizes, to have the frame of a preteen.

This weekend, many of my friends shared photos of their high school aged children all dressed up for the prom.  Not having children that age, I pulled out an old photo of me as I was getting ready for my senior prom.

It's hard to imagine that day when our first born will be old enough to attend a prom. What will she look like then? When she looks in the mirror on that day, will she see a reflection of the somewhat insecure gal in the above photo, or will she exude the extremely outgoing, independent, creative, courageous, confident, boisterous spirit she has now? My prayer is that she will never let the harshness and deceptiveness of this world distort her perception of her true beauty and infinite worth.

4th Grade Field Trip

Our daughter attends a nurturing, peaceful school where the boys are surprisingly chivalrous, and the students are exceedingly respectful and well behaved (at least while at school), likely because of the structure and discipline that I would call "militaristic" if the faculty were not so caring, loving, and kind. Well, I dropped her off at school on April 22 with nothing but a sack lunch and excitement over the day's Bentonville Battlefield field trip, and she came home with this replica Civil War rifle with which she keeps doing rifle drills. 

 

Maybe I should call it "militaristic" after all, or perhaps she's just like her father.

Here are some photos from the field trip.

 

 

You just gotta love a school headmaster who plays the role of a fallen enemy soldier in the kids' reenactment.

Celebrating the Gift of Another Year

As I mentioned in the previous post, I spent the morning of my birthday hosting an Easter Egg hunt for the neighborhood families.

Then the kids insisted that I open their gifts.  My daughter bought me a dark chocolate with her own money.  She wasn't exactly discreet about it, buying it while with me as I tried not to look, but she was thoughtful and didn't exactly have any other means of transportation to the stores.

My husband (and kids too, I guess) gave me the latest home fitness program in my all time favorite series which has transformed my health and helped correct many of my severe back problems (Gift #584).  I am really enjoying the workouts, while my kids are digging the hat that came with it.

 

 

These workouts take half as much time to complete as all the previous programs, but they are intense and effective.  HIIT (high intensity interval training)  is my favorite way to exercise, and in a stage of life where I struggle to find time for sleep, much less exercise, condensed hard core workouts are ideal for me (Gift #585).  Thank you, family! I received lots of nice gifts from my thoughtful extended family as well.  What a blessing it is to have your loving support (Gift #586).

Our tradition is to plant flowers on my birthday weekend, so my husband began the process of planting roses. We have planted two rose bushes at each of our two previous homes as a married couple, and they have come to represent each of our children, so we had to plant two more here as well. We added a weeping willow to the mix, and my mom brought me some really nice potted flowers for the front entrance and back deck.  Thanks, Mom, for sharing your green thumb with us. (Gift #587)

New Planters

They also brought us a new table and chairs for our umbrella on our deck and a "Happy Birthday" cookie cake.

I recently added a colorful rug out on the deck, and we hope to stain the deck (and add a porch - pretty please, dear hubby of mine?) as soon as it has had enough time to weather.  It seems a new van for me has been prioritized over the porch, deck extension and/or outdoor entertaining patio with pavers and stone wall with fire pit, so at least I now have some colorful accents, flowers, and a place to sit on our modest little deck.

One servant-minded friend arrived mid afternoon with a chainsaw to generously provide lumberjack services.  My husband doesn't have any chainsaw experience, so thanks to this dear friend, all my husband's fingers and toes are still attached (Gift #588), and we got a spot cleared in our natural area for the storage building which was built the following week.  Oh the irony of cutting down more trees after I sobbed over the accidental removal of tree hedge that encircled 3/4 of our lot.

Then some friends came to visit me bearing a housewarming/birthday plant.  It is the prettiest and largest Easter lily I have ever seen.  He's a builder, and she's a decorator, so while I should feel intimidated to have them over, I know I need all the help I can get when it comes to home improvements and decorating, so it was a special treat to get some input from those who know so much (Gift #589).

As a way to buy companionship say thank you to some dear friends who have tirelessly helped us move multiple times (including the same friend who had come earlier that day to cut down trees for us) and to simply acknowledge in a small way how much we appreciate another couple who have poured out their lives in faithful, exhaustive service to our church family for years, we "treated" (with the help of a gift card from a special someone who is very generous to us) some friends to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants nearby.  The food was absolutely delicious and both the conversation and dessert were filling and sweet.  Friendships in the Lord are such blessed treasure (Gift #590)! I'm so glad they joined us.  The restaurant staff sent me home with some rich chocolates hand-crafted in the mountains.  It was the perfect end to a perfect day.