Treasured Moments

Noah gets into his favorite and well worn book.

Go Dog Go!

Homecoming AND Homework

I received an email from John while I was gone telling me this:

It is starting to hit Josiah and Nathan that you are not here, Nathan has cried a few times and Josiah has come close but is trying to be the big brother I guess, Noah is still content knowing that you are still irking.

Aw. I didn't want my boys to have a hard time. It surprised me that my energetic, ornery-leaning Nathan was having the worst time of it. I thought my baby, Noah, may have a rough week since he doesn't like to see me leave for even a short trip to the store but his thought that "Mama irk" (interpretation: Mommy is at work.) satisfied him the entire time. Josiah? I wasn't sure how he would handle it but I think he did great.

My journey home began early in the morning, one week ago. Once the trip home was underway, I was looking forward to seeing and hugging all of my gentlemen. We called from Pittsburgh and asked them to meet us at Grandma & Grandpa's house. Upon our arrival, there were squeals and smiles and BIG hugs. Nathan kept telling Grandpa and I, "I am REALLY happy to see you!" Josiah jumped into my arms to hug me. Noah grinned from ear to ear. I couldn't have asked for a better homecoming.

Can you tell that they missed me? Certainly not from this picture.

~PART 2~

John started working the next morning so I quickly had to get back into the swing of things at home. I was told that Josiah had to do a book report for school, his very first book report, and that John saved that for me to do with him. We had three evenings to do it and John and Josiah had already read the book. The first evening, we didn't have the construction paper required but we read the book again. I bought some construction paper and I started helping Josiah follow the instructions the second night. It was not successful but now he knew what he wasn't supposed to do.

It's hard to get Josiah's picture sometimes. I had him show me his dollars that Grandma has given him for Valentine's Day. Sneaky, eh?

I'm not sure that Josiah will ever want to do another book report with me again. His report was to have six pages attached and folded accordion style. I kept pestering him with directions.

Follow the instructions. You have to focus on what you're doing. Use pencil first then go over it with markers. Write neatly. Draw the picture right here. Keep your letters the same size. You better write that word again. What is the setting? Please don't drink over your book report. Do you remember the main characters? What pictures do you want to draw that will tell the story? You don't have to draw the same pictures that are in the book. Be careful with the paper. Don't wrinkle it.

And so on... until is was finished. *whew*

Yes, I do have perfectionist tendencies. "Hi. My name is Sarah and I'm a perfectionist. I have been relaxed about the state of homework for 3 days now. Oh wait. I forgot something. 0 days now."

I think his first-grade book report turned out well. His pictures? They may need some explanation. But I think this format was a great way to get him thinking about the aspects of his book and how to tell about the story.

Treasured Time

After going to bed easily for months, Noah started struggling with bedtime. He would fuss, throw fits, and cry for a long time. Since he was about 3 months old, we simply laid him down, tucked him in, and said "night, night" until The Change.

The crying was such a change from his usual cheerful self that I began to dread bedtime. I tried to figure out if he was overtired, not tired enough, suddenly afraid of the dark, too warm, too cold, anything I could think of to explain his change of behavior. When we held him to comfort him, he would settle down but as soon as he was placed back in bed, the crying resumed. So we waited it out. Tensely. Prayerfully.

I'm not sure when things changed but eventually we worked out a new routine. After prayers with all the boys, John or I take Noah to his room and have some snuggle time in the rocking chair. Some nights we skip it and Noah does fine with that. Some nights I feel like rushing. But most nights I treasure the extra cuddles. We sing songs together and hug while we rock.

"Dear Jesus,

Please protect my child through the night

Keep him healthy

Keep him breathing right

Give him sweet dreams

Guard him from fear

Hold him close when I can't be near

Amen."

My baby is already two years old; I don't know how many more nights he will want to snuggle. Children are so precious and they grow up so fast.

And so I practice slowing down and cherishing the moments I have.

Thanksgiving Thought

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. To me, it means a gathering of family for fun, food, games, and remembrances. No pressure. No great expectations. Just us being us. That's good when you're a little quirky.

I can get melancholy thinking of holidays past - remembering family no longer with us, a carefree spirit which now is responsible for others, or hope deferred which has now been fulfilled in a much better way than originally imagined.

It is easy to long for the past; however, the best place to be is Now. Sometimes Now is hard but seasons change, hard times pass. Joy comes.

Thanksgiving this year has been full of children enjoying each others' company ... rather loudly, sharing a meal or four, playing games, visiting and encouraging one another. We are enjoying this time and each other because one day this will be one of those times we look back and remember fondly for this season of our life.

Funny of the day: Aunt Carol asks Josiah, "What are you thankful for?" "I don't know. Why do you ask?", is his casual reply. Hey, man, it's Thanksgiving!

Waldameer and Waterworld

Have you ever had one of those borderline days? Those days you begin to wonder if you should cancel your plans, put the kids in bed, and just curl up with a good book and a mug of coffee? This was one of those days for me. No, no, not today, but this day that we went to Waldameer and Waterworld. It was the day before Josiah's first day back to school; it was our last chance to go to Waldameer (at least it was in my mind because the other option was to wait until Saturday which would be overcrowded with end of summer last chancers like myself.) Thankfully, we pressed through the fussiness of the morning and we packed the cooler, the diaper bag, the swim bag, and the miscellaneous bag. Seriously? Any other bags? After packing all the bags for this short, half-day trip, I was feeling pretty grumpy myself. But I said, "We will go and we will have fun, dang it!" or something along those lines or did I just think that to myself?

First we went to Waterworld and we entered the Tadpool area. There was a wading pool, little water slides, and fountains. It was so cute but Nathan and Noah hated it. But did we leave? No, we did not; we were going to have fun, dang it! We were able to introduce them to water slides which all the boys did well with as long as they were on our laps. Then we moved on to the Endless River. Josiah loved it. Noah was content to sit back and enjoy the tube ride. Nathan hated it. John and Josiah went around again while I waited with Noah and Nathan. A change was in order. LUNCHTIME! After leaving the water park and having a little picnic of Pb&j sandwiches, popcorn, crackers, and juice boxes, everyone was in a better mood. I am talking about a drastic change in attitude. It was as if a switch had been thrown. Finally, the proper adventure had begun!

We rode all the kiddie rides except that Froghopper ride which my boys wisely skipped.

Noah couldn't go on as many rides as his brothers but he didn't seem to mind. He would wait with John or I and play or watch.

I took Josiah and Nathan on their first roller coaster ride - The Ravine Flyer 3. Josiah picked the front seat of the first car and Nathan and I sat right behind him. It was really hard to gauge how they liked the roller coaster as we were riding. Josiah seemed to be holding on for dear life and I couldn't see Nathan's face to determine if he was terrified or delighted. As we rolled in to disembark, I asked Nathan if he liked that. He response was, "Oh ho ho! YEAH!" Josiah was happy to hear that he will be tall enough to ride the bigger roller coasters by next summer.

We took a break at midafternoon. At this point, Nathan and Noah had ridden all the rides that they could. My mom agreed to watch them so that John, Josiah and I could return and ride some of the "bigger" rides.

We did the Wacky Shack which is a combination of an indoor roller coaster and a fun house.

We rode the Giant Gondola which I will always pronounce as "Ferris Wheel" (I mean, really, why call it by any other name?)

Then we rode THUNDER RIVER. Josiah did NOT want to ride this! He didn't want to ride it so much that I almost skipped it for his sake. But I reminded him how scared he was of taking swimming lessons before he did that and he loved them. The log ride was all that I remembered it to be: fast drops and big splashes. When we were leaving the ride, Josiah said to me, "That was NOT fun!" But I think I saw just the hint of a smile. We rode several more rides including the Sky Ride and Dodgem until it was time to get Josiah home and in bed, after all, it was a school night.

At the end of the day, the rocky start was all but forgotten; we had a fun and memorable day. It was so worth pushing through the bumpiness of the morning to have a new, exciting adventure together.

Thank you, Nona and Papa, for the tickets!

P.S. The "professional-looking" pictures are from waldameer.com since amusement parks/water parks don't mingle very well with cameras.

Fall Fun

I love Autumn! It's campfire season, football season, soup-making season, chili-consuming season, coffee-scarfing season, beautiful leaf season.... Did I mention that I love Autumn? Oh, yes, I did, didn't I?

I love Autumn so much that I planned my wedding in October to coordinate with the most beautiful week of autumn leaves and an average high temperature of a brisk 62 degrees. It just so happened that a cold front moved in on my wedding weekend and it was only 40 degrees, rainy, and windy. It was SO windy that my beautiful leaves were blown off the trees. No matter. My wedding was fun and went according to plan and I just pretended that my strapless gown was sufficiently warm enough for the outdoor pictures.

See? I'm not chilled to the bone. But I digress. What was I talking about? Right. Autumn ... and campfires. It's perfect weather to have campfires in our backyard.

Josiah wanted a campfire; John built the campfire. Then the boys were asking for marshmallows to roast over the fire. This was an impromptu campfire; I didn't have marshmallows! "Well, we could roast hot dogs..."

And the roasters were satisfied. One hot dog was quickly devoured by the fire. Another was quickly devoured by Noah.

Nathan ate his hot dog while roasting it. "See my hot dog?"

"You do have more hot dogs coming, don't you?"

"Take a picture of me sleeping!"

Ah! Fall. Family. Fun. Food. Fire. FANTASTIC!

An Evening Out

I had a date yesterday. Was it romantic? No. Delightful? Yes! It entailed a movie, diamonds, dinner, and shopping. My date was the sweetest, most imaginative and curious six year old boy that I know. Josiah.

We went to the movie first because, well, it's a school night and a 4:30 showing was our only chance to make it. After all, bedtime comes pretty early for a first grader. We watched the movie Up. It was great! There were happy, sad, funny, hilarious, perilous, and touching moments. We both enjoyed it.

At some point, Josiah started talking about gems and diamonds so I told him that we could go to Uncle Micah's store and see real diamonds. So we did. Micah cleaned my wedding ring for me while we were there and showed us different diamonds. I pointed out to Josiah a ring set that looked similar to mine. He agreed but said the other one was "a lot fancier than yours." Thanks, kid. At least after mine was clean again, it looked fancier than it had going into the store.

Next it was time for dinner. I suggested Wendy's. Josiah suggested McDonald's. Alright. We can do McDonald's. "Can we go to the one with the big playground?", he asks. "Okay", I agree, "but then we won't have time to go to the store." Just as I'm passing Wendy's he concludes, "Let's just go to Wendy's." I think I may have ran a red light turning into the lot! What option did I have? I was already halfway through the intersection to go straight so I did a quick traffic check and turned left before noticing that the left turn lane had a red light. Surely that light didn't apply to last minute mind changers like us. During dinner, we had a fun visit. We talked about the movie, school, television shows, chocolate syrup, etc. It's hard to know where a conversation with Josiah may go.

It was getting close to bedtime by now, but we went to Dollar Tree so that Josiah could choose something. Dollar Tree makes it so easy; everything in there is one dollar! He perused the toy aisle for awhile. When I asked him if he wanted to look at any of the other aisles, he agreed to check them out. He found the perfect item... a bicycle lock with keys! I am certain that we will now make an opportunity for Josiah to lock his bike somewhere.

I told Josiah that I was glad to have this time together with just the two of us. He said, "Yeah, the babies bother me a lot." Thanks, kid. Then in his own way and his own words, he let me know that he really enjoyed our one on one time together too and that he would like to do it more often. Me too.

Thinking of Others

Each evening at bedtime, John and I pray with our boys. As we pray, we thank God for His goodness and we pray for family and friends who are on our minds. Before we finish, we pray for President Obama as I Timothy 2:2 tells us to pray for those in authority.

I want to teach my children to think of others. It is far too easy to become me-focused. When we are focused on "Me", we so easily hurt, belittle, or dismiss others without a second thought about it. So the boys practice thinking of others by sharing their toys and letting their cousin choose the movie or use the bathroom first. We go through a lot of Popsicles in the summertime because Josiah will share with all the neighborhood children.

This week I've been thinking a lot about others. A friend of mine, friends of friends, and a friend of heart have all been on my mind and in my prayers. Each one is courageous in the face of immense challenges.

My friend, Jessica, has suffered loss and deep sadness and presses on. She recently shared her thoughts and feelings in a beautiful post. http://tinyurl.com/nomnx3

Another friend requested prayer for a dear friend of hers. Susanna's 3 month old daughter, Piper, was diagnosed with leukemia. The news is reeling and the battle unwanted, but a battle that little Piper's family will wage for her. They have asked prayer for these things:

* Piper would be completely healed
* Her body would not contain the mutation so her chances would increase
* NO infection
* understanding and sensitive doctors and nurses
* Linley would not feel left out and Susanna would not worry that she is neglecting Linley
* Strength in Susanna and Chad's marriage. Any situation like this can strain a marriage.
* More then anything, they would feel Jesus' peace no matter what is going on around them.
Sus has started a blog to keep people informed:http://www.needhamcrew.blogspot.com/

I have never even met the other person. Her name is Myah. She was single, pregnant, and faced daunting news that her baby had anencephaly. The doctors said her baby's condition was incompatible with life. Her story is amazing. Baby Faith Hope lived not just a few hours, not just a few days, but for three months she defied all the medical wisdom and she thrived. I followed their joys and challenges and I wept when I learned that Faith has passed on. Though Faith is no longer with us, Myah is helping to encourage, support, and inform other parents who receive a disheartening diagnosis. This is her story: http://babyfaithhope.blogspot.com/ I pray for her continued comfort, peace, and courage.

Each of these friends has seen prayer answered. And each has need of further answered prayers.

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God." Mark 10:27

School Days

Wednesday was Josiah's first day of school. I am now the mom of a first grader.

Left: That's NOT the school child. Right: Nathan and Josiah visit.

Our entire family went to the corner to wait for the school bus. We played and visited while listening for the sound of the bus. Noah tried to walk home with Josiah's lunchbox.

When the bus arrived, Josiah got on like the pro bus rider that he is.

Josiah sat with Isaac, his cousin, on the bus. This is Isaac's first year of full days at school and being able to ride the bus. Riding the bus is definitely Isaac's favorite part of school. When I told Josiah that Isaac had wished that he could go to school every day, Josiah matter-of-factly replied, "He probably said that on a day when they didn't have handwriting or math."

Prayers and Ankles

Our family prays together each night in Josiah and Nathan's room before the boys go to sleep. Recently, Nathan has asked me to pray for him after we've already prayed together and given hugs and kisses. "Mommy, pray for me...." One at a time, I have begun to pray for each boy specifically and thank Jesus for them.

After I prayed for Nathan tonight, Josiah asked me to pray for his ankles because they were hurting and so I made sure to pray for his ankles.

As I was leaving the room Nathan says, "I've got ankles too." Time for one more prayer...

I hope "ankles" isn't contagious.

Bikes

I bought a bike and it only cost 300 cents! Seriously. What a deal. (Did you think I was going to say 300 dollars? *much laughter*) Josiah is ready to try riding without training wheels and Nathan is getting close to the age where he will want a bike too. After spotting the little bike at a garage sale, Josiah and I walked back to have a closer look. I determined that my three dollars would be a good investment.

John and Josiah prepared the bike for riding by inflating the tires and checking the brakes.

Josiah likes Daddy helping him the best. Apparently, I didn't do it right because I refused to hold the steering wheel and would only hold the seat insisting that steering the bike himself would help him learn how to balance quicker. He's a good boy ... taking my 'No More Injuries' rule so seriously. Even when we haven't been able to help him, Josiah has been outside practicing and telling me of his triumphs when he rides a few inches or feet. Way to go, Josiah!

There is one set of training wheels between the two small bikes that we now have. Nathan will ride one with training wheels when Josiah has learned to ride his bike without assistance. Which bike will be whose is still in question but there's no need for a quick decision since Nathan has something against pedals. He prefers to power his riding toys by foot power much like the Flintstones. Nathan also has something against sitting on a swing and insists that he swing on his belly. He has a few little humorous quirks. Who doesn't? I love how uniquely God creates each of us!

Did I mention this is a stunt bike? See? It can even stand upside down. Amazing, I know.

Did you notice the helmet, knee pads, and elbow pads? When I was a kid, the neighborhood would have ridiculed, laughed, or at least gawked at anyone wearing all this gear. "Poor kid. His parents must be really paranoid.." I remember riding my bike with training wheels until they literally fell off. My remaining wobbly training wheel, which had acted only as a sort of security blanket, fell off while I was riding down the steep, block-long hill on Karen Avenue. I remember being so proud of myself when I realized that I had conquered the hill and the cross traffic after the hill without assistance. That was an awesome day. It was about time! Nevertheless, I'm thankful for the protective gear these days and I even think it's rather cute .... but not cute enough to get my own set.

Still Roofing

Just because the dumpster is gone doesn't mean the work is over. The roofing continues. John is on the roof nearly every non-rainy day. It is seemingly slow-going with only one man working most of the time but the progress is evident.


This is our roof ... from the inside. (You seriously didn't think I would climb up there to take a picture, did you?) We have two little storage closets that aren't "finished." The boys and I listened and watched as the John and Randy tore off the shingles that day. When the sunlight made its way through the cracks, we were even able to see the guys as they worked and, of course, holler to them.

As I write, John is up there putting new shingles on this section. He's almost done shingling our house roof. Today is cooler so he won't be as worn out as yesterday. After the shingles are done, there will be the ridge vent, counter flash the chimney, facia, the other stuff, and the garage.

Okay, okay. You talked me into it. I climbed up the ladder and took this picture. Wow. Look at the nice new shingles. Look at the strong man attempting to even out his tan while working. Look at the steepness of this roof! And then keep praying for that strong man's safety.

After he works hard and comes inside dirty, hungry and tired, he gets to look forward to this: our boys.

They love to sit with him.

Play with him.

Make him laugh.

And climb all over him.

Christmas Angel

The time has come to decorate for Christmas. We put it off a while this year. Last year we took the tree down right after Christmas because Nathan, a toddler at the time, and the kitten were constantly removing ornaments and/or branches. I was hoping to avoid some aggravation by postponing the set-up. This weekend I concocted the plan of a gradual set-up to ease them into it. We'll see if it works. So far, so good.

Yesterday, we cleaned the house and rearranged furniture before John and Josiah set up the tree. I had planned to put the lights on the tree after the boys went to bed but put it off because I had hurt my back during the cleaning part of the day.

Previously: Josiah had seen the Christmas Angel tree toppers both at Grandma and Grandpa's house and at church. Sunday morning, as we're heading to the car, Josiah asks me if we can get an angel for our tree. "No", I say, "We have a bow for our tree." Not satisfied Josiah asks again and again and yet again. "Not this year." "We don't need one." "Josiah, I'm not going to buy an angel." Finally, I ask him, "Josiah, do you want an angel or do you want a gift?" I'm not surprised when he chooses a gift.

This morning when I came downstairs ready to tackle the lights, John tells me that Aunt Holly and Uncle Micah had left an angel in our mud room for us. I had told Holly about Josiah's fascination and multiple requests - she blessed us with a beautiful Christmas angel wearing gold and red. Thank you, Holly!

I started to work on the lights! With the angel on top, the lights, the bows and ribbons, our tree is looking great! We'll see how soon and how many other ornaments we add to fill out the tree...

The Faith of a Child

Two Sundays ago our family watched a video by Louie Giglio. He talks about the massiveness of the universe and how God in His infinite wisdom and creativity created the cosmos. Creation declares the glory of God! He then talks about people. God made us in His image. He loves us so much and so interested in us that he even knows the hairs that on our head. Nothing is too big for God and nothing is too little.

As I talking to Josiah about how wonderful it is that God is so awesome and yet cares about the intricacies of our lives, Josiah simply responds, "I know that."

Maybe he does. Maybe Josiah has a better grasp on the awesomeness of God and His love for us than I do. The faith of a Child. He doesn't have the worries, the hurts, the disappointments, the betrayals and more that affects our views, that makes us focus more on ourselves than on our Creator and Savior for whom nothing is too difficult and Who tells us to cast our cares upon Him for He will give us rest.

"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork." Psalm 19:1

“All things were made through Him and for Him. He is before all things and in Him all things hold together.” Colossians 1:16b-17

Where are all the flashlights?!?!

As I was playing on the computer last night the house suddenly went dark and quiet. Very dark. The remnants of Ike had knocked out our power.

I felt around for the flashlight which wasn't there. Then I started searching for matches. It wasn't long before I heard footsteps on the stairs approaching. Josiah and Nathan were awake and probably wondering what happened to their nightlight. Even Noah woke up .... probably from hearing me gathering the jar candles from my room.

We only found one working flashlight. All the others we found didn't have batteries. Who knew? We lit plenty of candles and even two oil lamps.

John rocked Noah until he was calm enough to go back to sleep. Meanwhile, the boys and I hung out together talking about electricity, its invention and what people did before it was harnessed.


One of the oil lamps we used is an old one that has been hanging in our basement for a very, very long time. It was fuel for the imagination to wonder how old it is. I told Josiah that since I couldn't find a date on it, I'll have to do some research on it.

John said he did not get to watch the end of the Steelers game. The power returned shortly after the game ended.

It was a fun little spontaneous adventure that lent itself to sharing and learning.