5

how did we go from here:

to here so quickly?

this is the first birthday of any of my children that i have felt a palpable feeling of sadness. i just feel time rapidly passing. i know the many days and moments that i have allowed to pass without intentionally entering in and being grateful. i want to hold on to marit's littleness and cuddle her up and treasure these days when she asks so many questions and views life with very pink glasses. when i ask her to please, please stay little she looks at me sympathetically and says "i'm so sorry, but i have to grow up to be a big woman." and i have to recognize my failures in parenting her, plead for God's grace and help, and carefully let her grow up.

sweet marit, you are a treasure. we are so thankful for the gift that you are. we praise Jesus for your cheery, curious, expressive nature. we pray that you would walk with Him all your days. as daddy always prays for you, we pray that you will hear "well done, good and faithful servant" at the end of your life . we are excited for the new things that being 5 will bring...learning to read on your own, violin lessons, more responsibilities and we hope it is a joyful year for you. we love love love you!

at marit's request

well, we have a FIVE year old in the house now.  ever since we visited a nearby children's museum earlier this year, marit has been dying to go back (particularly to jump in the belly and slide down the intestine of the enormous boy exhibit).  in lieu of a big party this year, we snagged a few of her (and graham's) besties and made a day of it for her birthday.  it was fun and i wish we could have taken all our friends with small children because they were so cute pretending together...doubled the fun for them.  

apparently marit is in to donuts

the butterflies were a hit!

putting those lug nuts back on...mr handyman

dancing and drumming in africa

fishing in africa

marit sandwich:)

happy healthy hips

today we rejoice and give thanks as marit's hip saga comes to an end. she has not worn her brace for a couple years now and i just assumed we would keep having annual x-rays. nope. we have been released by the pediatric ortho department for good (at least until someone breaks a bone or something). i found myself getting a little teary on the way home thinking about our hip journey and God's care and goodness through it all. it got me thinking about life's bumps and bruises and how a God who can heal and restore could surely prevent us from the bumps in the first place. i certainly do not have all the theologically correct answers for why we must endure the consequences of a broken world when the purpose seems unclear. but i do know that he uses the bumps to remind us that we are not in control of our existence, to draw us to His side (which is for our ultimate good). it must be His goodness to prevent our lives from being frictionless and easy so that we will acknowledge our desperate need for Him and His tremendous grace in our lives.

we are thankful to be over this little bump for now...here is a little trip down memory lane...
harness days (miss that kitty)

brace days

the doc says we are good as long as her legs can go 180 degrees...

swimmin' 'n' dancin'

for the first time, marit and graham had some organized activities this summer. they both took swimming lessons and we are so proud of our little fish! marit can pretty much swim anywhere now and graham is doing great too. we have been swimming almost every day because it is so stinking hot so i'm thankful for their improved skills! here they are on the last day when the parents watched

with their amazing teacher who also happens to be our neighbor

miles keeping it real during the final lesson

marit also enjoyed a nutcracker ballet camp at a nearby ballet school. she loved every second of it!

and for the record, summer is exhausting. graham demonstrates this during his nap the other day. this is the progression as marit and i tried to wake him up.

*now we are thinking about starting to plan for the fall and our first real homeschool year! i'm trembling thinking about it....

*and yours truly can now play a very squeaky version of twinkle on the violin in preparation for marit to start suzuki violin lessons (parents had to learn a bit first so they can reinforce the lessons at home).

*adam started his new residency and LOVES it so far. we are thankful. this week he completed disaster relief training, but he won't let me post the picture of him in a hazmat suit...

summer goodbyes

we've been saying some goodbyes this summer.  i've never been very good at that...selfishly wanting to keep all the ones i love close.  it turns out, marit is a little like me in that way and she has cried many tears over our dear next-door neighbors heading out to seminary.  we have been so blessed and encouraged to look to Christ by this precious family as they have walked through much in the last few years.  it has been such a sweet time for our young families (including many others in the neighborhood) to grow along side each other.  the kids miss these over-the-fence conversations, i miss the in-the-midst-of life-teary-heart conversations that would happen while chasing children and such.

i had to borrow this picture...we are so thankful for you guys!  praying for you, planning to visit, and knowing you will thrive where you are because your hope is in Christ alone.

this week we were privileged to host my brother tom and kelly and fam for their last night in georgia as they are moving to maine.  we have loved having them less than 2 hrs away for all of tom's doctorate work and it has been such a delight to see little cousin relationships form and develop as we have each added children.  not just family, these dear ones are some of our closest friends.  now they will be 20 hours away, but we are saving and planning to visit at least once.  as adam prayed that morning, we are thankful that God calls people to be lights for Christ in all places.  and while we miss those that go to new communities, we are so thankful to be a part of the larger body that does not cherish earth as our eternal home. 

marit and aida soaking up auntie char char's creativity

caught these tired expressions and they made me laugh...moving is hard work!

the six okie grandkids

on the stranger who made me cry

we went to our favorite pizza place last night because, well, we needed to do something fun and i had no dinner plan. it had been an emotional and busy day, we sent my brother and his sweet family off to maine that morning where they are moving. the kids were sad about their cousins moving farther than a quick day trip away. the house was a bit of a wreck and i had lost my patience with the kids many times and generally felt like a failure of a mom. during dinner, the kids did pretty well, though they were not without wiggles, messes, and lots and lots of questions. sometimes i just feel like i need to apologize to all other restaurant patrons for the fact that my kids are kids and may be intruding on their quiet or space or worldview. so the older couple (precisely the type of people i feel like i need to apologize to because they have done their time as parents and surely kids were better behaved back then) sitting in the booth behind us stops at our table as they were leaving and says something to the effect of:

"about 30 years ago my wife and i were in a restaurant in Delaware struggling to eat our meal with our young daughter, feeling like failures with our daughter's behavior and as parents. an older couple told us as they were leaving that it had been a pleasure to sit next to us. and we wanted to tell you the same thing. because it has. it has been a pleasure to sit next to you. i hope you can pass this encouragement on to another young family when you are our age." 

with poise adam said "thank you" and i of course, burst into tears (i know you are shocked, right?). i just wanted to thank them for not viewing my children as noisy, messy inconveniences and also affirming the lurking lie all parents believe that they are a failure. we do fail. often. but by God's grace, we are not failures...he has equipped us with everything we need for life and Godliness. and that sweet couple was God's grace to me at the end of a stretching day.

fireworks on the fourth

miles is asleep (how he sleeps through such things is a complete mystery) while the annual fireworks show takes place a few blocks away. adam was working, but we watched from the backyard. graham was a little grumpy about being awakened, but i knew he would be sad if he missed it as marit is sure to describe it in great detail tomorrow. we are thankful for so many freedoms we enjoy in this great country