Is there anything so lovely?

Warm sunshine on our faces and backs, I had the joy of taking the boys to a slice of heaven today!
We gathered together with friends of various ages for a frolic in the park. Not playground with the brightly colored metal or plastic equipment set with graffiti and "educational drawings". But beautiful park. No buildings, no wires, no smoggy polluted smell. Streams with squishy sand through toes, green grass, ducks and woodpeckers, trees starting to bud, Magnolia trees in bloom, the Rhododendrun just turning to flower, daffodils, tulips. Picnic blankets with momma's sitting and having a good tongue wag, while the children played. Really played. and came to show off their sticks and muddy toes.
When offered to take the bus or walk along the river to the 2nd bus stop, both children shouted WALK! and so we walked, or better said "ambled" along...soaking in the sunshine, climbing walls, the boys picked dandelions and long pieces of grass to give to me. The rich beauty of it all as we headed into the tide of people flowing home from a busy day in the urban center. Their faces weren't full of worry and anxiety and general crossness as they were in january. These people were ambling too, barely smiling (which is saying something for where we live!), jackets over their shoulders with just a finger hanging on. Home we went to yummy leftover veg soup, to baths, to snug down in freshly washed sheets (dried crisp and sunkissed on the line). Is there anything so lovely?

More things they say...

3 yo says: I want to be by myself, go away
6 yo: I want to be with you.
3 yo: But momma will be scared, she's all by herself (in the kitchen)
6 yo: Momma isn't scared of monsters, monsters are scared of her!

3 yo: That's not asectuple. ( I think meant acceptable)

3 yo: Don't be noxious, Ethan.

3 yo: You're not as pretty yet.
Me: What do you mean?
3 yo: You need you're married dress.

3 yo: I am going to eat this so Jesus can try some in my belly.

oh the things they say...

From the 6 year old..."There was a bald man in the pool, and I was careful not to splash him. I didn't want to hurt him where he lost his hair."

From the almost 3 year old..."Don't talk nonsense to me." "Do they have toys in America?"

From the mom who is tired of hearing lip smacking at the dinner table. "Don't smack your lips, chew with your mouth closed." (okay..smack, smack, smack) "Don't smack your lips." (SORRY! smack, smack, smack) "Ok, its like this. Your bottom lip and your top lip are the best of friends. They always want to be beside one another. Don't smack your lips." (silence!)

Merry Christmas!

We are wishing all our family and friends a holly jolly Christmas!

Early December in our house

So that's a lot of pictures to give you an idea of highlights of our December...decorating the Christmas tree, snowfall, Ethan's birthday...sweet days these are! Our paper chain is our advent calendar this year, we do a verse and pray for one member of our family each day. Ethan loved his crossbow and has shot some bull's eyes already...the hallway makes a perfect place for shooting when he puts the box on the stairs. (It's like having recess in the foyer, if you have heard Tim Hawkin's on homeschooling) Tim took the picture of Ethan doing his workbook, pretty good for the first try!

Thankfulness, day 30

On my last day of my thankfulness project, I am thankful for Thanksgiving Day. I am thankful that the Pilgrims survived and could feast and have a celebration. I am thankful that we have this holiday to stop and give thanks. I am thankful for turkey, for the smell of sage in chestnut stuffing, I am thankful for potatoes and corn bread, for pie. I am thankful for ways of cooking all these foods without gluten and dairy. I am thankful for little boys who "help" with the cooking, and I am thankful for husbands who come to the rescue! I am thankful for husband's who take the day off while the rest of the UK is working and carrying on as normal. I am thankful for a dear friend from our church who is special to our boys being able to spend the day with us. I am thankful for turkey crafts and coloring pages and the Magic School Bus at the First Thanksgiving books. I am thankful to be thankful, it is a gift.
"Are you ever burdened with a load of care, does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear? Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings see what God has done."

Thankfulness, day 29 To Corey

I am thankful that God is with us in dark places. I am thankful for Corey. If you feel up for a cry, please read on...what I wrote for Corey back in August. If you are someone close to me who thinks I should have told you this in person, please forgive me for not telling you this in person, some things are easier for me to write.

I first knew you were there when I could open the upstairs windows at night and smell roses and lavender as though they were close enough to touch. You woke me up to use the toilet every 2 hours and I remembered how well that prepares me for the months ahead. Though usually a bustle of energy, with you needing to grow all I could do was sleep and sleep! You made me feel nauseaus and I didn't want to eat my favorite foods anymore, but I loved the fresh vegetables, the homemade broth, even the liver that I ate every week for you to grow strong. Then when we took the test to know for certain you were there...one drop...a blue line, another blue line. "Praise God" I said, and looked out the bathroom window on the garden below and smiled. I gave your poppa our willow tree "cherish" (a figurine of a woman about 7 months pregnant) and a pair of booties that Grammie had bought in England for Ethan. He was so delighted, I was so delighted. You continued to make me nauseaus and too dizzy and uncomfortable to ride the bus through the summer. So we stayed home and I read many stories to the children, thinking that you might enjoy listening too. When I sang songs to your brothers as they were falling asleep, I hoped you could hear them too and be surrounded by love as you grew. I thought about your pinpoint eyes that formed at 6 weeks, and your nubs for fingers and toes. Just 4 days ago I thought of how you have tiny feet, smaller than the tip of my pinky finger. I don't know if you ever did have those feet, just 3 days ago I awoke to small blood stains. I saw the doctor, and an exam said everything was fine. I was going to have a scan the next day, and then we would see you. 2 hours before my appointment, a huge clot of blood dropped in the toilet. Tears, tears, tears. This is it, I knew, you had gone on. I look out the window at our garden that is showing signs of the long hot summer. The warning signs got more urgent and more frequent. Going to A&E, (accident and emergency), a friend comes to drive me, another stays with the boys who are crying as I leave. At the hospital...I am having a miscarriage. They hand me a red slip and I check in. I never had a red slip before, but in England, you still have to wait the queue and answer the questions that you can't understand through the plastic window and the various accents. Various nurses and questions. I am led back to a room with 3 other people. After the urgency is dealt with, finally a nurse cares for my dignity. I find out later she is 10 weeks pregnant. I look for something beautiful in the room. Its full of signs and supplies and medical equipment. Poppa arrives. The doctor comes to examine me, she is moving to the states next week. The neck of the womb is open, she says. I knew, but it still brings even more tears to this day full of tears. She leaves to get a gynecologist, and they turn my bed so its facing the wall. I look up at the window that is opaque. I can see the beatiful light that comes even through clouds, even through opaque glass. How much more beautiful is that light than the harsh flourescent light. I sing the song I sang to the boys and you just last night, though I don't know if you were already gone then..."When peace like a river, attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, "Even so, it is well with my soul".

"Todd," I say, "Todd, do you know, our baby is with Jesus now? It must be so happy. It must be so peaceful..." And yet, that night after an operation to remove the tissue, many more exams, and needle pricks and starvation and being in a room with 6 other ailing women trying to sleep I pray, "Jesus, I know you are holding our baby, would you let me know you are holding me that way too...and lift me from this awful place, and give me rest for the night."

We are naming you Corey, either for a boy or a girl. Though I don't know which you were, your Maker does. There are many Corey's or Corrie's as such in this world, but you are named in memory of Corrie Ten Boom.
I wrote this on August 5, 2010. We miscarried Corey on August 4.
I am thankful that God answered that prayer, and he did lift me up, and I am thankful, so thankful for those 10 weeks to be Corey's momma.