Normal?

As I mentioned yesterday, life is having to go on somewhat normally for me, but of course it is not for those who have been affected by the tornado and those who are able to help.  It is hard to do normal and daily household chores knowing all that is going on just a few miles away.  I am trying to be disciplined with housework so that I can be ready when the time comes to serve, and I'm taking care of my children, thanking God that I can.  I heard on the news this morning of rescuers pulling a five-year-old girl out of the rubble alive.  At first it felt like just another piece of news, but then I imagined Ella, who is almost five, being trapped for over 24 hours, how scared, how frightened, cold, and hungry she must have been.  It broke my heart.  


I am thankful, also, for the internet and television and being able to stay somewhat updated by these means.  I know of so many members of our church who have been able to donate their time cleaning up debris and working at shelters.  I've been going through our clothes and shoes today, pulling out items we don't need or use.  I'm looking forward to giving those and praying they will be received by those who need them most.  Ella was a generous little giver as we went through her drawers.  I had to make sure she didn't try to give away all the clothes she doesn't like.  She was very upset last night when she received the news that Chuck E. Cheese and Hobby Lobby didn't make it.  She cried and said, "Two of her favorite places were ruined."  She asked last night if there would be more tornadoes and if the power would go out.  I reassured her and have been praying she would not be afraid.  I'm also trying to filter our conversation about the devastation here. 


We're so thankful that all of our church members are safe and accounted for, and we have set up a fund for tornado relief.  You can donate online via our website.  

The Day After the Storm

This video shows the widespread damage wrought by the massive tornado that swept through our city yesterday. At about the 3-minute mark is a place the kids and I frequented, a shopping center that contained Big Lots, Hobby Lobby, and Chuckie Cheese. The footage is so unbelievable. Please pray for the people who have lost everything. We have been left untouched by the storm and are looking forward to being able to help those in need. Right now we're just trying to stay out of the way of clean-up crews. It is a helpless feeling to have to go about your daily life knowing that the normal, daily lives of so many people have been ripped out from under them. I've had to continue here, bandaging scraped knees and fixing sippy cups of juice for now. I think the most practical way I'll be able to help is to donate clothes and toiletry items to shelters set up around the city and of course to pray for God's mercy to be abundant.

Daddy's Home!!

Yesterday evening I took the kids out in the front yard for a little playtime.  They hid and hunted eggs, James pushed his lawnmower, and Ella watched the kids across the street throw water balloons at each other.  I was sitting in the driveway snapping pictures when I saw KJ's car turn the corner and come up the street.  This was James' reaction to recognizing that car and the man driving it.

I can remember feeling that way when my own dad would come home, carrying his briefcase and us rushing to unzip his boots (remember those boots?).  The best part of the day is when Daddy comes home.

When things fall apart

I thought it would be fun to have Easter lunch at our house this year for a few reasons:  We want to have KJ's parents over more often, it would be a smaller crowd since my sister-in-law and her family have moved (We miss them so!), and James could go down for a nap in his own bed.  I tried to keep things simple by making things that could be prepared the day before so that Sunday morning before church and coming home afterwards wouldn't be stressful.  Saturday morning I started with a cake.  I found this idea on the internet of making four thin layers by combining ingredients with one box of cake mix, coloring each layer a different pastel, and cutting it in the shape of an egg.  What a great idea, right?


But while I thought the cake was pretty, cake really isn't my absolute favorite dessert, so I hadn't completely decided on what to make when I went to the store with the kids on Thursday.   As a result, I didn't have all the ingredients written on my list when I decided,  "I think I'll make that cake."  So I bought a box of cake mix and some frosting, but when I went to make the cake on Saturday morning, I realized I had no pudding.  I did, however, have another box of yellow cake mix in the pantry, so I thought, "I'll just follow the recipe and make two cakes and make my four layers that way."  I thought I was being clever, and this probably would have worked for a more experienced cake baker, but while my colors were lovely, my cake was super-tall.

I eventually rearranged the layers so there wasn't such a big gap.

I've never learned how to stack this many layers!

KJ advised me not to attempt cutting them into an egg shape, and while I knew he was right, of course I couldn't resist.  Plus, I really wanted to see what the color on the inside of the cakes looked like.  So, praying for assistance, I cut into it.

Aren't the colors pretty?

The egg shape turned out better than I expected, but after I took it apart to frost it, it felt so unstable, like it might topple over.  I decided to go with a three-layer cake instead.  It was also a very moist cake, which is good on taste but hard to frost.

Do you see that small crack on the top layer?  

That crack bodes ill for my cake.

Here is what ended up happening:

It reminds me the Stone Table after Aslan's resurrection.

While undoubtedly tasting delicious, this cake would not be a beautiful and triumphant end to our Easter lunch.  At this point, I had been about four hours in the kitchen and felt tired and a little discouraged.  I went to our room and lay down on the bed.  KJ came in and said, "You know, this can just make you look forward to that day when everything you do will work out perfectly."  

"And what day might that be?" I asked, even though I knew there was only one option where that would happen. 

"On the New Earth.  Because here, things just fall apart."

Yes, things do fall apart here, but Christ is making all things new, and just like this fallen earth will be destroyed and renewed into a perfect habitation for a redeemed people and their holy God, as I lay there thinking I came up with a way to renew and redeem my fallen apart cake.

Ta-da!  Trifle!

And I don't think anyone missed the cake when they tasted

 this delicious, creamy goodness.

Easter Children

These are for my parents, who we didn't get to be with today:

Easter Child #1

Easter Child #2

Our family picture after church

James was completely zonked and ready for a nap,

but there we all are together!

I'm sure there will be more pictures to come.

I hope you all had a blessed Easter.

Good Friday

The Whip

Crown of Thorns

Nails

Die

Spear

Tonight's was a weighty family time.  Our church is hosting a simulcast of The Secret Church, so KJ is away.  I made the decision to open five eggs and cover all the events of Good Friday.  As you may imagine, we have told Ella on several occasions that Jesus died for our sins on the cross, but I've never sat down with her and talked through each event on its own.  I silently pleaded for the right words to explain this night to my daughter.  I told her that Jesus was God and that He could have made the people stop whipping Him.  But He didn't.  As I've been memorizing in Philippians, "He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."   And as badly as it hurt to be nailed to a cross, the most important thing, and the worst thing, was offering Himself as the punishment for all of my sin and all of her sin and bearing God's wrath.  And as many times as I've heard people say that, my heart understood it more tonight than it ever has previously.  I told her that Jesus bore all our punishment, and then He said, "It is finished," and He died.  The soldiers came to make sure He was dead and stuck the spear in His side.

We ended on that solemn note, with Jesus' death.  I prayed that our hearts would believe this story, and we sang Amazing Grace.  It was a sweet sound to hear Ella singing those words.  I think this is the best Good Friday observance I've ever known.

Resurrection Eggs

Several years ago KJ's mom gave us a couple of tools from Family Life to use with our children at Christmas and Easter.  We've used the nativity set several times, but last year when Ella would have been old enough to understand, I forgot all about the Resurrection Eggs.  I was determined to remember to take them down out of the closet this year, and yesterday afternoon I succeeded.  I had not really taken a good look at them until yesterday, and when I did, I was so excited.  I knew that Ella would really enjoy them, and they are such a great tool to help children remember all the events of Passion Week.

Each egg contains an item that tells part of the story.

I taped the stickers on top of them yesterday because 

I wasn't sure how well they would stay by themselves.

Ella had been waiting all day to open the eggs.

I made her wait until family time so that it would be a surprise.

We decided to open four eggs each night in the remaining three nights before Easter.

Don't you love Ella's quizzical expression?

She's listening to KJ's explanation of the donkey;

she originally thought it was a camel. (?)

So we talked about how Jesus rode into town on a donkey,

and the crowds shouted, "Hosanna!"

Ella refers to this day as "Palm Day," and corrects us when we say, "Palm Sunday."

Pieces of Silver

We talked next about Judas' betrayal with a kiss.

The Passover Cup

We were proud of Ella for knowing what this represented:

"The Lord's Supper!" she said.

Thank you to her teachers at church.  She's listening and remembering.

The next egg we opened contained praying hands, representing

Christ's time in the Garden of Gethsemane. 

I'm looking forward to the next four eggs we open tonight.

It's good taking the story bit by bit.

Moments in Mothering

While helping Ella clean up her room before bed, 
KJ and I stopped working for a few kisses.

Ella said,

"Oh, boy...Mom and Dad...".

Mmm Mmm Good

A couple of weeks ago we had some friends over to watch a movie, and I made some cookies.  No one but James was around to lick the beaters when I was done mixing, so I let him have his first lick of dough-y goodness.  He bit down on the beater a bit but besides that, he liked what he tasted.  A few days later we were having a friend over whose birthday was the following day, and I made a cake.  As soon as I brought out the mixer James started hollering and carrying on, hanging on my legs and standing on his toes.  He recognized the mixer, you see.  He remembered the dough-y goodness.  He was extremely impatient for me to finish the business of mixing and extremely happy when I was done and he could claim his prize.

First Birthday Party

Sometimes when I read a photography "how-to" on the internet,

I try the edit on a similar photo.

I liked the way this one turned out.

It's James at his first birthday party.

Our friend Jeffrey took the picture;

I just took the liberty of cropping it and editing it.

I just noticed how completely SOAKED his neck and the top of his outfit are.

I'm happy to report that there's been no change in the drooling department in 

the past six months.

Resurrection

O God of my Exodus,

Great was the joy of Israel's sons, when Egypt died upon the shore,

far greater the joy when the Redeemer's foe lay crushed in the dust.

Jesus strides forth as the victor, conqueror of death, hell, and all opposing might;

He bursts the bands of death, tramples the powers of darkness down,

and lives for ever.  He, my gracious surety, apprehended for payment

of my debt, comes forth from the prison house of the grave free,

triumphant over sin, Satan, and death.

from The Valley of Vision

Eagles

Despite a late night visiting with a friend, I rose early on Saturday morning to go with my father to see the eagles.  The fledglings have long-since hatched and are almost as big as the mature birds now (do you like that bird lingo my dad taught me?).  They're practicing their flying skills as they prepare to leave the south.  On the way to the dam Dad told me about all the guys with their huge lenses on tripods just waiting for an eagle to show up on the scene.  To catch a shot of an eagle in flight is the grand prize, one that you wait for hours to achieve.  When we arrived on the scene a mature eagle was already sitting on an old tree, and within two minutes...or less...

Well, hello there.

That's a baby.

And just a few minutes later, mama (or daddy?) flew off to get breakfast.

That bird went on to swoop up a fish and bring it back to their nest.

Cameramen with longer zoom lenses could later see the blood dripping from his beak.

I definitely did not have a very "fair" first experience eagle-watching,

but it sure was fun.

Last Week

Last Monday morning I didn't think I had anything to do until Friday morning, but the week suddenly became quite a full one with our surprise trip to the beach with KJ's mom.  We had such a good time, despite our sun burns, and now this mama knows that long days at the beach require higher SPFs, no matter how well your skin tans.  We are now peeling a little bit in our worst places and turning brown in the least-burned places.  

Thursday I spent the day unpacking and re-packing for a trip home to attend the wedding of one of my best friends from Junior High and High School.  We used to spend a lot of time together roller-blading, playing Scrabble, and dreaming about our FMs (Future Mates).  I'm so happy she's now found hers.

I was able to see so many friends from the past, and it was really fun to reunite with these girls.

This is Kristen and Kristen.

We're making sure there's no food in our teeth before KJ takes the picture.

He took the picture anyway.

I love it.

We haven't been together in 1 year and 9 months,

or since the Kristen on the right got married in 2009.

I'm really glad her husband, Corey, told us to put our heads together.

We've been friends since I was eleven.

I think that makes our friendship 18 years old. 

[Gasp!]

The weekend was also filled with time with my family and some eagle-watching with my dad.  As you may well imagine I have hundreds of pictures to go through, and hopefully some of them will find their way here this week.  But as of now, I've spent entirely too much time at the computer, and I think my children need me.  Oh, but wait!  I'm almost forgetting my favorite picture from the wedding!

Eighteen years of friendship + wonderful, godly husbands who

would be really good friends, too, given the chance.

I love that.

I do think that KJ and Corey follow each other on Twitter.

Every good thing given and every perfect gift is

from above, coming down from the Father of lights,

with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.

James 1:17

Home Again

The traveling girls arrived home late last night a little ahead of schedule.  We had planned on returning today, but after six hours in the sun yesterday we didn't think it wise to venture out anymore.  We had such a lovely time together.  Ella splashed and played in the waves, made new friends at the pool, jumped into the pool all by herself (with floaties on), looked for seashells, played in the sand, and just had the loveliest time.  I'm sure I'll be posting pictures periodically for the next several days in the midst of unpacking, housework, and parenting. It would be pretty overwhelming if I posted all 400 at once. 

I just love all the expressions of pure delight on Ella's face

I was able to capture.  It was so fun watching her frolic in the waves.

I am also really loving black and white beach shots.

I think the sun makes it look so...my mind is failing on the right word.

But I love the effect.

I also think this is beautiful.

I call it, "Summer."  :)

Just a Glimpse

It's morning in the hotel, and Ella just woke up.  She's excited about a full day at the beach.  I'm excited, too, and hoping that her having less sleep than usual won't affect the day too much.  I haven't had a lot of time to go through pictures yet, but here are a few more for my husband and my mother.  We're having a really great time.  There's something magical about the beach.

Ella needed some convincing at first that being here was a good idea.

Walking in the sand felt funny, and those waves looked awfully big.

This is one of her first smiles as she started to thaw out.

First Steps in the Water

Loving It

Beauty

This is one quick picture for my husband before he goes to sleep tonight.  I only took a few hundred in the time we spent on the beach this evening.  It was so delightful.

That uploaded so quickly that I might find time for a few more.

We'll see.  Suffice it to say, that although Ella was very hesitant regarding waves and sand at the beginning, she is now completely in love.

Girls' Trip!

The kids and I were blowing bubbles in the backyard today when I came inside to grab my camera.  I stopped to check my phone on the way out the door and found this text from my mother-in-law:  "Do you and the kids want to go to Destin with me tomorrow?"  Oh, wow!  I didn't see that coming.  I won't bore you with the details of the phone conversations I made following that text, but the end of the story looks like this:  Ella and I will be joining T on her trip to Destin to speak at a retreat.  Sweet Hillary is going to look after James during the day, and of course KJ will be with him at night.  We'll travel down tomorrow, have Wednesday at the beach, and come home on Thursday.  I'm so excited for some fun girl time.  Last time I took Ella on a girls' trip to the beach she looked like this:

Sniff, sniff.

Pray for my boys, ask God to bless Hillary, and maybe you'll see a picture of the beach by Wednesday night.

The Weekend

I know I haven't been blogging as many updates lately, and that is mostly because I am spending my free time taking pictures and then editing them a bit.  I'm having a lot of fun doing it, I might add.  I truly am so thankful for a creative outlet that is fun, relaxing, and rejuvenating to me.  Everyone needs something like that, I think.  I have no aspirations to start my own business, but there is so much to learn, and it is so fun for me.


That being said, I'm having a hard time remembering what I even did this weekend.  Friday seems so long ago.  Okay, I remember now.  KJ and I had a good discussion about our England trip coming up in September.  (Have I mentioned that this trip looks like it is going to become reality?)  I am beyond excited.  We discussed our possible route.  We're planning on renting a car and driving to the places we most want to see.  This is not a tourist trip to London but more like a road trip through the English countryside.  Here's what's on my list so far:

• Winchester Cathedral - Jane Austen is buried here.  It looks magnificent.  There is also a King James Bible exhibition there through October, celebrating its 400th anniversary.
• Steventon Church - This is the church where Jane's father served as rector, as well as her brothers', James and Henry, in later years.  (This is not entirely a Jane Austen-themed trip.)
• Jane's Home in Chawton - This is the home Jane lived with her sister, mother, and another family friend after the death of her father.  It's where she lived when Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice were published and where she wrote her other novels, I believe.  
• The Kilns - C.S. Lewis's former home
• Tolkien's grave
• Oxford University
• The Eagle and Child in Oxford
• Bath
• The Eye of London
• 10 Downing Street
• 221b Baker Street
• The Houses of Parliament
• Chatsworth House - This house was used as Pemberley in the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice. 

Chatsworth House might be negotiable if we decide there's another estate we would like to visit more.  But I think the rest of the above-mentioned are written in permanent marker in my mind.  I'm so excited and thankful for this trip.  Happy seven years, KJ!  

I spent some time Saturday afternoon plotting our trip on Google Maps, which was super-fun to do.  KJ cut the grass and changed the oil on his car.  Ella colored the sidewalk and driveway with her friend, and Saturday evening we spent some time with Hillary and David.

Don't you love the pure, unbridled spirit of little girls?

Yesterday I had to stay home from church because James woke up with green snot streaming out of his nose again.  Claritin is helping keep it in check, but I don't like to send him to the nursery with his nose running constantly.  I felt horrible for missing KJ preach, but a quiet morning at home was such a restorative of spirits for me.  Life is so busy and constant, and silence and solitude are not something I have much of during this season.  But once James was down for a nap, he slept for nearly two hours.  I prepared lunch without his hands around my legs, pulling and hollering at the top of his lungs for food.  I took a shower and got dressed without people running in and out asking me what I'm doing.  I cleaned, and prayed, and read in silence.  [Insert a deep sigh.]  It was so nice.  And while James took his afternoon nap, I got to use some beautiful and amazing camera lenses that David brought over.  It was so relaxing and fun.

Ella's not really sure what to think about this new relationship.

Why can't Hillary concentrate on playing ball with her?

"Okay, this has got to stop."

It's a good thing David lets her play Sonic on his iPhone,

or stealing Hillary's attention might be unpardonable.

At least Daddy hasn't changed.

And neither has Hillary, really; her world has just expanded.

The Suffering God

For whatever reason God chose to make man as he is--

limited and suffering and subject to sorrows and death--

God had the honesty and the courage to take his own medicine.

Whatever game he is playing with his creation, he has

kept his own rules and played fair.  He can exact nothing 

from man that he has not exacted from himself.  He has himself

gone through the whole of human experience, from the

trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions

of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of

pain and humiliation, defeat, despair, and death.  When he

was a man, he played the man.  He was born in poverty and

died in disgrace and thought it well worthwhile.

- Dorothy Sayers, qtd. in Randy Alcorn's, If God is Good

Backyard Toys = Lots of Noise

Yesterday I made a trip to Wal-Mart and the grocery store.  While in Wal-Mart I stumbled upon two full aisles of backyard toys for hours of summer fun.  It drew me in completely.  Now that I have a little boy whose greatest thrill in life is going outside, I can see a lot of potential in having fun outdoor toys.  Bats, balls, sprinklers, bubbles...there were so many worthy ones to choose from.  But then I remembered the one toy I really wanted James to have.  It's quintessential American toddler-hood.  Truthfully, I always thought Ella would enjoy one, too, but I never bought one, and my babies won't be with me forever.  So this precious item went into the buggy, and it was an instant hit.

James was napping when I came home from the store, but KJ put it together when James woke up, and he pushed it the rest of the night.  The sound effects have greatly improved since KJ and I were kids, making a very realistic lawnmower sound.  I've already had to hide it periodically because my ears can't take the constant noise.  We were outside at 8:30 this morning mowing the backyard.  We haven't even installed the bubbles yet.  For now, pushing that lawnmower is entertainment enough.

And as for Ella, she didn't get left out of the fun.  Don't worry about her.

She's been equipped with sidewalk chalk, crayons, and stencils for her drawing pleasure.

Moments in Mothering

Tonight as we were cleaning up all the toys before bed, Ella and I (along with some loud humming from James) began to sing the "clean-up song."  "Clean up, clean up, everybody clean up...".  We made it to Ella's room, and she said, "I'll just sing, and you do it."

Spring

Yesterday was so beautiful and cool outside after the rain so the kids and I went out to a little playground.  Truthfully, I called KJ as we were driving out of our neighborhood, and when he asked where we were going I replied, "I really don't know."  I just knew we were going out, but I wasn't necessarily sure of our destination.  You stay-at-home mom's know how that is.  Sometimes you just need to leave the house.  Location isn't always important.

Thankfully, James was really content to stay in the swing.

I let him out once, but he ran right back to it.

It was nice to keep him contained because the ground was a bit muddy,

and I'm sure the mud puddles would have whispered his name.

Ella had the hardest time with this dandelion.

It refused to be blown.

It was fairly windy and perfect spinning weather.

It was a very nice afternoon indeed.

Pictures Again

I'm sorry to overwhelm you with more of my pictures, but I am having so much fun with my new camera and Photoshop Elements 7.  :)  I had some fun play time yesterday and this morning.  

When it was all said and done I wasn't sure if I liked the blur effect

 I did on this picture or not, but KJ made the comment that "everything

else becomes blurry when I look at him".  Yes.  Indeed.  

Yesterday evening we went outside in the yard to enjoy the wind as 

the storm was brewing.  Ella is a willing model, and sometimes Hillary consents.

It helps when I let them choose their poses.  This is all them.  Perhaps it is all Ella.