i love math

the thrill loves anything to do with physics and/or numbers -- ok, anything to do with puzzles at all holds his interest.

no one rained on their parade

yesterday was the kids' kindergarten 'last day of school' parade to the neighborhood park -- although the precipitation poured down, the kids were eating cupcakes, playing on the equipment and splashing in the puddles...

no one rained on their parade.

rainbow-robes and crowns of light

it was 'bubble day' for the Kindergarten classes today... naturally, i brought my camera and enjoyed photographing one of my absolute favorite things to photograph - BUBBLES

she's a beauty

the ages of our children always have jess and i wondering... 'what is the future going to hold?'  i have a friend from high school who was reintroduced to a family friend that she'd known since she was little after some ten years of not seeing each other...  they were in their twenties now and it took no longer than an evening spent at a dinner party on elliot bay for them to realize God had it planned all along... we never say anything TO our kiddos but we do giggle - its so sweet to know they will be traveling through life together - and the young 'crush' is cute to capture on camera.

the fan voice

she does my heart good

'you wanna come over for lunch?' is the unsaid 'please come over, i need to take a shower' ...

we don't surprise each other.  we don't rush to coat anything in sprinkles - we just offer each other the half-eaten cupcake and shrug if the other kindly refuses... no sweat off our backs.

our children run around like a bunch of Norwegian kamikazes awaiting their demise - cause if i were to get in their heads, all the current joy is worth it.  they scream and giggle and dance and cry and yell and hug and whisper... until, if they're lucky, they all fall asleep for a big sleepover at one of our homes.

what would i do without her?  in the midst of transitions my first thought goes to 'if we ever moved away i couldn't ever have what i have with jess...' and then i let it go.  the idea of moving.

so i sit here this afternoon after sitting on her back patio while six children ran in and around and over us and then back out again -- we sipped a beer and Baileys at 1:30p in the afternoon and talked about what God was doing in our lives... it was is wonderful.  she had so much to share as did i... we smiled at each others trophies to God's work in our lives and rested our head back on the lawn chairs.  life is good.  God is good.  and we don't want to do it alone.

we met originally over eight years ago when kyle and i moved from bellingham to plant a church... and in the midst of those years we've both experienced multiple churches and are now finding ourselves sitting together at the same service every sunday morning -- ok, that's not accurate, being summer and all we hit or miss the formal church gathering ... and this last Sunday Kyle and I went to the 10:45a and they went to the 9:00a.  but in the least, we are worshiping with the same body of believers each Sunday and praying for the same leaders; gearing up for the same outreach opportunities and engaging in the same prayers for others in the body.  sometimes i look down the aisle and find her leaning forward with a smile... like we're 'thumbs-upping' each other that God's still doing what He's always done with us.

til i'm on my death bed and slurping jell-o through a straw, jess will be bringing me a drink while tipping back her Bailey's from a child's sippie cup and we will have, once again, one of our most real and wondrous conversations about what is happening... of course, at that point, i'll be irritated that i can't do my water aerobics anymore while jess curses that she smells like a bar after dropping her drink down the front of her gown.

until that day, jess...

I LOVE YOU!

my side of the story

we spent the weekend of june 4th celebrating my 'little' sister's graduation from high school -- she's absolutely breathtaking. i didn't expect it to be as emotional as it was... banana has had quite the couple years leading up to this day. i watched her from far off as she socialized... and i couldn't stop taking her picture.

when i run, i listen to the weepies and the song below is one that has had me in tears over the recent months just thinking about sending banana off to college. i love you my dear sister.

below you will find the weekend as i saw it. a wonderful family, beautiful sunshine and lots of laughter. enjoy.

bubble day

if i've never blogged about it, i should have.  each evening before bed kyle and i pray with our children.  in the boys' room we consistently get the calm and thoughtful response from william, 'i want to pray for Jesus who died on the cross, for all of my school friends and ... that i'd get to play the LEGO game tomorrow' and from ben it can be anything from 'nushing' to 'meeee waaaaant tooooo praaaaaaay foooooooor daddy.  that he come home to work to home to work to home to work... and on and on...' i often cut him short and say, 'ok!  you want to pray that daddy comes home from work and goes to work safely?!'  he crosses his eyes, sticks out his tongue as though tweaking a nerve in his face and flops back on his pillow still as a statue -- his desire for clowning around stops for nothing. 

just a couple months ago, on a thursday evening, william begrudgingly accepted that he would have to go to school the next morning and he didn't want to for one reason or another... he piped up with excitement and said, 'i want to pray that we DON'T have school tomorrow!'

now when my children pray for things that i know won't come true - not unlike katie praying that when she woke up in the morning her hair would be the length of Catherine's in her class, or better yet, Rapunzel's from Tangled - i have to really search within my heart to pray what it is they want to pray for while also trying to shape for them how to pray in such a way that we're partnering with the Lord and His desires for our life... somehow long hair and no school just seems, well... silly.  and yes, 'saying' that out loud about my childrens prayers does sound a little scrooge-like.

well on the evening where the prayer was for no school.  i prayed it.  in the desire that my son would see something awesome happen that only GOD could make happen, i secretly prayed that it would go from 65 degrees to -32 and snowing so that the entire district would shut down and we could leap for joy as God answered my sweet son's prayer.

upon waking the next morning it wasn't cold enough for snow and i was a little disheartened.  i got all the kids in the car and off to school.  the first stop was katie's school... the parking lot was empty.  it was quite eery and i immediately felt an overwhelming anxiety that i was completely missing something and everyone was standing, arms crossed, foot tapping and annoyance on their face waiting for me to get with the program.  as i slowly drove through the parking lot i tried to look as though i knew what was going on - hoping that anyone watching me might NOT think i was a complete imbecile and take pity on me.  and then it hit me!  all of everett school district is out of school today!  and then it hit me AGAIN!  william just had his prayer answered!  i wooped and hollared in my heart!!  praise Jesus!!  you are sooooo good God!!

will giggled and praised Jesus - i smiled, shaking my head, and thanked Him for His sovereignty and we made our way back home.

****

just today on our way to drop katie off at school, she prayed that today would be 'bubble day'.  we knew that bubble day was coming as we rounded the corner and approached the final days of school, but we weren't sure when... again, i thought to myself, 'lets prayer for something big and spiritual!' but said nothing to that affect and asked the boys what they would like to pray for.  Ben says, 'me want to have school day and pay that it is bubble day for me too' ... really kids?!  what about praying for the heart of the jerk that you confront everyday in class or the mean girl streak that seems to take katie and her friends for emotional rides every so often?!  but no... again, the kids prayed for things completely 'silly' -- so says their mom.  i was apprehensive as though coming to accounting with a completely stupefying purchase request but prayed it anyway thinking it probably wasn't going to be bubble day.  katie hopped out of the car and we continued on to william's school - it was his last day.  we dropped him off and headed home...

at 11:45am we waited and waited for william's class to be let out.  it wasn't until closer to 11:50 or 55 when we were summoned to come upstairs to the room -- benjamin was THRILLED!  he was hoping and praying that today would be a school day for him and now he was being given admittance into one of his favorite classrooms at school!  he played and engaged with the other kids while we waded through the throngs of other small children and parents... gathering william's end of the year projects and offering our thanks and affections to william's teachers.  benjamin got his 'school day' albeit...

and as we walked out the classroom door, william tore open the bag of goodies his teachers had put together.  he reached inside and what do you think he pulled out?!

yep.  a bottle of bubbles.

everyone got their bubble day today... God hears the prayers of my children and i am so thankful. today has brought a smile from ear to ear.