June 4, 2012

• Birthdays & Baptisms

  

  She’s a peanut.

  She’s a princess.

  She’s a peach.

  

   

  And somehow she’s already 3 years old.

  

   

  She’s the one who hears the rhythm of the little song, “Hot Cross Buns” in the sound of the chewing of her piece of watermelon.  And when there was one fair, blond cashier at the dollar store and one cute Asian girl with dark skin, she told us later that the chocolate one was the one who gave her the sucker.

  

  She’s a fearless monkey doing flips over high things.  And she’s a funny girl who freaks at spiders and other creepy crawly things.

  

   

  She brings me bouquets of chives.  And leaves to put in my hair.  And she asks me hurry outside to help her put rock puzzles together.

  

  Just yesterday I noticed that her thumb is growing a new pink nail.  I don’t even know what scrape took off the old one.  She’s hard to keep up with like that.

  And guess whose bed she loves best when she’s “kai-ud” at night?

  Baby….may you always dance wild and free.  May you love and be loved.  May you choose Jesus and His beautiful ways.

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  If you are on Facebook, you already know.

  But Sunday, May 27th was one of the happiest days of parenthood for Dan & I.  It was right up there with the incredible joy of birth.  And it rated with the night Alec came to us feeling so unhappy and gave his life to Christ by our bedside.  And the days Victoria and Bryant, with tears and prayers, said they wanted to choose Him too. 

  Baptism is such a celebration of commitment, such a stake in the life of a new believer. 

  It was a really happy day for our church.  We’ve had quite a few heartaches in the past years.  A step forward puts a song in the hearts of everybody.  Dan had the baptismal message and I’ve never seen him so emotional or heard him preach with so much heart.

  

   

  All day my mind was humming….”Oh happy day that fixed my choice on Thee my Saviour and my God…”

  Their journey has just begun.  I want to hover by and take out all the bumps in the road for them.  And yet I’m still busy struggling over my own.  I know that love and prayer and most of all the hand of God will keep them from falling and present them faultless before the presence of His glory.

  

  Dan’s parents and his sister Monica drove 30 long hours from Wisconsin in busy May to be with us for the baptism.  We are really blessed with supportive family.

  

   

  

   

  

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  Natalia turned 6 this spring too.  Quite a while ago, actually.

   

  I go through these times with my children when one or two of them is doing well and causing so few problems and I wonder if we’re connecting like we’re supposed to.

  Natalia is a really easy girl.  She has a big smile and a big heart and just kind of quietly fits into the family.  She loves her bread and jam and her apples.  She sits still at the dentist and they tell her she’s amazing.  She draws and cuts and pastes.  And she has definite ideas about which clothes she wants to wear.  She fights a lot with Bryant and has some friend issues like all little girls seem to.  She doesn’t like to lose in a game. But I’d call her happy go lucky.  And she’s very easy to discipline. 

  Since she taught herself to read, she doesn’t want to be read aloud to anymore.  It’s an odd feeling to be told, “No, that’s fine” when I ask if she wants to hear a story. More than that, she can read the books Liesl and Andre beg me to read to them.  I am almost out of a job. 

  She didn’t mind that her flower petals were grey-purple instead of purple-pink.  And she’s enthralled with Math concepts.

  

  

   Just now I swooped her up and held her like a baby and swayed with her a little and said “I love you.  Do you know that?” And she smiled and said, “I thought I was too big to be held like this anymore.”  But she loved it.

  Tillie my love:

  May your smile never fade when life gets tough.  May dandelions forever bring you joy.  May the sun shine warm upon your face but never make your round brown eyes squint.  And may bread and jam never make you overweight.

  

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  Up next here when I have time to blog again and my cliche-ridden mind is free:

  Humility (found in dandelion covered lawns and 4 year olds who throw fits at the dentist)

  I have been reading blogs rather silently here and there between company, pulling dandelions, and many other things.  I miss you all.

  Is it a crime to take photos of people you don’t know and post them publicly?

  I just loved these people at walmart the other day.  They were talking and talking.  They’d lean into each other and go at it and then back off for a bit.  They were tallking when I went in and still talking when I came out.  So I took a picture.  And then they said goodbye and parted ways.  I don’t think they saw me.  I just sneaked out of the buggy corral and zoomed in for a moment.

  

   May you find time to visit with your neighbor today.

  • 2:50 pm
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