It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Breaks Out the Latin. Wait...It's Still Fun and Games

We have had wonderful weather here, and we have been enjoying it! The kids have spent hours and hours outside the last couple of weeks. It seems like that's a good thing, since a cold front is rolling through tonight for the weekend. It dropped 20o or so in a few hours from this afternoon to early evening!

The kids love to play on the church playground still. Eliana has been diligently working on her monkey bar skills. She made it across on her own once, and since then hasn't quite been able to do it. It surprised her most of all when she did do it that one time. 

The three of them were very busy one day hauling little bikes from one side of the playground to the other. 

I asked what they were doing and Michaela told me,"It's a car dealership." 

Aren't they the little entrepreneurs?!

There have been a couple of times when just Eliana and I were at the park. She is so funny to watch. She runs from one thing to the next, stops when something catches her eye...carefree like a little kid ought to be. 

She did the same thing on these monkey bars, which are at the park across the street from the church, as she did on the ones at the church. She made it all the way one time, and hasn't been able to do it since. There must be a name for that phenomenon.

The three actually cooperated for a picture. They had nice clothes on because there was a concert at our church after their choir practice. We stayed for that. (The Chancel Choir and the Orchestra joined forces and sang hymns. It was amazing!)

Michaela was frustrated that she was too big to do anything anymore. She makes me laugh. She sat on the slide and pouted for me. 

Since she could no longer do many of the things she has loved to do for years, she decided to teach Eliana some of her tricks. For example, she coached her on how to jump from the little climbing thingy to the raised bar, and catch it in mid-air. 

And yes, I did just about keel over the first time she did that. Michaela said to me,"She can totally do it, Mom!" And she could. 

Now, it's not all fun and playing around here. When we're home, they're studying hard! 

Actually, the truth about this picture is that Michaela was teaching Christian some Latin. Just for fun. She has also taken it upon herself to learn the Greek alphabet. Mike said,"Clearly she doesn't have enough schoolwork." I say,"Clearly I have my work cut out for me." 

It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Puts a Dead Animal on the Table

In general, Eliana enjoys her schoolwork, whether it's fun little math workbooks or reading her Bob books.

Her favorite thing to do is answer the geography questions from her Tuesday class. 

She usually likes science too, which is part of the Tuesday class as well. There is an experiment every week.

But I think this picture speaks loud and clear as far as her thoughts regarding biology. At least, the dead animal part of biology. (That is a crayfish, by the way...sorry it's blurry.)

It might be that Dad and Michaela are on their own when it comes time to dissect something. I'm pretty sure I have an errand to run on that day...

I Forgot the Eggs

Tonight I need to clean the entire downstairs of the house, clean up the kitchen (which is entirely too messy for having not been cooked in for two days), make cupcakes and frosting to take to the class we go to on Tuesdays, and, if I know what's good for me, do at least two loads of laundry. 

I started this post about three hours ago. I thought I was being so smart, getting an early start, so that I could get all the things done that I needed to get done and still write my blog post. 

Well. It is 10:50pm and the final kid has just gone to bed. 

Plans. They are made. They are like chaff. Pffff. They evaporate like dew on a hot summer morning.

I realized about twenty minutes ago that I have no eggs. No eggs for the cupcakes that need to be made. Mike was finishing helping the kids with some homework related things (The computer was involved...need I say more?) and I waited until he was done to say that I needed the blasted eggs. At that point, I had gotten myself worked up on the inside about it. I was near tears. He shrugged his shoulders and told me he'd go get me some eggs. 

It's no big deal, and it's a big deal. There's this fine line and one minute I'm on one side of it and the next minute I've crossed over to the opposide.

(This afternoon, Eliana accidentally said the word "opposide" instead of "opposite"...we all decided that it was a perfectly acceptable word. And look! There I go using it the very same day!)

He headed out the door and I started unloading the dishwasher (at least that can be ready to go when I'm done making my mess). I was thinking while I put glasses in the cabinet, and spoons in the drawer. (Multitasking...a dangerous endeavor for sure.) Tears burned my eyes because what I thought pierced my own heart. 

It was this: the hardest thing for me to do most any time during the day (or night) is to make my mind captive to Christ. I can't even tell you the string of profane things that went through my head as I raged about the circumstances of the end of this day (which, for the most part, had been a decent day). I'll just say this: you won't find a verse in Proverbs 31 praising my train of thought. 

I'm just here confessing. Confessing my desperate need for a Savior, confessing Jesus as that Savior, and crying out for his saving grace to get me through every moment of every day. 

Moment by moment is how I'm going to have to take this mind of mine captive. Make it a prisoner of the Most High King, so that one day (Maybe? Hopefully?) I can be a woman who is not channeling Captain Morgan, but instead is a vessel of the fruit of the Spirit. 

I think I'll have to do the laundry tomorrow. But the cupcakes will be made tonight, thanks to my husband, and my Lord (please read: they are not one and the same) (I do love each of them, but I make sure not to confuse the two). 

Fall

The wind blew
I knew because I heard the
Dry rustle
Of leaves that are still hanging on
Cleaving, clinging, bringing
Something of a mystery
Something I cannot place
Drying, dying but
Not ready to fall
Swishing wind making the leaves dance
Before they fall

Where's the Beef?

Tonight I was reminded of how important it is that we (I, in particular) resolve conflicts before going to bed. 

I had tucked Eliana and Christian in with the lights out. I came downstairs in order to finish helping Michaela make some cupcakes (this is a whole different story...stay tuned), and after we were done I heard laughing upstairs. This was mysterious, since the two children up there were already in their own beds and had had their good nights said to them. 

I went up (calmly!) and went to Eliana's room. That is, indeed, where the sillies were. Christian was lying down with her and they were carrying on about something. It's not that they were being totally crazy (believe me, they can be totally crazy), but they were both wide awake and certainly not well on their way to sleepytown. 

I firmly, almost quietly, said,"This is unacceptable." I pointed to Christian and told him to go get in his own bed. I have been letting Eliana sleep with a small lamp on in her room (Side story: She used to go to sleep with the closet light on, but we found out that it is likely not safe to use that light right now (Yay for no fires!) so I switched to a lamp that is tucked around a built-in desk corner.) (Maybe I need to get a nightlight?), but once Christian was gone I turned the light off (there was still light coming in from the hall light) (Seriously? How much light does this child need in order to go to sleep, now that I think about it?!) and told her to close her eyes and go to sleep. I went back down the hallway and could hear Christian crying in his bed. I hesitated and almost walked down the stairs. Instead, I stopped and said,"I'm sorry that you are crying Christian, but you two were already tucked in with the lights out, and it's very late. You need to be in your own bed." He didn't really acknowledge me at that point (well, he may have kicked his feet under his blanket, but I just left him alone). I came down and sat on the couch with my laptop for a few minutes. 

Not long after that, I heard some footsteps on the stairway. From where I was sitting, I could see the bottom two steps that lead into our entryway. There was a flash of dark blue on the bottom step along with a quick swish of blond at the corner of the stairs. A peek. I set my computer down and went to the stairs. At the top of the first set (we have a split-level home) was an upright book, the one I have been reading to him before I turn out the light. I hadn't read tonight because it seemed late and I thought that everyone needed to go to bed ASAP. 

That worked out well. 

I went up the stairs, picked up the book, and went to his room. I turned on the light and sat on the end of his bed. He decided whether or not he wanted to have his head under the covers because the light was bright (he ended up head out). I read his story. It was a making up of sorts.

That's kind of how it goes with Christian and me. He lets me know that he's sorry in some way. Sometimes he will say it. Other times it's an unspoken but clear message. He wants things to be all right. I feel like I'm still learning so much as we go along. Learning how to speak, when to speak, what to say, what not to say. I'm glad I stopped to explain why I had spoken firmly. I don't know why he was crying (it could have been any one of many things: whether he was upset with me, mad that I made him leave Eliana's room, sorry that he had done the wrong thing, sorry that he had been caught), but I really had not wanted to make him do that. When I left this last time, it was a peaceful parting. Better. 

When I leave his room, I usually go to Michaela's room and do a devotion with her. The book I've been reading to Christian is a story about pioneers going west, but it's not a devotional book. I want to look into something like what I have for Michaela, for him. I think it would be good for both of us to end the night on a note like that. I want him to know that I think it's important for him as well as Michaela to have a special time for reading a Scripture passage and a lesson on it. Not that we've never done that...it's that we need to get back to it. I'd like to find one that is a little meaty. That's what I'm headed to check on now.