Worship

This morning two of the worship services in our church met together, The 11:05, our contemporary service, and All Nations, which is a service made up of mainly African folks, who sing in Swahili and dance at the same time! By the second song it was all I could do to hold back tears.  Watching all those Presbyterians clap their hands and move their hips, hearing so many people praising God in two different languages but all together...it was a taste of Heaven.

Raise your hands, all you nations;

Shout to God, all creation.

How awesome is the Lord most high!

Great are You, Lord,

Mighty in strength.

You are faithful,

You will ever be.

We will praise You

All of our days.

It's for Your glory

We offer everything.

Raise your hands, all you nations;

Shout to God, all creation.

How awesome is the Lord most high!

Where You send us

God, we will go;

You're the answer

We want the world to know.

We will trust You

When You call our name.

Where You lead us

We'll follow all the way.

We will praise You together

For now and forever.

How awesome is the Lord most high!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

How awesome is the Lord most high.

(How Awesome is the Lord Most High-Chris Tomlin)

Indeed, how wonderful it was to raise hands offering God glory and praise alongside white-haired ladies clapping and lifting their own hands as well as Kenyans moving their bodies joyfully worshiping the Lord of all of us.  And to hear Michaela's voice calling out those words,"How awesome is the Lord most high!"  Well, there are no words for that.

Fun Times and Swimming Lessons

I took the kids to the pool today, and while I can't say it was the most fun I've ever had, they had a great time.  Christian splashed right in...

while Michaela took Eliana in slowly.

Eliana wasn't sure what to think; I believe she was having memories of her time in the pool learning to float.  She was a bit dubious until she got used to the water.  After that, she was quite brave.  Because she is in diapers I had to stay in the kid pool area, but it's a pretty large pool.  It has a long sloping entrance and eventually gets to the depth of two feet.  There is a circle at the deeper end with a fountain in the center; I'm not sure of the depth of this ring, but it's not much more than two feet.  She went in until only the very tops of her shoulders and head stuck out.  She just kind of bobbed and hopped about, watching for Christian and Michaela to swim around and come up out of the water in front of her.  She laughed, and called for them, and flapped her hands, and wiped the splashes out of her eyes, and squealed.

We didn't stay very long because I learned that you should never shave after a long period of time and then go straight to a swimming pool and get in.  My legs were so itchy that I thought I was going to lose my mind; they were so itchy that I was having hallucinations and weird visions about them.  And it's really hard to discreetly scratch all of both of your legs while standing in the middle of a pool that is one and a half feet deep, two at most. The kids' lips were also turning blue; even though it was hot outside, the water was getting to them.  I asked Christian if he was cold and ready to go, and he shook his head yes, while shivering, holding his hands and arms together in front of him in a "V" shape, and said,"No," at the same time.  I decided it was time to head on home. We had a few minutes  of resting and drying off before we left...

I wish I had more pictures, but our camera requested to stay dry. Now it is the end of the day and I have to figure out how I'm going to get the dishes done, because Eliana is having a hard time sleeping, and it looks to me like she's having nightmares about some of her time in the pool.  There was one instance when she lost her balance and she went into a floating position!  She did a great job, and once she floated I picked her up and told her she did well.  And then she had a blast.  While trying to go to sleep tonight, however, she would seem almost there and then she would sit up on her knees and flail a bit.  It looked like she was trying not to fall!  It was kind of strange to watch her swim in her bed.  I usually stay in there until she falls asleep, but tonight I stayed a little longer; I was worried she was going to be sick.  She did have a yucky diaper...pool water?  Pizza sauce?  Who knows?  She has no fever, and is sleeping just fine in my lap!  Hence my dishes dilemma.  Thank you for listening to that ramble.

An Update: This Just In-Please Don't Gag

It's been a while since we spoke of my toe...well, I got my stitches out today.  The nurse said it wouldn't hurt, not a bit.  He is a fibber.   And the doctor said that it was all healed and looked really good.  The eye of the beholder, right?   So here is my scarred toe-you can even see the holes where the stitches were.  I don't think this appendage will ever be the same.

It's still sore.

If you haven't gagged yet, you might do it now, because I'm going to show you yet another picture of what I have done here in the unpacking category.  The reason I know you might want to gag is because I do.  I am thoroughly sick of the subject...however, since misery loves company I invite you to share in this my ridiculously long experience of getting settled in our (no longer) new home.

Here is an area that earlier today was ENTIRELY covered with stuff.  One box had lost its bottom (hey, I wish I could lose my bottom) and the contents lay scattered on top of and amidst other boxes and super random weirdo junk.  I started by making eye contact with one thing, picking it up, and finding a new spot for it.  Not everything ended up in a proper location, but things are at least in more reasonable locations...closets or shelves.  Here is the result... (I would have done more, but Eliana woke up from her nap-after only 50 minutes!)

It's likely that only my mom can really appreciate the magnitude of this moment.  This was truly one of the worst areas in the house.  It's such a small space.  Yet, it was such an immense disaster. A few more boxes unpacked...a little at a time.  I feel like I am cutting down a California Redwood with a toothpick.  But even if it is 2013 by the time we're settled, at least we will have made it.

Just for fun, what is the kookiest accident that you have had?  I have talked ad nauseum about my toe...I'd love to hear some of your stories!  I need a distraction (like I need another needle in my toe!  But it would be fun to hear!).

Fun Finale

Boy, are you going to be sorry that I got the camera back from Mike.  I tried to pick and choose...so we'll see. One of the Kindergarten moms (she had a child in each of the three classes!) had shirts made for each student.  Christian's teacher is Ms. Ferris...on the front of the shirt is a ferris wheel with one kid in each seat.  How cute is that?  Ferris' Friends!

Under the ferris wheel it says,"It has been a great ride this year." I got all teary looking at it the night before, when I pulled it out of his bag.

He seemed pretty happy about his book from the exchange...

There were a few other pictures from the class party, they had a reading time, and a snack. But here are some really funny ones from the field day...

These pictures crack me up-Christian actually made it all the way around the cone and back before he crashed...

He kept checking to see how the other guy was doing-cutting his eyes over. He also concentrates with his tongue sticking out...

He was totally ready for the tug-of-war...

The first time his side lost. The second time, he literally hand-over-fisted that rope and dug his heels in-he was not about to let victory go!

He's one of the smaller boys in his class, but he is strong!

And the parents against the kids? Fuggetaboudit!

They didn't stand a chance...

Take a wet sponge, fill a bucket...

There he goes with his tongue again!

Ah, in the middle of it all, Mike saved me from my folly yet another time-I couldn't find my car keys, and the stroller was in the car. I was holding Eliana this whole time. He brought stroller and keys.

Back to silly games...more water. Balloons filled with the wet stuff, tucked under the chin; kids must run around the cone without touching balloons with their hands. Who comes up with this stuff?

Oh no! He lost this one!

Irresistible!

A refreshing refreshment...

Isn't she sweet? She hung out the whole time, watching this craziness...

Final game:  the three-legged race. Seriously?  I don't know what was funnier, this or the sack race. But this was pretty darn funny. They literally fell all over each other, and what was great about it is they thought it was hilarious too.

What a great class! He made some wonderful friends this year.

There were group hugs at the end (along with some tears...too sweet)...

Christian had such a good year.  He did a fantastic job academically.  He had not really been in a classroom before, in such an intense way, and he did well adjusting to the demands and constant distractions that are in this kind of environment (not that he doesn't still need some work in this area...); I think he would say the best thing was his friends.  We're fortunate that many of these folks go to our church, so I know we'll see them around.  All I can say is this year was a blessing!

The End of the First and the Beginning of the End (Just Kidding)

Today was our first last day of school. Because we have homeschooled up until this past school year, our schedule was more year round, and the end of one school year and the beginning of the next was somewhat fluid.  But today was Christian's final school day in Kindergarten.  It was special.

Mike and I took turns participating in the activities; he went to the class party, and then I took Eliana to Christian's field day.  Field day is where the parents set up a bunch of games for the kids to play so that the parents can totally laugh at their kids while they fall down, get soaked by balloons, and trip on each other kids can end their school year having a lot of fun.  Have you ever seen a class of boys and girls in a sack race.  (Almost) EVERY SINGLE BOY FELL DOWN.  And I mean flat down on their little ol' honkers.  The girls, they bounced right over the fallen ones.  Just kidding.  They went around them.  I never realized this before, but today it was quite evident that girls have a bounce gene that boys are missing.

It was a fun morning, and I would assume that the class party was nice as well-they had a book exchange.  We sent in Adventures of Morris the Moose, and I hope the kid who ended up with the book likes it as much as my two older ones did.  They took a sneak preview of the stories and both of them (ages six and eight) were howling and giggling and just plain hysterical over Morris and his moosiness.  I remember reading Morris when I was little and having much the same reaction.  He is a pretty funny antlered fellow.

There are a ton of pictures...but Mike has the camera.  So they will be for another day.  And mostly for the grandparents, I'm sure! It's hard to believe that the school year is over, and summer is upon us.  Methinks pool passes are in order...