July 9th, 2008 Listening to…
…beautiful music: my 9 year old playing the piano, my 6 year old accompanying her with the guitar, and the both of them plus my two year old all singing “Nothing But the Blood”. Priceless!
Category: Abigail
February 27th, 2008 Abigail sings
The video that Tricia mentioned was forthcoming is finally here.
February 22nd, 2008 Stuff Around Here..
It has been a very full week. Lots going on, and in the midst of it all, the Mommy has been dealing with a debilitating head cold and cough that she’s been fighting since mid-January. Off and on, but mostly on, including during the time she had the flu. The cold has become so commonplace that she is calling it “My Cold of 2008″ even though it is probably comprised of at least three colds, maybe even a sinus infection thrown in just for a little fun.
But enough about ailments; back to our week. In addition to all our regular school and other activities, both older kids had semester projects due this week: Abigail was given the task of constructing a working volcano and reporting about it. Jonathan created a model of the Amazon River Dolphin (did you know they are pink?) and presented several facts as well as wrote an original tale about aforementioned dolphin. There was a glorious, school-wide field trip to a local church to hear their very talented and charismatic organist introduce us to the beauty and intricacy of the instrument and its variety of musical styles, and it was amazing. Let’s see, what else? Teacher birthday (yes Auntie Jamison, we do these up big at Covenant!), Sonatina Festival for the little budding pianist, touch of a tummy virus for two of the kids, and much, much more.
But….the most exciting event this week by far took place on Tuesday night. Our own little Abigail was given the honor of singing the National Anthem to kick off our Covenant Boys’ Varsity Basketball playoff game, and the whole family went to cheer her (and the Covenant Knights!) on, and enjoy the evening.
Please indulge my parental pride for a moment, and allow me to share with you the itsy-bitsy detail that as of the Friday afternoon before the game, my daughter did not even know the Star Spangled Banner, let alone have the ability to perform it solo for a crowd sans musical accompaniment. After we got the boys in bed last Friday evening I sat down with her and taught her the song, using only my voice and a printout of the lyrics as teaching aids. The girl is a quick study; within less than an hour’s time she was singing it from memory, and hitting all the right notes. We spent our free time over the next three days alternately practicing like mad, and listening to various renditions of the anthem (mostly on YouTube - everything from Jordin Sparks’ SuperBowl rendition to this little 3 year old kid who really is a hoot and you should watch him sing it, he is SO FUNNY - and really, really good despite the fact that he cannot pronounce most of the words in this very challenging song - listen for ” the rampers we wash and the gallery screaming”!).
Despite some serious nerves on Tuesday evening (hey - I’m talking about me here, and it was torturous!), oh and yes, Abigail was pretty nervous too - after all, EVERYONE was LOOKING at her!! (as she later told me when it was all over) - she sang beautifully. Really, really beautifully. I know I’m her mommy, so I’m necessarily biased, but I was so proud of my girl, and thought she did an amazing job. We were all thrilled she got such a wonderful opportunity to support her school by doing something she loves so much!
I would love to show you the video of her singing, but my Tech Guy is having quite a bit of trouble streaming the tape from the camera onto a medium we can actually watch. Argh. Something about old technology, new interfaces, blah, blah, blah. Clearly it’s time for a more modern camera, one which will actually allow us to watch the videos it takes! But I have faith in my Tech Guy, and as soon as he solves this little dilemma, we will post a clip of her song.
January 6th, 2008 Happy Birthday, Sweet Abigail!
My little girl is nine. Where, oh where has the time gone? Nine feels so big for some reason. In another nine years, our daughter will be an adult by legal standards. She will likely fly from the nest that year, be off to college and other adventures. I know that as their parents, our goal is for our children to grow and learn, and become adults eventually, but sometimes life feels like it flies by so fast.
We conceived Abigail after almost a year and a half of trying, actually during some fertility tests, a round of which my doctor was conducting to see if there were any measurable “reasons” we had not yet gotten pregnant. During those months we asked a lot of “What if?” questions. What if we never got pregnant? What would we do then? And our answer without hesitation was that God willing, we would most certainly pursue adoption. We desperately wanted children, and a family of our own. After what seemed like forever, but wasn’t actually all that long relatively speaking, we got that positive pregnancy test, and to say we were elated is an understatement. How completely surprised, how excited Jay and I were at the thought of a little Horne arriving to join our family.
I still remember the day of my sonogram so vividly, the day we were to learn whether this little Horne was a boy or a girl. Though I honestly did not care too much about gender, so thankful was I that we actually had a little baby on the way, I had pretty much assumed we would only have boys. I had learned the scientific fact that the father is responsible for determining the gender of the child (see here for a little biology lesson on the topic), and I had done a little family research and learned there were no girls for several generations directly back in Jay’s, his Dad’s, or (I think) even his Dad’s Dad’s generation. His only brother was at that time father to two boys himself (neither we nor they knew that was about to change!). Of course, being the highly trained scientist that I am, I extrapolated and came up with my own theory: that we were not likely to bring any daughters into this world. I was actually pretty convinced of this! So, when the nurse performing my sonogram announced to us that there was indeed a baby girl hanging out in my tummy, my very surprised squeals of joy could be heard all the way back to the waiting room (so they told me). I was ecstatic, and could not wait to meet this little lady of ours.
From the time she was born, Abigail, true to her name, has been a joy to us. I feel as if we were given a very special gift the day God placed her into our care. She is a delight, a sweet, kind and mostly very patient big sister to her three crazy little brothers, an encouragement to her Mom and Dad. She cares tenderly for all the little animals and creatures she comes into contact with, is a loyal friend, and has an air about her that is far older than even her big nine years. It is such a blessing to have another girl in the family besides myself!!
Throughout our next pregnancies, I never again remembered my very false assumptions about children’s gender. And secretly, I sort of wished for another girl to join our family, but that has never happened. Even the little baby whom we lost before ever having the chance to meet him is a boy, whom we someday look forward to seeing face to face in Heaven.
Abigail’s special day took place on Saturday, and her treat was going out with Mommy to have her ears pierced. Afterward, we celebrated with some family in town over pizza, cake, and presents, and it was a wonderful evening.
I am so thankful for our precious girl, our only daughter, our Abigail, our joy. I pray she may grow in grace, in her love for Christ and the people around her, and that she may always know just how deeply her family loves her.
December 3rd, 2007 A Family Outing
Abigail hung up her ballet shoes this year in favor of studying piano, and we were blessed to find a wonderful, and highly recommended music teacher not far from our home. This past Friday night Abigail had her first opportunity to perform publicly, and the whole family, including Grammy and Grandy, came along for the fun. We were treated to an hour of wonderful music played by students from ages six on up to 16. Abigail, though very nervous about playing in front of others, did a lovely job, and I hope having gotten through her first little recital will help her gain confidence about future performances.
After the recital we had supper together at the Food Court
and then the kids were treated to rides on the carousel by their grands. I have to post this picture as proof that our Grammy really is feeling much better since her surgery - since Josiah needed a riding buddy, she volunteered to climb onto the swiftly whirling merry-go-round, and try out her new equilibrium. Wow!!
I think everyone…
had a…
great time.
August 28th, 2007 Abigail’s first nursery rhyme
The song is performed by Abigail, but it was written by Abigail and her friend Molly Queal yesterday.
August 1st, 2007 Passing Notes
This was written in very big letters, and handed to me earlier this morning while I was in the midst of a phone conversation. We have tried to teach our children not to interrupt us unless it is an emergency, but I guess they assumed a written message was a good way to get around that rule:
“Jo has a Stinky!!!”
and then in tiny little letters at the bottom of the note:
“(pe yu)”.
June 18th, 2007 Not that way of matin’
A conversation at dinner that spun out of control…
Jonathan: Then you go to college? How long?
Jay: Usually for 4 years.
Jonathan: Do you live there?
Jay: Most people do.
Jonathan: Then what do you do? Do you look for a mate?
Chaos ensues.
Abigail: It’s not that way of matin’, like penguins.
June 16th, 2007 Itsy-Bitsy, Teenie-Weenie Girl!
After her shower this morning, Abigail (the 8 1/2 year old) got herself dressed. As I glanced at the outfit she’d chosen: striped shirt and khaki shorts, it occurred to me that she was not wearing a pair of shorts that I recall ever buying for her. We checked the tag: “2T” is what it read. Somehow a pair of Josiah’s shorts ended up in her laundry pile the other day. Amazingly, they fit her perfectly. Wow.
June 6th, 2007 He did look pretty enough in the movies to be wearing makeup
Our children are becoming familiar with the epic that is Lord of the Rings. In addition to Jonathan’s current reading of the Hobbit, the three older children are enjoying segmented, slow screenings of Peter Jackson’s three LotR movies with their Daddy. One can witness their fascination with the story as they play together, though obviously one of them is still a bit mixed up over a few of the characters. This morning, they were all in the boys’ room, constructing bows and arrows from K’nex, and putting on their dress-up armor in preparation for a great battle.
“I am going to be the elf-princess, Arwen,” declared Abigail. Jonathan, ready to fight, said he wasn’t exactly sure which elf he wanted to be, but that he was certainly going to win the war. Nicolas however, confidently stated, “Well, I am going to be LipGloss*!”
* For those not as familiar with the LotR trilogy, we’re pretty sure he meant Legolas.
May 21st, 2007 Children’s Artwork in Home Decor
I see great articles in magazines about personalizing your home’s atmosphere - there are so many ways to do this, and make a beautiful home that is (to me) more appealing than the picture-perfect, professionally-decorated, periodical-worthy spreads we tend to drool over. Don’t get me wrong - I can use lots of help and advice with decorating my home, and sometimes wish my budget allowed for professional guidance, but, as a sweet and highly encouraging friend of mine says “Where is the fun in that?”
Anyway, I’ve seen various references to using children’s art as decor in the home, and know that using things our children have created certainly qualifies as personalizing our space. Most of us with children have more than a few masterpieces our progeny have put forth. Admittedly, I don’t want to frame and hang all of them, or even the majority of them, but I have for the first time, put one behind glass and displayed it in our home, and I like the result. I want to share it with you even though photos don’t really do the project justice, IMHO, and even though the walls around the display remain unpainted, etc, etc….
I needed a piece to fill the largest compartment in our living room built-ins (have I mentioned that I LOVE having built-ins in our new home? This is new territory for me) and I had no pieces tall enough to do justice to the space. My sis-in-law suggested hanging something - we talked about a tole tray as an idea - but my budget won’t allow for one of these right now, so I set about looking for something close to free, and happened on a painting of Abigail’s that I like, and an old frame from which I had removed the original picture, hoping to use it in a different setting. Last Thursday, with the children in tow, I popped over to our nearby Hobby Lobby for help. Within 15 minutes and for just $4 I had a custom mat cut to work with the unusually-sized artwork, and the non-standard-sized antique frame, and the entire piece put together and finished out with the proper hardware so that we brought home a ready-to-hang picture. It fits well in the space and helps to personalize the display in the built-ins too. Abigail is very pleased, to say the least. Here is the finished product:
And here is the view of the set of built-ins. Keep in mind that since they are recessed, it’s nigh unto impossible to take a photo which shows everything and still looks straight and balanced, but believe me when I tell you that the picture is nicely hung within its little section on the wall. We are enjoying this space so much, and love the feel it contributes to our living area.
May 1st, 2007 The Spirit at work
A few nights ago we were praying together as a family and we had a short time of thanksgiving. Now, right before the prayer time, Abigail had trimmed her nails by herself for the very first time. Her prayer of thanksgiving went something like this (updated and revised with Tricia’s help):
“Dear God, thank you for helping me to trim my nails all by myself, because I know you put your Spirit in me to help me do it.”
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