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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
Actually, it is Abigail’s first poem, written back in March, but I forgot to post it. Enjoy!
Our world is very sinful
But God is full of righteousness
He came to earth as a tiny baby
Long, Long, Ago…
He will come back someday -
We don’t know when
But God knows when
And when He comes back
We will all crown Him as our KING.
I thought Abigail was in bed going to sleep. I was wrong. She was busy composing, and just brought down the fruits of her labor. May I present a poem by my daughter Abigail, age 7 (reproduced as accurately as possible).
Christmas Dinner
people are commy to Dine with us,
and evrywon is in a rush.
evrywon is glad were here,
evrywon sees the watter is shiny clere.
the wine is very yummy,
I want to fill my tummy.
the tukey is big and fat,
the turtey** is nice and flat.
the fruit is very good,
I should try some evreywon would.
the salled has lots of fruit inside,
evreywon dosint set food aside.
theirs lots of rice,
and oh the cake was very nice.
** Editor’s note: I had her clarify this word. It is ‘tortilla’.
Last night, Abigail and I went to an informal father-daughter event for the first graders at her school. While the daughters played together, the men made some tentative plans regarding something the others referred to as “camping”… it involves tents or some such. Then we had a fun activity involving everyone, followed by some informal hanging out among the fathers and more playing for the girls.
Much of that playing involved this fantastic trampoline that had one of those nets fully enclosing it that more or less turned the whole thing into a bounce house. Right about the time I was wrapping up a last conversation and getting ready to extract Abigail, I heard a terrific scream that immediately transitioned into hysterical wailing. I ran for the trampoline… isn’t it odd how you can immediately recognize you own child’s scream?
Abigail had severely twisted her ankle, was in significant pain, and couldn’t bear any weight on the bad foot. I got her home where we treated her with Ibuprofen and ice and finally managed to get her asleep in bed. Today, at Tricia’s prodding (as I thought the ankle was improving quickly), I took Abigail to her pediatrician. From there, I was thankfully able to get in directly with an ortho specialist. We arrived home around 5:30 pm with Abigail sporting a new “shoe”.
Turns out she had done some minor damage to the growth plate on the end of a bone (i.e. she had a minor break). The good news, the very good news, is that it is a walking cast, and she is getting around great.
Abigail was examing a plastic cup tonight from Chili’s that featured the “Pepper Pals”. She noticed that each member of the band had a name printed beside them and, with a bit of help from me, read them: Sunny, Chip, Pepper, and Hal. Then she says:
“Oh, maybe Pepper likes peppers. And maybe Sunny likes sunny, sunshine. And Chips likes chips. And maybe Hal likes hell.”
This past Monday morning Jay and I had an experience that is poignant in the lives of most parents: our oldest started Kindergarden! The entire family accompanied Abigail down to school to attend opening chapel with all the other students, and their moms, dads, brothers, and sisters. After walking Abigail to her new class, we said goodbye. Abigail was very happy to settle down into her seat and begin work with her seven other classmates.
And being a proud Mom, I have to tell you just what a super job she did in the morning getting ready for her big day. In honor of starting Kindergarden, we presented Abigail with a very sweet and girlie Hello Kitty clock that has both an alarm and a radio. We taught her how to use it and so, when her alarm rang at 6:15 she turned it off, switched to her classical station, made her bed and got dressed, all by herself. This from the little girl who is most definitely NOT a morning person.
Given school is a bit of a drive from where we live, we are going to be keeping a rather early morning schedule, but everything went well on our first day. We actually arrived at school 20 minutes before start time so it did not feel at all frantic.
When we picked her up after school, Abigail reported happily, “I love it there!” She seems to have had a fantastic day and is looking forward to her big year of Kindergarden. Here is a picture of Abigail on her first day of school, with her new teacher, aptly named Mrs. Newsome! And here are some more photos of our day.
We are all very excited about the start of Abigail’s scholastic journey and pray she will have a wonderful experience this first year.
For devotions tonight, we sang “O, For a Thousand Tongues” and read a short devotional written by Joni Ericsson Tada. Afterwords, Abigail began asking about heaven, and whether Joni would be able to run again. This lead to a discussion on our passage to heaven after death versus the later resurrection of our bodies… at least, that’s where I thought I was going when Abigail piped up:
Abigail: “After we get our new bodies in heaven, will Jesus still be able to run more faster than us?”
Jay: “Quite frankly, Abigail, I’m not exactly sure how fast Jesus can run.”
Abigail: “Faster than lightning!”
If you are wanting an explanation, you’re in luck, because we did too. After recovering a bit, Tricia asked: “What makes you think he can run faster than lightning?”
Abigail: “Daddy told me. He said he made the lightning.”
And there you have it.
Our eldest has learned a very useful skill the past month: how to make her own sandwich. Her favorite way to enjoy lunch these days involves her pulling the stepstool up to the kitchen counter where she concocts one of her peanut butter and jelly creations. The interesting thing though about Abigail’s sandwiches is that she doesn’t stop with mere peanut butter and jelly. Feeling the need for a little something more between her two slices of bread, she experiments each time with a new ingredient. So far, she’s added various types of crackers, potato chips, chinese noodles and marshmallows (at different times, not together in the same sandwich!!). She wanted to try chocolate chips one day, but I thought that was taking it a bit too far.
I am truly enjoying seeing her creativity at work, and those of you like me, with several young children at home will I’m sure concur with my amazement and delight over her being able to prepare her own lunch every once in a while!!
