* Nieces

We spent the last week hosting my two nieces. We have hosted the eldest for the last two summers and this year the youngest made her first appearance. We had a wonderful visit, no injuries and everyone retreated to their separate homes still happy with one another. The timing for a visit to be over is critical. You never want it to last too long that someone is miserable, no matter how much fun the first days are you only remember the sadness of the final one. This was something we watched closely since my little niece was so young. Fortunately there were tons of new toys to investigate along with two elder cousins and a big sister to keep up with. We timed her return to mom perfectly, another 24 hours would probably been too much and she was quite sure she did not want to go back home with me when she met her mom for lunch on Sunday. I thought I would share what I learned this week...

1. Apparently we had been using some things that did not belong to us. Without our knowledge we had inadvertently been using all my youngest nieces possessions. This she was quick to point out when we picked up an item. "Mine" Imagine the surprise my children had when they discovered the toys were not actually theirs but rather the property of an almost two year old that lives 100 miles away.
2. Seven year olds make great baby sitters. For those who thought I would have a hard time with four children on my own - you needed not fear. My seven year old assistant did much of the labor and I was only called upon for food, which occurred several times a day. I would offer to do some things only to be told by the smallest member of the group that De-De would do it - more bon bons for me.
3. Prayers for 4 children takes logarithmically more time than 1 or 2 especially if you go in a round. Each will take progressively more time in order to bless more obscure relatives than the last, except for the boy who will quickly utter a two sentence ditty to speed things along and the youngest girl who says nothing but clasps her hands in an adorable fashion and says A-men when cued. So I guess it really is the two middle girls who prayed the most and it just seemed like tons of kids. Believe me if you are even distantly related to us - you are covered.
4. In a house with three princesses the middle one will have the hardest time of it. The eldest will rest in her eldest status and mentally grasp the need to let the little ones occasionally take the lead. The youngest still lives in a world where everything is hers and does not know the cold reality of the world yet. The youngest will have things given to her by the prince of the house by virtue of her being small and just because "she asked for it." This means that sometimes the item in question will be removed from the hands of the middle princess who finds it all very confusing because in her day to day world she is the smallest and is used to ruling her kingdom without sharing the thrown. Unhappy moments were rare, and they all got their fair share but the middle princess seemed the most thrown off by the process.
5. My extended family has good genes. If my beauty was based solely on the beauty of my children I would have no self esteem issues. They are beautiful and this is something that others tell me in an honest way so I feel it to be true. My sisters children are beautiful, they also happen to look a lot like mine (so I know the people in the grocery store this week had to be thinking that poor woman, doesn't she know any better? Or maybe she is one of those people?) So therefore my family has good genes - just ask my mom to show pictures of all her grandchildren- the proof is in the photos.
6. My nuclear family has good but short genes. My eldest niece is two years younger than my son, and they are the same height! My daughter is only 18 months younger than her but could more easily fit into the clothes of my youngest niece. This is unfortunate because that means that my hand me down supply will dry up eventually - when the little one catches up to her - my prediction is one year from now. Oh well.
7. Stair stepping children is a handy way to go about it. I won't name any names but I know some people whom God chose to bless with having their kids in a chunk - efficient, but without the eldest child to run and fetch what the little one needs while you are cooking or to pick up the toy in the back seat while you are driving. In this regards four children in a house is not that overwhelming, at other times four is still four.
8. The most challenging item to keep track of with four children is shoes. My children are trained on the shoe basket so we can usually round up something passable from there if we can't find the exact pair we are looking for. My nieces were not familiar with it so we spent some time looking for shoes for the first couple days - then we stumbled on a solution, which works for my kids most of the time as well. We just left all the shoes in the car - they weren't needed in the house anyway. My son has at times relied on this shoe-in-the-car theory on our way to somewhere, church/Lowe's/grocery only to discover that dad had cleaned out the car and now he has to ride in the buggy because he certainly can't walk around the store with bare feet.
9. I stay up later with four children in the house. After my kids go to bed we generally stay up another 2-3 hours. Good quiet time together or just time for no-one-sitting-pulling-laying -on me. Add two more children and it seems I need another hour to wind down, read, watch tv, check email, work on children's ministry stuff, etc. This is unfortunate because my nieces get up earlier than my children, although I made good progress and we did not see the flip side of seven once and were working our way to eight. Not to go too extreme because they were going home and I won't win any points if they start staying up late after visiting Chelle's house.
10. You knew I had to get to ten right? I got stuck around three and couldn't think of what I was going to write the other day when I got distracted by the 100, luckily it came back to me. However it has tapered off again. I will say I was blessed by this week. I love that I get to be with my children so much, in a world where there are many who want to but can not. I am sooooooo thankful. In that vein I am very grateful that I can spend some time with my nieces and give them a special time. Family is so important, especially in this transient fast food world. I want them to know me and know that I love them. I want their week each summer to be something they look forward to. And when they no longer think I am cool and roll their eyes at the thought of coming to Chelle's house where there is 'learning time' they will know that I love them, even if they remain home and hang out with their friends who will be infinitely more fun that I will be at that time.

Blessings to you girls.

Reading List

Judah is still blocked from the blog and has sent another post for me to paste - The copy paste function is being uncooperative and it appears I am going to have to retype it. Suddenly I am not so thrilled with the length of his thoughts.....


This summer has seen me in China quite a bit. I think I spent most of June and July (except for one week) over here. When I finally get back from this current trip, I will have spent 60 days of 2009 over here! Needless to say, I read a lot while I am here. I also listen to a lot of podcasts. I finally found a DVD store (they had closed the other one we went to), so I am able to watch movies periodically. Anyway, below, is a summary of the books I have read while over here.

1) "Seven Habits of Effective Ministry" A. Stanley, L Jones,, and R Joiner. This is an excellent church leadership resource. If you are looking to turn your 'good ministry' into a 'great ministry,' this is an excellent book to help. Andy points out "your ministry is perfectly designed for the results you are getting." This shows a much simpler and effective approach to ministry. The basic theme throughout the book is, "what is the win?" If you can define the win in any situation, you are half way there. Give it a shot.

2) "Essential Church? Reclaiming a Generation of Dropouts" T Rainer and S Rainer. This book tries to answer the question "why do so many young adults(18-22) leave the church?" The Rainers us a lot of statistics to support their claims - if at times applied fairly loosely. The numbers are quite scary - 80%. The book reviews some of the concepts in Thom Rainers previous effort "Simple Church" which was a good (if repetitive) book. There are some new graphs in this book, but overall not as informative as "Simple Church." The concept that young adults need to have a place in the church I agree with, but the idea that we need to concentrate on them at this point I tend to disagree with. If you haven't established the connection and relevance before 18, it is a poor time to start.

3) "Principle of the Path" A Stanley. I absolutely loved this book. In fact, I am going to be doing a book study with our college class about this topic on Sundays for a few weeks. Andy discusses the question "Why do so many smart people make such stupid decisions?" He does a really good job of describing how we can justify huge mistakes. He offers this prayer "Lord, help me to see danger before it gets upon me. Give me wisdom to know what to do, and the courage to make the right decision." Bottom line: Direction, not intention, leads to destination.

4) "Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical" S. Claiborne. This book is mostly a compilation of Shane's exploits during college and a few years after. He spent time working with Mother Theresa at a leper colony in Calcutta, worked/lived with homeless people in Philadelphia, went to Iraq to protest the war, and many other things in the name of Jesus. He is one of the founding members of The Simple Way, a community in Philadelphia that tries to show Jesus to as many people as possible, in as simple a way as they can. He has some excellent points, but I disagree with his presentation at times, it can be a bit rough. I can sometimes hear a tone of "if you don't do it this way, what's wrong with you?" He has some issues with capitalism, but does mention a few rich people doing amazing things. I personally feel that the next mission field in the next few years will be to the rich. Imagine what we can do to poverty when the 20% who control 80% of the world's money decide to start spending it the way they believe Jesus would? I don't think capitalism is the issue, its the people and their intention for the decisions they make.

5) "The Drunkards Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives" L Mlodinow. If you are not into statistics, don't bother with this book. However, this is a very entertaining read. It gives a brief history from basic math, probability, and statistics. The author shows how basic probability and statistics can be used in our daily lives, and how we sometimes use these concepts to prove things that are not true. He points out that our brains are wired to see patterns, even when there are no patterns to see. Just knowing this concept can be extremely helpful with deciphering information.


I also read through Lamentations on my previous trip. Take my advice, never read the book by yourself in a hotel room away from all your family and friends.

Proverbs has to be my old standby when I am traveling. I read through it quite frequently. I also try to read through the Sermon on the Mount and at least one of Paul's letters, usually Romans, especially chapter 8.

During this trip I learned how to covert some of my DVDs to a format that I can load onto my Ipod. I have a video of Rob Bells' talk "Everything is Spiritual" He does a good job of showing how God is present in all things. This is a must watch.

And finally I listen to podcasts. The three I listen to the most are 1) Mars Hill Bible Church, 2) North Point Ministries:Andy Stanley, and 3) Southeast Christian Church, Louisville, KY

There are a lot of other things I do while here. If Michelle hasn't posted the pictures of me climbing Washan Mountain, I will do that when I get back. But for this post I though t the book list was appropriate.

So what are you reading?

*100

Alright - I had planned a post on our week. We have spent several days hosting our nieces. I believe all had a good time and both girls were happy to see mom and dad again today.

I had planned to post on the week, but then I noticed that this was the 100th post! Not that my nieces aren't worth such a cool number, but I got so distracted by the round numberness of it that I couldn't help but comment on that instead!

I have refrained from counting the number of posts of mine versus Judah, but wouldn't that make for another cool number?!? I haven't because if it is not currently a cool number it would semi- ruin the coolness of this being 100. I mean 100 and 37 do not go together. Sigh. However I am super excited that I got the 100 and not Judah - he loves me, he'll understand. :)

Wishing you a very round numbery day!

* Quirky Quotes

I must say I love this comment from my son. When is sarcasm a developmental level?

We spent a long day cleaning and moving stuff out of our house, since we have been thinking of getting another house and I needed something to do while Judah is in China. :)

So after this long day of work I decided that we deserved McDonald's. Mostly I deserved McDonald's but the kids had been terribly tolerant of my activity.

Apparently McDonald's has jumped on the Angus beef bandwagon and they opened the drive through question with the offer that I order the new burger. I declined, being someone who rarely changes their menu choice. At the window the manager brought the subject back up. "Have you tried the new Angus burger?" "No, well then you should it is great!" In order to have a shorter conversation with the man I promised I would next time.

As we are leaving my son asked what that was all about. I said they have something new on the menu they want folks to try. What was the new thing he wanted to know. A hamburger I replied...

"That's original"

I'm lovin' it.

* Memory of Feeling

A comment on the household today. We took dad to the airport this morning at 4:15 and subsequently our time is thrown way off. The kids went back to sleep but did not get up until 9 and 9:30. This would normally be awesome, because I have worked hard to teach them to sleep like their mom. But since I was also up for an hour driving before 5 am I did not sleep well after and have woken up quite fuddled. We are functioning tolerably well and the kids are having bonus fun because mom is allowing the tent to go up, a treat I don't do much due to effects of the play scenarios trickling toys everywhere. The tent is upstairs this time and I am liking the effects already. Unfortunately the tent is on its last leg. It was not made to be jumped on repeatedly and the fiberglass supports are beginning to shatter. So to the tent manufacturers out there, you need to add another stress test to your quality standards before production on a grand scale. My four year old can take out your equipment in no time flat, that is a sad statement.

That update was not the point of this entry but as I said I am fuddled today. I wanted to comment on something before I forgot. I can't tell you how many things I forget to write about. If you guys could only hear what I don't say I would seem way more clever but that hardly ever happens so the cleverness level is low. On a lighter note the folks that do follow this aren't expecting much and are often entertained with a basic description of the general randomness that happens in a day (reference the tent coverage above).

Some days ago we had friends over and as often happens when folks are in your home, accidents happen - never to your own children always theirs, making your home seem a natural disaster waiting to happen. This leaves you feeling like you can not in good conscience invite people over so much. Anyway... The second accident merits mentioning only in the amount of blood, head wounds always bleed like crazy, increasing exponentially the drama of being whacked in the face which is dramatic enough. Luckily the object was only a woofle bat and not a 'real' one. The little trooper with the blood later commented beautifully when asked if he felt ok "I have tape on my eye."

The first injury is more memorable to me. Thankfully my children were not directly involved in this injury as in the second, it was merely a matter of architecture. Another little guy missed a step and took a dive down the last three or four steps landing on his face (and forearms praise GOD) From my seat at the table I got a perfect view of the event, yet too far to actually do anything about it, just watch. I am glad that I carry that memory with me and not his mom.

This experience sparked a connection to some very nerdy references. I thought of Data in Star Trek talking about his view of time as different from humans. Also the computer girl 'Jane' in the Ender's Game books comments on her perception of time. It is mildly entertaining to think that these comments about computer perception of time are actually made up by humans who have no clue, but it makes for fairly interesting Scifi. Anyway.... in these scifi worlds computers are able to perceive every moment of time that can make a second seem infinite, since they can compute so much so fast. We silly humans bumble along missing a lot.

When my friends son fell down the steps and then went about his day after some minutes of crying and a 'booboobear' from the freezer, I reflected on the moment. For what was probably only one second I felt the full force of emotions for that little guy breaking his neck. The fall looked bad. He landed on his face, his neck did not appreciate it. (I will point out that he did also land on forearms and hands to catch his fall and he weighs practically nothing which is helpful when falling - less weight equals less force) So now I have the memory of that split second, when the adrenaline said it was bad. Logic would remind me that kids fall all the time, and God in His wisdom put them closer to the ground with less weight and less solid bone structure for this very reason. Logic would remind me that their falls always look bad and they generally get up and move around without much ado. Logic doesn't speak in a split second - adrenaline and panic speak first and they say things like "that looks bad" "how are you going to live with yourself when your friends son has a permanent disability because he fell down your steps?" "you suck" That is quite a lot to say in less than a second.

So now I know how the scifi writers got their inspiration. Sitting at dinner Mr. Card (author of Ender's books) looked over in time to see a small child fly through the air and now has a memory that has more information and feeling in it than one second should logically contain. Light bulb goes off and suddenly 'Jane' has a monologue.

Is that not a lot for a one second event? Drama, small children, guilt, scifi reference, philosophy of time...all wrapped up in a little blog with a ten person readership :) I think a fitting closer would then be to bring in some 'Jane' Austin because what could be closer to scifi than that?

I wanted to remember this second of time because we do bumble along as humans and miss so much. This one I did not miss, but as Mr. Bennett says in P&P don't worry for me. It will pass soon enough ... and more quickly than it should. (Ha! )

* Software, not Hardware

We have not been following the schedule much recently due to travel and VBS and Judah being home this week, see previous comments on June. We do follow it occasionally and today at lunch I said we would be doing our learning time later, as on the schedule. My son asked how I knew about learning time, wasn't the schedule missing off the refrigerator?



As a matter of fact the schedule has been missing for awhile, but I had given it no thought, since things spontaneously walk around the house all the time. It then occurred to me that maybe the paper did not spontaneously walk away but was rather kidnapped. So I asked my son if he knew where it was.



Insert classic little boy face - the one that says he knows something that he has not said and he is wondering if saying it will result in punishment or just a big laugh.



It turns out he does know the location of the paper, but was hoping that its absence would mean I would forget about the daily reading time. He still has much to learn about Mom's memory.



We will now be doing some learning and then later at two he will read, paper or not, because the schedule is software, not hardware.