Charlie and Abby, August 2010

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New House

Pictures will be up soon, but we are finally feeling settled in our new house. Here's what that means:
1) When I am looking for a kitchen utensil, I open the right drawer 89% of the time.
2) Jeff puts his shoes in the same spot by the front door every day.
3) Charlie only freaks out thinking we left her home alone once or twice a week now (I am always upstairs changing a diaper or putting away laundry when this happens). We have never actually left her!
4) I have a backyard weeding routine (Abby goes down for her nap, Charlie plays inside, I weed the backyard. So very peaceful!)
5) Pictures are up on the walls in every room. Not all the pictures are up yet, but nothing makes a house feel more like home than familiar faces!
6) I know how far over to park my car in the driveway so Jeff can fit his patrol car in the garage.
7) Charlie calls her end of the great room "the yellow room" even though it's not yellow, because her old playroom was yellow.
8) The girls say "We're home!" when we turn onto our street.
9) We go for walks to see the sunset over the mountains.
10) We all spend our evenings in the same room, doing all different things, but together. My favorite!

The Reader

Yes, I know, it appears that Charlie has only memorized the story, and is not actually reading it, but that is because she actually read it just before I grabbed the camera, and repeats the performance just for my benefit. But if you pay attention, there are a few words you can see her read, like "Yum, Yum" and "picnic."

Sweet Answers

Ever since we left California with so many questions, Jeff and I have these sweet moments where God answers us, where there seems to be, at least for the moment, some rational reason why we are here in Washington. It was such a difficult and painful thing to be uprooted and transplanted away from everything and everyone we knew and loved, and moved to a place that we could choose to see as bleak, gloomy, lonely, or hopeless. But even if there are so many days with no physical sun, there have often been some bright moments of light where we can actually, confidently say, "Okay, God, I can see why you did this." The first of those bright spots, the sweetest answer, is of course Abigail Hope, "her father's joy." Conceived just after our move, and born just before the one year anniversary of our move, which could have been so bitter, she has been joy, sweetness, and light every day of her life. We had no plans for more children in California, and yet here she is, sunshine in her smile. Then we saw an answer in my brother's return to church. Whenever his sub was in, he would come to church with us, and after several years of trying to go his own way, renewed his commitment to God, a sweet redemption after such a long period of praying for him with no visible answer. Then in January he began dating Kayla, bringing her light and joy into our lives and bringing with her a sweet friend for Charlie and Abby: her seven-year-old daughter, Ava. We used to sit in the back row alone during church, but thanks to Josh and his excitement and passion for inviting other friends to church, today we sat in a group of 11 people, not including ourselves, made up of Josh and Kayla, Ava, and several of their friends and kids. One of them wants to be baptized soon, one of them meets weekly with the men's group at our church to study the Bible, and two have signed up to bring meals to the housebound of our church. These are all people who, in January, didn't go to church at all. I can't see any other answer for this but that God needed to reach all these people, to save them from death, to draw them to himself, and if he had to get us out of California to do that, to cause us some discomfort and pain to do that, I should be grateful that he chose to use us to begin with. We were a rock dropped in a calm lake, and Abby was a ripple which helped Josh to rejoin our family, which in turn helped him to rejoin God's family, which opened his heart up to someone like Kayla, which brought Kayla's and Josh's friends back to church, which drew them straight into God's waiting arms. So here is my next question: If God asks me to leave again, and go somewhere new, could I say yes again? Could you say yes if he asked you to leave all you know and go somewhere new?

Charlie the Gymnast

Sanctus Real - Lead Me (Slideshow With Lyrics)

Candy-Lion Picking

What a gloriously sunny day this was! The dandilions are all gone now, but the girls had so much fun bringing me bouquets of them, and I remembered how to make a crown (sort of). My little fairy princess will never know it wasn't perfect!

Matt Maher - Christ is Risen

Empty and full

I am feeling a little empty today: my husband has been gone for 4 days, the kids are at each other's throats and on my second-to-last nerve, we are tired from all our keep-busy-while-daddy's-gone activities, the fridge is empty, the Diet Pepsi is gone, and I am wondering how much patience I have left. But then I see these wild roses I cut from outside, and smell their rich, incredible, perfect rosy perfume, and think how they just survive, without pruning or fertilizing, through severe winds and freezing temperatures, thunderstorms, and summer heat, and they are so beautiful, so fragrant. My life is no thunderstorm. My husband will be home in two days. If I am a little thorny, my children will forgive me, because after bedtime stories, songs, and prayers, they will be assured that I love them and all is well. And if life is rough, may my fragrance become even sweeter, my love more vibrant for having survived each storm.

Ups and downs

All that I've found through the ups and the downs
Is that I'd have it no other way
Life in the raw is both fragile and strong
It's both lovely and ugly the same
Who can attest that when they're at their best
Oh their worst is still crouching close behind
Its coming to peace with the darkness in me
That allows the true light inside to shine

So let it go for we are still far from home
Though you try and you try to escape
To live and to love will always be dangerous
But it's better than playing it safe

From the Kendall Payne song "Ups and Downs"

Abby's 2nd Birthday

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Our Family

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Charlie's Bible Verses

Fay Bainbridge State Beach

What is Easter?

How much do you love me?

When I was getting out of the shower, which is when Charlie comes up with her most deeply philosophical questions, she came into the bathroom and asked me, "Mama, how much do you love me?" I gave my usual answer: "Charlie, I love you to the forever of forevers." Then I asked her how much she loved me. She looked at me and answered, in her precious little four-year-old voice, "I love you as Jesus loves you." What more could I ever ask for?

New Computer!

My old computer, which I blamed for all of life's problems, finally died after a full life of 7 years, and I waited two weeks before getting a new one (I was secretly hoping the old one would magically start working again). Now I have a new computer, and have to get serious about backing up my photos and documents. But recent pictures will be coming soon!