Micahism of the day

"Mommy, remember when I had ballerina?"
"You had what?"
"I had ballerina and I threw up all over Daddy?"
"I remember when you were sick... oh do you mean diarrhea?"
"Yeah... what's that word again?"
"Di-ah-ree-a"
"Oh... (smile) I thought it was ballerina."

"Mommy, what's ballerina?"

Ahhh, sadly, the result of a house full of men.

Sabbath Keeping

Our journey toward marking Sabbath with traditions as a family is going well. We're easing into a consistent routine, and it feels GREAT. I keep wondering why it took us so long to actually keep a Sabbath. The most drastic and effective change- it may seem overly obvious and simple- we don't work. I do minimal cooking (like reheating leftovers and making sandwiches) but literally, that's IT. We even leave the dishes for Monday, and if you know me at all, you know how that would normally drive me nuts. But for some reason on Sundays it feels good- kind of like I'm sticking it to my tasky self- "Do dishes? Not today! Hah! Take that!" We play, nap, read, watch sports (well, Eric, not me), take walks, and generally enjoy each others' company.

I'm also reading The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel. He writes about time,

"There is a realm of time where the goal is not to have but to be, not to own but to give, not to control but to share, not to subdue but to be in accord." I love it.

To be
To give
To share
To be in accord
These are my new daily goals for at least 1 whole day every week. Am I succeeding? Little by little. But I do know that there is greater joy in the work when there is a whole day of rest is just around the corner.

Lovers of Independence

I forget sometimes how much of childhood is about fighting for independence. My job is to protect and provide; their job is to gradually grow-out of the need for protection and provision. Even though I know it's good for them to do things on thier own, let's face it. It's usually just easier, faster, cleaner and safer for me to do it for them, but I know that in doing so I rob them of the chance to succeed at something. Holy cow this is hard for me! The things they usually want to do are like mowing the grass, loading the dishwasher, driving the van, or cleaning the windows. The things I want them to do on their own- putting on shoes, putting away PJs, taking dishes to the sink, cleaning up toys- no so much fun for some reason. But there are rare moments when someone decides to exert his independence in a way that I'm excited about.

Today- It's raining outside (Hooray... we so needed rain!). Isaiah sees a stick on the windowsill of the living room window- outside. He decides he wants that stick. As he opens the door to go outside- barefoot and with no jacket- I tell him that he'll have to wait until I can help him put on his shoes and jacket. "I can do it Mommy!"

And though I know that he probably can do it himself, it's always quicker and easier if I "help" him- he's only 3 after all right? But, since he's motivated by the stick, he finds socks, rubber boots, and his jacket himself. Then he spends a full 5 minutes zipping up his jacket himself. He goes outside, gets the stick, comes back in and takes everything off. Getting ready completely alone= 10 minutes. Time outside= 30 seconds. But the look of satisfaction on his face was terrific! I love his 3 yr old language too.

"I useded my jacket for just in case for to protect me from the rain. I should have glasses for to protect my eyes when I look up in the sky at the rain falling falling down down down into my eyes. I gotted my stick too Mommy. Did you seed it?"

So, that's today.

On Halloween

Micah wants to be a pirate this year. And all three boys have already been planning what they want to be for next year. Talking to Micah yesterday he asked, "Mommy, is God stronger than Superman?" To which I responded that if Superman were real, God would still be stronger. Silence for a moment and he said, "Next year for halloween, I want to be God."
Then he laughed and said, "I don't know what that would look like."
It made me smile. :)

Cousins

What an amazing family we have. Such a mix of personalities and quirks, and yet we all make it work. The kids had a great time reconnecting. Here are some of my favorite shots of the weekend.

1000 words

Both pictures were taken at the same time. While one child spends his free time "taking a little rest" on the couch, the other is bouncing off the walls. Each is wonderful! I often wonder how two little boys who are so different can belong to the same family. I don't know if it's their closeness in age or their opposite personalities or some combination, but these two are about as close as two brothers can be. Isaiah joins in occasionally, but he is usually just as content to play on his own somewhere. Ah, how I wonder what their future will be, but I know the present is awesome.

My Cousins

I found this picture recently on my cousin's facebook page. When we were in New Brunswick this past July, my cousin Matthew graciously invited us to his camp on the lake where we had loads O fun! They are all such good people. Here's to New Brunswickers and especially my family. Fall always makes me think of you all.

Just for the sake of history...

I think I should record this "bailout" in our blog, so that when my children are someday trying to pay back trillions of dollars of debt to foreign countries after an economic depression, they'll have record of where it all started. Even though we're hearing plenty of, "phewww, thank goodness politicians passed that bailout bill. Now I can sleep easier." I'm convinced that nothing is that easy. Didn't we all learn as college students or teenagers that paying off one credit card with another is just not a good idea? Here's a snippet of the side of the issue we never hear about.

"100% against it [the bailout]. It will be financed by money that we don’t have- so either we’ll print more (thus devaluing the dollar even further and giving each and every one of us an increased tax through continuing inflation) or we’ll just borrow from China or Japan like we’ve been doing to finance war, etc. Not exactly National Security to be indebted to foreign creditors. Furthermore, it’s loaded with pork- special interest money. Have a look:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10057618-38.html?tag=nl.e433

Total number of bailouts gets us closer to $1.8 trillion in commitments, added to the 53 trillion dollars (you read that correctly) in commitments when you factor in social security, the federal debt and medicare. You don’t want to know how much that equals per taxpayer.

As an economic matter, it is no fix at all, and will likely make things worse (which is what happens when the gov steps outside its rightful role). A free market system is supposed to allow for corrections and downturns as a way to punish (not reward) in this case- the Wall Street Casino Capitalism. We aren’t doing anything but propping up bad debt that needs to be cleansed from the market place. You have to ask yourself- of the economists “for” the bailout, which are intending to say “good economic policy” or rather just looking out for their investments in Wall Street? No one knows. We also don’t know a lot about the process of these bailouts because so much of it is being done without our understanding. Everyone should be deeply concerned that legislation supported by only 25% of the American people was just voted and signed into law.

The American people have been had."

Hmmmm, I'm thinkin "Neither a borrower nor a lender be." Simple yet profound don't you think?

Elijah's revelation

As Elijah has encountered school-age kids, his interest in Pokemon (and other such characters) has been kindled regularly. It started back in June really. We tested the waters for a while, bought him a few Pokemon cards (after his continuous begging), and let others give him some as gifts. He had a collection of 25 or so cards, and was continuously asking for more and more. We noticed increasingly that the way our boys played with the cards together was not constructive. It seemed to foster arguments among them more than any other toy they played with. After one particularly argumentative afternoon, we put the cards on top of the refrigerator where they have stayed for the past 3 months. I'm not completely anti-Pokemon or anything; it just seemed like now was not the right time for them to be playing with them together.

Elijah will regularly come home from school and tell us about the new cards that his friends have gotten, and for a while, he kept asking for more himself. One afternoon a few weeks ago I said to him, "You know, having more things doesn't really make you happy. You would get a few cards and then just want more and more. God wants us to be content with what we have." I assumed that my words went right over his head because his pouting continued.

But the requests for stuff have gradually subsided. He still mentions "Matthew's" cards at times, but he's less adamant about asking for them, and really just tells me about how cool someone else's are.

Skip to this morning. I'm making breakfast in the kitchen and he comes out and says, "Mommy, I don't think I really want any Pokemon cards anymore."
Me: (shocked) Really? Why not?
E: I don't think God would want me to have more.
Me: Hmmm, why do you think that?
E: Cause like Matthew, every time he gets other ones, he just wants more and more and more... and he already has like 200.
Me: And God wouldn't like that?
E: Nope, I think God is just looking down at him like, (E. crosses his arms and shakes his head back and forth with a disappointed but not angry look on his face.)
And he runs off to continue playing with his brothers. Growing up! Amazing!

Nature Calls

The boys found this little critter in the yard a few days ago. None of us had seen a praying mantis up close before, so she was quite the spectacle. Elijah came running in the house saying, "there's a praying mantis in the yard." I really thought I was going out to see a large grasshopper, but sure enough, it was a praying mantis. Ahhh the things we learn from Kung Fu Panda.