I wanted to add a bit onto the last post but didn't know quite how to fit it in.
It's taken me several years to figure out what works for reading the Bible with little kids. Right now what it looks like for us is largely what it looks like for Carrie Ward, the author of that book Together. The longest sitting-down-and-being-quiet time in our house each day is at breakfast, when the kids are hungry and busy eating for a while, so they are quiet, alert, and attentive (or at least as quiet, alert, and attentive as a 4-year-old, 3-year-old, and 14-month-old ever will be). That's when we read the Scriptures together.
I started out just reading bits and pieces to them. Usually parts of the Psalms, Isaiah, the Gospels, and the Epistles. Just encouraging words. The good stuff. Whatever I flipped to and wanted to read and could cram in around all the requests for butter and needing a refill of milk. Pulling lines from this psalm and that epistle to share verses mainly about God's goodness and love and grace. But as they've gotten older and have been ready for lengthier passages of Scripture, I've started reading straight through. I think we started that in November or so after we moved to Spokane. We've read through Genesis and Matthew and now we're working through Acts. It's not moving at rocket speed, and we don't do it every day, although we always intend to. There are days when breakfast gets too hectic, in which case we try to make it happen at lunch or dinner. When we're reading through a book of the Bible like we are now, I want to make sure both Priscilla and Abraham are at the table, so if one of them is still asleep at breakfast or something (a frequent happening this month while they've taken turns being sick) then I read out of Psalms or the day's chapter of Proverbs (although I admit that I've been leaving off the negative half of the Proverbs verses).
I've been reading to them out of an NIV (1984) and Message interlinear, which I love. I love it for me, because I've been reading through the Bible in the Message to get a better grasp on passages which have gotten too familiar or I've glossed over too many times. I love having the interlinear because I love the NIV, and there's something on nearly every page where I just want to glance over and see what the difference is in the NIV translation versus the Message interpretation. But it's also fantastic for reading with the kids. There are parts while reading the NIV to the kids where the wording just gets too complicated and I can't think how to rephrase it. So I look at the other column and transpose some of the words from the Message into whatever verse or passage I'm reading to them. It works really well, I think, and often I will read a verse in the NIV and then repeat in the Message and then repeat it in the NIV, just to make sure they have a good handle on the concept. When I find a key verse that I think would be useful for us to understand better or memorize, I repeat it a few times. I often like to have the kids repeat it with me so that they can remember it.
I've also been getting into the habit of reading the Bible to Rilla and Abe at night. We did it while we were in Iowa and our bedtime routine was switched up a bit, and they absolutely loved it and kept asking for more. I've been telling them Bible verses at bedtime for a few years and they love that and have memorized many passages of Scripture that way. I usually stand tell them Scripture as I am tucking them into bed. It's just part of our whole routine, one of the last things I say to them at the end of the evening. But apparently I haven't been memorizing any new Scripture in a while because it's at the point where I just can't think of anything new. They've memorized some really good passages that way, but they are kind of burnt out on hearing the same ones over and over (especially Proverbs 3:5-6, I think, because that is my old reliable fallback when I'm super exhausted and it's all that comes to mind). So I've started reading little passages from the Bible to them at night and let me tell you, they eat it up. I read somewhere (I think it was in Nurtureshock, actually) that the last thing kids hear at night is what they will think about all night, and it is incredibly important for their development that it's something good. Thus the Bible passages thing. This week I've been reading 1 John to them and they really enjoy that time.
Anyway, I share all of this because for me, it's a part of living purposefully, a part of raising children well and carefully, and it's taken me quite a while to arrive at these simple practices. They work well for our family and I know how hard it can be to figure out, let alone establish, careful times in the Word with children. And I have benefitted in so many areas of parenting from reading about what others have done that if this helps anyone brainstorm what works for them... wonderful! And if you have children of any age and don't know at all where to start, I really encourage that simple saying-one-verse-a-night thing.
I also thought I'd mention what Bibles for kids I have found most useful. We gave each of our children a new Bible for Easter, and I am really satisfied with the ones we settled on getting for them. I've spent quite a lot of time looking at what options are available, and I really think these are among the best choices for kids' Bibles. Even though we're reading the actual Bible together, the children's versions are still useful and fun for them to read. Here are the ones I like the best.
For Ezekiel (so, the zero to maybe twenty months range), we found the Hug-a-Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones. She wrote The Jesus Storybook Bible (which I dislike, sorry to say, although I like many of her other books) and this too is written in simple, lovely rhyme. It's all Scripturally accurate and very simple. My older kids like it too, and they will listen when I read it to Ezekiel, even though each "story" is only six lines or so. It does a great job of expressing big important truths in simple, cheerful words.
For Abraham (most kids ages three to five, I suppose), we found My Favorite Bible by Rondi deBoer and Christine Tangvald. It is just lovely and probably my favorite kids' Bible ever. Like The Jesus Storybook Bible, it foreshadows the coming of Jesus ("the Promised One") all the way through, so it has that important aspect, but it is also lovely to look at and the words are all Scripturally accurate. It seems to me like some kids' Bibles are written by people who only want to share the bare-bones, straight-up story... not the actual meaning of it all. This one shares what happens accurately but also expounds on the deeper meaning of everything that goes on, and I really love that.
For Rilla (most kids ages four to seven, probably), we found My Read and Rhyme Bible Storybook by Crystal Bowman and Cindy Kenney does a great job of presenting the truth well and tying together the big picture as well as making it fun to read. I would pick this one or My Favorite Bible any day; they are both really excellent.
So anyway. Just a few more thoughts on this Bible-reading topic.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Sunday, May 19, 2013
reading Scripture with kids
So I read this little book last week called Together. And it's all about reading the Bible together with our kids. And it totally encouraged me. Sometimes when I want to do all.the.way kind of things like read the Bible aloud to my kids multiple times a day, I am discouraged because I feel like I'm the only one doing it. You know? Even in Christian circles, if something about reading the Bible or prayer somehow comes up, I feel like people give you that stare or eyeroll or raised eyebrows when you really want to train your children up right, really want to teach them to PRAY and LOVE JESUS and DISCIPLE PEOPLE from a young age. So anyway, I read this book, and it made me really happy. Made me feel like I'm not the only one out there.
I've been reading little bits of Scripture to the kids since Rilla was, I don't know, about a year and a half old, but I started reading bigger sections and whole chapters and books to them when I got tired of the little kids' versions of the Bible. They're great in their place and all, but there is so much left out, and I kept finding myself trying to find the just-right kids' Bible, and I used a ton of white-out on the last one that I got for them. (Changing inaccuracies. Like, Sarah didn't have Isaac nine months after the angel appeared to Abraham; it was a year. And God didn't create just two of each kind of animal in the creation account; or if He did, it certainly doesn't say that, so I think it's safer to just say some of each kind. I feel like it matters. If I am teaching them that this is THE TRUTH THAT THEY SHOULD CLING TO ALL THEIR LIVES, I feel like I should be presenting it accurately in little things as well as big ones.) So anyway, I got tired of the kids' pared-down Bibles and just started reading more and more of the Word to them. This spring, Rilla was really wanting the exact details on how the Crucifixion all went down (yes, you read that right, and it freaked me out too) and so I read Matthew to the kids this spring, right after we finished Genesis. Now we're in Acts.
But I've been skipping stuff along the way. Like Cain and Abel, and polygamy (so, uh, like, a lot of the whole Jacob story), and demons, and even Satan thus far. We've been reading Acts for a few weeks and I read to them about Stephen being persecuted, and then the widespread persecution of Christians, and I didn't hold back when it came to Paul's story. But I didn't tell them that Stephen was killed, just that he was persecuted. Abraham's middle name is Steven, after both his grandfather and the first Christian martyr, and he was stoked to hear about Stephen in the New Testament. And I wasn't really sure if I should tell the whole truth or not. So I didn't.
But I read this book Together right after we got through that point in Acts, and in it the author talks about reading the whole of Scripture to her young children... she has three, like me, and read the entire Bible straight through to them beginning when they were ages four and under, like mine... and how powerful and good that was. So it really challenged me and encouraged me, because I've been wondering how to bring these things in later that I'm skipping now. And it makes me think that I should stop skipping them. She writes about how her kids were devastated to find out later that she had skipped Leviticus (yeah, really) and it made me think, yeah, my kids might be devastated later on too. I've skipped so much already, though, that I have found in the week since I've read the Together book that I do need to kind of ease into it. They're not ready for me to dive completely into all the facts now after I've been skipping through stuff. They love Scripture, totally eat it up, but these are small children we're talking about here, and their eyes get as big as saucers at some of the things in Acts. Which, by the way, is the most rockingest, funnest thing to read to little kids.
Side tangent.
Reading the whole of Scripture as a new believer was one of the best things ever. I read it from Genesis to Revelation, and let me tell you what, there is nothing that rocks like getting to Romans after having read the whole of the Old Testament and the Gospels and Acts. It's like... I don't even know what it's like, there's nothing like it. But maybe it's like living in candlelight all your life and then ZING! ELECTRICITY HAPPENS! and not just a little electricity, but like Christmas lights everywhere kind of electricity! and your whole world lights up. It is awesome like that. And it struck me this last week how purely awesome and humblingly special it is to get to read through the Bible with my kids. To introduce them to the words of life for the very first time. To SEE them go from that candlelight to that electricity! I mean, they know the truth, they know about Jesus, but to feed them the Word of God itself? Undistorted by my explanations? Oh man, it rocks so much. The other night I was reading 1 John 1 to the kids as they were going to bed and I got to 1 John 1:9 - "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" - and Rilla shouted "YAAAAAYY!!" and started clapping like mad. It was so great!
So, it is really fun to get to read to the kids from Acts. Because Acts is just full of crazy stuff. Like, the angel setting Peter free from prison. And it's so real, you know. Like Peter didn't even realize what was going on, just thought he was in a dream. And when he got to the house where the believers were gathered, the servant girl Rhoda heard his voice at the back door and was so excited that she didn't even let him in, just ran to the others and left him out there on the back step or whatever. That kind of cracks me up. And then there is Philip just being totally picked up and moved to a different town. I read that to the kids and they just stared at me. Like, holding their forks in the air mid-bite, just staring. Like, WHAT? Did that really just happen? And I'm grinning too, like... uh, yeah! Crazy stuff, huh? No explanation. God just picked him up and moved him. And the story goes on.
Reading the Word of God to my kids is awesome. No doubt about that.
(End of tangent.)
But I'm wondering, any input here? Thoughts, suggestions, comments, experiences? I want my children to know and understand the Scriptures from a young age. I don't want to leave out parts, and yet I'm hesitant to introduce concepts like, um, demons. And really I don't think you can read very much of the Old Testament without having some pretty big discussions about how sexuality works. They really love reading the Bible, but we don't even let them watch G-rated movies at this point... and the Bible is definitely not G-rated! But then then there's 2 Timothy 3:16-17: "All of Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." Keith and I really want our children to be thoroughly equipped for every good work. And I have found thus far that there isn't anything from Scripture that I've regretted reading to the kids. It's Scripture. It's not like reading Grimm's Fairy Tales or something that is scary and pointless. Every word is useful, and we have totally found that to be true. But I'm still weighing out what it would/will look like to read them every word at this stage of things.
Thoughts, anyone?
I've been reading little bits of Scripture to the kids since Rilla was, I don't know, about a year and a half old, but I started reading bigger sections and whole chapters and books to them when I got tired of the little kids' versions of the Bible. They're great in their place and all, but there is so much left out, and I kept finding myself trying to find the just-right kids' Bible, and I used a ton of white-out on the last one that I got for them. (Changing inaccuracies. Like, Sarah didn't have Isaac nine months after the angel appeared to Abraham; it was a year. And God didn't create just two of each kind of animal in the creation account; or if He did, it certainly doesn't say that, so I think it's safer to just say some of each kind. I feel like it matters. If I am teaching them that this is THE TRUTH THAT THEY SHOULD CLING TO ALL THEIR LIVES, I feel like I should be presenting it accurately in little things as well as big ones.) So anyway, I got tired of the kids' pared-down Bibles and just started reading more and more of the Word to them. This spring, Rilla was really wanting the exact details on how the Crucifixion all went down (yes, you read that right, and it freaked me out too) and so I read Matthew to the kids this spring, right after we finished Genesis. Now we're in Acts.
But I've been skipping stuff along the way. Like Cain and Abel, and polygamy (so, uh, like, a lot of the whole Jacob story), and demons, and even Satan thus far. We've been reading Acts for a few weeks and I read to them about Stephen being persecuted, and then the widespread persecution of Christians, and I didn't hold back when it came to Paul's story. But I didn't tell them that Stephen was killed, just that he was persecuted. Abraham's middle name is Steven, after both his grandfather and the first Christian martyr, and he was stoked to hear about Stephen in the New Testament. And I wasn't really sure if I should tell the whole truth or not. So I didn't.
But I read this book Together right after we got through that point in Acts, and in it the author talks about reading the whole of Scripture to her young children... she has three, like me, and read the entire Bible straight through to them beginning when they were ages four and under, like mine... and how powerful and good that was. So it really challenged me and encouraged me, because I've been wondering how to bring these things in later that I'm skipping now. And it makes me think that I should stop skipping them. She writes about how her kids were devastated to find out later that she had skipped Leviticus (yeah, really) and it made me think, yeah, my kids might be devastated later on too. I've skipped so much already, though, that I have found in the week since I've read the Together book that I do need to kind of ease into it. They're not ready for me to dive completely into all the facts now after I've been skipping through stuff. They love Scripture, totally eat it up, but these are small children we're talking about here, and their eyes get as big as saucers at some of the things in Acts. Which, by the way, is the most rockingest, funnest thing to read to little kids.
Side tangent.
Reading the whole of Scripture as a new believer was one of the best things ever. I read it from Genesis to Revelation, and let me tell you what, there is nothing that rocks like getting to Romans after having read the whole of the Old Testament and the Gospels and Acts. It's like... I don't even know what it's like, there's nothing like it. But maybe it's like living in candlelight all your life and then ZING! ELECTRICITY HAPPENS! and not just a little electricity, but like Christmas lights everywhere kind of electricity! and your whole world lights up. It is awesome like that. And it struck me this last week how purely awesome and humblingly special it is to get to read through the Bible with my kids. To introduce them to the words of life for the very first time. To SEE them go from that candlelight to that electricity! I mean, they know the truth, they know about Jesus, but to feed them the Word of God itself? Undistorted by my explanations? Oh man, it rocks so much. The other night I was reading 1 John 1 to the kids as they were going to bed and I got to 1 John 1:9 - "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" - and Rilla shouted "YAAAAAYY!!" and started clapping like mad. It was so great!
So, it is really fun to get to read to the kids from Acts. Because Acts is just full of crazy stuff. Like, the angel setting Peter free from prison. And it's so real, you know. Like Peter didn't even realize what was going on, just thought he was in a dream. And when he got to the house where the believers were gathered, the servant girl Rhoda heard his voice at the back door and was so excited that she didn't even let him in, just ran to the others and left him out there on the back step or whatever. That kind of cracks me up. And then there is Philip just being totally picked up and moved to a different town. I read that to the kids and they just stared at me. Like, holding their forks in the air mid-bite, just staring. Like, WHAT? Did that really just happen? And I'm grinning too, like... uh, yeah! Crazy stuff, huh? No explanation. God just picked him up and moved him. And the story goes on.
Reading the Word of God to my kids is awesome. No doubt about that.
(End of tangent.)
But I'm wondering, any input here? Thoughts, suggestions, comments, experiences? I want my children to know and understand the Scriptures from a young age. I don't want to leave out parts, and yet I'm hesitant to introduce concepts like, um, demons. And really I don't think you can read very much of the Old Testament without having some pretty big discussions about how sexuality works. They really love reading the Bible, but we don't even let them watch G-rated movies at this point... and the Bible is definitely not G-rated! But then then there's 2 Timothy 3:16-17: "All of Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." Keith and I really want our children to be thoroughly equipped for every good work. And I have found thus far that there isn't anything from Scripture that I've regretted reading to the kids. It's Scripture. It's not like reading Grimm's Fairy Tales or something that is scary and pointless. Every word is useful, and we have totally found that to be true. But I'm still weighing out what it would/will look like to read them every word at this stage of things.
Thoughts, anyone?
Saturday, May 18, 2013
parenting notes, mostly
I've been writing blog-length Facebook posts, so I suppose it's time to finally jot something here.
Our kiddos have been alternating sicknesses for three weeks straight. It is the worst timing. Most recently, Ezekiel has been teething like mad. He has just two little teeth on the bottom and four on top, most of which came in at the same time, and now he has this... there's no other way to put it, so excuse my Idaho-ness... BIG HONKIN' molar trying to erupt through his stressed-out gums way in the back of his mouth. Poor kid! But I did find the baltic amber teething necklace for him about halfway through this teething episode and so the last several days have been much better. I'm thoroughly convinced now that those things work, because he was absolutely miserable before that, and since putting it on he has been so much better, despite the molar still looking pretty horribly painful.
Abraham has been running a high fever on and off for about five days. He's totally lucid though and there isn't anything else bothering him, so we're waiting it out. He seems to tend toward long fevers, I think. It's sad though. He wakes up about five times a night just needing some reassurance from me. I'm not really used to having to actually get out of bed at night to take care of children, apparently, because I have been rather bewildered about it each time! I didn't realize how spoiled I was getting about not having to get up in the night. Co-sleeping with the littlest one makes nighttimes so easy!
Rilla is the healthy one right now, and has been bursting at the seams with pent-up energy all this week. I thought having her in gymnastics would give her a good chance to work out some of her four-year-old energy, and perhaps it does, but WOW, four-year-olds have a lot of energy! Probably part of the problem is that I have still been having her take afternoon naps, and really all that does is refuel her enough so that she is good to go until like 10 pm. So I am gradually accepting that it is time to let her stay awake during naptime for the sake of everyone being able to go to bed earlier. (Having her up later drags everybody to be up later.) I know the afternoon will be a great time for her to work quietly on her own projects, but it's still a little bit hard for me to let go of the now-and-then alone time that I have in the afternoon. I'm such a introvert when it comes to needing time totally alone to refuel, so even though I know it will be good for our schedule and overall rhythm of our home when Rilla stops taking naps... still, it is hard for me to say goodbye to those little snatches of totally solo downtime, as well as the solo time that I get with Zekie when the older two are napping.
Annnyway. I'm having a conversation with my children as I type this (they are playing bakery) and am trying to convince them that it is okay for ladies to drink coffee. I don't drink coffee, so they are firmly convinced that coffee is for men, whereas tea and hot chocolate are for ladies. They still view it as this strange anomaly when women drink coffee.
My children have been doing and saying some pretty funny things lately. Well, I suppose they always do. I just wish I could remember them all long enough to write them down at the end of the day. Abraham has been saying a lot of really hilarious things without meaning to, especially while he has been feverish. He is just so amazingly straightforward! And the things that seem so logical when you think about it from their perspective, but are so hilarious coming from ours. And of course I can't think of a single thing to illustrate my point right now... sorry.
Ezekiel has just this week gotten to the point where he's now walking more than he is crawling. He has mastered pivoting this week too and is able to walk as far as he wants to now without falling. It's really adorable. It also feels a bit strange to be able to hold his hands comfortably as he is learning to walk. I know that sounds weird, but I was seven months pregnant with Abraham when Rilla started walking, and I was five months pregnant with Ezekiel when Abraham started walking! So not being pregnant and being able to bend down and play with him at this age with such ease is actually tremendously fun. I'm totally thrilled that he is going to be able to walk this summer, as it will be the first summer since 2008 that I will be able to go places outside in the summertime without needing to carry a baby everywhere in my arms! I am very much looking forward to it.
We've organized and sorted through all of our stuff that was in storage at Keith's parents house... and now we're on to the task of boxing up everything in our home and getting ready to move in the next week or two. We had planned to leave for Iowa the day after Memorial Day, but we're beginning to think about staying an extra week... it doesn't quite feel like enough time now to see everyone and pack everything in just the next nine days. Having the kids be sick has really set things back.
My two little bakers are done playing bakery and are ready for storytime... and so I'm done here.
Our kiddos have been alternating sicknesses for three weeks straight. It is the worst timing. Most recently, Ezekiel has been teething like mad. He has just two little teeth on the bottom and four on top, most of which came in at the same time, and now he has this... there's no other way to put it, so excuse my Idaho-ness... BIG HONKIN' molar trying to erupt through his stressed-out gums way in the back of his mouth. Poor kid! But I did find the baltic amber teething necklace for him about halfway through this teething episode and so the last several days have been much better. I'm thoroughly convinced now that those things work, because he was absolutely miserable before that, and since putting it on he has been so much better, despite the molar still looking pretty horribly painful.
Abraham has been running a high fever on and off for about five days. He's totally lucid though and there isn't anything else bothering him, so we're waiting it out. He seems to tend toward long fevers, I think. It's sad though. He wakes up about five times a night just needing some reassurance from me. I'm not really used to having to actually get out of bed at night to take care of children, apparently, because I have been rather bewildered about it each time! I didn't realize how spoiled I was getting about not having to get up in the night. Co-sleeping with the littlest one makes nighttimes so easy!
Rilla is the healthy one right now, and has been bursting at the seams with pent-up energy all this week. I thought having her in gymnastics would give her a good chance to work out some of her four-year-old energy, and perhaps it does, but WOW, four-year-olds have a lot of energy! Probably part of the problem is that I have still been having her take afternoon naps, and really all that does is refuel her enough so that she is good to go until like 10 pm. So I am gradually accepting that it is time to let her stay awake during naptime for the sake of everyone being able to go to bed earlier. (Having her up later drags everybody to be up later.) I know the afternoon will be a great time for her to work quietly on her own projects, but it's still a little bit hard for me to let go of the now-and-then alone time that I have in the afternoon. I'm such a introvert when it comes to needing time totally alone to refuel, so even though I know it will be good for our schedule and overall rhythm of our home when Rilla stops taking naps... still, it is hard for me to say goodbye to those little snatches of totally solo downtime, as well as the solo time that I get with Zekie when the older two are napping.
Annnyway. I'm having a conversation with my children as I type this (they are playing bakery) and am trying to convince them that it is okay for ladies to drink coffee. I don't drink coffee, so they are firmly convinced that coffee is for men, whereas tea and hot chocolate are for ladies. They still view it as this strange anomaly when women drink coffee.
My children have been doing and saying some pretty funny things lately. Well, I suppose they always do. I just wish I could remember them all long enough to write them down at the end of the day. Abraham has been saying a lot of really hilarious things without meaning to, especially while he has been feverish. He is just so amazingly straightforward! And the things that seem so logical when you think about it from their perspective, but are so hilarious coming from ours. And of course I can't think of a single thing to illustrate my point right now... sorry.
Ezekiel has just this week gotten to the point where he's now walking more than he is crawling. He has mastered pivoting this week too and is able to walk as far as he wants to now without falling. It's really adorable. It also feels a bit strange to be able to hold his hands comfortably as he is learning to walk. I know that sounds weird, but I was seven months pregnant with Abraham when Rilla started walking, and I was five months pregnant with Ezekiel when Abraham started walking! So not being pregnant and being able to bend down and play with him at this age with such ease is actually tremendously fun. I'm totally thrilled that he is going to be able to walk this summer, as it will be the first summer since 2008 that I will be able to go places outside in the summertime without needing to carry a baby everywhere in my arms! I am very much looking forward to it.
We've organized and sorted through all of our stuff that was in storage at Keith's parents house... and now we're on to the task of boxing up everything in our home and getting ready to move in the next week or two. We had planned to leave for Iowa the day after Memorial Day, but we're beginning to think about staying an extra week... it doesn't quite feel like enough time now to see everyone and pack everything in just the next nine days. Having the kids be sick has really set things back.
My two little bakers are done playing bakery and are ready for storytime... and so I'm done here.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
sorting through memories
We're staying at Keith's parents' house for a few days and going through lots and lots and lots of stuff that we have had sitting in storage. Some is just from our last move, but some is from the move before that, and a whole lot of it is from random other moves prior to those ones.
So we've been sorting like mad for the last few days. Stuff to throw away, stuff to keep in storage, stuff to give away, and stuff to bring with us to Iowa. The kids have been hanging out with their grandpa while we've been doing all of this and so in large part the sorting has been a solo date for Keith and me. What a trip down memory lane! There are photos from so many parts of our journey together, from high school prom to engagement photos to wedding and honeymoon pictures to college in Canada and our mission trip to Africa. Lots of memory stuff too from our time in Utah that we hadn't sorted through. It's been special to sort through and find random things. Letters to each other mingled with notes from friends and interspersed with pictures of Rilla as a baby. So sweet and special.
There are all of our random childhood memory things too. 4-H trophies to throw away, letters from camp friends who we don't remember, even math assignments that I had for who knows what reason. Anyway, it is a special time. I'll have to post a few pictures of Keith and I from back then... we look younger, which is another way of saying we must be getting older. I like it though. I like looking back and smiling and laughing together at how far we've come.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
three years old now
Our sweet Abraham boy is three years old now. And he is genuinely such a sweet kid. He is helpful, cheerful, and hilarious. He is the most ticklish of our brood, and will just crack up like crazy with a bit of tickling.
He is perfectly cuddly, too. Often in the mornings he will just sit and cuddle with me for ten or fifteen minutes while we both wake up a bit to start our day. Lately I have begun to realize how similar his personality is to mine. He is somewhat sensitive and introverted, but not unfriendly. He'll be shy when he first meets somebody, and will scowl if they talk to him in that bright, overcheerful way that adults often do to small children, and especially if they get too close, but he'll warm up within a minute if they aren't too pushy, and begin talking openly and happily. This is so much like me that it is kind of ridiculous.
He loves to read. Loves to ride the run bike, which has recently become his by default of being too small for Rilla. Loves to build, and make up stories too. Some of his favorite verses are the ones about his namesake in the Bible. "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Abraham obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going."
Abraham loves God, and this gives me no end of joy. He loves to sing songs about God and to Him, and He has a pretty sturdy understanding of basic theology, although he is not quite so vocal about it as Rilla (who is apt to give extemporaneous sermons and sing made-up worship songs for a half hour alone in the bathroom if given the chance).
Abe loves airplanes, tractors, dump trucks, and kitty cats. And the boy can EAT. He and Rilla used to eat about the same amount. Now he eats about twice as much as she does. If it's something that he finds particularly delicious, he will even outeat me, which is no small feat. And he's growing like a champ. I try to ignore growth charts, as long as my kids are healthy, but Abe is on track to be quite a tall man. And he's excited about it, too. "I'm going to be a big, strong man," is a phrase that we hear every day. Not in an arrogant way. Just in a happy-about-who-he-is kind of a way. He especially pulls out the phrase when we give him something hot to eat. "Careful, it's hot," we tell him. "It's okay, I'm a big strong man," he explains, then proceeds to eat it. Once recently it actually was quite a lot too hot, and I think that damaged his confidence a bit.
We found a picture of Keith as a little boy recently and Abraham really looks remarkably like him. I had no idea how much he looked like him, actually. I'll have to share that picture one of these days. It's really pretty special to me.
Even though I tend to mix up nicknames a bit with my kids (oops), I have always called Abraham my sunshine boy because he was such a cheerful, content baby. We've had a bit of a rough time with him in the two-year-old phase but I took him off gluten a few months ago (Zeke and I have been off it for quite a while, long story there that I keep meaning to share, but it seems we're both severely sensitive to it), and his attitude has changed tremendously. It was like there was this stormcloud hanging over my sunshine boy. When I took him off gluten, the stormcloud went away, and he was simply my sweet, happy boy again! When I've let him be on gluten a bit since then, I've seen shadows of it reappearing, and when he went a few weeks on gluten again, the resulting frustrations were very evident. Tantrums many times a day, compared to just a few bouts of toddler-ish complaining each day when not on gluten. So he is off gluten completely for now.
(The gluten bit might not be normal birthday post material, but it has been a big deal for me to see him come out of this harder time, and I am really rejoicing because of it!)
I am finding that there are so many fun things about having a boy. (And yeah, I know we have two boys, but I mean having a boy that isn't a baby anymore.) He's really moved out of the baby stage and into the kid stage. He is just so fun! So straightforward about things. So exact about language, like if I accidentally say something in a plural form, he politely corrects it to be singular (hmm, I wonder where he could possibly get that trait?). He is all happy or all sad... there is no in between. The best way to encourage him to do something if he's on the fence about whether he wants to do it is to tell him to RUN and do it... then he will run enthusiastically and do it in record speed! I am loving the straightforwardness with which he interacts with us. He isn't deceitful. If we tell him to do something, he'll either do it or rebel... no in-between, pretending like he's going to obey and then not doing it, kind of stuff. I actually really appreciate that!
Our Abraham is loyal and funny. He is great at puzzles and careful about putting things away in order (hurray, I love cultivating that in my kids!). He and Rilla are the best of friends, able to jump into any imagination game together at any time and carry it off with rarely a glitch. He is learning to speak gently, kindly, and encouragingly to Zeke, too, which is fabulous. Ezekiel adores him and loves to follow him around and see what he is doing. Usually Abraham will find something for Ezekiel to do along with him. I love that.
I really love this kid. He's a happy boy and a great helper and a loud singer and stomper... but really I just love him so much because he's mine. He's just great. I love watching him change and grow and mature, week by week! I can't wait to see what God has in store for his life. It's gonna be pretty great, of that I am sure.
Abe at age two - last year
He is perfectly cuddly, too. Often in the mornings he will just sit and cuddle with me for ten or fifteen minutes while we both wake up a bit to start our day. Lately I have begun to realize how similar his personality is to mine. He is somewhat sensitive and introverted, but not unfriendly. He'll be shy when he first meets somebody, and will scowl if they talk to him in that bright, overcheerful way that adults often do to small children, and especially if they get too close, but he'll warm up within a minute if they aren't too pushy, and begin talking openly and happily. This is so much like me that it is kind of ridiculous.
He loves to read. Loves to ride the run bike, which has recently become his by default of being too small for Rilla. Loves to build, and make up stories too. Some of his favorite verses are the ones about his namesake in the Bible. "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Abraham obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going."
Abraham loves God, and this gives me no end of joy. He loves to sing songs about God and to Him, and He has a pretty sturdy understanding of basic theology, although he is not quite so vocal about it as Rilla (who is apt to give extemporaneous sermons and sing made-up worship songs for a half hour alone in the bathroom if given the chance).
Abe loves airplanes, tractors, dump trucks, and kitty cats. And the boy can EAT. He and Rilla used to eat about the same amount. Now he eats about twice as much as she does. If it's something that he finds particularly delicious, he will even outeat me, which is no small feat. And he's growing like a champ. I try to ignore growth charts, as long as my kids are healthy, but Abe is on track to be quite a tall man. And he's excited about it, too. "I'm going to be a big, strong man," is a phrase that we hear every day. Not in an arrogant way. Just in a happy-about-who-he-is kind of a way. He especially pulls out the phrase when we give him something hot to eat. "Careful, it's hot," we tell him. "It's okay, I'm a big strong man," he explains, then proceeds to eat it. Once recently it actually was quite a lot too hot, and I think that damaged his confidence a bit.
We found a picture of Keith as a little boy recently and Abraham really looks remarkably like him. I had no idea how much he looked like him, actually. I'll have to share that picture one of these days. It's really pretty special to me.
Abe at almost three - last week
(sick in this picture though)
Even though I tend to mix up nicknames a bit with my kids (oops), I have always called Abraham my sunshine boy because he was such a cheerful, content baby. We've had a bit of a rough time with him in the two-year-old phase but I took him off gluten a few months ago (Zeke and I have been off it for quite a while, long story there that I keep meaning to share, but it seems we're both severely sensitive to it), and his attitude has changed tremendously. It was like there was this stormcloud hanging over my sunshine boy. When I took him off gluten, the stormcloud went away, and he was simply my sweet, happy boy again! When I've let him be on gluten a bit since then, I've seen shadows of it reappearing, and when he went a few weeks on gluten again, the resulting frustrations were very evident. Tantrums many times a day, compared to just a few bouts of toddler-ish complaining each day when not on gluten. So he is off gluten completely for now.
(The gluten bit might not be normal birthday post material, but it has been a big deal for me to see him come out of this harder time, and I am really rejoicing because of it!)
I am finding that there are so many fun things about having a boy. (And yeah, I know we have two boys, but I mean having a boy that isn't a baby anymore.) He's really moved out of the baby stage and into the kid stage. He is just so fun! So straightforward about things. So exact about language, like if I accidentally say something in a plural form, he politely corrects it to be singular (hmm, I wonder where he could possibly get that trait?). He is all happy or all sad... there is no in between. The best way to encourage him to do something if he's on the fence about whether he wants to do it is to tell him to RUN and do it... then he will run enthusiastically and do it in record speed! I am loving the straightforwardness with which he interacts with us. He isn't deceitful. If we tell him to do something, he'll either do it or rebel... no in-between, pretending like he's going to obey and then not doing it, kind of stuff. I actually really appreciate that!
Our Abraham is loyal and funny. He is great at puzzles and careful about putting things away in order (hurray, I love cultivating that in my kids!). He and Rilla are the best of friends, able to jump into any imagination game together at any time and carry it off with rarely a glitch. He is learning to speak gently, kindly, and encouragingly to Zeke, too, which is fabulous. Ezekiel adores him and loves to follow him around and see what he is doing. Usually Abraham will find something for Ezekiel to do along with him. I love that.
I really love this kid. He's a happy boy and a great helper and a loud singer and stomper... but really I just love him so much because he's mine. He's just great. I love watching him change and grow and mature, week by week! I can't wait to see what God has in store for his life. It's gonna be pretty great, of that I am sure.
Friday, May 10, 2013
anniversary thoughts
Keith and I celebrated our ninth anniversary this week!
I'd like to say that somehow Keith and I have always managed to set aside our anniversary as a special holiday in our home and family life. Well, we've never worked on May 8th, so at least that much is true. And in the first two years, we took a week-long "staycation" at our home in Canada to celebrate our anniversaries. We went camping in southern Utah's national parks for our third anniversary, and spent our fourth anniversary on an extended weekend stay at a bed-and-breakfast place in western Montana.
But then our fifth anniversary rolled around. We had a little baby girl who we brought with us on our anniversary date. It was not a complete failure of a romantic date... but it was pretty close. She flung herself backwards and hit her head on the table... first and only time she did this... while we were in the restaurant. She cried and cried and was absolutely inconsolable.
On our sixth anniversary, we had a brand-new, one-day-old baby boy to celebrate, and quite a lot of family members came over to meet him. So it was a special day... but not exactly the kind of romantic anniversary celebration that I might have secretly hoped for. Although I thanked the Lord profusely that he was at least born seven hours before our anniversary!
Our seventh anniversary fell on Mother's Day, and we had plans to get away for a whole day together, but Abraham was terribly sick and needed us, so we stayed home. That one might have been the hardest... I was wishing so much for a nice anniversary date without little ones.
Our eighth anniversary was last year, and Keith's parents took our older two children for a day and night so that we could have some time together, but we had two-month-old Ezekiel still with us, and that was his crying-all-the-time-because-his-neck-hurt-so-much-before-I-finally-took-him-to-the-chiropractor stage. So we really just spent our time focusing on Ezekiel.
Enter anniversary number nine. Our kids have been sick for the last two weeks, and we had to cancel Abe's birthday party on Saturday, then again cancel the rescheduled party for Tuesday. (We haven't been miserably sick, exactly, but sick enough to get other people sick and not really get much done around here.) So what could we do on our anniversary? I had been temporarily entertaining hopes last week that maybe we could all go over to the coast for three days... take the kids to the Seattle Aquarium (something I've been wanting to do, and I thought doing it before moving to the Midwest was a great idea)... ride the ferry... be there for Abe's birthday and our anniversary, then come home. (I am really good at imagining fantastic, expensive, spur-of-the-moment vacations like this, by the way.) But of course, we are sick and that is most definitely not an idea that fits into our budget.
So, we stayed home on our anniversary. Cuddled sick kids. Did a lot of reading. And in the evening, we dragged them all out to a nice little local restaurant, then went and played t-ball in Manito Park. Rilla picked about a hundred dandelions for me, Abraham insisted on whacking the plastic baseball with the handle rather than the fat part of his little blue bat, and Ezekiel practiced his standing skills in the soft grass.
I feel like there is a lesson in all of this, if only I could find it. Maybe it is just that this is how things go when you have little kids and they need you. Or maybe it's that even though God has given Keith and I this great love for each other, it really, really, really isn't meant to be about us. God doesn't give His great salvation to people so that they can hoard it for themselves and not share His grace with others. And He doesn't give beautiful love to a husband and wife so that they can spend their days simply enjoying one another. That is good, but that is not the end goal. The end goal is to raise up children who love the Lord and serve Him.
"Has not the Lord made them one? In flesh and spirit they are His. And why one? Because He was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth." Malachi 2:15
So. Going forward into our tenth year of marriage. Keeping these things in mind. Learning to make time for one another while also guiding our children is sort of a delicate balance, maybe even a dance. There are a hundred things, or maybe a thousand, constantly vying for our attention. The children do need us; but we also need time alone together; but they can also see us make time for each other even while they are near us; and we can also make time to spend time together all as a family. It still feels like a struggle to fit everything together, especially when I feel like the house and errands and chores and homeschooling alone could take all of our time and leave none for focused Keith-and-Jamie time, or focused family time, or focused kids time. There really is no formula for it, is there? It's each day as it comes, always learning new levels of flexibility and creativity.
What is it that they say at the very end of the Narnia books, when they are in the true Narnia that is heaven? Further up and further in? It seems like that in marriage sometimes. Keith and I aren't stagnant people. We keep growing, changing, sinning even, constantly being transformed and stumbling along the way too. And our children are not who they were a year ago, or even last week; they are always changing and growing and developing too, and so our family life is always new. Like a perennial flower garden that has familiar fragrances but continues to mature and deepen and have new shoots and more mature plants year after year, and as you hoe and weed and plant there are always new developments, new improvements, new delights, even the occasional weed that you thought you'd gotten rid of the previous year, only to have to deal with it again. Yet the beauty of the mature garden is so much richer than that of one which has only had a year or two to grow and develop.
I'm surprised, honestly, by the shapes that some of these past years have taken. We have been looking at old pictures recently and even some of our prom pictures. I'm surprised to look at them and realize how disconnected I feel from that time. I remember it, of course, but... wow! It has been a long time! And we are such different people, in some ways, than we were then.
Anyway, I am rambling now. Probably not expressing myself very well. But I haven't sat down to write, really, in quite a while and so I just needed to explore these thoughts a bit.
I'd like to say that somehow Keith and I have always managed to set aside our anniversary as a special holiday in our home and family life. Well, we've never worked on May 8th, so at least that much is true. And in the first two years, we took a week-long "staycation" at our home in Canada to celebrate our anniversaries. We went camping in southern Utah's national parks for our third anniversary, and spent our fourth anniversary on an extended weekend stay at a bed-and-breakfast place in western Montana.
But then our fifth anniversary rolled around. We had a little baby girl who we brought with us on our anniversary date. It was not a complete failure of a romantic date... but it was pretty close. She flung herself backwards and hit her head on the table... first and only time she did this... while we were in the restaurant. She cried and cried and was absolutely inconsolable.
On our sixth anniversary, we had a brand-new, one-day-old baby boy to celebrate, and quite a lot of family members came over to meet him. So it was a special day... but not exactly the kind of romantic anniversary celebration that I might have secretly hoped for. Although I thanked the Lord profusely that he was at least born seven hours before our anniversary!
Our seventh anniversary fell on Mother's Day, and we had plans to get away for a whole day together, but Abraham was terribly sick and needed us, so we stayed home. That one might have been the hardest... I was wishing so much for a nice anniversary date without little ones.
Our eighth anniversary was last year, and Keith's parents took our older two children for a day and night so that we could have some time together, but we had two-month-old Ezekiel still with us, and that was his crying-all-the-time-because-his-neck-hurt-so-much-before-I-finally-took-him-to-the-chiropractor stage. So we really just spent our time focusing on Ezekiel.
Enter anniversary number nine. Our kids have been sick for the last two weeks, and we had to cancel Abe's birthday party on Saturday, then again cancel the rescheduled party for Tuesday. (We haven't been miserably sick, exactly, but sick enough to get other people sick and not really get much done around here.) So what could we do on our anniversary? I had been temporarily entertaining hopes last week that maybe we could all go over to the coast for three days... take the kids to the Seattle Aquarium (something I've been wanting to do, and I thought doing it before moving to the Midwest was a great idea)... ride the ferry... be there for Abe's birthday and our anniversary, then come home. (I am really good at imagining fantastic, expensive, spur-of-the-moment vacations like this, by the way.) But of course, we are sick and that is most definitely not an idea that fits into our budget.
So, we stayed home on our anniversary. Cuddled sick kids. Did a lot of reading. And in the evening, we dragged them all out to a nice little local restaurant, then went and played t-ball in Manito Park. Rilla picked about a hundred dandelions for me, Abraham insisted on whacking the plastic baseball with the handle rather than the fat part of his little blue bat, and Ezekiel practiced his standing skills in the soft grass.
I feel like there is a lesson in all of this, if only I could find it. Maybe it is just that this is how things go when you have little kids and they need you. Or maybe it's that even though God has given Keith and I this great love for each other, it really, really, really isn't meant to be about us. God doesn't give His great salvation to people so that they can hoard it for themselves and not share His grace with others. And He doesn't give beautiful love to a husband and wife so that they can spend their days simply enjoying one another. That is good, but that is not the end goal. The end goal is to raise up children who love the Lord and serve Him.
"Has not the Lord made them one? In flesh and spirit they are His. And why one? Because He was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth." Malachi 2:15
So. Going forward into our tenth year of marriage. Keeping these things in mind. Learning to make time for one another while also guiding our children is sort of a delicate balance, maybe even a dance. There are a hundred things, or maybe a thousand, constantly vying for our attention. The children do need us; but we also need time alone together; but they can also see us make time for each other even while they are near us; and we can also make time to spend time together all as a family. It still feels like a struggle to fit everything together, especially when I feel like the house and errands and chores and homeschooling alone could take all of our time and leave none for focused Keith-and-Jamie time, or focused family time, or focused kids time. There really is no formula for it, is there? It's each day as it comes, always learning new levels of flexibility and creativity.
What is it that they say at the very end of the Narnia books, when they are in the true Narnia that is heaven? Further up and further in? It seems like that in marriage sometimes. Keith and I aren't stagnant people. We keep growing, changing, sinning even, constantly being transformed and stumbling along the way too. And our children are not who they were a year ago, or even last week; they are always changing and growing and developing too, and so our family life is always new. Like a perennial flower garden that has familiar fragrances but continues to mature and deepen and have new shoots and more mature plants year after year, and as you hoe and weed and plant there are always new developments, new improvements, new delights, even the occasional weed that you thought you'd gotten rid of the previous year, only to have to deal with it again. Yet the beauty of the mature garden is so much richer than that of one which has only had a year or two to grow and develop.
I'm surprised, honestly, by the shapes that some of these past years have taken. We have been looking at old pictures recently and even some of our prom pictures. I'm surprised to look at them and realize how disconnected I feel from that time. I remember it, of course, but... wow! It has been a long time! And we are such different people, in some ways, than we were then.
Anyway, I am rambling now. Probably not expressing myself very well. But I haven't sat down to write, really, in quite a while and so I just needed to explore these thoughts a bit.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
"little time for writing"
We're packing, and Keith keeps trying to pack away a certain book that I'd meant to quote here, and I keep putting it back on the desk by the computer, and so I'd better share it so he can clear off the desk and close up the box that it goes in. Packing progress is slow going and so I'd better not delay it longer!
I read Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss last month and this little bit made me laugh. (Also making me laugh is Ezekiel shoving the book off my lap while I try to type this.)
"I have so much to do that I have little time for writing. The way the children wear out their shoes and stockings, the speed with which their hair grows, the way they bump their heads and pinch their fingers, and the insatiable demand for stories, is something next to miraculous. Not a day passes that somebody doesn't need something bought; that somebody else doesn't choke itself, and that I don't have to tell stories till I feel my intellect reduced to the size of a pea. If ever I was alive and wide awake, however, it is just now, and in spite of some vague shadows of, I don't know what, I am very happy indeed."
I read Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss last month and this little bit made me laugh. (Also making me laugh is Ezekiel shoving the book off my lap while I try to type this.)
"I have so much to do that I have little time for writing. The way the children wear out their shoes and stockings, the speed with which their hair grows, the way they bump their heads and pinch their fingers, and the insatiable demand for stories, is something next to miraculous. Not a day passes that somebody doesn't need something bought; that somebody else doesn't choke itself, and that I don't have to tell stories till I feel my intellect reduced to the size of a pea. If ever I was alive and wide awake, however, it is just now, and in spite of some vague shadows of, I don't know what, I am very happy indeed."
-- from Stepping Heavenward
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