Boys & Girls

I never know what I will find out about my boys' days in school. I'm convinced I know much less than the mothers of girls, since boys (and men for that matter) missed out on the "conversation" gene. Yesterday Kaleb came home from school and went through his usual description of his day. (at my prompting of course!) Yes, his teacher was back from a two-day absence. No, he didn't eat all of his lunch. No, he didn't have any homework. Then he told me he greeted a classmate like this: "Hello there, woman!" He laughed and laughed, and then he told me the girl "laughed her butt off" at his greeting. Okay, so now I know why I don't hear much about their days in school. When I do, this is the kind of information I get!

After snacks, the boys went downstairs to play their Wii hunting game. I settled in to sneak a peek at my latest fiction novel. A few mintues later, the doorbell rang. I found our neighbor Chloe at the door, asking if she could play with Kaleb. She held a stuffed chipmunk and toy baby bottle. I invited her in, and sent her downstairs to ask Kaleb herself. She must have decided to sit there and feed her toy chipmunk and watch the hunting game, because she never came back up. 5 minutes later the doorbell rang again, and this time our neighbor Sarah was at the door, asking if she could play with Braylen. I sent her downstairs too! After a while I took pity on the girls, who wanted to play with my boys, and turned off the hunting game. Braylen and Sarah played basketball for a bit and then he went to her house. Kaleb and Chloe played with toy dinosaurs and drew on the white board. Nobody was hurt, everyone was happy, and I wished boy-girl relationships would stay this easy! Derek calls me a dreamer, can you tell? Braylen came home from Sarah's house raving about the fishing lures her dad makes. She just might get him over there again! ;)

Well, it's 3:50 in the afternoon and the doorbell just rang. Sarah is back for more. I wonder if Chloe will come back?

Then & Now

It's hard for me to believe, but we've lived in our house for 6 years today! When I look back at the process of finding a builder, choosing a floor plan, and stressing over the many details that needed to come together, I can't believe we got it all done. Especially with a 3 year old and a 1 year old. Then after moving in, we had a huge task ahead of us--our yard. We couldn't spare any money to hire a landscaper, so we did it ourselves. Then we did parts of it again and again, thanks to settling issues. There's one section of our yard that has at least 3 layers of grass and dirt beneath the top layer of grass! Even with all the work this took, I am glad we did it. Our 2 bedroom bungalow could only hold so much. Happy Birthday dear house!

Family of 4 in 2003 saying goodbye to old house

Family of 5 today

3 year old Braylen and 1 year old Kaleb in new backyard

Our 9, 7, and almost 5 year old 3/30/09

Braylen and Kaleb by new blue spruce in back yard

All 3 boys by blue spruce today

One more thing about today. Kaleb gave me my first dandelion of the season this afternoon, so I guess spring is here, with summer not too far behind. Yay!

Plus One

Derek and I rejoiced with all of heaven tonight at our son Kaleb's decision to accept Jesus as his Savior. :) Plus one for God's family! A few years ago, as a 4 year old boy I believe, Kaleb prayed with me to be on "God's team." That was the only way I could relate salvation to his little mind. Now that he's older, he is able to grasp the plan of salvation fully. Tonight's circumstances were not planned or rehearsed, but they were God-ordained. After one of Kaleb's favorite spaghetti suppers, Derek asked Kaleb, "How does someone get to heaven?" A seemingly random question that Derek later told me just popped into his head. I'm thankful for a husband who listens to the voice of the Holy Spirit! We talked around the table with all of our boys. It was a Spirit-filled moment. Braylen remembered his own decision to ask Jesus to save him from his sins. Aaron piped in every now and then, especially when we talked about the colors of the heart. (black with sin, red with Jesus' blood, white as snow) Thanks to Bible Club and Mrs. Shell, Aaron has that down.

After talking with us about what it means to ask Jesus into his heart, Kaleb said he wanted to do it right now. He was sure. He sat on Derek's lap and prayed his own prayer. It went something like this: "Dear God, I know I am a sinner. I know I can't get to heaven by myself. I want you to come into my heart and save me from my sins. Amen." Praise be to God! We talked with him about what it means in his life now that he's saved. He said, "It's like Psalm 23, walking in paths of righteousness." Talk about a parents' greatest thrill! He GETS it! He learned that at Sparks--way to go Awana!!!

Derek had Kaleb write in his own handwriting about the decision he made tonight. That way he can always have it to look back on. All on his own he added exclamation points and a huge smiley face. :) His joy was evident to all. He called both sets of grandparents to share his news, and they were able to hear that one of their prayers was answered. What a blessing for Kaleb to have 4 godly grandparents praying for him. What a blessing for all of our boys. Some time ago I was convicted in how I'm prioritizing my kids' lives. I spend more effort and energy making sure they're enrolled in all the right sports and activities than I do for their spiritual future. That has been tugging at my heart for some time now. Tonight, with Derek's lead, we were intentional with our kids. I'm so thankful. I saw in my own family how God used Kaleb's upbringing in the church to affirm what we've been teaching him at home since birth. I am humbled and grateful.

At bedtime, I read a passage from Romans to Kaleb. It's Romans 4:7-8. "Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him." God promises that His Word will never return void. He's made it simple enough for a child to understand. I just can't think of anything greater than that!

What a Week

Warm weather, shorts, sandals. . .this week sure was a great way to welcome spring! We had so many opportunities to be outside, and the weather couldn't have cooperated more with our schedule. Spring break actually felt like spring! No snow storms! Yay! Tuesday night Aaron enjoyed a sleepover with his cousin. Those two have never known life without each other in it, and they sure enjoyed some extra special time together this week. It's funny how 4 kids in the house is really no different than 3. It's actually easier. People have always advised me to have an even number of kids for that very reason. Well, I guess I'll just need to borrow my niece every now and then to even things up around here. :)

All lined up on the couch at our fun hotel!

Thursday and Friday we treated the kids to an indoor water park and hotel sleepover. I had to laugh to myself when the boys went on and on about how much fun hotels are. Somewhere along the way from childhood to parenthood, hotels became not very much fun! What I see as crowded, they see as cozy. My adult eyes miss out on what their eyes can see. We snuggled in bed--all 5 of us--to watch some tv before turning out the lights. We ended up watching 2 episodes of Home Improvement. A show about a family with 3 boys--how perfect for us. :) At one point, the mom on the show talked about how she feels like her family is an all-boys club with no girls allowed. Kaleb turned around and asked me, "Is that how you feel sometimes Mom?" My sweet Kaleb. Even though that may be true at times, I wouldn't trade my all-boys club for anything. They are such blessings to me. Later that night, one of those "blessings" began talking in his sleep.

Did I mention how crowded--I mean cozy--hotels are? :)

Playing at the water park for two days may not seem like a vacation for some, but for us it was. Braylen and Kaleb were old enough to "turn loose," while Aaron took turns playing with Derek and me. Aaron's favorite thing was to wear a life jacket and swim through the not-so-lazy river. He floated, swam, jumped, and ran through that water! He loved hanging on the ropes to spray others with water. He became quite the waterbug--not only in the river but on the slides as well. He'd cross his arms across his chest and cross his ankles and wooosh down the slides! Kaleb, like Aaron, liked the river and the slides too. He definitely went down the slides more than anyone else did during those 2 days. Braylen's favorite times were spent with Dad on the big water slides. They rode together and separately, single tubes, double tubes, and without a tube! Every time they went down on a double tube, Derek would scream and carry on, just to have fun with him. Braylen kept telling him to stop. Finally he said, "Dad, stop! You're embarrassing me! People will think it's me!" Derek's finally done it! He's finally an embarrassing dad!

So as spring break wraps up, I feel thankful for the memories we made as a family. We played much and cried little! Today provided lots of fun for the kids to play outside with the neighbor kids. At one point there were 5 boys running around our house with laser guns, popper guns, cap guns, and toy rifles. They chased down 2 neighbor girls and took them as prisoners. I looked out the window and saw the two girls handcuffed to our swing set. The boys then hauled them from the swing set to another yard. I started to worry that I'm raising a bunch of terrorists, but when I went outside, everyone was in good spirits. I think the girls relished the attention, while the boys enjoyed picking on them. Isn't that how it's supposed to be?