Keep Smiling!!

You know those moments that are so beautiful and perfect you wish them to stay etched in your heart and memory forever? They are not always life-changing instances of great epiphany-like flashes, but simple little pleasures. They are the times you hold your breath just to keep it all still and unchanging while everything inside you is jumping for a way to capture and remember it forever!!! In that twinkling you ache for the camera because as breathtaking as those seconds are, they are the ones that the heart often remembers only by the feelings they evoke but cannot always recall the details it saw with such vivid clarity just ten minutes earlier. As the picture fades, those are the memories you are praying that God lets you keep for always.

I had one of those brief, fleeting moments today. I was outside first with Z, then a few minutes later, E joined us, followed by D-D and finally M-G. After the kids all played throughout the backyard for several minutes, they all came over to the swing set to be with Z. D-D and Z happened to be swinging in sync and M-G and E wanted to do the same. It did not last long, this synchronized swinging, but they were all so happy and joyful to be doing something together...to be going the same way, the same speed, the same rhythm. The smiles on their faces and the laughter in the air was the most spectacular moment of my day. There was no arguing or bossing, no pestering or teasing, but a working together and a comfort in seeing that accomplished.

I closed my eyes to see if I could hold it in. Praying I would see them still. My mind was blank, but my heart was certainly full...

"Keep smiling!!! Keep swinging!!! Stay there!!! I'll be right back!!!" I say as I run get the camera. The moment I did catch on digital was not the moment above, but it was still sweet.

More E-isms

Tonight as I was snuggling with E, he said something that made me chuckle. I was hoping this snuggle would be a fast one in that he would fall asleep quickly. I think that he was almost there when he sat up and said, 'Mom! Even in the song 'Do, Re, Mi' they sing about fossils!!!" (for those of you who may be unaware...E is on a dinosaur kick). I am too tired to argue, and I also want to see where this is going, so I ask, "They do? When do they sing about fossils?"

"Do, re, mi, fossil, ah, ti, do!!" he sang.

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Several Christmases ago E got a "Craftsman Work bench" from Santa...fully equipped with plastic tools and plastic pegboard to hang those tools on. Several months before we moved (in order to have a much less cluttered, more sell-able house) this got broken down, folded together and put in the attic. Since we have moved, it has been in the storage area above the garage door. After asking for the past few months if he could have it down, I finally fulfilled that wish today. It has been reposing for more than a year now in attic-like spaces so the cobwebs, dead bugs and dust was abundant. Regardless of said ickiness, we got the tool/workbench put back together and E soon began making man grunts and tool noises. M-G, however, saw the dust and dirt and began cleaning his bench of all the grime. E very adamantly said, "NO!!! I like the dust!!! It belongs on here so don't clean it off"

M-G did really good listening to him for quite some time, but it got to be too much for her sensibilities. All was quiet and peaceful when E began to cry and scream---almost as if the hornets flying around outside had decided to sting him. We turned around to see what was wrong and saw M-G wiping off the rest of the dust...and E crying because she was making his workbench "pretty" and clean. He began looking through the garage for more dust to throw back on his tools!!!

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All of us miss home, but we continue to work at living where we are and connecting as much as we can, making this as "home" as we can while we are here even though our stay here is not of a long duration. The kids continually ask us how much longer we will be here and when we will move back to that "promised land." E especially. He also asks us how old he will be when we go back, what grade he will be in and how old the other children will be. Though he still asks, he is finally understanding that we have about 3 more years.

Not too long ago, E asked us how old he would be on his birthday.
"Six. You will be six on your birthday."
"Will I have a birthday party?"
"Yes, though maybe not a big one."
"Will it be ON my birthday?"
"It will probably be a day or so after your actual birthday."
"Hmmmm...I'll be 6?"
"Yes."
"I think that for this birthday, I will need three parties."
"Three? !!!!! ? Why do you need three parties?"
"Because then I will be 8 instead of 6 and we can go back home!"

M-G's Menagerie

Nearly every night one (or both) of us go in to check on the children before we go to sleep ourselves. One night, early in this year, we went to check on the girls and could not see M-G anywhere. Her bed looked neat and her stuffed play-things were lined up beautifully. After quickly looking in D-D's bed and finding only D-D, we checked M-G's bed a bit more diligently and found her sleeping behind her menagerie. The thing that really makes me giggle with this picture is that it looks like her baby doll just couldn't take it anymore and decided to try to escape the funny farm in a most desperate attempt. "I'm gettin' outta this zoo!!!" she seems to be saying. Or maybe she is calling for help from the dolls under the bed.