Quick update on the best baby in the whole world - chubby, calm, content, quiet, happy. This lady makes me think I could have another. 😳 She just began drooling and laughing and her coos are a bright spot in the day. Our Abby girl.
Thursday, June 27, 2019
Monday, June 24, 2019
Festival
Nothing like the VJCC festival to signal the beginning of summer. All the sights and smells brings me back to my own childhood at the festival - dangos! wontons! shave ice! cheap games! prizes! dancing! Glad it's still around and that my kids love it just as much as I did growing up.
Thursday, June 20, 2019
A Thursday
I triumphed today because I made it through a doctors appointment with three kids, no time outs/bribes/tears/major incidents. Mama's, it even included a trip to the bathroom for all which may have required a 37 pound girl to carry a 15 pound baby because I had tasted the success in the waiting room and decided to push my luck and go pee myself. #winning
But here's the best part. Landon was up on the patient chair stripped to his undies because he's been itching and a dermatologist was our next stop. While she's going through a lengthly explanation of skin, I'm listening oh.. 70% because I'm also carrying a fussy Abby, trying to keep Emerson in her seat so she'll stop provoking Landon while Landon is trying to play a full on Pokemon battle with her - all while maintaining a non stressed facial expression and engaging eye contact with the doc. Easy peasy! Until (and why is there always an 'until') out of the corner of my eye I see Landon pull his penis out of his underwear. He proceeds to grab his private and shake it all around while loudly repeating "my penis is so big, E! Look my penis is big! haha! E, my penis, my penis!" in a singsong voice.
I am unable to react for half a minute.
Then I just burst out laughing cause what else do you do in that situation?! The [young and kidless] doctor was speechless. Like, mouth dropped open unable to move, speechless. Eventually I snapped to it and told him to put that back in his underpants.
To which he did but with the most mischievous smile.
LANDON!
On the way home, my daughter decided to sing along to the vbs songs in a foreign language.
That is all folks! Good night!
But here's the best part. Landon was up on the patient chair stripped to his undies because he's been itching and a dermatologist was our next stop. While she's going through a lengthly explanation of skin, I'm listening oh.. 70% because I'm also carrying a fussy Abby, trying to keep Emerson in her seat so she'll stop provoking Landon while Landon is trying to play a full on Pokemon battle with her - all while maintaining a non stressed facial expression and engaging eye contact with the doc. Easy peasy! Until (and why is there always an 'until') out of the corner of my eye I see Landon pull his penis out of his underwear. He proceeds to grab his private and shake it all around while loudly repeating "my penis is so big, E! Look my penis is big! haha! E, my penis, my penis!" in a singsong voice.
I am unable to react for half a minute.
Then I just burst out laughing cause what else do you do in that situation?! The [young and kidless] doctor was speechless. Like, mouth dropped open unable to move, speechless. Eventually I snapped to it and told him to put that back in his underpants.
To which he did but with the most mischievous smile.
LANDON!
On the way home, my daughter decided to sing along to the vbs songs in a foreign language.
That is all folks! Good night!
Monday, June 17, 2019
A Father
Some thoughts I read from Ann Voskamp that paints a picture of Josh as a father.
You are our constant, like air in our lungs, our always grounding, like a steadying gravity, our shelter of shade in the beating heat of things, and our constellation of courage that guides us toward Home.
And I see you on the exhausting days, on the crisis days, on ordinary Saturday's, and the truth is: every time you reached out to our kids, you reached out to me: When a man loves the littlest of these, he has loved their mother. How you've cared for the kids has cared for me.
A Father doesn't pressure his kids to perform for him, but purposes to share his life cruciform for his kids.
You've done more than just carry our kids close - you've carried our world on your shoulder, you've carried our hopes like a lifetime that you'd rather die for than let go of, and there hasn't been a day that you haven't picked up and carried your cross because you know we are precisely made to bear the weight of glory and the load of a meaningful life.
A Father doesn't leave a legacy in monuments but in memories. A Father isn't as concerned with bank accounts as he is about making deposits in hearts.
When boys pray to be half the man their father is, it's because their father has loved wholeheartedly.
You are our constant, like air in our lungs, our always grounding, like a steadying gravity, our shelter of shade in the beating heat of things, and our constellation of courage that guides us toward Home.
And I see you on the exhausting days, on the crisis days, on ordinary Saturday's, and the truth is: every time you reached out to our kids, you reached out to me: When a man loves the littlest of these, he has loved their mother. How you've cared for the kids has cared for me.
A Father doesn't pressure his kids to perform for him, but purposes to share his life cruciform for his kids.
You've done more than just carry our kids close - you've carried our world on your shoulder, you've carried our hopes like a lifetime that you'd rather die for than let go of, and there hasn't been a day that you haven't picked up and carried your cross because you know we are precisely made to bear the weight of glory and the load of a meaningful life.
A Father doesn't leave a legacy in monuments but in memories. A Father isn't as concerned with bank accounts as he is about making deposits in hearts.
When boys pray to be half the man their father is, it's because their father has loved wholeheartedly.
Sunday, June 9, 2019
PK-4, check.
Instagram Abby for the win.
Kindergarten here we come.
Sunday, June 2, 2019
Grandpa Mike
Yesterday Josh's family gathered to celebrate the life of his grandpa, Mike. It was neat to hear people share their personal stories and memories of him. Josh and I have been married 8 years and dated 4 so I've had the privilege of cultivating a few of my own stories.
When Josh and I were first married, we were living in the Bay Area. Mike and Kathy lived in Walnut Creek so we would often drive to their place and hang out. Kathy would cook or they'd take us to their favorite restaurants and we would talk. Mike would tell his many stories of flying (he was a pilot), of family, and of God. Oh man, did he love God. Each morning he would wake up at 4:30 and study the word of God. His study was filled with books about Jesus and pilot memorabilia.
Mike was meticulous. Like, really meticulous. He had a tennis ball hanging in his garage to aid in parking the car but I swear he didn't need it. Out of the thousands of times he pulled into that garage to park I can say with authority that he parked the exact same way, down to the inch, each time. He was disciplined and thorough. All traits Josh inherited.
Truth is, I've never known anyone like him. He was the rarest mix of humble, gentle, kind, and yet self assured. He had no airs whatsoever. He was easy to be around and accepting. He's hard to explain but I boil it down to this, I've never known someone so pure of heart.
And the most amazing story. He was sent to Texas to train for his new job at American Airlines. On a flight he was seated next to a professor at Dallas Seminary who struck up a conversation with him about Jesus. He shared the gospel with Mike and it was the first time he had heard of it. Eventually Mike would come to know the Lord and know him deeply but it was because of that man's gumption to share the love of Jesus to a stranger on a plane, that Josh's entire family knows Christ! And because of that, why I am married to Josh. That moment changed the trajectory of generations within their family and changed my life too.
He lifted me out of the miry clay; He set my feet on solid ground and gave me a firm place to stand. Psalm 40
I imagine Mike has since found that man in heaven and told him the news, and them weeping together in gladness. And also the many, many people who have introduced themselves to Mike, thanking him for the role he played in their own salvation.
Mike left such a deep impression on me and those around him. A Godly man of pure heart. Tomorrow he would have been 92. Happy Birthday, Grandpa Mike. You are truly missed.
When Josh and I were first married, we were living in the Bay Area. Mike and Kathy lived in Walnut Creek so we would often drive to their place and hang out. Kathy would cook or they'd take us to their favorite restaurants and we would talk. Mike would tell his many stories of flying (he was a pilot), of family, and of God. Oh man, did he love God. Each morning he would wake up at 4:30 and study the word of God. His study was filled with books about Jesus and pilot memorabilia.
Mike was meticulous. Like, really meticulous. He had a tennis ball hanging in his garage to aid in parking the car but I swear he didn't need it. Out of the thousands of times he pulled into that garage to park I can say with authority that he parked the exact same way, down to the inch, each time. He was disciplined and thorough. All traits Josh inherited.
Truth is, I've never known anyone like him. He was the rarest mix of humble, gentle, kind, and yet self assured. He had no airs whatsoever. He was easy to be around and accepting. He's hard to explain but I boil it down to this, I've never known someone so pure of heart.
And the most amazing story. He was sent to Texas to train for his new job at American Airlines. On a flight he was seated next to a professor at Dallas Seminary who struck up a conversation with him about Jesus. He shared the gospel with Mike and it was the first time he had heard of it. Eventually Mike would come to know the Lord and know him deeply but it was because of that man's gumption to share the love of Jesus to a stranger on a plane, that Josh's entire family knows Christ! And because of that, why I am married to Josh. That moment changed the trajectory of generations within their family and changed my life too.
He lifted me out of the miry clay; He set my feet on solid ground and gave me a firm place to stand. Psalm 40
I imagine Mike has since found that man in heaven and told him the news, and them weeping together in gladness. And also the many, many people who have introduced themselves to Mike, thanking him for the role he played in their own salvation.
Mike left such a deep impression on me and those around him. A Godly man of pure heart. Tomorrow he would have been 92. Happy Birthday, Grandpa Mike. You are truly missed.
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