One nation under God

You know those moments you have with you kids where you just feel so incredibly blessed that you are the one God trusted with that tiny person?  The conversations where you share and explain something deep and important to them are amazing to me.  I cherish those opportunities.  

One of those came about yesterday.  Siri was getting ready for her day, and put her right hand over her heart.  She slowly and carefully recited the Pledge of Allegiance.  I watched her with a lump in my throat.  What a beautiful site.

"Sweetheart, that was amazing!  I'm so glad you learned that!"  I starting things off on a positive not.  "Thanks mommy", no biggie to her.  "Honey, do you know what that means? I mean, when you say it, do you know what you're saying?"

Her hand went to her hip, her head tilted and her eyes rolled.  "It means..." in a very matter of fact tone, "that God is invisible.   Duh, Mom."

My bad.

Ice Sculpture

Gannon froze a chunk of ice in a plastic cup in the freezer.

He wanted to make an ice sculpture with it.

He wanted to use a butter knife.
He said "Just with a butter knife"

I said No.

"WHAT?!?!?!  WHY NOT?"

No knives, I replied.

"But I'm allowed to use butter knives!"

"For food, not carving."

"Then I will use a spoon.  Spoons aren't sharp.  And I will make my ice sculpture.  So there."

Maternity Ward

Pregnancy is a time of joy for a woman.  There is anticipation of new life, excitement, tiny outfits, and blankets.  When I was pregnant with Gannon, my first, I was thrilled.  My husband touched my belly to feel his son move, we got the nursery ready, and we had joy.
My pregnancy with Siri was similar.  We had total joy without reservation, trusting that everything would be OK, and they were.  She was perfect.
After Siri, we suffered a loss early in pregnancy.  I was shaken more than Gordon was, but it was early, and we knew that 50% of pregnancies end in early loss, but we trusted God and tried again.
Our early loss was in July of 2010.  Things went down hill horrifically from there.  We had a second trimester loss of a little boy which was devastating from start to finish, but I won't bore you with those details.  This is about the things Gannon has said and done.
After that loss, we became pregnant again, February 2011.  We were seeing a terrific group of midwives, a dynamite perinatologist, but had fear.  Pregnancy isn't supposed to revolve around fear.  For our peace of mind, we rented a Doppler heart rate monitor so that we could check for life on a daily basis.  This is not how you are supposed to experience pregnancy.
March 31, we went and saw our specialist.  20 weeks, and it was a boy and he was doing beautifully!  We named him Seth after Genesis 4:25.
Gannon was thrilled to be a brother!  He was planning how to decorate his bedroom.  June 2nd, the planning stopped.  There was no heart beat.  We looked everywhere over my swollen belly for the sound of that sweet cadence, but there was nothing.  We called the midwives, checked into the hospital at at 7:35 on June 3rd, I delivered our beautiful, sweet baby, born sleeping.

I was devastated.  My heart literally broke.  Gordon didn't know what to do with me, or his grief since I left him to deal with the other kids.  There is nothing to do with a woman who goes to the hospital to have a baby and leaves with a box.  Somehow, Gannon knew.
I know most of the things on this are silly, humorous things he had done, but I want to show you a side of that little boy that will give you a different perspective.

Gannon snuggled me, and snuggled me and snuggled me.  "Are you sad about baby Seth?' he would ask when I laid in bed crying.  "Don't cry, mommy!  You are beautiful!"  He prayed with me.  He prayed that we would see baby Seth in heaven, and he listed to Revelation Song, and he told me that our babies were in heaven with Jesus singing "Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty!"  I understand that it is not the job of a little boy to be an emotional piller for a grown up, and I don't think he knew he was.  Gannon always knows the things to say that help me know there is still purity in the world.  That despite everything that is ugly, and hateful, and extreme, there is an innocent little boy that wants his mommy to be ok.

In reading about his quirky antics and his humerous pieces, his words are beautiful and healing as well. Thank you, Gannon, and happy 2nd heaven birthday, sweet baby Seth!


P.S. when baby Annika was born and Gannon got to meet his baby sister, the first the he said was "Is she breathing?"  What do you say to that!?!?!?!

And now for something completely different....

My kids normally take gymnastics.  They normally take them on Thursday nights if you remember from the "almost" post.  J&R Gymnastics has a great program for kinder (Siri's class) and for boys only (Gannon's class).  They were doing really well with it!  They liked their coaches, they like learning the skills....

...but the I listed to a sermon Pastor Zak.  DARN BIBLICAL TRUTHS!  He said that their family enjoys family time instead of extra curricular activities....and then I started thinking.  Anyone who knows me knows that is a dangerous thing.

I started noticing some patterns between Gordon and my tendency to be work-a-holics and our kids activities.  I saw gymnastics as our only extracurricular activity, but looking deeper into things, thats not the truth.  They go to church with Gordon and I two days a week to volunteer, they have school, playdates, homework, chores at home, summer vacations and more I'm sure I'm forgetting!

MY KIDS ARE OVERBOOKED!  

So I googled "are extracurricular activities bad?"

Here's what I found:

NO, they aren't, but too many are.  Check out this page from Psychology Today and tell me what you 
think. Here are a few snippits to get you started:

"Time to Play in a Natural, Creative Way
Unstructured play allows children to pursue their interests, express their personalities and learn how to structure their time. Play is the natural mode of learning for young children, but when their lives are dominated by adult-organized activities, there may be little time left to just be kids.

Family Relationships
Children need downtime with parents -- time to relax, talk, read, play games and just hang out. Families that are constantly running from one extracurricular activity to the next have little opportunity for these experiences. 

Why do we push so hard?
The truth is, most parents have good intentions. They enroll their children in activities because they want them to have a rich, happy childhood. They sacrifice their own time to make sure their children are at practices and competitions. Of course, these parents love their children, and the last thing they would want is for them to feel stressed."



Long story short, we quit gymnastics. I would LOVE to hear what you think about this, so leave comments. I know for us, roasting marshmallows and making S'Mores in the driveway beats gymnastics!

From the husband perspective...

This weekend I was in Corpus for a run with my oldest and some friends.  While I was gone, Gordon was in charge of the three little ones.  This is a quick piece that he encountered with Siri.  Hey, got to mix things up occasionally....

"Was laying on the sidewalk looking at the moon with Siri. She gets up and asks "dad, do you need help getting up"? So, of course, I say yes expecting to engage in the ever fun game of trying to pull dad up. 

Instead, she says "ok, just watch me dad", and then proceeds to lay back down and give me a step by step tutorial on how to get up! 

You can give a man a fish...."

Photo Shoot

So, I know the kids have a lot of "moments", but I wanted to add some of these pictures done by the AMAZING Jenna Walker to give a face to some of the names....