Celebrating Six!

Joshua Robert turned 6 years old on Sunday, August 14!
Josh was born six years ago on a Sunday afternoon.
And what a miraculous Sunday that was!

It's been very special celebrating his birthday this year.
Josh is old enough to ask questions and love listening to his story.
Saturday night was full of "This Time Six Years Ago" stories.
And...did I mention that Josh was baptized this year on his sixth birthday?!
Another very miraculous Sunday, August 14, for our family!

Joshua is also one smart cookie!
For the past two years, he has requested a brownie cake for his birthday rather than a cake cake.

I admit...in this context, smart means that he is in agreement with my tastes.
I much prefer brownies loaded with chocolate chunks and frosted with Texas Sheet Cake frosting (a.k.a. Hershey's Fudge) to any flavor of cake.
I'm sorry.

Brownie cake with ice cream and toppings.
Birthday Brownie sundaes!

Josh was so funny this year.
His "take-charge, in-control...tad-bit bossy" personality really came through.
Smart boy.

This year, he had an opinion on EVERYTHING birthday related.
He even decorated his own brownie with his Lego figures--before the frosting was set!

Once I let go of some of my take-charge, in-control...tad-bit bossy tendencies, I decided that he had done a pretty good decorating job!



Josh decided on Tacos for his birthday lunch.
I was leaning toward a slightly less complicated meal...like Chili!
Chewbacca Chili, Josh!
Doesn't that sound yummy?
Nope.
Tacos it is.

And after lunch?
Presents!!

Here's a picture of Josh, ready and waiting for present time, with Grandpa.

Can you guess what I love about this picture?
See that sweet little baby face in the frame above Josh?
That's 10-month old Baby Josh.
He really hasn't changed a bit.



Carrie hasn't admitted to this yet, but I know that Matthew is getting more airplane rides because she is conditioning for a new season of basketball.
I predict that Josh will be next in line for airplane rides.
When I get my turn, then I KNOW that she had an ulterior motive.



Star Wars-related gifts were pretty popular!
Here's the amazing thing...this is his second year of having a Star Wars party.
Christmas was in between.
And still...NO duplicate gifts!
To be honest, I don't think it would matter if he got a duplicate Star Wars anything, because he loves it all so much.



Star Wars Lego shirt!!



I love this!
Earlier in the week, on Tuesday, Grandma took Josh out bike shopping.
Josh picked out his favorite bike that day, and he knew that it was the gift that Grandpa and Grandma were getting him for his birthday.

On the day of his party, there was no gift from Grandpa and Grandma.
Grandma asked him if he knew what they had gotten for him.
He made several guesses, but he truly had forgotten what they were giving him!

You should have seen his face when his orange bike was pushed out from behind the love seat.

He was so surprised and excited!



I had to take another picture of the brownie, because Josh kept tweaking his creation.
You will notice to the bottom right of the brownie, C3PO and the other 2 guys with him are now flat on their backs (Lying? Laying? I try to avoid that word and it's verb forms, because I can never remember which to use.)

I asked Josh about this, and he told me that those guys are doing snow angels.
Of course!



Festive picture of the party blowers.
I was being photographically creative with this one while at the same time trying to remain in control of the camera.



BROWNIE TIME!

Here are GG (Great-Grandma), Grandma, Grandpa, and Carrie...



William with one of the festive party blowers...



Grandma...



William loves to light the birthday candles.
He is a pyromaniac.



Look at that gentle blow!
I think that he is using The Force to extinguish these candles!



Did you think that I like to remain in control of the camera because I am a take-charge, in-control...tad-bit bossy person?
No.
It's because Paul has a dark side complete with a strong drive and deep determination to get me looking like a dork (USA pejorative slang for a quirky, silly and/or stupid, socially inept person, or one who is out of touch with contemporary trends. Often confused with nerd and geek, but does not imply the same level of intelligence).



See?!



Then it was outside to really give that bike a try!



Hey, Matthew.
What do you think of William riding his new Monkey Bike in the rain?



William laid (?????) claim to Josh's old bike, put a new seat on it, and deemed it The Monkey Bike.

What do you think?



No comment.



Happy Birthday to my sweet boy, Joshua Robert!



I love you very much.

Enjoying the special things,

Celebrating Freedom!

Why is it that I am always one scoop short of having 12 perfectly formed lemon poppyseed muffins?

Every time I make muffins using a Betty Crocker mix (You didn't think they were homemade, did you? Oh my, no!), I come to my last muffin paper and have only 2 scoops to feed it. It takes three scoops to make it 2/3 full like the box says, but I always come up one short on the last muffin.

Always.

Then the choice is to...

1) take a spoon and share a little batter from each of the other eleven muffins with that sad twelfth muffin

2) take the batter from the twelfth muffin and divvy it out to the other eleven muffins...then add water to the twelfth muffin spot (something I read somewhere that you are supposed to do if you don't fill all of your muffin spots--something to do with equal distribution of heat or whatever)

3) don't worry about it and take what I get...probably a short, hard muffin which will be mine, since I am the one who either didn't divide properly or didn't scrape the bowl sufficiently

Isn't it funny how muffin tops look like turtle shells as they are rising in the oven.

Oh!

It just dawned on me that I forgot to post the second half of my turtle story before I went to bed last night!
What I consider the best part of the story!

Ah...there are many things that I forget to do before I go to bed.
If you know me, you know that I am a true morning person.
Which you would never figure out by reading the blog posts that I write in the morning.

We knew that we couldn't leave the turtle, deemed Teddy the Turtle, in our yard.
Eventually, Teddy would end up flipped over and tortured by Charlie, or Charlie would end up with a pierced tongue.
I'm making bets on the tongue-piercing.

William grabbed the keys to the truck, we shut the lid of the cardboard box so that Teddy couldn't climb out (he was trying!), and we headed toward the big pond in the neighborhood behind our home.

I wish that I had taken my camera, Carrie, and the little boys with us.
I am so sorry that I don't have pictures of what happened next.

We found a "just right" spot next to a tree and opened the box.
Teddy started walking toward the road.

Walking...is that what turtles do?
It doesn't sound right.
Meandering?
Teddy started meandering toward the road.
Better.
Not perfect...but better.

I picked him up--he hissed at me again--and I turned him around toward the pond.
He took a few steps...stopped...stretched his long beautiful neck...looked to the left and to the right...and then meandered at a very rapid pace straight toward the pond!

Because it has been so dry, there was a little beach area beside the water.
Teddy skipped right over the beach and went right into the water, leaving a mud swish in his wake.
O.K., so he didn't skip. I mean that he didn't stop at the beach. At all. He skipped it.
As he went underwater toward the middle of the pond, William and I saw some really long fish swim by.
Creepy.
Cool...but creepy.

No camera.
Doggone it!
You would think I would know better than to leave my camera behind.

One of these days, I am going to take my camera over to that pond and take a picture.
It is a beautiful pond for a beautiful turtle.

Keeping Teddy as a pet was a temptation.
It always is when we find stray frogs or skinks or anything...except snakes.

The temptation I deal with when I find a snake is to knock it senseless with my garden hoe.
If the garden hoe is within reach, I always give in to that temptation.
Sorry animal lovers.
I don't consider snakes to be animals.
No legs...not an animal.
Don't try to argue with me on this one.
I'm deaf.

Being a homeschool mom, I always think that having an animal to observe would be very cool.
But I can't get over the guilt of taking an animal out of his natural habitat and forcing him into the box with four glass walls.
Maybe if Teddy had never known freedom, it would be different.

Maybe not.

Hmmmm...there's a great homeschool lesson in itself.
Is freedom only freedom if you've experienced it personally?
Do you truly know freedom if you've only been in bondage?

Sorry...too deep for my one cup of coffee brain.

While I go fill up my mug, I will leave you with this.
My favorite kind of turtle is not really the free kind...



Enjoying the sweet things,

Of Turtles and Toes

Birthday posts are the hardest posts for me to write.
The ones with lots of pictures and lots to say.

It's hard to get all of the pictures placed right where I want them.
Oftentimes, I accidentally delete pictures in the process of moving them.

And it's hard to remember which pictures are where.
For every single picture, I have to switch over to "Preview" so that I write the right things above the right pictures.

It's hard to put my thoughts into words.
Especially when I am emotional about the subject and the people I am writing about.

I procrastinate.
Remember how I mentioned my perfectionistic tendencies and my insecurity issues and how I handle them?

So, I am going to work on Joshua's birthday post for a few more days and tell you about what happened this morning!

Several times we heard Charlie barking at something outside.
Carrie checked out the window and said that she was barking at the ground.
I dismissed it as a stupid mole and figured that sooner or later we would have many more stupid holes all over the backyard to walk into.

Later, when Carrie went outside to give Charlie new water, she opened the back door and yelled, "Charlie is barking at a turtle!"

A turtle?!
We've never had a turtle in our backyard!
Snakes? Yes.
Turtles? No!

Check him out!
Isn't he beautiful?!











I know.
Maybe a little drab when you just see the top of his shell, but take a look at this...









Definitely one of God's "Watch this!" creations...



Hang on...I just need to direct your attention to the sweet little toes in the bottom left of the picture.
Matthew toes.
Those are even more beautiful than the turtle, I think.




Painted turtles are another common species, divided into 4 subspecies.
All painted turtles have a smooth, dark green carapace without serrations. The plastron is predominately yellow, with no hinge. The black or dark green skin is striped. The chin is marked with two wide yellow stripes, meeting at the tip of the jaw. Painted turtles prefer shallow water areas with soft bottoms and basking areas. It is not uncommon to see many painted turtles basking on one log at one time.

Oh...and they forgot to mention that they hiss when they feel threatened.

Do you know what all that means?
It means he is beautiful!

Enjoying the beautiful things,

Oh Happy Day!

One of the best things ever happened in our family this summer.
I say one of the best, because it has happened twice before...the same, but different.

On Tuesday, July 19, Joshua asked Jesus to live in his heart!
What makes for a happier momma than that?

It's been a little while coming for Josh.
He had been asking questions and had even told me a couple of times that he thought that he was ready to have Jesus live in his heart.

Have I mentioned before that I suffer from perfectionism and insecurity?
If not, then I do.
I tend to not jump in and try things...or do things...if I am unsure that I can do them just so or at all.
Either that, or I have to think it through in my mind over and over again, add in a little research, and then go when I feel secure.

Sadly enough, that is what has happened each time my children have expressed an interest in giving their lives to Jesus.

I hesitated about asking Josh if he would like to pray and ask Jesus into his heart.
I hesitated because I was afraid that I would leave something really important out.
That I would somehow mess up and not do it right.

I prayed about it, knowing that my fears were silly.
After all, none of it is about me. It's something that is totally between Josh and God.

So, God caught me off guard.
I was playing Candy Land with Josh early one morning before anyone else was awake.
Josh doesn't like to lose, so having me all the way up with Queen Frostine while he was hangin' with Jolly did not make him very happy.
He kept asking me to trade places with him.

I think that some people are born with a "teacher gene."
Every moment becomes a "teachable moment."
I have that "teacher gene"...along with a healthy dose of competitiveness.
This was the perfect opportunity to teach Josh about what it means to be a poor loser and how we can celebrate with our friends...and our moms...when they win.
Which, by the looks of this game, I was going to be the winner.

Suddenly, mid-sentence, the True Teacher, the One in whose image I am created, spoke to me.
What a Teacher He is.
I knew that I was supposed to trade places with Josh.
And not only trade places, but to tell him about how Jesus traded places with us by going to the cross.
I can't even tell you what I said, because I know that Someone greater had the words that Josh needed to hear.
I was just the mouth.

Josh was thrilled when he crossed over into the Candy Castle with King Kandy.
"And someday, we will cross over into Heaven and be with our True King!"

I asked Josh if he would like to pray and ask Jesus into his heart.
He nodded and put his head down on my shoulder.
We prayed.
When we were finished, Josh lifted his head and was all teary-eyed.
I told him, "See? Jesus knocked on the door of your heart, and you answered!"
Josh nodded again...more tears.

Then he asked if he could go watch TV.

The following Sunday, Josh made his public profession during the Invitation.

Three weeks later, on Sunday, August 14--his 6th birthday!--Josh was baptized!

Here's Josh, sitting in the room upstairs behind the baptismal, waiting to get dressed in his robe and his Lego Star Wars swim trunks.



Josh and his extremely happy Mom...



I wasn't sure if Josh was nervous or not.
I always hate asking the kids if they are nervous before they do something big, so I usually don't ask.
Then Josh asked me a question, "Mommy? Will I still go to Heaven even if I don't get baptized?"
Again, the Holy Spirit gave words to this very emotional momma.
"Yes, Sweetie, you will. But remember how Pastor John told you that asking Jesus into your heart makes him the Lord--the King-- of your life? And how now you will do your best to always obey Him? Well, Jesus tells us to be baptized so that other people can see what decision we have made. This is a great first way to obey Jesus!"
"O.K.," Josh says a little unenthusiastically.
Not exactly what he was looking for.

"Are you nervous?"
"Uh huh."



I told him how nervous I was when I got baptized.
I was baptized as a baby in the Methodist church.
But that wasn't when I got nervous.
It was when I was 26 years old. I joined the Baptist church where we attend now. It is the church where Paul grew up and gave his life to Jesus. I was baptized as an adult in December of 1994.
Wow. That was a long time ago.
But I still remember how nervous I was.

It helped for Josh to talk about it.
Then he was ready to get all robed up!



This picture was taken by Pastor John.
He had a vision of Josh's profile against the white wall, but my flash went off.



My good friend, Kari, came in and asked if I would like her to take pictures for me.
Would I ever?!
How wonderful to be able to just enjoy Josh's baptism and not have to worry about flash or no flash?
Kari is an excellent photographer. She was able to capture the vision that Pastor John had.



Sweet boy.



After a prayer with Pastor John and our deacon, Kari's brother, Kenny, we made our way to the hallway behind the baptismal.
Pastor John always dresses in his fishing waders and his white robe.
This is a picture of Pastor John that I took in 2002 when Carrie was baptized. I love this picture!
Back when Carrie was baptized, my dad laughed and said, "She's got something in common with Jesus! She's being baptized by John the Baptist!"
We like to talk about that every time we celebrate a baptism.



Off to the water we go...



Pat, pat, pat...



Pastor John offered Josh his hand, but he walked all the way into the water without holding on.
That is so like Joshua. Very independent.



Pastor John introduces Joshua and talks about the decision that he has made.









Joshua, have you asked Jesus into your heart and indeed asked Him to be the Lord of your life?



"Uh huh. Yep."



Joshua, it is because of your profession of faith...



and the divine command of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ...



that I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.








AMEN!

Thank you to another good friend, Kellie, for sending me these pictures from another perspective...one that I haven't seen with my own kids!
I love these pictures!







Here's Joshua, full of smiles and relief, as he plays with the key chain that Grandma and Grandpa gave him...a Jesus fish.
He has learned to spell the name of the One he loves the most with this key chain.

How do I know that Josh loves Jesus more than anyone else?
He told me so.
"Mom, I love Jesus more than I love you. That's O.K., right?"
DEFINITELY!!



Later in the evening, Josh said to me, "Matthew's next!"

I think that Matthew is going to have his own personal evangelist!



Enjoying the really monumental, super-special, all-important, life-changing things,

Just A Misunderstanding

William surprised us at the lunch table earlier this summer.

"Did you know that Grandma said 'freakin'?"
He said it carefully and thoughtfully...knowing that I really, really don't like that word.

"No! No she didn't!" I said in defense of my mother-in-law.
I could really not imagine that being something that she would say.

"Oh, yes! I heard her."

"What exactly did she say?" I asked, trying to understand.

"She was looking at Josh and Matthew and said, "Freakin' frack!"

"Josh and Matthew were standing right there?"

"Yep."

And then I burst into laughter!
And laughed even harder when I saw William's surprised expression!

"Grandma was calling Josh and Matthew "Frick and Frack," I explained.

"What is that?!" William asked.
I saw four sets of eyes looking at me for more of an explanation.

"Well...I think that it's a saying that means couples or friends--buddies--that stick together...like saying Tom and Jerry, Lucy and Ethel, Milo and Otis, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo ..."

"Why 'Frick and Frack?'"

I don't really know where that saying began, so...with the help of Google...I looked it up.

"The origin is from a famous partnership of Swiss comedy ice skaters, Werner Groebli and Hans Mauch, whose stage names these were. They came to public fame in the later years of a series of skating spectaculars called Ice Follies, promoted by Eddie Shipstad and his brother Roy, which began in 1936 and ran for almost 50 years. Their association lasted so long, and they were at one time so well known, that their names have gone into the language.

Michael Mauch, the son of Hans, told the origin of their names: 'Frick took his name from a small village in Switzerland; Frack is a Swiss-German word for a frock coat, which my father used to wear in the early days of their skating act. They put the words together as a typical Swiss joke.'"

And now you know the meaning behind the use "Frick and Frack."

You also now know that Grandma really doesn't say that other word.

Enjoying the simple things,

Simply and Sweetly

Josh and the neighbor boy found each other this summer.

When the neighbors moved in behind us, the neighbor boy was an infant.
They moved in during the month of September...the same month that he was born.
I think that up until this summer, Josh has been just a little boy in the eyes of the neighbor boy.
A six-year old playing with a four-year old is much different than a 7-year old playing with a 5-year old.
Josh, I think, just looked a whole lot more interesting to the neighbor boy this year...with his light-saber and bicycle-riding skills.

Josh shared with me last night that his good buddy, our neighbor boy, was on the swing set with him and asked, "Why do you guys homeschool?"

I was really super-curious about what Josh said to his friend.

You see, this little boy started the second grade over a week ago, and to tell you the honest truth, I have been worried about what Josh was thinking when his friend invited him to go with him and his mom to see his school one afternoon at the end of summer.
I have been worried about what Josh was thinking when his friend got off the bus and told him, "Second grade is fun!"

I have been wondering when Josh would being asking, "Why do we have to homeschool?"

Instead, Josh was the one who was put in the position of answering this question.

"So...what did you tell him?" I asked Josh.

Josh simply said, "Because Jesus told us to."
Simply and sweetly.

How many times have I struggled with that very same question when someone has asked it of me?
How many times have I tried to find an acceptable answer that the world would understand...something dealing with test scores or socialization or smaller class sizes or whatever?
How many times have I tried to cover my own insecurity with answers that have nothing to do with why we really, truly homeschool?

Josh's response to his friend's question made me look long and hard at why we homeschool.

Why, Lord?
Why do we homeschool?

"Because I told you to," He whispers.
Simply and sweetly.

When I'm overwhelmed and confused with curriculum and transcripts and am wondering again,
"Why do we homeschool?"

"Because I told you to," He croons.
Simply and sweetly.

Margaret Feinberg wrote, "Why is simplicity so essential to our lives? When we choose to embrace simplicity, we discover more margin in our lives for all the good things God wants to give us."

I know that when God called us to homeschool, He was calling us to a life a trusting Him.
And a life of the good things that He wants to give us...if I don't get in the way.

Simply and sweetly.
Because He told us to.

Enjoying the simple things,

An Elephant's Memory

Facebook is a really fun thing.
I love getting on there and seeing what my family and friends are up to!
I especially love the shared laughter.
Funny things that the kids are saying.
Funny things that are happening to each of them.

Facebook is also a really easy thing.
I find it so easy to pop on there and post something.

The problem with it is that so much of what I post...the things that I want to remember the kids saying or doing...eventually scroll off my wall into the land of faded memory.

Blogging is tougher.
It takes more time, concentration, and creativity--most of which I feel like I never, ever have enough of.
But the payoff is so much greater!
I am able to save the moment and hold onto it forever.

I had to think about that this morning as I got ready to post something that the little boys had said yesterday.
I thought, "I really want to remember that they said that! I want them to know that they said that!"

So...here I am blogging after a long vacation from blogging.

I want to remember how innocent Matthew and Josh are right now.
How they say what they mean and they mean what they say.

Yesterday, Matthew decided how old I must be...or how young!
"Mommy is sixteen because she can drive a truck."

He knows that sixteen is the magical age, because Carrie is waiting patiently (sort of) for Paul and me to decide where she will be taking her driver's ed training.

He wasn't trying to flatter me.
Age means very little to him--except in terms of being a "big boy" rather than a baby.
But, nonetheless...it was very flattering.



Josh piped in.
"Mom can't be sixteen!"

"Yikes!" I'm thinking.

"Mom can't be sixteen because she is married!"

Good boy. :)



Did I mention that Josh is going to turn 6 years old on Sunday?
I get teary-eyed just thinking about that.
His entrance into the world was nothing short of miraculous.
And his presence in our lives has been nothing short of life-changing.

And speaking of life-changing...Joshua asked Jesus to be the Lord of his life on a Tuesday morning in July.
He will be baptized this Sunday...on his sixth birthday!
What could make a momma happier?

Nothing beats that.
Nothing at all.



Iced-coffee.
It has become something that Carrie and I look forward to on special occasions.
Like Saturday afternoons.
Or Monday mornings.
We found a homemade recipe that is "to-die-for!"
Here is what's left after the straining.
Imagine the fragrance of strong, black coffee filtering out of your computer screen right now.
Mmmmm...



Add yet another milestone in Joshua's short life...



That's right!
He lost his first tooth!

One more reason to smile!

Enjoying the simple things,