Thursday, June 26, 2008

Gratuitous Yard Flowers

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In my yard....or just outside it anyway. Still technically mine, though. Todd has Impatiens growing outside the fence in front as well. And even though the Day Lillies can't be attributed to him, who knew he had such skills? I'm so pleased!

And the fireflies! So many fireflies!!! We caught some tonight but they wouldn't light up in the jar (humph) so we let them go. We were actually planning on letting them go anyway but we let them go sooner than we thought. You should've seen Isaac and me trying to catch Fireflies without actually having to touch them. We're so silly! I'm sure we'll try it again many times before the summer's over. Maybe next time I'll get some real photos for you.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Happy Father's Day


This is actually an old photo but it is what they are doing at this very moment. Monopoly. (shudder) They love it. Josiah traipses in and out but doesn't actually play.



I wonder if they have any idea. How can they? How can they know that this time in the floor with their Dad is forming them into the men they will be? That these will be the memories they most cherish someday when their Dad is gone? That their patience with their children comes in some way directly from the hours their Dad layed in the floor and laughed and chided and played with them?

Todd, you're a good dad. A really, really, really good dad and I am thankful to our God for blessing my children with such a dad as you.


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Saturday, June 14, 2008

The Storm

It was a dark and stormy night.....


Wednesday before last we had a storm. A huge storm that I was planning to blog about but for some reason just could not make myself do it. I think I have figured out why. It's because the story has some parts that are hard to relive. I like to avoid the hard stuff, even when it's just a memory. I need to do it though, so I can post for Father's Day tomorrow without guilt.

So. Wednesday before last I went to pick the boys up from school. I could tell there was gonna be a storm soon, a big one by the looks of things, so I brought 2 umbrellas and a rain coat. Both boys were on their scooters so I put a rain coat on Josiah and they tooled around the playground once or twice while I visited with other parents. Drops started so I hollered and we headed home the "short way". Josiah was ahead of us a bit and Ike and I were passing the front doors of the school when the heavens opened and the thunder and lightening cut loose. I opened an umbrella but Isaac started going in circles and freaking out because of the thunder. We dodged into the school with everyone else and I called Todd.

"We're in the building, Josiah's headed your way. Intercept him please."

About 3 minutes later I called Todd.

"Do you have him?"

"No."

"He's going the 'short way'."

"O.K."

Meanwhile, Isaac is almost hysterical. A few minutes later:

"Do you have him yet?"

"No, where is he?"

Right about then a 5th grade Safety Guard spotted me.

"Josiah's in the hall in front of the cafeteria," (other end of the building) "and he's freaking out. Do you want me to go get him?"

No I did not. I grabbed Isaac's hand and started running and dialing Todd at the same time.

"He's here! I've got him!"

He was drenched, crying, screaming and banging his head on the glass doors. I had him....and a flashback to when he was two and wandered away from our house in Africa. The hardest part about something like that is that Mom has to remain calm. I can't get on my knees and weep while I cling to him because he's already upset enough as it is. I have to save it for when I get home....or not talk about it for a couple of weeks.

I had him.

There are several heroes in this story. The first, of course, is the safety patrol. God bless those kids for knowing Josiah and caring about him. They always tell me where he is if he's ahead of me on the way home and they watch out for him at school. I couldn't even tell you which safety patrol it was that day, but I am forever grateful to him.

The second is Todd. When he drove up to pick us up at the school he was soaked to the bone. It was raining like I've never seen and Todd was running the streets looking for Josiah without umbrella or rain coat (I had them). Then he came and got us so we wouldn't be as wet as him. It was also a great comfort for the boys to be with Daddy. The lightening was really scary, even to me.

The third is Hunter. He was walking home from the bus stop when the rain hit so he was drenched too. When we walked in the house he met us at the door with a towel for each of us. The first lightening strike had knocked power out so he had set up my laptop with a funny movie and had it playing for the boys. Josiah went from inconsolable to laughing within 3 minutes. I have never been so proud of my oldest son. He's da bomb!

That was the worst of it. Everything else was relatively easy to deal with. When the storm finally subsided, power was out in a big chunk of the county. We have a gas stove but it was dark and we didn't want to open the fridge so Todd drove us into town to get supper. Only about half of the restaurants in town had power and those were packed and overflowing so we headed to the mall....apparently so did the rest of the county. It took us a while to get a table in the food court but we did and we ate and we headed home to a dark house. The next day school was cancelled because so many of the schools in the county were without power. (Gotta use those snow days somehow I guess.) We didn't have power at our place until the next morning (Thursday) at about 8:30. Some folks nearby had gotten theirs at 4am but some others didn't get power until Friday afternoon late. What a mess!

All was well, though. We were safe. The house was fine. The church had only minimal flooding, which was miraculous, let me tell you. Well, miraculous and back-breaking...for Todd, who spent a lot of time bailing water out of the stair well. Go Todd! I was very appreciative of a hobby that does not require power until it got dark. It's hard to knit in the dark. It can be done, but it's not preferable.

We've had more rain since then but nothing like that again. The boys still flinch a bit when it starts to rain but I think they'll get over that soon because most rain storms around here don't seem to include thunder and lightening. And now it's Summer and we have begun the task of living with one another all day everyday for almost 3 months.

I'll let you know how it goes.