Popsicle: It's What's for Dinner

Eliana had surgery yesterday for a partial tonsillectomy, an adenoidectomy, and ear tube insertions. We are very thankful to our Lord that the surgery went so well and that she seems to be recovering wonderfully. We also appreciate those of you who have been praying for her. And for those who didn't know about it, I apologize for not putting it on the blog beforehand. While we knew the surgery was in the near future, we didn't have a set date until less than 48 hours before, and it's been incredibly busy here, as you may imagine. So busy, in fact, that while I could say many things about this whole experience, I must, for now at least, leave it at this basic update and go get another popsicle for my little patient.

A Picture of Grace

Last week, Eliana and I "read" Peter Spier's Noah's Ark for the first time. The wonderful illustrations (which do not include the above) do all the "talking." I think it was the first time the devastation really sank in with Eliana. When she saw pictures of other animals standing outside the closed ark deep in water she finally realized how many more animals died in the flood than were saved. I suppose her response was typical--"That's not fair."

But praise the Lord we do not get what is "fair!" If that were true, then there would be no hope for any, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) We can choose to focus on the "bad" things that happen in the world as a means of trying to question God's character, or we can look at the many blessings in our lives and wonder in utter amazement, "How is it that good things happen to sinful people?" Let us thank the Lord our God, who is mysteriously well-pleased to lavish upon us His love and grace.

Looking at an illustration of the ark at sea, I thought I would try a lead-in to point out Noah's great faith in God again. I asked Eliana how she thought she may have felt being on that ark, adrift at sea, rain falling from the sky, surrounded by water and no land in sight for so long. Her response?

"Wet."

Three Cheers to the Master!

Okay, so this is actually a picture from 2005. And husband hasn't officially graduated with his master's yet, but that's just a technicality now. IT IS FINISHED. I am so proud of you, love!

You must be this tall to enter

Oh, the things Eliana asks when we're driving in the van!  I could fill up the blog daily with this stuff if I only had the time.  She seems to think the van is the best place to ask all thought-provoking, life-altering questions, such as the time she decided to ask, "May we get a pet?" while I was fighting to strap a very resistant Evangeline into her carseat before everyone else in the parking lot was convinced that I must surely be kidnapping the child.  I guess you could say she really needs to work on her delivery.  Anyway, here's a nugget from today:

Eliana: "Mommy?"

Me: "Yes?"

E: "I want to be a mommy now."

Me: (playfully) "Well, you know, once you become a mommy you can't ever stop, no matter how tired you may be."

E: "No matter how tired you are?"

Me: "Yeah, no matter how tired you are."

E: (thinking)...  "Well, I'm ready to be a mommy.  (pause)  I'm just not tall enough yet."

Me: (laughing)

E: "Am I tall enough yet, Mommy?"

Me: "No, sweetie.  I don't think you're tall enough yet."

Let's Polka!

Happy Reformation Day!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU0f_qJLkLg

A Day at the Farm

The girls and I, earlier this week, on our way to the pumpkin patch.

Enjoying the hayride

Eliana liked playing with the hay.

Evangeline enjoyed eating it.

Baby Fluff

The girls each picked out their own pumpkins.

Making our way through the corn maze

Trying not to lose them
(It didn't work, but, thankfully, it was a small maze.)

Evangeline making friends with a goat

(She walked right up to it, full of excitement and expectation, and said, "Hi! Whatcha name, goat?" Ahh, you just had to be there.)

Adventures in Oregon

Between having no internet access for three weeks, going out of town, and just a really hectic month, I haven't posted in a while, but watch out, because I have a lot to catch up on. To start, here are some pics from our trip to Oregon a week and a half ago:

Look at that smile! We were honored to take part in the wedding of Justin and Julie and so happy to see them married!

Congratulations, friends!

It was so nice to catch up with Tim and Kristin at the wedding. We miss you!

We enjoyed seeing Multnomah Falls while we were in the Portland area.

We also drove up to Washington for a couple of hours. I couldn't help but be amused at the state highway symbols shaped like President Washington's head.

Then we drove to the coast, where we walked on the beach and ate way too much clam chowder.

Anastasia's thoughts on seeing the Pacific Ocean for the first time.

I had drawn a picture of myself walking on a beach for some birth art I did while I was pregnant this last time. Interestingly, this beach looks exactly like the one in my drawing.

Anastasia enjoying this view of Montana on our way home.

Q & A with Eliana

As you can see from the above picture, Eliana is learning a lot these days. She's been asking more and more questions about Christ's work on the cross and her standing before God. We have been very encouraged by her increasing interest in these things, though we often find it difficult to give adequate reponses, particularly to a 4-year-old. Though we try to look for natural ways to bring up spiritual matters with the girls, Eliana is frequently bringing up these matters more on her own, naturally and not-so-naturally.

The other day we were driving down the road when out of the blue Eliana inquires from the back row of our minivan, "Mom, where is your soul?" Unfortunately, having absolutely no context and trying to hear her over the sound of the engine, a baby crying and two rows of seats I had thought she had said, "Mom, where's your school?" I repeated it back to her several times, asking if that's what she had said and what did she mean, only to keep hearing, "Yeah, where's your school?" So, I told her I didn't have one. Oops.

When she finally gave me some context to her thoughts I had to make another mental note to be sure I understand the question she's really asking before I give an answer. I wonder how many times I've confused her with my response. (She's certainly confused me a number of times!) But thank God for His grace! I'm glad I had the chance to correct my blunder.

Getting Settled

Well, we're here! It's difficult to say when things will get "back to normal," though. Turns out more stuff + more kids = painfully slow unpacking and organizing in the new home. It also doesn't help that our household goods were randomly thrown (and, yes, I mean "thrown") into boxes on the other end. But, oh well! We hope to be here in Ohio for about 7 years (a very long time for the military!), so I guess I have time!

More to Celebrate!

I know, I know. I haven't picked up blogging again as easily as I'd hoped. I was hit with one strange illness after another for nearly two weeks, and now I'm just frantically trying to get everything done before we have to pack up and leave.

But I simply cannot leave one major event unmentioned any longer. You see, earlier this month our little Evangeline turned TWO. We thank God for blessing us with this little person with a big personality. She brings us such great joy and has been one of God's major instruments in teaching us more about patience. We are now holding on for dear life but definitely enjoying the ride.

We took Evangeline to a portrait studio on her birthday to forever capture her two-year-old self in some nice birthday pictures. Below you can see part of the finished product. I think we succeeded. :)

Fifth Time's the Charm

Praise the Lord! We finally have a house waiting for us in Ohio! Well, it's not exactly waiting on us. In fact, the current owners won't be out until the end of August, leaving us homeless for a few weeks. But, at any rate, we are thrilled to have this humongous decision behind us!

Some of you know what an ordeal we've been through trying to buy a house in Ohio, but for those of you who don't....well, I won't bore you with the whole story, but it took 5 attempts to buy a house before one stuck. And this wasn't even one of the houses Chris saw on his house-hunting trip last month. Oh, well! I'm just relieved to have it finally behind us. This has taken up far too much of our lives over the last 6 weeks--lives that are already crazy busy with 3 small kids and a husband/daddy trying to finish a master's thesis. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up blogging again now that I've made a little room in my mind to think about something else!

Okay, we're off to Chick-fil-A to celebrate!

Celebrating Four Years

Child of the Covenant

Hiking the Tent Rocks