"How to Raise Your Older Brothers," by Grace

Grace: Daddy, who wuz it dat got in da mud agin?

Daddy [not too pleased with this person at the moment]: Guess.

Grace [matter-of-factly]: It wuz Josiah. I tink you need to 'pank Josiah wid...dis. [picks up a belt that she had been playing with] If you 'pank him like dis [she demonstrates on the floor], he will be sad and he won't get in da mud anymore.

Faith to be strong

Tuesday night was the final session for our Beth Moore Bible study, Stepping Up: A Journey Through the Psalms of Ascent. I have had a particular Andrew Peterson song in my head since I heard it before going to the Bible study this week. It turns out that this song fits quite nicely with the last video session, where Beth talks about how God will give us the strength to take the next step...daily grace. Praise God!

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And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians 2: 6-9

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Faith To Be Strong

Give us faith to be strong
Father, we are so weak
Our bodies are fragile and weary
As we stagger and stumble to walk where you lead
Give us faith to be strong

Give us faith to be strong
Give us strength to be faithful
This life is not long, but it's hard
Give us grace to go on
Make us willing and able
Lord, give us faith to be strong

Give us peace when we're torn
Mend us up when we break
This flesh can be wounded and shaking
When there's much too much trouble for one heart to take
Give us peace when we're torn

Give us faith to be strong
Give us strength to be faithful
This life is not long, but it's hard
Give us grace to go on
Make us willing and able
Lord, give us faith to be strong

Give us hearts to find hope
Father, we cannot see
How the sorrow we feel can bring freedom
And as hard as we try, Lord, it's hard to believe
So, give us hearts to find hope

Give us faith to be strong
Give us strength to be faithful
This life is not long, but it's hard
Give us grace to go on
Make us willing and able
Lord, give us faith to be strong
Give us peace when we're torn
Give us faith, faith to be strong

--By Andrew Peterson, from the album Carried Along (2000)

You can click here to listen to the song for free.

Wordless Wednesday

If you look carefully, you can see a sliver of the moon in the left third of the photo. Around here, that's known as "Grace's moonie"...that's what she calls the moon every time she sees it. :)

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Overheard

Grace [after doing something I had JUST asked her not to do]: Itsa good ting I so cute!

Translation: "It's a good thing I'm so cute." Ummm, yeah. She may have heard that a time or two.

Me: I think she's trying to get on the blog!

Robert: In your world, everyone's trying to get on the blog. That's just usually not the case.

~~~~~

Josiah: “Is the price high?” Hey, yesterday I was on Lesson 99, and today I am on Lesson 100! “Yes, the price is very high.” Why did they say that?

Me: Those two sentences went together--“Is the price high?” and then the answer, “Yes, the price is very high.”

Josiah: Ohhhh. It’s probably about a car. “The fire is bright.” Hey, Grace! I can read “fire”!

Josiah is doing very well with phonics, despite appearances with this entirely typical lesson. I am constantly amazed, although, really, I shouldn't be. He is a very bright child--if you tell him any story, he will remember not only the story, but also details...many, many details. And it's pretty cool to watch him while he is doing a phonics lesson. He will look up, mouth the word(s), and stare off for a second or two as he hangs this new piece of information on a mental "hook."

And then he may or may not start talking about something that seems entirely unrelated...

~~~~~

Kathleen [in an email I received this afternoon]: We walked where Jesus walked -- sometimes a fast walk!! And we got really sprayed on our boat ride today!!

Now how many people can say that?!? Among many other things, Dad and Kathleen took a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee today.

~~~~~

Robert [teasing]: It's a good thing you're so cute!

Grace: No, it's not!

Robert insisted that I add "teasing" to that remark.

~~~~~

Josiah: Knock knock.

Me: Who's there?

Josiah: Haven't you.

Me: Haven't you who?

Robert: Haven't you heard enough knock knock jokes?

Josiah: Yeah.

A hijacked knock knock joke. That's what big brothers are for...

~~~~~

Robert [listening to his MP3 player]: Oh, I missed my favorite part...

Me: What's your favorite part?

Robert: "If it's getting cold, reheat it."

The song? "Eat It." Who else besides me thinks it's odd to have your children listening to Weird Al after all of these years?

~~~~~

Robert [stalling at bedtime]: Hey, Grace! I have something to tell you! [She stops; he whispers in her ear] Eat it!

Grace [perplexed and holding a toy dog]: Eat the dog?

~~~~~

Y'all, I think this one's my favorite...

Josiah [Dropping a handful of rags into the overflowing rag basket in the laundry room]: Could you puh-leese wash some laundry today?

This coming from the child who had just finished scrubbing mud he had tracked in--again--off the kitchen floor...the same child who changes clothes multiple times each day because of the multiple times he gets filthy outside...

It's a good thing he's so cute! ;)

Wordless Wednesday: My Baby Girl

OK, I have to share not one, but two photos today. These were taken in 2006 when little Grace was really little and a mere 3 months old. Doesn't she look like a little doll?





And this was taken a few moments later, when she was laughing her head off at one of her brothers.

Grace (age 2) will look at photos of herself as a baby, and I ask her, "Who is that?" She always answers, "Dat me!" Then she pauses for a moment and asks, "And what was my name den?"
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And to think I almost missed him...

I have been in a complete fog for the last couple of weeks, partly due to this. Well...today, I thought, "I'll call my Dad before he and Kathleen (a.k.a, Grammy K and Mary Ingalls) leave for their big trip to Israel and Egypt!"

Now, that's a big trip.

So, after getting Jason and the kids out the door for Josiah's basketball practice tonight, I finally dialed the numbers and reached Dad on his cell phone.

They were on the bus on the way to the airport with the group they would be touring with. On the bus.

I had printed out the itinerary that Kathleen had sent, had it sitting on my kitchen counter...and it wasn't even buried by a stack of papers. Me, with all of my fogginess, had the wrong departure date in mind, and I came thisclose to missing talking with my Dad before this big trip.

During the conversation, he mentioned how he was saying goodbye to his buddies at the "Y" and saying how he would miss them. One of them offered, "And I'll bet you'll miss the water, too," referring to swimming. My Dad replied, "Oh, I hope I miss the water! That's a lot of water we'll be over for a long time."

When they come to mind, please pray for my Dad and Kathleen. I can't wait to hear all about this fantastic trip, but I will also feel better when they are safely back home again! :) Thank you!

Skateboard, Dude!

Here is our resident skateboard dude rotating around in a circle...with the skateboard upside down. This is called a Casper (I know because I asked him).

And now I understand why the skateboard is chipped at both the "nose" and the "tail." (See? I do know some skateboarding terms without having to ask Robert about it. I still feel like I have to put 'em in quotes, but I know them.)

Preparation...

Lift-off...



"Did you get the picture?"

I think Robert actually said that the caption for this should be, "I didn't do it the right way." But I was impressed. He was off the ground, after all.

Oh, and that was an Ollie. I know because I asked him. ;)