Redeeming Summer

Summer hasn't left us yet. What a gorgeous NW day. But autumn is coming, as it always does. And I get this "can't put your finger on it" feeling in my gut when the end of summer peeks at me. Kind of a sad, defeated feeling, like the child who is REALLY tired but doesn't want to go to bed and his mom makes him go to bed. That's how I feel about autumn coming. It is a good season, but it's disappointing that summer always has to end.

Summer has always been so dang fun for me. I love summer--you can garden, its warm, you can wear shorts, flipflops, tanktops, get tan, mow the lawn, pick berries, swim, eat popsicles outside, dinner al fresco!, grill, play outside, sleep outside, camp, see shooting stars, did I say play outside?, my mom doesn't work in the summer, go to Eliza Island, go on boats w/ out getting really cold, the sun doesn't set until after dinner or later--there is a lot to enjoy, but...I love summer so much that it is one of my idols. Idol: "a material effigy that is worshipped" (http://www.wordnet.princeton.edu/). Worshiping anything that is not God. For instance: In the deep of winter, I long for warm sun so much that my attitude is changed by this longing--to the point that I get impatient, grumble, complain because of the weather. In the summer, when its sunny, I have what come close to anxiety attacks if I don't spend most of my day outside, in the sun, having fun...its no wonder my home has been such a wreck these past two months. And so, I must repent. And then allow summer to be redeemed in my life. So how can I redeem summer? For me, I think it is by cleaning and keeping up with my duties as a wife and "house manager" and mom even if it means skipping a few minutes (okay an hour or two--or, gasp, a day) of the warm weather (without having an anxiety attack about it). Or maybe by ordering my day better (wake up earlier to do a load of laundry in order to play outside later). In the winter, I tend toward that condition called "Seasonal Affective Disorder" (who doesn't?), and so I must be all the more vigilant to not despair about the weather.

And so, as summer comes to a close, I am doing some belated spring cleaning as well as some heart cleaning: asking Jesus to root out the idols in my heart to replace them, by His grace, with Him.

ThreeYearOld Logic

"Dinosaurs live far far away because they are dead...and who killed them?" Such began the bedtime conversation tonight with Elias. I love seeing how his mind is developing and how he interacts with the world and how these interactions play out in his thinking.

Its been a busy month--mostly because of the nice weather we've been graced with (though Dustin keeps reminding me that there ARE places in the USA where the weather is nice 6 + months out of the year).

Our ducks have started laying eggs! We get one almost every day now.

The chickens "roost", meaning that if I leave their pen door open with the ramp down, they will go up the ramp and into their pen on their own at night! I LOVE this feature with chickens! I still have to herd the ducks, which tonight involved chasing Pogo up and down our yard three times trying to catch her. I now feel less guilty about not having a regular exercise routine.

And today I received a call from the Post Office letting me know that our new chicks were in and to come pick them up--16 of them. They were inside a 10x10x5 inch box with holes in it and peeping VERY loudly. I've secretly always wanted to order chicks by mail. They are about a day old and both male and female. Our garage is a gabarn again. The chicks that turn out to be hens we will keep as layers, the ones that turn out to be roosters will meet their fate at the Rudolph Poultry Guillotine approximately 10 weeks from today--then into the freezer with 'em. Yes, we are again going to attempt to grow our own meat. Yes, I remember that it did not go as well as hoped with Ping, the duck. We have a plan this time (we had a plan last time, too).

I've decided that a blog for me is sort of like an electronic scrap-book (minus the expense and the mess) mixed with a journal for me to look back on and reflect upon. I have a journal too (several, actually, that I take turns writing in--I think journaling is an art that I'm not very good at and I have thrown out many a page where I am simply ranting and complaining maliciously). But here's to the "log" part of blog:

A log of the week of 8-9-2008 - 8-15-2008

Saturday 8/9/2008--Went to the Mariners Game with Elijah and Makaio

Sunday-went to church as a family at Oikos Fellowship

Monday-went to the Lynden Fair with the Tarrell clan, Gigi, Mom, Deena and Berna

Tuesday-can't remember-oh yes, recouperated from the Fair, family movie night (Nim's Island)

Wednesday-Weekly grocery shopping trip to Fred Meyer together as a family, swam at Gram's

Thursday-Picked blueberries while kids played at Aunt Deena's house w/ Sunny, Caden Saylor

& Lucy; later went to pool where The Kheriaty's work so that we could swim w/ Dustin--Elias dove off the diving board several times

Friday-Met Amia @ Zuanich Park to play, picked up chicks from post office, swam at Gram's

What a wonderful week full of fun with people that we love so much!

Time with Gram

I spent the afternoon with my Grammie today. Our neighborhood had a summer picnic and Grammie came with the kids and I to enjoy hot dogs, face painting, a raffle, and some freebie toothbrushes.

The kids call my Grammie "GiGi". We live in the same neighborhood that Grammie lived in while she was raising her three girls. She doesn't live in that area of town any longer, but I like living on a street that my mom used to take walks on with her pals when she was a teen. On our way back to Grammie's house, I asked Grammie to show me the house "on Cedarwood" that I've heard so much about. It's a beautiful house, well maintained and Grammie likes to see how well its been taken care of.

I like to listen to Grammie talk about her past. It seems like I always learn something new about her. I think that when you love someone you never lose interest in learning more about them. Today she told me that the home she lives in now is the only one she's lived in without "Phil". Grandpa Phil. I didn't get to meet him. He died when my mom was seventeen. It is always obvious that Grammie loved Grandpa Phil. "He was a neat guy," Gram said to me in the van today, "He was just a neat guy with a problem. And then he wasn't any fun". Grandpa Phil was an alcoholic and he died of Cirrohsis of the Liver.

I wish that I could have met Phil. I like to see his pictures from WWII looking handsome in his uniform. My mom has his eyes. I wish that I could have met him when he was healthy, I wish that I could have felt proud when he came to my events that my other grandparents came to while I was growing up. I will never know the real Grandpa Phil, just stories about him from Grammie and Mom and other family members. I wish that he could have enjoyed having grandchildren like I see my parents enjoying my kids, and I WISH that Grammie could have enjoyed her grandkids with him...

So, I'm kind of sad about that tonight. Sad that I didn't get to meet Mom's dad, that he was never around to tell me stories about her. Sad that he died a rather self-inflicted death. And I wonder if I'll meet him--a sinner redeemed-- one day in heaven?

Why did God make mosquitos?

My three-1/2 year old boy asks a lot of "Why?" questions. This has been going on for the last year or so. So many "Why?" questions, that I sometimes find myself tuning them out, or answering them without the topic of the question even registering in my mind. But when Elias asked me, oh-so-sincerely "Mom, why did God make mosquitos?" I had to stop and think before I answered.

Elias had gotten a series of mosquito bites in the back yard a couple of weeks ago. A few on his arm, couple on his back, one on his eye-lid that swelled and turned kind of purple. Nasty mosquitos. Why are they here? We teach the kids about God's goodness, that God is Good, that all things he created are good. I love that my son has thought this logic through: if God has created all things, if all things He created are good...what in the world are mosquitos doing here?!

Why is there evil in the world? Why do bad and sad things happen? Why doesn't God stop all sin? Where is God in the pains of life? We talked about some of the obvious things like "Mosquitos provide food for the bats and the spiders and the birds"--which I happen to think is a really lame-o! answer, but I gave it anyway. Then we talked about Adam and Eve, how sin entered the world and is still here and causes death and decay and itchy, swollen mosquito bites. Then we talked about how every person has sin and how Jesus died on the cross as a sacrifice to take away our sin. And only through Jesus can we be accepted by God. Its pretty cool that my little boy is already asking and thinking through the big questions in life and I can point him to the Gospel to seek an answer.

Romans 8:19-21 "The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God."

Flower Girls & Ring Bearers

My brother, David, got married on July 11th to Sarah. Dustin and I were in the wedding as well as Elias and Jillian. They got to be flower girl & ring bearer along with my cousins' kids Caden, Saylor & Lucy. It was definitely a family affair. Here are a few photos of the kids.

The mini-cousins striking a pose

From Left: Jillian, Caden, Elias, Saylor, Lucy

Elias

Jilly

Ring-Around-The-Rosy

Smile!

Caden, David, Elias and Joshua

The "Angry Eagle" face was first introduced

to the family by Caden (far left) when he was a wee-one

and has since been a favorite face

to be made by many a boy in our family photos.

The Flower Fairies

Girls getting ready: curlers!!

"Oh Mandi, how do you work such magic with hair?!"

Jillian & Elias

The kids did so great at the wedding thanks to many a family member contributing to herding, entertaining, mothering, fathering, and keeping track of them. Plus, they are all pretty fun kiddos. The wedding went really well. The weather was perfect and everyone looked lovely. All for now!

~susan

Lola & Pogo

I just had a real-life Discovery Channel moment. While I was making dinner, soothing Georgia and putting our animals in their night-shelters, I neglected to put the ducks away. Poor ducks.

Georgia and I were interrupted around 10 p.m. from our bonding time by very loud and distressed quacking from the back yard. I, quick as I could, went outside and there was a coyote chasing poor Lola. I did the only thing that seemed logical to me at the moment: I yelled--"HEY!" and then I screamed...so loud and shrill I scared the coyote (and myself, and probably the neighbors, but no one has come to check on me yet, so who knows if they heard). Lola, in her fright had escaped amongst the low-growing branches of a rhodedendron. When I went to pick her up, she walked right to me. Little Pogo was hiding under their night pen and I was easily able to pick her up, too. I'm not so sure that she is alright, she seems like she might be hurt--though I couldn't find any obvious injury on her. Any way...I won't soon forget the scene: Lola running and flapping her wings wildly, coyote in stride and leaping after her.

Catching Up

Elias & Jillian, Tobias and Lillian
Elias giving one of our chicks a ride on the swing
The girls
Our newest "flower"

It's been a busy three weeks: new baby, coming home from the hospital, Emmy & Pop pop visiting us, July 4th, dear friends from out of town visiting, my brother David's wedding, my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary..........All this while Dustin's been on sick (paternity) leave from work--Thank you FMLA! and a really great job!



First off, I must document that Dustin, Elias and Jillian slept out in the play house last night and all three made it out there through the entire night!! I had to wake them up for swim lessons this morning.



Secondly: I LOVE SUMMER!!! I don't think its been gray outside for about two weeks and I am declaring officially that I LOVE this weather! Happy, happy summertime.