Gommy In Charge?

Today on the way to school, just after we dropped off Johngideon, Montgomery said to me:

"Mom, have I been a good listener this morning?"

(This is a pretty important Gommy-girl question because mornings are just not Montgomery's thing, and it can get pretty rough and rocky...pretty often. This morning, however, was rather fluid...at least for her!)

So, I replied, "Yes, Montgomery, you were a veerrry good listener this morning."

Two minutes or so later, Gommy piped up again, "Well, since I been a good listener, can I be in charge of the house?"

Chuckling to myself, I gently responded, "Well, no, Gommy, Daddy is in charge of the house."

To which she immediately replied (with matter-of-fact casual cool), "Well, I want to make a different choice."

And what she clearly meant was a different choice of who is in charge! Hahahahaha.

Just thinking of a "Gommy-in-charge" house gives me great comical pause!

...and then makes me more than a little afraid!    ;o)


Take care. Much love.

Cycles

Nature has its regular cycles and I am recognizing more and more that I have mine too. This end of school year rhythm is chock full and overflowing with activity, from ceremonies and inductions to summer program applications to special field trips to concerts and stage productions to school festivals to open houses to dances and proms and on and on and on...and that's in addition to the regular rhythm of doctors appointments, sports practices, dance classes, swimming lessons, music classes, volunteer activities and the like. My heart starts to palpitate a bit just thinking about it all. My normal boundaries of time and place simply do not seem able to contain it all. Yet, this is the stuff of life, and what a joy and privilege to live it.

I am full to overflowing, or should I say our laptop is, with photographs that chronicle all of these special and wonderful moments of life. How will I ever find the time in this season to share them all? How will I ever find the time to contemplate and reflect on them, to cherish and savor and really emotionally process them? I really don't know. What I do know is that I am grateful and so very blessed. Thank you, Father.

Even now as I think of the thick beauty and rich wonder each day holds, despite its often frenetic activity, I am also sharply aware that many around our world and even more closely, around our nation, live in fear. Fear of rising flood waters from unbound loved rivers and what that means to their home-spaces and community places and family futures, fear of terrorist and ethnic violence and just plain agonizing war misery, that never seems to have an end. Fear of debilitating lack, fear of uncontrollable storms, fear of staggering loss and fear of inevitable change. I ache for those who ache in fear. I wonder why I am privileged to live in relative security. I wonder why I have been granted space to live free from oppressive, daily, tangible fear.

Sometimes I long to see Jesus return with His peace and His ultimate end to fear...yet...not yet...not just yet. So many still need to know Him. So many ache to love Him, not even knowing that their ache and gaping gashes of suffering have remedy and balm. So, not yet, please Lord, not quite yet.

Meanwhile, I love and soothe, I work and press, I pray and live. And sometimes the cycles of my life roll through these rushed and hurried and filled to the over-brim places, and sometimes they meander through quieter, contemplative, reflective, watchful spaces. Balance often seems unattainable, yet perhaps the balance of the rhythm of the whole thread of life in its entirety is indeed balanced? I'm not sure. It probably doesn't matter. What matters is that we live, grateful for life, that we love, grateful for love, that we worship, grateful for the one we worship, and that we share, grateful to have the something...and the someone...to share.

Love Much. Care.

  

Dandelion Love

I think God created dandelions just to delight the hearts of young children.

Montgomery loves and can't get enough of them. She picks them carefully and carries them gently like precious treasures. Then she selects her place to blow them and huffs and puffs until every fluff-let is floating in the breeze...even in the car!

During a walk she is disappointed if she passes a spot where "somebody wished all the dandelions," and overjoyed when she happens upon a patch of grass where there are many clusters of both dandelions and their yellow flowers (I have been the beneficiary of soooo many yellow "flower bouquets" this spring).

Nevertheless, she has learned -- much to her initial shocked amazement -- that Daddy (in his quest for beautiful green weed-free grass) does not like dandelions, and so when she catches the fluff-lets floating in our front yard, runs around trying to capture them scolding "bad dandelion! bad dandelion!"

Craig is afraid our grass will end up looking something like this...

...disclaimer: this is not a picture of our yard  :o) ...but it would be if Gommy had free dandelion-love reign!

Much Love. Take Care.

I Know My Redeemer Lives!

...and He loves me!

and...He loves you!

There's a song I sang in church growing up in South Carolina and the refrain went: "Look to Jesus, look to Jesus, look to Jesus now and live!"

Hebrews 12:2 reads..."Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."

 King James Version (KJV)

What was His joy? Eternal relationship with us was His joy. You are His joy! I am His joy! We are His joy!

The Amplified Bible (AMP) puts it this way..."Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God.^(A") 

How amazing to be the joy of Jesus.  Look to Jesus now and live!

I know my Redeemer lives!!  How awesome.

Happy Resurrection Day!

Much Love! So Much Love!

A Neighborly Nicety

Look at these adorable bunny cookies! Such a sweet surprise from our good neighbors to the south (Johngideon's fun-tastic block buddies) Connor and Carson (with their nice Grandma Evelyn's help).

They're actually made from a stiff pound cake recipe...delicious!!

Needless to say, they didn't make it very long in our house.
(By the way, no we did not adopt a child...the other little girl in the photo is Montgomery's school ace Isabella, who was spending the day with Gommy.)

Take Care. Much Love.

Say it ain't so!

Be still my heart!

Attended the Seniors Mother/Son Breakfast this morning at Job's school.

S-s-sssnniiiffff!!

Had a nice time, got the graduation invites, learned the ceremony details, admired the sentimental mementos and customized M&M's, got prom info, gave donation checks, [wo]manned the dessert table at the sports day cook-out, took lots of photos and a bit of video, smiled and chatted with other moms, ate a burger and some cookies, smiled and chatted with teachers, took more photos, fielded crazy phone calls from the other kids home for Spring Break, smiled and chatted with Job...and wondered where all those years went...

...so quickly.

Take your time moms...enjoy the ride...try, try, oh try to stroll...one day you'll look up and realize it's only 44 days 'till your "baby" graduates from high school.

Much love. Take care.

Knocked Out

This is how over-scheduled teenagers look when a car ride takes a little longer than normal.

We've been seeing a lot of this lately as we make the college visiting rounds one more time to help Job finalize his decision. I think its pretty much finalized now...more on that later.

But these two -- so interesting! so wonderful! so interested in life! -- wouldn't have it any other way...the over-scheduled part I mean. I'm trying to work on simplifying the overall household schedule, but I'm finding that simplifying is a complex process.

Much love. Take care.

  

Montgomery's New Hairdo

Montgomery was in need of a new hair-do...one that didn't require a daily fix from me (agonizing for both of us!)...and preferably for her, a "downer" style. "Downer" to Gommy means needing no elastics or barrettes and, most importantly, swish-able and shake-able.

For a bit of a back story, most of the little girls in Gommy's pre-K class are Asian and wear their hair "down" and very long. This was also the case at Gommy's pre-school last year; the little girls in her class were of European, Asian or East Indian backgrounds and also usually wore their hair "down" in various lengths. So, although big sis' Maia and I have praised and praised Gommy's afro puffs, braids, and other more traditionally African-American styles, Gommy has always asked for "downer" styles. (It probably doesn't help that Mommy is ethnically blendy, with ethnically blendy hair...usually worn in "downer" styles.)

What's a mother determined to instill "I am beautiful me!" into her daughter supposed to do?

Resist!

Ok,ok...so I know that's not the best plan...but we have made a conscious choice to live in a diverse community and have our children attend diverse schools, and we firmly assert and teach that every creation of God is beautiful and perfect as He intended. We remind our children of God's love for beautiful variety, and how we can see that in the many beautiful and different flowers and the many beautiful and different people He has created. AND...we make sure not to buy any Disney princess anything that doesn't included Tiana! We have also made sure that Gommy's dolls represent the United Nations and then some, in all skin tones...even adding our own home-made blue-haired and pink-haired dolls! (I'll post photos of them soon...soooo cute!)

Yet and still, maybe it's the constant barrage of hair and cosmetic commercials, advertisements and billboards everywhere around us in the city, but this little girl still wanted her "downer" hairstyle!

Insert Maia to the rescue! Ever since Maia chose to "go natural" and cut off her processed (perm-straightened) hair in favor of her natural hair texture, she has been researching and exploring healthier hair care and interesting styles that complement her hair texture. Recently she showed me an instructional video on the Internet for double-strand twists that lay close to the scalp in rows similar to cornrows for braids. I watched, learned, and styled Maia's hair in these twists and she loved it. And then we both thought hmmm, this might be the long-sought answer for Montgomery...a "downer" style that celebrates her beautiful natural texture and coilability (my new word).

So, after sitting tearfully through the styling (a more tender-headed child you've never met), Gommy finally emerged with a "downer" style that was Mommy-ethnic-pride-approved and Gommy-swish-able-and-shake-able-approved. And she looks just beautiful...but then again, she always has.

Here are a few close-ups...

Isn't she just beautiful!

I think this will be her style for quite awhile...especially since she recently fell in love with headbands!

Take Care. Much Love.

(I call this expression..."Really, Mom, more pictures?")

 

Penny Power

Johngideon discovered a new fun activity recently...counting and stacking coins, well pennies to be exact. Craig and I are very encouraging of this new found interest for him, as Craig is an intentional end-of-the-day pocket dumper and we usually have jars of change in several spots throughout the house. However, we're not frequent coin rollers and only tend to get around to it a couple of times a year.

As Josiah was preparing to make an errand for a promised all time favorite meatball marinara sub, I realized I didn't have any cash in the house to give him, and I didn't at all feel like running to a bank. Then I thought... aha, the change! So I quickly rolled up some quarters and off he went! However, change rolling, I've come to find, is rather addictive, and I found myself in the study for nearly an hour, stacking and rolling coins of all denominations.

Maia joined me for awhile, as did Josiah prior to his errand. But, the one that really found the activity irresistible was Johngideon, and after we'd ploughed through all of the "silvery" coins he went on for hours counting and stacking the seemingly endless quantities of pennies. I made him stop at some point to eat, and then he was right back at it. I'll tell you, that kid is a penny-stacking virtuoso! When he moved from floor stacking to table stacking, I knew we were nearing the end, which was a good thing because he didn't seem able to stop himself until all of the pennies ended up in neat stacks  and rows.

He was very proud of his effort, as were we! Such diligence and perseverance!

It took Craig and I a few days before we got the gumption to get all of those wonderful stacks and rows in to rollers, but they eventually all made it (mostly because we needed the table space in the study...and, because the stacks became too tempting for Montgomery's destructo nature to resist!).

Now we know who to call for help when the coins start overflowing their containers...Johngideon to the rescue!!

Take care. Much love.

Swinging Her Arms Again

Look who's swinging her arms again! After being on crutches and putting no weight on her right foot since January 17 (that's three whole months...one fourth of the year!) Maia has finally been given the green light this week by her orthopedist to simply "boot it" without the sticks! (That's finally walk without the crutches, but with only her supporting boot, for those of you who might process my slang a little slower.) :o)

She couldn't be more excited...but I must say she was rather unsteady on her feet for awhile as she began using some muscles that hadn't had any real exercise in all that time. Nevertheless it only took her a few hours to get the rhythm of walking again, and she feels quite free.

She has been a most diligent patient, following the doctor's instructions to a T, from regular usage of the bone stimulator machine, to downing the calcium tablets and drinking the chamomile tea, to never (and I do mean never) putting any weight on that foot. Still she was a bit hesitant to hear the doctor's opinion on her latest CT Scans, because she knew that bone in her foot was not fully healed, but she was hoping it was far enough along to get "promoted" to the next step.

So were we, her fellow household companions, who have been doing her chores and functioning as gophers for her during her long convalescence. We are all feeling free, let me tell you! For Maia, however, a main goal was to get fully on her own two feet and into some kind of heels by prom in late May...and according to the doctor, it looks like she'll make that target. Yeah Maia! We celebrate with you! Way to hang in there!

Much Love. Take Care.