Toddlers, I forgot the fun!

This picture shows you how I get in a shower these days...With the other two, we had a pack n play in our bathroom.  Here we have Daddy's computer.  Please note the backpack--one must be prepared to go to school at any moment.

A Week Goes By

Christ Church Parish Picnic

I'm not sure why blogging has become so difficult as of late.  I'm gathering that the start of school with three children going to a Mothers' Morning Out, a preschool, and kindergarten in three different schools combined with coordinating childcare for Wednesdays and Sundays is almost a full time job.  In addition, this is the first fall in which Adam and I are both working in parishes.  So, we have two fall parish picnics, two youth kick-off events, and back to regular preaching and full scale liturgies again.  I'm also heading up the Episcopal Campus Ministry and we meet at 9pm on Wednesday nights.  So, getting home at 10:30 has made it difficult for my mind to settle at night.  I'm also chairing the Moms' group at Christ Church which is my way of staying connected to the good women of Christ Church while I no longer worship there.  The last piece of night engagements have been two back to school kindergarten and preschool nights.  Oh, and two children having birthdays.  This list doesn't include the kids' activities of soccer, choir, and swimming.

I actually do not like to be over scheduled, even though this makes it seem otherwise.  Once September is over we should settle in to a better groove with not having so many "program year" responsibilities.  A hazard of my calling, however, is that we work when others play.  So, for about four weeks Adam and I are not both home at the same time two nights in a row.  Yet, one of the bonuses of our situation is that Monday is Adam's day off and we now have 2 hours of uninterrupted quiet in the morning.  I think that will help us get resituated and rested for the week to come.  And, I'm sorry to say I just may not be able to blog more than once a week.

Six years old!

It has become a custom on my blog to reflect a bit on my children each year on their birthday.  I think it is hard to keep perspective on the whole year when I sit down and write on the occasion of their birth, but here is an attempt.  Right now, Elias is a joy to be with.  He is a kind and helpful older brother, especially to his youngest sibling, he continues to be inquisitive and creative, and he is starting to manage his disappointments so much better.  In the winter of last year, Elias was having monumental tantrums that would hover over our home like a black cloud for hours.  Eventually, I reached out for some help and we discovered Elias has a sensory processing disorder.  This was something I suspected for a long time, but it was helpful to have that confirmed.  To address the issue, Elias goes to a Legos class once a week and works on fine-motor, listening, and other coping strategies.  He is blossoming.  While he still has an occasional teary reaction to some situations, he has learned how to talk through things and not have to get things right on the first try.  I'm so proud of him.


Elias still has a  brain that is in high gear most of the time.  In fact, we got him a lava lamp at the suggestion of the Occupational Therapist who evaluated him, for his birthday.  We hope this might soothe him to sleep a bit.  I don't have too high of hopes.  He has always had difficulty falling asleep and right now he obsesses over "high math" at bedtime.  He is really into numbers, adding and subtracting, and telling time at the moment. This is indeed Elias.  He glums on to one topic at a time and becomes pretty fixated with it for a while.  Kindergarten is going very smoothly and he is enjoying the playtime, Readers' Workshop, and all his "specials.  Last night he told me that he reads to his partner.  I found that curious because I know he can not literally read yet.  He explained to me that there are three ways to read: one is to read the words.  Another is to read the pictures.  And the other is to tell the story as best as you can remember it.


Elias is enjoying soccer and displaying more of an aptitude for it than last year--that's not saying much when you spend the whole time staring at the clouds.  But, after we learned about the sensory stuff we learned that Elias needs people to show him physical movements.  In fact, he did a soccer program called Soccer Shots and he said, "Now I have soccer in my brain."  Before it was just standing around a scrimmaging mob.  Elias is definitely a fast runner and takes after his father with his love of jogging and speeding along on his scooter.


Socially, Elias is a very friendly and happy kid.  He is warm and making new friends.  Last year at preschool he introduced himself to a new child, by sticking out his hand, and saying, "I am Elias."  While that didn't last I think being generally friendly has.  I've noticed that Eli is less imaginative than he used to be.  It's still hard to get him to follow through on tasks in the morning before school starts.  Case in point, yesterday he forgot underwear and today he forgot to brush his teeth-- God have mercy on his teacher.  Certainly , there are days when Addie and Eli have their conflicts, but for the most part, he does not instigate them.  He, however, in his too sensitive vein takes the bait when he should ignore. 

Of course I am his mother who does not have great objectivity, but this is what I have observed over the past year.  Elias, your Mom and Dad love you so, and we hope these reflections will help you understand some of the blur that was your childhood!

Our Spice Boy

A boy who is hard at work.  Notice the tongue in the last picture...pure concentration.

Elias the Food Critic

This morning Elias had a  piece of toast from the store.  He said to Adam, "Bread from the store is gooder than yours."  However, this afternoon he sampled some fresh homemade rye bread after school and he commented, "This bread is good.  Did you get another recipe?"

Last night Adam and I went to to a movie.  Before we went out we joked with the kids that before we had them we were really in LOVE.  Elias said, "Yeah, and I bet you went out to eat all the time."

Tonight, Elias not only set the table well, but he helped with drying the dishes.  He absolutely loved it.  He told me he was doing all my work and wanted to do more.  Of course, I'm sure it didn't hurt that when he stays downstairs and helps with dinner clean-up his bed time gets pushed back a bit.

Diving in to Kindergarten

As much as I can ascertain, Elias is loving kindergarten.  He has only been at it for two whole days, but he reports that it is "fantastic."  He is waking up early and getting dressed and making his bed with haste so he can be on time.  He has to leave the house by 8am, which means breakfast is no longer a thirty minute affair.  Yesterday I left him only grabbing one picture at the door of his classroom before he got engaged in an activity.  After I came home from work I learned that he got to have recess in the gym, that he heard a story, and that only two kids get to share about their summers during circle time.  Tonight I overheard him talking to his grandmother and I learned he had had Spanish, had gym, and has ten kids in his class.  I also learned that he will be the first child in his class to have a birthday.  And, that is certainly a good thing for Elias to be the oldest.  I am so grateful he has this year at his school.  I sense that he will be ready to take-off in so many ways this year--not just academically, but socially and emotionally as well.  Here's to a great year of kindergarten my little friend.

One down, one to go

It was with great pleasure that I awoke Adelaide this morning for her first day of preschool.  Jed had woken early. I went for a quick run, and then I oversaw the dressing and bed-making of my almost four year old.  After she was groomed, (she even let me brush her hair) I fed her and Josiah.  A few minutes later, Elias came bursting into the kitchen reminding us that he had one more day off before school starts.  Mind you, he is beside himself with excitement about the start of kindergarten tomorrow.  But, one should never miss a single opportunity to hold something over one's sister.  They all ate and then after brushing teeth, we had almost 45 minutes to linger before she had to be at school.  We all accompanied her in the rain and got her settled in her class.  I'm afraid she's really going to be the oldest in her class and, at times, I think it may be tedious for her.  A lot of her friends are in the Rainbow class this year, but those folks will be in Kindergarten the following year.  Adelaide has two more full years of preschool before kindergarten starts. 

 Our morning was so pleasant without Adelaide in the mix.  Both boys got haircuts and Elias picked up a lollipop for his sister.  When she came home, we had lunch and the older two reunited like long lost friends.  Trouble began, however, after the toddler's nap.  Right now, Addie just can't keep her hands off him literally.  Whether it's to direct his movement, to take a toy, or to pick him up...I am losing my patience with her.  She spent some time in her room this afternoon after she tired to "convince" Josiah he wanted to be closed up in a cardboard box.  I recognize that there has been a lot of attention directed at our kindergartner so I try to find positive things to comment on as much as possible, but enough is enough.  I can't remember how I redirected Elias when he was the same age with a toddler sister.  And, even if I could remember, I know they are such different personalities that I will just have to come up with some newer strategies.  Granted it was pouring rain and we all three were sitting in own room together trying to play.  But, please Addie, let school release some of your dominating personality.  Tomorrow will be a very long day for her because it's my work-day.  I expect Daddy shall have an interesting evening to look forward to.

Bleeding to Freedom

A sermon preached on the Exodus text chapter 12.



"No plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt"


It sure would have been nice to hear these words last Sunday, or even the Sunday before.

What an amazing series of events we experienced in the past weeks.

I was standing in my laundry room when the earthquake happened.

I, of course, assumed that something was wrong with the spin cycle in my washer when the cupboards started to shake.

After quickly checking the washer and seeing it was fine, I surmised that it was the work being done on the church that caused the shaking.

You see, my laundry room runs parallel to the rector's office, and Christ Church in Media had been sanding floors all week.

So, I concluded that they had gotten overzealous in their sanding and stripping.

It was not until an hour later that I heard there had been an earthquake.



Now, of course, the plague that followed was the hurricane.

I truly believe the media tries to encourage us to turn on the TV or the Internet in situations like these.

I was up in Rhode Island visiting my grandmother with my youngest child.

I spent some of my time moving her plants indoors, carrying lawn furniture into the garage, and making sure all the windows were truly fastened shut.

We were all hoping I wouldn't get stuck there.
What a combination we would have made.

However, my anxiety was heightened as we encountered traffic coming towards the airport.

Certainly, tracking weather.com only made this seem like the event of the year--and perhaps the decade.



So, I feel like I can relate just a little bit to those Egyptians.

God was trying to get Pharaoh's attention.

God had tried locusts.

God had tried sores.

God had tried boils.

But, now God was getting out the big guns and going for the firstborn in all of those poor Egyptian families.

You see, Pharaoh's heart had been so hardened that nothing was going to change.

It's hard to imagine, but the drama of this plague cannot be underestimated.

God was so fed-up with Pharaoh and ready to invite freedom for the Israelites, that he was willing to kill not one child, but all firstborn children in Egypt.

He says, "For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord."

The Egyptians had been hit harder than any hurricane.



And, here is the fascinating theme in this Exodus text.

Much of Exodus focuses on the hopes of the people of Israel to enter into freedom.

We know they lived lives of drudgery.

We know they spent most of their time building pyramids.

We know they didn't even get to choose the food they would eat.

And, not only was their physical enslavement real, but they were enslaved spiritually.

For during this dark period of their history, they called out to God to let them go. "Let my people go" says Moses.

The people of Israel were not free to go where they wanted, to eat in the prescribed tradition, and they certainly had no freedom to honor Yahweh.

But, this last plague, which becomes known as the Passover, becomes their ticket to freedom.

Blood of lambs and blood of Egyptian children all rolled into one.

The slaughter of the lamb and the slaughter of the Egyptians serve as the precursor to that amazing crossing of the Red Sea.

And once they are across that sea--they are free.



How free did you feel on Saturday before the hurricane?

I know I was enslaved to doing eight loads of laundry in case the power went out.

I had the children bring all their balls and toys into the basement.

We stocked the fridge with milk and bought bottled water.

We made sure that we were ready for the big storm.



As I got to reflecting on the event, I recognized a pattern.

Our modern, secular culture enslaves us in so many ways.

Perhaps, the overarching way in which we "moderns" experience enslavement is through fear.

As parents whose children start school next week, we fear not having the right teacher or whether our kids will keep up in school.

Those fears are fed by standardized tests and cutbacks in school budgets.

We are afraid of not having enough..with unemployment and a slow and sluggish economy we fear living too long and not having enough to live on--or at least in the manner to which we have become accustomed.

We fear being alone.

With Face book and texting, we may never be without verbiage, but it doesn't mean we are not lonely. And, ultimately we fear the inevitable passage of time.

The overarching theme we get from TV and media is do, do, do because time is running out.

Surely, we who have so much, materially speaking, in this modern era, but we are still in many ways slaves to the sin of scarcity.



And, yet, God freed the Israelites through the Passover and into their deliverance through the Red Sea. God enabled them to see a world that was vast and wide-open.

Our Yahweh, does the same with the gift of our great deliverance.

Our Passover meal, celebrated here, at this banquet table is the feast of the victory of our God.

Our paschal lamb, our Passover, is Jesus the Christ.

Our bread and our wine are Passover staples.

Our table extends all the way back to that night, that sacred night, when the people of Israel were loosed from their bonds.

We experience true freedom at the sacred feast.

Freedom from sin.

Freedom from hopelessness.

Freedom from death.

Of course we know this freedom is not without a price.

Our meal involves real blood just as the Passover meal did for the people of Israel. After all, we say "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us."

A declarative statement about the price of this meal.

But the good news we exclaim back is "Therefore let us keep the feast."

Surely, a reminder that such a sacrifice was not for naught.

Moses said, "Let my people go. "

God released them.

We say, "Go in peace to love and serve the Lord."

And, in those moments after our meal of freedom and peace, we are charged to be free.

Free in hope.

Free in charity.

And free TO love.

First Day of Daycare

I found a really nice home daycare for Josiah for my workday.  I needed a situation where I could be sure that not only was he safe and having fun, but that would be dependable.  I found a sweet woman, with three older children, who watched kids three blocks from our home.  I dropped little J off on Wednesday.  He was very happy until I left.  The report back was that he didn't sleep well, but had a good day overall.  When Adam and the others went to pick him up they found him exhausted perched up on the couch.  Elias had given him a stuffed penguin to take with him and we had a photo session before he embarked on his inaugural adventure.

In the past few days, DJ, has surprised us with a few words.  A friend picked up a camera and he quipped, "Cheese."  He also pushed a neighbor's digital watch and said, "beep, beep.  "  Finally, last night he picked up a book that had fallen, handed it to me, and blithely said, "Here you go."  I was in good company and everyone else heard the same thing.  I think this kid is going to talk-afterall.