Me David

That is an affectionate little name we sometimes call David. It came about because the kids were visiting with our elderly neighbors. David had never gone over before, so they asked his name. He responded proudly, "Me David". That is what our neighbor calls him and so we have adopted it also.

So, none of that really has anything to do with this post, but this post is about David. I was in a bit of an unusual situation last night. Because all 5 older kids were participating in their annual soccer camp, I was alone on the playground with David. I had a good time taking pictures. Sorry, you'll have to indulge me a little.




I never pass up an opportunity for "school":


All of the following pictures were David's idea. He posed and asked me to take them. Cute. As for the clothes, well, at least he dresses himself:

(Sam loved playing soccer by the way. I guess he was feeling pretty grown up. Usually it's the "older kids" and the "little boys" and this was his first time to feel the freedom of being an "older kid". Hopefully tonight I'll actually get some pictures of the kids playing soccer... the real reason we are there).

We need a "chaos plant"

Accidentally forgot to water my plant before I left for the beach. So it was a very sad, droopy plant that I came home to. I immediately watered it, but the poor thing did not improve for days. Finally a couple hearty leaves began to stand themselves back upright against all odds. Since it wasn't completely dead, I felt it necessary to clean out and cut back all the dead leaves in order to improve its chances of survival.
Tina came in to observe and help. She asked me what kind of plant it was. I told her it was a peace lily. She shook her head sadly,

"Well, that's why it's dying. There isn't enough peace in this house for it."

Amen.

A servant's heart

Just wanted to get this written down so I wouldn't forget.



While we were at the beach we had to squeeze in around the table and if you were sitting in the chairs that were near the wall, it was very hard to get out. Jokingly, John told one of the kids to just stand up and step on David's head. David obediently put his head down and closed his eyes. My Mom said, "He really has a servant's heart, doesn't he?" Then my brother-in-law shared about what had happened earlier that same day. My brother-in-law was holding my nephew in a chair on the beach. He told my nephew not to put his feet up in the chair because they were sandy. David overheard this, got a bucket, walked down to the ocean, filled the bucket with water and carried it back. He then poured the water over his cousin's feet to wash the sand off. The only reason for him to do this was that he wished to serve his cousin. Nobody asked him to do it.



Sitting with Taryn, keeping her company while she did her schoolwork:

Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 4:10-11

Kids' play

I walk into the living room this morning and seriously this is exactly what I found.

David in his little house:

The boys with their "computers", clipboards, and delivery schedule on the wall:

The girls making up an interpretive dance:

Kids are such fun.

The little van that could

We are celebrating the blessing of a new-to-us, 15-passenger van.

So I thought it would be fitting to honor the van which has been with my husband even longer than I have.

The van is still running and with 246,000 miles, John is feeling the need to run it at least to 250,000, just to say he could. This is a 1991 van. It does not have working air conditioning. The automatic locks do not work. The speedometer sticks, so you are never really sure how fast you're going. The ignition does not work... basically the key turns on all the electrical stuff and then you have to hot-wire the car to start the engine. The paint has fallen off, the body rusted. The interior covering overhead had unstuck and was hanging down in a canopy. John remedied this by tearing it down.

The kids told us that whenever we hit a nice big bump (which really doesn't have to be that big since the shocks are worn out too) dust falls on their heads. We all had a good laugh when the kids were telling us about how they can't look up in the van for fear of dust falling on them. We immediately thought of Winnie-the-Pooh as he told Piglet about jagulars:

'That's what Jagulars always do,' said Pooh, much interested. 'When you look up, they drop on you,'
'I'm looking down,' cried Piglet loudly.

But this van has been the primary transportation for our family since our accident back in November. It has never once failed to start. It has never once caused us to be stranded. We have driven it to Dalton and to the beach and to gymnastics meets, not to mention all the running about town I do each week. It has been the best van ever. We are very grateful for God's blessing.

A smart Dragon

I asked Sam why he was dressed the way he was. I wondered if he didn't have somebody to play with and had to be the knight and the dragon (actually I called him a dinosaur and was promptly corrected) at the same time.

No, he told me. He was just a smart dragon and that's why he had all that stuff.

An achievement of greatness or lameness?

This is my 100th blog post. Took me 263 days to do it, but I guess it's still something of an achievement (if this is how I want to be remembered, of course):




Drawn by Rebekah in 2005. My friend pointed out that at least we're both smiling in her picture.