Ellis' in Greenville

Well folks, he did it.

Done now after 3 or 4 years of working on papers by candle light. He'd put the boys to bed, hang out with the wife then when I'd get sleepy he'd get up and go study for an hour or two. He was so good at keeping his study time from interfering with family time that I didn't even know he was working on a Masters until 2 years into it. The man hasn't had a Sunday afternoon nap in four years. If he was home and we were sleeping, he was studying.

Boy is he glad he's done!





After graduation Mike and I left the children in Greenville and headed back to Abilene to oversee the move. Due to cutbacks in the Air Force this move was less government supervised and much more of a headache. See below. Mike and I spent hours chilling on this rug waiting while the slowest people in the planet packed and moved our stuff. I'm so thankful that the boys weren't there going crazy.

Helpful people like this one (Joe) kept the kids happy and healthy while Mike and I were moving.

For the last two months we thought we were going to have a house built for us in Arkansas. Turns out we were wrong. God changed the plans for us on that. No problem except that we didn't have a place to live and needed to begin the house search again. Well, we found one. We drove up and looked at it and immediately put in an offer. After a little bit of negotiating we bought a house! I'm very excited about moving in and making this place home. It comes with an acre and a half of land for the boys to explore. It couldn't be more perfect for our family.

Ty had a birthday. My smiley little guy has turned four. For those of you with little bitty kids, four is big. No longer a toddler, no longer struggling to communicate, no longer having potty training issues. No, this guy is big. I'll put up a birthday post soon. I'm working on collecting all the pictures. Here he is waiting on the UPS man to deliver him a package full of birthday party supplies --glow sticks!

So I told you the house was perfect for us right? Well it is, or it will be... after we add another 500 sq. feet. Dad is showing Mike how to build stairs.

We've been being a little more creative with activities for the boys since we are not at home and doing our normal routine. Here mom brought home a big piece of cardboard for the kids to draw on.

Austin helps himself to fruit often.

The boys have access to an awesome swing set in the backyard. Mom and Dad's is a fun place.

The boys and I have been to this park several times. Here my big guy is enjoying a picnic.

I snapped a picture of all three of them (in the same place). See how Austin thinks he's one of the big kids.

Hannah invited the boys over to her house for a sleepover. They did cool things like this. A masking tape race car track. The guys had an awesome time.

Dad needed some pictures of pregnant women for a video at church to show the need for workers in the nursery. This picture was taken two days before the baby was born.

Next post: Baby is here!

The way it's been

I am so far behind in recording our major life events that I'm going to have to update you in a series of posts.

I'll start off with saying that the last nine months were some of the most physically challenging I can remember. I was sicker with this last baby than all the others. More extreme morning sickness --the scented trash bags made me want to throw up. Mike making coffee did make me throw up. On the good days I would roll out of bed, walk to the kitchen, lie over on the counter resting my head in my hands and rest for a few seconds before summoning the strength to do what I had to in that room.

Amazingly enough my boys all made it through. The next couple months were good. And God provided (as He always does) with my sister, Chrissy, moving in with Mike and I. She attended college in Abilene while living with us. We had told her for years she was always welcome to come live with us where ever we were and do college in that town. She came and was a huge help to me and Mike. We thoroughly enjoyed her presence and involvement in our little family.

December arrived too quickly for me. I spent as much time as I could afford being with the women who had walked with my through the last four years --four years that I wouldn't trade for the moon. Those years were filled with adjusting to military life, deployments, TDYs, having children (plural), surviving a two-year-old. I learned so much about how to be a wife, a mother, a daughter to our Heavenly Father, a teacher. I learned how to make friends, how to make coffee, how to be not so obnoxious. I spent countless hours with a cup of coffee in front of me either receiving council or discussing with my peers different ways to reach a child's rebellious heart. I would listen to women build up their husbands and would learn how to be a submissive wife with words of praise on her tongue instead of a judgemental untrusting woman.

I wouldn't trade these four hard years. I definitely feel that God took us to Abilene for me to learn. --I think I've said that on here before... sorry....

So December we left Abilene.

For the last two months the boys and I have been living in Greenville with my gracious hospitable parents and two youngest sisters. I can't believe they haven't asked us to move --or moved out themselves. I had hoped that we would be able to be a blessing to them by having dinner on the stove and the house clean when they got home from work each day. It hasn't exactly worked out that way. The house has never been clean for them. Dinner on the stove... maybe once or twice a week. I just haven't felt very good physically since I've been here. The last month and a half of the pregnancy were hard. Today, a week and a day since baby #4 was born, I'm beginning to feel strength return. However, most all of that is spent trying to take care of four small people. It seems with each new child I have to re-learn how to do life. How many does it take till you get it down and daily life becomes a perfected form of art? 19? If so, I doubt we'll ever get there ;-)

Tonight, after sending the wild boys to bed, I asked if the grown-ups at home would watch the baby while I escaped. They were more than willing, as always.

But now, Starbucks is closing on me. I promise the next post will provide more humor and less information. For records sake I needed to recap the last months. Stay tuned, maybe this blog will get funny again. I think it will.

Family Christmas Picture

Merry Christmas to you!

Due to several mediocre reasons, you will not be getting a Christmas card from me. Well, 20 of you will. I didn't really like the options for backgrounds at one photo card website and that happened to be the place I had some credit for free prints. So I ordered 20 and planned to go to another site to get more. I never did.



The new plan is to send you a family picture with a baby announcement included.



So merry Christmas and I look forward to hearing from you even though I can't return the favor for a few more months. We will be receiving mail at my parents address for the next few months. Let me know if you want the address :-)

It's time.

Four and a half years in Abilene. It's over now. At the drop party during Mike's training in San Antonio it was revealed what airframe Mike would be working on and at which base he would start out.

I can remember it clear as day: "C-130's to Dyess!" That was the announcement.

My heart sank at exactly the same moment my jaw dropped. Seriously? C-130s? A plane we were avoiding because of the strenuous deployment cycles. Abilene? What do you even do at that place besides watch the tumbleweeds roll and watch your step for rattlesnake?

We had a tiny bit of faith that God was in this decision and our fate did not depend on some commander who was giving Mike less than he deserved.

We went.

It was either that or get court marshaled.

Now we have been here four and a half years and it is time to PCS.

PCS --Permanent Change of Station.

I hate that word permanent.

At least I hate it now that my heart belongs and loves this dusty hot town.

For the last few months I have known it was coming, but I refuse to live in the future. I knew we were leaving, but I didn't embrace it in my mind. Today however, I must. I must put all my attention and energy toward leaving.

Yesterday at church the boys had to say goodbye to Ashten. ...wow. Typing that made my eyesight blurry. Ashten has been their second mom. Now I can't see at all. Great. Where do we keep the tissue? Ashten (I don't think she even knows this) is listed as the emergency contact at all kinds of places in case there is an emergency and they can't get ahold of me. Probably you should inform your emergency contact that they are the emergency contact, that way they will be ready to step in if you need them. There is really no point in telling Ashten. I know she would (because she has) drop everything to help me out. She took the day off of work when I went into labor. I called her and my mother at 6:00 to tell them we were at the hospital. She and her husband have spent holidays with my extended family.

Every military wife needs someone who can and will drop everything when you need her. What will I do in Arkansas without her?

And it's not just her.

I've got about...5 REALLY GOOD friends. Then about another hundred good friends. These people have taken care of my family, prayed over me, encouraged me, fed me, fed my messy children, mowed my yard, drank coffee with me, shoveled my entire huge driveway when it came a blizzard and many other things.

I've got an arsenal full of older women who have taught me and counseled me.

Now I will be far away from them.

It's hard to think about this. It's overwhelming to think what I'll do on my own. I rely on these people!

It's been hard to breath. I thought it was because I was anxious and not trusting God. Then I was reading last night on my pregnancy app on my phone it said: "...your growing uterus has compressed your lungs, limiting their ability to fully expand when you take a breath and causing you to feel like you've just run a marathon when you've only climbed a flight of stairs."

I think maybe it's both.

The thought of bouncing around for the next few months, Mike being away from us, a baby being born, a house being built and the overseeing mama having about 30% of the energy I normally have... it makes breathing hard.

I can't do this. I can do a lot of stuff. I'm a military wife. We are amazing ;-)
But... this is too much.

Last night I read to the boys a chapter of the book we are going through: "Behold the Lamb of God." I will wait till another post to tell you how awesome I think this book is. If you are familiar with the Jesus storybook Bible, this is a bigger kid/adult version of that book. Yes, I am reading it to my 3 and 5 year-olds. It is a bit of a struggle for them to understand, but things they are gleaning are worth it.

So I am reading this chapter. It is about when the Israelites were about to enter the promised land. Spies were sent in to check out the place. They came back and reported of it's bounty and it's HUGE strong people living in the land. The odds were against them being able to conquer the land. It was impossible. They couldn't do it.

The people responded to this report by being afraid and whining "We should have just stayed in Egypt to die." They did not want to enter. They didn't believe that God would fight for them. So... He didn't.

Despite the miracles of Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, the miraculous provision of manna and water, the visual reminder of a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire... these people didn't believe that God could be trusted to prepare the way.

So he didn't.

He turned them around and had them wander in the desert for the next 40 years where every one of the "faithless generation" died.

I paused my reading in mid paragraph.

This is me. Or at least it could be. Things are heading that way.

I stand on the edge of the promised land (or... maybe just Arkansas) and I freeze up, struggle to breathe.

God who has taken a place like Abilene and taught me, provided for me, matured me, loved me, listened to me, helped me... and I think this God won't take care of the difficulties of this move.

I'm so dumb.

He's so faithful.

I'm so glad.

Bottoms: Why do we have 'em? Really?

Ty has a bad habit going. It's arguing. He argues about whether or not he is arguing. It's bad. We are trying to figure out different ways to help him have victory over this sin. Today however, the result of arguing was a couple swats on his hind quarters.

I tell him: "Turn around Ty, so I can spank your bottom. That's where you get a spanking. Bottoms are for spanking."

Ty: "No Mom..."

(See, I told you he had a problem.)

"...bottoms are not for spanking. Bottoms are for poo-pooing."

Tape

Dear Mom,

I can't wait till the boys get that roll of scotch tape in their stocking from you. I'm interested to see what other creative uses they can find for a role of tape.

-Becca

Things I never thought I'd hear myself say

"No Ty! Jack does not want to see your poo-poo."



That was Mike responding to the question:

"Jaaaaaccckkkk! Do you want to come see my poooooo- pooooooo!"

Which was yelled while sitting on the toilet.

Little boys

I couldn't trade 'em. They are sweet, rough, gross and adorable.

Ty:



Our little exterminator. He is always calling out in alarm when he sees an insect in the house. He's not scared, mind you, he just wants me to know there is an emergency situation and he's going to take care of it. Here he is bringing me a spider he killed. He told me one of it's legs came off. And he brought it for proof. The dried blood in his nose is not from the insect battle. Just further proof that this child is rough and tumble.


Austin:

AKA: the wicked witch of the west. Dorthy's been here, the red shoes are missing. We all know I would NEVER let my child out of the house in sock feet. Some of you may be asking why was I getting out my camera when the child has been run over by a car??? You don't know me well then do you? Now calm down, he was fine. I'm not sure how he got himself into this predicament. This isn't even our house, it's the neighbors flowerbed.

See. He was fine. I'll even say he enjoyed it. Sorry about your plants Julie!


Jack:

Jack and Ty are both pictured sitting in the chairs, but I'm giving credit to Jack for the idea. I had informed him that we were having guests over in about an hour. He was ready and waiting (and comfortable) to greet them.

This is when I went out and told them there had been a change in plans and the friends weren't coming over.

"Not cool Mom, not cool."

I is smart.

Awesome. Just awesome.

No wonder no one else would let you interview them for the story.

Most moms have more since then me. "Oh, ok, sure. I'll do it."

Little did I know "We will edit this" meant: "We'll shorten the clip, but make sure we leave in anything you might say that makes you sound like an idiot."

http://weareaustin.com/search-fulltext?nxd_id=191667

Thanks. Thanks for that.

After getting in the car to leave, I tell Mike: "I think I made up a word during my interview. Surely they'll take it out."

Never assume... never assume.

How did he do it?

Twenty-four.

Twenty-four grandchildren.

Every one of them present at your funeral, minus two. One overseas serving as a missionary, the other hundreds of miles away serving in the navy. Both expressing how badly they wanted to be home --for you.

We came from miles around, took off work, drove through the night, bought expensive tickets, even flew in our families, made impossible things happen so we could be there.

It looked like a small army, the family section at the funeral. Most had their children beside them. And what a crowd was there! I thought the receiving line would never end. I've never seen such a turnout for a 90-year-old's funeral. It shows you didn't stop making sure people felt loved, even in your last years.

So many people. So many coming up and telling us how special you were. I heard things like: "He was such a gentleman." "He will be missed." He was so gentle and kind." "He was the same man wherever he went." I'd choke back the tears and try to leave the conversation before I needed a professional cosmetologist to get the mascara stains off of my face.

But... there a lots of gentle, kind, loving people who die every day who evoke this response out of people.

I really can't get over the fact that every grandchild possible --and their spouses were present. Is this normal? And it's not like we just felt like we needed to be there for our mothers. We could not miss it.

We couldn't.

And for the last little while I've been trying to figure out why.

Was it that we always felt so special around him?
Was it his dignity we admired?
Was it how he loved his family?
Was it how he served his church?
How he never complained --and yet, in his last few years, tried to be honest when we asked him how he was feeling?
Was it his wise counsel?

I want to know.

I want to know so that I can direct my boys in his steps.

This wasn't just a "sweet grandpa."

This was a man that was described by someone who had known him for years as:

"Nobody's perfect right? ["Right."] "But Weldon, he was perfect. Not a flaw. Not a flaw."

Austin's first words

Austie has been talking quite a bit lately, he's no "Ty," but he's doing well. You can tell he is interested in being able to tell us what he wants.

His first word was: "more!" and he used it often, when eating, when drinking, when not eating or drinking. Sometimes he would go to the fridge and point to it and say, "More!" I figured out what he wanted.

Since then he has added:

Mama
Ty
Baby
out (outside)
Bye
Hi
Kiki (Aunt Chrissy)
Gigi
Ball
Dada
Dack (Jack)
Peese (please)

A couple days ago, Austin said his first sentence!

He was out near the end of the driveway, looking longingly at the forbidden road. I walked toward him giving him a look of warning, a "Don't you even think about going into the street" look. That is one of the biggest offenses at our house, because I want the boys to be able to be trusted in the front yard. So we really harp on street safety.

Austin looks up at me, points behind him to the street and says: "No road."

Good job Austin! He gets it. He knows he'll "get it", if he does go into the road.

...apparently being consistent works.

oh, right, I forgot.

It was hard to get up this morning


again.


Twenty-one days to a habit? Maybe, but not when spiritual warfare is involved.


Back in the saddle for four weeks after three months of being too sick and tired to attempt an early rise.


It's still hard.


Day after day of getting up, making coffee and attempting to meet with the Father.


I sit there. In the dark. Alone. Ready to commune. Wanting to feel, to worship, to be spoken to

but.


It's just another quiet night.


I decide to speak, thanking him for his blessings, asking for help, telling him what my friends need from Him.


My thoughts are quickly interrupted by, well, anything...


everything.


Embarrassed I try to return my focus to worshiping my Lord.


I try.


All is quiet.


I get the feeling that I'm not in the throne room. I feel I'm still outside the door, standing there, hands in my pockets, hoping He comes out and scoops me up. But not feeling worthy to knock.


I mean, I know I'm not worthy. There's no debate there. I'm the one who stepped out, over three months ago I told him. "I'm pregnant now, see ya in three months God."


The sickness is over. I'm back.


But my mind can't get over the fact that I stepped out.


What right do I have to go back and say, "I've decided I'm ready to go back to being more than friends." Like the God of the universe is a dog I've kept pinned up all day and now I'm coming back to tell him "Come on boy, I need some affection from you now. Come show me that 'love you forever' kind of love. It's convenient for ME now."


You don't do that! What nerve of me to treat God like a loyal animal.


So I've been sitting here, for four weeks, reading his Word, doing my Bible study, praying, loitering...

outside His door.

Recently I've realized what my deal is. Why I can't just open the door and walk in. Who says I have to knock anyway?

Grace --God's unconditional love and favor toward us

I've forgotten about it.


How could I forget? (I'll blame it on the pregnancy brain.)


It's foundational to what I believe about God:


God is perfect. I am far far from it.
He knows it. He loves me anyway.


My disobedience has made it impossible for me to be near Him.
He knows it. He loves me anyway.

He made a way. His son took my problems, my issues, my selfishness and paid the penalty for it. Because of my acceptance of this gift and my pledge to follow Him, I'm now clean. I'm now perfect in the sight of God.


That's what Grace is.

God knowing how self-centered and ugly my heart is, and He loves me anyway.


I think it's my problem to fix. It's not. Cause I can't fix it.

Holy Trinity, continue to teach me that Christ's righteousness
satisfies justice and evidences thy love; help me to make use of it by faith as
the ground of my peace and of thy favour and acceptance, so that I may live
always near the cross. --M. Vincent

Now if I can just get that through my thick head.

Who wouldn't want this?

If Mike ever lets me raise chickens and they somehow survive to adulthood, then I'd like one of these with which to gather my eggs.

Seems like a fit since we are moving to Arkansas....

Chapter 6

We are in the middle of our third adventure together. Overall it has gone quite well. Ty wasn't ready to read The House at Pooh Corner but we stuck it out. Every time we would read he'd remind me that he "don't like this book." I'd tell him to pick out a shorter book from his book shelf and I'd read it to him after we were done with Pooh.

Tonight's reading of Charlotte's Web was pretty typical. Here is a sample of how things went:



Chapter VI

"Ty, you cannot lay on me. It's too hot. Move over and lay next to me and don't wiggle." (blue font is me)

"The early summer days on a farm are the happiest and fairest days of the year. Lilacs bloom and make the air sweet, and then fade. Apple blossoms come with the lilacs, and the bees visit around among the apple trees."

"Mom, I thought you were going to read about Wilber." (Red font is Jack)
"I am Jack, just keep listening."

... The days grow warm and soft. School ends, and

"Ty, get off me."

...children have time to play and to fish for trouts in the brook. Avery often brought a trout home ...

"Who's Avery?" (Green font is Ty)
"Avery is the brother."

...in his pocket, warm and stiff and ready to be fried for supper.
Now that school was over, Fern visited the barn almost every day, to sit quietly on her stool. The animals treated her as an equal.

"What's an equal mean?"
"An equal is someone who is the same as you. Like me and you, we are not equals because I am your athority. You and Ty and Wyatt are equals because ya'll are all friends and no one is in charge of the other ones...".

... The sheep lay calmly at her feet.

"Ty come lie down beside me and get out from between my legs. Don't push on my (oumph!!) stomach."
"I need a drink."
"You can go get one, but I'm going to keep reading and you'll miss part of the story."
"Wait for me to get back 'till you read."
"I'm going to keep reading."

... Around the first of July, the work horses were hitched to the moving machine, and Mr. Zuckerman climbed into the seat and drove into the field.

"When are we going to hear Wilber's name?"
"Soon, just let me get though this part."

... All morning you could hear the rattle of the machine as it went round and round, while tall grass fell down behind the cutter bar in long green swathes. Next day, if there was no thunder shower all hands would help rake and pitch and load, and the hay would be hauled to the barn in the...

"Mom, mom? Mom could you quit talking because I need to make a phone call."
"Sure Ty, go ahead."
Ty lowers his voice and speaks quietly into his phone. "Hello? Yes, ok. Yes. Alright Goodbye." Ty puts down his toy phone and I continue reading.

...high hay wagon, with Fern and Avery

"Who's Fern?"
"She's the girl. (I turn to the cover and show Ty the picture of Fern.)

... riding on the top of the load. Then the hay would be hoisted, sweet and warm, into the big loft until the whole barn seemed to smell like a wonderful bed of timothy and clover.

"What's clover?"
"Timothy and clover are types of grass."

... It was fine to jump in and perfect to hide in. And sometimes Avery would find a little grass snake in the hay, and would add it to the other things in his pocket.

"Who's Avery?"

You know you're lazy:

...when wake up time went from your alarm going off at 5:30 AM to "Oh please let the kids sleep till 8:30!"

...when going to the pool seems like too much work.

...when you pick out food for the family based on how much clean-up the meal will require.

...when you help your big kids play their favorite game at Chuck E. Cheese and then they wander off while there is still 30% life left, so you continue to play for them.

...when you put another token in and continue the game.

...when your one-year-old falls out of his stroller because you are playing the game and not watching him.

...when nap time finally comes and the baby (of course) wakes up just as you drift off. Instead of getting up you nudge the five-year-old and say, "You wanna get up and play with him?"

...when you then say, "Check his diaper will ya? ...Oh, and he hasn't had lunch yet. Get out a box of cereal."

...when you are on the computer, your baby walks by and you get a whiff of his diaper.... and you just keep on typing.

...when you finally do stop typing and then look at the clock to see when Dad will be home to see if maybe the kid can ride it out till then. (I put ointment on the rash, he should be fine!)

Definition of evening #2

eve-ning (Noun)

1. When the sun is orange in the water

2. The edge of the day


by Jack

Honey For a Child's Heart

My mom came to visit me a couple weeks ago. After she had hugged us all she went back out to the car and returned with an armload of books. Some she had just purchased on the way out to our house when stopping to stretch her legs, and one she brought from home. She handed it to me and said, "This is a book I really enjoyed when I had little children."



What did she hand me? Honey for a Child's Heart by Gladys Hunt

I took it and studied the front cover. Pictures from the early 90s confirmed her date was correct. A description on the cover read: "The Imaginative Use of Books in Family Life." (the photo is from a newer edition)

Did mom bring me this book after I'd expressed an interest in reading aloud more to my children or did this book peek my interest in the activity. I can't remember (I know, it was just two weeks ago.)

But now I'm super excited about reading aloud with my boys. The book discussed all kinds of benefits to reading together as a family. More than you'd think. Gladys Hunt shares experiences from her childhood, traditions her parents started when she was young that have continued for three generations so far. Tested by time? I'd say so. She tells of road trips that always involved books, inside jokes possible through experiences they had shared by going on journeys together in books. I love that she focuses on God's Word as the ultimate reading material and shares of some of her family's traditions:

When our son Mark was four years old, we began to read aloud from the Gospel
of Mark. We chose this Gospel because of its name and because of its short
narrative passages. Father had a plan. Everyone at the table (and
this included our numerous guests) had to ask a question and answer one.
He made a game of it. Sometimes the question was directed to the person on
our left, other times to the person on our right. We'd have to listen
carefully, and sometimes the question we had thought to ask was usurped by
someone whose turn came first, and we would have to think of another.

At first our questions were simple. Where did Jesus go? What did
Jesus do? Who went with Jesus? Mark picked up the idea rapidly. Then we
began to interject another kind of question. Why did Jesus say that?
What does He mean? And then later, What can we learn from Jesus about the
way we ought to act?

In these questions are the three elements which open any text: Fact -what
does it say? Interpretation--what does it mean? Application --what does it
mean to me?

For a while Mark's questions centered on facts, but before long he began
asking deeply penetrating ones. If Jesus could raise Lazarus from the
dead, why did He let his dear friend John the Baptist stay dead? Why did
the Jews say Jesus had an evil spirit? Increasingly we delved into the
meat of what the text was saying. p.98

What a cool idea that I hope we will apply to our daily routine. Teaching little bitty children the basics to studying the Bible --I love it.

Hunt also reveals how useful books can be as teachers. I am an over-explainer by nature and am always watching for ways I can train myself not to be a broken record and still teach my boys as many of the 70 trillion things they need to know before they are 18.

The best teaching we have done in our family has been through reading the Bible
and good books aloud together. It is really not such a profound
concept. How would you best be enlightened to some truth --by being told
that it was wrong to be nasty and thoughtless to others or to meet and come to
love some character in a story and then feel her hurts when someone is unkind
and says cruel things?

After a successful appeal by Mrs. Hunt, I am happy to announce that we have finished our first chapter book. We read Stuart Little, the story of a mouse and his adventures. I had hoped that this book would stir curiosity within Jack and Ty's little minds, that they would use what they'd learned from the book, vocabulary, ideas, or lessons and apply some of it to their lives.

Well, the other day, Ty was lying on the floor with his head in my lap. I traced his forehead and nose with my fingers than began asking him questions: "What's that?" I'd ask. "My nose." He'd reply. "What's that?" "My eye." "What's that?" I ask, pointing at his eyebrow. "That's, that's, that's mouse hairs." He grinned up at me.

Well, ...that's a start.

I'm looking forward to many more fun times as we learn and explore together through books.

Underlying all of this discussion is my thesis that parents who read widely
together with their children are going to be those who most influence
their children, who have the largest world view, who have an uncommon delight in what is good and true and beautiful --and an uncommon commitment to it. Sharing and feeling and talking together will come naturally. Books shared with each other provide that kind of climate.

Who says we don't have any rules around here?

"Jack, don't hit him in the head while he's chewing."


See. We have rules.

Definition of evening

eve-ning:

Noun: When the sun is orange on the water



-By Jack

Maybe next time

It was Sonic burger night.

Caroline's suggestion hit the mark so Mike stopped at the Commissary on the way home and bought tator tots.

I put the frozen potatoes in the oven and we loaded in to the van. (Yes, It takes all five of us to pick up burgers.)

Ty had mentioned twice before we left that he didn't like burgers and, as he does, assumed we would throw out all our plans and start over with a plan he approved of.

I briefed Mike on the imminent conflict. We discussed it and decided tonight would not be the night that we started special ordering food for our picky children. Ty was getting a burger.

In the drive-through line Ty overheard us order burgers and told his dad that he did not like burgers. Mike pretended to hear him wrong, "Oh you like burgers?" "No. I DON'T like burgers." "You like burgers?" "No..." After a minute Ty was laughing and seemed ok with the idea of ketchup and cheese on his.

Nice. Mike played him like a fiddle. Good job Captain.

We get home with our five burgers and five people. Tator tots were slightly overdone --but at least they weren't mealy.

We spread the table. I placed Ty's burger in front of him. He looks down and says: "Mom! They put meat on mine!"

Aww man... I thought we'd solved this problem. I begin a little speech about how we needed to eat what was served us and the starving children and all that.

Then I open my bag, pull out the "All the way with mayo," and exclaim to Mike: "Mine doesn't have any meat!"

"What?!" Mike asks.

Jack's head whips around in shock,

Austin's eyes get really big,

and Ty yells in relief, "YOU CAN HAVE MINE!!!"


So much for the life lesson Ty was going to be taught... I needed protein.