New Project

I have a project! A friend from church just gave me these tonight. She has a lot of plants. And when I say a lot, I really mean a LOT. We'll see what happens to these little guys. I'm so excited about them!!

Samuel and His Shadow

Samuel found his shadow this weekend! He had the best time watching it move. He kind of played peek-a-boo with it too, squealing when it would "reappear!"

Adventure!

Brian and Jack took a "field trip" today to the Hanging Rock Tower & Raptor Observatory in West Virginia.
What a great day they had! Their observation journal looked something like this:

Hanging Rock Tower & Raptor Observatory
October 3, 2008
Elevation: 3812'
Observers: Jack and Dad
Arrived 12:15
12-1 p.m. American Kestral (4)
1-2 p.m. American Kestral (2)
Sharp Shinned Hawk (3)
Bald Eagle (2)
2-3 p.m. American Kestral (1)
Blue Jays (3)
Little Brown Bat (1)

The bat was discovered when Jack sat down next to it! Can you see it next to the chestnut? And yes, two bald eagles!

I tried to get this on with the last post but I'm not that great at getting pictures where I want them. Here, Jack is working hard to get gum off of his hand. It took him a good half hour. There's some on his shirt, too. And you know, as I write, I realize that I threw that shirt into the wash tonight without getting the rest of the gum off! OOPS! I think we are going on a gum fast at our house!

To Complain or Not to Complain...

Today had the potential to be "one of those days." The house was a mess. We really needed to do a Walmart run. Laundry. Etc... Our Walmart trip was exasperating with Samuel crying throughout most of the trip and very slow people in every aisle!! I felt like screaming! And yet the whole time, as I wanted so much to be justified in my frustrations, a couple of verses from 1 Samuel kept coming to mind. (The ladies Bible study at church is doing a study on 1 Samuel).

"The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up. The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts."

Now, I didn't think our morning was quite so dire! But, the point is, the Lord is intimately involved with all details of our lives and if we trust His sovereignty in the big things, is there really ever a good reason to complain about these minor annoyances or inconveniences? No. So though I'd like to be able to really do some whining of my own sometimes, I hope instead that I will trust God's hand as He is at work, even in Walmart.
As the day went on, we found many things to enjoy. Here's a sample!

He looks like he got caught! He actually sat to look at books.

Kayla just had her nails painted. Looking a little wild!

We enjoyed dinner and birthday cake with Grandpa. Notice the little finger making its way toward the frosting!
Happy Birthday!

7 Hours...

I love these two pictures. Samuel likes hats. Also likes getting himself stuck behind the gate on the stairs! Kayla spent her rest time organizing her Strawberry Shortcake dolls and Little People on her window sill. Her orderly tendencies are an inspiration to me!

As I thought about putting these pictures up, though, I thought, "You know, today was actually a pretty rotten day." It all started around midnight when we caught a mouse that had ventured upstairs . Upstairs. Yuck. It took us a while to figure out what to do with it once we had it.

As the day progressed, it seemed as though at least one person was crying or in trouble for most of it. At 1:00, I said "Wow. 7 hours until bedtime. Wow." I truly wondered how we would make it. But we did.

All that to say, we clearly found some bright moments in the day. This last picture is a note Jack sent flying down the stairs in an effort to obey my threat that revolved around not coming down the stairs once I left his room after tucking him in. At first, I thought it might be another mouse when I heard the paper fall. Thankfully, no. Just a clever attempt at extending the day!

Another recent conversation, this one in the bathtub. (Background: Samuel has just a couple of words. He mostly grunts, points, and screams to let us know what he wants.)

"I hope Sam starts talking soon."

"He will."

"Well I sure hope he doesn't talk in Spanish. How will we understand him?" :)