Walking in His footsteps

Last Saturday Evan and Emma  attended the Easter celebration at our church.  The Primary (children’s ministry) did a wonderful job.  Of course there were the classics (cookie decorating, games, Easter egg dash) but I was so touched that they included a walk in the footsteps of Christ.  The children eagerly stepped on each foot print taped to the floor wondering what would be at the other end of the trail.  At the first room a member of the congregation represented John and he taught about the last supper.   The second room “Paul” was waiting to share about what  Jesus Christ did for us in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Then Mary, mother of Jesus expressed her sadness when Christ was nailed to the cross.  The next room depicted the tomb where Mary explained that Christ had risen, that he had been resurrected.  The walk ended with our Bishop sharing with the kids his testimony of the reality of Jesus Christ as our Savior.  He also read from the scriptures and explained that Christ will come again and we can look forward to that day.  The whole experience was very spiritual.  The greatest thing was seeing the sweet three year olds react to the somberness of the atonement and crucifixion.  They reacted equally to the other extreme when Mary explained that Christ had been resurrected and that he lives.  These children are so pure and open to feelings of the spirit.

 

Evan’s favorite thing at the zoo…the train

Evan, Emma and I have made some new friends.  Maralie and Silas took us to the zoo today.  We had a great time.  Evan was so funny he would just get to each exhibit, find the animal and then want to be on his way.  It was like a Where’s Waldo game.  His favorite thing there really was the train.  Evan…got to love ‘em.  Emma loved everything about the day.  She is my animal lover.  Unfortunately we only saw the tail end of the majority of the animals we saw.  Turns out they were ALL feeling anti-social today.  We had fun laughing about it.

Back to our new friends.  We met at one of the local parks several weeks back.  Maralie and I bonded over the fact that we both enjoyed taking the kids hiking.   I was especially excited after I learned that Maralie and her husband are also looking into adoption.  James and I had just recently made the decision to pursue expanding our family through adoption and it seemed that everywhere we turned we were receiving confirmations that was the correct choice.  I was grateful that Maralie stopped by the park that day. 

 

The last six months

So it has been awhile.  There is no particular reason.  I guess blogging  just hasn’t been on my mind.  Here is the update.

James graduated in December with a bachelor’s degree in nursing.  We are all so proud of him.  The hospital he has been working for (Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta) held a nursing position for him in the Egleston campus ER.  James is very happy with the choice he made to pursue his nursing degree.  He already has plans to further his schooling.  We look forward to that in the future.  Way to go daddy!

Daddy on the night he graduated with the dean of the nursing school at the University of West Georgia.

 

Playing with friends

Spring butterflies

Visiting the fire station

Good times race track

Loving our hikes at Sweetwater Creek

WHAT! I was supposed to draw on the paper?

Sledding in Georgia

A Hunting We Will Go (no animals are harmed during this post)

So I have found a new hobby.  If you didn't think I was weird before I am sure you will now.

I grew up in suburban Denver.  Neatly manicured lawns and no leaf litter was the norm.  Now that I live in Georgia where our backyard is a forest (what they call woods here) and leaf litter is more then abundant I have discovered mushroom hunting.  Nope I had NO idea that there was such a thing as mushroom hunting but it is a real thing.  Who knew?  Recently we have been blessed with abundant rain and mushrooms are erupting out of the ground everywhere.  The playschool kids and I went for a walk the other day and  had the greatest time searching for big and little, smooth and rough, red and yellow, white and brown mushrooms.  We had a great time!  I think in the space of two front yards we found over twenty different types of  'shrooms.  Yes I was a little concerned about that whole poisonous aspect but we kept them out of our mouths and we are all still okay.

Magical Mommy Moment

Early evening light shone through the trees. It was warm but not oppressive.   As a busy mom I don't always take enough time away from the laundry, dishes, teaching, picking up and loving to just enjoy.  I sat and watched as Evan and Emma ran trucks through their sand pile, filling and dumping, burying and unearthing.  The moment was precious.  I looked at our home and yard, each one needing many improvements, but at that moment I saw only the good.  I love our quiet neighborhood.  I love that our completely unmanicured yard provides a habitat for many creatures and a place for Evan and Emma to explore and discover.  I even recognized that I have come to love the thick Georgia woods that at one time seemed so claustrophobic to me.

 

The moment expanded as I childishly hopped after a frog in hopes of catching it to show the kids.  The three of us giggled at the sight.  Totally lost in the moment I let down the serious adult demeanor I have carried with me since I was a child and looked like a crazy lady jumping around the yard.  The chase was successful and we all enjoyed examining the tiny frog and then letting it return to the untamed wilderness we call our lawn.

I suppose I am not a very traditional mom.  I actually encouraged my son to play with a dead mouse.  Okay it is not quite as bad as it sounds.  The mouse was fully contained in a jar.  At the time I caught the creature it was living but I could tell his moments were numbered.  I was grateful that I had found little mickey before Evan but I could not keep him from being curious for very long.  Before I knew it a, "he's so cute" is coming out of my three year olds mouth.  So it became a teaching moment.  We looked at the little guy and I explained that the mouse was very sick or else he would have run away from us.  Sweet, sympathetic Evan became very concerned.  He then took it upon himself to become the care taker of the mouse jar.  He was extremely careful not to shake or disturb the mouse.  And when he was accidentally a little too rough he apologized profusely to the dying mouse.  However it wasn't long before Evan discovered that if the mouse slid to the top of the jar it made a charming little noise against the metal lid.  Then he realized that if he rolled the jar across the floor the mouse would do flips.  Needless to say that mouse had a thrilling last few moments of his life.

We have had a great summer.  I have been participating in a fitness boot camp since May.  For someone who has always been terrified of exercising, especially in public, I have absolutely loved this class.  Coach David has the perfect motivation style for me and the dynamics of the group are great.  There is no intimidation and we are all there to help and support one another.  It wasn't long after I started that I realized that I actually have some athletic potential.  I just feel like there is an athlete deep inside me somewhere trying to get out.  I have learned that I am very strong and that I can accomplish physically challenging things.

Another fun thing that I have taken on is opening a little preschool or as Evan calls it "playschool" in our home.  This has been a fun project for me.  I realized that the times I was the happiest was when I was focused on teaching Evan and Emma.  Not surprisingly this was also when they were the happiest.  It took me a little while to relax a little bit on all of the chores and task that always seem to be nagging at me.  But once I did we have all been more peaceful.

So I figured why not invite other children to join us.  This would allow opportunities for Evan and Emma to form friendships and most things are more fun when you have people to share it with.  Not to mention time for Evan and Emma to learn socialization skills.

We have been up and running for two weeks now and we are having a great time.  I have two different classes a morning class and an afternoon class each meeting on opposing days twice a week.  I am only accepting four children in addition to my two.  So far that has seemed to be a good number.  It has been fun researching activities, songs, crafts and so forth for the theme we present each week.  These are things that I intended to do with the kids anyway I am just grateful to now be doubly responsible for making it happen.

In all of this chitter chatter about me and the kids you must have thought I had forgotten about James.  I reassure you that will never happen.  James is beginning his last semester of nursing school and looks forward to graduating in December.  He had a little time off in between semesters and enjoyed working on a few of the previously mentioned home improvement projects.  He is a wonderful father, provider and husband.  We are truly blessed to have each other.

     

I apologize for the never ending post.  I guess I was in the mood.  Thank you for all of your love and support.  Please come and visit us.  We would love to see you.