To Mexico, At Last

June 9, 2008

These past few days we've been blessed by getting to spend time with our sweet friends, the Hancocks. Casey was our minister for the first five years that we lived here. And beyond that, Casey and Teri were our wonderful friends. We shared a lot of joys and a lot of sorrows together during those five years. When we came to this area, Libby was just 9 months old and Laurel was not quite two-and-a-half. Here they are now, at nine and ten.

Corbin and Duncan were born just 7 weeks apart, and they were inseparable for those first 4 years. Here they are now at 7. I was so afraid that Duncan would be lost without Corbin when they moved away to the midwest two years ago.

The Hancocks just bought a Wii, so there was a lot of Wii playing inside during this steaming hot weekend. I even had my first Wii experience. Predictably, I didn't get it. But everyone else had fun!

Teri and I enjoyed a weekend catching up and talking about their future, because that's what this trip is all about. Three years ago Casey and Teri began making plans to begin mission work in Mexico, and now they are at last headed to begin this next phase of their ministry. For the past couple of years, they've been raising support and partnering with a church in Cincinnati. I remember my father saying to me many years ago, when Casey was in his second or third year of ministry at our church: "They won't be here long; I bet they'll be on the mission field within five years." As always, my father knows best.

It is hard to be sad when God's work in the Hancock's lives is so evident. Still, I can't help but get weepy thinking that the next time we see them--when they are on furlough in 4 years--that Libby will be 13, Corbin 11, and baby Ian, who we've only just met, will be nearly 5. But greater than the sadness is the joy in knowing that, at last, they will cross the border into their new lives.

I'm seeing a short-term mission trip coming up in the next couple of years...

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Monday, June 9, 2008 - Happy/Sad with you

Posted by Jennifer in OR (69.88.229.219)

What a bittersweet moment with your friends! I'm glad you had this time with them.
www.diaryof1.com

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Tuesday, June 10, 2008 - Don't forget...

Posted by anotherblogonthefire (216.221.68.123)

there are short-term mission opportunities in PNG, too!

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Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Anonymous (216.70.179.150)

I'm so glad to read this! :) I'll give the link to Tina, too. I can't believe the kids are that big; I remember when they were born.
Cindy

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Thursday, June 12, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Jess (91.177.221.22)

Hi there. I have been reading your blog for a bit now, and feel compelled to reply to this post. I'm a military wife, so I know all too well the pain of saying 'good bye.' I could have written your post many times over, only changing the names, reasons, and locations.

I just wanted to offer hugs and prayers of support.

Jess

Spicy Pork Cutlets

Food boredom sets in around here every year or so, and Dr. H. and I get serious and begin trying out new meals. Dr. H. found this one and I did some adjustments to our taste, which runs along the more-spicy lines. We thought the result was fantastic. A dinner guest (OK, he's not really a guest as he frequents our house much too often to be given this designation) said, "I don't really like pork, but this is amazing." Or something like that. So, I present....

Spicy Pork Cutlets

1 (1-lb) pork tenderloin
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp. rosemary (cut up)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. dried red pepper flakes
2 tsp. olive oil
2-3 gloves garlic, minced

Mix all the ingredients except the pork in a small bowl. Slice pork into 12 medallions. Place each pork slice between two sheets of plastic wrap and flatten with your hand to about 1/4-inch thick. Rub the spicy mixture over both sides of every slice. Spray your broiler rack with cooking spray and place pork on rack. Put in broiler pan and broil at the top rack, as close as possible to the heat, for about 4 minutes on each side. This timing worked perfectly, but our oven tends to run a bit hot. You may want to keep your oven door open while you broil to make sure you don't scorch your delicious supper.

We served this with Pioneer Woman's Crash Hot Potatoes, which were just okay. I think a perfect accompaniment, if I were the kind of person who made side dishes with any kind of regularity, would be mashed potatoes, green beans, and cantaloupe (to cut the spiciness).

Summer Projects

June 1, 2008

We officially ended our school year on Friday, so I'm ready to face the summer projects. I'm trying to be a realist this year. I have just a few projects planned that absolutely must get done:

1) First and foremost, paint the kitchen.

It's been about 10 months since I peeled most of the wallpaper off; you can see one of the last remnants there in the corner, where I can't reach (a-hem, Dr. H.). That is absolutely the first project of the summer, and if it's the only one that gets done, I'll take that.


2) Next, the sunporch must be straightened and made clutter-free.

This is a project that I do every summer because during the winter, the sunporch becomes the junk room. Every single thing, large and small, that does not have a home, finds one in the sunporch. So this extremely cute room (which is currently a craft room, but someday may be my writing nook) with loads of potential charm is a disaster area by spring. Every year. But this time I am vowing to keep the sunroom clean and well-used. And that leads into #3...

3) Figure out how to use my new space.

So, a little background for those of you who aren't avid, dedicated, obsessed readers of my blog: we bought this house because it has a 1-bedroom apartment attached to it (separate entrance) so that my parents could live here in the winter, as they've done for 7 years. But this year my parents up and bought a house a half-mile down the road. And so here we are with an extra bedroom, bath, kitchen, and living room! And another closet and even some storage! I haven't really absorbed this yet, but once we clear out my parents' furniture and what-not, we need to figure out how we're going to use this extra space. I'm thinking that this living room might become the library/game room. I'm picturing the walls lined with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and a couple of comfy sofas. And of course all the junk from the sunporch, neatly organized. But I'm still processing.

So those are the projects. This week I have two goals. First, I'm going to get the keys to my parents' new house (they are still in New York working toward putting their house their on the market) and take a couple of loads over there. And second, I'm going to finish getting the last chunks of wallpaper off. (And as a separate goal, I'm going to get this year's school books and such put away!)

So tell me about your summer projects!

A Splendid Day for Bad Mom

May 30, 2008

I'm having one of those Bad Mom days. I went seriously Bad Mommy on Duncan today when he refused to participate in swim lessons. First of all, swim team began 2 days ago. Duncan, who graduated from the pre-competitive league last year, was totally excited and ready to be a Flying Dolphin. Except that he didn't understand the instructions at the first practice and ended up swimming way farther than he needed to, and from there he just melted down.

So the next practice he was all excited and ready to try again. Except that he lasted about 10 minutes and something else happened. We decided he wasn't quite emotionally ready for swim team, so we made some phone calls and got him back in the pre-competitive program.

Once again, he was all excited and ready this morning, but once there, he refused to budge, even when Marty, the awesome instructor, tried to encourage him. No budging.

Not even when I told him that IF HE DIDN'T GET IN THAT POOL, he could not:
* swim for the rest of the summer
* play with the neighbors for a week
* play computer or watch TV all summer.

I seriously said those things, or some version of them. What was I thinking?
• I was thinking, "I paid $70 stinkin' dollars for this swim team so you are going to buckled down and do it, buddy!"
• I was thinking, "It is 100 degrees in this pool area, and if you don't get in and let me get out to the patio area, I am going to scream."
* I was thinking, "You are going to be 6'4" and an awesome swimmer someday, so you'd better start training now, buddy. After all, you are seven years old and you need to be ready for the Olympics in 10 years."

Psycho.

Fortunately, I thought all those things in my head, and whatever I actually said to Duncan, I said in one of those low-toned psycho Mommy voices that, hopefully, the others moms around couldn't hear.

We can only hope.

We've talked since then, my boy and I. Caroline laughed with me on the phone, completely understanding when Evil Mom rears her ugly head. Then Dr. H. pointed me in the direction of sanity. Something about Duncan not being characterized by being a quitter. Something about not scarring him for life by insisting that he swim competitively before he's ready. Something about him only being 7-years-old.

We went swimming this afternoon at the pool. Everytime he saw me, he gave me his big smile and wave. He played with the neighbors when we got home. And now he's watching TV. I did ask for his forgiveness, and he gave me that and his beautiful smile.

That boy does not hold grudges. (Oh, and we got our money back.)

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Friday, May 30, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by StillHisGirl (216.249.75.230)

I love you even more now. :)

Last year as Cassie sat on the side of the pool refusing to do anything because it was "too cold," I told her she would get in and do what her instructor told her or she would pay me back the $70. She got in. :) But it was still TOO COLD. Waaah.

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Friday, May 30, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Margaret (68.42.29.163)

Oh yeah, that low-toned bad mom voice... I hate it when I do that!

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Friday, May 30, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by sadie423 (69.247.28.184)

So nice to hear that my home isn't the only place bad mom days occur...I've had some moments like that with R before I came to terms with him being no where near ready to be in a group sport.

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Saturday, May 31, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Haflingerhorses (205.188.117.19)

Your post made me smile :) I've been there, done that too, well, not exactly in the swimming competition. I've mellowed - see that's the good thing that happens when you get older :).
Antoinette

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Saturday, May 31, 2008 - Worst Parent Ever

Posted by Anonymous (70.123.183.161)

I have a whole series of horrible parenting blogs. I was actually voted worst parent in all of 8th grade last year. It gives our kids something to do better than us, right? Anyway, loved it. Didn't want to register, not a homeschooler, but my site is http://this-is-theday.blogspot.com

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Monday, June 2, 2008 - Sweet forgiveness

Posted by Lindsay (24.182.224.121)

How sweet the forgiveness of a young child! I, too, am guilty of the same feelings! I love when parents know it's important to ask for forgiveness from their child. To have those sweet arms thrown about your neck when you've asked for forgiveness and it's so freely given, is one of the sweetest times in parenting.

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Monday, June 2, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Anonymous (71.215.191.209)

:) I've sooo been there. Yep. Threatening. Thinking psycho thoughts. Frustrated beyond belief at one of my boys.... It's a good thing they forgive us.

Heidi @ Mt. Hope

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Monday, June 2, 2008 - relating!

Posted by Jennifer in OR (66.220.111.72)

I can SO understand this post. I feel your pain. :-) Glad you all worked through it. I'm have a Bad Mommy MONTH.
www.diaryof1.com

Heart of the Matter Meme: Favorite Homeschooling Moments

May 30, 2008

This week's meme at Heart of the Matter asks us to share our favorite homeschooling moments. I've had a lot of favorite moments that are like snapshots in this journey: reading around the sandbox, nature journaling in the Smokies in late October, reading with a newborn baby on my shoulder during our first year, playing kickball together for PE, oh, I could go on and on with these precious snapshots.

But I can also be more concrete. The moment that reading clicked with both Duncan and Laurel. I'd always inwardly scoffed at those who said, "It's so wonderful to be with your children when they learn to read!" See, Jesse had learned to read at public school, and I didn't feel as if I'd missed out on anything. But when Laurel truly began grasping reading, and then when Duncan did a few years later, I thought: "Now I get it!" And I still get those moments of pure joy when I see her reading and realize that we did that -- together.

One of my favorite moments most recently was getting Jesse's ACT scores in the mail. I have to say that this was a big one for me. We have never had our kids do standardized testing. I've always felt that we could appropriately measure their learning levels ourselves. I felt intuitively that at 15 Jesse was ready to take the ACTs. In order to take dual credit enrollment classes at our local community college (he'll get both high school credit and college credit at the same time), students have to have a composite score of 19 on the ACT. That was really our only goal: that he would score a 19. Well, let's just say that he way, way surpassed that goal.

That was a favorite moment.

But here's the thing: it's not me. God has blessed us so richly in so many ways, and having children with sharp minds is, indeed, a blessing. I don't take that for granted, and we initially felt led to homeschool largely because Jesse was such an eager learner. I saw a glimpse of his future in the public school system when, midway through first grade, he began scribbling on his math sheets out of sheer boredom with the repetition. He was seeing already what it means to "teach to the middle" of the class.

I guess, then, that those favorite moments include (but certainly aren't limited to!) the loveliness of life with our children at home--the prolonging of their childhood and our parenthood--, and those moments when we see educational successes.

Do you have a favorite moment you'd like to share? Click on the Heart of the Matter link above to share your blog post, or just post here in the comments!

Monday Memory on Memorial Day: To War

May 26, 2008

In 1951 my parents drove from Illinois to California so that my father could go to war. My father had already fought in World War II not even 10 years before, leaving college to enter the army at age 18. Now my father was a college graduate, a husband, and a father, and he was off to Korea.

My parents speak of this time with great fondness. They'd been married just a few years, and their lives were wrapped up in James, as we all are with out first child. It was a great adventure to drive across the country, to visit the Mojave Desert and the Continental Divide, to touch the Pacific Ocean. My mother was sending her husband off to war. It is what women did.

My mother and James flew back to Illinois when my father shipped out, and my father was in Korea for a year.




Here is a picture that my mother sent to him in Korea, near the end of his tour. James is wearing an outfit my father sent that was purchased during R&R in Japan.

My father is 83 years old now, my mother 81, and James will be 58 in July. In the evenings when my parents tell stories, though, they remember every detail: the rickety hotels, the sound of the ocean, the sifting of sand between their fingers.

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Monday, May 26, 2008 - thank you!

Posted by Jennifer in OR (69.88.229.219)

Thanks to your father, today. These photographs are a treasure. I love that one of little James at the bottom. :-) You have a wonderful family history.
www.diaryof1.com

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Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Anonymous (71.215.191.209)

Those are incredible pictures. What a special thing you are doing, making those memories have a life of their own... and sharing them with us. Real life history.

Heidi @ Mt Hope

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Wednesday, May 28, 2008 - I love soldiers.

Posted by bestsister (64.231.61.72)

I know that sounds really shallow at first, but I sure don't mean it to be. Our November Remembrance Day always chokes me up. I wear my poppy with pride...and I'm not even from a particularly military family. I remember hearing the stories of my grandad who fought in WW2 and how I would cry as a child considering his sacrifice for people he would never meet. It always makes me think of Romans 5:7. Thank you for sharing this story and these pictures. It warmed my heart.

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Friday, May 30, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Natasha @ Maw Books (71.195.222.87)

What wonderful photos! I love these old black and whites.

Gobs of Chocolate

May 24, 2008

So in my last entry, I was hoping for a fabulous speaker and gobs of chocolate at our Mother/Daughter banquet at church this evening. And listen, girls and boys: dreams really do come true! First of all, my daughter and I once again had semi-matching outfits for the dinner. You can't really tell in this picture, but we are both wearing white eyelet. (Also please note that I am not wearing a maternity shirt and our hands are not resting on a pregnant belly; this is totally an illusion caused by the current fashion.)

So anyway, the food was indescribably delicious and perfect, and the dessert was rich chocolate cake on a bed of fresh cream, sprinkled with raspberries, and lightly iced. Amazing. And...the speaker didn't show up! I know I shouldn't be so happy about that, but dinner speakers are really not a treat for moms with wiggly girls, like at least 10 of us there. So after an exquisite dinner, Laurel and I headed to the mall where I found an excellent swimming suit on sale for 50% off!

It was a fabulous Mother/Daughter evening.

(And in case you were wondering, I did not get the Explode the Code books at the book sale.. And I could not pull a New York Yankee because a New Jersey Yankee got there a split second before I did.You just can't intimidate a fellow northerner.)

My Friends, Buffy and Jody

Please tell me you know my beloved childhood companions, Buffy and Jody. Oh, I so, so loved them, even more than I loved Eddie's father (and Eddie, secondarily) on The Courtship of Eddie's Father. Except for the sadness of Buffy, Jody, and Cissy being orphans, their life was so fabulous in that high-rise in NYC. Come to think of it, didn't Eddie and his father live in a high-rise, too? And what exactly is a high-rise, anyway? Are we talking skyscrapers here or just tall apartment complexes? It all seemed logical back then, even though I personally lived in a house with a big front porch on a shady street, more like Ramona.

Anyway, while I was reading Om-Kas-Toe, the Blackfeet boy, to Laurel and Duncan today, Laurel got out her paper dolls. I loved paper dolls as a girl. I played with them as much as I played with Barbies and baby dolls, so pretty much I spent my whole childhood playing with some kind of doll. Laurel has all of my paper dolls and a few of her own. I love to watch her play with my paper dolls, mostly because I remember each and every outfit so perfectly. But for some reason I've never given her my box with Buffy and Jody and their marvelous wardrobe. These were my absolute favorite paper dolls and the only ones to which I still have the box. They must be worth at least $600, 000, even if Buffy is missing a hand. I think this makes her even more precious.


Just look at these two. Are their outfits not amazing?

Jody's tie is simply a work of genius.

I seriously think that my brother and I had these same exact outfits, or mighty close. In fact, I think I kinda thought that my brother and I were Buffy and Jody. Probably I never told him that, though. I think my mom still has my brother's pants just like those in a box in the attic.

Tennis, anyone? Just imagine them hopping over to their tennis club. Buffy really should have had more appropriate footwear.

Aww, look at them in their cute little bathrobes! If only Jody had some fuzzy slippers, as well.

I thought you might want a close up of Buffy's adorable freckled face. (No comments about the hand, please. She is well aware of her condition.)

And if that's not enough, here's 2-minute clip of the fabulous Family Affair:






I could watch them all day. Oh, but I have my own kids to watch! And I'm getting to them and dinner and all that kind of thing in a minute, but first, a "where are they now" on Buffy and Jody: in case you somehow missed this in the 80s, Buffy died of a drug overdose. Sigh. But Jody is still acting and, appropriately, speaking out against drug abuse. Oh, and there are plenty more episode clips over on YouTube.

Monday Memory: A Wedding

May 19, 2008

Yesterday my third brother (the second one from the left, top row, in the picture) and his wife celebrated their 27th wedding anniversary. I remembered around midday that it was their anniversary, and of course I started thinking, then, about where we all are 27 years later. My grandmothers both died when I was in college. The baby in the picture, Esther, belongs to my second brother, John (the bearded guy) and his wife, Sharon (in pink). Esther is now a mama herself. And both of those brothers are now grandfathers, which means, of course, that my parents are now great-grandparents. My fourth brother, Stephen (the one closest to me in the picture) was married last summer in the most perfect wedding. My Uncle Max is the white-haired man in the photo, the bachelor uncle who took care of my grandmother until she died.

And then there's me. Don't I look rather grumpy in this photo? My brother Stephen does, too. Perhaps we were arguing. In this photo I was 15, nearing the end of my freshman year in high school. I was newly dating Bryan, my first boyfriend, as I would continue to do off-and-on for another two years or more. In just six years down the road, Bryan would die in a car accident, and I would begin growing up, swamped in reality and struggling hard to breathe.

Here, though, I'm probably thinking about how great my hair looked and how cute my brother's groomsman Greg was. I'm probably thinking about getting a tan and counting down the days until I could see Bryan again. If I could have known what was coming up in 6 years, then I would also know that, after that year of pain, my life became full of one blessing after another. I think I would have been smiling perpetually.

Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown: My Review

We're home! We've spent the past few days on a long-awaited trip to the Virginia historic triangle of Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown. We wanted to do this trip this year, as all three kids have been studying American History. This is one of those times when book-learning history meets hands-on history full force, and I am so thankful that we were able to make this trip as the culmination of our year!

Neither Dr. H. nor I had been to Williamsburg since were were 10 or 12, so we had very little memory of the town. Because we wanted to stick within our travel budget, we decided to do Williamsburg in just one day and Jamestown and Yorktown both on another day. Seems like most people I talked to beforehand spent at least a couple of days in Williamsburg, but we just didn't have the extra funds and decided we could still do it in one day.

We were right. For our kids, Williamsburg was not the highlight of the triangle. At 7 and 10, our youngest two are just too young to appreciate the historical magnitude of walking on the same streets as our founding fathers--and that's really what makes Williamsburg so special in my view. The best part of Williamsburg was the Revolutionary City reenactment, which takes place each day between 3 and 5 p.m. For two hours, you become a citizen of Williamsburg from 1775-1781 and witness various events: the reading of the Declaration of Independence, the British takeover of Williamsburg, and several other dramas played out by Williamsburg actors. (Click on the pictures to see the albums.)

Williamsburg trip 5/16/08 7:39 PM

Jesse, Randy and I loved visiting the buildings and listening to each re-enactor talk about what went on there, but this got old quickly for Duncan and Laurel. They really just wanted to know if I had any candy in my bag. For those two, Williamsburg was too much show-and-tell and not enough hands-on. Still, I'm very glad we went. Again, the Revolutionary City part was fantastic. Williamsburg tickets vary, and of course the price goes down per day the longer you stay. For us, we paid around $36/adults and $18/kids, but you can get slightly cheaper tickets than that online.



The next day we visited Jamestown for most of the day and finished our tour with Yorktown. Jamestown was hands-down our family's favorite. If we were to do this trip again, we'd spend a whole day at Jamestown and another whole day in Yorktown. Jamestown was absolutely packed with hands-on activities. First of all, the galleries inside are awesome, displaying artifacts and information from where English, African, and Powhatan Indian cultures meet. There is a 25-minute film that chronicles the convergence of cultures in Virginia, and we all loved it. Duncan could easily have watched it again.



Outside there is a re-created Powhaten Indian village that is loaded with things to touch and do. The guides encourage kids to lie on the furs, grind corn, scrape animal hide, shake gourds, etc. We could have spent an hour here, except that we managed to pick a day when about a dozen large school groups were also there, so we moved on to the ships. These are replicas of the colonial ships the Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery. You can climb onto and around each ship, squeeze into a sailor's bunk, try steering, etc. Each ship has a couple of guides to explain the various parts of the ship and other details.

From there, we headed to the James Fort, which is a recreation of the 1610-14 fort, home to Jamestown's earliest colonists. Again, there were countless hands-on activities and great talks by the re-eanactors. In all, Jamestown was absolutely fantastic. I don't think Duncan or Laurel ever asked for candy or snacks; they were totally enthralled with all the activities and stuff to see.

Jamestown, Virginia

We drove about 20 minutes to get to Yorktown when we finished in Jamestown, and we only had about two hours to spend in Yorktown before it closed. We could have used another hour or more, as we rushed through the last part and didn't even get to watch the film. Like Jamestown, Yorktown was full of hands-on activities, from hornbook practice to tobacco planting. We spent a lot of time at the Continental Army encampment. The guides told tales of meager rations and demonstrated a musket drill and cannon firing, among other things. We spent so long at the encampment that we only had a short time to visit the 1780s farm. Laurel especially enjoyed this, as she planted tobacco, swept out the house, and shelled peas. Jesse and Duncan preferred to chase the turkey.

You can get a combination ticket for Jamestown and Yorktown and even use them on different days if you want. The combo tickets are $19.95/adults and $9.25 kids 6-12 (under 6 is free for Williamsburg, too).



The town of Yorktown is definitely worth a visit, too. We spent at least an hour just hanging out on the beach of the York River. We had planned to have dinner at one of the riverfront restaurants there, but Duncan and Laurel couldn't resist getting soaking wet. And, of course, we didn't have extra clothes with us. That was a lovely way to end our trip, though--relaxing on the sand by the pier, watching the big boats come in.

Yorktown, Virginia

All in all, this was a fantastic field trip. Our trip to Disney last year was, admittedly, a whole lot more fun, (although certainly this one was more educational!) but not every year can be a Disney year here in SmallWorld.