The Vernal Equinox

The calendar says it is now spring. The weather this week says it is still winter. I went out to get the paper the other morning and it was sleeting. One evening I went out to dump some table scraps in the field and it was spitting snow. It all reminded me of a deep snow we had exactly 10 years ago. I remember it closed schools for the whole week. We lost power and it was so cold we went to Aunt Mar’s where it was a bit warmer. What really sticks out in my mind was the deep snow drift just past Aunt Mar’s driveway. It defeated quite a few overly confident drivers.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Aunt Mar celebrated her 91st birthday on Tuesday. We all ate together at Pauline’s Monday night to celebrate. What was really special was the number of people who called or visited on Tuesday. When I went by to visit after work I could tell it had been a special day for her.

My birthday present sort of backfired as I had planned to do a couple of home improvement projects for her. One project was to replace the light fixture in her laundry room as it shoots a light bulb about once a month. When I unscrewed the fixture from the junction box I discovered that the insulation on the wiring and the wire nuts were so brittle they crumbled at the slightest touch. I taped up what I could and we have called an electrician to rewire the circuit. I hate she is still without a light but I’m glad I found it.

PAULINE’S RECOVERY. Pauline is doing very well. She says that with the exception of being a little sore she feels fine. We are all really thankful that she is doing so well. Thank you for all your prayers.

STRANGE READING HABITS. School has created a reading monster out of Jenna. She loves to read and read and read. This week she has finished Sarah’s Unicorn, B-E-S-T Friends, Mallory on the Move and Camp Sink or Swim.

I’m not mentioning this to imply that it is a bad thing. It’s not. And she does have a life outside of her books. But what is so strange is that she has had all these books going at one time. And she is still in the middle of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Trouble with Tink and Eagle-Eye Ernie Comes to Town. She’ll read a chapter in one book at one sitting and a chapter from another later--just whatever she feels like reading at the moment. And to beat all, she never uses a bookmark.

FOR THE LOVE OF CHOCOLATE. If I am going to eat ice cream I usually wait until the kids have gone to bed (some things are just meant to be enjoyed without kids around). The other night Vicki and I were watching TV and I had finished a bowl of ice cream--the empty bowl with the dregs of chocolate still sitting in the floor by my feet--when Nate comes wondering in the room because he can’t sleep. He goes to Vicki and then spies my bowl. In a whisper he says to Vicki, ”Daddy’s had chocolate.“ After Vicki told him he was right he asks with those big, puppy dog eyes, ”Can I dip my finger in the chocolate?“

WRESTLE MANIA TURNS SCARY. I mentioned a few weeks ago that the boys like to wrestle with me. Jenna is spending the night with Mom and Aunt Mar tonight and Vicki has to go to church for a while so the boys and I had an evening to ourselves. After cleaning up from supper we started our play time by throwing a rubber frisbee down the hall. This turned into another wrestling match which then turned into a ”daddy stalks boys around the house“ game. I’d give them a good scare and when they would run off I would hide in order to ambush them later. It got to be really hard to keep quiet in my hiding place after listening to them try to decide who would ”go in“ first when they were trying to find me. At one point I seized an opportunity to sneak up on them in their room. In the bedlam of my roaring and their screaming Nate headed for the closet, opened the door and started throwing shoes out to make room for himself inside. Right behind the closet door sits an old wooden school desk. A box of Legos happened to be sitting on top of it and an airborne shoe hit it with just enough force to knock the box over. The avalanche of Legos scared poor Nate so bad I was really kind of glad he was wearing a pull-up!

Joe

Spring Fever

For the benefit of those of you not living in Tennessee our landscape is beginning to wake up from its winter sleep. Many Bradford pear trees in Springfield have begun to bloom and the other day I saw a fence row full of forsythia at their peak. The field across the road from Steve and Connie Freelenad’s house has a pretty carpet of purple clover.

PAULINE’S SURGERY. Vicki took Pauline to the hospital yesterday morning for her surgery. As they were waiting Pauline said to Vicki, “I can’t believe I’m here at the hospital when I’m feeling so good.” Seizing the opportunity for a good come back Vicki said, “Oh, don’t worry. Just wait a little bit and you will be feeling bad.” That earned her an eye roll from her mother as she agreed.

The operation got under way sometime during mid-afternoon. The procedure was supposed to take 2-3 hours but lasted about 6 hours due to scar tissue from a previous operation. The doctor was pleased with how things went and was happy to report that the lab work showed that all the cancer was contained in the tissue they removed so no further treatment would be necessary! When she was brought back to her room from recovery Vicki said she was kind and even cracking jokes with those caring for her. We really appreciate your prayers and ask that you continue to remember Pauline as she recovers.

SPRING BREAK. This has slipped up on me this year as several projects at work have kept me pretty focused. We had not planned on going anywhere this week so Pauline’s surgery hit at a good time as I can stay home with the kids without taking any time off. We did go on a fun outing yesterday afternoon. Our trip took us to Opry Mills where we ate supper at the Alabama Grill (don’t go without a coupon) and then bowling. This was the first time the kids had bowled and I think it was a hit. Jenna and Ben want to do this for their birthdays. It was sort of embarrassing for me as I came in last place even if the kids did have the bumpers up. Vicki is the bowling queen of the family. (This last bit of information was hard for me to divulge.)

What has been really fun for the boys is that they have a standing invitation this week to spend the night upstairs with Jenna. They take turns at this. The sweet part is that after Jenna and one of her brothers turns in we’ll hear her reading an additional bedtime story before they turn their lights out. Those boys don’t realize what a cool big sister they have.

SAVING FACE. I often describe Ben as being like a piece of flubber. It is a constant battle to keep him from doing things like jumping from couch to couch in the living room. When a kid has this much energy you can count on the fact that he is sure to slip and fall or run into something at least once a day.

For those of you who have not visited our house our kitchen table will seat six but it is a bit tight. We normally store the fifth chair in front of the window between the stove and the sink and as it is rare that all five of us are at the table for breakfast and lunch. (In case you are wondering, flubber-boy flipped the sixth chair over a couple of years ago and broke the back off. We’ve just never bothered to replace it. I thought then that the ride to the floor would have scared some sense into the boy. Glad I didn’t have any money on that horse.) The other morning Ben zips into the kitchen while we are cooking breakfast. Around four feet from the chair he launches himself. Forgetting he has socks on he miscalculates the traction he will have when landing on the chair seat and slides to an ungraceful crash between the chair and stove. Picking himself up, and with a sheepish expression on his face, he allayed our fears for his well being saying, “I’m alright, I meant to do that.” This is not the first time we’ve heard him say this and I’d say it is a safe bet to say it won’t be the last.

PASSOVER. I have been attending a Bible study on Sunday evenings at church titled Walking with Jesus through the Jewish Calendar (published by the Caspari Center). It has been a very fascinating study for me and is ending with a Passover meal. We are splitting our Seder meal into two parts because it normally takes about 2-3 hours to complete it. We did the first half Sunday evening.

I think the reason why I have enjoyed this so much is that I have gotten a new perspective about many of the claims Jesus made about himself and why he chose to makes these claims at the times he did (and why he made the Pharisees so mad). The neat thing about doing the Seder meal is that we have studied the structure of it along side the Last Supper Jesus has with his disciples before His crucifixion. For example, you think about Jesus dipping the bread and serving it to Judas before Judas left to betray Him (John 13:26-27) and then eat a cracker loaded with a glob of horseradish and you’ll think Satan has entered you too! All joking aside, I know I’ll never be an expert in Jewish customs but I have learned things through this study that I’ve never seen before studying the Word from a strictly American perspective.

Joe

In Like a Lamb

We’ll know in a few weeks if March went out like a lion but it sure came in with pretty weather. I got an email from Dianna Cotter saying they are going camping this week. Pretty weather or no, it’s still a bit too cold for that here in Tennessee.

FLEXIBLE AND TOTALLY DISGUSTING. We try to have a family devotion time every night before sending the kids to bed. The normal routine is to read a Bible story and pray together. The other night as I was reading I kept hearing this nibbling sound next to me. My curiosity finally got the best of me and I stopped to see what it was. As I turned my head I discovered Ben biting his nails--his toe nails that is! A sheepish grin spread across his face and everyone broke out in a giggling fit.

UPWARD AWARD NIGHT. With the last basketball game behind us we went to the awards night to celebrate the end of the season. One of the highlights of the evening was the performance of Christian illusionists David and Teesha Laflin. They did some really cool tricks and used their illusions to teach about Jesus. It was a fun evening.

NATEISMS. It is always amazing to hear how kids choose to express what’s on their mind. Sometimes you wonder where they heard a particular word or phrase. For example, the other morning we had pancakes for breakfast. He complimented the meal by saying, “Mmm, that’s tasty!” None of the rest of us ever say “tasty.” Of course, we always appreciate it when he says “You’re the best dad” or “You’re the best mom.”

Pauline told us about a cute prayer of his when he spent the night with her the other night. He said, “God, God, We go to church and I’m sooo happy. Amen.”

LIFE WITH BEN. Ben does have his own “isms” but it seems they are fewer and further between. The other day he told us he wanted to play “Guns and Ladders.” We were pretty confused with that one until he went and got the “Chutes and Ladders” game.

Ben likes to wrestle. We usually do this on the bed so I won’t hurt him when I body slam him. It doesn’t matter how many times I put him down he just keeps coming back for more. The sad thing is that I am the one who usually gets hurt. I try to be a little careful because I really don’t want to make a trip to the ER. Ben has none of these concerns on his mind. He is out for blood. Once, when Nate was in on a wrestling session with us I looked up to see Ben flying through the air. I rolled to push Nate out of the way only to have Ben land with his knees right on my kidneys. I wasn’t quite the same for a while after that.

OVERRULED. Jenna, at this stage in her life, is a really easy going kid. She keeps her room picked up. She gets herself ready for school. And in general she goes with the flow of life in our family with little complaint. But Jenna wants long hair. So far her genes have seen fit to only produce thin, stringy hair. It looks really good when it is short but this changes as it get longer and longer. This doesn’t help much when most of her friends have long hair. It wasn’t a fun ride for Vicki when she informed Jenna that she was getting her hair cut the other afternoon. So if you see Jenna keep in mind that the hair is a touchy subject.

(Vicki told Jenna she could relate as Grandma Jones styled her hair with “horns” on the sides at one point. I’ll have to admit that after seeing Vicki’s 3rd grade picture I’ve never seen hair styled like this before or since. Jenna smiled at this story when Vicki said, “At least I can go to your school and find other girls with hair like yours unlike me when no one on the planet had my hairstyle.”

RESCHEDULED. Pauline’s surgery has been pushed back one day to Wednesday, March 15. She is keeping really busy to keep her mind occupied. She finished up the curtains for our foyer today.

Joe