Courageous

When I think of courage, I think of a soldier going to war. Of course going to war is courageous and I admire all of our men and women who have chosen to serve in the military. But I was recently reminded again of another kind of courage, the courage of my children to accept and love us as their parents.

We recently arranged a visit with one of their older siblings who they had not seen in 6 years. Our younger two didn't really remember him as they were ages barely 3 and 4 years old when they last saw him. We had exchanged pictures, but they had not seen him in person. I was honestly apprehensive about how they would react to seeing him. Would it upset them? Would they want to go with him? This was unknown territory.

They were very excited when we told them that they would be seeing their brother. My children are very outgoing and friendly with everyone so I wasn't surprised when they hit it off immediately. They started out talking about school, sports, silly things, their favorite subject, and proceeded to really enjoy being together, hugging each other a lot, dancing and laughing as they bowled. The time came for us to say good-bye. We all hugged good-bye and then came home. They came home to their family. 

While we have not always been their family, we became their family because they allowed us to be their parents. They left everything they knew to come start a new life with us. They opened their hearts and chose to accept our love and accept us as their family.  They did not have to do this. This has not always been easy on either of our parts, but we are a family. 

Their courage astounds me. It always has. It's supernatural courage that could only come from God. 

The Happiest Place on Earth

Our younger kids had a few days of vacation after the New Year and we thought it would be a good opportunity to get away with just them. We were thinking Washington D.C or New York City to show them some new sites, but after talking to them decided that they weren't quite ready to appreciate a trip to either of those places. They determined that Disney is where they wanted to go! What child doesn't want to go to Disney, right? It's the Happiest Place on Earth after all.

 Our first stop was the Magic Kingdom. We were greeted by grumpy, a Senior Citizen parking lot attendant. On the whole I was impressed with the stamina and cheerfulness of all the other Senior Citizens who apparently run the park during the winter months. I'm not sure if this is always the case or just since our current administration has been in office.

We rushed over to the Newly expanded Enchanted Land and stood in line for 70 minutes to experience the new Beauty and the Beast ride. We were behind a family whose members continued to grow to a rather large number in front of us. The family spent most of our time together trying to pacify the toddler in tow with food and anything else they could think of. I was trying very hard to keep my testimony in tact and think I succeeded! I actually liked the ride and thought it very imaginative and our youngest was chosen to play a part for the audience participation! Our teenager who was experiencing extreme tiredness the entire day, commented that it wasn't worth the wait. This was going to be a long day.

We then proceeded to completely traumatize our youngest thinking she was ready for Space Mountain. She was not. She was riding in the car in front of me and when I  could no longer see the top of her head as the ride wore on, I knew she was not having fun. She came off saying that she wanted to yell, "stop!" but the only thing that came out was "sob, sob, sob..." Not exactly what we were going for. I also had to bail her out later on the Star Wars: The Adventure Continues Ride at the last minute because she had a terrified look on her face. Thankfully the much tamer Aladdin ride and the Carousel was more to her liking.

The next day we headed to Hollywood Studio in the rain. Rain or no rain, we were there to experience Disney. All the other people in Orlando were of the same mind and were with us on the tram. My son thoroughly enjoyed the Special Effects show where cars and things exploded. Unfortunately he found the 3D It's a Bug's Life experience a little too realistic. He kept saying, "I don't like this!" over and over until it was over. Meanwhile the kids kept asking to go back to the condo to swim, despite the rain! We put in a good 8 hours at the park before leaving although I had no luck persuading them to stay for the Fireworks.

Animal Kingdom was our last park to visit and it proved to be our favorite. The crowds were still bad, but not terrible and it was a beautiful sunny day. We loved the safari ride and spent most of our time in the petting zoo and the Dinosaur playground. I thought it interesting that the playground was packed with kids and their parents. There is nothing kids love more than climbing and running around! We also made it back to the condo for them to swim which I am sure was the highlight of their trip. I know it was for me! We are seriously considering just taking them to a hotel with a pool for our next vacation.

Vacations seem to get better when one looks back on them.  I think it's because one is just remembering standing in the rain, not actually getting wet. It's not as bad. On the way home, our daughter  told us this was the best vacation ever! The selective memory phenomena was already working, terror all forgotten! I am left with the happy memories of my kids so excited to drive those cars on the tracks. Our youngest exclaiming, " People make driving look so easy!" Priceless!

A Wedding, A Graduation and a Grandbaby

Once upon a time I had time to write a Christmas letter on beautiful Christmas Stationary. Some years I even made it out before Christmas. I love receiving Christmas letters so I took the time to compose one, but no more. Lately, my days are consumed with working part time at our church, learning Shurley Grammar with my two youngest children (If you don't know about Shurley Grammar, count yourself very fortunate), and most recently a Science Project about the absorbency of Charmin vs. Kirkland brand toilet paper. So the Christmas letter never rose to the top of my to do list. For my own historic purposes and just because, I decided to write a short Christmas blog post.

Among years at our house, 2012 turned out to be quite eventful. After a whirlwind romance, Kristen and Ben were married in a beautiful Spring outdoor wedding in March. They played the odds on the weather and won! An angel from heaven disguised as my dear friend Greta swooped in at the last minute to save the day after a wedding planner debacle to make everything beautiful and perfect. Thank you Greta! The ceremony was performed by my sweet Father who married them with powerful and heartfelt words from God's word. My sweet girl never looked more beautiful and I had a really good hair day too!

May brought the graduation of our family's very first doctor, when our son in law Jason graduated from the Medical College of Georgia to become a Physical Therapist. We were honored to be in attendance as not only Jason but other young people received various health degrees to begin practicing medicine, proving there are some fantastic millennials in the world!

One month later in June, Lucy Marie made her dramatic entrance into the world to make Laura and Jason first time parents and more importantly making us grandparents. The whole grandparent scene took me completely by surprise. It seems that my love is exponential where Lucy is concerned. I haven't quite figured out why this is except that I love watching Laura and Jason parent Lucy. Even better is how crazy Eric is about Lucy! It all stacks up way more fun than I thought it would be.

In October we celebrated 5 years with our little kids who aren't that little anymore. One has surpassed me in height and the other two are gaining fast! Can't believe it's been 5 years. Can't believe God entrusted us with three more children to train up in the way they should go, three more children to love, three more children to teach us more about God's love for us all.

Speaking of love, Eric and I celebrated 30 years of marital bliss in December. Saying yes to Mr. Jakstadt was the best decision of my life! We celebrated 30 perfect years together in the beautiful city of Charleston and stayed in a very nice hotel. The hotel was a far cry from the one that was still under construction we stayed in for our honeymoon in Dallas, Tx! No matter, I loved the company then and still do.

At Christmas time more than usual, I am filled with thankfulness. I thank God for the gift of his son Jesus. I came into the world not knowing that I would need a savior, but He provided one in his son Jesus. Thank you God for Jesus.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

Very Impatient

It's nice to have a great husband. And by great, I mean makes me breakfast every morning great and sometimes lunch great!  Most of the time this is fabulous. At times, this can be less than fabulous. He is right far too many times to be normal and rarely makes mistakes unless you count boat and dock repair incidents which I do not have the time nor the space to recount. Nevertheless, the other day he mentioned to me that I was very impatient with the kids one evening. Not just impatient. I heard very impatient.  I'm 90% sure I heard very. These are not the words one wants to hear coming from her husband and father to her children. Why do his words have to weigh so much? Ugh.

 Of course he was right, again, and I knew what I had to do. I had to apologize to the kids. How embarrassing. Wasn't this the very thing I had just gotten onto my middle schooler about? What kind of mother am I? Obviously a very impatient one. My moment arrived when we were all in the car on the way to school today. I told them that I was sorry for my grumpiness the other day and asked if they would forgive me. My youngest daughter said, " That's ok." and then my son said. "I forgive you. I'll always forgive you." Wow. It sounds like he expects more apologies will be coming in the future. No response came from my middle schooler. I'll cut her some slack though. She's 13. I'm not even sure she heard me as she proceeded to launch into a story about how her nose was itching during the night. No matter, I was happy to be forgiven with the added bonus that I would be forgiven again should I ever need forgiving. Not a bad drive to school if you ask me.

10 is enough, for now anyway

Last weekend I spent the weekend with my immediate family which has grown to 10, 13 if you include pets at our lake house. For self preservation I've enlisted help with meals from our older girls so I'm not solely responsible for feeding 10 all weekend long and I have to say their meals are my favorite to eat!

With 10 people, coming to any kind of decision in regards to activities is 10 times more complicated. Going for a morning walk is my favorite activity in the whole wide world, especially with Laura and Kristen. We cover lots of ground on our walks and I'm not just talking miles. Well, this time, Kristen wanted to take her two little city dogs along which could be dicey due to the rural nature of our neighborhood, and I use that term loosely. For some reason every neighbor has not one, but at least three or four dogs that we must contend with, usually by wielding a stick and praying. Then my younger two want to join us but L  had only packed his flip flops and S only her winter boots. It might be a tad early to let them do their own packing. We discussed at length which would be worse, for L to wear flip flops or his older sister's hiking boots from last year. Kristen commented that S looked like an American Eagle ad with her swim wear and furry winter boots and her usual sassiness! Once we decided on footwear for everyone we were out the door by noon for our morning walk.

Our main reason for going to the lake was to celebrate Laura and Ben's birthday and more importantly to play with Lucy. Lucy, and I realize that I'm completely biased, is not only captivating in appearance and personality, but she is the most good natured baby I have every known. She smiles easily with anyone who holds her, even when awakened from a nap! She was sleeping during cake time and Laura didn't want her to miss the party so went to wake her up. Sweet Lucy obliged and came sleepy- eyed and smiling to celebrate her mommy's birthday, shades of terms of endearment if you ask me. Another time she was left in my care to bathe while Laura and Jason went out on the boat. I laid her down in her pack and play to run the water and when I came back she had already fallen asleep on her own.  I had to wake her ( poor baby gets no rest!) and she even suffered through my clumsy bath with the silly sponge I was instructed to use. I already pity her siblings who will  be compared to her. Lucy has set the standard very high.

Eric and I regularly discuss selling the lake house.  It is hard to find time to go, a financial drain, difficult to maintain and manage long distance,  etc. yet oddly we always change our mind when we are there. It must be the extremely small kitchen where we must maneuver around each other like a game of tetras during meal time. Or perhaps it is dealing with the constant repairs and maintenance of a house that is 30 years old that we find appealing. It could also be dealing with the repairmen who over charge for marginal work done on their own time. Probably though it is that we really love spending time with each other, even the dogs. I'm going with that last reason!

To dye or not to dye

I still haven't made up my mind on whether or not I will embrace the natural graying of my hair or cover the gray. My hair is just barely starting to sprout them (Thank you Daddy!) so I have some time to try the coloring scene out. The whole scene seems like a huge time waster, not to mention money waster. I made an appointment for Saturday morning with my 9 year old son in tow to discuss my options and try something subtle. As I stepped down into the coloring section of the salon, I could tell something was different about that side of the salon. The stylist were decidedly cooler starting with my colorist Nevada who would be doing my hair. Her attire was an off the shoulder black tunic over black leggings with black tall boots. My son even told me later that he noticed most of the ladies had on boots there so it wasn't just me.

 Nevada who described herself as an artist examined my hair, showed me some pictures and went off to mix color. She then introduced me to her assistant, Rain who was wearing a black lace jacket over a black tube top, a black micro mini skirt and Pretty Woman black patent tall boots. She proceeded to give me a head massage ( I'm not sure why) Does it make the color go in deeper? I'm mainly contemplating where all these hip black clothes are purchased as I have never seen them at Gap or Banana Republic. I was then asked very nicely to go sit under a rotating heat lamp which gave me an even better vantage point of the live fashion show before me. I failed to grab my readers so I could read the magazines which btw is the most annoying thing about entering the golden years. I tried to squint and read but derived no enjoyment. The timer began to go off on my heating lamp when I'm not kidding an assistant to the assistant came and told me that she would be washing my hair until Rain was available. I've decided that I need at least one assistant in my life and two would be lovely. All I know is I felt really bad for the assistant to the assistant as I'm sure she did anything and everything no one else wanted to do. I also noticed that the assistant to the assistant wore the least hip clothes, baggy black slacks, nondescript black top and probably didn't have a cool name either.

 My color turned out barely noticeable which was the goal and Rain gave me a fabulous blow out. In my next life I would like to be a colorist so that I can wear hip black clothes, have a cool name and multiple assistants. Yes, that life is looking pretty good right about now.

No Fear

After experiencing just one year of public middle school, we made the decision to move our younger three children to a Christian school. It didn't take long to realize much has changed since our older two were in middle school and not for the better. Thankfully, we found a wonderful Christian school not too far from our house (though it was difficult giving up the bus transporting my children to and from school).

I spent the spring and summer attending Open Houses, filling out applications and purchasing school uniforms and supplies. I found the school administrator to be delightfully intimidating and wise in our interview. She had me at hello! She let me know in no uncertain terms that the transition to the school would be difficult for my children. Was I ready for private school? Maybe. While I found the lack of communication frustrating at the public school, the private school I'm finding tends to over communicate. Do I really need a play by play of every volley ball and soccer game played, both varsity and JV? I have been to exactly 3 separate open houses to meet the teachers, 3 separate parent orientation nights and next week and I'm not kidding, will be three separate teacher conferences with their teachers.

On the plus side, I have memorized 6 passages of scripture to this point and at the rate of two per week for the next 3 years, I will have memorized roughly the entire canon of scripture. This is fabulous! No need for Sudoku or Crossword Puzzles to keep this brain going.

There are also lots of rules. I love rules. I am usually the rule maker so it's nice to have someone else making the rules for a change. There are drop off and pick up rules complete with color coded number cards and a 3 lane pick up configuration, as well as uniform and homework rules. I already broke one pick up rule and got a phone call from the office.

The best thing about our move to Christian school is that my children love it! I'm not sure why since their homework load has increased three fold. Weekends aren't even off limits. The one and only reason I am  going to a PTA dinner this coming week is because they are giving each child a homework pass! I am not proud. I know it is God's provision and blessing that my children love their school. God is not only welcomed, He is acknowledged and honored there.

I know it's early yet and we have many more hours of homework to log but I will not be afraid.

Week 3 Bible Verse grade 4-

Have I not commanded you, Be strong and courageous. Do not tremble or be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9.