5.30.2006

NOT Quilting With Kids

Well, it turns out I'm not psychic. Here is my list of reasons why I did not piece a quilt top today.

  1. A warm, sunny day.
  2. A new fence with no gates, which tempts Jonah to wander off ten times more than if there were no fence at all.
  3. Base jumping. As in five fat couch cushions stacked seven feet high on the love seat with children flying off the top.
  4. Labeled Ziplocs, full of quilt pieces, all over the living room. (I got that one right!)
  5. The sudden, undeniable urge to fix the dining room chair.
  6. I can't find my ironing board! Where is my ironing board? I'm guessing storage.
  7. The realization that I need to start the beans at four p.m., not five.
  8. Grating two pounds of cheese by hand. (Where, oh where, is my food processor?)
  9. A craving for fresh chop salsa to go with the black beans and cheese and tortillas.
  10. Dinner with a friend, whose husband is far away having back surgery.

Oh, and I DID put the kids to bed at seven.

So for now, Jason and I are going upstairs to watch a scary movie. Tomorrow, I shall quilt! I hope.

Quilting With Kids

Today I'm piecing a large crib quilt, based on Fibonacci numbers, with cowboy and bandana prints, plus some chenille.

These are my predictions for the day:

  1. Jonah will dump all of the carefully labeled Ziploc bags onto the floor, scattering numbered squares and rectangles across the living room and den.
  2. Anna and Sarah will ask for a snack at least twenty times between the hours of two and five p.m., even if I give them a snack at two.
  3. Someone will touch the hot iron.
  4. Someone will touch the rotary cutter.
  5. Someone (Jonah!) will remove the presser foot and unthread my machine while I'm ironing.
  6. The baby will take no naps.
  7. I will forget to put the beans on the stove at 5:00 p.m., and dinner will be late.
  8. I will demand that the children go to bed at seven o'clock, out of sheer frustration.
  9. I will yell at my sewing machine more than once.
  10. I will finish piecing at around one in the morning, with at least three mistakes that I was too tired to fix.

An older lady at a quilt shop once asked me how I manage to quilt with four kids in the house. Now you know.

5.29.2006

Where I've Been, Where I Want to Be

I found this map meme on Lisa Stryker's blog.

These are the places I've visited or lived in. Some of them are too tiny to see. Hong Kong is where I met my husband, and mainland China is where I decided that kissing him might not be so bad. (He threatened to kiss me just to make me shut up, but he held off until we were engaged. I wasn't into kissing without a ring. No, I'm serious. Don't laugh.) We still would like to live there again. But for now, we know we're precisely where God wants us.


5.28.2006

The Rescue Mission


Anna, eating her potato chips. . .



Round Chip: Hi! I'm Bob.

Tall Chip: Hi! I'm Larry.

Larry and Bob sing: Larry, Larry, Larry, Larry! Bob, Bob, Bob!

Larry: Oooh, look at that dark hole. I think I'll go inside.

Bob: No, Larry! Don't go in there!

(crunch)

Bob: Oh, no! I better go in there and save him! I'm coming, Larry! Aaaaagh! (crunch)

Squeaky Baby Chip: They're in trouble! I better go in and save them. Aaaaagh! (crunch)

Lonely Chip: Hey, I'm all alone. Well, I guess I could go in that dark hole with everybody else. Aaaaagh! (crunch)

Anna: Can I have some more chips, please?


Looking Up

Aaron has had two good days in a row, and completed a round of chemo. From the last I've heard, he's still on the ventilator, but they were able to lower the oxygen levels they were giving him. Keep praying, and praise God that He's answering!

Thanks,
Rebecca

5.27.2006

Words I Never Thought I'd Hear

Words I Never Thought I'd Hear
On Memorial Day Weekend



"Can I wear mittens?"

"Where's my sled?

"Eeek! There's snow in my boot!"



5.26.2006

Have a Holly, Jolly--

Merry Christmas! Oh, no, wait. It's MAY. MAAAYYY!!!! Oh, so that explains why there are two inches of snow on our new fence, which we got just in time for SUMMER. Who ordered this? Where the heck are we?

Okay, so I still love living in the mountains. But if it kills all our new grass, I'll be miffed.

The Popcorn Derby


Anna, eating her popcorn. . .



Announcer popcorn: It's time for the race! Ready, set, go! Go, Sammy! Go, Sammy! Go, Sammy! Go! Go! Go! Run! Run, Sammy! You WIN the RACE! Woo-hooo!

Sammy: (panting) I won? Woo-hoo!

Announcer: Now you get to be eaten!

Sammy: Hooray! What is there to eat?

Announcer: Just you!

Sammy: What? No, I don't want to be eaten! NO! Aaaaaaauugh! (crunch)




Mom's Side Note: Has anyone ever read "Loteria" by Borges? Similar idea, with a lottery instead. Sick and twisted, all the same.

The Whole Story

You can read the ongoing account of Aaron's battle with leukemia, as well as prayer requests and praise reports at www.aaronboydston.com. The medical journal is written by his dad, Ken, and Aaron's wife, Natalie, and friends sometimes post there as well. Keep praying!

Rebecca

Sharp Boy

Two men have been in our yard for the last two days, building a fence. Today, Jonah (our two-year-old) looked out through the screen door, and noticed a circular saw sitting on the porch.

"Wow!" he said. "That's no touching."

5.25.2006

Aaron

Please keep praying for Aaron tonight. He has been on oxygen for a long time, and it's making his lungs worse than they already are. Also please pray that the fever will go away and that they can get him back to therapy quickly. Thanks for continuing to pray!

Rebecca

The Girl Who Flew to Mississippi

The Girl Who Flew to Mississippi
A Story by Sarah, age 4


Once upon a time there was a magic guy. And he waved his wand around to change people into something, or make something on their body that's not supposed to be on their body. And he said, "Abra Cadabra!" And a girl got wings.

She saw that she had wings, and she said, "Look! I have wings!" Then she asked her mom and dad, "Can I fly to Mississippi?"

And they said, "Of course!"

And she said, "Yay!" And she yelled "Wooooo!" (Her mom and dad let her yell in the house, even when the baby was sleeping, because their baby didn't wake up, even when kids yelled.)

And she started flapping her wings like this: Flap, flap, flap, flap, flap, flap. . . flap. . . And she got tired of flapping, so she stopped and sat on some grass. Then she flapped, flap, flap, flap, flap, and she saw a playground. And the playground was in Mississippi, and she saw monkey bars stuck to the slides! And she flied down and played on the playground.

And then. . . a BIG storm came! The kind that blows people away! But the girl wasn't afraid. She said, "I won't blow away."

(Anna: Why wouldn't she blow away?)

Because she was a very, very, very smart girl!

So she flied all the way back home to Ojai, because she lived in Ojai. And she told her mom and dad, "I went all the way to Mississippi, and I played on a playground where there were monkey bars stuck to the slides! And a big storm came. But I didn't blow away, because you know that I am a very, very, very smart girl."

Then she asked her mom and dad, "Can we go to a new playground that has monkey bars that go all the way from Ojai to Mississippi?"

And they said, "Yes!"


The End




Injustice


I painted Sarah's and Anna's nails with pink polish today. Jonah came in while I was painting them. He gasped. "What's that?" he said.

"It's polish!" said Anna, showing him her hand.

"Can I have some polish?"

"No, it's only for girls," replied Anna.

"But I want some polish too!"

"No, Jonah," I said. "You're a boy. Boys don't wear pink polish. Daddy doesn't wear it either."

Jonah began to cry. "But I'm a girl boy!" he wailed.

"No, Jonah." I said.

"But it will make me good!" he said.

"No, it won't," said Anna. "It will make you look silly."

"It won't make me silly! It will make me good!" He marched up the stairs. "I'm going to watch a baby movie."



5.24.2006

Pray for Aaron

Aaron is still in ICU and was running a fever today, up to 104 degrees. The most recent news says that it's back down to 100 degrees. He is still on the ventilator and heavily sedated. They aren't sure what is causing all these scary symptoms. The type of leukemia he has is AML, which is not good, but it is responsive to chemo. Please pray that God will heal him of all these extra problems so he can get back to chemo quickly, and pray that the chemo takes effect soon. Also, please keep Natalie and the rest of Aaron's family in prayer. They are worn out from all the ups and downs and need rest.

Thanks for praying,

Rebecca

5.23.2006

Firegirl


Anna: "I want to be a fireman when I grow up."

Me: "What do firemen do?"

Anna: "Oh, just keep people safe."

Me: "That sounds like a good job."

Anna: "Yeah. When I'm a fireman, I'll fire mean mans, and mean ladies, and mean kids, even mean babies!"

Sarah: "There's no mean babies!"

Anna: "Well, if there are mean babies, then I will fire them. And mean animals too, like mean lions, and mean bears, and mean panthers. But not helping animals."

Sarah: "When you're a fireman, people will say, 'Hey! That fireman is a girl!'"

Anna: "Yeah. And I'll have a hat, too."

Aaron Update

Good news! Aaron is stable and should be out of the ICU in a week. Thank you, God! He still has a long, hard road ahead of him, so keep praying. It's working.

Other praise reports: After almost getting kicked out of the lobby last night, Aaron's family has been offered the use of an RV, so they can sleep near the hospital.

Thanks so much for joining us!
Rebecca

5.21.2006

What Not to Wear

I entered the living room wearing a pair of shorts from last summer. Jonah took one look at them and walked away.

He returned a little later, holding out a pair of jeans. "Here, Mommy," he said. "Here's your pants."

Aaron Update-- Urgent

Aaron is in ICU this morning. His lungs were filled with fluid and he couldn't breathe. Something happened when they intubated, and more fluid from his stomach got into his lungs. Please join us in prayer for Aaron, that his life would be spared and that he would begin improving quickly, and for his wife, children, sisters, parents, and friends, that they would have some peace through all this.

Thank you for praying!

5.19.2006

Ten?

I had ten children yesterday. Adam and Heather, a couple from our church, got called down to Redding to help a man who served under Adam in Iraq. Their five children came to our house for the day. I panicked when Heather called me to ask if it was okay. But as it turned out, there was nothing to fear.

Alex and Cristen (ages 5 and 3) played with my kids happily while the other three boys were in school. After school, Austin, Hunter, and Brandon (ages 12 to 9), plus their friend Gavin (that makes ten!) found their way to our house.

We turned on the sprinkler in the yard, and it quickly became a shotgun, but everybody had fun.

And then, (Dun, dun, DUUUUN!) Jason came home. There is a reason the kids at church call him "Fun Jason," and it's not just to differentiate from the other Jason at church: Pastor Jason.

No sooner had he arrived than balls were flying over neighbors' fences; plastic bats clashed like swords; gums bled; heads knocked; and preschoolers wandered dangerously in and out of the fray. Did I mention Jason was home? Did I mention he was at the epicenter of the chaos, instigating and quelling at turns?

And then, as Hunter sat nursing his left eye with a cold soda can, assuring me, "It's okay! It doesn't hurt!" Jason whispered, "Are you sure you don't want ten?"







Update on Aaron

Aaron started chemo today. Please pray that it is effective quickly. Also keep Natalie and their children in prayer.

Thanks,
Rebecca



My Husband's Fan Club

"I love Jason more than tee-ball!"

-- Alex, five-year-old friend

5.18.2006

Pray for Aaron

An old friend of ours has just been diagnosed with acute leukemia. He's 29, has a wife and two small children, and the diagnosis is very late. Please pray that the chemo works quickly, and pray for his family, who are with him at UCLA. His name is Aaron.

Thanks for praying.
Rebecca

5.17.2006

The Ball in the Sky, by Jonah


I throwed my ball up high in the sky. And the sky was not a mean sky. It was a nice sky. It had hands. And it throwed the ball back to me. And I caught it. I throwed the ball up in the sky. It flew far, far, away. And I was crying. So I died.

-- Jonah, two years old

Super

This is an iambic verse I'm working on for Jonah. I'd like to finesse it into a sonnet, but it's not cooperating so far.


Super

He plastered mud between his blackened hands.
It plied his candied cheeks and masked his face,
the superhero-villain, steel and grace
in jersey blanket cape and underpants.
"I be mean!" he roared,
as teeming legions crumpled,
conquered by his plastic sword.



.

5.16.2006

The Sounds of Mommy

A dog was howling across the street. We heard the owner bellow through the open window, "Stop that NOW!"

"Did you hear that?" said Anna. "That was a mommy sound."

5.15.2006

Not Quite

Naiah (ten months old) pointed at Jason. "Da da!"

"That's right!" said Jason. He pointed at me. "And who is this?"

"Woof!"

5.14.2006

Jonah Skins His Elbow

"Ow! It's hurting my blood!"

-- Jonah

Jonah on Mother's Day



"Are you my mother?"


"Whose birthday is it?"

"Is Grammie my mother?"

"Happy Mars Day!"




5.12.2006

Park Experiment

We played at an old country park today. It had all the fun, dangerous play equipment I remember from my elementary school: a huge metal slide, domed monkey bars, and a set of three heavy see-saws.

Ever wondered what happens when identical twins try to play on a see-saw?

Not much.

5.11.2006

The Littlest Nomads

I'm beginning to think that God gave us children who are just as nomadic as we are. This was especially merciful of Him, because we've moved four times since the girls were born, and they have never once cried or complained about it. They might even enjoy it.

A few months before we moved here, Anna and Sarah started asking, "When are we going to get a new house?"

They couldn't possibly be talking about moving, I thought, only a year after we came to Ojai from Texas. I asked a few more questions to figure out what they meant.

"I mean, when are we going to leave the apartment and go to a new city to live there?" Anna explained.

As it turned out, we moved to the mountains the following fall. And today, six months after we arrived here, they're getting restless again.

Anna was digging in the backyard, and suddenly said, "When we get a new house, can we take this dirt with us?"

"Yeah!" said Sarah.

"Why would we get a new house?" I said. "We just got here!"

Anna ignored my objections completely. "When we move to a new house, this time can we live in the shed?"

(We have a big shed.)

I suppose this means we will never see our grandchildren. They will surely be scattered about on various continents, and we will have to chase them around, blowing all our retirement funds on exorbitant airfare. It's a sad form of poetic justice for what we did to our parents. We still want to live in China.


5.10.2006

Jonah Draws the Line

"Poopoo is yucky, yucky, yucky! And I am not eating it."

-- Jonah

Melodrama

Sarah seized Anna by the shoulders, and attempted to kiss her by force.

Anna broke free. She turned up her nose and declared, "I shall never marry you!"

5.08.2006

Yaiah

Naiah (our 10-month-old) pointed at her reflection in the mirror and said, "Yaiah!"

Howdy, Neighbor!

Jason took Jonah for a walk to the store last week, and came back beaming. "Well," he said proudly, "You can take the boy out of Texas, but you can't take Texas out of the boy!" (Jason is from Austin.)

"What did he do?" I asked.

"He kept yelling, 'Howdy!' all up and down our street!"

"That's weird," I said. "I wonder where he learned that."

I got my answer today. Our neighbor, Heidi, came to the fence to chat. Jonah spotted her from the porch. He grinned at Heidi, and called out, "Hi, Howdy!"

5.07.2006

Good Friend

Jonah still talks about the "blue boy," as he calls him, who yelled at him at McDonald's. That sad encounter has made him very thankful for his two-year-old friend Abbie. Last night, when he saw her at church, he kept bringing me reports:

Abbie is not scary. She's nice.

Abbie likes me.

Abbie is pretty.

Abbie is not mean to me.

I like Abbie.

When I put him to bed, he wouldn't let me leave until we both had thanked God for Abbie.


5.06.2006

Baby Dolittle

Our neighbor brought her dog Ansel into our yard to play yesterday.

Naiah (10 months old) sat on my lap and watched him bound around the yard chasing sticks and kids. When Ansel started to wear out, he trotted over to visit the baby. Slowly and gently, he nudged his nose into her face, hoping to give her a kiss. Naiah gave him a look of deep disgust (his breath wasn't very fresh) and swatted him on the nose.

"That's a doggy," I told her. "Doggy. The doggy says--"

"Woof!" said Naiah.

5.04.2006

Stupid

We met an interesting, three-year-old boy at McDonald's today. He and his sister were already busy in the Playplace, under the supervision of an older man, probably a grandparent. Jonah, Anna, and Sarah finished their snacks quickly, and set off to play with them.

As soon as Jonah entered the playground, the boy turned on him and yelled, "You're STUPID!"

Jonah just smiled amicably. This infuriated the boy even further, and he began shouting, "Stupid, stupid, stupid a**hole!" while his grandfather watched silently.

Having never heard these words before, Jonah understood them to be a friendly new greeting, and replied happily, "You're stupid too!"

I called him over to the table to speak privately. "Jonah, you don't say 'stupid.'"

"I don't?"

"No, that's a mean word."

He looked a bit alarmed. "But that boy said 'stupid!'"

"I know he did, but you don't. We don't use mean words."

"Okay," he said, and ran off to play.

Since the playground was small, he kept running into the boy. Again and again, as the grandfather watched, the boy shouted horrible things at Jonah for absolutely no reason. And Jonah smiled back.

Naiah (our ten-month-old) was playing on the open side of the toddler house, when the boy came over to us. He crawled into the house and looked at her through the window on which she was leaning. Then he began beating hard on the wall and window, as if he wanted to knock her down from his side. I sat next to her, just in case, and she watched him pounding the plastic with his fists.

Jonah came to sit on the other side of Naiah. He spoke to the boy through the window, "This is my brother!"

"Sister," I corrected.

"Yeah," he said smiling, as the boy continued to bang, "This is my baby sister!"

The boy stopped hitting the window and looked at Jonah. "Your baby is STUPID, a**hole!"

Jonah scowled at him for the first time. "No!" he said firmly. "You don't be mean to my sister."

The boy contemplated Jonah's demeanor for a moment, then ran off to the playground again.



How the heck did this issue come up so soon? I knew, as the kids got older, they would meet bullies and violence and cruelty. But never in my wildest dreams did I expect Jonah to be facing kids like this at the age of two! There were no strategies in place to guide me. Should I leave? Should I confront the grandpa? Should I correct the kid?

I chose to stay and see what Jonah would do, and I was so proud of him. He was unwaveringly civil-- even friendly-- to the boy, no matter what he said, and he knew when and how to draw the line. But what if the boy had hit him? What should I have taught my son then-- turn the other cheek? Run away? Hit him back? It's such a situational question that I don't think I could make a general rule... So how do I prepare him?

And the question that still nags me-- What's to become of the boy? His grandfather doesn't seem to care. Someone at home or preschool is berating him so fiercely that he can't even crack a smile at the playground. He's too angry to recognize a friendly face. And I don't even know his name.

5.03.2006

The Bambi Complex

Anna had me in a headlock this afternoon. "Don't choke me," I said, when I started losing oxygen.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because if you choke me, I'll die."

"Oh," she said, sitting down next to me. "I don't want you to die."

"You don't?"

"No. I don't want to be all alone without a mommy."

"Yes, that would be sad," I agreed, wondering why her father and three siblings weren't in the scenario.

"If you died, who would take care of me?"

Sarah chimed in. "Daddy could!"

"Oh, yeah!" said Anna. "He could take care of us."

"But what if he has to go to work?" said Sarah.

They both thought hard about it.

"Well," I offered, "Maybe if I died, you could live near someone from our family, and they could take care of you while Daddy is at work."

"Yeah!" said Anna. "That would be okay."

They seemed pacified.

Anna sighed. "But I still don't want you to die."

"Thank you." I said.


The End

Anna and Sarah asked me to read I Corinthians to them. I started on chapter twelve and read into thirteen.

. . . love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for languages, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know . . .

"This NEVER comes to an end!" said Anna, and she marched upstairs to play.


-

I'm the Boss!

Anna agreed to help Jonah put on his shoes, so I could dress the baby.

Jonah was very proud that he didn't need my help. "Hey, Sissy," he said, "I'm the boss!"

Anna laughed. "No, you're not."

"Yes, I'm the boss, and you're the boss!"

"We're not the boss," she insisted.

"We're not? Who is the boss?"

Anna paused to think. "Ummm . . . I think mommy is."

5.01.2006

Spring!




The Birds and the Bees . . . and the Bushes

"Look, Sissy! This bush is having leaves!"

-- Anna



Footloose

"It's warm now, so can I go outside with my feet on?"

-- Sarah



She Loves Me Not

Anna ripped petals from a dandelion, chanting . . .

"Yes, I'll tell her. I won't tell her. Yes, I'll tell her. I won't tell her. Yes, I'll tell her. I won't, won't, won't, won't--" She stood contemplating the bare stalk for a moment. "Mommy?"

"What, baby?"

"Nevermind."



Jonah's Ode to Dirt
(sung while wallowing in a dirt patch)

I love the dirt.
I love the dirt.
The dirt is like poo-poo.
But it's not poo-poo.
I can't find any poo-poo.
I love the dirt.