That's Hysterical

The kids continue to be hilarious.

Kate has been waking up in the middle of the night recently asking for 'cuddles' and wanting us to stay in there with her for a little while.

One recent day, Rachelle was talking to Kate how this didn't make Mommy and Daddy happy because they wanted to sleep. Kate responds by saying, "Mommy, remember adults like to sleep but kids don't".

Then last night, we were at dinner at the Swank Estate and were all talking at the dinner table, talking about Kate's day and Kate shared the fact that Jackson (the wiener dog that we are watching for the weekend) chased the Flufinator (our rabbit) earlier today. Grandpa asked if it was funny, and Kate responded that it was "hysterical"

Ryan has recently made my eyes well up with tears of pride. We bought him a tee-ball set a while back that he's shown some interest in, mainly to whack the tee over with the bat. Well, last week I tried again to show him how to hit the ball with two hands on the bat. He took to it like a fish to water. He now goes out every day and whacks the ball a few times. He gets really good rotation and hits the ball pretty far! My eyes are welling up as I type this.

Ryan's also a big jester. He thinks it's very funny to play with you and say no when you ask him for a hug and kiss (formally very easy to get from him). When you ask he'll say no, and then get a smirk on his face and turn away from you. He cracks me up.

On a separate note, as I was leaving Young Life club the other night I looked up and saw the longest, brightest shooting star I've ever seen. What an awesome reminder it was to me as I realized how vast this universe is and I have a God that cares about my silly 'needs' that are not really needs at all. So awesome.

Kids are hilarious

So these two little gifts from God have been cracking me up lately.

Ryan has turned into a complete chatter box and any drive now includes him pointing out EVERY truck and school bus on our route. This tricky part is figuring out which one is which, as his enunciation has not reached a high level yet.

Kate as well is talking up a storm and sometimes beyond what I think a 3 year old should be saying. Here's a conversation between Daddy and Kate yesterday
"Kate, go get your shoes on, we're leaving for the baseball game. No flip-flops because we are going to do a lot of walking." (2 things to note here, 1 Kate ALWAYS wears flip-flops, 2-we were heading to a DVHS baseball game to see some of my high school Young Life friends)

Kate-"Daddy, I want to wear flip-flops, they are comprable (Comfortable)"

"No, you need to wear your Crocs, we are going to do a lot of walking"

"Daddy, let's discuss this." WHAT 3 year old says, let's discuss this? "How about this, I'll wear my flip-flops to the car and when we get to the ball game, I'll wear my Crocs."

How could I say no? Seemed like a reasonable solution to our problem. Unbelievable.

Then with Rachelle the other day, Kate comes in from another room and says, "OK Mommy, Here's the deal," then proceeds to tell us something that neither of us can now remember because we were laughing so hard.

Man, I love these kids.

God's Peace Doesn't Make Sense Sometimes

So the last two months have thoroughly convinced me of God's sense of humor.

There is no short way to tell this story, so forgive me.

A few years ago we bought a rental house for a family from Sweden that was here on a 3 year assignment for Volvo. We purchased the home with the intent of moving into it at the end of 3 years, which would have been June 2007.

In January, we put our home on the market with the intent of selling and moving into the Mansion as we call it (it is far bigger than we need, but has the ability to house ailing parents or Young Life leaders). The Swedes asked if they could stay two more years and we said no, as we wanted Kate to begin Kindergarten at the school in 1 year.

In mid February, no activity was happening on our current house, and I began to imagine the stress involved with two mortgage payments, so I called the Swedes and asked if they'd be interested in those two years still. They said yes if they knew for sure by the end of Feb.

On Feb 27 I told them they could have the two years and we signed an extension to the current lease. We decided to keep our house on the market as we figured it would take 8-10 months (our neighborhood's average) and then we'd move for a year and a half or so into a rental.

On Feb 28 (that's 1 day later for you non-math majors) our house sold.

Through God's grace, we found a great home at a great price to rent for the time being.

Here's the rub.

I'm not anxious about it. I tell my friends about this situation and they are like, "what, you own two houses and you live in neither?" We own a rental in NM-another story entirely.

I feel as I draw closer to God the things of this world that once made sense are starting to make less and less sense. This peace about being in a wierd situation is odd for me, but comforting.

Testing 123

OK, so it's late, I have much on my mind and I'm just testing this out. I hope I get onto it.