Merry Christmas 2008

I just realized that since I mailed a big batch of Christmas cards yesterday, I'd better get my act together and put some kind of Christmas letter up on here right now. See, we've been putting just the blog address on our Christmas cards for a few years now, kind of figuring that if you want to know how our year was, well, you might be willing to take that extra step to find out. And then, if we're really lucky, you'll come back and visit periodically throughout the year and hear my ramblings, see some pictures, and kind of see what's going on with us. So, here's a lightning review of our year.

We are still in Fort Myers and loving it. Going on eight years now, minus the one in Pasadena. We have to say that we like it more than we thought we would.

Andy is three--count 'em--three classes away from finishing his MDiv. I'm excited about that! He has a class coming up in just under a month and then has to figure out how to snag the last two. It may make for another whirlwind summer schedule, but he has promised me that he will finish on time (it will be 10 years from start to finish!)

The kids are being... kids. Caroline has "officially" joined our homeschool this year and is doing really well. She has finally started reading and is doing really well. It's still quite a bit of work for her, but she's taking the time to make sure she understands everything she's reading (she is at the stage where it's sometimes easier to just figure out the words and miss the forest for the trees altogether). She has an incredible memory and diction, and continues to just steamroll her way through math. Michael does well in everything and tries to spend as little time as possible on his school. Elanor is our little pistol--full of personality and sass, and boy, does she know it. She does some school with us, but is mainly along for the ride. Michael played on a recreational soccer team this fall and loved it, although please don't ask about his team's record. The girls are doing ballet for their second year now (Caroline has moved up to a higher level class but "helps" with the little girls' class) and really have enjoyed that as well.

I have been working on homeschooling and building my little photography business, which has been really fun. [Hi! Andy breaking in here - trust me, Robin is absolutely awesome at this. I am so proud of her! normal programming resumes now ...] I love being able to observe families and document a little bit of their lives. It's also spilled over a little bit into doing some web design--my own site, and then the girls' ballet studio's site, and our church's site. I have really enjoyed that side of it, which was not something I ever expected to do!

I guess one of the big events of 2008, which I don't want to go into for this post, was that our congregation voted to leave the PC(USA) denomination this spring. Although our vote passed, the local presbytery voted to keep the property as a PC(USA) church (as was their right), so many of those who voted to leave the denomination did so and formed a new church in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) on Easter Sunday. This included our family, so our church home is now New Hope. The winter/spring were both kind of a wild ride at our house, as we (well, I) worried a little bit about whether Andy would have a job when all was said and done, but God has provided for both churches. If you would, join us in praying for New Hope, that it would become one of those shining places where people are growing in a love for God and for others, and are known for their love.

Our other big event of 2008, which is closer right now, is that we had to make the hard decision to have Emma, our dog of ten years, put to sleep just last week (the kids are doing all right with it, but it was much harder for Andy and me. We adopted her before Michael was even thought of and she was a great dog for a family of kids (see here). I was just remembering how Michael would crawl over to her and sit and play with her... she'd start licking his face and he'd start giggling like crazy, so his mouth would open and yes, she would lick inside his mouth. I suppose it's gross, but it was always so funny to watch. Emma apparently had cancer all through her abdomen and it was really starting to hurt her, so we took her in, which was really hard. We do plan to get another dog, but not until March or so (we have family trips in January and March and that doesn't fit with a puppy somehow).

I'm sure there is much more to tell (as is true for everyone's stories), but we'll leave it here for now. May God grant you grace and peace this coming year.

in memorarium

I'm going to be merciless today and make you look at many pictures, just because this is my blog and I feel like it. Today, Andy and I took our faithful dog Emma to the vet to be put to sleep. It was really hard. We got her from the Humane Society as an older puppy ten years ago this month (I blame her lack of training on her age, certainly not any deficit on our part--ha!). She was with us through two moves (one temporary, in between homes), three babies, and was only not with us when we went to Pasadena (thank you again and again and again to the Elliotts for taking her in while we were gone). Last week, we got confirmation from the vet that Emma was dying of cancer and we brought her home on hospice. Yesterday we decided that we needed to let her go, and this morning we did. We wept. Emma was very calm; she trusted us to the end. For all her issues, she has always been just about the nicest dog on the planet. And here are pictures.

OK, seriously, I do not know why Blogger puts my pictures up backwards from how I actually uploaded them. So I apologize for them being completely mixed up.

Emma felt she had a moral obligation to attack this strange orange monster which was eating our children. She always went for the wheels:
Oh yeah, same issue with their toy lawnmowers:
See, this is back in Lumberton. She loved to sit at the front door and watch the street through the glass. She also loved to climb up on the couch and sleep right here in the sunbeam:
Remember those Johnny Jump-Up bouncy seat/swings? We'd put Michael in his and Emma would intentionally come and lie down underneath him. And he would jump on her. And let me tell you, this boy was no pixie:
She looks so long-suffering, but she put herself there. Seriously.
I took this last week when we came home from the ultrasound. She wasn't too interested.
Did I mention long-suffering? She just let him do this. I think the Aunt Jenny blanket in the back had just arrived.
Never liked her bath.
This is Elanor aiding and abetting in the bath. It should have been before the wringing out picture above, Blogger, just like I uploaded it.
Emma and Michael have always had kind of a special bond. She liked to nap with him.

That's all I've got for today. Well, just should shout out an additional big thank you to my father for being here and taking the kids to the library while Andy and I went to the vet.

quotes for the day

I rediscovered this one:

“When our days become dreary with low hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.”

Martin Luther King (cited on Eugene Cho’s blog - http://eugenecho.wordpress.com/)

and here:

Jesus exploded into the life of ancient Israel - the life of the world world, in fact - not as a teacher of timeless truths, nor as a great moral example, but as the one through whose life, death, and resurrection God's rescue operation was put into effect, and the cosmos turned its great corner at last. All worldviews are challenged to the core by this claim ... It is all because of Jesus that we speak of God the way we do. And it is all because of Jesus that we find ourselves called to live the way we do."

N.T. Wright, Simply Christian (one of my favorite books)

with thanksgiving

I was sitting at my desk in our crazy Hub just now, having been hard at work for a few hours on preparing to teach. I was reading a book that dealt with the importance of imagination in inspiring people. I had my headphones on, the world shut out - when a line of 8 3-year-olds burst in, faces all smiling, hair glittering with tinsel, singing "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" to me (it's a MOPS day at New Hope). Call me a sap, but it was beautiful I almost cried. Talk about inspiration! They made my day.

a new low ...

... in dumb things I do without thinking. I was late leaving church today for lunch, and as I hit the crash bar on the door and rolled outside, I was automatically mashing the "unlock" button on my key chain as I headed toward my vehicle. All fine and good, except I wasn't hearing that tell-tale click from the doors actually unlocking. That's when it hit me: I was staring at my bike. Yes, I tried to be good today and rode my bike, but I guess I am more a creature of habit than I thought. Perhaps the bike lock key would have helped more. Add it to the list of things I do that continually offer you hilarity at my expense.

holy laughter

Yesterday I was listening to something Erwin said in November about how we always associate the "Sacred" with the boring, mundane, old, (yawn) ... you get the picture. And he asked: why can't we learn to think of the sacred and holy in the same breath as laughter, joy, pleasure, praise? It made me think of two hilarious episodes I have recently enjoyed in our family.

One: right before our Thanksgiving Trip to Virginia, I was tucking the kids in bed when Michael randomly announced that he would make a following declaration out loud at the Thanksgiving Meal. "Down with Spuds!" he cried out in a loud voice, and immediately cracked himself up. He laughed so hard I thought I would have to get him off the top bunk just to get some control. I swear the whole bedframe was shaking as he convulsed in peal after peal of belly laughter. The girls went around saying it for days.

Two: On Sunday I made lemonade out of some Meyer lemons we bought off someone at church. It was delicious, but strong stuff. In fact, so strong that I told Caroline (who was politely sipping through a grimace) that it would "put hair on your chest." She lost it. She laughed hysterically. Meanwhile Michael lifted his shirt and examined his chest for hair, and Ela nearly burst into tears telling Mommy she never wanted to have hair on her chest. Robin calmly assured her there was nothing to fear. But Caroline only laughed harder with those silent, shaking heaves that leave you gasping for air. She literally fell off her chair, slipping bonelessly off the seat and ended up flat on her back on the floor. I was howling at the whole thing. Now the girls toast each other and talk about how strong drinks put hair on their chests.

Holy laughter indeed. And we needed it today: we found out that our sweet, 10-year old dog Emma is just shot through with cancer. All five of us are resolved to enjoy the time we have left. There's holiness there as well.

haiku

Here is Caroline's haiku (with assist) from today's Writing Wednesday:

pink and red leading
inside is white and creamy
my radish does grow.

Michael's (no assist):

A dog, sitting in the
dirt, look quick--what's there?
Nothing but a hole.