techie

So I ran into the kitchen the other day to put a few dishes in the dishwasher and came back into the living room to find that my son has taught himself how to use the mouse on the computer.  And then he somehow found the photo booth.  And this is what followed:

Oh how he makes me smile.

Trickle Down Effect

Kids are fascinating.  I love getting a glimpse of their world through spending my days with my kids.  One thing that I love is watching kids learn from each other.  (Although it can also be slightly terrifying at times).  Take, for example, the fact that my son LOOOOOVES Star Wars.  Now Breck has never seen Star Wars and has very little frame of reference to what Star Wars actually is.  But he had a little friend who had an older who has seen Star Wars.  So big brother told little brother, little brother told Breck and hence, the love and fascination was born.  Now Breck soaks up any little tid bit of information that he can about the subject.  What a glorious day it will be when he can actually see the movies.  

And it's fun to watch Elsa now learn from Breck.  She seems to study him in a way much different from us and in a way I don't remember Breck learning either.  For both good and for bad.  She already wants to feed herself with a spoon, but I believe that she also just threw her first intentional hit her brother's way this morning.  The good and the bad.

And Elsa already is learning about the world of Star Wars.  Watch as she joins in the epic battle, Yoda in hand.  The Force is strong with this one.

hidden treasures

So I arguably had one of the best childhoods ever.  We lived on a block with tons of kids our age and would disappear outside to play and roam the neighborhood for hours on end.  Up until about jr. high, we would spend every Friday night as a family, celebrating "Family Fun Night" which often included going out to eat, epic rounds of putt-putt golf, movies or the like.  We spent summer vacations in Minnesota at my grandparents cabin.  We had a box turtle as a pet that spent most of his time roaming around the first floor of our house.  We had parents that would take us sledding at 11:30 at night when school was called off for a snow day the night before.  We saved up our allowance money to walk up to Baums, the corner drug store, to buy candy and gorge ourselves on it on the walk back home.  It was great.  I look back on my growing up years with nothing but fond memories - what a gift!

Often we also had one of these guys perched on a bookshelf or ledge in our house:

Any ideas what it is?

It's cecropia moth cocoon.  My parents, being the science buffs that they are, would take us exploring to find them growing up.  Or my dad would often show up at home with one he had found during his work day.  So there it would sit in our house,  and we would all go on about our business.  And then one day, in the spring the moth would imerge and we would spend some time together watching it, studying it, just being amazed at the creative natural world around us.  And then we'd set him or her free to find a mate.

So this year, for Elsa's birthday, Breck received a special box from Grandpa Kurt.  (And Breck made out like a bandit, by the way, on a birthday that wasn't even his - how does that work?!?)  And inside was the little guy pictured above.

Hope he or she hatches!  

worlds apart

A few things I am loving about life back in the US of A:

*worshiping regularly in English

*cottage cheese

*sidewalks you can actually push a stroller down with ease

*public libraries

*thrift stores

*seasons

*knowing my mama is only an eight hour car ride away

*a car I know how to drive

*drinking water from the tap

*my friends

A few things I am missing so much from life in Ecuador:

*worshiping regularly in Spanish

*buying 4 avocados for $1

*snow capped volcanoes 

*super affordable fresh flowers

*drying clothes outside on the line year round

*driving around in the beat up old blue Trooper with my fam and listening to mix cds

*our yard

*Aslan

*communal living with the Mergies

*my friends

Take Off

She's walking!

Game Day!

I have the coolest friends.

Like the one that has a commercial in the Super Bowl.

Yeah, that's right.  

I met Ariel in 7th grade on one of her early creative endeavors.  Our Honors Special Projects class was commissioned to paint a mural for The Storybook Monkey, a local bookstore downtown.  We bonded painting a waterfall together and the rest was history.  We were super great friends up through high school and I was so glad we were back from Ecuador in time this fall to be at her wedding.  My friendship with her is one of the longest of my life and she's fabulous.

Congrats Ari!  You're amazing!

please ignore my squinty eyes....it was sunny :)

Read more about her and her commercial here.

agradecida

Do you ever have those moments where you are all of a sudden just hit with overwhelming gratitude for your life?  Those moments that you're not expecting, that kinda creep up on you when you are not looking for them and really doing nothing out of the ordinary, but something in that moment just makes you stop and be grateful from the very depth of who you are.  I had one of those moments this morning.

We were sitting around the table in our sunlit dinning room eating a BIG breakfast (thanks to my marvelous mama who stocked our pantries while she was here last weekend!) of eggs, bacon, toast and hash-browns.  Breck was presenting many compelling arguments about why we should give him another piece of toast instead of finishing the eggs and hash-browns still on his plate.  Elsa was meticulously trying to discover how many pieces she could crumble her hard boiled egg into.  And then deciding that it would make a better hair treatment than breakfast.  My husband sitting across the table from me, still in pajamas.  Nothing really that different than many other mornings in our house.  But it hit me.  An overwhelming sense of gratitude for my life, the people in it and where we are.  My husband who loves me so well.  My kids who fill my days in every sense.  Sipping coffee out of my favorite mug.  An apartment that I love.  Big windows that the sun shines through all day.  And a God that continues to show up and provide for us in ways we don't deserve, in ways that show us He is so totally faithful and He so totally loves us.

Maybe I was hit with this feeling this morning because my heart has been so heavy with burdens that others are facing right now.  Good friends whose 13 year old son just started chemo this week.  Another whose grandson passed away after just 3 days of life here on this earth.  I can't imagine.  Situations that seem so hopeless.  And while I have never been in their shoes, I have had loss.  I've had those moments when it feels like you'll be stuck in that pit forever and you'll never feel anything else other than the despair and fear, pain and confusion that you feel in that moment. And I am not there now, but I know I will be there again on this human journey we are all on.  And while our hearts do break with those that we love when they are going through difficult times simply because we love them, maybe we also feel pain because we know that tragedy in our own life could only be a moment away.  

But, in some way that I don't at all understand, God meets you there in the misery and turns your mourning into dancing.  You find a reason to smile again.  Laughter creeps into conversation.  Beauty shows up in unexpected places.  The sometimes mundane, daily rhythm of life takes over and brings a known kind of comfort.  And then I find myself in a moment like I had this morning.  A moment when life simply could not be any better.  A moment that took my breath away in the way that it totally filled up my soul.

So that is where I am at today, so overwhelmingly grateful.  And praying that those I love who are mourning will be dancing again soon.