A Life Crisis

Not quite 30 and already it is happening; my friends are beginning to have crises. Can't call them midlife crises because we pray that our lives will all be longer than late 50s but life crises never the less. It hurts my soul to hear what is happening in Jasmine's life. We have been friends since we were both seven and in grade 2. We got married within a year of each other and have small children around the same ages. So it came as a total shock to me (and to her) when her husband said he was not happy and moved out. WHAT! HAS THE WORLD ENDED? HUH? Questions run through your head. I just want to shake him but it won't help anything. I can just watch from the sidelines as this terrible drama plays out in the lives of people I care about. And if it hurts me imagine how much worse it is for those involved. So I pray and feel like I am not doing enough but there is nothing really I can do. So everyone pray. Pray for Jasmine and Sabastian, Jaspar and Ivy.

Totally unrelated; here are pictures of work weekend and Roy and Dave's excellent adventure (girl free zones mostly).

 

 

 

 

Not so cute anymore

It has happened. We all knew that we would get to this point but you kind of forget that it will happen so soon. . . Patience has lost the cute newborn cry. Now when she cries she sounds like she is telling you off, loudly, . . .really loudly, . . . with a growl in the back, . . .and getting louder. She is getting more opinionated all the time. She kicks her legs to get you to pick her up, and she kicks faster if you don't notice (A is for aisle, B is for bdellium (?sp) funny music in the background) so you better pick her up. Now I didn't say Patience isn't cute, she is, just her cry isn't anymore.

We got the new Barenaked Ladies CD. You should here the Alphabet song and I especially like Popcorn. I like mostly the whole thing. Really Niles got it for his birthday but we all enjoy listening to it.

He is big and 5. It is hard being older. He doesn't like the babies some of the time. They follow him around they get in his way. It is nice being older though. He is very talented at getting what he wants. He doesn't waste time asking for things he just takes. He has learned how to climb up on cupboards to be able to do this. How wonderful.

It's Xavier's last day of Grade 1. . . there it goes. I will never have a Xavier in Grade 1 again. He is getting so big but wants to be be little at the same time and be taken care of. He is a great helper but worries when he can't get Patience to stop crying. He thinks that there is something wrong with him instead of an opinionated baby having a moment.

It isn't really hard to see how I got opinionated children. Opinions breed true. That's right they must be dominant. It is good. At least you know what they want even if you don't always know what they are thinking. Opinions are sometimes sneaky, other opinions are afraid that being different is not good. Ah, good times.

The business is going well. Rob is managing to keep busy enough to have an employee. Right now Joseph is working for us but he thinks he wants to go back to school in the fall and you hate to discourage someone from from learning the Bible but it would give me more confidence if he was passing right now. I may be wrong but usually you show that you are learning by passing the classes you are taking. It is so much less hassle for those who are teaching and learning along with you. I guess we will see how things proceed. Besides having an employee, there is a van; with decals that look very nice on it. ( I think I am throwing in extra punctuation today, back to the book). We have also managed to get paid in the very first month. All very good. Keep praying for our family in this time of change.

Nice picture of Shelley. Xavier was busy with the camera.

I don't have any pictures.

It's true. I am at so many other people's houses and they all have cameras that I keep leaving mine at home. So I don't have new pictures to show you. Other people do. Maybe they will e-mail me some or post them in a web album or something (except Melissa and then I have to go to her house to blog from there to get the correctly formatted pictures, not that that is a problem because I am there often), and then I will continue to update you with pictures. I guess I need a camera that is small enough to go in my bag because the one I have at home is not and my hands are full enough so it just doesn't get brought. Enough excuses.

Happy Birthday Niles! Here is a picture of scary Niles. He is two in this picture.

















And here he is almost five. Still cute. He says the strangest things. Today he said, "Mom can I have some of your beverage? Is this called a beverage?" and then he proceeds to finish my drink.

Since this blog is all about Niles I will share more about him. He has been finding the adjustment to not being the baby in the house rather difficult. He is struggling with wanting to be big and independent and needing to be little and helped. It makes for a frustrating day. He is a GREAT BIG whiner and we are working on it. On the other hand he knows his address, phone number, how to spell his and Xavier's names, can cut with scissors, can choose appropriate punishments and put things in the dishwasher. He is also going to be five. Five is a great age. He starts kindergarten in the fall and already recognizes his teacher. Great things.

(Roy! Rob chooses Vanessa for a girl name and Evander for a boy. In fact that was the winning boy name if Patience came out with accessories if you know what I mean).

Mommy this is the way!

I keep threatening to blog about this and I am sitting at Melissa's house watching kiddos (they are behind me playing happily) so there is a computer just waiting for me (and Melissa actually has more recent pictures than I have).
So I was getting ready one morning last week and Patience started crying. I couldn't get her to stop (she was in a mood). Xavier really doesn't like to hear her cry. He comes running into the room, "Mom! You aren't doing it right! Let me", and he takes Patience and starts bouncing her and she stops crying. "See Mom," he said, "you have to bounce her medium". Oh boy. I have a 7 yr old baby expert on my hands. Its good though. Patience really likes her brothers. She saves her biggest smiles for them.
If you haven't been keeping up we have been spending a lot of our time at Melissa and Robert's house helping them put their roof back on. We are all praying for the day the roof is on and we don't have to spend all our time so far up in the air. Not that it hasn't been fun, but I think Melissa is incredibly easy going. She just keeps feeding the hoards that show up. We are blessing their house with our presence and soon we will bless it by our absence. (For at least a day or so).
Niles and Xavier are learning Ps 23 for a memory verse right now. We are up to verse 4. ask Niles to tell you if you see him. It is quite sweet to listen to. Xavier doesn't get as much practice because he is at school but he is also very good.
Niles is becoming very proficient at baby speak. He spends a lot of time with the littles. I think he would like a few more friends his own age. Xavier is teaching himself to read but if you ask him he doesn't know how to because he can't read all the words yet. He was looking at the screen on Sun and said "Mom what comes after the Day of Prayer and ?.... (Purpose)" He got all but one word. And he isn't learning how to read in English at school.
Here are the random pictures. (Okay I can't figure how to get off this computer. I will get Melissa to help me in a minute).