Camp IoDisECa

Nick was asked last week to come and be 'Vicar of the Week' at summer camp - Iowa District East Camp. The whole family was invited, so we left Sunday after church and will be here until Friday afternoon. It's been quite the experience with 2 small children, but hopefully we've been a positive influence on the 50ish teenagers here this week. Their days are scheduled very well and it seems like such an awesome place to meet new friends and have fun. Morning prayers start at 7:30 (which Nick leads) and the campfire ends the day at 9:30. I've spent a lot of time in our room because Ava is sleeping a ton. Cade is having a blast running around doing things and hanging out with the big kids. Hopefully Ava and I can go with Nick and Cade the next time they visit the horses and ride canoes so we can get pictures! I'm also trying to sneak a picture of Nick leading the prayer services at the Amphitheater. I've only made it to about half of the services because of Ava's sleeping 'schedule' (she sleeps when she's tired!). While it's been stressful (I'm learning that most everything in life is once you have children), it's been such a neat opportunity to be here and meet wonderful people and see the time they invest in putting together a great program for these kids. It's also been nice to have 3 square meals a day prepared for us and no dishes to wash!

Shh, don't wake mom...

'What's that?' you ask.

'Has Cade started going gray??'

Juuuust taking care of making breakfast while Mom is still asleep. "Mom, that sugar powder and those chocolate things taste really yummy."

And now I shall no longer sleep soundly.

Sponge Boy Square Parents

Here we are, one month from leaving our vicarage in Iowa, trying not to panic at the amount of packing that will be taking place soon. I have been so preoccupied with learning to balance meeting the very different needs of two children that all of a sudden we are preparing to leave. Today I also realized that my son has changed so very much in the past few months. Physically, he looks like a young boy, rather than the toddler that is in all the pictures we took of him before Ava was born. Emotionally, he seems to be trying to learn how to deal with the roller coaster that takes place in children from time to time. He's no longer the center of attention and he had to learn real patience overnight when Ava was born. He's so independent now it scares me. I never used to worry much when we went to public places because he always wanted to be right by us. Two days ago at Walmart, he showed me just how much he has changed. He wandered up and down aisles and walked out in front of other people's carts. He played on an abandoned clothes rack for several minutes, never once looking to see where we were (out of his view, about 15 feet away). He would run down the aisle so far ahead of us that people would look at him, wondering to whom he belonged. I found myself wondering the same thing. The questions he asks leave me googling for answers. He started asking 'what time is it?' a few months ago. As confusing as it is to say 'It's 12:35' on a clock that only has the numbers from 1-12, he still seems to be figuring out the minutes. A few days ago I counted a couple of times by fives up to 60, hoping to prepare him for learning how the minutes work on the clock. Today I randomly started counting "5, 10, 15, 20" and he jumped in "25, 40!". Hey, close enough for me! Nick said it's probably best for him to be able to count past 20 before teaching counting by 5's, but some may also say it's best for a child to be able to read before teaching them about verbs and nouns. Yeah, he just 'gets' those, too. Last week at the library I picked up a book called 'To toot, to root, to parachute'. I didn't even look through it, the title made it a must-have for me :) Anyhow, it turned out to be a fun rhyming book of all verbs. After reading it once, he understood verbs. Nick then gave a few examples of nouns and he was able to differentiate between a verb and a noun. Luckily 'A mink, a fink, a skating rink' was available at the library today. They also have pronoun, adverb, adjective, and synonym books. I had no intention of teaching him these advanced concepts (for a 2 year old, ok, advanced for ME!) but it just happened! He totally takes it in stride and thinks nothing of it. Because it's just completely normal to tell me "It's quarter til 5 mom" and then go and make a diamond and a trapezoid on the floor with golf balls. God has truly blessed him with a wonderful mind and I can't wait to see what our little sponge will absorb next.

Family

Sunny Sunday afternoon

Until we meet again

Today we said goodbye to our very close friends. I don't like goodbyes. I never know the right thing to say or how to ease the hurt. Sometimes I cry. Sometimes my brain can't compute what is actually going on and it's not until later that I realize something is missing. It's difficult not knowing when you'll see someone again. It's hard to go through so much together and then not be able to be there to support your friends during a dramatic and life-altering transition. In the words of my dear sweet son:

"I'm going to miss you guys"

But alas, such is the journey that God has placed before us. Full of hellos and goodbyes for the time being. Trust that He will provide. God will never leave you nor forsake you.

So what's new?

Well, vicarage is winding down and is officially over June 14. We've been asked to stay here until the end of July so that Nick can be in charge of organizing VBS. It's basically a summer vicarage and his duties will only involve preaching a few times and all of the VBS details. We are hoping it will be a good chance for him to relax a little while still working. Fewer responsibilities will be nice while we are packing and preparing to leave. We plan to spend most of August visiting and staying with family. We haven't seen some of Nick's family in well over a year so they obviously haven't met Ava. Cade knows everyone by pictures, but it will be nice for him to see everyone again. I can't believe how much he's grown physically and mentally since we've moved here! Just today I was looking at pictures of him from last summer..

June 2008

May 2009


2008

2009

He's gone and turned into a young boy instead of a toddler! It's crazy to think that he'll be 3 in September. He loves to read books and play ball with Daddy. His newest developments include learning to tell time, reading words, and writing letters of the alphabet. It's been a while since we've worked on sign language with him (he knew 100 signs plus the alphabet last year) so I'm looking forward to incorporating that more again. He's wearing some of the same clothes as last summer because now he doesn't have his big ole cloth diaper taking up space. He's definitely much taller. When we got here, he could easily walk under the bar counter and now he routinely whacks his head on it. And now that I think of it, he's been through 2 different shoe sizes since that first photo. Another huge change, of course, is that now he has a little sister!!

May 2009

Miss Ava is quite the little princess. She's sweet and adorable, loves to coo and talk and smile, and don't worry, she'll let you know if she needs anything! We're trying to figure out where she got her 'loud personality'. She sure does give us a break at night, though! Some nights she'll sleep 7 hours straight! She's definitely her Daddy's little girl. She has his eyes and looks so much like him! It's wonderful having a a girl. I'm really looking forward to seeing how our relationship will grow as she gets older.

We recently found a house to rent for our final year in Fort Wayne. It worked out that we can rent this beautiful house for equal to or less than a 2 bedroom apartment! It has 3 bedrooms (room for visitors!), a fireplace, basement, and is fully furnished. I'll be calling for volunteers on window washing day...

As for me, my hobbies have come to a screeching halt for the time being. I need to get a daily routine and cleaning and cooking schedules going so I can free up some time during the day. I haven't been able to add to my Etsy shop for quite a while, but I did have a couple of custom orders for wedding cake toppers! Pretty cool and I can't wait to see pictures of the cakes - white birds and elephants. Someday I'll get back at it...

For now we are enjoying the wonderful spring weather, looking forward to Nick and I's 5 year anniversary, and counting the days until we have to start packing to leave! It has been quite the year, full of changes and growth.

Blessed

"No other success in life - not being President, or being wealthy, or going to college, or writing a book, or anything else - comes up to the success of the man or woman who can feel that they have done their duty and that their children and grandchildren rise up and call them blessed."

President Theodore Roosevelt