Well, I wish I could write something profound; however, it seems like my mind is mostly occupied by the everyday responsibilities and joys of life to think of anything new a profound to share. So, I’ll just have to stick to the plain reporting of happenings in our life.

The most recent child story involves our youngest. At just 13 months, she took a typical toddler tumble, and she ended up stopping her fall with her hand and cracking a bone in her arm enough to require a cast. This happened about 10 days ago, and she has adjusted pretty well. She doesn’t seem to have much pain, and she has also been forced to improve her walking because crawling with a cast on one arm is just not worth the effort. It looks like she’ll have the cast for about another 2 weeks. The doctor will check it then and let us know if any further treatment is needed.

In other children news, Calvin successfully completed his test for his third “stripe” on his white belt and his test for his yellow belt in jui juitsu. He’ll receive the new belt at his class in the coming week, and he also gets a certificate. He is very excited about this reward for his hard work in jui juitsu. Nevin’s tee-ball season ended last week with the winning of a close game. I think they had only 2 losses for the season. So now that his time is not occupied by tee-ball, he has joined Calvin in jui juitsu.

The blow-up pool from Wal-mart has proven to be the worthwhile investment we had hoped it would be. The children get in it every day that the weather permits for at least an hour. This week we had another family with 4 children visit, and the pool provided a good part of the entertainment for the afternoon. Today our little neighbor girl came to join our kids in the pool, too.

For downtime these days, I am re-reading the Starbridge novels by Susan Howatch. I re-read these books periodically because I find the author’s understanding of human nature so fascinating. Every time I read them, I see situations in my life that have been similar to those of the characters.

Finally, for about the last 6 weeks I have been going to exercise classes at the gym we’ve gone to for a while. The classes include light weight-training and aerobics. I’ve found the classes difficult, but helpful. I feel myself getting stronger, and I have noticed some improvement in my posture. Hopefully the benefits will continue.

Perhaps I’ll be able to be profound the next time I write a blog entry . . . but I wouldn’t count on it if I were you.

Summer is already moving right along. The past week has been fast and furious. We spent the week with Mark’s parents, and the kids attended VBS at their church. They enjoyed their Bible school experience there as well as seeing their grandparents, their aunt & uncle and their cousins. We also were able to celebrate Evangeline’s 5th birthday with extended family. Mark and I enjoyed some free time in the mornings, and a couple of nights out thanks to Mom and Dad!

We rushed back to OK on Friday so we could make it to a variety of activities planned for the weekend. The big news of the weekend is Nevin’s 2nd year t-ball team won their second league tournament trophy in a double-elimination finish. When they won last year, it seemed to be more because of luck than any skills they had. The tournament was at the beginning of the season, and it was before they had learned much. This year, they were really playing as a team. The best thing about the tournament for Nevin is that he now has 2 t-ball trophies. He just thinks the trophies are cool.

We are really thankful for his coach, who is level-headed and doesn’t take things quite as seriously as some of our opposing teams’ coaches. The parents of our team members have gotten a little more hyper, but generally, they control themselves too. At the final game, one of our opposing team’s coaches got so out of hand with his comments to the umpire that he was thrown out of the game–actually out of the ball park.

We have resisted buying nintendo or sega or any of the new video games for our boys. They do have Gameboys, but we have tried to limit time on those as well. However, this week I found a deal I couldn’t resist at a yard sale. I bought an old Atari system along with more than 25 games (I haven’t taken the time to count how many there are.) I paid $20 for the whole lot. They are loving playing with all the old games from my pre-teen and teenage years. They are easier than so many of the games available today, so when they play they have a much better chance of doing well enough to make it fun–this is particularly true for the 6-year-old.

All in all, I am quite pleased with this purchase. If they get bored with it in a few months, I should be able to make a profit by selling it on e-bay!

Well, I guess my blogging entries have been awol for a while. In attempt to remedy this situation, I thought I would list a few things that have happened around here in the last month:

Calvin turned 8!
Evangeline had her first ballet recital.
Nevin graduated from Kindergarten.
Charis turned 1.
We’ve been searching for a “new” used van which has been interesting.
Charis started to walk–she’s not up and running completely, but she’s close.
I’m reading Calm My Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow, and finding it very convicting and helpful.
We’ve been going to at least one t-ball game per week.
God continues to be good to us (no big news, but worth keeping in mind).
Calvin has finished his first year of homeschooling (more or less).
We bought a 3 foot blow-up pool from Wal-mart that could be one of the best investments of our lives.
Evangeline is writing and illustrating her first book as we speak. She’s only 5, and she used the word “slithering” on page 2. I thought this was impressive. (By the way, I am the scribe for the book, so I am not suggesting she can already write the word “slithering.”)

Hopefully, my blogging entries will become more regular again. But it’s hard to say when so much is going on.

It occurs to me that my last few blog entries have been rather unrelated and a bit “stream-of-consciousness” in style. Today’s is no different. I sort of enjoy that “eclectic wandering” way of thinking.

Girls Flying
The first thing on my mind today is something nearly-5-year-old Evangeline said at lunch. She said, “Mommy, why can’t I fly?” I chuckled to myself and told her to ask Daddy. Then she said, addressing Mark, “Daddy, teach me to fly.” Mark gave her a good explanation of why she can’t fly. But I wonder if she really thought her daddy could teach her to fly while I might only be able to tell her why she couldn’t. Hmmm . . . Still processing this.

Foot Update
I also have been thinking that I would update anyone who reads this on the condition of my foot. It is much better; it still aches after a day of regular activity. I went to the gym on Friday for the first time in 2 weeks. I did an hour at a slow speed on the treadmill, thinking this would be better than a short time at my regular pace. Well, now my entire leg seems out of sorts. I am sure it will all recover in time.

Birthdays
Finally, the last thing on my mind is birthdays. It so happens that 3 of the 4 children in our family have spring birthdays. Last week, we celebrated Calvin, our oldest son’s 8th birthday. Eight seems really old. But there really is something rewarding in seeing children grow into responsible people. I think you really get a taste of that at around 7 and 8 years old. Charis turns 1 next Saturday. It will be nice to have a party that involves making a cake and giving only one present. Expectations at a child’s 1st birthday don’t exist, so the party is really for the parents and the older siblings. Evangeline has her birthday next–in about a month. She’ll be 5. Every week she has a new theme or guest list for her party, and this started in March when Calvin mentioned that his birthday was coming.

The funniest thing about all the birthday talk around here is the younger children trying to understand why if Charis is younger than Evangeline, why does her birthday come first. Since they have limited understanding of the calendar, it is hard for them to grasp how one can be older and still have their birthday last in the year–and at our house, Daddy’s birthday is the last one of the year.

One More Thing
I have been reading Desiring God by John Piper for about the last year. I finally got really into it about 6 weeks ago, and now I am nearly done. I have enjoyed this book so much. It is very convicting to me regarding the priorities in my life. I have also found its discussion about Christian suffering helpful. I won’t have time to writeanything really thorough about my thoughts on the book, but I thought at the very least I would recommend it.

I wish I could post nearly-5-year-old Evangeline’s most recent artisitic contribution to our household. (I might be able to scan it, but it is a bit large.) Anyway, Evangeline loves to create “cards” for her friends and family. Today we celebrated Calvin’s birthday, so she decided later in the evening to create a birthday card for her baby sister’s 1st birthday which is coming in 2 weeks. She placed all the stickers from a Pooh sticker sheet on the top half of the page. Then she drew a couple of stick people representing herself and her sister on the bottom of the page. In between the stickers and the the people she placed two large pumpkins and about 6 little silver squares. She proudly brought me her creation and asked me to write, “Sisters are better than Silver and Pumpkins” on the card. I am not sure what to think of how she came up with this idea, but even though I don’t understand it, it seems to show some interesting creativity. Perhaps with several years remaining to hone her creative talents, Hallmark will be calling her and offering her a job.

Painful Stupidity
First and foremost on my mind is the pain I am feeling in my toes/foot. I hate to suggest that marrying a Horne man makes a woman more succeptible to toe injuries, but in the last several months, my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law have both broken their toes. Now, not to be out done, I have at least severely bruised 3 of mine. I did this by walking across our playroom and slamming my foot into the wooden leg of the love seat. Not too smart. I think one of the worst things about an injury like this is how really stupid I feel about it. However, I think after a few days of staying off it as much as possible (keep those 4 kids of ours in mind), it should heal quite nicely. By then, I’ll stop feeling stupid about it too.

Loftier Thoughts
I recently started re-reading the Susan Howatch novels I have read and recommended in the past. I do not suggest that we should use novels as devotional material, but occasionally, an author can put thoughts into words in such a way that the reader can draw personal application. So I thought I would share the passage that I found thought-provoking and somewhat helpful from the second book of the Starbridge series, Glamourous Powers:

This is from an entry in the notes of the main character Jonathan’s counseling session with his spiritual director
“Why am I living this impossibly difficult life? And I said: ‘You’re here because you’re called to be here. You’re here because God requires you to serve Him in this hard, difficult way. You’re here because if you weren’t here your personality would disintegrate beneath the burden of your weaknesses. You’re here becuase it’s the only way you can survive.’ Then he broke down and cried,:’But how do I bear it?’ and I answered: ‘Think of others, not yourself, and you’ll find not only liberation from the dark side of your sould, but fulfillment of your ability to great good and live in harmony with your true self.’

It may seem like I have quit blogging, but life has just been busy–and somewhat stressful. A good bit of what is going on with us is not the kind of thing to blog about, so for now, I just ask that you keep us in your prayers.

Now, on to the funny kid story.

Our middle son, Nevin, is funny. He can be a real ham, but this story is just him being funny when he really didn’t mean to be funny.

This past weekend, Mark and I had the opportunity to get away alone for a couple of days. Mark was speaking at a conference in the Tulsa area, and his mom graciously offered to come and stay with our four children. Last week, when we were making preparations for the trip, Nevin said, “Mommy, why do you have to go with Daddy?”

I said, “Well, sometimes mommies and daddies like to be alone without the children.”

Nevin said, “I think you should stay here and help Grandmommy. Are you sure she can handle us.”

I said, “Oh, I am sure she can handle you.”

He said, “But 4 kids is a lot of work. She’ll get tired.”

I said, “Well, I get tired doing it too, and after I rest I am ok. So I think she can manage for a couple of days.”

The conversation ended there. After we returned from our time away, I found out that soon after we left, Nevin questioned Grandmommy on her stamina for the job before her.

This came from the same child who recently told my older brother to quit his job that made his hands get dirt on them that won’t get off. After which Nevin continued, “You know, my dad’s a pastor. All he has to do is preach a sermon once a week, and his hands don’t get dirty.”

Just how clean is your kitchen floor. You sweep it daily (and sometimes more than once a day). You use the dust-grabber a few times a week. You mop at least once a week. It is clean. It has to be. But the true test comes in the form of ten-month-old legs crawling across it–exploring every nook and cranny. After passing over the kitchen floor, the knees on these legs are dusty. How can it be? So you find out your kitchen floor is not truly clean. But the best part is the one who examines it the most closely really doesn’t mind the dirt. She’ll just eat it to get it out of the way.

Today in church, one of our members, who happens to be a nice German woman, sang a beautiful solo. While she was singing, Calvin leaned over and said to me, “I know why she can sing so well.” I said, “Yeah. Why?” He said, “All Italians can sing.” I then told him that this particular lady is German. He said, “Well, Germans, too.” We believe Calvin is basing his theory of all Italians singing well on our listening to opera singer Andrea Bocelli in the car. It really takes very little for a 7-year-old to become an expert on many topics, including apparently, music.