Ava's Joy

Today is a very special day, or at least July 31st will be a very special day in our house from now on.  Ava and I got to spend a few hours alone because Eric is working and Lukas went to Vacation Bible School with his friend Austin who lives behind us.  It was a rare treat for me to get to spend time alone with Ava, but it wasn't nearly as special as the conversation that Ava and I had.

After Lukas left for the evening, Ava and I pulled out the painting supplies and sat at the table to paint together.  We are both expert artists.   I think she might actually be better than me, but that is beside the point.  Totally out of the blue, this is the conversation we had:

"Mama, Jesus died on the cross so we could go to heaven."

"Yes, He did, but you have to ask Him to live in your heart if you want to go to heaven."

"I know.  I did that."

"You did?"

"Ummmmm, I don't know."

"Well, if you want Jesus to live in your heart, you have to be sorry for all the bad things you've done."

"Like tearing up the book?"  (side note...Ava destroyed a library book beyond any hope of mending it the day before yesterday).

"Yes, like tearing up the book or hitting your brother or yelling at people or anything that you've done that was naughty.  Are you sorry for all of those things?"

"Yeah."  She looked down as she said this as if she were truly repentant.  It was so sweet.

"Then you can ask Jesus in your heart if you want to!"

"I can!?!" said with great enthusiasm.

"Sure you can!  Do you want to do that?"

"Yeah! "  said with even greater enthusiasm.

"Right now?"

"Yep!"

And then she prayed the prayer to ask Jesus in her heart.  It was so special, and so sweet.  She called her Daddy right afterwards to tell him, and, of course, Daddy got choked-up.  Then we called both grandmas and Aunt Cassie to tell them, and then Ava was clearly ready for bed, so we didn’t make any other calls tonight.  Everyone was thrilled for her, which made her very excited to share her news.  I hope that all of you reading this will join us in celebrating!  The feeling of knowing that your kids will one day join you in heaven is not one that can be described in words.  Eric and I will go to sleep with smiles on our faces tonight.

If you are reading this and you don’t know if Jesus is living in your heart or whether or not God is out there, I hope that you read these words and know that He is real.  He wants to be a part of  your life.  He will forgive anything, no matter what, no strings attached.  He loves you already just the way you are.  Just drop me a line if you want to talk about it.  I’m here any time!

Hi-5 Live

Today was the day of the ever anticipated Hi-5 Live concert.  We took our kids to Mershon Auditorium on the OSU campus for an exciting, energetic, and fun-filled 90 minutes of music, stories, and more.  And who or what exactly is this Hi-5 I'm talking about?  Why, only the greatest, most fun, and most important pre-school show around.  Just ask my daughter.  She'll tell you.  She loves to watch this show, and it seems to have replaced even her love of Dora, though she and Dora are still pals.  Ava asks to watch Hi-5 every single day (she doesn't always get to do it, but she asks).  When we saw that they were going to be in town, of course we had to check into it.  Today was the day.  We were thrilled to be able to bless our kids like this. 

Lukas, of course, is way too cool for Hi-5.  When we first told him about it, he said he wasn't sure if he wanted to go(until he thought for a brief moment that we didn’t buy him a ticket).  He sang along with almost every song and enjoyed himself to the fullest, but if you ask him, the concert was "just okay."  Kids are so funny.    I even mentioned to him that when we play our Hi-5 CD here at the house, he's singing and dancing to the songs just as much as his sister.  He couldn't possibly like the same thing his little sister likes.  That just wouldn't be cool.

The concert was everything we expected.  It was exactly like the t.v. show, which you can view on TLC or Discovery Kids on weekday mornings.  The 5 group members sang songs, told stories, performed puppet sketches, and danced their hearts out.  Ava took a little while to warm up, but by the second half of the concert, she was in the aisle dancing and singing right along with them.  It was adorable.  Of course, I took pictures, but they were flash-free because they asked the audience to not take flash photos.  During the last song, I, along with many other parents,  took a few with flash just so that we had a few good shots.  I'll try to get pics posted tomorrow or as soon as I can.

At the end of our day, Ava's bedtime prayer was this "Dear God, thank you for Mama and for us going to a really cool Hi-5 concert.  And thank you for Daddy."  and then on to a list of other things too.  Hearing her pray those words about the concert was a priceless moment for me.  What a great thing to know that your child was truly blessed by something like this.  I am so glad that we did it!

I love...

the sound fresh, crisp green beans make when they snap,     

the giggle of laughter on the gentle summer breeze,   

the smell of cool, juicy, red watermelon on a balmy afternoon,                                                                            

blue skies with fluffy, white marshmallow clouds,  

daydreaming in the grass and smelling a near-by hay field,            

the whir of a tractor as it harvests the hay,

the trickling sound a river makes as it gently flows past,

small towns with little white churches with tall, majestic steeples,

old schoolhouses that smell of books and mildew,

singing and sweating at an old-fashioned tent revival,

walking along a dusty, dirt road to nowhere in particular,

swinging from a tree branch,

fishing on a lazy afternoon,  

fields sprinkled with bales of hay,

Amish buggies clip-clopping down a lane,

parades with marching bands and 4-H clubs,

pretty, yellow black-eyed susans,

diving into a pool right before sunset,

dashing through a sprinkler mid-afternoon,

lying on a blanket and looking at the stars twinkling in the night,

sitting around a campfire, toasting gooey marshmallows and singing camp songs,

telling old stories that everyone has heard,

the sound my flute makes when I play into the wind,

the serious look on the field commander's face as the marching band passes by,

local festivals with country crafts and yummy treats,

the smell of roasted corn,

bluegrass bands,

the twang of a dulcimer,

remembering,

reminiscing,

summer.

Spontaneous Adventures

We have had a busy, crazy, spontaneous, fulfilling, fun, refreshing, and exciting weekend.  Most of the weekend was completely unplanned, which, I confess to you is normally very out of character for this chick who is accustomed to checking my calendar for everything.  Generally organization and planning are a part of everything I do.  I even have an excel spreadsheet for my grocery list.  You think I'm kidding, but I'm not.  It goes to the grocery store with me every time I shop. 

I am digressing from my topic, which is our weekend.  On Friday evening, my dad called to ask if we could head to Coshocton in the morning on Saturday instead of mid-afternoon, which was our original plan.  He wanted to take Lukas and our nephew, Zackery, to a steam engine show.  We headed out of here at 8:30 yesterday so that Lukas could spend the day with his Papa, and we hung out with my mom for a few hours. 

A little before 2:00, we all headed to my sister's for my niece's first birthday party.   It was fun to watch her get into the chocolate cake.  She wasn't very mess about it.  Both of my kids ended up in the tub after they ate cake on their first birthdays, but that was not the case with Maia.  She opened her gifts afterward.  We bought her the cutest little khaki pea-coat.  Ava has a matching one in pink.  My sister is anti-pink, so we went with the khaki for Maia.  It really didn't matter to me because I love shopping for babies!

Some time in the late afternoon, Zack started asking if my dad would take him to the monster truck show at the local fairgrounds.  Dad finally agreed to take him and then asked us if Lukas could go.  We had planned on leaving right after the cook-out Cassie was having for the family, but, since this is all so rare, we decided to let him go.  After dinner, we headed to my mom's again while Dad headed to the fairgrounds with the boys.

They got back around 9:30 last night, and we were tired and facing a long drive home.  We ended up spending the night.  As soon as this was decided, Zack and Lukas started talking about how "totally cool" it would be if they could camp-out.  My dad, who makes up for my lack of spontaneity ten-fold, and Eric headed to Dad's shed, found two tarps, and then went to work creating a tent.  One tarp went on the ground.  The other was nailed to the roofline of the shed at one end and staked to the ground with tent stakes at the other end.  Voila!  Perfect outdoor sleeping quarters were created.

The weather could not have been more perfect for sleeping under the stars.  There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the night was cool for July.  Dad, Eric, and both boys slept outdoors.  Mom, Ava, and I took the king size bed in the house.  Don't get me wrong, I would have loved to camp, but last night was clearly all about testosterone.

Continuing with our spontaneous theme, we went to lunch with my parents at the Chalet in the Valley in Charm, OH, today, which took us even further from our home.  I haven't been there in a decade, and I'm not exaggerating.    Afterwards, we headed towards home and stopped in Loudonville, OH  at Mohican Adventures for a round of mini-golf.  We didn't get home until about 9:30 tonight, and yes, we're still wearing the same clothes we were wearing at 8:30 yesterday morning.  Fortunately, I washed them overnight at my mom's, so I don't think we smell, but there are no guarantees on that one!

I will try to post some pics some time soon.  It's much too late tonight, and it takes forever for me to upload from my new camera.  All those megapixels slow things down significantly.  I hope that everyone else had a great weekend as well!

Nothing but Ridiculous

If you are a parent, you must admit, you have said something really stupid and out loud to your children.  Haven't we all?  I'm not talking about ridiculous things that start out with phrases like "When I was your age" or "Back in the day."  I'm talking about really crazy things that will just never happen or make no sense whatsoever.   Come on, you know what I'm talking about.  Yesterday was my day.  I said something so ridiculous that even I started laughing as soon as the words were out of my mouth. 

The back story is that our stereo in our van hasn't been working for well over a month now, and since "he who shall not be named" has now totaled two vehicles in the past month, we haven't taken it to the shop.  It's just the radio, right?  We can live without it until we get another car.

My children have taken this opportunity to produce every single annoying noise that the human body is capable of making while driving 65 mph on the interstate.  I love my children.  You all know that.  BUT, this has got to be one of the most obnoxious things they do.  I cannot stand loud, indescribable noises while I'm driving.  So this is what was happening yesterday morning as we were driving to my chiropractor appointment.  Eric was with us (since he needed a lift to work).  I had asked the children to use quiet, indoor voices and not make obnoxious noises.  Maybe 30 seconds passed before my always perfectly behaved children were loud and obnoxious again.  I know you all thought they were perfect all the time, right?

That's when it happened.  I looked in my little mirror and saw both sets of eyes looking at me as I said a little too loudly, "STOP making noise.  Stop being loud.  Stop doing any of the things that you know are annoying, AND don't do any of these things again until (pause), until Jesus comes back."  That's right..."until Jesus comes back."  I started laughing before I even turned to look at Eric who also started laughing.  This was not one of my best parenting moments, but hey, we all have to be able to laugh at ourselves, right?  I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens the next time we're in the van together driving 65 mph around the city.