Goings on....
Summer is here!!!!
Josh has been done school for a few weeks already. Ken has been done for longer, but is still working in his office most days. But it's more of a relaxed working! (: The other kids and I are doing an hour of school a day to keep things going. The extra lessons we get done in the summer allows us to take every 7th week off during the school year. It's so worth it. (: I have also started with Grace. She is a school-crazy woman. She loves learning and working in her books. She takes joy in new pencils and books. She is my little friend. She might be smelling crayons like her mama before long! haha!( :
We have been pretty separated and back and forth the last few weeks. We were in Ontario because Ken had meetings for 4 days. Josh worked in St Thomas with my dad for a few weeks. Ken and Micah went to Ontario for the weekend because Ken had to preach. It was his first Sunday. It was special that he could start in our home church. Now it's nice to be back together and to look ahead at July and have a pretty empty calendar. I am thankful.
SO my Grace girl turned 4 on Sunday. She just didn't know it! Since green is her favorite color she wanted a green butterfly cake. She has talked to everyone for months about her cake - Even strangers in the store! But since Ken, Micah and Josh were gone, we thought we would wait until we were all together. Yesterday was supposed to be the day, but Grace was so sick. She hardly remembered it was her 'birthday'. So we celebrated today. It was so fun. We also celebrated Ken's birthday and Father's Day.
As I was writing this, I realized that when we moved, Grace had just turned 2. I can't really imagine her that young anymore. Michigan will be the place that she remembers first when she is older. The only places she recognizes in St Thomas are Ken's parents', my parents' and my Oma's place. For the other kids, St Thomas will always be their roots. I am not sure if Grace will have roots the same as the others. That used to bother me. But I am learning as we go through this process, that it is nice to have a place that will always be kinda home. It's a place where our family and friends live. Those friends are the ones who will always be our friends no matter how far away we are. It's a special place for sure!!!. But what really matters is where we make our home and that our little family is together. It's sounds like a silly cliche, but it's really true.
Yesterday was Micah's last baseball game. Today was supposed to be Natalie's, but it got rained out. She was super disappointed because she loves to play. Also, her team has won every one of their games. Today would have been game 12 and according to her, 12 is way more than 11. I get it.
As exciting as it is to start in early May, we are just as EXCITED to see it end. Our evenings have been nuts. LIKE NUTS!! It has been worth it and is so good for the kids in many ways. Winning is fun and exciting, but it isn't everything. Learning how to win well, lose well, have perseverance when you have a terrible team and how to work with others even though it's hard, is all part of character building and it will do them well.
I think the biggest growth came from Natalie. Normally Nads is not very confident in general life. But she is naturally athletic and is the most confident doing sports. But when she said she wanted to start pitching (windmill), I wanted to discourage her. Her baseball is competitive and there is pressure not only from coaches (She had great coaches.), but from crazy parents too. These girls are only 10 year old. They are little still. I thought she should just stick with shortstop. I was worried, but I fought to use my mama discipline and didn't say anything. She practiced at home with Ken and the boys and as the season progressed she developed in so many ways. Not only did she develop great mechanics, but we were amazed to realize that she can handle the pressure without getting flustered (even when the other team was singing mean songs). Honestly, at times my mouth hung open when she was out there. I hardly recognized her. She stood there with determination. I loved the way she kicked the sand off of the rubber and dug a hole in front of the rubber that the other pitchers always had to fill in! When the coach would give her advice while she was pitching, she would just nod her head.(: It wasn't so much what she did, but how she did it. She took control.
I will always remember this summer. It has been a milestone time for her. As fun as it is to watch her lean way back, whip her arm around and snap that ball, I am way more thankful that she found something she loves. I saw confidence, independence and maturity. It was so good for her. It's a beautiful thing to watch your kids grow. It was also a time for me to learn to let go of my little Nads. I have a tendency to want to keep my kids in a bubble so they don't get hurt. Maybe by the time Grace is 10, I will have the hang of letting go! (:
Whenever I write a post of what is going on around here like this one, it always makes me smile. I am so grateful that I am not reporting on hospital stays or blood counts. There is nothing about making decisions or scans. I am not writing about grieving or heartache. This is a wonderful place to be. We were blessed and God was good in the storm. But after walking through a storm, the sunshine seems even brighter.
Josh has been done school for a few weeks already. Ken has been done for longer, but is still working in his office most days. But it's more of a relaxed working! (: The other kids and I are doing an hour of school a day to keep things going. The extra lessons we get done in the summer allows us to take every 7th week off during the school year. It's so worth it. (: I have also started with Grace. She is a school-crazy woman. She loves learning and working in her books. She takes joy in new pencils and books. She is my little friend. She might be smelling crayons like her mama before long! haha!( :
We have been pretty separated and back and forth the last few weeks. We were in Ontario because Ken had meetings for 4 days. Josh worked in St Thomas with my dad for a few weeks. Ken and Micah went to Ontario for the weekend because Ken had to preach. It was his first Sunday. It was special that he could start in our home church. Now it's nice to be back together and to look ahead at July and have a pretty empty calendar. I am thankful.
SO my Grace girl turned 4 on Sunday. She just didn't know it! Since green is her favorite color she wanted a green butterfly cake. She has talked to everyone for months about her cake - Even strangers in the store! But since Ken, Micah and Josh were gone, we thought we would wait until we were all together. Yesterday was supposed to be the day, but Grace was so sick. She hardly remembered it was her 'birthday'. So we celebrated today. It was so fun. We also celebrated Ken's birthday and Father's Day.
As I was writing this, I realized that when we moved, Grace had just turned 2. I can't really imagine her that young anymore. Michigan will be the place that she remembers first when she is older. The only places she recognizes in St Thomas are Ken's parents', my parents' and my Oma's place. For the other kids, St Thomas will always be their roots. I am not sure if Grace will have roots the same as the others. That used to bother me. But I am learning as we go through this process, that it is nice to have a place that will always be kinda home. It's a place where our family and friends live. Those friends are the ones who will always be our friends no matter how far away we are. It's a special place for sure!!!. But what really matters is where we make our home and that our little family is together. It's sounds like a silly cliche, but it's really true.
Yesterday was Micah's last baseball game. Today was supposed to be Natalie's, but it got rained out. She was super disappointed because she loves to play. Also, her team has won every one of their games. Today would have been game 12 and according to her, 12 is way more than 11. I get it.
As exciting as it is to start in early May, we are just as EXCITED to see it end. Our evenings have been nuts. LIKE NUTS!! It has been worth it and is so good for the kids in many ways. Winning is fun and exciting, but it isn't everything. Learning how to win well, lose well, have perseverance when you have a terrible team and how to work with others even though it's hard, is all part of character building and it will do them well.
I think the biggest growth came from Natalie. Normally Nads is not very confident in general life. But she is naturally athletic and is the most confident doing sports. But when she said she wanted to start pitching (windmill), I wanted to discourage her. Her baseball is competitive and there is pressure not only from coaches (She had great coaches.), but from crazy parents too. These girls are only 10 year old. They are little still. I thought she should just stick with shortstop. I was worried, but I fought to use my mama discipline and didn't say anything. She practiced at home with Ken and the boys and as the season progressed she developed in so many ways. Not only did she develop great mechanics, but we were amazed to realize that she can handle the pressure without getting flustered (even when the other team was singing mean songs). Honestly, at times my mouth hung open when she was out there. I hardly recognized her. She stood there with determination. I loved the way she kicked the sand off of the rubber and dug a hole in front of the rubber that the other pitchers always had to fill in! When the coach would give her advice while she was pitching, she would just nod her head.(: It wasn't so much what she did, but how she did it. She took control.
I will always remember this summer. It has been a milestone time for her. As fun as it is to watch her lean way back, whip her arm around and snap that ball, I am way more thankful that she found something she loves. I saw confidence, independence and maturity. It was so good for her. It's a beautiful thing to watch your kids grow. It was also a time for me to learn to let go of my little Nads. I have a tendency to want to keep my kids in a bubble so they don't get hurt. Maybe by the time Grace is 10, I will have the hang of letting go! (:
Whenever I write a post of what is going on around here like this one, it always makes me smile. I am so grateful that I am not reporting on hospital stays or blood counts. There is nothing about making decisions or scans. I am not writing about grieving or heartache. This is a wonderful place to be. We were blessed and God was good in the storm. But after walking through a storm, the sunshine seems even brighter.
I love reading your family updates, Belinda. It makes me wish that we lived closer so we could just do this thing over a cup of coffee! So glad to read about Natalie's pitching confidence! That is great! And I really can't believe that Grace is already 4. That can't be true! She was just born when I moved away!!
ReplyDeleteLittle word to your ear... you will NOT be better at letting them go when it comes time for your baby Grace. It gets harder and harder. But with the help of God, who knows the pain, you will. Love this post. It is so sunny and contented!
ReplyDelete