Sabbatical reflections...through a rhyme

For ten years, John has ministered and preached to all of you...

So the elders all agreed a sabbatical was long overdue.

A time to rest, read and renew without the pressures of ministry,

As well as some much needed down-time to spend with his family.

So instead of boring you with details of how we spent our time,

We thought we’d entertain you with some highlights through a rhyme.

We decided to stay home and lay low throughout the month of July

Deep cleaning and organizing our house, otherwise known as, “pig sty.”

At the end of the month, we packed our things and kids of young ages

Driving north in our van until we reached our good friends, the Gages.

After spending several fun days with our dear friends who moved away,

We packed up again and made our drive eastward to PA.

For the next two months, we settled down in Mindy’s mother’s house.

Though I wouldn’t describe our stay there as being quiet as a mouse.

While you were all in Texas, suffering in the drought and unbearable heat,

We enjoyed lush green landscapes, cool weather, and soft grass under our feet.

There are many beautiful places in Pennsylvania, we’ll have you know.

For instance, Longwood Gardens is a place to which we like to go.

For all the beauty that is found, there’s one place that Mindy holds dear,

The mountains of Central Pennsylvania, where she spent her early years.

September came, we camped near Rickett's Glen State Park,

a favorite spot of John’s.

We stayed in a cottage with a lake...
...and some really aggressive swans.

Ricketts Glen has 26 beautiful waterfalls, however, we saw only two.

You try hiking down steep, slippery rocks with this inexperienced crew!

The next weekend we drove to New Jersey to visit our friends, the Yohannans.

Doubling the household from six to twelve requires some serious plannin’!

The next day we drove south to see friends from Mindy’s college days

We then went home to celebrate the 3^rd birthday of Mary Grace.

The next weekend we toured the city of Washington, D.C.

The White House and the monuments, and those museums that all are free.

The next two weeks we decided to relax for all that it was worth

Since we would drive south to spend a week at the ‘happiest place on earth.’

At Epcot we went “Soarin’” among other rides, and visited countries with our brood,

One favorite was “The Seas” with Nemo...
...where fish are friends, not food.

At Hollywood Studios we loved the Toy story and virtual Star Wars ride,

Eating at a restaurant and meeting more Disney characters inside.

Magic Kingdom was the kids’ favorite, they’ll proclaim with lots of vigor

Mary Grace loved the Winnie the Pooh ride, “’Cause you get to bounce wiff Tigger!”

Don’t forget the Peter pan ride or Pirates of the Caribbean,

Or flying Dumbo, riding roller coasters, or all the characters we’d be seein’.

At Animal Kingdom we saw animals from Komodo Dragons to tall giraffes,

We even met King Louie and Pocohontas, and got their autographs.

To stick to a schedule at Disney with 4 kids, you have to run faster than a jog.

When really the kids were content to hang out at the cabin to catch the frogs.

By the time we got home from all our adventures, our own beds felt like heaven.

We also thought we’d better tell you that our family of six will be seven.

We discovered this news way back in June, and our heads began to whirl.

It wasn’t until we came back to Texas that we found out it’s another girl.

This Thanksgiving we are very thankful for the for the 4 months we had together

For returning to our beloved Trinity family and to Texas in cooler weather.

John is thankful for time to read and pray and get closer to the Lord,

So that he can return energized to preach and minister the Word.

Sarah's two big milestones while on vacation...

We are coming to the end of John's 4 month sabbatical, which has been fun-filled and refreshing for our whole family. The first month (July), we stayed home, worked on long-overdue house projects (deep cleaning and organizing) while visiting different churches in the area each Sunday. August 1st, we began the long drive north to Cincinnati to visit our good friends, the Gages, who recently moved there from Texas. After a few wonderful days of visiting with them, we drove east across Ohio and PA before arriving at my mom's house, the place we would call "home" for the next 2 months.

While we were in PA, we travelled to visit family, camp in Rickett's Glen, tour D.C. and visit friends. It was on September 11th (the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and Mary Grace's 3rd birthday), that we lost Sarah's blankie in transit from spending the night at one of our friends' homes in NJ. Sarah has had this pink blankie since birth and it became her security (Linus) blanket about the same time she found her thumb, which was probably around 7 weeks of age.

I remember packing the blankie that morning to make sure we wouldn't leave without it, but Sarah informed me that she snuck it out and forgot to put it back. After many tears, prayers, phone calls back and forth with my NJ friend, who never did find it, we sent Sarah to bed.

Sometime in October while we were on the road either to or from Disney World, Sarah declared, "Mommy, I haven't sucked my thumb since I lost my blankie." I told her I knew and that I was very proud of her. I also said that if Aunt Hien ever found her blankie, she would have to make sure she didn't start sucking her thumb again. It was then that Sarah said something that surprised me. "Mommy, you can tell Aunt Hien to stop looking for it. I don't need my blankie anymore." WOW! What a milestone for my big girl!

Oh, it was also during our weekend in NJ that Sarah's first loose tooth appeared to be loose enough to pull. We were at Jake and Jaya's house for the night, so I implored nurse Jaya to give the tooth a yank. Sarah was very brave at first, but then chickened out. After a couple more weeks of that tooth hanging by a thread, it finally fell out on its own while we were at my mom's salon getting haircuts on September 26th.

So yes, we went to Disney World and had a wonderful week full of memories there, but the big milestones that I'll remember were that Sarah lost her blankie (and quit sucking her thumb as a result) and her first tooth while we were in PA.

more family funnies...

During our church's VBS a few weeks ago, I dressed up as Peter the disciple after a couple days of dressing up as the lifeguard, Manatee Mindy. When the 3rd graders walked in, they started saying, "Hi, Manatee Mindy." I corrected them and said, "Oh, Manatee Mindy isn't here today. My name is Peter the disciple." Several of the kids responded with, "Hi, Peter", but Christopher raised his hand and said, "Hi, person with a confused gender."

Last Thursday I was sitting with Christopher while he practiced piano, making sure that he was practicing correctly and not skipping any assignments. After he finished his last song, I told him it was time to practice his drills. He said, "I was hoping that you'd let me skip the drills since I played that last song perfectly." Feeling sort of tiger-motherish, I said, "Christopher, your Chinese mother is not going to let you take short cuts. You need to learn the Chinese work ethic." He paused for a moment and then said, "The way I see it, all that work creates a lot of pollution in China." I nearly fell out of my chair I was laughing so hard. But I still made him do his drills...

Yesterday after we returned from the pool, Hannah (4) took off her wet swim suit and the proceeded to play in the toy room. Christopher (8) walked into the kitchen and very seriously asked me, "Mommy, why is Hannah playing naked in front of the doll house?" I sighed and said, "Oh, because Hannah is very absentminded." Christopher responded, "It concerns me that she might want to start a nudist colony when she grows up."

This morning I scheduled a doctor's appointment for Mary Grace (2) because she came down with a fever yesterday afternoon and complained of a sore throat. She made it very clear that she didn't want to go to the doctor, so Sarah (6) jumped in to explain, "Mary Grace, they're not going to give you a shot. They're just going to open your mouth and look inside with a flashlight, like this, AAAAAAAAHHHHH...they're not going to take you apart."

Family funnies

On the way to church this morning, Christopher (almost 8) asked, "What does GOR-met mean?"

"Huh? How do you spell it?"

"G-O-U-R-M-E-T."

"OH, you mean 'gourmet'. That means fancy and delicious food."

-pause-

"Then they shouldn't have that word describing the food at Panda Express."

Appalled but laughing, I asked, "You mean you saw that word on a sign for Panda Express?!? That's what I call false advertising!"

Christopher then said, "In his spare time, the owner of Panda Express needs to try the food at 3-6-9 Chinese BBQ."

That's my boy. Start 'em young, I say.

During church today, I had my arm around Sarah (6) as she was leaning into me. As I noticed her reaching for her nose, I quickly grabbed her hands and held them down in her lap to keep her from picking her nose. Since she was unable to grab those boogers herself, she simply turned her head to the side and wiped her nose on my bare arm. Immediately grossed out, I pulled my arm away and began madly wiping it off with a napkin. She thought this was hilarious and couldn't stop giggling. My apologies to those who may have witnessed this exchange of mucus.

Tonight as I was about to read from the Jesus Storybook Bible , I announced the title of our next-up story about Zacchaeus called, "The Man Who Didn't Have Any Friends (none)". Christopher looked up and said, "Well, he wouldn't be able to have facebook if he didn't have any friends."

Frosty 5K...

In my last post, I mentioned that I had picked up running again after completely giving it up about 2 years ago when my 4th child was born AND I started homeschooling. I just figured, this is just a season of life that cannot include exercise. To be fair, it's pretty difficult to find time or energy to exercise when you're sleep deprived, have 4 young children to take care of all day long, and then figure out homeschooling along with that. Our associate pastor's wife and I have been talking about getting back into exercise for the past year or so since we live near each other and we're both in the same boat - except she has 6 kids and is homeschooling 4 of them. Then one day, she sent me an email saying let's move beyond talk. We were both motivated by a guy in our church who had picked up running and was trying to get a group together to sign up for the Frisco Frosty 5K on December 11th. So in mid-September, we started the 'couch to 5K' workout program and today, we ran the Frosty 5K!

I ran a Susan Komen 5K in Phoenixville back in 1997 in about 25 minutes. I certainly wasn't looking to beat my last time today, but I ran today's 5K in 28:20, ranked 18th in my age group (about 78 women) and 240th overall (about 800 runners), which gave me about a 9 minute/mile pace. I wasn't training to 'race' today, but rather to have fun. And it was fun! It's definitely motivating to be with a group and have people you know cheering you on. It feels great to be back into running and I'm looking forward to another 5K in the future...when my legs don't feel so sore!

More effects of the Fall...

It's been a long while since I've posted anything on this blog...

Yesterday morning, I came back from my early morning run (oh yes, I've started running again since my last post - I think I'm about 6 or 7 weeks into it) and found out that Christopher was complaining of a stomach ache. That's about all he said about it and he then proceeded to eat a full breakfast of french toast. I figured he must be fine since he ate breakfast and then asked him to get dressed and ready to start school. Next thing I know, he's lying in my bed under the covers. I said, "Hey, didn't I tell you to get dressed?" He groaned and said that his tummy still hurt. I asked him what he meant by that and he couldn't quite find the words. I left him there so I could at least get school ready for Sarah. After about 10 minutes I finally had the presence of mind to bring him a bowl or something, just in case. He was in my bed, after all. I walked in the room, laid the bowl on the bed next to him and said, "Hey Christopher, here's a bowl just in case you feel like you're going to get sick." I kid you not, the second after I said that, he leaned over the bowl and hurled his french toast breakfast into it! Good timing - sheesh.

After I figured he was finished, I made him follow me to the bathroom. As he stumbled alongside, he declared, "If only Adam and Eve didn't choose to obey Satan." Indeed. We'd all be spared from the dreaded stomach bugs.

Conversations I overheard while painting...

Yesterday I took on the task of painting Christopher and Sarah's room for the first time since we moved into this house. It was high time we added some color to that room bathed in bone white builder paint, so why not do it the week before we leave for vacation? Oh, the other big motivator was that we had just been given a bunk bed from some friends of ours, but we didn't want to put the bunk bed together until we painted the room.

So as soon as we were finished with breakfast, I started hauling everything out of the room, bit by bit. What I found behind the dressers and under the beds was rather appalling, so then began the cleaning process. I clogged the vacuum cleaner with all of the clumps of dust and had to take the whole thing apart to unclog it. I then had the kids wipe down the base boards before I put down the blue tape. This whole process took the entire morning up until lunch. The tape was on all base boards, doors, window seats, electrical sockets, etc., the drop cloth was down and we were ready to paint...but not until the younger two (Hannah and Mary Grace) were down for their naps. I realized that the last time we painted a room in the house, it was before we had any kids...

Mary Grace looks on as Sarah and Christopher wipe down baseboards.

This photo captures the bone white builder paint, but does not show all of the scuff marks that accumulated over the years.

It was quite a task keeping all the kids out of the room while I was setting it up. Christopher grew tired of being kicked out and was impatient to start painting, so he posted a sign on the door that read, "Work place is opened"...as if that would speed things up.

Painting took ALL afternoon. Christopher and Sarah eagerly helped with the painting when we first got started and kept at it for quite a while. They kept saying things like, "I love painting", "this is so fun", "this is REAL work", "Yeah, this is what adults do - I like to do adult work", and "look at this, Sarah - look how much I painted here" and "Oh Christopher, you need to get some paint over there" or "I need you to come over here and paint this part that I can't reach." Surprisingly enough, they were very thorough, took their jobs very seriously and did a great job.

Eventually, my neighbor sent her daughter over to see if they wanted to come out and play. By that time, they were ready and I could go over all the spots they missed and finish it off. When it was all said and done, the painting, detail work or touch ups were completed around 5pm.

While I was working on the edging up by the ceiling, John was out in the garage figuring out how to put the bunk bed together and listening to his sermon from this past Sunday. The kids came back over and I heard the neighbor girl ask, "Is that your dad talking?" Christopher replied, "Yeah, that's his sermon." After that I didn't hear anything until Sarah walked up and said, "Hey Rylie, what are you doing?" She said, "I'm listening to your dad talk." Sarah said, "Oh, but it's really boring...come with me." Too funny. At that part of the afternoon, I think we had accumulated up to 8 kids, including our own, running through the house.

Here's the finished product along with the bunk bed, which took John and his dad the remainder of the evening to put together.

Sarah conceded to painting the room blue ("Ocean View", to be precise) because she knows she'll eventually move into the pink room with Hannah and Mary Grace. We have yet to paint the girls' room, but we've already bought the paint ("Hawaiian breeze"). I just need some time to recover before I start that project.

Sarah is enjoying the extra space in the room. She also assured me that while she doesn't like the color blue (it's a 'boy' color to her), she does like blue paint.

This is what I captured right after Christopher said, "Hey Hannah, look at me up in my new bunk bed!"

Another view. Even though blue is a 'cool' color, I think it adds a lot of warmth to the room.

Christopher, enjoying his new room.

Sweet and funny sister moments

The following photos demonstrate the nurturer nature of my oldest daughter, Sarah, and the copy cat nature of my youngest, Mary Grace. Mary Grace is heavily into Eric Carle board books (well, any board book, for that matter) and is constantly grabbing a book from her book basket and begging us to read to her...even if I'm in the middle of cooking the meal or if I'm just sitting down to eat. It is at these inconvenient moments that I tell her to take the book to Sarah or Hannah, both of whom take up the responsibility most eagerly. Being the oldest daughter, Sarah has always been a little mommy. Now it is so sweet to see Hannah picking up that role with Mary Grace as well.

Here you will see Sarah reading Eric Carle's Head to Toe, a huge favorite with all of my kids during the toddler years.

When Sarah first laid down on the floor with the book, Mary Grace laid down on her tummy right next to her! Of course, I didn't get to the camera in time for that pose before they started moving.

"I am a cat. I can arch my back. Can you do it?" "I can do it!"

"I am a camel. I can bend my knees. Can you do it?" "I can do it!"

The power of the cross...

The Power of the Cross

Words & Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend

Oh, to see the dawn
Of the darkest day:
Christ on the road to Calvary.
Tried by sinful men,
Torn and beaten, then
Nailed to a cross of wood.

Chorus:
This, the pow’r of the cross:
Christ became sin for us;
Took the blame, bore the wrath—
We stand forgiven at the cross.

Oh, to see the pain
Written on Your face,
Bearing the awesome weight of sin.
Ev’ry bitter thought,
Ev’ry evil deed
Crowning Your bloodstained brow.

Now the daylight flees;
Now the ground beneath
Quakes as its Maker bows His head.
Curtain torn in two,
Dead are raised to life;
“Finished!” the vict’ry cry.

Oh, to see my name
Written in the wounds,
For through Your suffering I am free.
Death is crushed to death;
Life is mine to live,
Won through Your selfless love.

Final Chorus:
This, the pow’r of the cross:
Son of God—slain for us.
What a love! What a cost!
We stand forgiven at the cross.

© 2005 Thankyou Music.

See a video and listen to the music for this here:

There is therefore now no condemnation...

"Our shame is ended, for He has borne it! Our punishment is removed: He has endured it all. Double for all our sins has our Redeemer paid. Return unto thy rest, O my soul, and let peace take full possession of thy weeping heart.” Charles Spurgeon