Update

Yes, I know, it has been a while. I fear I have lost the blogging bug. Part of it is the loss of my camera--I don't feel like taking many pictures since they all come out poorly and part of it is a lack of any interesting anecdotes or happenings that seem worth sharing. Then again, I think it might just be that I have the winter blues. There is also the fact that any free time I have is spent reading. I am a Jane Austen fan, right? Well, my sister, Jen, told me of a website, the Derbyshire Writer's Guild, on which is a plethora of Jane Austen FanFiction. There are so many fun stories to read some that are complete and others that I wait ever-so-patiently for their weekly updates. I can't seem to get enough of Darcy and Elizabeth and all their fellow characters, some new some old, in whatever form the story of Pride and Prejudice can be told. It's fabulous! My very thoughtful father has enabled me in this new addiction by gifting me (and my sisters) with books on Jane Austen for Valentine's Day. What goes better together than Valentine's and Jane Austen, I ask. It was very sweet of him don't you think?

But I do manage to get other things done during the day too. As little as I mention it, I should make it known that we are still homeschooling. Noah is doing so well too. He is now able to read out of level 2 readers and his favorite are the Henry and Mudge books. A couple of days last week he actually brought them to me to read instead of waiting for me to tell him it was time and instead of just reading one chapter like he normally does he read the whole book through. I think he is starting to see how much fun reading can be and that is the most exciting thing to me! We have been working a lot on telling time too. I remembered an old clock that I had put away in a drawer so I got that out and took the plastic cover off and wrote the minutes around the outside and we use that to practice. Now, when he wants to know what time it is he can figure it out for himself and he doesn't even run to the digital clock in the kitchen any more to do it. The living room clock, which seemed so daunting at first because the numbers are Roman Numerals, is a piece of cake to figure out.

For the past couple of weeks we have spent our Thursday afternoons at the Children's Museum because someone organized a series of homeschool science classes. The first was "Bugs and Botany" the second, "Edison's Attic", this week's is the third session and is on inventing and the fourth is "CSI 101" in which the kids will get to solve a crime. Noah has really enjoyed them and Lily has been well entertained exploring in the museum. We will soon start a new session of Monday Homeschool classes as well and this time Lily will have her own pre-school class to participate in and Noah will be playing soccer. If he enjoys it, I will probably sign him up for town soccer in the spring.

This past weekend was a bit out of the ordinary for us. Noah went to his cousin, Alex's, birthday party on Saturday and then spent the night as well and Grammy and Grampy were nice enough to take Ariel and Lily overnight so Luke and I were left childless for most of a day and night. We went and spent the afternoon with U2 at the theatre and finally used a gift card for the Macaroni Grill that we had received for Christmas. It was rather enjoyable and was especially nice to be able to sleep in the next morning and wake up at our own leisure not have to worry about feeding the kids and getting them ready for church and what-not. It of course went by too fast in my opinion but it was also nice to see the kids and know that we had been missed.

Since the last pictures were taken, Noah has lost another tooth. We asked him if he wanted to put them under his pillow for the tooth fairy but he said very matter-of-factly that she isn't real so why would he do that. This of course made his father very proud. He did suggest that maybe we could send them to Grandma because, wouldn't she really like to see his teeth? While I found this very 'endearing' I guess, I thought maybe we shouldn't. He has since forgotten about them and they still sit somewhere in an envelope awaiting the addition of yet more baby teeth. Apparently this marks some sort of rite of passage for him because he announced that he was quite ready to give up his Batman toothbrush for an adult one.

I regret the lack of information on our dear Liliana but she seems to be in a bit of a lull developmentally. Not much is changing for her. Actually she seems to be attempting to remain a baby for as long as she possibly can. She has completely stopped any and all potty-training business and absolutely refuses to give up her pacifier. And all may say, just put your foot down and get it done. Well, I have tried that. I have tried it all. I have gone to my wits-end and back trying to get it done. I have decided that the strain on our relationship is just not worth it and I would much rather that my daughter like me and I like her at this point in her young life. So, those battles have been abandoned for the time being. Please, don't tell the pediatrician, ok?

She does have a new favorite past time and that is playing computer games. In one sense this is a good thing because it does mean that she has mastered the hand-eye coordination necessary to work the track-ball. However, from the moment she wakes up til the time she goes to bed she asks me if she can play games. As I am unwilling for her to spend the entire day staring at the computer screen, the words "Not right Now", "No" and "Maybe Later" are heard more often than normal around here. I will say at least that the games she plays are mostly educational. So, they aren't a complete waste of time. Hopefully soon the out of doors will be more appealing than they are right now and will provide a better distraction from said games and other sedentary pursuits. I cannot wait for spring.

So, that is our life in a nutshell. Sorry for the absence of posts recently. You'll have to wait and see if the lull has indeed lifted...

It's all a blur...

I think there is something wrong with my camera. Most of my pictures come out blurry now. At first I thought it was just a lighting thing but it seems to be almost all my pictures now. I'm a little annoyed. I don't know what I am going to do about it. This is just in explanation of the poor quality of Noah's pictures...sorry.

Is something missing?

Well, Noah has gone and lost his first tooth...

"Our God is an Awesome God..."

A little over a week ago I went over to a friend's house and heard about a little girl who is about Lily's age who was diagnosed with a brain tumor and only given about a 10% chance of survival. She has a brand new baby brother and my heart was so heavy thinking about her parents and what they must be going through. So, I told Noah and Lily about her and we started praying for her every morning and evening. We prayed that God would heal her and bring her family comfort and the doctors wisdom in treating her. Noah remembered to pray for her even when I didn't and Lily always remembered to pray for her doctors and I am sure that many other people were praying for the family as well. This evening I talked to my friend again and asked about the little girl. She said that she just had another scan and it showed that the tumor had disappeared. It had disappeared! She said the parents are not Christians and just don't know what to think about this...well, now we have to pray that they would recognize and understand that the hand of God was on their daughter.

I am so excited to tell the kids about this tomorrow. I praise God, not only for this miracle that He performed but also that Noah and Lily will know in no uncertain terms that God does hear their prayers. He does care about even the little children and intervenes in 'hopeless' situations because He loves us. What an AWESOME GOD we worship!