It's a little too quiet and ...

...the living room transforms into castles of laundry and a wicker turret. Jack and Lulie, wedged in a crunching basket stare intently at something: the strainer-ball, the one for brewing Christmas punch. Lulie waits. No one moves. The script obviously doesn't include Momma. Jack chinks open the tea-ball and offers Lulie contraband: Quaker Oatmeal Squares. A dilapidated cereal sleeve is mostly empty on the floor. Janie patrols strictly enforcing The Sharing Rule.

A few days later, Daddy finds more cereal rifled through the laundry. Momma's sweet on him for tossing in a laundry load.

Learning to Read

First it's Jack, "That's an A," his smudgy finger pokes an A in a sea of words. Then it's Jane paging through one book and another, another and another for little brother. Her sing-song voice strings together pictures and plot, "See Jack, he's jumping in the water!"

A tiny miracle.

So I tell her, "Honey, if you can learn to read you can learn to do ANYTHING." Gramma used to always say that and she could do practically anything.

Jane opens her eyes up real big. "You mean like how God can just SAY it and it HAPPENS?!" I can see her picturing God, Let there be LIGHT!

"Oh, no." I grin. "That'd be neat, huh?" Her head bobs up and down bouncing blonde curls and a splashy flower. "No, it's more like you can read ABOUT anything to learn how to do it!" (Except not the speaking and it happens thing.)

Later that week she informs us that my hideous sewing debacle is no big deal, "'Cause, Momma, you know how to read so you'll be able to figure it out."

And she's right!

Babylegs

Side Note: For everyone wanting more on the Africa story hop onto my momma's photo journal.

Click HERE to meet the people in my last post.

Click HERE for a day in the hospital.


:: :: :: :: :: ::

And in the spirit of pure sweetness, I present Babylegs.

That's right legwarmers are BACK!

Only a few short months ago my friend Heather tried to tell me, and now...























I'm convinced! (Incidentally, Heather writes a blog with an awesome title. Check it out HERE.)
























So, dress insensibly summer. Slap on polka-dot leggies and you're groovin' 'til lunch. Then in the noonday sun pull 'em off and soak it up!

















I think we've only made six or eight pairs...so far. For you bargain hunters, it's clearance season on women's knee high socks. Check out a great tutorial HERE to turn socks into legwarmers. Thanks, Cerissa! Your little Jude looks rockin' in them.
























Think Lulu likes them?!

Adiedo, Kenya - May 2009

So sorry to keep ya'all waiting on Kenya pics. These are snap shots of the village. Adiedo. No running water. Just rain. Until the dry season.

















Dirt floors. Blossoms on the path. A "shower" round back.

















And water collectors.

















I probably run enough water down the drain just waiting for it to get hot or cold to fill an army of these.
























A standard grain silo. The opening up top lets a small child in to retrieve grain.

















Home.

And faith that depends on God. Prayers. Prayers the size of a dirt floor and muddy pond of drinking water, the size and shape of a child's cries and graves for loved ones. And still they pray. Somewhere in their rich voices and straight backs, devotion emerges. The counterpoint of God answers them with the thunder of His presence.

I am impoverished praying small prayers to a small God, my two dimensional cut-out doll version. My kids forget their manners and ask God for the world. They pray He will heal our friends' baby, the one still in her mommy's tummy. They pray God will make this world well and help the cardboard-sign-guy by the road and help our neighbor's grandchild not have a tumor. They pray Lucy's eye will get better and Great-Grampa will know Jesus. They pray as if God will show up. As if he already has.

When have we prayed like that?! When is the last time we prayed for something so great, so embarrassingly huge that it truly depended on God. In the end our kids judge the size of our God by the size of our prayers. Makes me want to pray forever. I can't imagine God's intimidated. Probably delighted.

Anniversary

So today marks a nine year anniversary. Nine years ago I married this man (the one on the right). Here he is in Africa, handsome from half around the world.

Africa. The whole thing reminds me of an IQ test we took years ago. Craig beat my score. An unfortunate and decisive victory. {Sigh} It's laughable now, a couple of measly points and I did the only logical thing a smart girl does. I FREAKED. For those of you who know him, Craig wins at EVERYTHING. He's amazing. :) Think we're competitive? Let's just say we even have blood pressure competitions seeing who can score the lowest blood pressure at the grocery store pharmacy. (Try it, just thinking about it will raise your blood pressure.)

So anyway, I moped around for a few days until finally a very sweet sister-in-law asked, "Do you want your husband LESS intelligent than you?" Haha, touche'. No wonder it is a delight to banter with this guy still nine years later. He keeps me guessing. And who can put a score on irrepressible optimism. Pure gold.

Africa? That was an outrageous idea. Crazy. Out of the question. Worse than an IQ test, another worthy freak out topic. And still I hear my brother's voice, "Well, what kind of a man do you want Jack to be seeing?" And imitating. A fearless one. Honorable and fearless.

The kids still talk on Africa. Yesterday, driving in the heat their giggles weave into the roar of wind blowing through the windows. Through the white noise Jack's voice surfaces, "But, WHY did Daddy go to Africa?" His voice hangs in the air.

Janie takes the reigns, "Because GOD told him to go to Africa!"

What a gift. He went because God told him to. It's as normal as water. God TOLD him to. How inadequate I feel. Or blessed. Spoiled.

Janie's chest swells with a smile. "'Cause God told him to!"

Banana-Banana, Knock-Knock

If I let them, my monkey children would eat a banana at every meal.


















And some inbetween.
























Now that Daddy is home from Kenya Jack continues to pray, "Help Daddy be safe in Africa, A-MEN," constantly.

And Janie informed me, "Hey Momma, you wanna know something that is TRUE?"

"Sure."

Banana in hand, she swallows. I should probably pause at the scary gulpy noise but don't. Eyebrows raised, "Everyday," she blinks, "someone in the whole entire world has to go PEE." Blink. She dissolves into gopher-tooth-grin.

And the fun continues.

HOME

So he stepped off the plane whole and handsome.

And HOME.































































































































































































More to come.

Love you ALL.

~Bethany