Truly lovely

I received an e-mail late last night sharing this video. My friend who sent it to me described it best - breathtaking. If you have a few minutes, please please watch it. It is about marriage. And, as a believer, I am so thankful for "the great cloud of witnesses" that we know surround us as written in the book of Hebrews. Ian and Larissa are truly witnesses of Christ's amazing love. This young couple certainly challenge me to press on in marriage and to choose to love every day. I hope it encourages and blesses you, too! Please click HERE to read about and watch a short video about This Momentary Marriage - the Story of Ian and Larissa.

Mommy Moments

First off, an update on Matt. I have had many people ask me how he is doing. He is doing great! I think he is almost 100% recovered! Praise the Lord! He attended church on Sunday for the first time in 3 weeks, and even had friends over afterwards to play. He went back to Chinese school this morning (much to his displeasure), and went to piano lessons as well in the afternoon. He is, however, taking a hiatus from martial arts for the month of May. Contact sports is a no-no when recovering from mono. The reason is that your spleen gets enlarged during the infection and can rupture if you get hit there. Otherwise, his appetite is back, and he seems to be recovering very nicely. Thank you for your concern and prayers! I have been reading Little House On The Prairie to the kids, and they have been really into it. They love the fact that the Ingalls have a brindle bulldog named Jack. They also love to hear about the food the family eats. We decided to have a Little House breakfast the other morning - bacon, and then cornmeal pancakes cooked in the bacon fat. Yum. We had syrup instead of molasses though.

Here is a snapshot of singspiration before Sunday school this past Sunday.

And here are the two littles this morning. Yes, they sleep with me and they often kick each other (and me) at night. But I found them snuggling like two puppies this morning.

And lastly (I hope Nathan will forgive me for telling this story), a little misadventure this afternoon. We were at piano lessons. Matthew was having his lesson, so Nathan, Aaron, Lily and I were out in the backyard of our piano teacher's home. There is a jungle gym structure there that is made of wood, with a big plastic slide and a swing. Anyway, Nathan went down the slide, and then he was quiet for a while. He comes up and says, "I think I have a splinter. In my butt." There is a wooden plank that butts (no pun intended) up against the top of the plastic slide. He had slid his bottom across there and got hurt. I was trying not to laugh, but I had him come over with me to a corner of the yard and pull his shorts down so I could have a look. Yup. More than one splinter in fact - maybe a handful :-(. Everytime I tried to pull one out, though, Nathan would giggle and start moving so much that I couldn't get them. I was half getting impatient and half laughing and telling him to be still. Then all of a sudden, Matthew pokes his head out of the sliding door and says, "Nene, it's your turn for piano." I told Matthew to tell the piano teacher Nathan had a splinter and I was trying to get it out. The boys' piano lessons are group lessons - meaning there are other kids in their lesson with them. So I can hear from the sounds coming from the windows that his lesson has started. Someone is playing piano. I am getting panicked that someone else will come out and call us and see Nathan's butt and me hunched over it. Meanwhile, he is still getting giggly whenever I come close to picking out his splinters. Too ticklish, I guess. I finally tell him we will have to wait until we get home and have Daddy do it. Nathan reluctantly agrees and pulls his shorts up. He says to me very seriously, "This is dreadful." Poor lamb. He made it through piano lessons, though, without once wincing when he had to sit down. I had to think about sad thoughts in order to not bust out laughing every time he looked at me. That boy just cracks me up. Dreadful indeed! Dave had the misfortune honor of picking all those splinters out. I wish in a way that I had a photo to go with this story, but I don't think that I could post it even if I did :-). One thing for sure, Nathan certainly gave Dave and I trials of patience when he was a toddler and a preschooler. But now - goodness, I think we laugh more in one day that we used to laugh in weeks because of this boy. We love him to pieces. I will end with two pictures of Nathan since this has kind of turned into a post about him. The first is from years ago - and this photo was taken at Sunday school and put on a Mother's Day card they made for all the mamas. I think he was 3.

Man, look at those dimples! And that face! And the bandaid on that squishy arm! Next photo is from about a year ago at Uncle Kevin's wedding where he was the ring boy. So handsome!

Our Father's Love

The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him ~ Psalm 103:13, NLT