swimming, ninging and life lessons

It has been a while- so much stuff going on- feeling like I'm packing everything for a summer into the last few weeks.....

My first Mops meeting officially as a mom and not a nursery worker- Elisha did great and loved it, too!! Play dates with my best friend, meeting new moms, gathering our final produce from the garden, clean up after our wind storm..... Ahhh the joys of summer- here are some details:

Well, swimming lessons are officially over. By the last night, as you all have already guessed, I'm sure, he was cool with all of it. He went under water, he blew bubbles, he got his hair wet, jumped in, kicked his feet, and, over all, had a blast.

Tim and his dad were able to go with us to swimming lessons on Tuesday. Elisha did well that night, also, and it was so much fun to watch these 3 generations all taking it in together.

Sunday was a pretty amazing day. Elisha actually didn't cry as we entered the nursery and had a great time playing with all his friends there. I had the lovely lady in charge of the nursery sign him in, since that seems to be when he starts crying. We went in to use the "little" potty in the nursery, and as I was getting his snack out and his drink ready, she patted him on the back... Tada.... name tag in place. My friend Dennis was there watching and laughing... telling us how "smooth" we were :) Lol!

Sunday evening was pretty amazing. We got the remnants of the hurricane. Wow! The huge trees behind our house were truly singing and praising God in a very, very, very charismatic way!! almost touching ground on either side!! I went out to get the little doggie in at one point, and we heard a loud snap, crash and then a big house shaking boom as an elderly elm came crashing down. Thank you, God, for guiding its fall. It took out a couple of other limbs in our woods out back, but didn't come near the house and was able to fall down to the ground right where we would have tried to place it if we were dropping it- the tree is longer than our house!! So, Elisha has been going around telling everyone this week, "big tree fall down- go BOOMM!!"

He was pretty scared, but calmed down as I held him and began talking about the trees dancing and singing in the wind for God. Tim's parents and sister and her family came over and we watched this bizarre dance take place behind our house from our back porch. It is quite awe inspiring, and I am sooo thankful that we were able to come away with minimal damage.

The power was knocked out, as it seems to be for sooo many areas right now. I was so thankful for Tim's preparedness and foresight in getting us an automatic starting natural gas generator. It's not big enough to run everything in the house- but it made it very easy and nice for us- and we were able to hook up his sister's fridge to it, also.

I am learning more and more every day how important family is. I grew up in PA with just my parents and siblings and our church family- so it is very different for me to have all my neighbors be Tim's (and now my) family. In fact- of the 4 houses we can see easily from our front porch, only 1 belongs to someone outside the family. I was so glad that my wonderful hubby was home and able to take care of all us womenfolk on the "ranch".

We had Tim's parents over for dinner Monday evening. Tim's sister and her 2 children came over later, after their lessons in town were complete so they could have a hot shower- and some yummy chili with us, too!! They arrived just as we put Elisha to bed. I was so amazed and proud of how quiet my niece and nephew were.

But at one point Elisha heard a sound and started crying. I went up to get him and took him potty. I was sooo hoping he wouldn't guess his cousins were downstairs- then, I feared, he would not go back to sleep. We could hear the spoons hitting and scraping the bowls- Elisha said, "Papa eat cake?" I said, chuckling to myself, "Does that sound like Papa eating cake?" "Da," he said. "Lisha eat cake?" "Maybe tomorrow," I said.

Phew, he went right back to sleep, and we had quite a laugh about it.

The power came back to us on Tuesday evening- Yeah for us!! I feel much compassion for the many around us who are still without power. Though the weather has been wonderful and negated the need for air conditioning or heat, the food stuffs have not been so happy.

We found out Monday that my best friend when I had lived in New Concord lost her mother suddenly. I was sooo grieved by this. My friend and I had lost touch with each other- I guess I should also mention, she is now my cousin by marriage, too- and hadn't really spoken much lately. She, newly married, me newly a mom. So, Elisha and I went over Wed morning early to get a chance to express our love and condolences to her and her family before the funeral. I am so glad we did.

We arrived an hour early- even before most of the family. I went up to see Helen and say goodbye one final time. Elisha was in my arms, and for a few minutes was very still. Unusual for my busy little boy. He just looked and looked at Helen and then at me, and I could see a question in his eyes, like- hmmm what's going on here- something doesn't seem quite right.

I looked at him and said this is just Helen's body- everything she is and that we know about her is in Heaven with Jesus right now- just her body has been left behind. Pretty complex stuff for a 2 year old!! He looked at me for a second, as if processing what I had just said. Then he smiled and said, "Ninging?" I said, "What?" He repeated, "Ninging Jeejee?" Oh my!! I almost cried. "Yes, honey," I said. "I'm sure she is singing with Jesus and all the angels right now." So he repeated it again- "Ninging" as if that explained everything. Ahh, the faith of a child. I am seeing it more clearly each day.

Well, I've rambled enough. Hopefully soon we'll be able to update the pictures- just wanted to get a post up while I had a second so I could get all this down before I forget it.

I covet your prayers for a young friend of mine. She is a fellow adoptive mom of a little guy from the same orphanage we adopted our son from. She has done an amazing amount of work with our adoption agency's chat group to inform all of us what the journey is like- and was able to help us sooo much in our own journey to bring Elisha home. She and her husband have gone on to adopt 2 more from Korea or Vietnam. As I type this she is in surgery to have a cancerous tumor removed from her kidney. She has several other sites that the cancer has metastasized to, making the medical diagnosis pretty bleak. She is such an amazing woman, and is constantly glorifying God even through this dark valley. I'd ask you to join us in praying for this family.

Thank you God for the time you give us here on earth. Thank you for our friends and family and for forming families in so many unique ways. Thank you for the health you give us and the comfort you give when we no longer have that health. Thank you for peace and for the hope that goes beyond anything we can ever dream or imagine- the hope we have in you!!