Guess Who Can Swim Underwater

Life's Lesson #4628

I learned yet another seemingly obvious lesson on the drive to Pittsburgh. Although I love to feel the wind against my skin, I don't often drive long distances with the windows down. During our 6 hour drive I took a nice long nap with my foot hanging out the open window. Occasionally a bug would smack against my socked foot and wake me, but otherwise I was extremely comfortable. I slept much of the way to my mother's, but when I was putting my PJ's on I noticed a thick red "stripe" on my shin.

I managed to get a sunburn in the 4 inches from my sock line to where my pants leg rested in the wind!


Although the wind feels good, the windows serve an important role in our defense against the sun's rays.

ROAD TRIP

I have the next two weeks off from school and Robby managed to get a vacation (from BOTH jobs!) so we headed to Pittsburgh to visit with family and leave Garrett for the annual Grandma visit. She keeps one grandchild each summer for about a week and it's Garrett's turn (again). I'm hoping for a less eventful stay this time since his last trip left him in the hospital with an attack of previously undiagnosed asthma.

Usually we travel at night so the kids can sleep and the opportunities for conflict are at a minimum. We decided to be brave this time and leave as soon as I took my Test since it's the first day of Robby's vacation and we didn't want to waste it. As expected, there were a million questions of "how much further?" and "how much longer?" and What are we going to do when we get there?" Then there was the "She's touching me!" and "He's putting his feet by me!" bickering back and forth. Overall the trip wasn't that bad, but we will be making every effort to continue to travel at night for awhile.

Take a look at these happy campers!!!!!

Someone managed to enjoy the drive. . . .

Once we made it to my Grandma's (about an hour outside of Pittsburgh) we stopped to eat dinner at Bob Evans. Garrett managed to find his sense of humor once again.

On another note. We passed the Christmas tree farm that Cynthia found so interesting a few summers ago. If I haven't told the story before--she was intrigued by the rows of trees growing so straight. I told her it was a Christmas Tree farm which confused her even more. She paused a moment before responding "They're growing them ALREADY?!?!?!?!?!?!?" Yes Cynthia. They grow Christmas trees all summer long!

Sowing Seeds

VBS was fun, but I'm glad it's over! I feel like we lived at church this past week. My kids were a great help (most of the time!) and it was nice to reconnect with people we haven't seen in awhile, but boy am I exhausted! Here are just a couple of the 200 or so pictures I took this week.

Even Ida had to get in on this "dog pile"

I was in charge of crafts. My room was called "clothesline creations" - hence the laundry hanging all over the room. . . I think the kids enjoyed everything we made, but I learned a lot about their abilities. Note to self: anything with beads and fishing-line spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E.

No matter how sore my back was or how tired I was feeling these little smiling faces were there to remind me of my purpose. I can totally understand why Jesus loved to be surrounded by children!

P A R T Y T I M E ! ! ! ! !

Kimberly had her birthday party today at Iroquois Park. She was a little disappointed that many of her friends had practice, work, and other obligations and weren't able to come, but the fun waits for no one. It was hot and muggy so the water feature at the playground came in really handy when the teenagers weren't busy taking over the kiddie swings.

These two girls spent the night with Kimberly after the party.

They only LOOK sweet and innocent! Trust me!

Nobody likes to hear that they look like their parent(s), but sometimes there's no denying it!

Kimberly spent some of her birthday money on overpriced ice cream from the ice cream truck. I can still hear that annoying song playing over and over and over and over . . . . . . . . .

I think Garrett secretly wanted to get egg all over himself in the egg toss.

I had to get the picture fast.

At 13 she thinks she's too cool to be seen taking pictures with her momma!

Better than Derby ?

Here's just a few shots from the VBS carnival we helped out with over the weekend. It was

H-O-T, but the kids had fun and the rain held-off until it was over.

Payton is always good for a laugh.

The highlight of the day was the inflatable horses. These things were fun to ride, but even better to watch! (It was a pretty good workout for the adults, but that didn't keep us off of them. It's times like this that it pays to be the one behind the camera!)

Two Grown Men And Inflatable Horses

Purple Hair Everywhere !

Cynthia has been anxiously anticipating the "Purple Hair Summer". Her school dresscode doesn't allow unnatural colors so she will have to return to her

boring-ole brown hair again soon, but for now she is livin-large and lovin every minute of it.

Cynthia reminds me of my mother in this picture! (When she was younger of course!)

Everyone's not excited about the new do, but I think it's pretty cute and Cynthia hasn't quit smiling yet! Thanks again, Jess. You did a great job (as usual). I might have to bring Cynthia over again soon so you can set her straight though. She thinks she's cool like you since she has the colored hair. . . . Or maybe I'll come get a cool color in MY hair.

(Does that stuff cover gray? =] )

BLISTERS

I hate yard work. Not because I don't like a neatly trimmed weed-free yard, but because I don't like to be the one who keeps it that way. I don't like to pull weeds. I don't like to trim hedges. I don't like to push the mower. And I don't like to pull the rake. I'm more of a plant flowers and keep them watered kind of chick.


Well. This evening we had to venture to our rental to clean up an overgrown yard. We knew it was way overdue, but we weren't expecting it to be so bad. I guess we thought if we put it off this unpleasant task long enough it would go away. Unfortunately it just kept growing and growing as these things tend to do. It took about 3 hours to tame the out-of-control grass and weeds with myself, Robby and Kimberly all working non-stop. Robby knocked it down with the weed eater, I pushed the mower and Kimberly raked and bagged with a little trade-off here and there. It's just an average size yard, but it seemed more like a football field by the time we went over it all --three times each!


Apparently my little feminine hands aren't used to manual labor because I managed to get 6 blisters (two bigger ones on my palms and two in the curve of my knuckles from the mower, and one on each thumb from the rake). I'm not whining (although they DO hurt). But I want to share a brief story that these painful things got me thinking about.


When I was young I enjoyed gymnastics. I actually was pretty good at it and was able to be competitive at several levels. I loved the balance beam and the floor exercise was fun, but I was intimidated by the vault and the uneven bars took a lot of work and gave me blisters. I remember talking to my Dad after practice and complaining about my hands hurting. He would pull the extra skin off (without warning!) and clean them up with peroxide (OUCH!) and tell me "That's a good sign of hard work". Day after day I would practice with blisters on top of blisters and my hands would often bleed from the ripped skin. If I complained to my Dad he would simply tell me "The only thing that will make it better is to keep going." I thought he was crazy and wondered how much longer it would take to expose the bones in my hands, but I didn't quit. I never got any sympathy from my Dad, but he was always there to push me to continue to work hard, even when it hurt. His "encouragements" were usually loud and often harsh, but I knew he just wanted me to give it all I had.


I never became an Olympic gymnast and I can no longer do most of the things I worked so hard to learn, but I have no regrets. I learned so much about life from my father's tough, pitiless, unrelenting influence through those couple of years.


And he was right about the blisters. The skin became thicker and tougher the harder I worked. Soon the blisters and bleeding were gone and I could focus on doing my best routine knowing that I was well prepared.


Sometimes when we try to do something new we get discouraged by the callus's of life. We think that if something is uncomfortable we should give up and go back to our old ways. We think that life should be easy and success should come often, but that's not usually how it works.


My days of working towards winning a metal to hang around my neck or a trophy to carry in my hand are long gone, but I am still using those same lessons in my walk towards the ultimate prize. I know that following Jesus won't always be easy. There will be resistance from the outside and resistance from within. There will be days when it seems too tough to continue and still the blisters keep coming. There will be times when I want to take the easy way out and compromise my beliefs. And there will be moments when I feel like nobody cares and I'm in it all alone.




But I know that Jesus is always by my side - even though I can't see Him. And I know that the tough times are making me stronger and the temptations are opportunities to grow closer in my faith. I realize that I can NEVER win the perfect prize of Heaven no matter how hard I try and that it's only by God's Grace that I will one day find myself standing in His presence. The prize has already been won for each and every one of us through His ultimate sacrifice. His hands were pierced for me. The least I can do is endure a few blisters working for Him.

Going In Circles

Despite the rainy start to the day, we visited Six Flags for the first time of the season this afternoon. I didn't really want to go. It was muggy and the weather man was calling for more showers and possibly a thunderstorm before the day's end, but the kids were raring to go. They completed all their chores this morning while I was at school and they were dressed and fed and standing by the door when I got home. After much deliberation, I agreed to take them with the understanding that if it started to rain we were leaving-no arguing.

Well. God answered the easily audible prayers of my children. The remainder of the afternoon was clear and even sunny! And apparently all the other mothers were thinking the same thing I was because there were no lines for anything. It turned out to be a really nice afternoon. (Except that Cynthia broke the camera when we were getting our passes made. SERIOUSLY!)


It was an especially good day for Lindsay. When we walked in she went straight for the indoor movie thing with motion seats. (She probably rode that thing 100 times last year while the bigger kids were riding other stuff.) Garrett wanted to ride Enterprise (which spins around and around and goes upside-down) with Cynthia and Ryan, but Kimberly wasn't up for the spinning right away and Garrett wouldn't sit by himself. The Enterprise used to be one of my favorites (like 15 years ago!) so I agreed to ride with Garrett and Kimberly went with Lindsay. I don't remember that thing being so shaky and making so many clanging noises--How did I ever like that?? We were done before Lindsay and Kimberly so the kids went to ride Himalaya (another round and round in circles ride). I sat out so the girls would see me when they came out. It had nothing to do with my stomach already feeling a little funny. Really.


The girls came out as the rest of the kids were getting seated. We walked over to watch and Lindsay said "I wish I could ride that" with her chin resting on the fence.

We went through this last year. She didn't like to watch the bigger kids ride things she was too short for.


Without hesitation she marched up to the height-requirement sign and said matter-of-factly "Let's see how much more I have to grow." She put her back up to the pole and easily cleared the red section that declares defeat. SHE WAS TALL ENOUGH! She jumped for joy as she pondered all the ride choices she had gained. When the kids got off the ride she made everyone watch as she again stood in front of the pole. What a relief. No more explaining the reasons for the height requirements. No more hearing the pitiful sounds of a little girl who was getting left out again. What a relief.


The bigger kids were anxious to ditch me, so they took off to ride roller coasters. Lindsay and I were going to test out her new found freedom. Each time she ran up to the pole to check her height she smiled even bigger. She wanted to ride everything. After about 6 rides I was absolutely convinced that I am not the person I used to be. I can no longer tolerate the constant circular motion of most of these rides. Lindsay giggled about the "butterflies" in her stomach, but I was ready to puke. I convinced her to return to some of her old favorites and give me a rest. She still enjoyed the kiddie rides and she still wanted me to drive the Tin Lizzie's, but before we left she had to try out one last ride. Enterprise. She wasn't going to ride with anyone but me (I LOVE that she still feels like I can protect her from anything-however untrue it may be!) and I was feeling okay- so we were off. Let me just say Lindsay loved it and it wasn't the best thing for me. I didn't vomit (although I think I could have at any given moment), but I was DONE.



The kids are already planning our next trip to the amusement park. Lindsay brought home a map and she has circled everything she still needs to "test" and everything she wants to ride again. I on the other hand, am looking for someone to volunteer to ride with Lindsay in the endless circles she so enjoys.

Why is it that the relief we feel when our kids accomplish something new is always quickly replaced by different a concern? Does it ever end?