First Day of Preschool!

I just can't believe that my baby boy is ready to go to PRESCHOOL!  That is insane.  Last night, I packed his lunch and bookbag, and he was so excited to see them all ready to go this morning.  We all went to drop him off, and he was such a trooper.  Not a tear in sight, no clinginess at all...I think he was ready!  That made leaving sooo much easier.  But I had to take one parting picture on the way out...

*Update*:  After preschool, he was happy to see us and said he liked preschool, but other than that, gave no details.  He was exhausted and answered all my (many) questions with, "I don't know."  Hmph.  Those answers would never do:).  I pride myself on my ability to get information out of people, to ask the right questions.  I told myself that I have not spent the past ten or so years getting info from unresponsive teens for nothing!
So I waited until after Luke's nap, when he was in a great mood.  Armed with his schedule and some Play-doh, I was able to extract the following:)...
Mrs. Lisa is really nice, and so were all the kids.  No one cried or was mean to anyone.  His favorite part was listening to music, especially "Going on a Bearhunt" song and "Mr. Crocodile."  He liked everything in his lunch, and especially his Capri Sun, and even though he didn't eat his peach cup, he still liked it.  They didn't play "Table Games" because they were using a ball, so they played on the floor.  The game was that they passed the ball to each other (handed, not threw).  At Circle Time, there were lots of spots with all different colors and shapes, and there were numbers on them (you can see in the picture).  His spot was an orange triangle with a "P" (Hmm, not a number.  Maybe it was a 9?).  His teacher assigned the spots. 
So that's my best rendition of his day.  I hope they are all filled with lots of fun!

It's Easy to be Happy...

...when, every day, you are surrounded by beauty

and imagination (do you see his trains?)

and silliness

and sweetness

and joy

and family.

August, 24, 1999

Ten years ago today, on Tuesday, August 24, 1999, I walked into my first college class. I was a Freshman at Lipscomb University, and my first class was Honors Psychology with Dr Paul Turner. I had just arrived on campus the week before, not knowing a soul, and had spent the week at orientation activities, meeting a sea of new faces. And now it was my first day of class. At my high school, we generally dressed up on the first day of school, but that didn't seem like the thing to do at college, so I wore jeans and a simple shirt. I had two goals upon entering the room: sit on the back row, and sit beside somebody. This last part was crucial. I shuddered at the thought of picking out a spot and watching the room slowly fill up with no one sitting by me.

The classroom consisted of three long semicircles of tables, in a kind of stadium-seating arrangement. The chairs were the swivel-y type, attached to the tables. I walked in a few minutes early, and saw a guy sitting on the back row. He looked normal enough, so I walked over and asked if I could sit beside him. That seemed a bit forward to me, being a natural introvert, but desperate times call for desperate measures. He, of course, said I could, so I sat down, mentally congratulating myself on accomplishing my two goals. Then, I decided I should meet this guy.

Deep breath. I turned, gave my best smile, and said, "Hi, I'm Kim."

He smiled back. "Hi, I'm Greg."

I can't believe that it has been ten years since that momentous day when I began my college career and met my future husband. Both Lipscomb and Greg have, obviously, shaped my life in huge ways. Mostly, I am so thankful for the fact that I am still so crazy about Greg after six years of marriage. We have actually discussed why on earth we still can't get enough of each other, and have come up with two basic factors that make us "work":

1. We have a ridiculous chemistry.

It truly is bizarre. We disgusted people regularly when we were together and we weren't even dating. People regularly predicted our marriage, again while we were "just friends." That first semester, some of Greg's friends started (rather bitterly, I might add) calling me "Greg's wife," even though we were dating very casually, if you could call it dating at all. But we just couldn't help it. I have several distinct memories of seeing him walk into a room. I was always secretly thrilled to see him walk into the classes that we took together. I still love to see him walk into a room. I guess some things never get old.

2. We talk incessantly.

Well, maybe not incessantly, since one thing we like about each other is that we can sit in comfortable silence together. But we usually don't want to. Again, this practice dates back to when we first met. That first semester, we would regularly be the very last ones left of the hundreds of people who went to the Tuesday night devos. Greg would regularly walk me back to my dorm, not so much out of chivalry as from the fact that we just could not stop talking, and curfew was coming. At the first Spiritual Life Retreat a month into the semester, we stayed up talking most the night. Again, it was just bizarre.

We still do that. We talk every chance we get. It's like we have a slumber party every night where we talk until we fall asleep. There is a lot of, "Okay, but this has to be the last thing b/c I'm seriously falling asleep." Or, "I'm sorry, but I just have to tell you one more thing..." What do we talk about? Everything. We talk about the latest news, the latest political debate, the latest thing we've been reading or studying. We talk about something we heard on the radio or something so-and-so told us at church. We talk about our kids constantly--their development, their day, their personalities, their strengths and weaknesses, the possibilities for their future. We talk about the youth ministry, its direction, its future, its past, the kids, their families, specific ideas, lessons, retreat themes, etc. We talk about our pasts and our feelings right now and what we want for the future. We talk about what frustrates us and what we love, we talk about the things we like about each other and the way that together, we make one pretty good person:). We also talk about the things that frustrate us about ourselves and the things we're scared of. And we talk about the random thoughts we had, and the dream we had last night, and something funny John Stewart said on The Daily Show. We talk about anything and everything, from what mood we're in, to what some guy named Grotius says about Just War theory, to why we have we have a dead patch of grass in the backyard, to what we would do if we won a million dollars. Seriously, the possibilities are endless:).

I am so thankful for all that has happened since August 24, 1999, for the way that God brought us together, and for the way He has led us down the path that we're on. We have both changed and grown so much in ten years, and I'm so excited to see what the next ten, and twenty, and thirty years hold. And I am so thankful to God for the thing He started ten years ago today.

Ways to get to Heaven

Last night, Luke was plotting a reunion trip for Uncle Mike. 

Every night, we pray for Uncle Mike--we thank God that he's in heaven, and ask Him to give Uncle Mike a big hug from us.  After the prayer last night, Luke volunteered that "Jesus makes Uncle Mike happy."  Yep, that's true.  Then, he asked when Uncle Mike was coming back down.  I explained (yet again) that Uncle Mike lives in heaven now, and how heaven is so great that people want to stay there forever.  So then, Luke wanted to go visit Uncle Mike.  Since I am pretty straightforward with my kids, I gently explained that the only way to get to heaven is either to die or for Jesus to come back and get us.  (And when we die, Jesus takes us to heaven.  Luke pushed for clarification there.  He was still needing a mode of transportation.)  I told him we would all be in heaven together one day, and he wanted to know who all would be there.  I took some spiritual liberties assigning salvation to various people, but I basically listed everyone he knows.  Then, I safely concluded, "Everyone who is a Christian will be there."  Luke asked, "Is Jack a Christian?"  (Jack is his 2 year old cousin.)  Ummmm, "well, people choose to be a Christian when they get older....but yeah, Jack will be in heaven."  I'm sure:). 

Still not satisfied, Luke wanted to go now.  But how to get up there?  He thought about it. 

"We could use a parachute.  I'm pretty sure we have a parachute in the attic."  Well, we can't use a parachute to get to heaven, buddy.  First of all, we don't have a parachute in the attic ("I'm pretty sure we do," Luke interjected), and secondly, parachutes mainly help us to get down from places, like from airplanes ("I think we should use ropes to get down from airplanes," was Luke's contribution there.)  After assuring him of the limitations of parachutes, Luke started again.

"We could use some magical beans."  What?  We have not read "Jack and the Beanstalk."  I asked him where he learned about magical beans. "On Max and Ruby, Max planted some magical beans, and a loooong vine grew up, and he climbed it up, up, up...way up to the sky!"  He was very enthusiastic about this plan.  After I stopped laughing and kissing him, I assured him that I wished we had some magical beans, but the only way to get to heaven is for Jesus to take us.  He seemed okay with that.

I hope Uncle Mike got to hear that conversation.  He would have gotten a kick out of it.  I know Greg and I did.  Kids are the best.

Cuteness

Well.  Miss Anna has decided that it's time to talk.  And what do you know...she's polite!  It's like all the lessons we have given on saying "please" and "thank you" have bounced right off Luke (so it seems) and on to her.  Whenever we hand her something, we get a sweet, "tack oo" in response, and when her requests ("Sammich?" for sandwich, and "Fomas?" for watching Thomas) are not immediately granted, she throws in an irresistible "Peace?"  That's what her "please" sounds like.  Luke's sounded more like "peas," but she gives it a soft "s."  It is heart-melting.  And she is always requesting to watch Thomas after her meals.  She loves Thomas videos now, which is so funny to us.  She has never shown any interest in tv at all until this past couple of weeks...and I must say that Luke is not liking the competition over what to watch.  He would prefer to watch Noggin.  But Anna is insistent on "Fomas."  And so when I tell them they can watch a little television, they will walk to the living room, going back and forth:  "Noggin."  "Fomas."  "Noggin."  "Fomas."  It cracks me up. 

Other than being competitive over what to watch and the occasional snatching things from Anna, Luke is a superb brother.  He is very helpful, caring, and protective toward his sister.  He is always calling her sweet names, telling her how pretty she is, and trying to cheer her up when she is sad.  Also, if she's ever in a jam, he is quick to help out.  The other day, for example, Anna was standing on the little stone perimeter of our...garden?...in our front yard.  It is seriously just a few inches high.  But while Anna is very adventurous, she is not a risk-taker, and she was whining for help down.  I guess she just didn't want to do her normal, overly cautious move of lying on her stomach and backing her way down.  Greg and I were lying in the grass talking, and so we asked Luke to go help Anna.  He walked up to her with arms outstretched:  "C'mere, Sissy.  I'll help you down."  And Anna wrapped her little arms around his shoulders, and he lifted her down.  It was adorable. 

In closing, here are some pictures from last August and from just a few days ago of Anna in the mirror.  The more things change....

The Week in Pictures

 

Anna's First Haircut

I can't believe I forgot to post this, but last week, Anna had her first haircut.  I really didn't want to cut it, as I want it to grow long, but it was just getting out of control.  And as Mary, our friend and hairdresser, explained, we needed to get all the thin, baby hair ends off so that it could grow better.  Okay, let's do it!

Here's a "before" shot, which is not really fair because her hair was in pigtails and so it looks extra-horrible.  But isn't that how "before" shots are supposed to look?  Poor Anna:  she doesn't know what's about to hit her!

...and  the "after."  Phew!  We made it out alive!