This morning started out so well.  Our whole family was up and out of bed early,  dressed and eating breakfast an hour before we needed to leave for church.

As I was upstairs fixing my hair, I heard thunder roll overhead.   I thought, this is an alternate definition of insanity: flattening my hair before going out in a thunderstorm. Little did I know!

I came downstairs, and Brian was checking the weather.  The rain was pelting the windows so hard it sounded like drums.  I tried to make a video of it washing up over the curb in front of our house, but mostly just succeeded in soaking my pants and the floor six feet into the house.   I never stepped out the door.  We couldn't see the storm drain in our driveway at all.   

So we decided to wait for the rain to die down, then make a run for it.  In the meantime, we played twister, strategized out trip to the car and enjoyed the show outside the windows!

When it finally calmed, we ran out the door, and our neighbor was on the porch.  I learned he plays the piano at his church, and couldn't get a ride.  We had plenty of time, so we drove him in the wrong direction to his church.  The trip was pretty amazing.  And scary.  Here are some pics I took with my camera phone, in between quizzing Brian on all the reasons we were NOT going to end up like all the cars we saw dead in the middle of the road.  My husband is quite intrepid!

This is St. Charles, the main historical street, about half a mile from where we live.

 

This is also On St. Charles.  We were driving on the neutral ground (the median) on top of the street car tracks.

 This is a four way intersection with sidewalks.  That car up on the left is dead in the water.  As we drove down the street, one of the several people we came across standing out in the water directing traffic around the deepest parts of the very potholed streets, yelled at us to slow down.  As we made wakes, water was being pushed into peoples cars and houses.

 

We were circling around the freeway, trying to find an open on-ramp.  That car was blocking the one we needed.

So finally, we got to church.  We ran in, because we were pretty sure they were going to be short staffed, and we were teaching the three and four year olds second hour.  A very relieved woman who was caring for ALL the under-fives by herself during the Sunday school classes quickly left the room, taking the smallest babies with her.  As things settled, Brian and I ended up with the two to five year olds.  TWELVE of them.  Chaos ensued.  

Oh, a hilarious moment during the Bible story time:  our church here brings the kids into the same room for the Bible story, then sends them back for snack and crafts and whatnot.  So during the story today, the teacher asked "what do we hear with our ears?"  The kids yelled "sounds!" and "music!" and one five year-old yelled "NOISE POLLUTION!"

After church, we experienced our first crawfish boil.  I'm not gonna lie; I found it a little bit alarming.  At one point, a gentleman I really like asked me if I sucked their heads.  Um.  I turned around and looked at him, and said, "I'm going to pretend you did not just say that."

There was face painting, balloon sword fighting, and a toddler rolling around in the mud (which I unfortunately did not get a picture of, but someone else did, so hopefully I'll be able to get it).

A very, very full day.  Followed by much needed naps.

Thinking...

I feel like lately I start every spoken deep thought with, "I don't know if I can articulate this properly, but..."


So.  I don't know if I can articulate this properly, but...

I've been thinking about parents parenting differently.  I suppose more basely, about being judgmental.

For the purposes of this post, please know that I am thinking only of the impact of parenting, and not at all of kids' personalities.   

Brian and I want so badly to raise well behaved, godly children.  I want my kids to be articulate, thoughtful, intentional in their relationships.  But too often, I find myself parenting to avoid things.  I don't want my kids to do that, behave like that.

And the thought keeps occurring to me are those kids any less likely to know Jesus because they are allowed to behave that way?  Or, conversely, is the standard of behavior we expect going to impact whether or not our kids know Jesus?

Obviously, I don't know the answer. 

We probably won't relax our standards.  And really, that's not even what this is about; it's more the idea that every parent parents differently.  Brian and I parent differently.  My kids will turn out with a very distinct set of strengths and weaknesses, the particular combination of which will be different from any other parents' kids.  And I only have it in me to cover the things I can cover.  There are going to be things that I miss, or just do completely wrong.  And there are things I will do really well; the things that I focus on because they're important to me.

So I guess I'm glad that we all do it differently, that we discipline, educate and relate differently. 

I wouldn't want my kids to face a world full of people who share the same difficulties or talents.  We are a community, and we need the differences to function, since none of us are, you know, God. 

And my oft-uttered closing:  Did that make any sense?

Or are there major flaws in my reasoning?  (come on, let me hear it!)

My Son, the Author

Brian keeps gleefully exclaiming (something I clearly need to work with Nathan on), "our boy's a GENIUS!"  Love it.  Here's Nathan very first original composition:

  So how much of that did you get?  I'll do my best to interpret:

Jack liked cars!  His dad loved cars too!  The dragons cars there was too many!  There was only one man who was brave enough because he believed

in God so that he could kill all the dragons there was.  Lost stuff that met enough too upset the people.  The beast or the queen

up in the mountain!  There lived a boy, he loved to play checkers.  One day he was playing basket ball when his friend saw him.  He

whispered in his friends' ear last night I saw a queen standing on the cabinets.  I ran outside.  I look for a spot to hide.  The only ??? to it was

a bush.  I heard someone call my name.  I looked around.  All I could see the queen she was beautiful.  I set a lid ??? the dragons was ??? mother ??? she


was handsome :)

If you can fill in any of the words I missed, I'd appreciate it!  I must note that the first several times I read the story to Nathan (because he wanted to hear how it sounded) I read the second word, lict, licked.  As in, "Jack licked cars."  Nathan was not amused. 

The Rundown

My kids are in such funny places right now (or maybe I'm just in a place to better appreciate their humor!).  I've really enjoyed watching them figure things out and put new ideas to use.

Nathan is starting to put together the things we've been learning all year.  The other day we were walking somewhere and Brenna decided to count our family members.  Apparently there are 17!  So after she performed this amazing feat (just last week she counted to ten for the first time) and I got all excited, Nathan decided to show off.  He counted to 100!  Then he did it again!

His imagination is working overtime.  A couple weeks ago for their date, Brian and Nathan went to see How to Train Your Dragon... dragons are pretty hot around here.  That week we got this awesome old book from the library:

It's a book of short stories that were originally published in 1899.  The stories are written in a style that you just don't hear anymore, and they take a good bit of time to read, but oh, they are fun!  Anyway, between the language and the length, I can't read an entire story straight through; so we've taken to reading until a really suspenseful part, then getting up and doing a task around the house, like unloading the dishwasher or picking up a room.  While this has been a great method for quickly getting things done with a good attitude (woohoo!) an unforeseen pleasure has been listening to Nathan process the stories aloud while he works.  There have been some very dangerous and thrilling battles played out in my boy's imagination!

*****

Isaac is my wild card.  I realized why youngest children are such clowns and people pleasers.  This kid ALWAYS has someone looking at him, and gets constant feedback on his behavior.

He started walking a couple weeks ago, so now he only stops when tied to a chair.  At the library this morning, I was ready to lay down on the floor and take a nap after about 40 minutes of chasing him through doors, up stairs, behind the librarian, around the stacks.  And every time I picked him up, he went into the full-body-writhe action.  It seems to me this is a skill that some kids really perfect more than others, in which they're throwing their weight and twisting so much that you have to put them back down because otherwise you'll drop 'em!

Isaac's other newfound passion is throwing things away.  At least once a day, usually twice, we'll mention/hold/be looking for something.  Then it goes missing.  An all-out search is underway, my frustration mounting because I just had it/where did you put it/it was right there! when it occurs to me look in the trash.  And there it is.  Shoes, dry erase markers, library cards, sippy cups, plates, silverware, etc.  All have been found in the trash.  Who knows what I haven't found.

*****

Brenna has been a joy to know lately.  She is suddenly putting ideas from different places and times together in stream-of-consciousness statements that leave Brian and me in stitches.

(Okay, I just have to note here that I wrote Brian and I first, then thought about it, and changed it to me, and it just doesn't feel right!  I'm a little stressed about that right now.  'Cause I'm a grammar nerd.)

Anyhoo, we cross a bridge every week on our way to church.  The bridge crosses the Mississippi River, right over where the cruise ships load, including a dinner cruise that we'd like to take sometime while we're here.  So in the past, Brenna's commented on the ship, or the bridge to church, or eating dinner on a boat, whatever.

Then last week as we drove across, she was all, "This is the bridge we go across to church on the river that goes over the ship where we're going to eat dinner in October when Nana and Papa come from California to visit us.  When is Aunt Jo's wedding?"

("Dis i da bidge we do atoss to tutch on da wibbuh dat does obuh da sip whe we doin' to eat dinnuh in Otobuh when Nana an Papa tum fum Towfonia to bisit us.  When is Aunt Do's weddin'?")


So as you can see, it's go-go-go all the time around here with these three.  Little brains and bodies are in motion from sunrise 'til we throw those little suckers in bed at night (and then the four or so times we get up for water/potty/blankie/teddy bear/pacifier/books/stop talking!  Last night Brian and I were calculating that in about ten years, maybe, we'll be able to sleep in.  Until then, we'll be on our toes!

This Year's Easter Picture

It's like herding cats.

A Little More Homey

Brian and I have known since we bought our little 1930's cottage that we wanted to fill it with period appropriate furniture and restore the details that gave it charm before they were modernized.  Then we moved to New Orleans with a bare minimum of furniture, and no storage.

Part of our challenge has been to acquire furniture that is useful here, and will fit in when we go home.  I had pretty much lost hope of finding anything affordable.  I was starting to troll the aisles of Walmart, Target and Cost Plus World Market (which I love, but quality?  Ummm... not so much) for anything that would be affordable (read: cheap) without regard to style or quality.

And then.

Man, I love Craigslist!

These two pieces were built in the 20's and refinished somewhere along the way.  They were being sold about ten minutes from our house (which is really good, because we only saw the ad for the buffet and didn't take any extra money) by a man who is in the process of restoring his 1860's home.  The only thing that dragged us away from a very fun conversation were the three children screaming in the car!

The grand total of our purchases?  $200

Seriously.

Well, I suppose it was actually $202, because we had to cross the bridge twice :)

And we are in love.  We have been very surprised by how much warmer and cozier they've made our house.  A wonderful addition.  And an added bonus?  I can now display the china plates Brian's grandmother gave me.  These belonged to her mother and Grandpa's mother.

God has provided.  Again.

Some recent pictures of the rugrats