Someone is growing so fast!

Sorry so slammed

Ok, Slammed 1) Hope has been a wild girl these past two weeks. She has tried to climb on top of a plastic chair on the top of a small kiddie pic-nic table and fallen on her head. Result: Big knock on the head. She has run ear first into the couch. Result: split ear - ouch. She has grabbed a folding chair and collapsed it on her finger. Result: pinch. I COULD go on, while I will not I hope that Hope will. She has suffered no real damage, but she is scaring the beans out of me!

Slammed 2) I am trying to get on pace with my new job, new classes (over 3000 pages of reading and over 60 pages of writing with about 12-13 weeks to go), and some new opportunities. PLUS my lap top died (GRRRR).

In spite of all this, we are really meeting with the Lord and have a greater sense of His heart for us...But in that "just starting to see it" kind of way.

PS - I love Aristotle! Who would have known?

Word Building

Picture us all in the back yard hanging out as a family. Aidan starts flipping this paddle (like a larger ping-pong paddle) sporadically.

Aidan: "Mom! Dad! I have a new invention!"

Martha/Jay" "What is it?" we ask, wondering what it could be since Aidan has not made his typical modifications to the paddle.

Aidan: "It's an Ant-a-pult." Aidan then quick flips it propeling an unseen ant into the air.

Happy Birthday Aidan!

It is Aidan's Birthday today - I will post pictures on Saturday.

Aidan is getting into Comics

Aidan is getting into comics. As part of the reading club he won a Spiderman No2 comic. We have read it more than once! It is rated for everyone, and is contructed on a very moral and roughly Christian worldview. It is not that he does not harm people, and does not use guns to get the bad guys. Anyway, I hope his reading skills pick up enough for him to read them himself, BUT in the meantime I am enjoying them too :).

Hope is talking

Hope says to me this morning "Daddy, more Peanut butter" and hand me here bagel. Although she talks all the time, I am only begging to understand her. She is not yet 2, so I guess that is fine.

The Feel of an Earthquake on Mid-western Feet

I knew that moving to Southern California might allow me to be in an earthquake. Today we felt a “good” one. I am typing away in my office when I feel the concrete under my desk start shaking my whole office. I run out of my office and around the house to check on Martha and the kids. Aidan is calmly watching PBS kids on television and he says “Mom, why is everything shaking?” Martha and I are calm on the surface only, but go back to business as usual.

The last earthquake I did not feel, but Martha did. I was shaving and I heard Martha yell. I run out to see her and Hope in the doorway. “Did you feel THAT?” Martha asks. I did not so she tells me to look out the window and look at the swinging planter.

Now back in the mid-west there are tornado’s, but there is usually a warning (and a place to hide). I am starting to think I don’t mind snow and wind.

Hope likes cake. 

Curious George can really climb high. 

Thanks for my new purse Grammie. Don't I make it look fabulous? 

I am a woman on the move. 

Take my picture too Daddy! 

Here's a cute picture of Hope and Martha at the Park. 

June Already!

Wow, time has been flying! We have had a few visitors and I have been behind. Our friends Phil and Liz were just here. We had a mini-support party for them. We had 3 people cancel the day of! Phil and Liz are in the final 10% of fund raising, so Lord willing they will be on campus (New Mexico) this fall.

My Grandma and Grandpa are here now. They are our with Martha and the kids at the tide pools. Aidan was excited to show them the "sea slug" also known as a "sea hare." It is a 6-8 inch brown slug-like creature that slinks along.

My first Audio post - brief family update

Playing Catch Up

OK the plan is to post a new picture or story every week. I have been behind! I will post a bunch of picks in the coming weeks, but tonight I am just posting a quick update.

1) We have been blessed with a couple financial gifts that have allowed us to buy a mini-van! It is really sweet. Martha and the kids love it (and so do I, but I will not drive it so much). I was joking with one of my neighbors that God but us just over half the van and He is making payments on the rest.

2) Martha has become a Mary Kay consultant. She is really amazing. Martha is like watching the Tasmanian Devil in reverse - a whirl-wind of organization and activity. This will help out in various ways, but an unplanned side effect it that it has transformed me into a "Mr. K." That is actually what we husbands of the Mary Kay revolution are called. I feel very included.

3) Aidan is trucking along in his reading lessons. He loves it, and is very upset if he misses a day reading with me. I love it too. It is so exciting to see him learning and having so much fun doing it. As well as how great it is when he is sounding out something at the edges of his ability and just before he is about to quit he gets it and we celebrate! Good stuff.

4) Hope loves to try and sound things out too; so, if Aidan's word is "mat" and he is sounding it out like "mmmmaaatt" Hope will say "mmmm." Is she reading? No? Is she a monkey see, monkey do? Yes. Is she so incredibly cute? YES! Hope is also nearly a fruitatarian. What redeemer her is the much on your food factor - she wants to eat whatever someone else is eating - she often finishes Aidan's breakfast, eats part of Martha's breakfast and eats much of mine too... all in the same morning! She is a great eater. We have no idea were she is putting it because she is quite small. Technically she is about average (50%) in all her dimensions, but the doc said she is very advanced in her development.

TTFN - Ta Ta For Now (as "Tigger" says)

More pictures coming soon, and weekly updates should be back on track after my last Platonism paper. Two weeks until summer break!

Here's a picture of me. I am generally the photographer, so I thought I would stick one up. This shot is from 5 pounds ago (November), so, maybe when I get to my fighting weight I'll post another. 

These cute kids who love each other

Could these kids get any more adorable? It is so cool that Hope and Aidan really love each other. No one can make Hope laugh like Aidan can! And Aidan loves to be around Hope too (as long as there is no competition for a toy of some sort.

Taxes Time Blessing

I don't like preparing taxes - who would really. What I don't like is the conflict it creates in my task list. I can't put off papers or taxes. Here's the cool part. The Lord has blessed me with a great accountant who is helping me with my taxes for FREE. Wow! Now that is a ministry (the only catch is I cannot tell you who he is). There are good people still around, so do not fear.