Sunday Lunch

Most Sundays our big family gets together for lunch. We eat, we talk, we read the paper, hold the babies, play games, maybe eat some more. I guess it’s a tradition our kids will grow up remembering. I often have a sense of “this is as life was meant to be”. Breaking bread, sharing our homes and food, an abundance of flavors and laughter and chaos and togetherness. Pots of steaming soup and homemade bread, burritos, ice cream, gourmet coffee and herbal tea, and everyone has their “Famous” dishes-- Papa’s famous bean soup and carnitas , the fruit salad queen (me) Beca’s cakes and curries, Gloria’s tofu scramble, and anything mom makes is famous and enough to make anyone veer off their diet! I The littlest kid gets the high chair that was originally mine when I was 2 or 3. It’s when we wish our brothers were here and Dad looks around that table at our growing family and gets teary. It’s just a really great part of the week and it doesn’t feel right to miss it.

Today was so sunny and Scott’s been wanting to BBQ, so we had everyone over for Sunday Lunch here. Mom’s out of town, so we had to pull this one off by ourselves. When I got back with groceries, we put on some music and we all pitched in to get the house and the food ready. It’s nice to have the kids big enough to help. Peace made no-bake cheesecake and Gabriel made a platter for vegetables and dip all by himself. It was a nice day and I was appreciating all that we’ve been blessed with and how good it is to share our meals and our time and our lives. The only thing that would have made it better was if Mom was here, and Jacob and Jackie and Joseph and Josh and Annie…..

Having people over is something that for one reason or another, we haven’t done a lot of over that last couple years and I’d really like to do more of this year.

Boxes of Papers

I spent a couple hours going through 2 boxes of papers yesterday. This was a very random assortment of stuff—calendars I saved because they have cute things the kids said scribbled on them, or their heights and weights at a certain age, old journals of mine, a few sweet letters and cards from my husband, lots of stuff I no longer needed and there were pictures the kids had drawn. Seeing the kids drawing was so cute and finding little things they’re said like—

“I want Jesus to give me a guitar, no three guitars and He can get more.”

“Here’s a picture of Daddy with a pear and another pear and an apple and a banana and a pizza and a bagel…”

“Mommy told me we are going to have a new baby. I hope it’s a girl. Babies are such a cute little nature”

“Every girl I see is a beautiful graceful angel floating above heaven,
And boys are handsome
Very Much
And I love them even if they’re rude”

So that’s always fun and nostalgic to go through and we had some good laughs. I took 2 trash bags of paper to the recycling. Not sure why I saved some of that stuff! I guess now with the internet I don’t have to rip recipes and craft ideas our of magazines with the intention of using them someday.

I realized that a season of life with little kids has passed. I’m handing down my “preschool ideas” to my sister. We heard yesterday that the boys we wanted to adopt will most likely be going to a relative who can take all four. I was disappointed for us, but it sounds good for them and we’ll see what the future has for us in that way. In the mean time I intend to fully enjoy this “big kid” season.
There’s a part of looking back over the past that is so bittersweet. I read my journals and see how different I was, but how the same I still am. I pile up all these ideas that I just never did, articles I never read, recipes I never made, inspirations I never put into practice. I think of that quote’ life is what happens while you’re making other plans’. Oh the many times I have resolved to do better, the expectations I have had. I can see those “failings” piled up like papers on the floor and be discouraged, but then I stop and think of life as it really has been and the pile of “joys”,the precious times, the grace of God and the love in our family and its so much bigger. I’m ok with not having “done everything” if I’ve traded that for building relationships and the things that can’t be measured.

Catching Up

It’s almost the end of April. I haven’t written in my blog in a month. I actually have a blog on 2 sites now and have just been putting off writing because it was feeling complicated, esp. to post pictures. But I would rather just jot down a few sentences now and then than never get to it because it’s too time consuming to make it perfect.

So what’s going on with us?

Spring has been rainy so far, but the past few days we’ve had some beautiful sun. Our flower bed is bursting with new color every day, as perennials return and we’ve added a few new things. Lots of blue this year.

We’re getting to that time of the year that we are close to finishing some subjects and the kids are counting the days. It’s been a busy year with of outside activities, but I feel like our home school time has been smooth and the kids are all taking initiative to get their work done when they’re supposed to. For the first time in years I feel like we’re gaining ground with some organizing and routines as we all pitch in together. It becoamesa lot less overwhelming.

Jessamyn moved to the brown belt class in Karate and has just one test before she tests for black belt. She went to an American Civil War dance last night and had a fun time learning some dances from that era. She’s knitting her 2nd sweater, a baby elf sweater for Poppy.

Gabriel has his green belt with a black stripe and is going to chess twice a week. He loves it and is going to a tournament at a local school in a few weeks. He’s made friends with a couple boys down the street and that’s been fun for him.

Peace went to roller skating yesterday. She’s the only one who seems to find that fun at this point. She’s reading huge books and helping in the garden. She and Jessamyn are both excited about their dance recitals coming up in May.

On Thursday nights I’ve been going to a mosaic class, which is really interesting. I feel good to have some creative things going, as well as going swimming for exercise more. Mosaic is fun because you get to SMASH stuff! Take the broken pieces and make something more unique and beautiful, there’s a very spiritual parallel there. While I’m at class, Scott and the kids have been brainstorming ideas and have a basic plot for a novel. The kids are always starting stories, so we want to help them finish them. I went to a writer’s workshop and that was inspiring to get them developing their writing more.

So, in the middle of this we are starting the process to adopt 2 little boys! We have always wanted to do this and maybe these are the ones. Scott’s sister has been a foster mother to them for 2 years and we spent some time with them on visits. They are precious and we’re all excited and hopeful (cautiously hopeful because these things can take time and go all sorts of directions) and trying to make plans. We need lots of prayer—it would really change our lives!

Well, that sort of captures what our family’s been up to. I really want to get more thoughts up here more often.