Nathan's Heart

I love my son! Of course I do, he's my son, but let me explain why I got that mommy warm fuzzy feeling in particular.
So Nathan's birthday is August the 10th and because of that we 'celebrated' at school on Thursday, May 27th with cupcakes. He has a little girl in his class who is wheat sensitive and we made special (and quite tasty) wheat free chocolate cupcakes for her and I put the same white frosting on her cupcake as the other chocolate cupcakes. As we are getting ready to hand them out, his fabulous first grade teacher noticed he was looking sad or upset about something. At this point my darling son started to break down and cry (not harsh sobbing, just I'm upset and my eyes are leaking and mouth is sad looking cry). The reason for his tears you ask? Though we had made a special cupcake for Halley, Kylie who has no allergies or sensitivities that I am aware of, doesn't like chocolate. He was upset because she wasn't going to get to enjoy the cupcake. How sweet is that!!! Of course had I known that we probably would have gotten a different kind, but I had no foreknowledge of such a dislike.
On a note off my sons soft heart, I was impressed with the caring and concern shown by the others in his class. Several of the boys in his class got up when they realized he was crying and started patting his back and head and telling him that it was going to be all right. And Kylie, who indeed did not eat her chocolate cupcake, piped up and said "It's OK Nathan, it has white frosting. It's all good!"
I hope all of these children never lose their caring hearts for other people!

A bookworm is born

My heart is filled with warm fuzzies. My son is becoming a bookworm. For the last two days I have found him curled up reading a Horrible Harry chapter book. I LOVE IT!

I have been a bookworm for as long as I can remember. Even before I could read I remember asking and asking and asking my mom and older sisters to read to me. Especially my favorite alphabet book. That in fact was my inspiration to learn to read as fast as I could. I get a kick out of my first grade report card stating that I was struggling with reading...by fifth grade I was reading 11th grade level or more.

I was warned that after having kids I wouldn't have time to read...they underestimated my love of diving into a good christian romance, or comedy, or adventure. I even periodically go back and read some of my childhood favorites like the L.M. Montgomery books, Louisa May Alcott books, and my Narnia series.

My bookshelves are overflowing (literally), but there is always room for another good book.

Emily's 5 and Missing Megan

Well Emily's birthday party went well. On Thursday night I actually woke myself up with a stomach ache worrying over whether anyone would come or not. I hadn't had any RSVPs yet. Seems kind of silly I suppose to worry over that, but her little heart was sure that EVERYONE invited was going to come. Thankfully, though not everyone could come, her two best friends made it plus several other little girls and their siblings, and her three cousins came. I think she would have been happy with just her two best friends. I was pleasantly surprised that her little friend Lilli from Kung Fu joined us with her family. Emily's was the second birthday party of the day, out of three for them.

When we got home we unloaded all the stuff and then I was having Nathan and Emily pick up all the garbage that was in the van. Megan was following me around and I leaned into the van just for a moment to grab the actual garbage can to empty it and when I had done that Megan was gone. I didn't immediately panic. I went through the shop first because she had been peeking in the door way just a minute before, but when I didn't see her there I did start to panic. I suppose I should explain why I panicked so quickly. Megan is my wanderer. Though she is terribly clingy when strangers are around, on her own she explores and she loves to be outside. The last time she disappeared David found her all the way down our driveway and across the bridge heading out towards the main road. This road is easy on/off to the I-5 and it would only take seconds for her to simply disappear forever.

(This picture is taken from our front yard. The driveway is on the right and heads across the picture to the left. )

So after informing David I couldn't find Megan I ran down the driveway to see if I could see her. Nathan followed me and of course I didn't find her. Now panic was setting in. She had been missing for probably 3 or 4 minutes at this point. I came back to the house where David had been searching with no success and then really started panicking. On the verge of tears I went back out to the shop one more time, and David headed down the driveway, one more time. This time, thankfully, there Megan was in the shop calmly playing with...nails! Sorting them from one bucket to another. I sent Nathan running down the driveway to tell David (shouting all the way "We found her...We found her!") and I promptly burst into tears and picked Megan up and headed down the driveway after Nathan.

Even now thinking about it increases my blood pressure!

God is so good and I thank Him for answering my prayers for Megan to be safe and found!

(This picture is taken maybe halfway down our driveway and shows the covered bridge which begins our driveway. Main road is just across this bridge.)