Bottomless

Wayne - 5 years old
Weston - 3 years old
Wyatt - 2 years old

This morning everyone was dying of starvation, so we started breakfast.  Tyler made everyone ham and cheese omelet's - he had TWO pans going on the stove.  No sooner did he get them all made - and the first one served, Weston, was finished with his plate and asking for another.  He made yet ANOTHER omelet for the kid, and then all three were clamoring that they were still starving again.  I pulled out zuchinni breade with butter and cheese, and that seemed to satisfy them.  For an hour.

Then all three were in the kitchen AGAIN begging for snacks.  A round of juice and fishy crackers later, I thought we were in the clear.

And now they all three came running up to me and asked for LUNCH because they are STARVING again.  It's 10:30.  I think we better install a toilet and a shower in the kitchen - I'm going to be in there for the next decade!  :-)

He prayed for me.

After a long and fun day of scrapping, and a busy night meeting a dear friends precious new baby, and hanging with crabby boys who were ready for bed, I spent a few minutes with Wayne before breaking out the laptop to knock out a few late hours for work before tomorrow.  As Wayne, and I chatted, we talked about our day's, and our tomorrow's.  He's VIP tomorrow, and that's pretty special.  He's bringing Wyatt for show and tell.  He asked if I would be there, but I told him I couldn't be.  When he started to fuss and wondered where I would be, he said, "I bet you have to help people at work tomorrow!"  Yup, that's right buddy.  I told him I had a very big day with lots of meetings, and would he pray for me?  Wayne's response,"Yup, but I better pray now before I forget."  Here is his sweet prayer:

Dear God,

Thanks for my day, and for my Dad.  He's awesome.  Thanks for my mom, and that she gets to help people.  Please help her to be the very best tomorrow, to win all of her meetings.  Help her to just win, because she is a winner and she needs to help people.  Bring her home to see me so I can tell her my day.  Thanks God, I love her.  And I love you too.  You take care of me, and you love me.  Thanks for Jesus too.  In Jesus name, Amen.



Just when I'm tired and a tad overwhelmed, God sends me a prayer through the precious lips of our son.  *Sigh*  I love when He works like that.

Better get to work!

Colossians 3:23  Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.

Playing in the Leaves

It always feels like fall is really here when the boys have had a chance to jump in the leaves.  This year feels a bit different though - with the school routine it seems like we don't get outside much after snacks and homework, because it's already dark by then!  On this day though - out we went!  The boys are growing and maturing every day - they can actually be pretty fun to hang out with and do projects with!  :-)

Bliss!

Don't be fooled, the brotherly love didn't last for long with a great big pile of cushy leaves under their feet...

I was juggling the video camera and my camera, and forced Tyler into assistant role.  I like how he is so photographically minded and shot the video from the same perspective as the kids, low to the ground.  I'm sure he was thinking about that.

Yeesh!  He must be 8 months along!  I do think there was a "I look like Miss Molly!" comment slipping from between his precious lips.

Hmm..  These boys are BUSY!

First you see it, now you don't!

Oh yeah folks... Wayne LOST his first tooth!  He went from "My tooth hurts a little" to "My tooth is on the table in just over 12 hours.  I've wondered how he'd handle losing his first tooth, and to answer that - he LOVED it!  He wasn't scared, bothered, or any other drama at all.  He bit into an apple after school, and his tooth popped WAY forward - he thought that was awesome, and was dancing around our house like a wild man, he was so excited!  It wasn't moving back much, and so the next morning, off we went to Bible Study.  When I picked him up from class - he had a tale to tell!  They were eating Scooby Snacks for snack time, when his tooth came flying out of his mouth and landed on the table.  It was an EXCITING day in class, that's for sure!  All the kids were buzzing about it.  Wayne put his tooth in a little case I had, under his pillow, and went to sleep.  By the next morning, Tinkerbell the Tooth Fairy had taken his tooth, and left him with a wad of cash to put towards the Wii he is saving for.  He then asked me, "How many more teeth do I have to lose to be able to pay for the Wii?"  Uncle Todd would be so proud!

Weston is learning about feelings.

Here's what he did at school today:

Turkey Trot - my "first" 5K!

On Saturday I did my first official 5k in Lynden to support the local girl scouts, with a bunch of gals from my office.  There was a running crew, and a walking crew.  Cathy and I started running, lasted for about a 1/3 of a mile, and then settled into our brisk walking pace.  We finished the 3.1 miles in 45:12 (Cathy finished a few seconds faster... she neglected to tell me she was a SPRINTER in high school!)  It was just a hair longer than what I normally walk, and we kept a good pace the whole way, so definitely a workout, and FUN! Maybe next year I will RUN the whole thing!

PS - the other girls just look tough... it was COLD.  37 degrees cold, and I could not get warm (until we started moving!)

Waiting for the bus.

Since we have about a 15 minute window to wait for Wayne's bus to come, if it's nice enough weather Weston and Wyatt and I head out to ride bike and play ball while we wait.  And wait, and wait sometimes!  The fresh air does us all some good.  It's been fun watching the leaves change color, and watching the boys notice!  Weston is a bike and tractor boy, Wyatt a ball boy.  Wayne's just excited to see us all when he gets home.  Weston tells him, "I miss you Wayne!"

A very scary day.

 Last Saturday was a very, very scary day.  So much so, it's taken me all week before I've felt like I could write about it.  I'm going to though, because I think it's important.  Important for you to know that I am human, important for you to know that my God is great and mighty, and important for you to be reminded that we can never watch our kids too closely.  With that said...

It was Wayne's last soccer game of the season, and we had lots of visitors at his game.  He was WOUND UP the entire game, downright giddy and silly the whole time.  And a little cold too, since he refused to bring a sweatshirt but it was chillier at Northwest Fields than it was at home.  He huddled with his blanket when he wasn't playing, and otherwise ran around like a wild man and had a good time.  Weston and Wyatt were pretty good boys too, and we all enjoyed his games.  After the games, his team all gathered around a picnic table for pizza and treats to celebrate their last game.  Tyler took Weston and Wyatt to the car, because they were getting hungry, tired and crabby, as it was almost 1.

Taken during Wayne's soccer game

 Wayne was finishing his pizza, and I told him to finish up so we could go meet up with Dad and the boys.  He got up from the table, and we took his jersey off to give back to his coach.  Wayne started laughing and running "it's cold , it's cold" and headed toward the parking lot.  I turned, threw his shirt to his coach, and started after him.  He went around the corner, and I was about 10 steps behind him.  He was happy, silly, and still a little wound up - or even more so after the pizza!  As I rounded the corner, I stopped mid-stride.  Where did he go?  I wasn't concerned, but instead a little annoyed that he didn't "stay close" like I had been saying for the last hour.  I decided he must have headed toward the parking lot and car, to catch up with Dad and the boys.  Makes sense, right?  The problem was - after a quick run out to wear we were parked and scanning the parking lot furiously - he was nowhere to be found.  I doubled back, running into Tyler who was pulling the car around to the main area.  I hoped against hope that he had found Wayne coming to meet him - but the look on his face told me he hadn't.  I ran back to where the team was, and no one had seen him, and they were all surprised that I had not yet found him.  We fanned out, and after a quick check around the buildings - I grabbed a cell phone and called 911.  If anything my mother training has given me - it's a plan.  When kids go missing - even for a second - assume the worst and try to stop it.  Worst case scenerio was... you know.  I needed someone to watch the exits from the parking lots.  With around 50 people searching on foot for a 5 year old boy with a buzz cut, no glasses, gray shorts with an orange strip, soccer cleats, and NO SHIRT on a 45 degree day - he should have turned up FAST.  But he didn't.

4 or 5 Sherriff's pulled in, and I felt a lump in my throat and the urge to puke.  I hadn't seen Tyler since I made the call - he was running through the parking lot like a crazed man.  Along with Wayne's coach and another Dad of a boy on the team who were just as frantic.  Many, many other people were searching, and I just kept repeating his description.  One of the sheriff's was assigned to me, and started asking a bunch of questions.  I think partly to help the situation by giving them all the information they needed, and partly to keep me in one place and busy.  I just kept fighting off my imagination, and answering his questions.  He raised his eyebrows at me to find out that I had pictures of Wayne with me - on my cell phone, 200 on my camera, and an ID card with his recent pictures -  in case he ever got lost.  He asked me what kind of a kid Wayne was, and how he would react in situations.  I told him he was a sweet, fun kid, that loved to please others, was smart as anything, and very social.  He knew right from wrong, and would put up a fight if he needed to.  But he was naive and innocent and sheltered and a total Momma's boy.  He was lost, and needed to be found.  I heard his radio going off, with constant, "No one's seen anything?  At all?" and just locked eyes with him.  I will never forget that look.  It was then that I heard, "We got him!  We got him!" and turned and ran towards the voice calling.

Wayne ran to meet me, and the tears that had not yet come from either of us poured forth, soaking both of our faces and mixing as we hugged, and he snuggled back into his Mom's arms - wear he belongs.  As soon as he could talk, and by the time the Sheriff and a nice lady had caught up to us crying in a heap on the wet, cold grass, he told me, "I did just what you said.  I found the nicest looking Mommy and asked her for help."  Looking at the woman, Carol, I had to approve of his choice.  She was a heavier set version of my mom!  That woman was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.  She knelt over us, and confirmed that was just what she did.  She wrapped her coat around his chilly, bony body, and walked him up to the main office, where they ran into our coach.  He found her on field 7 of the massive soccer fields, and Wayne's game was on field 28 that day.  That had to be about 1/2 mile apart, and he had walked all that way in the freezing cold, without anyone noticing him, or concerned enough to get involved.  But she did.  And he was SAFE.  Very shaken, but safe.  He also told me he knew I told him to go somewhere if he got lost, but he couldn't remember where I had said.  When I asked if he was alone the whole time, the precious boy replied, for all to hear, "God was with me, but he wasn't talking and telling me where to go!"  The Sheriff and Wayne were at this point friends, and meandered over to check out his car and talk about what to do if he ever got lost again.  Wayne said he didn't think that would ever happen again, and thanked the officer for coming to get him and keep him safe, "Thanks for coming to get me!"  He told me that it can happen to anyone, that kids are fast and this place was huge.  

I wish I could say that I blamed myself, or that I would do something differently - but I wouldn't.  What I did that day I've done a hundred or more times as a mom.  It was just bad, bad timing.  Wayne went left when I went right.  And the rest is history.  There are so many lessons I take away from that day.  I'll try to sum them up:

1. I am grateful to God for protecting our son, when we could not.  The following verse (from The Message because it's easier to understand the point) is what kept running through my mind over and over, from Mathew 18:10. "Watch that you don't treat a single one of these childlike believers arrogantly. You realize, don't you, that their personal angels are constantly in touch with my Father in heaven?"  Wayne has a personal angel who is constantly in touch with God. I also kept running Jeremiah 29:11 through my mind, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  God knew what was happening, and allowed it.  I trusted Him.
2. People are amazing.The number of people that threw their schedules and family aside to run around a bunch of soccer fields and parking lots to search for a kid they didn't even know - may God bless them for their selfless one hundred times over, that is my prayer.
3. Staying calm is hard.  But I can do all things through Christ, and this was one of them.  God's word helped too, and I am thankful for a mind that I've been given that allows me to memorize easily....   From Hebrews: ⁶So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently and boldly say, The Lord is my Helper; I will not be seized with alarm [I will not fear or dread or be terrified].
4. No matter how paranoid I am, and how careful I am - I can't control everything.  I am not enough.  God is.
5. I need to not only tell the kids one time where our "meeting spot" is, but every time we got to a big place like that, even if we go there a lot.  
6. I need to work on teaching them my CELL PHONE and not just our home phone (although Wayne was so scared, he forgot that anyway.)
7. I don't think I'll ever take a hug from our kids for granted, ever again.

I just got back from tucking Wayne in for the night, and snuggling him in his bed.  We talked about "when he was a baby" and all the cute and funny things he did, and when it was time to pray I asked if he had a prayer request.  I was taken aback that after a week of not talking about what happened (he doesn't want to, please don't ask him) and after being interrupted from typing this blog post about it, although Wayne could have no idea what I was doing,  he said, "I'd like to thank God for loving me and being with me when I was lost.  I love him so much, and I know that he loves me." 

Well said, our sweet and precious boy, well said.

Happy Halloween!

We had a fab time on Halloween - although HECTIC!  After leaving Wayne's school party, we changed into his costume, then cruised to Lynden to meet up with Dad and the boys, and hit up Grammie's house, and Grandma Groen's, and McDonald's!  :-)  Oh yes, and Auntie's!  It was a lot of in and out and in and out of the car, but still a fun time.  We had quite the little crew.  Everyone was so sweet to Weston especially - he is on a no sugar and no dairy diet, and so pretty much everyone had things for him that he could eat.  Anything he couldn't have got traded for a giant sugar and dairy free chocolate bar at home.  After going from house to house to house, we went to Noah Night for the first time.  It was a nice time, and the boys enjoyed the games.  The big hit was the nose with the booger or a candy depending on which nostril.  They told us Weston was the first kid to stick his hands up both sides of the nose!  And Wyatt thought he had won the lottery when he got handed two candies after fishing for them.  Such a stinker he is these days.  We finally made it back home, just in time to have a few trick - or - treaters at our door, which the boys loved.  They each got a special treat from Mom and Dad too.  It was a fun night full of family!  

PS.  I think this might have been our last year going door to door - it's just too time consuming and exhausting for the crew! 

Wayne's Kindergarten Class Party

Wyane had his very first class party - and he was so excited!  I volunteered in the morning - helped out his teacher and then went to recess with Wayne.  He loved that!  He's got a couple of buddies, Kai and Brock, and the three of them are quite the little trio.  They are all such nice, sweet boys, and when they walked by the "recess ladies" they both told me what a SWEET boy Wayne was, and how much they enjoyed him.  Made this momma's heart soar!  

I cam back later, and it was PARTY time!  They had just gone back inside from afternoon recess, and Wayne was FILTHY (see the shoe picture, below.)  FILTHY!  Apparently, the 3 muskateers had decided to make snow angels in the pea gravel, and then take turns burying each other.  Eeek!!!  For their party they got to decorate their own cookies - then eat them!  It was fun meeting some of the other parents of his classmates, especially the "veterans" who had done this kindergarten thing a time or two.  Those are some wise women!  Good advice.  We wrapped up the day playing with the math cubes - building "Rock Monster's". 

Harvest Festival - Our first!

I can't even believe I'm retelling this event... but we went to a Harvest Festival, and not only survived, but HAD FUN!  Who knew that was possible?  2 years ago, I certainly did not!!!  Especially after the events of the day (more to come on that later) we had a lovely time.  The pumpkin bowling was a big hit.  So was the mini golf and trike racing.  And being dressed up!  The biggest surprise?  All of the little girls that kept walking by Wayne, and walking by Wayne, and walking by Wayne, to say, "Hi Wayne!'  "I like your costume Wayne!"  "Hi Wayne!"  What!?!?  Tyler and I just kept looking at each other with wide eyes.  At least we know he's being nice at school!