Lent: Our Families Overview

We shared this in church on Sunday as part of our Corinthian worship service. Its an overview of how our family is observing lent this year.

*special thanks to Indelible Grace for the song, "Out of my bondage/Jesus I Come"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWy--nZgJgI

(its not loading properly, so try the youtube channel instead)

The (embarrassing) things they say

Oh Joel! Oh Joel!

"Sometimes I have boogies inside my nose. And sometimes I have boogies on the outside of my nose. Sometimes I use a tutu (tissue) to get them out. Sometimes I use my finger."

Gross buddy. Gross. But utterly honest.

The "Last" Curse Continues...

2 for 2. Yep, the odds are in our favour. Or rather the dentist's favour. I'm pretty sure if we have another child, their first visit to the dentist will also be for an emergency visit, not a checkup.

 

Joel had his first visit around two years of age. His poor tooth was pushed backwards after a fall. And his second visit about six months later for the same reason.

 

Every one of my brothers kids have also chipped a tooth, or pushed one backwards. We call it the "Last curse."  Just take a peek at their coffee table. There are three separate corners with three separate indents, one from each of their kids.

Micah on the other hand, decided to one-up his brother and his cousins. It was a big spectacle. He had climbed off the couch and onto a side table. The table tipped and Micah ended up tooth first into the fireplace. I rescued him and the half turned table. I picked him up and immediately the blood started to pour. Dan and I frantically looked for the source. It was then I caught a glimpse of our fate. There was no tooth.

 

I immediately got on the phone with the dentist (which after two "busy" signals and a frantic prayer, I finally got through) to get an appointment. They told me to come on over and they'd take a peek.

 

Nothing. That is what they could do....unless we had the tooth. We searched the floor before we left, but we assume that he swallowed it. (He had gagged when we picked him up).

 

So now Micah has a new look, similar to that of a hockey player. He will sport his look until his permanent tooth makes its appearance (in 3-4 years!!!) 

 

Until then, he'll be singing, All I want for Christmas is My Missing Front Tooth!

 

Those little things

Sometimes its the small everyday memories that I want to remember. The little games the boys play, or the things that they say to one another.

This week, I was reminded of one "games" they play. Joel always starts it, but Micah enjoys it too.
Joel turns to Micah and says, "I say bun, you say butt. BUN!" Inevitability, Micah will respond, "Butt." (emphasis on the T).
(Side note: This game started because butt happens to be one of the words that Micah can say. There aren't many more, although that is changing daily. Joel came up with this all on his own.)


Another thing that they boys do is go and see the lions. Literally, Joel will take Micah by the hand and tell him, "Let's go see the lions." And they'll walk off hand in hand. Usually they get distracted by a toy along they way and they never make it to the lions. But I love the way Joel takes care of Micah and includes him in his games.

Sweet, sweet moments

Reading together on a rainy Saturday afternoon

Post nap time snuggles with mom

Blue Heron

Sometime last week, Joel picked up this stick while we were on a walk. I thought nothing of it.

 But sometime later that week, I began to notice that this stick was coming along with us everywhere.  When I asked about it, he told me that his stick was a blue Heron. He would dip the tip in a puddle explaining that it was drinking. Or in a bush and explain that it was eating. Or drag it along the grass and tell me that it was playing or eating bugs. This blue Heron is left in the garden to sleep while we are in the house and is immediately picked up when we go outside. Joel loves his blue Heron. I must admit, I'm becoming rather attached to it as well.  Its neat to see Joel's caring personality taking care of his blue Heron. Its kind of like having pet, except without the mess!

Puddle Jumping

The other night, we got a large dumping of rain. After being cooped up in the house all day long, the boys needed to get out. So, the entire family headed out to jump in puddles. The boys loved it....unless Dan or I jumped and got rain water in Joel's face....or Joel fell in the puddle...but other than that, they had a great time.

Micah loved it so much that its all over his face!

Literally.

 Muddy puddle water splashed all over his face.

And some "washed" off his face before this picture. He threw an epic tantrum because he didn't want to come inside and get ready for bed. Tears washed away part of the dirt.

Oh well!

It was worth every minute of it.

Nope.....

....no poopies!

 

Glad I got a little helper to assist in sniffing out the stenchies.

Not so glad when he walks up behind me, stretches out my waistband, takes a big sniff and says the same thing. "Nope, no poopies! Good job for staying dry mommy!"

 

Oh, the things kids say!

Shrove Tuesday and the much anticipated Lent

One of the downsides of having such a hard year last year, was that we were just trying to survive. There wasn't much time for looking outside of our own family and looking at the needs of others. We didn't have many 'large dinners' for major holidays (or perhaps we did...I literally cannot remember). We addressed many 'in your face' needs (eg. meals for new moms), but lacked in spontaneous giving. And we have noticed. We feel the desire rising up in our souls to give. Give more. Give because we can. Give because we want to. We have felt the desire to invite others over for dinner. To bring cookies to friends. To surprise people with some of the "desires of their hearts." To watch our friends kids, so couples can go out on a date. We feel like we are ready to look outside of our own family and look to the needs of others. Its such an empowering time.

So, today, on Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Tuesday/Lent-eve, we are inviting a few select people over for a pancake dinner. We are excited to start our 'giving' journey with a meal. But aside from this desire to be hospitable again, we are excited for Lent.

Last year for Lent, I decided to "give" every single day. Whether it was a card or a meal, cookies or a night out, I wanted to give. Except, I made it about 10 days before LIFE happened. Micah cut open his finger, stitches, antibiotics, no sleep. Giving, gave way for life. Luckily, there is grace. And I accepted that with two little boys, and an unexpected injury and no sleep, that giving every day for Lent was not meant to be.

But this year. Oh this year, I am excited! The boys are older. I'm amazed at what I can accomplish on little sleep. So this year, instead of giving something up, or even giving every day, we are doing 40 days of Lent activities. I will be gracious with myself, since LIFE happens. But the goal is to do an activity with the boys every weekday.  Instead of sacrificing something for Lent, we are adding to our lives.

The boys loved the Advent activities leading up to Christmas. I realized that the busyness of life got in the way during that time, yet candlelit dinners and reading books often made up for my laziness/tiredness/busyness. But I also know that Lent is much calmer time of year. There aren't many pressing "Easter" activities to clog up my schedule.

So, we will proceed. Forge ahead with activities. Things that will hopefully bring us closer as a family, and force us to look outside of ourselves and see the needs of others. My desire is for the boys to learn the Easter story, learn to pray for others, and have fun doing Easter crafts and activities.

I have set up the Passion week timeline on a wall in our house. I wanted a visual representation of the Easter story, so the boys could "see" what happened.  Since they cannot read yet, its hard to just write down the story. So there are words and pictures as a reminder to me and Dan about all the details of what happened.

We hung a large cross in the center. Our plan, and the activity that I am most excited about (and Joel too), is that we will pull a name out of a jar EVERY day until Easter (that's 47 names, since we included Sundays) and pray for that person/family or place. We will then write their name on a flower that I have cut out of construction paper and place it on the cross.  I am excited to see the cross "beautify" as time goes on.

 

I am excited to do some Easter/Lent related activities. Simple things, like colouring Easter pictures. To do crafts, like making palm branches. Going through the Easter story with the Resurrection eggs and adding to the chaos with follow-up activities. And to do more difficult things like making paska or baking and decorating cookies to give away to neighbours.

 

Lent and Easter is my favorite time of year. I love the anticipation of what is coming. The sorrow of Good Friday and the grace it brings. The joy of Easter morning and the empty tomb. I love that there is less chaos and consumerism around this time of year. I love that there are DAYS worth of celebration.  I love that this time of year is about Christ, and Christ alone.

 

So, today I look forward to tomorrow and the beginning of Lent. I look forward to 40 days of activities. To 47 days of praying for our family and friends. To six weeks of giving and grace.

Micah's Big Boy Bed

Alternate Title: My love/hate relationship with Ikea

OR

Why does Ikea furniture always take a minimum of 3 hours to put together?

On Family Day, we decided that today would be the day to move Micah out of his crib and into his own big boy bed. We headed to Ikea for a mattress, since we already had his bed flat packed and stored under Joel's bed. (Its a bunk bed that can be separated into two twin beds).

Once we got home, we put the bed together. What a mess! But FIVE hours later, we finally had both boy's beds together. (Putting together Micah's bed meant taking apart some of Joel's and reassembling it with a new taller headboard).  We scrambled around and rearranged Micah's room to fit his new bed and promptly put Micah in it to go to sleep. He was a bit startled, but once we explained where all his favorite items were, he settled down and fell asleep.

We haven't had a problem with the transition (yet), and Micah stays in his bed all night long.  I'm sure we will have problems in the future, but Micah is pretty laid back about most things, so hopefully it'll stay that way. He loves his new bed!