Virginia Museum of Transportation

A while back, we were in Roanoke and had the chance to visit the Virginia Museum of Transportation. The best part of the visit was the huge collection of old trains outside--as well as the wedding taking place on an adjacent track. We were also enthralled by the phenomenal electric train exhibit that was inside the museum.

We all enjoyed the visit, but Nathan particularly was in heaven.

Disposal Repair

Instructions On Garbage Disposal Repair

--Or--

What To Do When Your Husband Is Gone for the Summer and You Have Seven Kids in Your Care and the Garbage Disposal Doesn't Work

(Yes, that's right--seven kids. That includes my five, plus my niece and nephew, who were staying here for the week. It's been a zoo.)

Step One: Flip the on/off switch a few times.

Step Two: Push the little red reset button at the bottom of the disposal three or four times.

Step Three: Try not to swear.

Step Four: Google "garbage disposal repair" and read four articles on the topic. Determine that it's an easy fix, and you can do it yourself.

Step Five: Go check the circuit breaker.

Step Six: Dig in husband's tool drawers to find the allen wrench in order to start the de-jamming process.

Step Seven: Pause in awe of yourself for knowing what an allen wrench looks like.

Step Eight: Try to figure out how to unplug the disposal before beginning repair process.

Step Nine: Get really frustrated with how simple this should be and how dumb you feel.

Step Ten: Get out broom from the pantry.

Step Eleven: Ram broom handle down the disposal and jerk it around inside for a few angry moments.

Step Twelve: Flip the switch again.

Step Thirteen: Listen to the delightful sound of a garbage disposal properly grinding up its conents.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow Brian will start his tenth year of medical training. (Four years of medical school + five years of residency completed.)

I just don't know what to say.

Can I believe it? Yes.

Has it gone fast? No.

Has it been slow, then? No, not slow either.

It's just...there. Still. We're still in the thick of it.

There is so much to say about it all, and yet, so little to say, too.

I'll leave it at this:

It's been quite the experience, and so much of the past decade of our life has been defined by it. We're plumb worn out, but we're still truckin'. On we go.

The Miracle of the Lovey

Isaac has a soft green lovey.

Isaac's soft green lovey is a necessity in his little world and is carried around by him for much of the day.

Isaac's soft green lovey is the only thing that will make him go to sleep and is one of the only things that makes him quiet when crying.

When Isaac holds his soft green lovey, his left thumb automatically goes into his mouth, and his world is right, and good, and calm.

When Isaac does not have his soft green lovey, and if he wants it, he will search for it until he finds it.

Anyone who knows little Isaac knows that he is attached, in a big way, to his soft green lovey.

There are no substitutes for it. We've tried substitutes--including Madeline's identical soft pink lovey. All substitutes have failed.

Two days, ago, when the kids and I went to Kings' Dominion with some friends, we took along soft green lovey. I stowed it in the basket of the stroller and gave it to him only when he was tired, hoping he would fall asleep in the stroller and that, after he fell asleep, I could carefully put it back in the basket for safekeeping.

After all, Isaac's soft green lovey spent a six days in the stroller in Southern California and never got lost.

So at Kings' Dominion, I gave lovey to him when he started to get cranky, and he immediately calmed down--the thumb going in the mouth, as always--and I thought he might drift off to sleep.

We walked around for a while and ended up in the waterpark.

I looked down at Isaac, who was still awake, sitting up tall, and looking quite perky.

No soft green lovey.

My stomach absolutely dropped out from under me.

I don't know that I can convey the panic I felt.

I grabbed Emma by the hand, told the other kids to stay with our friends, and Emma and I--along with Joshua, our friend's teenage son--took off through the park on a panic-stricken search. I talked to employees. I looked at every trash can, every bench, every bush. It was a huge amusement park, with a gazillion people, and we had covered a lot of territory.

I prayed. Over and over, I prayed. "Heavenly Father, please, please, please help me find this lovey. Please please please pretty please."

Emma started to cry. Actually, she started to sob. "Isaac's lovey is ggggoooonnnnne!"

I fought some tears myself.

After we had retraced our steps several times, we trudged dejectedly back to meet the group.

Emma was still sobbing.

I wanted to go home.

My dear friend Cindy, understanding the seriousness of Isaac's need for his soft green lovey, decided she was going to go look for it.

She didn't know the path we had been walking through the park during the time lovey was lost. She hadn't been with us during that time. She didn't know how extensively I had searched.

I absolutely knew she wouldn't find it.

I sat there on the bench, watching the kids splash in the pool, wondering how long it would take for Isaac to attach himself to a new lovey, and wondering how much misery we would have to endure in the interim.

After about five minutes, Joshua, who was sitting next to me, said quietly, "Looks like Mom found it."

I jolted upright and looked. There was Cindy, leaping through the air, holding soft green lovey outstretched in her hand.

I literally jumped for joy. I ran to her, giddy with delight, and she was pretty giddy herself. I gave her a huge hug and kiss on the cheek for finding my little boy's essential lovey.

I truly couldn't believe it. Two days later, I still can't believe it, and I get goosebumps when I think about it.

She had prayed, as I had prayed, for help to find lovey, but when she changed her prayer to "help me SEE lovey," she turned around, and there it was.

There it was.

Before she came back to us, she had taken a picture with her camera.

She had known she would find lovey, even as I had known she wouldn't, and as she left on her search, she quietly took her camera to capture the moment it would be discovered.

Cindy has incredible faith. I have seen that faith in action over the last few years, and I have witnessed miracles in her life that I never thought could occur. True, literal miracles.

She has a direct line to heaven, and her prayers are heard.

And more importantly, our Father is aware of even the smallest of things--such as the happiness of one little toddler boy (and the sanity of his mother!).

Perhaps some might say this is a trivial experience. Or just good luck. Or both.

But I know it's not, and for that I am grateful.

Cuteness

My little Isaac spends at least ten minutes each day attempting to put on his shoes.

End-of-School Events

The last few days of school came and went, and with them were the typical end-of-school celebrations.

Field trips.

Field day.

Lunches with parents.

Presentations, poems, stories, and awards.

Musicals, certificates, endless papers in the backpack, and report cards.

I asked Emma several times why she even had a "last week of school." Can't it just be skippped? What's the point of it, anyway, when no work is done, no homework is given, and no tests are taken? Seriously, let's just cut straight to the chase and do away with the "last week of school" idea.

She just rolled her eyes at me.

And then there were the reading lists for summer. On the last day of school, Emma had been home for precisely thirty-four minutes when she approached me with her summer reading log for fourth grade and asked me questions about how I thought it would be best to complete it.

I encouraged her to take a break, at least for a few hours.

Clara finished off the year in great form.

Emma ended with a splash by playing the xylophone at a third-grade last-day-of-school musical program, called Zono the Rabbit. The musical program (with dancers, drums, xylophones, and lyrics included) was entirely written and composed by the third-graders themselves. I was amazed. I love our little elementary school.

A few days later, Clara bridged from Daisies...

...to Brownies...

...and was oh-so happy about the event.

We are now in our second week of summer vacation, and so far, so good.

A Girl After My Own Heart

Madeline and I feel the exact same way after a good lunch.

The Bike

Nathan got his birthday present a bit early this year.

He got out his tools to help Daddy put it together...

...and then he took his first spin down the street on his new bike.

Nathan had some trouble understanding the concept of continuous pedaling, so his ever-creative Dad figured out a solution...

...and Isaac watched in fascination, cheering him on.

Hideout

These days, when they're not playing in trash cans or toilet water (I know--gross!), my twins can be found hiding out in their new favorite spot:

Nathan's car bed.

It's like their own little tent, the perfect size for two sweet little people.