Calvin's theory

My Calvin Jack is a peanut. A little hobbit, if you will.

And he is keenly aware of this fact, though we never point it out to him.

You should have seen the look on his face when he realized younger brother Ollie had caught up to him in height. "Oh NO!", Calvin cried in dismay. "Ollie is as tall as I am!"

While we were driving in the van the other day, Calvin gave an explanation of his short stature:

"I must be getting old...like Yoda...I'm shrinking. That's why I am so little."

I about choked when I heard his shrinking theory.

Take heart dear boy. You have plenty of time to grow. With your 5' 9" father and 5' 2 3/4" mother, you will soon tower over them all.

(Just in case you are wondering, YES, every quarter inch counts round here. With that extra 3/4" on my frame, I pack a formidable figure).

Calvin, you have more steel and courage packed into that body than I ever thought possible!

Ok, just one more Stars Wars picture for now.

I found this drawn on the back of Finn's school work.

It's from Episode II, where Count Dooku defeats Obi-wan and Anakin, leaving them in a bloody heap on the floor. Meanwhile, Yoda fights back and they duke it out by shooting blue lightening from their fingers.

Just a nice little picture to sweeten your dreams.

Night night!

Did wild boars steal her cookies? Read on to find out.

We tried delivering our white tin of cookies to Kamala(actually starts with a K, not C) one more time.

No one answered the door that night.

So we left it on her door step.

The next morning I drive by and notice the white tin is still sitting on her door step.

Sigh.

That afternoon as I go to pick up Finn, I notice a peculiar thing...the tin is gone!

Can it be?

"Boys! The tin is gone! Either Kamala got the cookies or it was taken by wild boars!" I exclaim.

The rest of the day I send up a prayer for Kamala whenever I think about it.

Yesterday. Lovely Saturday.

We are all at home when we hear:

"Knock! Knock!" at the door.

Finn says, "It's probably Ty or Libby."

I peek through the window and see a dog's tail.

Huh?

Can it be?

I quickly open the door.

Lo and behold.

There she is! With her dog!

Kamala!

Where have you been all my life, doll?!

She came by to thank us for the cookies.

So much for my wild boar theory.

At first I ramble a bit,

"Feel free to borrow an egg any time!"

and

"If you need help fixing anything John has lots of tools!"

and

"If you want to go on a walk some time, let me know!"

Then we chat about life...her job...sewing...the church she goes to...I guess you need to get to know someone so you can get your facts straight, eh?

She asks, "Did you guys knock on my door the other night?"

"Yah, a few times", I reply.

"Oh", she says. "Sorry...I don't open my door at night because I don't have a peep hole. I need to get a door camera."

"No problem", I assure her! "I totally understand! I never open the door at night unless John is home."

She leaves, and I am on cloud 9. Turns out my neighbor is really nice!

An hour later and I hear another knock.

Kamala again!

She asks if I will meet her sister this coming wednesday. Her sister is a stay-at-home-mom to a 2 year old girl and would love to go on a walk with me. Can I meet her this wednesday?

Um, YES! Wow! I jot down kamala's number and we say goodbye.

I close the door, bewildered. I thank the Lord for answering my prayers above and beyond my expectations.

Here I was thinking we'd never make contact and 2 days later we are setting up play dates.

Later that night as we are getting dinner ready, my phone rings.

"Hi Davi, it's Kamala, I just made some red velvet cupcakes, will you guys eat them?", she asks.

"Um, YES!", I exclaim.

"I will be right over" she says as she hangs up the phone.

It's raining.

And Kamala comes over in the rain, to bring us 6 cupcakes.

Bless her heart.

Her gesture is so incredibly sweet and just melts my heart.

Turns out this whole neighbor think can be pretty sweet.

Not once. not twice. But THREE TIMES I got to see Kamala that day.

I am still on cloud 9.

It's a funny thing--waiting on the Lord.

When I finally stopped trying with my own power to make contact, HE opened the flood gates and rained down his blessings abundantly.

All I had to do was hang onto my little mustard seed of faith. It was probably not even a half a mustard seed at that, but God was still faithful.

I just wanted to tell you what happened, so I could give God all the glory, credit and praise for working it out.

love your neighbor xxoo

At church a few Sundays ago, Pastor Eric challenged us {big time} to love our neighbor.

{little conversation going in my head during the sermon}

Me: Sure! I love my neighbor!! And by neighbor, I mean anyone I come into contact with.

Pastor Eric: Today I'm talking about loving your actual neighbor...Like the person that lives right next door.

Me: sad little trumpet sound effect wah-wah-wah.

The neighbors to my right are easy-as-pie to love. They are always outside and very easy to talk to. He's a pastor. His wife is amazing. They have 5 kids. Their 4-year-old could be my 5th son, he gets along so well with Finn and Calvin.

But the neighbor to my left? Have we done a good job loving her?

That's when I started to squirm in my seat that Sunday during the sermon.

Miss Camela. She is practically a stranger to us. We barely know her.

She is very independent and professional. She kind of intimidates me.

It always seems harder to share my faith with certain people--the ones who seem to have it all together. Life is peachy as is. It seems easier to share with the downtrodden.

But that is the wrong attitude.

EVERYONE needs God.

Who am I to decide who gets the Lord?

I knew Valentine's Day was quickly approaching. Love Day. This would be the PERFECT excuse to show our neighbor some Love. The boys could help me make some cookies and could deliver it to her.

Who could refuse a valentine from 4 mini suitors?

I googled Valentine cookies and found stain glass heart cookies. Perfectly festive.

The boys had a hay day unwrapping all the lifesavers--they were for the stain glass part of the cookies.

Finn went right to town crushing the life-savers to bits and pieces.
Anyone find Finn's shirt a tad ironic here?

Cutting out circles from sugar cookie dough.

Boy I forget how much work sugar cookies are. The flour! The sticky mess! The amount of time, oh my!

Little heart shaped cookie cutters. Hard to find the day before Valentine's Day.

Use the little heart cookie cutter to cut a heart-shaped window in the middle of the cookie.

Now the fun part! Pour crushed red life-savers into windows.

Ok, hard lesson to learn, but it works MUCH better when you use larger cookies and the medium size heart cookie cutter.

And presto! (and by presto we mean 4 hours later...)

Next step: hand made tags. Oh Cricut, how I love thee.

All made under the watchful eye of a certain Oolie Boolie.

We placed the cookies in a pretty white tin for Miss Camela.

The remaining cookies were to be dispersed to the rest of our fun-loving neighbors.

And while we are at it, here is what they boys got me for Valentine's Day.

I used to protest flowers. But John wants the boys to see daddy giving mommy flowers and so I now think it's sweet. The boys get excited. They think all girls love flowers. HAHA.




I rounded up my mini men to go deliver the special tin to Miss Camela. We marched over there. I was a smidge nervous.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

{{Pause}}

Ring Door bell.

{{Pause}}

Knock! Knock! Knock!

How could Camela resist this rag-tag disheveled bunch? Apparently she can folks, she can.

Ring Door bell.

{{Pause}}

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Waiting patiently with our kitties.

No answer:(

I think we tried to deliver cookies to Miss Camela twice on actual Valentines Day...

Two times the next day....

And three times today...

Thus far, that makes 7 times total.

To no avail.

Although I am feeling a little discouraged that we will ever make contact with our neighbor, I find comfort in the fact that God has this all under control.

Yesterday I read the passage in Matthew where the disciples were not able to cast out a demon, but Jesus could. When they questioned Jesus why they were unable to cast out the demon, he told them they lacked faith.

"...I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you" Matthew 17: 20

So though from a human perspective befriending Camela seems like Mission Impossible, with God and our little mustard seed of faith, anything is possible. It's all in his timing.

So in the meanwhile, we wait. We do our part and try, but ultimately it's in God's hands.

dump trucks and ruffles.

I happened upon this little scene the other day and for some reason, it just made me smile.

Such a juxtaposition.

The boys' dump truck with my ruffle curtains.

Living harmoniously together.

Just like me and my boys.

I love it.

Always grooming her chimps.

Golly I fuss over their hair all the time. Why??? Do you do that to your sons? I should probably stop, LOL.

So happy together, we are. My mini Valentines.

On a side note: Finn and Calvin like to hook their light sabers into the side of their pants for safe keeping.

It's hard for a Jedi to look tough against white ruffle curtains, but they do their best to overcome these cumbersome obstacles. I figure, one day their future wives will thank me for breaking them in.

i have a dream

Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. at school...

Oh Finny!

I can only imagine the look on his teacher's face when she saw Finn's grandiose dream. Though I am sure she is quite accustomed to the Star Wars frenzy with boys these days.

Lately Finn has been playing "Star Wars" at recess with his friends. Whatever that entails. Pretend light saber duels???

He used to only play soccer and football at recess. Here's how it went: whenever one team starts to lose, the boys on the losing team gradually defect over to the winning team until there is only 1 or 2 players left on the losing team. If it weren't so dishonest, I would find it very clever. It totally upsets Finn. He thinks they are such cheaters.

"Why do you continue to play with them?" I ask. Find some nice friends who do not cheat.

And so I am thankful Finn has found some nice little Star Wars friends to play with.

Finn recently made a "Baby's First Alphabet" book, Star Wars version, o'course. Here is a representative sampling of this educational little ditty.

Teach your child the entire alphabet, Star Wars style! Peruse through his collection, A-Z.

However, I do think Finn and Calvin have gone a bit overboard with Star Wars these days.

The other night at dinner, I was quizzing them about the bible story I read with them earlier that day. Their response was composed of rather unenthusiastic mumbles.

"We are failing them as parents!" I wailed to John. "They can quickly ramble off the most obscure Star Wars facts."

He agreed. "No Star Wars movies for a week!", he decreed.

Which is a start but not a solution to their problem. When I read the book Idols of the Heart, I remember discussing idolatry with my older sister Jessica. She said that she talks about it with her girls all the time. Her girls are able to point out idols in their own hearts and lives. I was impressed.

So, the boys and I have been talking a lot of idols. How Star Wars can be an idol to them when it's more important to them than learning about God.

We talk about how it's an idol when it's ALL they can talk and think about.

We discuss how the force is not real but how God's power IS real.

And we certainly discuss how God is WAY more powerful than Darth Vader and Darth Maul.

And I don't think there is anything wrong with my boys enjoying Star Wars, so long as it's put into proper perspective.