A couple days ago, I got home from about 5 days of meetings at a camp 45 minutes outside of town.  When I got home, the idea of “daddy” was once again a novelty, and I got to play dolls, push little girls on swings and everything else I had been missing for the previous days.  Then, at bath time, Noelle came tearing down the hall, naked as could be, yelling “papai, papai” (Daddy, Daddy).  After Marla took her back into the bathroom, I followed her.  When she saw me again, she jumped from Marla’s arms into mine.  Then she put her arms around my neck and squeezed for a long time saying quietly “papai, papai, papai.”

Then on Sunday, after church was over, Marla and I went to pick up the girls from their Sunday school class.  As their class is in an old converted house, we could look in the room from one window, and see what was going on.  Posted at the other window like a sentinel was Samara waiting to catch the first glimpse of us as we rounded the corner.  I could see that clutched in her hands were the two gram crackers that she had been given.  She had broken each cracker in two separate pieces, so that she clutched four equal sized crackers in her hand.  As we picked her up, she carefully distributed one cracker to daddy, one cracker to mommy, one cracker to Noelle and one cracker for herself.  Her teacher later told us that she had been saving those crackers during the whole class… just so that she could share with us.

How I wish a picture could fully capture such moments

Lately Samara has discovered a new phrase which she uses any time that she can.  That phrase “no way Jose.”  We’ve been trying to teach he portuguese, and some how she’s come up with Jose?  I don’t know.

Two prayer requests today.  The first is for Noelle to get better.  We just took her to the doctor yesterday after she had a pretty high fever.  The doctor took one look down her throat and nearly jumped when she saw how bad her strep throat was.  She’d on antibiotics now, and should be feeling better soon.

The second prayer request is for Samara.  I was in her bedroom talking with her the other night.  And she explained that she was keeping all the ants that would crawl up her wall at night beside her bed.  “They are my friends” she said.  “I don’t have any other friends besides the ants and my sister.”  The way she said it was so matter-of-fact that it made me laugh.  But at the same time it was kind of sad too.  So if you all could pray that she’d make a little friend, that’d be great!

Wake up to sunshine

Two hours to…

Feed girls

Pack lunches

Gather snacks

Scrounge warm layers

Fill thermos with hot chocolate

Find sleds

Hit the road

Two hours to…

Drive up to Mt Hood’

Pile on the layers

Hike to the hill

One glorious hour of…

Sled rides

Throwing snowballs

Watching spectacular crashes

Enjoying the beauty of the day

Before…

Samara was “fwozen”

Noelle was bleeding (and screaming) from a rogue sled accident

Samara had to go potty

Noelle was hungry

So…

We hauled everyone back to the car

Strapped crying kids into seatbelts

Filled sippy cups with diluted hot chocolate

Rubbed cold toes and hands

Handed out blankies and

Sighed as tuckered out little girls fell into sweet sleep

Two hours…

To drive home

One hour…

To clean up and put everything away

Memories…

That will last forever

I love this stuff

But it didn’t leave, it didn’t go, it just sat in front of me
A lump of goo gone cold made of rice and broccoli.
On my fork, here it came my Daddy’s special “yes bite”
There was nothing left to do but dig in for a long fight.

I reasoned, I explained, I turned my head, I cried
But nothing seemed to change, no matter how hard I tried
“Green eggs and Ham” is what they said trying to get me to open wide
“Sam I am” is what they called me trying to break my pride

They all left, the table cleared, and I sat there by myself
I stared at the goo, and it at me as they started watching “Elf”
Then finally at long last we had a big break through
Mommy said that I could go, if for breakfast I’d eat this goo

Free at last, free at last, my excitement made me spin
I grabbed my dolls, I grabbed my books and finding a chair jumped in
The next morning as the light peeked in, I came up with a plan
I’d tell Mom lunch was better for eating goo that came from a pan

But she didn’t budge, she didn’t buy it, I wasn’t off the hook
The goo was on my breakfast plate and I really couldn’t look
My eyes got red, they filled with tears, I tried to plead my case
Soon the room was empty and my future I glumly faced

How much longer could this go on? It’s time this came to an end
Maybe if I cry loud enough, they’ll give up, they’ll cave in and I’ll win
Three hours later, it’s 11’oclock and I still haven’t taken one bite
I’ve cried, I’ve reasoned, I’ve negotiated and I’m tired of this fight

Then in one last try my Daddy comes walking in
He reaches in the cupboard, and I begin to grin
In his hand is maple syrup, sugary, thick and golden brown
As he gets to my plate, a few delicious drops he puts down

The fork, the goo, and the plate too was covered with sugar so sticky
With tastes so strong, I couldn’t be wrong, it really wasn’t that icky
So remember all you people; grandmas and grandpas, moms and dads
Maple syrup is my secret for anything that might taste bad!

finding the perfect tree

Mommy's helper

decorating fun

bath buddies