"The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep."

~Robert Frost







Monday, August 30, 2010

On bunkbeds and best friends...

The big news around here is the bunkbeds that Ashley and Hannah moved into about a week ago. We have had entire songs created and sweet bedtime prayers of thanks devoted to their new bunkbeds! Ashley sleeps on top, and is overwhelmed by her good fortune and how amazingly big she must be to be trusted up there. :-) (I never would have thought a not-quite-4-year-old could sleep on the top bunk, but she has a guard rail the whole length of the bed and is actually a motionless sleeper!)
Hannah seems perfectly delighted with her lower bunk, and I love how little children are so excited and thankful for the things they're given that they don't think to wish for more...it hasn't seemed to occur to Hannah that she might wish she could be on top.


They really, really love their bunkbeds. :-) And finally, Bethany has also graduated -- she is now a big girl and the very proud owner of a toddler bed. After almost four years, we no longer have a crib in our house!
The girls all share a bedroom now, and I love having them all together. It seems like perfection, tucking my precious girls in together at night, praying for them to have a sweet sleep in the same breath that I pray they will always be best friends and share their lives together. It is strange but wonderful to watch our children growing up like this!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Livin' the Life!

Here in smalltown USA, everybody smiles and waves, every stranger is assumed to be a friend, and nobody locks their doors. (The previous renter of our house told us, "We never locked a door the whole time we lived there, day or night!") There is no suspicion toward anyone, and no concern about being taken advantage of by your neighbors. It is completely foreign to my previous mindset and the way people act toward each other back home, but I like it, and I'm trying to embrace it. My new outlook was tested today, however, when my doorbell rang and I opened the door to a long-haired, creatively pierced teen with a spaced-out look on his face. "Assume the best!" I chided myself internally as I pasted on a questioning smile. "People are friendly here, he's not going to bite!"

Then he opened his mouth and it was all I could do not to burst out laughing. If you've seen the kids' movie "Finding Nemo", the best description I can give is that this guy was the human version of Crush, the sea turtle/surfer bum in the movie.

"Dude!" He greeted me happily. "So how're you doing and everything?"

He lounged to the side as he talked, feet and hands moving rhythymically to a beat that only he could hear. As I stared at him in amazement, he continued,

"Check this out, you get to help me out today! See, I'm in a program that'll send me to college, which is a totally sweet place to go, ya know? Like, if I just do the program, then I get a scholarship to go, and I mean dude! That's the best plan for the future, ya know? So did you go to college and everything?"

Biting the inside of my cheek to keep back my laughter, I informed him seriously that so far I've done more of the "everything" part of that question than the "college" part, as I'm only partway through my degree but I'm married with three little girls. Pure delight took over his face.

"Ahhh, dude, you're livin' the life! For real! I mean, that's why I need to go to college, just to live the life. So like, do you love it?"

Strangely comfortable and greatly enjoying the encounter, I told him how we'd just moved to town and that I do, indeed, love my incredibly beautiful life. With a big grin he put his fingers to his temple and closed his eyes.

"Check it out, I'm psychic! I've got it, I've got it, you're from...Washington! Am I totally right?!"

Smiling wryly as I glanced at my Washington license plate on the car a few feet away from him, I told him that his talent was astonishing, and then tried to direct him back to his purpose in coming.

"Right, so I totally just get to travel around the country this summer and have people buy these magazines and books and everything from me," from nowhere he produced a list of various magazines, "and when they do, I get points, and when I get points, I get to have my scholarship, and start livin' the life like you are!"

As I looked over the list I told him thanks, but I don't need any of these....

"Oh totally! Like, nobody needs them, but they just do it to help me out, ya know? Are you sure you won't buy one? What'll I do if I don't get any points? I'll feel, like, unloved and everything!"

The anxious words were belied by a happy grin, and somewhat reluctantly I stuck to my refusal to buy, and offered him an icy Mt. Dew instead.

"Oh dude!" He joyfully poppped it open and gulped down half the drink at once. "You are so totally awesome! I mean you really do know how to live the life!"

"Well," the rhythymic movement stopped for a moment and he stared at me earnestly, "this has been so awesome. It's just what life is all about, ya know? And so we'll always have this, and that keeps it real. For real."

With that profound statement he nodded at me, and then the odd swaying movements started up again as he turned and sauntered casually out of my yard and back down the street, heading out into his totally sweet future. Livin' the life.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

On Moving, and Many Other Things!

First off, the answer is no.

No, I don't have pictures of our new house to show you. None of the inside, of rooms being slowly cleared of boxes and beginning to look a little tiny bit cozy and welcoming. None of the outside, with a wilderness of flower boxes and landscape beds which I am giddy about finding the time to start playing with. Not even one little picture of the swingset in the backyard that prompted Hannah to exclaim on our second day here, "I just love this new park that we have!" Sorry, I have not one single picture to show you!

But I will next week. ;-) I have been hobbling through this week, to the best of my ability, with severely limited internet access. Currently I am (perhaps? not totally sure) online via an uncertain connection Lamont rigged up for me on his work computer. It is slow (which may be the understatement of the year) and extremely unreliable, so unfortunately there is no way I can use it to upload pictures of our fabulous new house. Actually, it remains to be seen whether I can even post a blog post sans pictures...we shall see.

Next Tuesday our internet should be hooked up, and I will not quite admit to counting the hours, but let's just say that there is a possibility I could be that lame! On the plus side, the somewhat crippling lack of online connection to the world that is not in St. Maries has given me lots of time to focus on turning this new house of ours into a home. It's getting there. :-) This house is way bigger than our old house, and the furniture is a bit sparse in places for now, which is fun because my imagination gets to run wild. I should mention that other than a bed, the guest bedroom is currently pretty empty. And the walls are bare. I don't really feel like sharing my limited pictures and decorations with a room we hardly enter. So if you come visit us (and please do), don't feel too unloved. I promise to get to it eventually!

Predictably, I have so much to say I could write for hours. There are more interesting things to tell about the beginning of our new life as Idaho residents, honestly. But they, like the spare room, will have to wait! It's one of those seasons of life when there are too many things needing to be done to allow for much sitting and prosing on the computer. Let's see if my sensitive little internet connection feels inclined to post this now....