Slogging forward and the 'laundry hanging super hero'

Okay, so I have been reminded a number of times now that I must get my butt in gear and offer up a post. So here we go...though be prepared for a smattering of random thoughts alongside the run down of moments in our life over here.

First off, I made it through the worst week for homesickness, known to some of you as 'Ryerson Family Camp'. For those who don't know, Family camp was a dream in my heart (and the heart of a few others) for a number of years before it became a test week back in 2005. I have loved Ryerson since I first drove up the driveway as part of LDC back in 1994. There is something about the freshness of the site, the soft sand between your toes (I mean under your rule abiding shoes on your feet), the sunrise from vesper point, rewarding the effort for morning quiet time, the old cabins that have been increasingly acquiring a freshness from the hard work of many, the dining hall, that has this wonderful space to dance and twirl and have laughter echo off the walls. I miss the sound of the leaves as the wind comes off the lake and the beauty of the bush as you hike through it (sticking to the path to avoid the altogether too familiar poison ivy). I miss walking by the volleyball court, the basketball court, the ropes course, the bouldering room and the archery range--all that are brilliant reminders of God's good gifts to the camp through people who have invested in that place. And that is to just name a few. I know there are new places this year that I haven't seen yet. That feels a little funny. Can you feel the longing? And that is before I think about the incredible people who I know were at Family Camp. I miss watching my kids run around the site, making new little buddies, trying new things, and most importantly tasting the goodness of the kingdom of God as they worship in song, learning and playing. I have loved the pictures and stories from the week and look forward to hearing more. But my heart ached through that week, praying and longing for my dear friends. And it continues to celebrate the many folks involved with the camp as they are poured out throughout this summer and into the fall.

It has also hit crunch time for us, and we are praying like crazy for things to come together financially for us. We have decided to try and rent out the house, and one of our cars still needs to sell, so that we can be relieved of paying 2 sets of bills. On the upside, there is a very good chance that I will be starting as the 'Family, Children's and Youth Pator' at Aitkenvale Uniting Church. It has gone through the elders and now will go through Council on Monday. It is a challenge for me to figure out quite how to feel about this blessing. First off, and most obvious is that I am thankful. But more than that I am overwhelmed. The church wasn't looking for a second staff, but as I got to know them and they got to know me, a bunch of people stepped forward to sponsor a position hand made for me. I have never been more aware of just how directly church staffs salaries are paid by the offerings of the community. I am humbled and thankful and just a little intimidated as I now hope to live up to this opportunity. I am very excited to be working alongside the minister who is already there--he and his wife are both fantastic and have already been a huge support and blessing to us, and I am encouraged to finally have a church home for all of us. The piece that is really exciting for me, is that after years and years of children and youth ministry, this will be the first time my kids are part of the focus of my ministry, though Family Camp was a step in this direction. So part of my job on Sunday mornings will be to minister to my kids! Thankfully, they are pretty excited about this! So, lots of pieces still need to come together, because I can only work 20 hrs a week on my visa, and that won't quite cover the bills even if we do manage to shake off the expenses back home. So we continue to pray, but are hugely thankful for this part coming together.

My oldest turns 6 on the 19th. This has obviously come all too fast as I remember well the three days of labour and then finally holding my first born with joy and absolute and utter exhaustion. It doesn't seem that long ago, and yet here we are, 6 already. And,just as his sister was determined to walk by her birthday, so has my oldest finally mastered bike riding just this week. After much pleading for us to get him training wheels, we finally convinced him he could do it on his own--and so he has! Now I just have to try and figure out how to keep up with him as I push the other two in the stroller. Today he joined me for my run on his bike though, and that might be a good fit for a while at least, and has the added bonus of giving him some much needed one on one time in the midst of some fairly demanding younger siblings. So I am approaching this special day with nevousness. I want him to know how wonderful he is and to feel blessed, but what he wants most is to have lots of kids around to play with. And I'm running short on those. I am ever so thankful for the few families we have pulled together who will be joining us. I am also feeling stretched to come up with ways to honour my precious one in the midst of extremely tight finances. The blessing in this is that it is pushing me to stand by my belief that blessing him shouldn't be dependant on material things. I do wrestle with trying to make up for tough parts of this international move for him. So that's my oldest, learning to read, write and ride a bike are all exciting steps he is taking, as well as taking responsability for preparing one meal a week (with help). He is a joy every day.

My second born continues to grow in his creativity as I am invited into the world of superheroes, animal rescues and babies often. One of my favourite moments this week was when Spiderman asked me if I could help him find his baby because he was lost. Well who could resist helping a distraught Spiderman? So I asked where baby Spiderman might be? 'At the toy store' he replied with a cry. Clever little boy! He has been insisting that he needs a 'baby' spiderman action figure for awhile, but I was truly amused by this new tactic. Along the super hero theme, my son was bouncing on the trampoline articulating his imaginary world as he jumped. He described how he was fending off attackers using the 'kangaroo defence', which entails throwing kangaroos at his attackers...okay, so it isn't realism! Then he kindly asked if I wanted to pretend superheroes when I was done hanging the laundry that I was busy with. Then he said, 'My super power is super strong. Your super power is hanging laundry'. It made my day! As I struggle to stick to my environmentalist guns and gut it out hanging laudry to dry-a task that means I spend 1-2 hrs a day dealing with laundry and cloth diapers once all the steps are put together--it was a change of perspective to think of this as a super power. This week I am heading into a Bible study on the environment as I continue a 'Just Faith' series with a small group from church, and I delight in the notion of our little acts of faithfulness qualifying us to be superheroes. Even better that my 3 year old saw it this way.

And my youngest, well, she is taking the world by storm. She is independent (most of the time, right now she is screaming at me), and loud. I am baffled where she might get these traits from :) She has learned how to climb onto the coffee table and loves to run/dance back and forth while yelling, blowing raspberries and laughing maniacally. She is also willingly enlisted for mischief as she joined her brother in opening, spilling and consuming a considerable portion of brown sugar. When I found them, she stood up and ran away laughing, then turned to look at me, while licking her fingers, and laughed even harder. We are in trouble with this one!

Well, I just had to microwave my coffee for the fourth time since I poured it, my youngest needs a clean diaper and my second has set up a chair on top of the coffee table to sit in, while my oldest is off biking with his dad. So that is a reasonable snap shot of what normal looks like these days!