Elizabeth - What was she thinking?

On the radio the other day, the announcer mentioned Elizabeth was almost forgotten today in our talk of the Christmas story. The point that was being made was that Elizabeth played a big role by confirming that Mary was indeed carrying Jesus.

But all of a sudden, a thought hit me. I wondered what Elizabeth thought and felt. Did she ever feel jealous of Mary being chosen? I wonder if she struggled with thoughts of why God would not have chosen her. After all, her pregnancy with John was miraculous, so why couldn't he have chosen her.

I know, I know, you are thinking, "Because of the whole virgin birth thing!" and "It was prophesied for 100s of years to happen at that appointed time."

But do you ever have unreasonable jealousies about why God does miraculous things for others and not for you or have you felt the envy of others toward blessings that you have been bestowed, but others feel that they have been deprived? I know I have!

Elizabeth didn't know that her part in the Christmas story would be retold throughout 100s of years and countless generations. And her son definitely was not treated with accolades and comfort in his life. I know that I can get pretty upset when I feel my kids are being treated unfairly or have the potential to be harmed. We don't hear anything about how Elizabeth and John related or even how long Zechariah and Elizabeth lived after he was born. Did she ever wonder why God made things so rough for him? Did she ever wish for him to have an easier life - get married and have a couple kids.

She was obviously a very dedicated, holy woman, but she was still human. I wonder what it was like for her to be the mother of John and aunt to the mother of Jesus. What a responsibility!

2013 Christmas Letter

I usually work on our Christmas letter on and off for a week or so, thinking of what to include, what not to, how to word everything, and always how to shorten it! I can be a bit long-winded. I am sure that is a surprise to anyone who knows me!

This year, I wrote it in about 15-20 minutes. Josh edited it quickly. I closed it down that day and came back to it two days later. I briefly reviewed it, made some minor changes, and printed them out. I had them in the mail by late afternoon. I think that it was the quickest I have ever completed them.

Since Facebook keeps us in contact with those far and near on a regular basis and the friends who are around us obviously know what is going on with us, it is difficult to decide who to send the letters to and who not to anymore. I will be the first to admit that there is little rhyme or reason to it! The only certainty is that my aunts and uncles get one!

With all that being said, I decided to share our letter here again, as I do every year, just in case you'd like a "year end review".

Dear friends and family,

As we read through last year’s letter, most things are much the same. I feel like I could copy & paste the information and resend it! But I will update things as much as possible.

Elias is 9 and will be 10 in March. He is having a great 4^th grade year. He really likes his teacher and has been improving academically because of her positive prodding. He will go to middle school next year. Yikes! We are trying not to let our negative feelings regarding middle school show, but we aren’t looking forward to it. He played soccer in both the Spring & Fall seasons & really improved his skill and leadership abilities on the team. He was excited this Fall to begin playing on the school basketball team. Before this year, he played on a community recreational team, but he had looked forward to playing on the school team. They have played 4 games so far & have lots games ahead. In late Spring, Elias began taking drum lessons from a young man who is a former member of a youth group we helped lead. He has been an excellent teacher & mentor & Elias has learned a lot so far. Over a year before, we had agreed that if he would save half of the cost of a drum set, we would pay for the other half. When we made him that deal, we had no idea that he would so diligently save! Every time he was given money for anything, he handed it to Josh to keep in his bank & barely ever decided to spend a cent on anything else. He was able to buy his drums in October.  In August, Elias decided that he wanted to be baptized & he was one of the first few people to be baptized in our new church building shortly after we had moved into it.

Bella will be 8 in less than a month. The part of her birthday she is looking forward to the most is being allowed to ride in the car without a booster seat. This past September, after missing her front teeth for an entire year, we finally saw her adult teeth make an appearance. Both times one of them popped through, Josh & I were away from home. She was so glad that they finally came in after such a long wait. She took dance in the Spring & again this Fall. We find her dancing throughout the house almost all the time. She really enjoys it & still runs to get ready for dance class as soon as she walks through the door from school. She is currently in ballet & tap & her next recital is the weekend before Christmas. She is currently in the 2^nd grade & is still a natural student. She has the same teacher as Elias did in 2^nd grade. This Summer Bella learned to swim in the deep without any assistance. The kids had lessons again at the beginning of the summer, but didn’t have nearly as much time in the water, since we had a pretty rainy season. She has decided that she would like to return to gymnastics in the Spring, but I suspect she will be back in dance in the fall.

Not much has changed for Josh  or I either. Josh coached Elias’ soccer team both the Spring & Fall season. He also continued to play on the recreational team. As an early birthday present, we traveled to Ohio to attend a Major League Soccer match. His favorite team, Seattle Sounders, won against the Columbus Crew, 1-0. It was a great night. I am still substitute teaching, but have decided that this will be my last year. My certificate will run out at the end of this school year. I’m unsure of what I’ll do next, but I just feel my time of subbing is ending.  

The first weekend of November ended up being pretty eventful. My sisters & I threw a 50^th anniversary party for my parents. It went better than we expected & we were really glad we decided to have the party for them. The next evening, Josh ended up being admitted into the hospital and had emergency surgery first thing Monday morning to have his appendix removed. It was definitely an unexpected turn of events, but we were thankful that it could be removed without complication and our church family was a great help.

We hope that you and those you love feel God’s presence near this holiday season. We hope to hear from many of you or see you this coming year.

Blessing and peace to you,

Josh, Jennifer, Elias, and Bella Wilson

The Giving and Receiving Manual

Sometimes I almost hesitate to tell people just how much our church family helped us while Josh was in the hospital. I think I hesitate more in the Christian community than I do everywhere else. The reason is that I don't want people to question why we got help and maybe they haven't. I have heard so many people say, "Well, when I have went through something, everyone said they wanted to help, but no one really did anything to help."

I think there are definitely people who offer help half-heartedly, but I think more often than not, people are willing to help if offered the right information and opportunity.

I think there are reasons that we felt so supported and helped.
1. We let our exact needs be known. This sounds like it would be easy, but it isn't. Often when people go through a difficult time, they think that people should instinctively know what would be helpful, but that is completely not true. For instance, our toilet broke right before Josh went into the hospital. We had the part, but Josh didn't have time to fix it. There was no way that someone would have offered to fix it because no one would have known it needed done. So I texted a friend and asked if he could come fix it. He came that evening and was glad that he could be of help to us.
2. We depended on many different people and we thought of who would be the most helpful to do which tasks. We had people from about every area of our life helping us - neighbors, soccer friends, small group members, book club friends. For instance, one of my friends from book club brought me a breakfast sandwich, stayed with me until Josh's surgery ended and then left. Another friend had offered to bring me food at the hospital, but I told her I didn't need anything then, but I would let her know when I did. When I got home and realized I had few groceries in the house, I texted her to ask if she could run to the store for me. She happily agreed and I emailed her my shopping list. Another friend teaches at the kids' school, so even though it was an inconvenience to her, it seemed like a natural fit to have her stay the night and get them ready for school the next day.
3. We purposely put ourselves in community and had built relationships with those who helped us before the event happened. We already knew people well and they knew us. We knew them, their responsibilities, their talents, and their personalities, and they knew ours. I am not saying we shouldn't help people we don't know well, but I am saying it is just easier when we do.
4. We had helped others when they were in need in the past. I don't mean to be egotistical, it is just the truth. When you help others, there is always a desire to help them back. And I am not saying that we help others with the thought that if we do it, we better get help back from them one day, but it just happens naturally.
5. We graciously accepted the help, thanked everyone who gave us help, and didn't make a huge deal over how they shouldn't have done it for us. We had more ambiguous offers than we could accept, which is usually the case. And I don't believe that they were ambiguous because they lacked sincere desire to help. I accepted help or requested specific help and decided not to play the martyr and try to do it all or act like I could handle it all without help. I have done this in the past and it normally leaves me feeling isolated and hurt, even though it was my choice.
I also set aside worry about who would be insulted if I accepted help from this person and not that person. It can get pretty tricky trying to navigate this, but you can't accept help from everyone! But it teaches me not to get insulted when others don't accept our help, but to keep offering.

I feel like we are taught that we should give and receive help from others, but not how to do it. And contrary to common thought, it does not come naturally!  I really think that there should be a cheat sheet developed that is posted somewhere, anywhere, to help us out with this!

Surprise!

I had started this blog post about 2 weeks ago and have not had the time to finish it until now. It is pretty long, but I feel like it is something I want to record in its entirety (or at least what I can remember!).

 
The day after my parents' party, we got up and went to church and then immediately after we went shopping to buy things for our Operation Christmas Child boxes. We had just dumped all of the stuff from the party in the kitchen and I decided I would go through it all the next day, since we were all off for Veteran's day. I had let the housework go in the days before the party to prepare. So the laundry baskets and the sink were overflowing and the house was already in disarray.

We came home from shopping and ate a quick dinner. We began to get the kids ready for bed, telling them if they showered quickly we would have time to watch a movie. While Bella was in the shower, Josh said that he was beginning to not feel well. She got out and Elias got in and Josh's condition was quickly deteriorating. By the time Elias got out of the shower, Josh could barely stand or walk and it was only about 30 minutes after he first said he didn't feel well. When I was able to talk him into going to the Urgent Care Treatment Center in less than 10 minutes, I knew it must be serious.

When we got to the Urgent Care, they almost immediately said it was appendicitis and told us to go immediately to the Emergency Room.

And so the craziness began! He ended up being admitted that night and given pain medication and antibiotics to lower his extremely high white blood count. The doctors decided that since it was after 10 p.m. that they were going to wait until the morning to take it out and hopefully get some of the inflammation down with the antibiotics. Unfortunately, they had to check him every hour through the night to make sure that it wasn't rupturing. I had to go home to turn off all the lights that we had left on during our hasty departure, pack some clothes and a few things we would need at the hospital, and make arrangements for the kids for the next day. Also, they didn't want to give Josh enough medicine that he was totally out of pain and not be able to tell if it was rupturing. So neither of us slept at all that night.

At 5 a.m., they came in to prep Josh for surgery and we met with the surgeon at 6. Thankfully, the surgeon had been preforming this surgery for decades, so we felt very confident that he would do a great job. He told us that he was going to try to do it completely laparoscopically. If the appendix was too enlarged, the second least invasive was incision at the belly button. If there was evidence of any rupturing, they would have to do a full incision. He also said that Josh's intestines were very inflamed as well and he suspected that he may have Chrohn's or colitis, in addition to the infected appendix. That was hard to hear. We have friends who struggle with Chrohn's and colitis and know it is a difficult cronic condition that requires a complete diet overhaul and long-term treatment. At that point that worried me as much as getting the appendix out. The surgeon said he would go ahead and scope the intestines while he was doing the appendectomy to check for these.

So he left to go get himself prepped and they started Josh on the morphine and we both caught a little more sleep. Then they came in to wheel him downstairs. We met with the anesthesiologist and they did more prep work. But shortly after the anesthesiologist left the room, a nurse ran in and said that the surgeon and anesthesiologist were going to have to do an emergency C-section before doing Josh's surgery. I heard the two men outside the room talking about how they didn't like this turn of events, but the surgeon popped his head in and said that we would have to wait another hour to hour and a half. But then the two men said as soon as he stepped back into the hallway that he didn't think that they should push Josh's surgery back anymore and that they were going to have to figure something else out with the C-Section. In the meantime, they wheeled the poor contracting, scared mother into the operating area. I didn't see her, but I could hear her and I felt for her. But then about 10 minutes later, the surgeon popped his head back in and said they had it figured out and that they would come get him immediately for his surgery. About 10 minutes after that they were wheeling him back. I had not cried the entire time, but when they began wheeling him back, tears pricked the back of my eyes. But I didn't have time to cry because I needed to get washed up and eat because they said the surgery would only last an hour. So I went to his room and a friend met me there with a breakfast sandwich just after I got cleaned up and dressed for the day.

When I met with the surgeon right after the surgery, he graciously told me first that the inflammation in Josh's intestines was caused by the appendix and there was no sign of any secondary condition. Josh ended up having to have the belly button incision, so the recovery would be longer than a completely laproscopic surgery and he had to be more careful to prevent hernia, but it went as expected with no complications.

So Josh had to be off work for a week until he got his staples out. The week he was off, he took his pain medication every time he was able and slept a lot. I knew he must be in pain because he doesn't like taking medicine for anything! The second day he was home, I was helping him dress and change his bandages after he showered. He thanked me for helping him and hugged me for the first time since before everything began. I instantly began to cry for the first time. It felt like the weight of everything that had happened was rolling off my shoulders. It didn't last long, but it made me realize just how much anxiety I had actually felt without realizing it.

He went to get his staples out a week later and they told him that he couldn't lift anything heavy or do any significant labor for 6 weeks or play soccer. I think that hearing that he couldn't play soccer was the hardest news for Josh to take!

He is getting better, but still has to be careful not to overdo and gets sore and still takes ibuprofen if he has been too active. He is getting frustrated that he can't just be better already, but I have to say he has been a very cooperative patient with this!

 After it was all said and done, I was so thankful the way things worked out. Even though it was not desired or anticipated, we were blessed by many things that made it easier.

1. The doctors diagnosed what was wrong right away and that it was a health risk that could quickly remedied and that doesn't leave much residual long-term effects to his body.
2. Josh realized right away that something was terribly wrong and didn't argue (like he normally would have) about going to the hospital. We know how dangerous it could have been if we would have waited. Also, we are glad that he didn't have to have the full incision. Even though they still had to make an incision at his belly button, it was smaller and less invasive than a full incision would have been.
3. Our friends from church was so helpful! We had so many people who helped us out and many others who offered. Here is just a short list of things that people did:
1. Watched our kids at a moment's notice. Our children had more fun when Josh was in the hospital than they would have ever had if he hadn't gone! They stayed the night with one friend the first night and then another friend picked them up and took them ice skating and for ice cream and then brought them up to visit Josh. Then yet another friend took them home, helped them with their homework and get showered and ready and took them to school the next morning.
2. Came to the ER to sit with us until we found out what exactly was wrong.
3. Brought me food at the hospital. Several other people offered to do this also.
4. A friend of Josh's sat with me and just talked to make the time go faster as I waited for Josh in recovery.
5. Went to the grocery store for me.
6. Came and brought us dinner when we got home or offered to do so.
7. Fixed our broken toilet.
8. Covered us for our church obligations.
9. Many people texted and sent messages to check on us and let us know they were thinking of us.
4. The kids didn't have school the day after the night he went into the hospital. This made arranging care and sleeping, etc. so much easier.
5. It happened the day after my parents' party and not before or the day of the party.
6. All of the hospital staff was extremely kind and efficient and personable. We had excellent care and felt that we were treated like people, not chart numbers. I would return to UHC again if we had to have any type of surgery.
7. We were told that the very experienced surgeon who preformed Josh's surgery is almost never on weekend call anymore. We were told by multiple staff members that we were very fortunate to have him as the surgeon.
8. We know that he definitely doesn't have any secondary intestinal conditions.
9. It wasn't closer to the holidays and we didn't have any major events that we would miss or that would have to be rescheduled.
10. The kids have been extremely helpful and willing to pick up the slack from Josh being down. I have realized that I should be having them do more on a regular basis!

I am probably forgetting a few things, but I am still thankful for them all! Mostly, I am thankful to God through whom all of these blessings flowed.

50th Anniversary Party

My sisters and I decided in September to have a 50th anniversary party for my parents. Their anniversary is on December 23rd. They eloped because my dad was being shipped out to Germany right after New Year's Day to spend 18 months guarding the Berlin Wall. My parents have no pictures of their ceremony, which occurred in a church near my mom's house on a Monday afternoon.  They didn't think about needing to have a witness when they knocked on the parsonage door to ask to get married. It just so happened that my mom's brother's fiance (who became my mom's sister-in-law just a year later) was cleaning the church. So with hair in curlers, she was the only one present to see my parents say "I do".

We decided to have the party in November to beat the holiday rush and the bad weather. We had decided to try to have it in mid to late November, but the place we had planned to have it was already completely booked through Christmas, except November 9th! So November 9th was when we had it. It ended up being a beautiful day and we were glad that we did it earlier than we had planned.

It also didn't give us a ton of time to go back and forth about our plans. My dad and mom know many people in my hometown and a lady that my sisters and I had never met before ended up helping with the decorations and even providing finger sandwiches.

My cousin who now bakes cakes professionally baked my parents a tiered cake that looked like a wedding cake and I broke out my silver servers from our wedding. So they got to have the traditional cake cutting like people have at their weddings.

I am so glad that we had the party for them. They had a wonderful time and it was great to see many of my relatives and family friends that I have not seen for years. It also brought my sisters and I closer to each other, which was an added bonus that I didn't expect. 

My sister took a lot of pictures because she has a really nice camera, but I don't have any of them back yet. Here is just a few that I took with my phone.

From left to right: My sister Kimmy who is next to the oldest and 8 years older. My mom, Nancy and dad, Ken. My oldest sister who is 10 years older, Christina, I am next and the youngest, and then my sister Tracey who is 6 years older than me.

Me and my mom

My cousin Larissa and I. She made the cake. We are the same age and always loved spending time together.

The beautiful cake. The top layer was white with raspberry filling, the middle was chocolate and peanut butter, and the bottom was traditional white wedding cake.

My mom and dad with mom's 2 brothers Stanley with his wife Karen on the left and Terry with his wife Nancy on the right. Nancy was the one who was at the church cleaning the day my parents eloped. My mom has a brother and a sister still living who could not attend and two brothers who have passed away.

This is my dad and mom with my dad's sisters. From left, Thelma, Geraldine (we always called her Deeny), and Caroline. He has one brother who was unable to attend and 3 brothers and a sister who have already passed away.

These are my sister Christina's girls. From left: Brittany, Ashley and Shannon. Brittany is my parents' oldest grandchild.

This is when the party first started. This picture shows the set-up and decorations, though.

Just general crowd pictures.

This is my niece Alycia and her boyfriend at the back of the table and my nephew at the end with the blue jacket. You can also see the picture collages in the background.

This is my sister's family with my sister's boyfriend and my great niece and nephew.

My parents gave me some pictures to make collages. Here are a few of my favorites.

This picture was taken a little over 2 years after my parents got married. My mom was pregnant for my oldest sister. I think this picture shows the resemblance between me and my mom the most.

This picture was taken shortly after my dad got to Germany. There are a bunch of copies of this and similar pictures. Many have sappy love messages written on them.

My mom said this is the only picture that was taken on the day they eloped. Dad snapped it while she was pinning up her hair at his house before they went to the church.

I think my mom looks like Sandra Dee from Grease in this picture. This was taken while she and my dad were dating.

From left to right: My dad holding Tracey and my mom in front of him and Kimmy and Christina in the matching dresses in front of her. Then my mom's parents, then my uncle Terry and Aunt Nancy with my cousin Jon in front of them. Last, my great-grandparents.

This picture was taken when I was about 9. I loved that dress and wore it a lot! I wore a mullet for at least 2 years, probably more!

This picture was taken when I was in the 9th grade. It didn't scan very well. My sister Christina and Tracey were already married.

This is the most recent portrait taken of my parents and the one we used in the announcement in the paper for the party.

October in pictures

Bella finally got to have her spa day that she has been wanting to have for months. in early October. She took her friend Lilly and they had a great time getting pedicures in the little girl's spa.

Elias saved money for about 2 years and took lessons for over 6 months and he finally was able to bring home his drums in mid-October.

He sounded great. I am so glad he can already keep a beat!

Bella did a better job than I thought she could, since she ended up slamming her finger in a fire door at school and broke the tip of her finger. I was amazed at how well she was able to cut with the splint on her finger.

Josh was the stencil maker, but the kids did the majority of their own carving themselves.

This is Bella's pumpkin. Besides a little bit too much cutting by the eye, it is really impressive that she was able to cut it herself so well.

This is Elias' pumpkin. This pumpkin was supposed to have little pumpkins sitting in the big pumpkins mouth getting eaten. But we didn't carve them until 2 days before Halloween, so I was not able to find little pumpkins to buy.

This is Josh's pumpkin. He drew the stencil for this himself. A lot of people enjoyed it during trick-or-treat.

Bella was an adorable bat girl. I got this costume at Gabe's for $5.99 and it was a really high quality costume.

We had trouble finding Elias a costume. He felt he was too old for super heroes, but I wasn't crazy about him being a ghoul or zombie. He loves the cartoon "Tron", but we couldn't find a Tron costume that actually lit up. So Josh decided to make one for him. It took Josh a lot of time and a lot of boxes from Amazon, but it looked really nice in the end. Josh wasn't pleased with his work, but Elias was.

This is the costume lit up. It really did look pretty awesome.

This is their loot. It is actually a little less than last year, but still way too much!  Of course, we had about 1/2 of the trick-or-treaters we normally do because it was raining, so we also had plenty of the candy that we were giving out left over too.

In other news...

So here is the news of our lives in a list, to save time on my part and yours:

1. Today is Josh's 38th birthday. I am thankful to celebrate another year with him.

2. Josh is still working, despite the government shutdown. And it seems that he will be able to continue working for now. We are thankful that he still gets a paycheck, but it has been stressful for him to be working with so many off. Since he is a contractor, he would not get paid if he wasn't working. I feel bad for all those who work in the retail stores and restaurants who live paycheck-to-paycheck who are losing hours or being laid off from lack of sales. They will not be receiving any back pay.

3. There have been break ins all over our town. Over 30 houses have been burglarized within a 5 mile radius, 3 in our neighborhood alone. All of these burglaries occurred during the day.  I am more concerned about having them walk in on me or me on them then what they could steal. So last weekend, Josh installed a security system. It only took me two days to accidentally set it off!

4. My sisters and I are planning a 50th wedding anniversary party for my parents. Because the facility where we want to have it was booked up for every date in November and December, except November 9th. So we are having it on November 9th, even though their anniversary is actually on December 23rd. We have less than one month to get it together, but I know my parents will appreciate it in the end. Fifty years of marriage, through good and bad, is definitely something to celebrate.

5. Soccer season is almost over and then Elias will begin basketball. This year, he is moving up to the school league, so he is really excited. He wants to try baseball in the Spring, which we are not looking forward to much, but we want him to have the opportunity if he wants to try it. But Bella wants to take the Spring off of dance and try soccer again - or at least she says she does now. I guess we will see.

6. My favorite show is Psych and we have been trying to wait patiently for the latest season to be put on Netflix. We are beginning to consider buying the season. In the meantime, I have been rewatching the old episodes. (I feel a little sorry for myself that this actually made it into my "news of my life" list!)

7. Elias and Bella are having a pretty good school year. Homework is still painful for everyone involved, but we are managing. Elias is really learning a lot this year and I feel better about where he will be academically when he goes to middle school next year. Bella is trying to appear not as smart as we know she is. We haven't been able to pinpoint why exactly, but it has been a new hurdle this year.

8. We have a bazillion little flies in our house. I have poured boiling water and vinegar and baking soda down my drains to kill their eggs. We have set out vinegar traps. We have swatted them with fly swatters. Still they are buzzing around and landing on any food we leave out on the counters for even a minute. One just flew up my nose and I accidentally sucked it in. It was stuck in that area between my nose and my throat. I tried to blow it out, but it wouldn't come out. The only choice I had was to swallow it the rest of the way down. The sad part is, this is the second time this has happened. These flies must think I have something really inviting up there! Forget stink bugs! These little flies are about to put me in the loony bin!

Wow, that is really the only real news I really have! Of course,15 minutes after I post this, I will think of 20 other things I could have added. But I have to get ready to go have lunch with my birthday boy!

The snake saga

I posted this story on Facebook and meant to post it here the same day for those of you who still read my blog (no matter how far and few between the posts are!) and are not on Facebook. But I ended up working every day last week, so I never got the time.


There is never a dull day at the Wilson home! I got called last minute to work. So I was trying to rush out the door and was on the phone with the plumber, who I thought couldn't come, but now was. As I walked into the garage I see one of our glue traps from the pest company moved out into the middle of the garage floor. Did I mention that Elias got a prank book this week? Well, this glue trap had a black snack hanging out of it. Elias has a black rubber snake, so I thought that Elias was up to one of his pranks. So I moved in to put it back in the corner and the snake started wiggling all around! It was not a rubber snake and it was not a prank! So I did what any logical person would do, I started kicking it out of the garage door at which time, the snake, trying to get his bearings gets his tail caught in the other side of the trap. I decide to leave it in the driveway and pray he is dead by the time I get home. So, I leave for work, plumber comes, I come home, kids get home. The snake is very stuck on both ends now, but is still wiggling. I take Elias out to show him the prank that he didn't know he pulled on me. He and the neighbor kids begin taking pictures of it and Elias is trying to get a better vantage point for his shot, while I chat with my neighbor. The next thing I know, Bella is running toward me shrieking that Elias has let the snake loose. For being caught in a trap the whole day, this guy didn't seem any worse for the wear. He proceeds to slither off toward our open garage door. So, I do the only logical thing, I pick it up by the tail and fling it out into the road. Then I am standing there while Bella is practically sobbing and Elias is chasing after it to get pictures. I am standing there trying to decide if I should kill this recently freed prisoner as my kids watch. All the while, I am wondering how in the heck this thing isn't even showing the littlest injury, since I had my heel caught on one of these traps one time and thought I may have to have it surgically removed! As I am trying to decide, Elias keeps picking it up and flinging it into the road every time it tries to go into the grass. So the plumber walks out visibly amused by our shenanigans and says, "Oh, that is just a little gardener snake", which makes me feel like a truly horrible person and a girly girl for considering murder. In the end, I let him slither back into the yard, but I made sure the glue trap was put back, in case he gets the idea to make his way back in the garage again. Hopefully, after being flung into the air multiple times by me and Elias, he'll decide he has had enough of the Wilson home for while.

This picture was taken after my initial effort to evacuate the unwanted visitor that resulted in both ends of him being trapped in the glue. I felt that he was stuck enough to take a picture, without fear of escape.

 

This is one of the shots Elias took after he released it.

And then the school year began...

The kids were up and ready for school well before 7:30 the first day. Each day, that time has went down by 5 minute increments and we will soon be rushing them out the door to get to school on time.

Even though our summer ended, the summer time fun did not. The weather has taken a last swing at summer like conditions, so the kids have been out almost every evening playing, which makes it very hard to do homework. Since they are in 2nd and 4th this year, both of them have their fair share of homework and I feel like if they have it, than I have it too! These first few weeks are an adjustment - the kids realize they have to do something other than sleep, eat, and play! But so far they are doing really well overall. There are some grumpy moments, but they both seem to be enjoying school and they like their teachers.
The first weekend after school started was an exciting one for us. Unexpectedly, the kids and I went to the pool with friends - one last time before the end of the season. We hadn't been to the Bridgeport Pool this summer and Elias really wanted to try to dive off the high dive. He had jumped off of it last summer, but had been a little too intimidated to dive off of it. So Elias was thrilled when he knew he'd have his chance this summer. As soon as he arrived, he went right up onto the high dive. He jumped off the first time to get his bearings and then went right back up and dove off of it. Bella jumped off of the smaller diving board. She just learned this summer to really swim on her own in the deep end and so diving off of the diving board without assistance is a major milestone that she has been enjoying this summer too. I am really proud of both my swimmers!

Unfortunately, Josh decided to stay behind to work on the railings some more, but he made great progress and there are just a few more pieces to put in place and he will be done. It is amazing how much work and money it is to put up a few railings. We have probably spent almost as much time and probably more money on these railings than we did on remodeling our family room! Now all we have to do is paint the exterior of the house. We had planned to try to paint at least the block this summer, since it is chipping, but I think it is a job for next summer.

On Sunday, Elias was baptized. This is something he has talked about wanting to do for a while and now that our church has a baptismal, he decided that it was the time. The church decided to bring all the kids from the children's ministry to watch the baptisms, since there were three kids being baptized. Elias' face was priceless when he saw all of his peers walking into the sanctuary. He said, "They are really coming in to watch the baptisms?" He has really been growing in his faith and has been more vocal about his thoughts and how God effects his life, but when it came time to tape his comments for a video they showed before the baptism, we could hardly get 20 words out of him! He just didn't know what to say or how to say it. I think that was one of the only times I have truly seen him speechless! He added the comic relief to the video, though, because when they asked what it would be like to be baptized, his answer was, "Wet!". But he came home and immediately went and told our neighbor's boy, who he's friends with, that he was baptized. I pray every day that the seeds that are planted in my kids' hearts when they are young will bear much fruit in the years to come.

It seemed like I had plans almost every day the kids were in school so far and I have actually already subbed twice this year - the first being on the 2nd day of school. One day last week I took my dad to a dentist in Bridgeport that makes low cost dentures. My dad got his first set of dentures when he was in the military in Germany when he was only 23 years old. He has had that same set of dentures for 50 years! People cannot believe that he had them that long. They held up pretty well for many years. But in recent years, dad had to super glue teeth in and do other repairs to them and the molars were pretty much worn to the gum. He looks younger with his new teeth. His smile is more like I remember it when I was a kid. I am so glad that I was able to spend the day with my mom and dad and help them out. It feels weird that I am now their driver and such. I feel too young to be turning the roles around so soon. My dad is a jokester and he had a ball gabbing with a fellow who was 88 and full of stories while we waited at the dentist.

A picture with my dad and his new chompers - just after he enjoyed a hearty helping pot roast that I had left in the crock pot that morning.

Then one of our last hurrahs of summer was to go to the Seattle Sounders major league soccer game while they were playing the Columbus Crew in Ohio. This is an early birthday gift for Josh, since his birthday is in October. It had been scheduled months ago. It is also something he has wanted to do for a long time. We left the kids with my mother-in-law again. (I thank God that I have a great mother-in-law who drives over an hour each way to come watch the kids!) I am so glad that the kids were not with us, because right before the game started while the teams warmed up, the skies grew black and the wind picked up. They made everyone go under the bleachers and for over an hour we stood and sat next to thousands of others while the rain passed. Luckily, after the storm passed, the weather was absolutely beautiful without another drop of rain and since our hotel was within walking distance of the stadium, we still were back before midnight. It was fun to watch the game and the Sounders won, which makes it even more fun. Some Sounders fans in front of us almost got into a fist fight with a drunk Crew fan, so I was glad that Josh had left his Sounders jersey at home, even though he said he felt like a sell out!

We were really worried that they were going to cancel the game and there were no refunds for the tickets. He was pretty bummed, but I told him to make a sad face while we waited under the bleachers. This was the best he could do.

Barely even damp after the rain delay. Waiting for the teams to warm up...again!

The rest of the summer break

The last 2 weeks of July were less eventful than the first 3, though there were a few highlights. Josh ran his first 5K. He participated in the Run to Read 5K that started at the stadium by our house. The kids and I waited until the 5K started and then we went to the 12th street pool, which was free for the family members of the participants. It was so cold by the time it started that I didn't even try to get in, but the kids enjoyed it.
We also visited a newly remodeled pool in our area. It is now more of a mini water park than a pool, complete with a lazy river, slides, diving board, and several splash pad areas. It was a little chilly the day we went, so there were not many people there, so we were able to use all of the park with little to no wait time.

We finished up the library summer reading program, which was a bit anti-climatic. The didn't have any ending celebration or anything, so the kids were a bit disappointed. I realized a little too late that I was pretty diligent to make sure the kids read over the summer, but I really didn't make them do any math or work on any other subject. I tried to throw in some card games that would give them exposure to numbers, but I really need to pay attention to this next summer. 

This is one of the few pictures I got of the reading program. The man in the back is a paleontologist and the kids were looking for shark's teeth with excavating tools. The library program was themed "Dig into reading" and all the programs were digging related.

August really is when I feel we begin gearing up for the new school year. We began the month with the soccer draft, which Josh coordinated. Then came registration for Bella's dance class. And the inevitable school shopping. The kids really didn't need that many clothes, since they received a bunch of nice hand-me-downs over the summer, but they needed new shoes, backpacks and pencil boxes, and one outfit. We were at the mall for about 5 hours for just those few things! And even though we had intended only to get them one new outfit for the first day, the sales were so good, we ended up with about 3 each! Also, in early August, I tried to fit in a bunch of appointments - dental and allergy check-ups and haircuts - so we wouldn't have to do them after school started.
My birthday was also in early August. Most of my birthday was like any other day, since Josh had decided we would celebrate on the weekend. But he made me dinner, shrimp scampi with pasta (so good!) and we had chocolate cupcakes with an ice cream filling for dessert.  The kids had picked out gifts for me. Elias had picked a pair of sunglasses because I had lost mine (but had actually found them) and Bella got me bobby pins. They are so sweet to always try to think of things I use or really like. Josh is always a very thoughtful gift giver. He is very sentimental and I am so lucky to have a man who thinks outside of the box. He had roses sent to me that day with a very sweet message attached and then he got me a jar that had "37 wishes" on the outside. Inside the jar, there were 37 cards of people's personal sentiments and birthday wishes. I cried many times while reading them. But Josh's were the ones that made me cry the most. He had not only included his personal thoughts, but also quotes from people that he knew would mean something to me.  He included a ring and hole-punched each card, so that I could keep them on the ring when I was done reading them. Since my birthday, I have went back and read through them many times.
Then on the Saturday after my birthday, we went to see "Noah" at the Sight and Sound theater in Pennsylvania, which is something I have wanted to do for a while. Since we went up and back in one day, which equated to just over 8 hours driving, we opted not to take the kids. When we were on our way home, we decided to stop at a place we had never been before to eat called "The Hen House". The food was delicious and the atmosphere was not what I had expected. We sat out on the deck and ate while the sun was setting. It was a beautiful end to a wonderful birthday.

Then just before school started, we took a trip to see friends of ours that we had planned months before. Justin and Elizabeth were our closest friends in college - metaphorically and physically, since they lived right across the street from us and we spent the majority of our free time with them. They no longer live in the states, so we get to see them very little, but they are still some of our dearest friends. We met up with them and we all stayed together in a hotel, since they have many people to visit and so little time. I was amazed at how fast our kids took to each other, since they have only spent time together a handful of times in their lives - and a few of those times they were babies! It was so great to see them again, but the time was too short, as it always is. We ended up eating at a place called "Fat Patty's" which had great food, reasonable prices, and wonderful service. If you ever are in the Huntington, West Virginia area, you should try to eat there.

Thankfully, we had a pretty low-key weekend before school started. Bella and I went to a baby shower that other little girls were invited to also. It was so cute to see all the little girls in their dresses practicing being little ladies for the afternoon, until they were freed to go watch a movie and color in an adjoining room. Josh and Elias worked on replacing our front porch railings while we were gone. He has done a great job and they are almost finished. They look so much better than the old ones did! Then on Sunday, I picked up some school supplies, while the kids stayed home and played with the neighborhood kids.
It seems like every summer, we tend to have a soundtrack - songs that we listen to over and over - in the house and the car. This summer, the songs that were on the top of our list were Boomin' and Steal My Show by Toby Mac and Waving Flag by K'Naan. If it were up to Elias, there would be other songs added to this list, like The Tweezy Dance by KJ-52, but only the songs that I can stand to listen to more than one time make the list!
It was definitely a rainy summer, but I look around at how green and lush everything is now and I am glad that God takes care of the earth and knows what it needs. Even though we didn't have as many pool days as last summer, we still got to go a few times each month. This summer we also got to visit my hometown and my family more than we did last year and Josh's mom came and watched the kids several times, so they were able to spend time with her as well. My parents are getting older and they have been thinking of selling the house I grew up in, so I want the kids to have as many memories there as possible.

Being silly with Pappy and Mamal

My parents have all kinds of random stuff sitting around. Elias found this wig and proceeded to model it for all of us.

He realized that it can be worn different ways to vary the effect. This is his rock star smolder.

The kids were at a great age this year. They were independent enough that I didn't feel I had to wait on them at every turn, yet they still love to hang out with us and think that home is one of the best places ever. They are both good swimmers and bike riders too, which made trips to the trails and pool much more relaxing and enjoyable for everyone. They did their share of bickering, but they also had times where I saw that they have a real friendship that is separate from Josh and I. I also see them understanding things at a deeper level and understanding the why behind the things we have been teaching them all their lives.

Biking on the rails and trails. This is the first year that we were all able to bike together as a family, since Bella no longer needs training wheels. It is a lot of fun and great time as a family.

One day when we were at the pool, this baby monarch visited us. It was still learning to fly and kept landing on and around us. Elias was upset that it never actually would go onto his finger like it did Bella's.

One day the kids had the idea to have a circus in our house, so they made all these signs and set up all these different stations and then invited our neighbors Chase and Lilly to join them. The boys were the magicians and the girls were the face painters. I was really impressed by their creativity!