The Streetpoet

I hadn’t let Jerome carry Ian around by himself yet…although Ian is over 16 lbs. now. This afternoon Peter handed the baby over to Jerome’s care and we were impressed with his strength and carefulness. He was absolutely thrilled to be trusted with his baby brother and would tell us if he was getting too tired. I am increasingly aware of his need for my trust.

Here’s the proud brother.

Rain! We got a tiny bit today and the sun shone so bright I thought we’d have a rainbow…but I never saw one. The smell of rain is one of my favorite things. They said it was humid today. It was a very calm, mild day. I enjoyed it very much.

Our landlords were out today too, working so hard taking care of this place. They spread fertilizer around the trees and plowed it under, then ran the water lines out to wash it all down. The sprinklers will be running all night…it sounds like rain.

California State University of Northridge started classes this week…

Jerome builds the neatest stuff…

And Seth is digging and working. 🙂

They say it’s because of a hurricane…

Peter built a bonfire for us and we ate dinner around it together as the moon rose.

“The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge .” Ps 19:1-2

Just a few images from our day…

The gardeners come every Tuesday and this week they trimmed the lantana bush outside the livingroom window while Seth watched them. Today he was “lawning” in the side yard and he told me pointing to the lantana “That’s for working.”. 🙂

How small Jerome looks in front of that bouganvilla….

And here’s our little three month old Ian Daniel!

It’s been a mild summer, and I’m grateful, but we’ve had our heat spells. Our little house is barely insulated at all and is very drafty, although the attic holds an unbelievable amount of heat during the day. Last year Peter installed an attic fan and that’s helped some. A few weeks ago he traded out the air-conditioning unit in our bedroom for a bigger one that actually cools the house! And he also put up a tarp outside that takes away all my sunshine in the bedroom…but it’s also easier to cool. 🙂

My mother came out to visit right after Seth was born and planted a beautiful garden right outside my kitchen window.

A year and a half later we adopted a dog, and then our neighbors got a puppy, too. Well, that was the end of my garden. Between their dog’s digging and our dog’s trampling-in-search-of-a-shady-nap…it was gone.

So, before Ian was born Noel came over and replanted my garden. My mother was coming out and I was embarrassed to have her see it like that. Noel found shrubby plants that could withstand some dog abuse and it’s really pretty with roses, lavender, mock orange, tea tree, and some plants I can’t recall the names of. But what has really done well (taken over) and gives me so much pleasure to look at is the purple fountain grass. It’s getting so tall and the fluffy things catch the evening sun to light themselves up.

But none of it could be seen until recently. There had been a metal dog fence around the whole garden to keep the dogs and little boys out until the plants had a chance to take root and establish their home there. Well, they did that just fine and the dogs and boys stayed out and the fence just kept stayin’ up. I was just as embarrassed about that fence as I had been about the bare dirt of a garden, but I wasn’t gonna say anything about it because I felt it was my pride making me ashamed of a metal fence held up by tires in my front yard.

Peter spent two days of his free time putting up this lovely little wooden fence in replacement. It made me so happy! And now anybody can see what’s in that garden. And I suppose since the ugly metal fence was up for so long, the dogs got used to not being in there and they haven’t even tried breaking in. 🙂

Another thank you to my man!

I was reading in Galatians this morning while the boys were all asleep and the house was quiet…a rare, wonderful time.

I came across the verse “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” and thought to read it to them at breakfast. According to Jerome he already knew that verse (from Cubbies) so I asked Seth to say it after me. In a very small, sweet voice Seth said “Love my neighbor as myself”, so I said it again “Love YOUR neighbor as YOURSELF”, and he again said “Love my neighbor as myself”…

So easily does the gospel speak and apply to our children’s lives when they hear it!

Here’s my two year old.

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.” ~Helen Keller

This evening at Papa’s house Jerome was swinging on the playset in the backyard before dinner. I went out to watch him and I noticed he was swinging as hard as he could with his eyes closed, squeezed tight shut. His face was blinking in and out of the sun and his hair was flopping up and down and his mouth was in this funny sort of grin like he was discovering something new in his world and enjoying every moment!

bliss

This picture is on our rope swing at home. He does some pretty amazing stunts on that thing!

And Seth loves to do whatever big brother does…

Sometimes he can’t, and Jerome is more than happy to help Seth.