The Streetpoet

I’ve finally brought myself to say it…Jerome’s in kindergarten. We started doing preschool stuff in the summertime and now that the school year has started we’re doing school daily. I’m so hesitant to even say we’re “doing school” because it feels so normal and haphazard at the same time. I’m putting him through some workbooks that we’ve bought and some that have been given to us, we’re doing some learning games and reading lots of books, flashcards and crafts…and he loves it! This I have always considered the biggest step in my parenting career, starting school. But now I am learning that my friend was right when she told me “Homeschooling is a lifestyle.”. To find a lesson in everything, to teach him how to find the answers and how to learn, to understand that all knowledge comes from above…this is homeschooling.

Here is Jerome showing me Brazil after reading an adventure.

Seth loves tea parties! Well, both of my big boys enjoy tea parties. Sometimes I give them real tea and enjoy it with them! But when he doesn’t have any tea, like this morning, it’s only a pretend tea party.

Seth said to me as he was washing dishes and I was cutting up salad for dinner…. “Mommy, I have bug ouches, bug biteses. Will you please forgive me?” 🙂

Ian has started laughing out load when we tickle him! Of course, he’s just starting to get ticklish!

What a joy to be blessed with boys!

After a whole year…almost to the day…we get to do another photo session with Laura and Daniel and Sienna!

Last year Laura was almost due and we decided to do a pregnancy shoot and dinner one Saturday. By the next Saturday Sienna was already born! (No, it was not my cooking.)

Laura had been wanting a baby for years. Daniel let her have cats.

They make awesome parents, and they should be, because God gave them a very precocious little girl who keeps them on their toes!

Here are our precious friends and their little one.

Happy fifth anniversary you guys!

Thanks for the wonderful evening, dear friends. Let’s not let a whole year go by again!

(Especially not if you bring another one of your amazing chocolate silk pies! 😉 )

Love you!

This is a couple months late, but I don’t want to miss telling my world how much Donna means to me.

Donna is one of my closest friends, she is my sister-in-law and my midwife. All of my boys have been delivered by her.

God brought Scott into her life four years ago and their story is a fun one! They have been married for three years and have two boys. I love watching Donna and Scott together! They truly honor each other and have a deference and thoughtfulness toward their spouse that is remarkable.

Donna’s birthday is in the middle of July and we had her birthday party at our house this year. Mom brought over fixings for grilled pizzas and we served ice cream with yogurt, ginger snaps, and fresh apricots for dessert.

I hope you had a wonderful, memorable birthday Donna! And I hope you know how much I love you!

Scott made focaccia bread and bruschetta!

Seth and Zach are buddies…most of the time. 🙂

Thanks for the music, Anna!

Ian smiling at Aunt Abby!

Happy, happy birthday, Donna!!!

I tried calling you and couldn’t bring myself to leave a message. And to tell you the truth, I’m afraid to call and hear the pain in your voice, the sorrow I cannot fathom and am too weak to think about.

Your beautiful second born daughter, my Aunt Cheri, has been gone for a month. It’s still hard for me to believe. She wasn’t a part of my daily life…but she wasn’t a hole, either. Now that she’s gone I feel the loss deeply. I didn’t expect that.

She died in the middle of summer.

Other people’s gardens have been overflowing their bounty into my kitchen this summer…squash, peppers, and tomatoes mostly, for which I’m very grateful. But the tomatoes make me think of my Aunt Cheri…because the most intimate tidbit I knew about her was that she hated tomato seeds. I never understood that, because I love them, but I always remembered it. So I have been reminded of her every day in my kitchen, and I can’t think about her without thinking about you, too.

How to capture a life? I take pictures and write about my boys, and occasionally I’ll pull the video camera out. But as hard as I try, life is still a passing breath and my efforts are pushing my mind back to the knowledge that all is God’s. He seeks what has passed by. I relinquish the right to keep the past.

But to the future? I dread the thought of living through what you are living through right now. Yet I know that you have the comfort of the hope of glory, and that is true comfort.

Mama told me she would show this to you. I’m glad she’s there so close to you. I want to come see you and bring my Ian to meet you soon. But for now, here’s my love, my thoughts, and my prayers. ~Always.~

You just called me. I had been feeling acutely your absence from my daily life.

My whole world seems brighter now, just from hearing your voice!

We’re praying for you and your precious family, that God will grant you strength, health, and safety.

I love you!