What Is Really Important?

My friend Kim is pregnant with her second child, and she recently emailed to ask about life with two kids. As I shared with her some of the things the Lord had taught me, I was reminded of a time Rocky was about a week old. It was evening, and Gracie was crying because she wanted me to hold her. Rocky was crying because he was having trouble latching on for a feeding, and I was crying because I was feeling overwhelmed. I felt sad for Gracie because I knew she didn't understand why I couldn't hold her, and in my hormonal, post-pregnancy state-of-mind, I was afraid she would think I didn't love her anymore. Then, Lou gently reminded me that God was using all of this to help Gracie learn to share and not to be selfish. That helped me so much.
Recently, a young mom in our church asked me for some counsel. She had read many books and articles on how her kids needed time outside each day, and they needed play dates and so on and so on. She was overwhelmed and was having a hard time getting everything done. As we talked, I started thinking about what is really important. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great for kids to have time outside and time with other children, but is that really the most important thing? The world's wisdom is very child-focused and tells parents that we must do all these things for our children and give them all of these opportunities if they are to succeed. But God's Word talks about training our children "in the way they should go." We know that God would have us to teach our children about Him in all that we do, and in doing that, we are to teach them to be patient, to be kind, to be unselfish, to be content, to be obedient that they would glorify God in all they do. This is what is really important. So often I lose sight of that. I thought of this the last time we went out for ice cream. Gracie really enjoyed the ice cream, and she was sad when it was gone. Instead of trying to pacify her by diverting her attention, I tried to talk to her about being thankful for the ice cream and for being content with what God allowed us to have. Even though I know she's little and doesn't understand a lot of what I say, I think, in part, I say it for my own benefit, too. I need to be reminded to be thankful and content with what God provides for us. Isn't God good to teach us even as we seek to teach our children?

Making up for lost pictures?

After not having my camera the last time, I now have LOTS of pictures! Here is Rocky (very alert after naptime) with his basketball.

I love this picture of Gracie; she was saying, "Cheese!" Her hair is so curly! Especially now that it's summer, and the humidity is here.

Lou and Rocky being cute! I love that Rocky is trying to hold Lou's face, too.

My mom and dad got a small plastic pool for Gracie. She loves playing with the water, but she's not so sure about actually getting in and sitting down. Here she is with her fish watering can.

Rocky with the scrunched up face! Gracie used to make this face, too, but she made a sniffing sound along with it!

Rocky making funny faces

Gracie on her cell phone, babbling away. Note the pajamas, too. Diane, if you're reading this, these make me think of you every time she wears them!

Rocky sound asleep with Nana and Vovo (Lou's mom and dad)

Gracie with Grandma and Grandpa

Gracie with her stickers
She loves stickers on her hands lately, and the other day when Lou went to the store, he bought her some (I thought that was so sweet). Of course, notice what he bought for her. It's a sticker of a bear playing the drums!

Sunset at Paine's Creek...one more reason to come and visit us!

Sunset at Sesuit Harbor

We've been tossing around the idea of trying to sell Cape Cod photos online. Any thoughts? Lou and I certainly aren't professional photographers, but it's so beautiful here. It's kind of hard not to take a good picture. In other news, Lou is in Florida for a few days. His grandmother is not doing well, and the Lord may be calling her home any day now. We praise the Lord that she knows and loves Him, and He has blessed her with many years (she's 93). Please keep Lou and his family in prayer as they are in Miami this week. As for me and the kids, we're hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa for a few days. It's a blessing to have them close by.
The kids are doing well. Gracie has hit a stage where she is super curious and getting into everything! Suddenly, she's realized there are drawers she's never opened and things to climb on! The other morning, I left her and Rocky with Lou while I was getting ready. I came out to find Rocky and Lou snoozing on the couch, and Gracie systematically emptying our bookshelf of all of the books! Another time, we thought she was playing in her room, and when Lou went to check on her (it had only been a few minutes), she had climbed up on a chest in her room and pushed the screen out of the window! Praise the Lord, she didn't fall out! It's only a few feet off the ground, but she still could have been hurt. She is something. She is really learning so much these days. It seems like she knows a new word each day. Lately, she's fascinated with the alphabet. She can say the second part of the ABC song, "Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, and Z." (You'd think she would learn the beginning first). She can name the letters H, Q, T, W, A, and sometimes Y (she mixes it up with V). I am amazed at what God makes little minds capable of. Rocky is doing well, too. He has found his lungs this weeks and loves to make loud noises! He says "ma, ma, ma" and "blah, blah, blah" a lot. He's a very happy baby except when it's time to eat. He makes sure we don't forget to feed him!

God's Grace

Sorry, no pictures on this post. I forgot my camera at home. (We don't have internet at home so I have to blog elsewhere). However, I still wanted to write and praise the Lord for His grace and mercy. My dad made it through his surgery (11 hours!!), and after a week in the hospital, he is now home and doing well considering all he's been through. God has blessed in so many ways through all of this. The doctor was terrific; he was one of the few doctors that actually came out to the waiting room periodically to tell us how it was going (most of the others just phone news in). My dad responded well to the surgery and is progressing well. Rocky, who spent the day with me in the waiting room, was great! No fussiness or anything! Praise the Lord! Two of the ladies from church, Cindy and Nancy, came to sit with my mom and me for a few hours. The Lord is so gracious! Thank you to all of you who have been praying!
As to our family, we are doing well. Gracie is saying more and more words. Her latest is "cado" for the avocado I let her try last night. (She didn't like it. She made quite a face, but tried to eat it anyway). We moved Rocky into Gracie's room this week. We'd been putting it off because he had been waking up early, but we finally decided we just had to do it. I thought it might be tough for Gracie because he might wake her up. I was wrong. She thought it was a party! When I went to get them on the first morning they were together, she was standing in her crib babbling away to him excitedly, and he was laughing at her. It was such a sweet moment to see them enjoying each other so much.
Gracie is becoming very helpful, too. She'll put Rocky's clothes in the laundry basket for me and get his pacifier for him when he drops it. She loves to have baby wipes; she tries to help me clean the table with them. She's a riot when I try to wipe her face after she eats. I'll wipe her face, and she'll say, "knee, knee" because she wants me to clean her knee, too. As Lou pointed out, she's like the apostle Peter when he doesn't want to the Lord to wash his feet and then decides he wants the Lord to wash his head, his hands, etc.
Rocky is getting more and more active, rolling a lot, and grabbing for toys...and hair (ouch!). We're still waiting for him to sit up. He's almost there; he's just such a big guy. He's got a lot of weight to support. He's almost ready to go to a bigger car seat (about a pound away). Lou and I are busy as usual. Lou's trying to keep up with all the duties of ministry, and I've been busy getting a going-away party together for Nancy, a lady in our church who is moving away. I'll try to remember my camera next time; the kids are changing so fast!

Play Time!

Gracie reading to her baby. She pretends to read now. She'll open up a book and babble away; she even turns the pages! Every now and then I hear an actual word. She is starting to really love singing, too. Her current favorite songs are "The Wheels on the Bus" and "Happy Birthday." She'll say, "wheels, bus, round!" and do the hand motions. As for when we sing "Happy Birthday," she'll keep saying "again" until we've sung it to every member of the family! When I learn how to post videos on YouTube, I'll have include it on the blog.

Gracie and Rocky looking out the front window. Gracie loves to get up here and watch for Lou to come home from work.

Gracie in Daddy's shoes

It's hot and humid here on Cape Cod, and there are LOTS of tourists now. Traffic is crazy! Not like L.A. traffic, but it's still crazy because all the roads here are only two lanes. As the Cape bumper stickers say, "Slow down...you're not on the mainland!" We've enjoyed having some of the summer crowd at church, though. There are several families from like-minded churches who have summer places here, so we see them when they're here vacationing. That is one great thing about living here; we're more likely to see old friends because it's a nice spot for a vacation. We're looking forward to Phil and Darlene Johnson coming to stay with us in August. Phil will be doing a conference for us.
Thanks for all of you who have been praying for my dad. He will be having surgery tomorrow to remove the rest of the tumor. We would greatly appreciate your continued prayers. It's a major surgery, and there are some risks involved. I'm planning to sit with my mom at the hospital, but I'll have to bring Rocky since he's nursing (he refuses bottles; we waited too long!). Please pray that he'll do well since we're expecting to be there about 8 hours. At least, I can take him outside if he gets noisy. Gracie will spend the day with Lou. Hopefully, this will take care of the cancer; I'm so glad to know that God is sovereign over all these things. He is so faithful!
On a lighter note, last time I posted the picture of the sign about the deaf cat. Yesterday, we had another crazy Cape Cod sighting! Down the street from the church, we noticed a fenced area is one of the neighbor's yards. They're raising llamas!!!! Who would have thought? We had to pull over to make sure we were seeing correctly...

Lots of Pictures

This was the sunset the other night at Corporation Beach...I wish we had a better zoom on the camera. The picture really doesn't do it justice. Praise the Lord for His creation!

Gracie and Rocky playing on our bed this morning

I went in to get Gracie the other morning and found this. I don't know how she twisted her shirt to look like this (it's actually just a regular T-shirt).

The next morning when I went in, she figured out how to get her shirt off altogether!

Lou and Gracie at the beach

Rocky catching up on some reading

Gracie, Rocky, and Mommy

We took the kids to the beach the other day. Gracie was playing with her pail and shovel on the beach towel. Then, before we could stop her, she used the shovel like a spoon and ate a mouthful of sand! I think she actually swallowed it, although Lou tried to get it out of her mouth.

Lou and Rocky being silly

Rocky playing on the floor with the frog. He loves this frog; thanks, Diane!

Only on Cape Cod...yes, this is a real sign in someone's yard. We HAD to take a picture. I love that they actually show the cat with a horn!

It's been another busy week for us with something going on almost every night. Seminary really was good preparation for how time-consuming and busy ministry is! Lou's been out the last few Tuesday nights at the local cable studio taping preaching videos. They air twice a week on the local mid-Cape cable station. We've been doing it for a little while now, but it's pretty time consuming. There's a group from church who help run the cameras, equipment, etc., but Lou has to do all the editing and burning to a DVD. The cable channel is a community channel, so the it's open to the public for a small fee, but we have to do all the taping, editing, and so on ourselves. We hope that God will use this to help us reach the community.
The kids are growing so fast! Rocky is 6 months old now. He just had a check up on Monday, and he weighs 20 lbs.! He and Gracie are only 5 lbs. apart now! He's tall for his age, too, so he's really not a chubby baby, just big. Gracie's on the small side, but we praise the Lord that she's healthy. She's talking more and more. She can say "Cape Cod", "Get down please", and her latest is "morning" for "Good Morning". She's figured out how to climb on the couch without help, so she's busy putting her doll up there and then climbing up with a book to read to her doll. She still loves Rocky. She's always hugging and kissing him and bringing him toys. I hope they grow up having a close relationship.

Visiting Grandma & Grandpa

Playing at Grandma's house (a little ray of sunlight fell on Rocky's mouth; it looks like he's eating a french fry...)

Playing on the little bridge

Getting ready for the 4th of July!

Rocky making funny faces

On Thursdays, we usually visit Grandma and Grandpa (Amy's parents). Gracie loves to play outside; they have a little wooden bridge that she likes to walk on. Praise the Lord, my dad is done with chemo and radiation now, and the tumor has shrunk quite a bit. He also had a clean catscan (the cancer hasn't spread), and if all continues to go well, he will have surgery on July 7th. Please keep him in prayer as this is major surgery (it's supposed to take 8 hours!!!). God has taught us all a lot through this. We have continually been reminded that God is sovereign, and He is trustworthy. He has been (and continues to be) so faithful through all of this. How wonderful it is that God can and does use every circumstance for His glory!

Outdoor Fun

Gracie with a flower and a pine cone. It's amazing how much she enjoys simple things. I should be more grateful...

Gracie in front of our house

Rocky sporting his Indiana Jones look...

Gracie showing me her hand (it looks like she's doing a cheer)

Gracie with lilacs and a big rhododendron; I love the smell of lilacs! That and the scent of beach roses make me think of summer on the Cape!

It's finally starting to feel like summer around here with some temperatures in the 80s. Gracie and Rocky really love being outside. Gracie and I will walk down our street with Rocky in the stroller, and she will stop and pick up every pine cone and leaf that she can. She loves flowers, too, as you can see from the pictures. My mom and dad got a little inflatable pool for her, too; I'm looking forward to seeing what she thinks of it!
This has been a busy week; it seems like we've had dinner with someone different every night! Our friends James and Courtney Dolezal are here on vacation, so we have enjoyed some time with them. Gracie has enjoyed playing with their son Judah. Lou is getting ready do a wedding vow renewal ceremony on Saturday. One of the deacons, Paul, and his wife Sally are celebrating their 50th anniversary and asked Lou to renew their vows. My aunt and uncle, three cousins, and my cousin's fiance are all flying in on Saturday from Utah to visit. We're looking forward to seeing them. I haven't seen most of them since we got married, and that was over 7 years ago now.
Praise the Lord! We've had some good news with my dad. He did have to have surgery to put a feeding tube in yesterday since he's had so much trouble getting food down (he's lost about 50 lbs. in the last two months). But, when they were doing the surgery, the radiation doctor checked the tumor, and it looks like it's shrunk about 70%! My dad will finish chemo/radiation at the end of next week, and they'll do another catscan to make sure the cancer hasn't spread. If all looks good, he'll have a five week break and then surgery to remove the rest of the tumor. We are so grateful that the Lord has allowed such a good prognosis. With this type of cancer, there is not usually such a good outcome. When I was reading info at the American Cancer Society online, it said that most people with this type of cancer would be doing well to live for 5 years. Thankfully, in my dad's case, they think they will be able to completely eradicate it. God is so gracious!
Rocky and Gracie are both doing well. Gracie is starting to recognize and name some numbers and letters. She knows "H" really well. She's getting more resourceful, too, dragging the footstool over to the couch so she can climb up on it and look out the window. Rocky has learned how to blow raspberries (why do they call them that???), and it's really funny...except when he does it while I'm trying to feed him his cereal. What a mess that is!! He has started to have some veggies, too. As unappetizing as baby food veggies look, I couldn't help but think as I fed him how good God is to give us so many types of food. How bland life would be if all we ever ate was milk and rice cereal!
Lou is still very busy, no surprise there, but he's great about making sure he has time with us. Mondays are his day off, and we usually try to do something together as a family. Last Monday, we went to Chatham, a little Cape town about 15 minutes from us. It has a really quaint Main St. with lots of little shops. We walked around with the kids and enjoyed being outside. It felt like we were on vacation, and we were only a few minutes from home! I guess that's one of the blessings of being on Cape Cod!