Lemonade

The girls have talked about having a lemonade stand now for two summers. Perhaps because as a child I put so much effort and hope into my own lemonade stands and had very little success, I didn't act on their excitement until now. There were always excuses - we're too busy; it's too hot; it's too windy; it's too cold, etc.

Lately, though, I've been feeling convicted of times when I brush their dreams aside, even when they are seemingly "small" dreams, like having a lemonade stand. Right now, there's a legitimate excuse who has made life incredibly busy, difficult to balance, and more than a little bit hectic. Actually, there are two of them, and they're both under two.

Maybe that's why I decided that this is the summer the girls, who help out so willingly and sweetly, who love their little brothers beyond words, were going to get their lemonade stand.

They worked on the signs all day on Thursday. Sunny told me it was "the best day ever", which I somewhat believed, even though she, at one point when upset with her older sister, told me it was "the worst day ever". I really do believe her positive assessment, though, because they were so very, very excited.

The best part, the part that melted my heart entirely, is that they were over-the-moon excited about this lemonade stand because they are using it as a way to raise money for Compassion International. Instead of collecting funds to upgrade their toy stash or increase their nail polish hoard, they've, from the beginning of "lemonade stand dreaming", been desiring to raise money so that they can help children like those we sponsor.

It's humbling, really, because I wouldn't have ever thought of giving away the few quarters I earned at my dusty, little stand.

Sunny, who has begun to flex her little butterfly wings as an i.n.d.i.v.i.d.u.a.l this summer, decided she wanted to sell PINK lemonade and raise money for Compassion's medical assistance fund. That helps children who may need to see a doctor for medical needs beyond those which the typical sponsorship can pay for. Sunny will tell you "it helps kids who are in the hospital". It sort of helps those kids GET into the hospital.

One of the little girls we sponsor was born with an ear problem. Her "good" ear compensates for now, so she's doing fine. But it's a problem that would have been fairly minor to fix in the U.S. Most of us would have been able to have had it fixed for our children, whether through private insurance or public assistance programs. I'm thankful for that. It's possible that our sponsored child will be able to have surgery to improve her hearing function when she is older (for some reason, because the issue wasn't corrected in infancy, she will need to wait until she's mostly done growing before considering having things corrected), and it's special to see Sunny, who is close to the same age as this particular sponsored child, wanting to raise money for children whose parents can't get them medical care.

Sunny's sign says, "We are giving this money to Compassion", which is exactly what she told me she wanted it to say. I just wrote out the bubble letters, and she colored away.

After several cars drove by and didn't seem to even notice the stand, the girls started waving frantically at each car, and sometimes holding up their lemonade jugs.  I was a little bit embarrassed by their desperation, but, on the other hand, I thought the cars who drove by this ensemble should be more embarrassed than I was.

Notice the appropriately colored-coded outfits? Sunny is wearing pink for her pink lemonade stand, and Miss Mouse is wearing yellow and blue because she is selling yellow lemonade and raising money for clean water, which is often thought of as blue. They totally came up with this all on their own.

Miss Mouse, who chose yellow lemonade, made the sign that says, "Your lemonade buys clean water. All proceeds to Compassion International". She's been stuck on Compassion's Water of Life filter program for several years. It's a lofty goal for a lemonade stand on our street, since each filter costs $70.00. I think they made $10 last Friday. Since it was all from our neighbors, I'm not sure they would keep up their profits if they put the stand out seven weeks in a row, either. But Miss Mouse is so hopeful she'll get to buy a water filter. It upsets her to no end thinking that there are children like her who have to drink water that has been exposed to animal (and sometimes human) waster, or that there are little girls who have to spend the day hauling water for their family rather than going to a Compassion project for education, skills training, and to learn about Jesus. It may be the accepted way of life in many areas of the world, but it certainly shouldn't be. And she is just positive she can do something to change life for a family by providing them with a water filter; she's right.

  Since they have such honorable goals for their proceeds, the "powers that be" in the house decided to award them a grant for the cost of the materials. We're not charging for posterboard, lemonade, or ice, even though I suppose that would have been a teachable moment. Sometimes they teach me more than I teach them.

Manly was such a trooper. He and I hung out in his playpen, somewhat out of the wind, for most of the lemonade stand. He did great, watching the leaves on the trees. It was a cloudy day, though hot and humid, so it really was perfect for a small baby, except for the wind.

Right as Manly was getting fussy, Mike got home from his bike ride and took over the outside, parental supervision duties. Mighty had just woken up from his nap, so he had a snack in his stroller while the girls wrapped up the stand.

I don't even know what to say about these photos other than that Sunny adores her littlest brother.

With a capital A. ADORES.

Mighty loves his little brother, too. He just does it in such a "big boy, let's play and wrestle" way. He knows Manly doesn't wrestle, but he wants to "hug, hug" him and "kiss, kiss" him in ways that demand supervision!

They really are going to be best buddies.

I love this photo because I've seen one of Mike holding his baby sister when Steph was younger than Manly, I think, and Mike has this same expression on his face.

After the lemonade stand, after the cleanup, after giving all four kids baths and showering ourselves, Mike and I took our whole brood to a wedding reception an hour out of town. We're either really energetic these days or completely crazy, but it was a blast! I'm not sure either one of us ate our meals completely sitting down, between getting food or drink for one child or another, feeding Manly, changing diapers, etc., but it really was fun to get out of town and spend time together as a family!

Reading

My heart melted the other day when Mighty Mouse started reading to Manly Mouse. I distinctly remember when Miss Mouse started reading to Sunny. How blessed am I to get to see that repeat? Wow.

Sheepdog

He pulls this blanket over his head, barks, and pretends he is a hugging sheepdog. Well, that's what his sisters told him he was, so he gets really excited to play the part now. I love it, except the part where he gets overly excited and trips over the afghan!

Softball

Miss Mouse started her second season of homeschool softball today. This followed a week of dance camp. She chose to do both tap and ballet this year; we had limited her to one last year, but this year she was allowed to choose two options. It was a wild week, by our standards, in that I shuttled Miss Mouse and Sunny, who also participated in the tap class, to class by 9 a.m., picked up Sunny at 9:30, left Miss Mouse to play with the instructor's daughter for 45 minutes before her ballet class, picked up Miss Mouse at 10:45 from ballet, and made it home in time for Mighty's nap every day. Yikes. It was so fun to see the girls perform their routines yesterday. I love the summer camp weeks because they tend to be really small classes (4, as opposed to the 20+ in the school-year dance classes), and the girls get to try out different styles of dance than during the year. Miss Mouse fell in LOVE with tap. I've asked her no less than four times if she really liked it or just is saying she liked it because she knows how much I would love to learn tap. She is determined that she loved it; they were really sweaty after the tap class, and she says that's part of what she loved about it: it is fast-paced with fast moves. She likes ballet but less so than tap. She was beautiful in both. Sunny gets to take a tap/ballet class in the fall, but Miss Mouse is out of the age range for that class, unfortunately. I'm glad they'll be in separate classes, but I wish there was a tap available for Miss Mouse, too.

Anyway, onto the title of the post. The girls were both planning to be in softball/t-ball this year, but today Sunny refused to participate. It's been a big week for her, following a HUGE week three weeks ago with VBS, so I didn't really bat an eyelash. She hung out with me and the boys the entire two hours of Miss Mouse's class. Last year Miss Mouse was in the youngest class and ended up usually playing around for about an hour; they just learned which base was which, practiced catching, played tag, batted from a t, etc. This year, Miss Mouse has moved up to the intermediate group, so they were learning really how to catch (more than just "grab at the ball"), how to hit, how to function in a game. They even played a couple games (innings?) at the end of the full two hours. It's still very low-key compared to the park district programs and such, but it's fun that she's learning some of the skeleton skills of baseball. They ran hard; they played hard. It was h.o.t. out there, too. I was so very, very proud of how hard she worked. When we arrived, I sunscreened and bug sprayed Miss Mouse first, and she headed off on her own (yes, I watched to make sure she was safe from cars and arrived at her destination) to join the big group of kids and adults congregating to start the day. I stayed back at the car and got sunscreen and bug gunk on Sunny and Mighty before unloading and packing the stroller and then finally arriving as they were all already saying their beginning prayer. She had gone right up to the leader and introduced herself and was totally comfortable since she recognized some of the coaches from last year and several of the kids from softball last year and from her homeschool p.e. class this spring. If I wore button shirts, I might burst them!  It's possible I'm overly proud of this girl because those are things I would NEVER HAVE DONE. Not in a million years.

That, however, that fact that I would not have enjoyed learning softball with a large group is why I can understand my little Sunny. She's considering joining in next week, mostly because while we went over and watched her group play today she noticed that one little girl had to partner with the coach for catching practice because there wasn't an even number of kiddos in that group. She figures next week if she decides to join, she could be that little girl's partner. Yep, that's my sweet Sunny.  My shockingly timid little Sunny. She's so very proud of taking piano lessons this summer, but she's terrified to practice in front of anyone for fear we'll hear her make a mistake. She's her mama's girl so much it makes her mama's heart break.

While Sunny and I were standing watching the youngest group practice, I noticed a mom with two littles who were apparently supposed to be participating in the 4-5 year old group. They appeared almost the same size, so I'll call them 4-year old twins. The little boy was quietly refusing to join at all, and the little girl was much more interested in inspecting the grass in between the bases than she was in running around them with the line of other kids. So, mom was out there pulling her along, hissing at her to "run! run! stop looking at the grass and RUN!". I felt sad for her. I felt sadder when I heard the little boy ask mom to stand by him and heard mom, again hissing, say, "You are choosing not to play, so you just stand here ALONE".  I'm all for encouraging kids to try their hardest, to make mistakes and learn from them (we're working hard on that with Sunny), and to "give it their best shot". But if a just-out-of-toddlerhood-preschooler doesn't have an interest in participating in softball? Or violin? Or name-your-activity? Who cares???!?  Little boy didn't throw a fit or make a scene. He just stood quietly all alone and stared at his feet. And I wondered if he was learning the lesson his mama hoped she was teaching him. Or if he was learning something far different.

I don't want to be too hard on that poor mom. I'm sure she was doing her best. She'd probably busted her hind end to get her kids to softball this morning - she had others in the older group, I believe - and it was, no doubt, incredibly frustrating that the little two, who probably had been super excited about it in the car, were chickening out. I get that and feel her frustration. I think that's what hit me most about the scene....how often I probably do the same thing, just over different issues. Maybe we all do. But it was a definite wake-up call to me to be aware of what I want to teach in each circumstance and to make sure that I'm teaching what they need to learn rather than just taking out my frustration on them when they don't or can't help me fulfill the expectations that *I* had for the day or the experience. I want to be there to encourage them, challenge them, and help them learn. So often, though, it's a fight to do that when they just won't/don't/can't help the experience that I designed work the way I planned it to work. If I weren't so tired, I think I could have written this in a more profound way, but for now, I'm hoping it makes sense the way it's worded. At the very least, a DIScouraging morning for this mama and her littles was an ENcouraging experience for me to witness, encouraging me to remember that what we're doing with these little people is not about us and our expectations and plans but about them and their potential. Thankful for the grace and forgiveness that let us - me, Mike, the mama in the park, all of us, I suspect - to keep on refocusing our parenting on what really matters.

John Deere Green

the boys...enjoy!

Ready or Not!!

Ready...

or....

not....

the tooth...

is....

LOST!!!!!

I was so not ready for this one. She has been waiting for almost two years.

I cried. She giggled herself silly.

I begged her to stop wiggling it.  She grabbed a carrot from the fridge and chanted, "Tap, tap, tap a little; crunch, crunch, crunch a little; tap, tap, tap a little; crunch, crunch, crunch a little", until she had blood dripping down her pretty little lips.

In one evening, from 7 p.m. when Sunny realized her first tooth was a little loose, until 8:25 when we heard a ruckus in the bedroom, Sunny managed to extract that tooth. She ripped it out herself in bed. I think she waited until it was dark so that Miss Mouse would stop pleading with her to leave the poor tooth alone. After we got the bleeding under control, which didn't take nearly as long as I remember it taking with Miss Mouse, she proudly told her Daddy that, "I'm working my way to being a bunny!!!"  By that she means that she is so very excited to have her top middle two permanent teeth fully in and to be missing the ones on either side of the top middles. When Miss Mouse had that arrangement, I teased that she looked like an adorable little bunny (it happened to be over Halloween, and I begged her to be a bunny). Miss Mouse was never amused with my antics, so I didn't push them. But Sunny decided then and there that she DESPERATELY WANTED to be a "bunny". Tonight, her journey began.

And I still feel like crying. My baby girl is growing so, so fast. I'm so thankful for all my children's growth and stages and development. But it's fast. So very fast.

God, the Great and Powerful

 VBS last week had the theme of "God, the Great and Powerful".  I have many thoughts to process about it, all positive, but for now, I mostly just have time to share some photos. Enjoy!

Even the Tin Man needs to have supper!

Starting him young. The girls said they could hear Mighty Mouse pounding with "Daddy's ax" while they were travelling between stations. He's a strong little guy!

It made my night that I had my camera along and a friend available to watch my stroller-full-of-boys so that I could get this photo!  Find Mike in his Tin Man glory; then look to his left (the right of the photo). He had seen Sunny looking very serious as he was walking up on stage, so he asked her if she'd like to go with him or stay with her class. She didn't even hesitate to say she wanted to go up on stage.

Showing off their moves.

Daddy/Daughter high-fives.

The girls with the Scarecrow. Pastor Kevan as the Scarecrow needing a brain had the focus the first night of VBS. His video segment was so well done with Kevan looking so incredibly forlorn and sad that I was a little afraid the girls were going to burst into tears. They did great, though. Apparently nothing is now scary after their nasty mother forced them to watch the actual movie version of The Wizard of Oz. I guess that's a good thing.....

Girls with Tin Man Daddy.

They were asked who their favorite character was, with the caveat that they had to think of all the characters and not just pick the Tin Man because he was their daddy, and they answered unwaveringly "the Tin Man". I don't think they were alone in this favoritism because Mike had to turn away several art projects (they were suncatcher hearts.....for the Tin Man....get it? They made heart suncatchers in honor of the Tin Man finding his ability to care about and for others on Tuesday night) from little girls who thought they should give him their hearts. One little girl was particularly determined, so we have her suncatcher hanging with our girls' in the window. "Olivia loves the Tin Man" is written several times on it, and no way, no how would she allow Mike to give it back to her. I've never seen so many young women throwing themselves at my husband! If any of them had been over 12, I think I might have gotten a bit jealous! Honestly, I was just really proud to be married to the Tin Man. I always did have a crush on the Tin Man in the movie.

The girls with Dorothy. "Dorothy" is actually on sabbatical this summer and just came out of hiding for VBS. She did a great job, and it was fun to get to visit at least a little bit since visiting time with this friend is pretty limited (our families consist together of three full-time pastors and six children.....time for getting together doesn't happen often at this point!). One evening last week, though, as she and Mike and I were sitting together while Mighty ate his supper/snack, I did point out that our theological discussion was sort of an interesting one that I never thought I'd be having with the Tin Man and Dorothy.

This was the last night. The whole front of the sanctuary was really, in Kevan's words, "transformed into Oz".

They even brought out the confetti cannon. Mighty kept signing and saying "more, more, more!". 

Last, but not least, the girls needed their picture with the Lion. Mighty was quite sure Paul was a "kitty" and said, "meow! meow!". He was one big kitty! The Lion was perfectly cast as when he found his courage (by finding in the Bible that we are encouraged to "be strong and courageous"), he climbed a platform high above the stage and did a little dance to the instrumental beginning of "Eye of the Tiger". The pastors were perfectly - perfectly - cast into their characters.

Unfortunately, I did not get a photo of the girls with "Oz" himself. He had a spectacular costume the last night, too.

It took the entire weekend for the girls to settle down from the exhilarating "high" they were on from VBS. I'm so thankful for so many things in regard to this, but perhaps mostly that they were both, by the end of the week, jumping up and down with excitement about Jesus. Who would think any children of mine would feel free enough to do that???!! The greatest thing, too, is that they weren't bouncing with excitement because they HAD to or were required to or pressured to or anything like that. They were just feeding off the joy shown by the volunteers, their leaders, their pastors. Mike told me it took 200 volunteers/staff members to make the week work as smoothly as it did, which was very smoothly. Those 200 people came from all walks and stages of life; when I glanced around observing the leaders during opening worship each night, it was interesting to see the range of people. Miss Mouse's leader was a 16-year-old young man; Sunny's was a woman a bit older than I; there were grandpas, dads, moms, grandmas, teenagers, there was not an age group that wasn't represented.

And now, I have a fussy baby to attend. More on this and more photos from summertime fun to come another day!