on humility

I had just traced Jackson's body (each week after learning about a part of the body at the co-op, he'll bring home a new organ to paste on this body), he excitedly hops up, examines it, and exclaims,

"Awesome! It looks like Samson!"

Prayer Request and Praise

Prayer Request:

As you may or may not have heard, the Gulf Coast is bracing for Hurricane Gustav.  Everyone here is talking about how remarkably similar this hurricane is to Katrina.  We are in the process of stocking up on gas, batteries, nonperishables, ice, etc.  The storm is supposed to make land-fall on Tuesday.  Please keep us and, more importantly, those closer to the coast in your prayers over the next few days.  After Katrina, Jackson was without power for 8 days...

That being said... Ah-hem...

Praise:

WE. SOLD. OUR. HOUSE.  

This time for real!  The offer was made last week, but we didn't want to say anything because of how our last offer turned out.  However, this buyer wanted to close by Aug. 29th, which, if you'll notice is TODAY!  We signed all the paperwork yesteryday, the buyer signed yesterday, and we're just waiting for the lending agency to release financing which will either be today or Tuesday.  Thanks for all your many prayers for us through all this.  Now if only we can keep our Jackson house from the storm damage...

Summer Play Date

I figure that most of the 5 people that check this blog remember Tonya Horner (now Redman), and would appreciate seeing her cute kids. Tonya, Carson, & Luke came over one morning this August to play in the pool with us. . .

I include this one b/c it shows Harry's default for comfort, sucking his thumb and rubbing his soft skin:

Here's Harry hoping that if he sucks it in, nobody will notice that he's a little pudgy:

Jackson, Harry, Luke, & Carson:

Jacksonlocutions: Moral Pedagogy Edition

*****Scenario 1 by Ruthie:

This morning after a discussion about sin and forgiveness, Jackson offered an example.

Jackson: "Like if I take someone else's watergun and hide it in my house."

Ruthie: "Exactly right. That would be a sin. When you sin, you want to tell Mama and Daddy, and then we'll ask God for forgiveness. Then we'll take the watergun to the owner and apologize. And God forgives you and forgets all about your sin. And you'll feel better!"

Jackson: "And you will have clothes."

(I'm assuming this had something to do with Adam & Eve?)

*****Scenario 2 by Matthew:

Driving back from the Spa to Austin, Jackson asked me to tell him a story. He was very talkative and somehow got us into a conversation about the differences between true and pretend stories, pretend stories and lies. He knew that all the stories in the Bible were true, but was a little confused as to why: "The story about Noah is true because he was nice to the animals."

So brilliant moral tutor that I am, I seized the opportunity to clarify with a simple hypothetical: What if Daddy had a hamburger for lunch, but I told someone I had eaten carrots for lunch. If I did this without wanting the person to really believe that I had eaten carrots, it might be a story or a joke. But if I wanted the person to really think I'd eaten carrots, that would be a lie, since I had actually had a hamburger. Does that make sense? "Yeah, Daddy, and if you eat potatoes that will be true because potatoes are good for you."

Anyone having difficulty teaching these concepts, just send the kids to us for a few days.

*****Scenario 3: Addendum by Matthew

Undaunted by confusion and failure, moral instruction continues apace. Tonight at dinner, as Ruthie placed Jackson's plate in front of him:

Jackson: Ewwww.

Ruthie: Jackson, if you can't say something nice about your dinner, don't say anything.

Jackson (immediately): That's a lovely dinner, Mama.

*****Scenario 4: Addendum by Ruthie

(one last add-on before we post! this post could go on and on, as this type thing is every hour)

Jackson (after seeing Harry's preschool co-op craft): "Wow! Harry did that all by himself?"

Ruthie: "Well, Mrs. Shuffield helped him; he squirted the glue."

Jackson to Harry (hugging him): "Good job, Harry! That's great!"

Ruthie (proud of this display of brotherly affection and pride): "Jackson, that's so kind how you're loving your brother."

Jackson (to himself, as he walks out of the room, w/ smug tone): "Harry did that, but I can do more better."

Sweet William

This picture was taken by our friend, Mel Moody, this weekend in Tulsa, OK, at Maranda's wedding.  The bride was right nearby, but who cares about the bride--look at this cute kid!  Will is 3 months old.

Mama, It was hot.

The first weekend in August our friends the Thomsens came to visit Hot Springs from Dallas. Their oldest, Abigail (8) is really into rocks, so their plan was to visit Crater of Diamonds State Park. Christy and I decided to stay at home (thank God!) with Bethie (2) and Harry, so Matthew, Marc, Abigail, Sarah (7), and Jackson worked all morning preparing to go. They left the house about 12:30, getting them to the park about 2.

Okay - 2:00. August in Arkansas. Predicted to be 106 that day. Matthew said they got to the park excited, paid, made the trek across the baked earth (he said it felt like the movies, walking across a desert), unloaded all their stuff (and they had stuff - picks, rope, a tent, etc.), and then the kids announced they had to go to the bathroom. After having just gone. So they made the trek back and then back again, and then after digging around for about 15 minutes (actually, it was more Marc & Matthew digging, as it hadn't rained in awhile, so the earth was too hard for the kids to get through), the kids asked to go home. That was fine with the fathers, so home they came. Upon return, the girls said they had fun, but never want to do it again. :) Jackson just said, "Mama, It was hot."

Abigail made this sign to stake her claim:
On the way out, Matthew looked back for Jackson, but didn't see him. Turns out he'd found his own fun at this mine:


By the way, Christy and I had a fabulous air-conditioned day making dinner, talking, napping when the toddlers napped. Thank you, Marc & Matthew, for your heroism in fatherhood. You are truly diamonds in the rough (!). Oh, and by the way, 3 diamonds were found that day, one bigger than a half carat. Sigh. . .

It was a Happy Birthday to me

Thanks, everyone, for your birthday wishes! I had a great day. We're now back in Austin, we've started our preschool co-op, & Matthew's been to Michigan and back, so real life has begun again.

Missing Uncle Josh

I was washing Sophie's hair in the bath and she began demonstrating Uncle Josh's hair-washing technique, declaring, "He does it the betterest!" We miss you here in Flagstaff, Uncle Josh.

Don't drive over 4 m.p.h. in the rain....

As some of you have heard, I got myself into a one-car accident on Sunday morning as I was headed back to the Spa from a friend's house in Little Rock. So, here's the scoop. I was driving in the rain down a long and winding road toward I-430, when I came upon a sharp left curve headed downhill followed by a sharp right curve. The speed limit dropped just before I reached the left curve, so I started braking, then kept braking as I traveled down the hill. As I started to make the right turn, Phoebe (my car) began to skid, and, like an idiot, I pressed harder on my brakes. I've hydroplaned before for a second or two, but my tires have always gripped the road again. Unfortunately, because of the state of my tires (not too old but certainly not new), the rain, the angle/slope of the turn, and my idiocy in not driving well below the speed limit under those conditions, Phoebe slid across the road, first into the other lane (the only oncoming car was close enough to see the accident but not close enough to be involved, thank Heaven) and then off the road, down a rock embankment, and into the ditch, rolling onto the driver's side:

The driver's window shattered, and the glass caused some minor cuts in my left arm, but otherwise I was injury-free. I wasn't even been jarred very much -- I've had some muscle soreness the last couple of days, but it is gone today (without even the need for aspirin or other hard drugs). Knowing I wasn't injured and considering I couldn't remember the name of the road I was on, I grabbed my phone to call my friend Katie (since I had just left her sister's house 5 minutes earlier). She answered, and before I could say anything, I heard someone say, "Are you OK?" from outside the car. Being in a bit of a daze, I responded with, "Just a minute -- I'm on the phone." (I realize now I must have sounded like a lunatic.) Then I told Katie, "I've been in an accident, but I'll have to call you back" and hung up on her (another daze-inspired moment). A guy about my age (who, with his girlfriend, had been in the single oncoming car and had stopped at the scene) crawled into the ditch onto the car and opened the passenger door. I had been nervous to move, because I didn't want to cause Phoebe to roll over any farther, but he assured me that she was wedged into the ditch and wouldn't budge. I climbed out the passenger door and sat on top of the car for a minute to catch my breath, but not before I made sure to collect my essential personal belongings (my giant purse, iPod, etc.) to hand to Daniel, who handed them up to his understandably confused girlfriend, Sarah, who was standing on the side of the road. As Sarah had already called 911, I called Katie back to tell her specifically where I was and "to drive extremely slowly around the curve by the church, for crying out loud", then I called the Rakhshans to let them know I wouldn't be able to stay with their dog all day (note: clearly I deal with trauma through organization). I was still sitting on top of my car at this point, calmly chatting on the phone, which must have looked fairly ridiculous to the passers-by, all of whom stopped to make sure I was alright. I then climbed up the rocks back to the road just as the police and ambulance arrived. The EMTs cleaned up my arm, and one of them told me that mine was "about the 900th car we've had to come deal with on this curve". And later, while we were waiting for the wrecker and the sheriff deputies had positioned their squad cars on either side of Phoebe in order to caution traffic, a car came down the hill, saw the flashing lights, hit their brakes, and started skidding down the hill, just as I had. Fortunately, they were able to stop, and after they safely passed, a sheriff deputy said to me, "You know, this is most dangerous spot in the county." I fought the urge to reply, "You think? Hmmm, I hadn't noticed." I also fought the urge to reply sarcastically when the officer ticketed me for "allowing my vehicle to careen off the road"... as though that were something I had just been trying out for fun.

While I was watching my car being towed out of the ditch, my friend Katie remarked how lucky I was to be unhurt, and I immediately thought of my maternal grandmother, Lorain. As some of you know, she passed away last Monday, August 4. As an adult, she memorized Psalm 91 and would kneel by her bed every morning to pray and repeat that chapter as protection for her family, friends, and even people she had just met on the street. During my childhood, when I would visit my grandparents in Camden, I would pray with her each morning, and eventually I learned the scripture by heart, too (from the NIV, which begins "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty"). Last Sunday, when Cynthia and I received a call that her condition was rapidly deteriorating (after having Alzheimer's for about the last five years, which had left her completely bedridden and mostly incoherent the last year or so), my aunt put the phone to her ear, and I recited Psalm 91 to her. I didn't hear a response (which was not unusual), but I like to believe she heard it. Throughout the last week, the Edwards family and I repeated those words a number of times, and I am certain that the power of that scripture, prayed over me countless times by my grandmother, as well as so many others' prayers of protection, kept me safe Sunday morning (and numerous other times, I'm sure).

So, aside from being saddled with exorbitant towing fees, Phoebe and I made it safely back to the Spa on Monday. (Homer and Karen were great about it -- not only did they help with the cost, Dad found a local wrecker to tow the car back to Hot Springs and arranged to leave her at his buddy Tim Parker's dealership until I can decide what to do.) We went to check her out yesterday, and she's running just fine. (Hurrah for Hondas!) However, the body work will cost at least twice the value of the car, so I'll probably be saying adios to Phoebe and selling her for usable parts. We had ten good, accident-free years together (since I was 16!), and while I had hoped for at least five more, I suppose I'll (reluctantly) be willing to let her go.

Sorry to ramble, but posting this has been somewhat cathartic (hello, imminent blogging addiction), and I guess it's good to have the experience documented (other than in a police accident report). And it serves as a memorial of sorts for dear ol' Pheebes. Who knows...maybe I'll get to drive her again, all shiny and new, in Heaven. And as for Lorain, I can rest peacefully knowing that she is most assuredly all shiny and new again, and, as Cynthia wrote in her eulogy, "with her valiant Albert in his fishing boat in the River of Life flowing from the Throne of God...."

P.S. I've decided I'll be taking over the daily Psalm 91 recitation (since I'm the only one in my mom's family who ever learned it), so if you feel particularly safe and secure over the next few weeks, that's be the reason. :)

-Susannah

Preschool Poetry

Before I send this package off I want to capture my sweet boy's words at 3 3/4 yrs. old.

Jackson at breakfast this morning said he wanted to send Sophie a present, so we found a book and he made an "envelope" (the hot cereal packaging cut into many jagged pieces). He drew a picture on the back, which he described this way:

"A house dragon with steel knives. To capture bad guys and goblins and all of their weapons and all of their pirate ships. With steel chains and flaming fire out of the water with sharks and whales. In the forest of the bears and the foxes. All in the deep, dark cave. All of the foxes and their whole family. They scare people and run away to a different country and meet other people."

I asked, "Do you want to say something to Sophie?"

He continued the dictation with:

"Thank you, Sophie. I love you very much and I'll come to your house one day when you're awake and it's raining and the trees are beautiful, from the beautiful leaves. Bye, Sophie; I love you."

Sophie Sings

She was strolling through the house the other day singing, "Be careful little eyes that you see..." The wisdom of her variation struck me. That you see: God's love for you, His character, His wisdom, His blessings, the beauty of His creation, the people around you who need to see those things, too...out of the mouths of three-year-olds, hm?
I think I'll sing it like that from now on...

Meme Update

Dear fam,

I am sitting here with Meme, who requested that I post an update on her health (pursuant to Big Bill's orders), and she wants to pass along the following information:

1. She is feeling much better (to the point where we have resumed our Sunday tradition of church and brunch).

2. She so enjoyed her time at the farm with Matthew, Ruthie and the boys (oh, and Bill and Sarah, too).

3. Ruthie singlehandedly nursed Meme back to health with her incredibly tasty homemade bread.

4. Finally, she thanks you for your prayers, which will allow her to live happily ever after.

Sincerely,

Susannah J. Wright