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I can’t stop laughing about this one!

Tim and I were in the kitchen reviewing our day with each other, and Tyson was on the couch, giving us a play by play of the Mariner game. We were trying to respond to him with, “That’s great, bud. I’m glad they got the guy out,” and such, but pretty much we were ignoring him and having our own conversation. At one point Tim told me that he drove by a new bikini coffee shop near our old house today. I was saying that I just don’t get that and yuck. I asked Tim if he had heard of the naked one in Seattle? And he said yeah, and that there were a lot of people at this one he saw today and yada yada yada.

And so here is what Tyson said:

I think that was a fast ball or a curve ball or maybe a slider. And did you know that that yellow diamond means someone is on first base? Oh wow! Now Ichiro is on second base! He’s on second! Ichiro’s on second! I think the Mariners are going to win! The game is tied and there’s two balls and one strike and WHY would people be naked in Seattle when there’s a baseball game on??!!??

I love it!!!

This one is pretty sad! Why wouldn’t she just come get me? I could have helped her get her pants back on and snuggled her back in bed. But instead she decided to camp out on the bathroom floor??!

I think she’s been there a few hours because I vaguely remember hearing some noises while I was sleeping and I asked Tim a couple times, “What was that?” and he just rolled over and then I fell back asleep too! And now it’s about 6:30am and she went to bed kind of late so I don’t want to risk waking her up for the day when she would normally sleep another hour or so. But is that really mean of me to just leave her like that while I sit here and tell you all about it?? AH!

[Update: At 7:25am, Kate came and found me with her pants in her hand, smiled, gave me a big good morning hug, and told me proudly, "I peed in the potty!" She didn't mention anything about sleeping on the floor or waking up there... She's so funny!]

Here’s how we found Kate last night:

Tim thinks she might be sleepwalking, but I still think she’s just trying to be sneaky. :)

And also, she won’t let me rock her anymore! For two and a half years, we’ve had this sweet little bedtime routine of reading books and singing in the rocking chair before she goes to sleep, and now she just wants to lay in her bed! She still wants me to stay with her and we usually read a couple books and sing and pray, so it’s nice. But it’s a little sad that she’s decided to be a big girl all of a sudden!

Here are some more pictures of other stuff:

We’ve been having lots of fun at baseball games lately! Tyson is living it up.

Here he is practicing with the team:

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A mom of one of the players told me that my kids aren’t going to have a life because they’re always at the baseball field. After my initial annoyance at her comment, I just said, “But this is their life and they love it!” and it’s true. We have so much fun hanging out at games and living an on-the-go life. The players are all so sweet with Tyson, and Kate and I have lots of fun too.

And it’s not like we don’t do anything else! We’ve had a great summer so far playing with friends and family and just being at home (and church) too.

So anyways, we’re happy, busy, and healthy (well, except for my stinking sinuses). Things are good!

Dear Jesus,

Please help all the animal sicknesses get better.

And please help all the people sicknesses get better.

Thank you for our neighbors. They’re very nice.

Thank you for my family.

And just thank you for everything.

Thank you for me.

And thank you for Edgar. He’s the best ever cat.

Amen.

It’s been a while since I’ve been on my blog! I did write a nice long post about my dad for Father’s Day and when I went to publish it, only half of it showed up, and no pictures. So I deleted it. It made me so mad that I couldn’t come back to my blog for a while! So finally today I am trying to give it another try and already, it’s being weird and not letting me get pictures on normally. AH!

Anyways, things have been really busy for our little family lately! We’ve had way too much going on, but it’s been fun. Tim’s coaching summer baseball and summer basketball, and is also teaching Driver’s Ed right now. And he’s spending every spare moment working on our fence with our neighbors. I’ve had lots of (much more fun) stuff going on with friends and church. So the kids are getting to spend lots of quality time with the grandparents and also some of their friends, and we’ve been going to tons of games that Tim coaches too.

Here’s some of my fun with friends - Erin is getting married on July 5th! Yay! So we had a super fun bachelerotte weekend in Pacific City!

The fun church stuff I mentioned is that I’ve been getting to spend lots of time sitting at my computer for hours on end! Just kidding. Kinda. We promoted all the kids to the next grade, so I did get to do some good database maneuvers. :) And I really do like that. But that’s not what was so fun - the great stuff is that we’ve launched some new things with our elementary programs that I just love! It’s been a lot of planning and prep and praying, but it totally came together! Not perfectly, of course, but it was SO COOL to see so many details come together, some new volunteers that are so excited in their spots, and a whole bunch of kids singing and praising and having fun and getting excited about Jesus! www.252basics.com- check it out!! It’s good stuff. And when you add that to the other good stuff that was already happening, and the INCREDIBLE team of Children’s Ministry volunteers we have, it’s just really really exciting! :) I think I have the coolest job ever.

So that’s it! Happy summer!!

I mentioned in the last post about Kate sneaking out of bed and eating cookies. Well, this is how we found her a few nights ago. We tucked in the kids and went downstairs to watch a little TV. An hour or so later, we got off the couch to go upstairs and found her like this. Of course we had to turn on the lights so we could both take pictures - Tim put one on his phone to laugh at, and I knew mine would go on the blog. You may also notice that she put on her new favorite tank top over her PJ’s…

She is such a sneaky little girl! She’ll happily get in her big girl bed and give us hugs and say good night and snuggle under her blankets. And then she’ll wait until it’s quiet, and sneak out! This is not boding well for the teenage years!!!! We’ve found her on the stairs a few times (usually on the landing in the middle though, and not like this!), in our room, next to the bookshelf (it looks like she passed by the books before camping out on the stairs this time too), in the hallway, in a little play tent we had up for a while, and hidden under the covers in our bed. Luckily, she stays asleep when we scoop her up and put her back in her bed. So it’s more funny that problematic… so far anyway!

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Somehow we were the first ones to arrive [that never happens] at my niece’s birthday dinner last weekend, and we had a little time to spare while we were waiting for the rest of the crew and our table. So I busted out a fun game that I learned from Amy Ginther’s blog where you make funny faces in your camera to pass the time in the restaurant waiting situation. Amy will probably be real excited that I linked to her “meet the crazies” post. :) Anyways, Tyson loved the game, but Kate wasn’t in the mood, and then our buzzer for the table went off before it was my turn. Oh well!

We ended up having a great evening! Here are some pics of my dad and his biggest fans. :)

Happy 3rd birthday, Taylor!!

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We had Jada over today, and she and Kate had a blast together. If you can’t tell who’s who, Kate is the one with her shirt on backwards and Jada is the pretty princess. :)

They’re just two months apart in age, and it’s so fun to watch their little interactions and games they make up. Today they were ignoring Tyson’s very serious attempts to shoot hoops, by running circles around him and then looking for spiders. I recorded a little of the fun - I’ll try to post it on here, but no guarantees!

We just got back from a two-day trip to the beach and it was wonderful!!! We had nothing planned except for attending the 45 minute presentation that was required to be granted this free trip. :) And that was even fun because they had lots of kid toys and books to keep Tyson and Kate entertained while Tim and I smiled and nodded and eventually said no to what they were selling.

Anyways, I just have to say that I love my little family more than the whole wide world! It was so nice to have 48 hours devoted to just being together. We went swimming a ton, went out to eat, walked and played on the beach, and just enjoyed each other’s company. Poor Tim got really sick the first night, but he recovered quickly. He thinks it may have been all the cookie dough he ate before we left… :)

Here’s a fun story from night #2: We put the kids to bed, and had been watching TV for about an hour. But then Kate comes into our room and asks me for a cup of water. I turn to look at her to tell her to go back to bed and notice that her face is covered in chocolate! The little stinker had snuck into the kitchen, climbed up on the bar stool and had been eating who knows how many cookies off the counter! So I picked up my crazy girl and put her back to bed, trying to be serious when I really just wanted to laugh at how funny she is. :)

At the risk of sounding like a big cheeseball… I keep looking at these pictures and my eyes get all watery. My kids are so fun and so sweet and so smart and so cute! And Tim is the most amazing husband and dad ever. Seriously, I’m so lucky/blessed/happy/thankful… :)

At the first session of the Orange Conference, Reggie Joiner talked about the Prodigal Son story (Luke 15). He reminded us of the younger son who wasted his inheritance and had to humbly go back home. His loving father welcomed him with open arms and was so excited and threw a big party for him. Everyone was happy and celebrating except for the older brother, who was annoyed that the loving father seemed to just look past the sin of the younger brother.

So he went on to compare the Loving Father’s mindset with the Older Brother’s mindset, and made the statement that many of us have experienced Older Brother churches, where people are preoccupied with themselves, operating from a context of shame and guilt, and critical of others. They focus on rules and living perfectly and expecting everyone else to live perfectly too. A Loving Father church, on the other hand, is preoccupied with whoever is missing (the people they’re going to reach); they operate from a context of forgiveness, and they are full of joy.

I was reminded of this whole thing this morning when I was reading in Isaiah. The few chapters I was reading kept saying woe to this city or that group of people, and one of the reasons was this:

Isaiah 29:13 - The Lord says, “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up of only rules taught by men.”

That seemed like the Older Brother church to me. And sadly, I know I’ve had that mindset sometimes too.

And then in Isaiah 30:18: Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him.

Loving Father!

So back to the session at Orange - Reggie challenged us to keep the Loving Father mindset in our ministries and in our families, and this concept has totally stuck with me. Jennifer and Susan and I kept reminding each other the whole time we were there: Loving Father, Loving Father. We would say it quietly to each other if any of us started getting critical. (Well, except that Susan never gets critical! She is one of the most positive people I’ve ever known!) We said “Loving Father” when there was a slow driver in front of us, and when the kids on the plane kept kicking our seats! It’s an easy little catch phrase that reminds us to love and forgive and have grace, because we are really all prodigals without Jesus.

He also asked, “What would have happened if when the prodigal came back, he had met the older brother first, instead of the loving father?” That stuck with me too - if someone comes into my church or into my home or circle of friends, and I judge them or am annoyed with them, how will they find Jesus in that? If I’m so consumed with how they look, or what they think on a particular issue, or whether or not they have a certain kind of lifestyle, I’m not helping them find the love and forgiveness and grace that Jesus wants to give them! I can either help them get to know Him better and sooner, or I can be a road block for them.

So the main point was that to make your church and your life different, accomplishing what God has asked you to do, you need to: Treat Every Prodigal In The Way A Loving Father Would Treat His Own Son.

So I’ve been trying to look at the kids and parents and volunteers that come through the doors at church as people that need to be loved, above all else. I’ve also tried to keep that in my mind as I’m interacting with my kids and my husband too. I don’t want to act like the critical older brother. I hope I will continue to be reminded of how important it is to be the loving father instead.

We have been consumed with baseball lately! Tyson is in heaven - a baseball uniform for his birthday that he wears every day, and the team Tim coaches is doing really well in the playoffs.

And P.S. I have the sweetest kids ever:

I was pretty grumpy yesterday for no reason really (except maybe the ugly rain that came after a few days of beautiful SUN!), and Tyson told me to “just think about the good things you have, Mommy. Don’t be sad!”

Then later, he came and gave me a big hug and said, “Mommy, I love you SO much!” It was really sweet.

And then today Kate kept giving me hugs too and one time she said, “Mommy, you’re my best girl.” It was so funny and so cute!

I can’t imagine life without my sweet little people!

So you know how Tyson has had an imaginary friend named Jack for over a year, who is a year older than him, and loves sports? He also runs fast and likes to race and isn’t taller than Tyson, even though he’s a year older.

Well, Jack became real tonight! We were out in the front yard, and were finally able to hang out with our neighbors across the street. Turns out that the cute little boy who we’ve seen and waved at for the past couple months JUST TURNED FIVE, was wearing a soccer uniform because he plays on a team and LOVES SPORTS. He is also NOT TALLER than Tyson and they spent the whole time playing catch or RACING down the sidewalk.

Seriously, it was a little eerie! But soooo sweet, because I think they’re going to be great friends. And I’m pretty sure Kate just thought this was the real Jack we talk about often but just happen to never see. She kept running by him and saying, “Hi Jack!” like he was her long lost friend too.

So do you think Tyson might be prophetic? We’ve all known he’s pretty spiritual! :)