home again, home again

jiggedy jig...

where there's a steady quiet

where the stars shine bright

where you can watch the moon's 180-degree path

where laundry hangs on the line

where 'regular' begins to return

where friends are only a knock away

where family is always there

where you must wipe hay out of the washer

where you hear a tail wag slapping on the garage step in the middle of the night

where you find a random cow hoof in your lawn

where Farmville has lost its luster

nature center

Earlier this week, we decided to check out the San Angelo Nature Center. It was interesting to see what animals they had in this miniature zoo.

One room was full of snakes. Most were rattlesnakes, but there was a case of boa constrictors and one with this black python. This disgusting python was several inches in diameter. The Plexiglas separating us from him just didn't seem sufficient.

a dip in the pond

We met a Kansas family! James and Katie and their three girls are from Meriden. They arrived in San Angelo a month ago for a six-month training. What a bummer that they weren't here the whole time we were. Last Saturday, we went to their house for supper (and to watch KU lose). What a great family! The kids hit it off real well.

Yesterday, Katie and I decided to go to the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts where kids can do free crafts on Thursdays. We did our crafts and went out back to play near a fountain and a small tiered waterfall/lily pad pond.

Now if you read my title, you can already guess what happened. And you can also probably guess whom it happened to. Katie and I were talking and chasing after their 1-year-old daughter, leaving the four older kids "fishing" in the tiny minnow pond with grass poles a few paces back from us.

Our conversation was interrupted with screams from the little girls. Carly was frantic as she yelled, "ISAAC FELL IN!" Isaac has made mistakes like this before, so I didn't go temporarily insane like I did the first time two years ago. However, my parental instincts kicked in as I dropped everything I carried and was there to rescue him within a second. He had fallen in feet first, so the top of his head was still dry - but still, it was 3 feet deep. The rescue probably could've been done without me having to join him in the fish pond, but it was easier for me to just jump in too. This time, he didn't cry; he just came out with a puzzled look on his face and said, "I was kicking my feet! I was!" I guess he didn't understand why this wouldn't have helped him stay afloat.

When it was all said and done, Isaac and I both shlopped back to the car, leaving a drip trail everywhere we walked. The whole scenario was somewhat funny, but the more I think about it, the scarier it gets. Praise God for protection!!

crazy love, pt4

The last of Crazy Love...

I can finally say now that I recommend this book. My reviews on this blog didn't do it justice. Chan writes in the last chapter, "By now you're probably wondering, What in the world does this mean for me?" He reminds us that the first church responded with action: repentance, baptism, selling possessions, and sharing the gospel. "We respond with words like Amen, Convicting sermon, Great book... and then are paralyzed as we try to decipher what God wants of our lives." Chan challenges us to hold nothing back, putting every hope in God's fidelity to His promises. Our purpose is to serve a holy God and to love.

Yesterday, the kids and I went to Cartown Hyundai to get our Trailblazer serviced. (This is the dealership where we bought the car.) While we were waiting, I read the last chapter of Crazy Love. I remember thinking that it would surely be an interesting conversation should someone see this book and inquire about what I was reading. I thought to myself, I could even give this book to the person if they asked about it. But nah, I want to keep it. It was really good, and I would love to read it again some day. So, in the back of my mind, I had selfishly decided that this book was all mine.

I finished the book, and the kids started getting restless. After a bag of M&Ms and a couple stories, they told us our car was ready. I payed and we left. When we got back to our apartment, I realized I had forgotten my book. It was still sitting on the table at Cartown. A part of me wanted to go back and get it, but I don't think I will. People don't typically chuck out books, do they? For $10, maybe, just maybe someone will pick it up and read it. Isn't it great how God works? And isn't it funny that just a couple weeks ago, we'd bought a second copy of the book with the intention of giving it to someone? Maybe we still will. Or maybe this second copy can be ours. Or maybe we'll leave it somewhere accidentally.

getting out the tubs

We've been counting down for weeks, and the chain is down to 11 links. Time seems to be standing still, yet the weeks go by quickly. Now that doesn't make sense, but it's true.

Little by little, I've been clearing the walls, packing boxes, weeding out junk. I'm torn. We all want to go home so bad. Responsibilities await. But part of me is filled with guilt for leaving Jared down here alone for the 3 weeks following Thanksgiving. That's the biggest con of leaving now.

Over the past 3 weeks, I've gotten to know our neighbor girl who lives on the second floor across the sidewalk. Giovanna's a girl from Colombia who speaks very broken English. She just had a baby girl three months ago. What she said the other day made me realize the second biggest con of leaving. "We just find a gut neighbor, and here you will have to leave." Jared and I knew this would happen; we knew relationships would just be beginning as we had to leave.

And the one con that has us humbled the most is the fact that our San Angelo church people put time and effort into loving us and investing in us. At times I'm sure it seemed pointless for them. What would they get out of it? Eternal rewards. So it wasn't all for nothing.

Despite the cons, we ARE looking forward to:

• seeing you
• returning to "normal" life, whatever that is
• listening to Casey's sermons in person and being a physical part of our church, rather than just hearing the laughter, good times, and trains through an mp3 file
• chopping wood
• seeing Lucy, as annoying as she can be
• doing chores
• having the freedom to walk outside where there are endless possibilities of things to do. I guess there are endless possibilities outside our front door here too, but they're not the same.
• not having to listen to "I wanna go home!" several times a day now. (We've resorted to telling the kids to hop on their trikes and bikes and start out. We'll catch up with them in a few days.)

The list could go on, but I've got some things to put in the blue tubs.

flu shots

Flu shots are free for military families, but we'd been putting it off. I didn't want to deal with the terror and wailing that typically accompanies the shot. The kids despise them with a passion. After each flu shot, Carly is so mad, she refuses to take the measly sticker the nurse offers her, and she stomps out the door, whimpering (that's after the wailing has stopped).

Last week, I told the kids the ever-dreaded news. "Kids, we need to go get our flu shots." The whining started. In an attempt to start comforting the kids before we even left the apartment, I told them that maybe we'd be lucky this time and get the flu mist squirted up our noses instead of the shot, because that's what they give Daddy. Carly started getting a belly-ache from worry. I stuffed my pockets with Smarties for a post-shot prize.

We drove to the clinic on base. Carly desperately tried to fall asleep on the way, thinking this would make her exempt. Isaac did the same. When we got to the pediatric wing, Carly's expression was grim. When they called us in, she walked slow almost protesting. As soon as the nurse told us we would be getting the flu mist, relief flooded over Carly's face. She didn't have a clue what the flu mist even was, but SURELY it was better than the shot.

All went well. And this time, Carly even picked out a sticker.

images

The kids decided they wanted their own homemade costumes. Daddy dressed Carly, and Mommy dressed Isaac.

New news from the Hartter household: Carly can ride a bike. She told us she'd try without training wheels when she was 5. A few days after her birthday, we asked her if she wanted to try riding with the training wheels off. She said, "No." Isaac exclaimed, "I DO!!!" even though there's not a chance in the world he could balance. This response from him challenged Carly a bit. She said she'd try. We took off the wheels and off she went.

kid stories

A treasure I found today is a story Carly told me when she was 3 years old. I had written it down word-for-word.

Once upon a time, there was Suzy and Lucy and Mary and they had some mommies. Mimi and Doo-Doo, their mommies could be. They fighted over the toys and so Doo-Doo and Mimi said, "Little girls, we have to put them in time out," said Doo-Doo and Mimi to the little kids. They fighted over the crayons and the pencils, and so Doo-Doo and Mimi said, "We have to put the pencils and crayons in time out." And then they went with the stroller to the park because maybe they have a white stroller just like these two white pencils. They played on the playground. Then they went to their house and went to bed. You know, they all have nightgowns to wear to bed. Lucy and Mimi and Suzy and Mary and Doo-Doo - they all have nightgowns. The End.

I wondered how Isaac's storytelling might compare, so here's the story he told Carly and I tonight:

Once upon a time there was a house and some people and there was a book right on a roof of their house. Then, there was a train coming on the top of the roof and it wrecked on top of the roof. Then it went home, but soon a hotdog come walking on the street and an icecream and some cake. There was a lizard and a smiley-face and then a orange paper comed, and a blue paper comed. They comed on the roof, but they were a long ways from home. And there was a . . . . (Mommy stopped recording because Isaac started getting silly.) And that was all that comed. The End.

long-lost lists

We did some cleaning and weeding out today. I was so excited to find two long-lost lists. Here are links to them.

50 activities to do with your kids

100 ways to love your husband his way