Catching Up

We've been doing our normal daily routine since I last posted, which somehow doesn't leave room for other activities like blogging. :) I've come to think that's an excellent thing, though - our home is full of life! Spring adds the additional fun of soccer season. Daniel is coaching both Shiloh's team and Adah's, Abigail's, and Jackson's team. He is one busy daddy since he is also Jackson's den leader! Shiloh wanted to play this year for the first time, and Daniel requested to be her coach. I put down on the sign-up form that the SECOND choice was for him to coach Adah's and Abigail's team. Well, the parks and rec organizer made him their coach as well. Originally, Jackson was on another team, but Daniel managed a brilliant move in transferring a younger boy who had no experience down to a team better suited to him and moving Jackson up so that we don't have to deal with three games every Saturday. They have all been having such a great time! The only sad thing is that the rain has been so heavy this spring that one set of games has already been cancelled because the fields were too wet. Abigail is already fretting that the games this Saturday will be cancelled. :) The first set of pictures comes from the kids' first practice when my mom visited. Adah and Abigail were wearing their jerseys from last year because they wanted to look like real soccer players. :) (It was freezing, but did Abigail want to wear her sweatshirt? Why, no, because that would cover up the jersey.) It's good to see Daniel in a teaching role, encouraging and challenging the kids to do their best. He also makes them run laps if they whine or backtalk his decisions about positions they will play. :) The parents back him up and have expressed their appreciation for his coaching, which is always nice for a wife to hear. :)

Mom, you are so weird. And yet my kids still like you. Because, clearly, they are weird also. Maybe Adah gets it from you. :)

Shiloh was so nervous before her first practice! She knew that some of the players on her team had been playing for 5 or 6 years by this time. She had no need to worry. Her natural athletic ability came out in force, and she is definitely contributing to the team. I just love to watch her run!!

No visit from Oma is complete without a trip across the street to Dunkin' Donuts. :)

The girls will love these action shots later in life. :)

First game day! There are no pictures of Shiloh playing because I completely forgot to take any pictures, and she took these of Abigail and Jackson (she got videos of Adah, who got a goal in the first game!) As I've already documented, I am very...um...involved when I cheer for the kids. I forget everything else. :)

We had a packed day the Saturday of the first games. Jackson had Pinewood Derby later that afternoon. He and Daniel created a Humvee from their car form, and it was painted camouflage. (Why do I not have pictures of this? I have no idea.) Jackson's car did okay for his first try...he was consistently getting second in each race and he thought he was going to win the second place trophy. I had to explain that the times were what mattered. A gentleman created the electric track that hooked up to a computer and automatically calculated the times and places for all the cars. I got to see first-hand once again the amazing difference that God has engineered between boys and girls. My girls were bored STIFF with the whole thing and really couldn't have cared less about the 8 rounds of 11 races (although they wanted to cheer on Jackson's car). The boys in the room, on the other hand, got wilder with each round and did not lose enthusiasm for the whole thing throughout the evening.

Jackson received more awards that evening. If you ever visit or talk to him on the phone, he will be able to tell you in great detail about everything he has earned and what he had to do to earn it. I am out of the loop on these things. :) I did, however, get to admire an orange neon poster he made on "GOOD MANNERS" and the hilarious drawings he made to accompany each of the admonitions about manners. Oh, my. I will need to keep it for posterity. Daniel and Jackson will be going to scout camp this summer, and I don't know who is the more excited of the two. :)

The boys eagerly wait for the first round. It did not remain this calm with the boys sitting quietly behind the rope. No, ma'am, it most certainly did not.

This is a random picture of Shiloh displaying her Masai necklace for a school project. In our last unit for Tapestry of Grace, we studied Africa. A friend's dad had just left for a medical mission in Sudan, so we got to connect what we were learning on paper with pictures he posted on Facebook...love it when that happens!

The next set of photos comes from our visit with Daniel's mom. She was here for her birthday, so we took a trip to the Virginia Museum of Fine Art in Richmond as part of the celebration. (It was our first road trip in "The Beast," our new 12-passenger van. She handled like a champ, but the parking will take some getting used to - especially in parking garages!) Below is one of my favorite paintings by an American artist named Charles Pearce. The photograph obviously doesn't do it justice, and it also doesn't show the size of the peace. It was almost as tall as I am. It was breathtaking. Daniel's mom said the visit inspired her to go home and pick up her paints again. She's quite a talented artist herself. Shiloh took the photographs. :) There are about 100 more of all the paintings, sculptures, and artifacts that she found interesting.

This piece was in the English silver room. We all decided on gifts that we would like to receive for wedding presents, and I believe this was Abigail's choice.

Later that evening we gave Daniel's mom a Houseworth-style birthday complete with a crown. She was a good sport to wear it during the festivities!! She requested chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, so I dug out my cake recipe with coffee in it and the chocolate buttercream frosting recipe. It was delish.

Shiloh had to take pictures of the games when Paula was here as well, because I was off to a ladies' tea at our sister church in Warrenton. The ladies of this congregation were taking up a love offering for our church because we're a new church, and they were so gracious to the two of us who represented our congregation. There is a chef in their congregation, and he blessed us with a LOVELY lunch while the young men of the congregation served the ladies at the table.

Daniel's mom bought us pizza that night for dinner, so I had a whole day of rest and renewal (and a quiet car ride home!). It's wonderful to have little breaks like that, especially as I enter into the last few weeks of our school year. I am asking for the Lord's help to end well with JOY in the midst of a busy season. We have so many things to look forward to in the near future that I don't want to forget to enjoy the time NOW. :)