Markings

My 4 year old son, Ryan, has recently taken up residence inside my journal. His name and other self-scripted words are appearing in various forms, on various pages as I thumb through looking for space to write. Each time I come across these marks of his penmanship I smile (okay – the first time I was actually slightly irritated), and remember him. I remember his joy at discovering he can form letters and make words. I have also found myself pausing and reflecting on his proximity to my – not just because we are in the same house – often times that is not the case – but because my 4 year old is with me in those moments, his marking is in my life, shaping who I am even now.

Before sitting down to write these thoughts today, I had been reading various Psalms. All of this got me thinking about how God takes us residence in my life – about the God markings scripted around me, waiting for me to notice them, waiting for me to remember the proximity of God – not because I can physically see Him – but because, as Psalm 139 reminds me, his markings are all over my life, shaping who I am now. Even though I may have moments where I want to, Psalm 139 reminds me, I can’t escape the presence of God in my life.

Have you seen God’s markings today? He wants you to!

Celebrating Karena

Today, my oldest daughter, Karena Grace, turns seven!! It amazes me how quickly time flies. It amazes me that I can still remember everything about my pregnancy, about the delivery, and about things that Karena has done over seven years.

In August of 2000, Ron and I moved from St. Catharines, Ontario back to the US, to Peoria, Illinois. After a week in Illinois, I was sick – not head cold sick – the kind of sick that has you begging for an end to come – the kind of sick that would last me way longer than I could ever imagine being sick. Of course, after years of infertility treatments and surgery, I thought what any normal person would think – “Yuck! I have the flu in August.” In October, after nearly eight weeks of being sick, some friends finally suggested a thought that had never crossed my mind – “Hey, maybe you are actually pregnant.” Sure enough, I was. Ron and I were excited to be parents, glad to have an answer to my out of control sickness, and thanking God for a miracle – a baby that many had written off.

May 17, 2001, Karena Grace, burst into our life – not just a miracle – a real blessing. Karena has taught us many things in seven years, we see ourselves differently – we have a totally different picture of what it means to be a child of God – a sense of awe and wonder for how God cares for his children has rocked our minds – we have been awakened to a greater appreciation for the arts – compassion and sensitivity has become a bigger part of our world. Being the first child, the first grandchild on both sides of our family, puts Karena – and all of us in a unique place. Ron and I are learning the art of parenting – and actually enjoying it, we’re not perfect parents, but we’re figuring it out. Our parents are enjoying the pleasures of “children you send home at the end of the day!”, and in a sense rediscovering the arts of genetics in a little life.

Karena, mommy and daddy love you! We love your always ready smile, we love your heart that extends itself from God to people everyday, we love your excitement for the simple things in life, we love to hear you create new songs of praise, we love to watch you express yourself in dance and artistic creations, we love to watch you catch caterpillars, frogs, and things moving.

KARENA, WE LOVE YOU BECAUSE YOU ARE YOU – CREATED IN LOVE – A TRUE MIRACLE OF GOD!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KARENA!!

Ry-magination

My three year old son, Ryan, does not have an imaginary friend as other children do.  However, he has a fondness for imagination with food and body parts. His food often takes on human qualities, and his body parts have often been known to take on food like qualities. This keeps everyone in our immediate family entertained, those who come in from the outside might not easily understand as much. A few Ry-maginations from the last little while go like this:

Two M&M’s look with fondness at each other, hop along my table, run across the back of my dining chair and then engage in the following conversation:

M&M 1 “My Name is M”
M&M 2 “That’s funny my name is M”
M&M 1 “Hey, let’s go have some fun together”
M&M 2 “Yeah! Let’s hop into Ryan’s mouth and we can play together”

What a delighted child with two M&M’s playing in his mouth!!

After a dinner of spaghetti and meatballs:

Ryan took off running to the bathroom. Never one to plan ahead, he has to go badly at this point. Almost as quickly as he has left the table, he runs back announcing that his “penis” has spaghetti in it. What we weren’t expecting was a naked boy, showing off the veins running through his penis, that he was thoroughly convinced represented spaghetti. Our oldest, Karena remarked, “Ryan, those are parts you should never be showing us, especially when we are trying to eat!”

Never a dull moment with children!