Here is what happens when you allow your two year old to help you decorate Christmas eggs.

And what happens to my brain after decorating eggs:  I start calling them Christmas eggs.

Jedidiah, age four, is discovering the world and strikes "insterding" conversations with me and two year old Matheson:

 

Jedidiah:  Mama, do you have context?

Mama: What do you mean, context?

Jedidiah:  You know, in your eyes.

Mama:  Oh, contacts!

Jedidiah:  Yes, context!

Mama: Yes, I have contacts. Contacts help you see if your eyes are having a problem seeing. Do you have contacts?

Jedididah: No, my eyes are empty.

Mama:  Well, when you get bigger if you have a problem with being able to see, we will get you contacts.

Matheson (running from the other side of the room, in a loud exclamatory voice): I'm having a ploblem.

Mama:  What is your problem, Matheson? 

Matheson:  No, I not having a ploblem.

Me:  Okay good, you are not having a problem.

Matheson: No, I AM having a problem.

I Should Have Been a Football Player

Shortly after the Superbowl, this was written:

I think I would have fun being a football player.

Running across a field dodging people sounds like an enjoyable experience.  Then again, I am sure if I actually made a touchdown, I would probably turn around and apologize to my opponent and try to give them a chance at winning.  I guess you can say I do not have a competitive spirit. So besides running and dodging people for fun I probably would not make a good football player. Also, I am not athletic by any stretch of the imagination. I guess I will scratch pro football for any future goals. Too bad because I hear its lucrative.

Actually, I am not even sure what goes on in a football game, except for a few things:

People get crazy excited and cheer and yell and scream. They often eat potato chips with sour cream and onion dip.  Or, if you live in Oregon, they eat organic non-GMO corn chips and salsa with that contains no sugar or preservatives. (Personally, there is just something about greasy Plain potato chips and sour cream and onion dip that nothing can effectively replace.) I know the sound of football games brings back memories. They make me think of the childhood joy of lazy Sunday afternoons, listening to the wind in the trees, parrots squawking, (yes you heard me right parrots) and of course, the calming sound of a football game. And the sound of my father yelling at the screen while he haphazardly irons his blue work shirt. I can still smell the smell of cornstarch.

I also know that college, football caused many people use the opportunity to come together and throw burgers on a grill and just have a lot of fun. And caused some people to drink way too much and do stupid things.  I remember the smell of barbecue permeating the air everywhere you went on a game day, and everyone was happy.

And, now in my life, there are no parrots, and no windy days. No one is outside trying to barbecue this time of year. (Okay, besides us). And we don't have cable television. So the only chance I will be exposed to football is if I am invited to a Superbowl party.

This is what I do while I watched the Superbowl party:  I notice things like how ridiculous HD television makes everything look because the colors are over saturated. I notice how graceful manly ball players can look in slow motion, and that my son is covered with processed cheese dip and has crumbs of chips glued all over himself. (This was his first time eating processed cheese food, I will record this in his baby book) And I notice the goofy faces people make, and I think about things like: "Does winning a football game really bring people all the happiness in the world they are looking for?" 

I also notice half time. How could I not notice it?  I probably could hear it and see it from across the country, if I listened and looked hard enough. Probably, half time should be more appropriately labeled a competition. A competition to see if this year could possibly outdo last year's sensational experience.  I just have a question..... I am not sure how much more sensational it can get before it just turns into an explosion, which probably no one would appreciate.  I reminisced back on an episode of the Simpsons where  Homer decided to create a half time show at the Superbowl. He wound up doing a Noah's ark theme. What would happen if (SURPRISE!) the entire half time was  about the great flood?

Perhaps if I lived this life over again I would try to understand football. Maybe it could be fun to get excited for a team and have a thrill of watching them win, but then I would have to live with the disappointment of seeing them loose, and if they did win, then I would have to bear my sorrow for the other team who lost. For now, I think I will just sit back and enjoy making fun of the referee's sour faces......Is there even a referee in football?

Gabe Graduates!

It's February, but we are already in the process of celebrating Gabe graduating from High School. Gabe has been a part of of our lives since we began attending our church nearly five years ago. When we first began attending, he was still going up for the Children's message. I know it's cliche, but time really does fly.  And here he is getting ready to face the great big world as an adult. I feel very happy to have been a part of this memory in his life.  It also gives me an opportunity to reflect on my own life, as I remember my own graduation day, filled with all kinds of hopes and dreams for the future. I told Gabe to pick a place that is important to him and he chose his own yard, and he especially wanted a photo with his pet goats.

I

Love is

For Christmas, a friend gave me a really neat journal.  It has a question for every day of the year, and every day you and your husband write an answer to the question for three years.  January first, it asked us:  Love is_____________.

Now, this can be a very complicated question, but there was one blank. And only three short lines, so you have to basically write what is foremost on your mind.  The first thing that came to my mind was "love is a battlefield" by Pat Benatar. So thanks to this question, I have had this song in my head for two days now. But on the last line I tried to write something more serious....I said "Love is enduring hard work."

Isaiah's response was: "Love is having a romantic evening snuggling with my wife while watching a documentary about how National Parks were established, while having a two year old who won't go to sleep crawling all over us and biting our noses."

Luke and Kayun

The other night we had to bid farewell to these lovely people, who have walked alongside us for three years now at our Church. I am thankful for the memories we shared with them, including watching them be Mary and Joseph in our Christmas pageant (perhaps the first Japanese/Korean Mary and Joseph ever) and many long talks with Kayun about Art and Korean life. Kayun has helped out in the church Nursery and been so sweet to our little boys.  They are very loved by all of us and now we say goodbye as they are moving to the other side of the world.  Good bye Luke and Kayun you will be loved and missed!  

Uncle Isaac and his darling Bride

I apologize for the bold, ugly print at the top of this page.  I wanted to share these lovely photos before I had time to fix the header.  Here is Uncle Isaac and Elizabeth Jean on their wedding day in July.  I hope you enjoy this sneak preview that I should have shared with you months ago.