Thank you, Aunt Amy and everybody for talking to Emily!

Ethan has a lot of reading for the program he is in and we didn't realize it until this late in the game. Now is the shuffle to find these books and get him reading them, before it is too late for him to complete the task.

We've got some summer skill builders for the Middleschool young man who is blossoming and we are still deciding whether to contest the decision for him not to go to Fries school in the fall. He is our baby and I think we want him close to home, maybe? I am not so sure the travel will do him good. The question on our hearts for him is how to occupy him with things other than videogames? Does anybody else have this dilemma? If I turn my back for a second he is on the Wii or the DS or the computer watching and watching and watching something or other. It isn't all bad, but I am concerned at the tremendous amount of time and attention to those things.

I finally, {after some badgering} got to watch the "Lego Movie". I enjoyed that fast-paced movie! I was at home on my couch and I felt like I was going to fall out of my seat, it was so fast. The graphics were meticulous and microwave or warp speed, to coin an old phrase. Will I ever be able to keep up with minds that are moving in graphics that fast. Can their vocabulary be that fast also, or must it ever lag behind their visuals. A picture is only worth a 1000 words if you know a 1000 words. eh?

The Accident!

On Sunday afternoon, there was nothing out of the ordinary to talk about. We had had a bit of unusual lunch, dinner. Not the usual meat and potatoes, but a cook out style of Sunday lunch. I didn't go to church. I was a bit under the weather, emotionally. Not really out of the ordinary for me on family special occasions. I do always get a bit homesick at these days.

I really didn't know that they had left the house. I was still basking in the rich word that I had gotten from Tenth, in the music and in the preaching as well as the corporate prayers. They seemed dearer to me for having missed them for so long. The phone rang and that is rarely a comfortable thing for me. So much bad news comes over the line. I could hear Elyse's voice say take the phone to Dad, right away. Still not alarmed, by that, they know that I don't like to talk small talk over the phone, ever. It seemed like 10 or 15 minutes, when Ben came down to announce that there had been an accident.

Oh dear, I pictured mangled metal and my children with scars on faces and hands, but walking out of it. I said nothing, just got my things and went along to see the damage. We mustn't be angry with them, you know. It is a mercy that they are able to call about these things and we've been so spared of these things for so long. I talked myself down from the anxiety. Ben was unusually light about it. I decided that he must know it isn't that bad.

I saw her swollen eyes from the street. Before we got into the parking lot, I saw her tears lining the street. Maybe I felt them under me as we drove. She was shattered, but the car was relatively unscathed. Slight damage to the bumper, but huge damage to the heart of my dear Emily. She is so sensitive!

All our hearts are still recuperating!

Baby Girl's Graduation

If you dropped me straight from my HS grad into yesterday's highschool graduation, I would have had no idea what those children were talking about. What is a "selfie"?

I sat with baited breath waiting for my baby to appear out of that corridor. Why are we named with a W and all the way in the back of the line? It seemed like yesterday that her dad went to the store to deck her out in ladybug buttons to bring her home from the hospital. Where did the time go? It takes so long to get to see her. Thank God they had the photos of the graduates on the big screen. I almost forgot what she looked like, I've seen so little of her, lately. We used to color together. We used to play Hello Kitty. Sunflower dancing was her claim to fame in our family and so quickly, she's a woman graduating. I had my cry in the CVS, thinking about how to express my missing the little "thing 2 that has blossomed into a High School graduate.

I will compose myself. I will not baul through the ceremony about my coloring partner having grown up. It was a celebration.

Suddenly, this handsome young fellow appears on the stage, He was school president and no wonder he is so comfortable in front of a huge audience and oriented us, seamlessly into the celebration of the class of 2014. He looked like he had come out of "Moonlight Bay". hey, wait, that was about a hundred years ago now. Did they graduate people way back then? I remember thinking that about older people, like my grandmother and mother, etc. Now, I am the older person. Relevant? Old School? Dinosaur? The balancing generation, I've decided.

He said, We are done, let's applaud ourselves, no, let's take out our device and take a "selfie". I was in tears, laughing at how things change and things stay the same. Here was my baby and her class learning to use their media for usefulness in the world, the same as "Gordon Macrae and Shirley Jones", in the movies and "Theo and Justine" on the Cosby Show and all of the renditions of the "Same Old Song" playing over and over again. All at once, the waiting was worth it. They called her name! Evelyn Hope Walker, I heard the doctor say, "it's a girl!" Every starring moment flooded my mind for that one moment and she wisked across the stage, with my heart in her hands and then! She was graduated. They are setting sail into life and I am glad for them. My Evie celebrated with us and went out afterward, with her mom's full confidence that she will make us proud. I stopped crying long enough to write this blog, so, I will be alright!

Ezra's Graduation today, What a big boy he is now! On the way to Middle School Hooorayyy!!!

Reminiscing!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, Just to take Him at His word; Just to rest upon His promise; Just to know, "Thus saith the Lord."~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Refrain: Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him! How I've proved Him o'er and o'er! Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus! O for grace to trust Him more!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ O how sweet to trust in Jesus, Just to trust His cleansing blood; Just in simple faith to plunge me 'Neath the healing, cleansing flood!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yes, 'tis sweet to trust in Jesus, Just from sin and self to cease; Just from Jesus simply taking Life and rest, and joy and peace.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I'm so glad I learned to trust Thee, Precious Jesus, Saviour, Friend; And I know that Thou art with me, Wilt be with me to the end.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ , this is fifth grade, now... Officially a sixth grader!

"When all Thy Mercies"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When all Thy mercies, O my God, My rising soul surveys, Transported with the view, I'm lost In wonder, love and praise.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~```` Unnumbered comforts to my soul Thy tender care bestowed, Before my heart was e'er aware From whence these comforts flowed.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`` When worn with sickness, oft hast Thou With health renewed my face; And when in sin and sorrows sunk Revived my soul with grace. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ten thousand thousand precious gifts My daily thanks employ; Nor is the least a cheerful heart That tastes those gifts with joy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Through ev'ry period of my life Thy goodness I'll pursue, And after death, in distant worlds, The glorious theme renew. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Through all eternity to Thee A joyful song I'll raise; But O! eternity's too short To utter all Thy praise!