Growing up

As I was praying with the boys on our way to school this morning, I was a little overwhelmed by how they are becoming young men already.

Brendon and I are interacting at a different level than ever before. We're having more "grown up" conversations about life. His sense of humor jumps back and forth between elementary boy "body" humor and more sophisticated teasing and thoughts. Often, we'll sit in my big chair on lay on his bed at night and just talk. If I close my eyes, it's sometimes easy to forget that he's only nine. Of course, then he tackles me in the hall and makes some sci-fi sound effect and his age comes rushing back. :-)

Ian is feeling the pain of his pre-school childhood slipping away. He absolutely LOVES school, but daily reminds us how he misses just playing with his toys. He's moved from toddler to elementary boy. His art teacher caught me this morning to tell me how impressed she is with his maturity. She said, the normal kindergartners take several months to learn to pay attention and manage themselves, but he has been instantly attentive and produces great art already. Guess he is brighter than the average boy...ha!

I love these two dearly. And I pray daily that they would thoroughly enjoy their childhood...that it would be filled with life-long warm memories. I also look forward to watching them grow-up, however quickly that may be, and pray that they mature into passionate followers of the God who died for them.

First Day Quotes

Some quotes from the 1st Day of School:

Ian - "I have the perfect Kindergarten underwear..."

Brendon - "I LOVE Mrs. Lillich. She's the greatest teacher EVER!"

Ian - "You know that thing that looks like a bridge on the playground? It's got holes in it, and when you walk across it, you have to be careful, cause if you fall it might damage you..."

Brendon - "In our class we're going to do lots of new things. It's going to be the best year EVER!"

Ian - "I met a lot of my friends today that didn't know me before."

A Big Day

In just about 90 minutes we head out the door for the first day of school.

It's a very sentimental season for me.

Brendon begins 4th grade. Fourth grade was the year that my family moved from Minnesota to Montana. It was also the year that marked the beginning of major movements of the Holy Spirit in my life. It was when my personality really began to change, when I was more aware of my choices and friends. I'm proud of Brendon. He's a young man who is going to do well. We met his art teacher last night who made a big deal out of his skill and ability. She intends to pour into him this year in a huge way.

Ian begins Kindergarten. Out youngest, in a sense, officially begins the journey away from home. It's been real hard on Kiley, especially with our plans to have more children being changed by the emergency surgery a couple of years ago. He's her cuddly one. Ian will do exceedingly well. He already has influence and loves to learn.

I'll post pictures and maybe video later.

A Festival?

Ian woke up earlier than usual this morning and marched into our room and announced in his best public speaker's voice, "The family festival will begin as soon as everyone is out of bed." We weren't sure what this meant, but, come to find out, he had worked hard, with Brendon's help, the day before to sort all of their stuffed animals into categories and placed them in their rooms in imaginary cages for a zoo.

Kiley enjoyed her festival that morning, but I, unfortunately, had to go to work. I came home for lunch, so they took me immediately upstairs for my private screening of the festival. They had all kinds of performances from different "trained" animals from various parts of the world. They even performed some magic tricks as animals disappeared in front of us. Ian's knowledge of animals continues to astound me.

Tonight, we visited their school for "meet the teacher" night in preparation for school beginning in the morning.

Ian made himself right at home in Mrs. Stevenson's classroom. He's so excited about school that he can hardly contain himself. As other students and their families would come in, he would walk up to the student, grin, and say "hi" and then just stand there. They'd look at him like, "whose the weirdo?" I know he'll do well. He's always the popular one amongst his friends and with his teachers.

Brendon's new teacher is Mrs. Lillich. She has two sets of twins, one set in Kindergarten with Ian and another in 5th grade. She's a believer and has a strong goal of helping her 4th graders learn independent motivational skills this year. I think she's the perfect teacher for Brendon. I'm thrilled so far with how God placed the right teachers in the right place for our boys.

After that, I took the family home. I gave Kiley the choice, for her birthday, as to whether she wanted to put the boys to bed or attend the mandatory parent meeting at the school. She chose putting the boys to bed, so guess where I spent my evening?