Robbery!

Friday, June 15th, we headed to the zoo. Abiel & Nadine joined us there while Laura attended a mutual friend's birthday party. We saw lots of animals, all stayed together(!), and watched a zoo bird fly to freedom during the wildlife show. There was much excitement.

By the time we got home I was dehydrated and everyone was ready for a nap. As we walked in Elijah said, "Mom? Why didn't you close the door?" I have extremely delayed reactions, so we all kept walking inside. As I rounded the corner, I saw a disaster of a house. I mean, it was crazy. Things had been ripped off the walls, closets were totally emptied, and lots of furniture was overturned. I quickly herded the kids outside and back into the van while calling 911. {"Out! Out! Go NOW!"}

Two policemen arrived about ten minutes later and Eric finally got home about an hour after our initial discovery. He took the kids over to the Jackson's while I got on the phone and cancelled credit cards and closed bank accounts. Eric flipped the furniture back into an upright position while also making phone calls. It was nutso, but I was OK. I didn't feel violated or angry; I just kept thanking God that we were all OK.

As we plugged away trying to avoid financial disaster, Eric said "I'm just sad that they stole all our pictures." "What?" We had just purchased a new laptop. Eric had just backed up all the files onto our external hard drive and transferred them to my new laptop. The robbers stole both laptops as well as the external hard drive. They really had taken all my pictures. And all my videos. Everything. I locked myself in the bathroom and cried and cried and cried. Sobbed, really. It was/is so sad. Eric came in a few minutes later. "Sorry. I thought you already knew about the pictures."

Now I was upset. The stolen items didn't bother me. The hours and days and weeks I would spend trying to sort out all the repairs were really only an inconvenience. But the pictures of my kids? I would have paid the robbers to leave those. I would have paid them a lot.

We finally made it over to our friend's house a few hours later. Pastor Ben said, "All your greatest treasures are right here, in this house." One of the two best quotes of 2012; I have repeated it to myself many, many times. {I also talk to myself about the centuries before cameras existed, about all the people in Africa who never have a picture of their children....}

We really do have so much for which to be thankful! Chiefly - a God who works all things for our good! Thank you, kind friends, who have sent me pictures of my children! These pictures are now treasures!  Thank you to everyone who has not asked me about the pictures; because - still - I cry everytime I think about what has been lost.

And, if you happen to have be the thief, I'm still praying that you'll drop off that hard drive on my front porch. Really.

6.15.2012

June Happenings

My sis-in-law and I were able to meet Ann Voskamp when she came to Nashville. Her blog, A Holy Experience, is my favorite blog and I've probably given away ten copies of her book, One Thousand Gifts.  It was life-changing for me.   

Jolly loves to carry a bag around.  You can also see other popular items in this picture: a sword and an empty Dunkin' Donuts box.  We made a donut breakfast casserole, but decided we like plain donuts best.

Here is one of the first batches of blackberries we harvested.  This job is best done in the early morning while wearing long-sleeve pajamas and rain boots.  We had a GREAT harvest this year!  They came in early and were delicious!  A few weeks of drought destroyed the main crop, but our initial harvest was quite bountiful!

6.8/10/12.2012

Little Stinker

This little stinker has figured out how to manipulate the kitchen chairs.  If any food is left unattended on the counter, she will get her little hands on it.  Her favorite find is a stick of thawing butter.  Always in varying stages of squishiness, she just can't keep those paws away.  Good thing she is cute!

6.7.2012

The Saga Begins

We returned home from Pennsylvania to a note from our friend who house-sat for us. "Also...I don't know if you know this, but you have fleas in your house.  I particularly noticed them in the living room."  I was super embarrassed!  (What kind of friend makes someone stay in a flea-filled house?)  I set off flea bombs the very next day.  Six flea bombs, actually.  I was hoping to rid our house of these bugs once and for all.  Little did I know that this was just the very beginning of my {extreme, intense, maddening} battle with the fleas. 

On a happier note, everyone knew about New Baby now!  In this picture, New Baby is just the size of an apple.  God blessed me with very little nausea.  I was taking morning and afternoon naps most days~:-)  You know how you can't control yourself that first trimester and you just fall asleep everywhere?  Well, I was always falling asleep while reading to the kids.  Haven and Elijah started getting annoyed.  "Mom?  Mom???  Are you going to sleep again?"

 

6.6.2012

Elijah Millard

I love, love, love this boy!  He is growing by leaps and bounds in every way.  This little man is a thinker.  He asks us a lot of hard questions all the time. 
"Why did God not kill Satan?" 
"What world do we live in?  Is this real?"
"Why can't I remember that number?!?!"
I refer to Daddy a lot~;-)  {I also blame Eric for all these questions.  "Why do you keep making up other worlds in all your stories?  Now Elijah doesn't know which world is real!"}

Elijah is - by far - the biggest help around the house.  He can carry things to the car or to building three; he can take out the bathroom trash; he is primary caretaker for all the animals.  (He has Haven in training for chicken duty, though!)  He'll usually buckle the girls in their carseats and then run back in - "Can I help you do anything, Momma?"

We picked up this fun magnet set at a garage sale; Elijah loves doing it!  Haven places the magnets on the sheet; Elijah just duplicates the picture on the sheet.  He usually requires just a bit of showing before I hear, "OK.  OK!  I've got it!"

The most wonderful thing about Elijah right now is that he is learning to really love his sisters.  They both adore him and he can usually calm them down quicker than anyone else.  He has even figured out how to incorporate princesses into his "bad guy" games, ensuring he has two willing playmates. 

6.4.2012 & 6.5.2012

Ice Cream (Overload)

One of the fun things about this beach was that it was just a little island town. i don't think they even accepted credit cards! We found a few fun, local places to eat.  Here I am enjoying Carolina-style barbecue and some hush puppies.

We got ice cream after dinner; they had their own special form of a blizzard.  The best part was smelling the waffle cones they were making right behind the counter. 

Eric is a bit generous on giving the children treats.  That is how Polly Jane ended up with her own ice cream. 

She went a little nutso...

...and finished off her sibling's ice cream as well as her own.

These are the best pictures I got of all the kids. 

I'm pretty sure at least two of my children had breakdowns on the way to the car, which was parked approximately three car-lengths from the ice cream shop.  I temporarily lost a child while we were eating ice cream.  The kids almost knocked several other customers over while sprinting up and down the handicapped ramp.  We created a scene with all the napkins we used; napkins which we had to ask for individually because they didn't let you dispense your own.  It was a little stressful.

The blurry, no-one-is-really-looking picture above is so fun though!  Those kids had a good time!  Thankfully, Eric pushes me to do stressful things which create fun memories for the children.  If it weren't for him, our only fun activity might be reading.  (Or napping.....)

6.2.2012

Beach

Flying a gigantic kite:

Jumping waves with this water baby:

Digging and Dumping (and watching Jason build an awesome sandcastle):

Sleeping in the sand:

We rented this extremely child-friendly house.  The yard was all fenced in and full of wonderful playthings - games, toys, a treehouse.  It was fantastic!

Mini-golfing:

6.1.2012