The Grapevine

Daddy loves the Leggos.

To the beautiful people of Haiti:

We are praying. God is with you. And help is on the way.

redcross.org

convoyofhope.org

So first the cable modem died. And Lance thought it would be cheaper to order a new one from an online retailer, rather than pay four times the price to get a new modem from our internet providers. He paid for overnight shipping. . . And we received the modem sixteen days later.

And then, after replacing the long-awaited modem, we realized that my beloved pink laptop had a hardware issue. We are still somewhat waiting for this issue to resolve. I can get online (sometimes), but all of my stuff/documents/pictures are missing. As is my fun wallpaper. At least the computer is still pink.

And then my dad got here over the weekend, and wanted to know what happened to the internet. Turns out we needed a new router as well. Having learned his lesson with the modem, Lance marched straight to Best Buy and bought the nearest router. No shipping. No waiting. Hopefully on-line life can now resume. I don’t know what else could possibly break. I probably shouldn’t say that.

So, my plan was to post all of our wonderful Christmas pictures and stories, but that plan has now been usurped. By something new. Something time-consuming. And something totally unexpected.

I read Missy’s blog at itsalmostnaptime.blogspot.com . My friend Lizz introduced me to this blog years ago, and I have read faithfully since then. I enjoy her devotions and the stories of her kids. She makes me laugh. She reminds me of myself (God help her). And then just last week, she posted something I couldn’t believe. She is reading the Bible. The whole Bible. The entire thing. In 90 days. 90 DAYS!

And then she did something even more amazing. She actually had the nerve to invite the rest of us to join her. In reading the Bible. The whole Bible. In 90 days. I laughed out loud. Sure, Missy, yeah, I’ll join you in that. Someday. In the distant future. When the children are older. And the laundry is done. And the wonderful husband puts his clothes IN the hamper. Sure, Missy, I will join you then.

Hours after reading this on Missy’s blog, Cher called me. She announced, “We’re doing it. I am reading, and so are you.” At this moment, when I resumed breathing, I cursed the day that I introduced Cher to Missy. Seriously, why did I do that?

So I’m doing it. Yes, Cher persuaded me. We’re reading the Bible. All of it. In 90 days. And a bunch of other people are too. You can read all about it here.

So you’ll excuse me if it takes a bit to get those Christmas photos up. I am apparently booked through the end of March. And now I must go. Exodus awaits. The Bible. 90 days. Anyone out there brave enough to join us?

So I had Ellie on August 15th (you can read about it here, if you missed it), and Cher had Baby Patrick on September 26th (Sam’s fifth birthday). So that makes Ellie exactly 6 weeks older than Patrick. And she was bigger, lots bigger.

Until Cher took Patrick to New Jersey over Thanksgiving. I don’t know what they put in the milk out east, but that child grew and grew. They came over to visit yesterday– the first I have seen of them since their trip. And I said, “Wow, he looks huge to me! He grew while you were gone.” And I made a sad face because I love little babies.

So Cher said, “Let’s measure.” We laid them next to each other and got out the scale. And, lo and behold, they are exactly. the. same. size.

And apparently, they are also learning disco.

Perhaps next we will teach them to hand jive.

Our pastor at church has recently been encouraging us to pray for one person who doesn’t know Jesus. He told a story a couple weeks ago about the neighbor he has been praying for. Our pastor had prayed consistently to have a spiritual conversation with this neighbor. God moved, and they had a wonderful talk. Inspired by this moment, I too have been praying for spiritual conversations. God answers these prayers nearly everyday, usually in the form of a five-year-old, with questions I am not equipped to answer. I want to share last night’s conversation with you.

We are in the car, Sam in the back, Josh and Ellie in the middle, me driving. We are on our way to meet Daddy for dinner at Cracker Barrel, a family favorite. Without warning, the conversation shifts from pancakes to the manger.

“Mommy, what’s a manger?”

“Sam, a manger is a like a big bowl that horses and cows eat out of. A farmer puts food in the manger for the cows to eat.”

“Well, why are Mary and Joseph and everybody in the manger?”

“Sam, all those people are in a stable. Like a big barn. Remember, there were no rooms left at the hotel, so Mary and Joseph slept in the barn, and that’s where Mary had Baby Jesus.”

“Oh, a stable is a barn. I like barns. I like farmers and horses too. Horses are really, really tall. Aren’t they, Mom? But what’s the thing with the X? You know, Baby Jesus is in the thing with the X.”

Thing with the X? I am frantically searching my brain, somewhat distracted, imagining how tall horses are. And do I like farmers too? What has an X? Is there something in the Christmas story with an X? We had just taken the full Little People Nativity scene out of the box. X? Oh, I get it!!!

“Sam, the thing with the X is the manger. The big bowl for the horses to eat out of.” Our manger has crossed leg braces, like a TV tray.They make an X.

“Oh that’s the manger.” Long pause. “Well, it sure is good that the horses didn’t eat Baby Jesus cause then there would be no one to save us.”

Now, I know you’re laughing. I was too. In fact, I nearly blew a stop sign because I was laughing so hard. But hang on, I don’t want you to miss something. “Then there would be no one to save us.” Don’t miss it. Cloaked in the silly image of horses munching on Baby Jesus is the entire Gospel. Sam summarized the whole Bible, the whole message of Christmas, right there in those little words. Had that baby not been born in the stable and placed in that manger then “there would be no one to save us.”

With all his funny questions, with all his rambling as we drove through town, Sam never lost track of the job of that tiny baby, lying in the horses’ dinner bowl. Jesus came to save us.

A much bigger Jesus reminds us in Matthew 21 that praise shall comes from the lips of children and infants. And last night, from the backseat of my minivan came a reminder of the meaning of Christmas. All of scripture, summarized by my silly five-year-old, who believes in the Gospel. And who spoke so matter-of-factly about the purpose of Baby Jesus. Don’t miss it.

Ahhh, cold and flu season. We welcome you to the Grapevine household. And although we are pleased at your unusually late arrival, the results are just the same:

We’ve dusted off the nebulizer, ordered a fresh batch of steriods, and picked up a new humidifier. Yes, the lovely sights and sounds of fall.

It has been a very exciting, albeit stressful, six weeks around here. And, as things settle down, we are very pleased to announce some changes to Grapevine life.

First, we have sold our condo in Ohio. After nearly two years on the standstill Cincinnati market, and several unexpected mold issues, we are finally rid of what will henceforth be referred to as the “financial crisis of 2009″. And 2007 and 2008.

Anyway, Lance and I had a good cry, as we said goodbye to the house where we brought home our baby boys. The site of Sam’s first steps and first words, our first Christmas as host and hostess, our first kitchen fire, our introduction to MarioCart. The dining room where we made so many announcements with friends– we stood where our table used to be and remembered the news of new babies and new jobs. We walked down the stairs to the basement and recounted the time Lance fell all the way down them (with ice cream in one hand and chocolate pudding in the other) and the time Josh threw up at the top of the stairs and managed to hit every single step. We stood in our guest room and thought of all the wonderful family and friends that had made the journey to visit us there. We remembered bathing our tiny boys in the smallest bathroom in the world. And we thought about watching Macaroni the cat through the sliding glass door. We pointed to where we always put our Christmas tree and where the first toy shelf sat. We held hands in our little bedroom and laughed in the first nursery. We had a wonderful final walk-through, and then Lance took pictures with Ellie on the front porch. It was her first, and only, trip to the condo.

Lance and I (with Sam in my tummy), minutes after signing the papers in 2004.

Lance and Ellie, saying goodbye in October.

Our second piece of big news is that Lance has taken a new job. He will now be helping to design the software for flight simulators. He is excited about this big step, and I am excited at the prospect of weekends and nights without homework. By the way, Sam and Josh think it’s hilarious that Lance now goes to work. They act like it’s a big joke. Josh particularly enjoys asking Lance about his day. “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, how’s woh-rk?” And then he laughs, as if it’s a big inside joke. I suppose that’s what you get when you take two full years off, and your two-year-old has no memory of you ever having a job!

I cannot believe that we spent today setting up our Christmas tree. It is unbelievable that fall is over. I was looking back through our autumn photo file, and I found all of these wonderful pictures that never made it onto the blog. I thought I would post a bunch of them here in a fall recap. Enjoy!

And then maybe tomorrow I will post the pictures from Christmas decorating.

We visited Curtis Orchard many times this fall. Although I prefer to go on a weekday morning when the place is nearly empty, we visited on a Saturday with friends so that the daddies could be there too. We had a wonderful time, despite the mysterious 10 degree temperature drop.

MiMi sent us a box of fun fall stuff. Included in this box were pieces to make pumpkin Mr. Potato Heads. The kids and I enjoyed turning our craft pumpkins into potato heads one afternoon. And then our guests enjoyed the funny decorations throughout the fall. Until yesterday, when we reluctantly took the pumpkins down to make room for our nativity.

Josh and the witch

Sam and the pirate.

Josh later took to removing the pirate’s arm and swinging the sword around, yelling “I get you!”

We got to celebrate Thanksgiving thrice here at the Grapevine. We enjoyed a pot-luck dinner on Tuesday night with our small group. We spent most of the evening marveling at the oil-less turkey fryer and oogling over the new babies. Then, on Thanksgiving Day we hosted a big dinner with family and friends. And then on Friday we got to do it all one more time with Lance’s parents. We couldn’t have had more fun (or consumed more pie). What a wonderful illustration of all we have to be thankful for.

The five of us, Thanksgiving Day

After dinner, many men sit on the couch and watch football. Here are Josh and Unkie, on the couch, watching cartoons.

Our friend Joanne baked so many pies. After sampling all many a few of them, we decided that, henceforth, invitations to Thanksgiving dinner will be dolled out solely on the basis of culinary talent. Joanne’s invitation, of course, is permanent.

Ellie, close to bedtime, but adorable in her festive bib from Bonus Aunt Joanie.

Big girl Ellie Bean!