These posts are from the 'Home Front' category.
Two brothers, 3 and 1 sharing a bedroom. There is plenty of squealing back and forth as they try to entertain each other instead of sleeping. Asher is doing a good job following directions when I tell him he has to ignore Liam. It is a tough lesson, though.
Tonight before bedtime prayers:
Bill: Anything you want to pray for tonight Asher?
Asher: Yeah, the mumblemumblemumblemumble!
Bill: What was that?
Asher: I said, the pendulum at the Science Center! That's what I want to pray for!
And so we did.
Iowa has the weather of a tropical island. I am expecting toucans to show up and start nesting in our trees. I am considering planting some bananas. Yes, I know we are land locked. Apparently you do not need to be surrounded by a warm water ocean to have a south pacific island climate. Our friends Todd and Sarah from Fresno were here for a couple of days. They asked me one morning what the weather would be like. Tropical, I said, hot, humid and raining. Apparently the corn likes the humidity.
We went to see ostrich races with them at a local casino/race track. They are much faster than you might imagine. Local jockeys rode the beasts who come to Iowa once a year. They are a fast and fierce mount. Only two of the five riders were in the saddle come the finish line. They ran much faster than I would have imagined. I would not like to have one chasing me.
Thankfully we built the new floor and sealed it before the 10 days of projected rain hit. As to the final project, I am formulating the beginnings of my next chapter in my head.
I am struggling through a chapter on Jesus' gospel of the kingdom of God in my DMin project. I am hanging out with my sister and brother-in-law Bret and Priscilla who are here visiting from Australia. We are ripping the floor of our deck out and building a new one. We think we have finally found the bottom of the water damage so we can start rebuilding again.
The deck process has some interesting similarities to the writing process.
I grilled out on our deck all through the winter. Ten degrees, not a problem. Just put on a jacket. The fire is warm. Since the floods, the mosquitoes have been about 100 per cubic yard in our neighborhood. The city's mosquito spraying killed all in our immediate vicinity only to be replaced the next evening by the swath waiting in the forest behind our house.
I grilled some hot dogs quickly for the kids tonight. I was out there about four minutes total and was bitten a dozen times. Thankfully, I have retained the immunity to their poison I gained working at camp for 10 years. Still, I don't want them biting me.
We came back from a meeting with the new residents at Tracy's hospital and found that our dog Kailua had escaped from our back yard because she was afraid of the thunder. I went driving around a couple mile radius from our house, but I am guessing she glommed onto a family and they have her for the night.
Her litter-mate cassie is sad. Hopefully Kailua will turn up soon. She is "chipped" so if anyone takes her to animal control they will be able to find us. We hope she is safe.
[update 7am] Our neighbor found us and let us know that Kailua had been sleeping on his front porch when he went out this morning. At least she tried to come home. So, all is well and Kailua is back.
This Sunday we will be heading to Calvin Crest for family camp. I have not yet grasped the fact that my 21 year hiatus as a camper is coming to an end. The last time I was a camper was in 1987. I was an AIMer. The next summer I went on staff as a kitchen team member and replaced the dinner cook mid-summer. I was:
- 88-89: Dinner Cook
- 90-91: Outpost Lead Counselor
- 92-94: Crestview Lead Counselor
- 95-97: AIM Grandpa
On Crestview I taught the 3rd graders in the mornings, led worship and hung out with the parents at night. On AIM I coordinated the Child Care Assistants. Consistently parents told me this was the best vacation they had, that it was the best deal they could find. There weren't any other options, they said, that included child care like this. I have been longing since then to return to camp.
With a three, two and one year old, it will most assuredly be chaotic. Though with three CCAs, it will likely be a lot easier than being here at home. Still, I am glad to be getting started. I want for my kids what I had at Calvin Crest. There is much that I am looking forward to. I will try to get a few pictures.
We fly Wednesday.
As Priscilla mentioned, Liam has passed his 17 month probationary period and is now allowed to join the family on the ekhardt.com banner. Not just anyone can make it onto the banner, family or not. I'd say that his black eye in the above picture attests to the difficulty of passing all of the required ekhardt.com membership trials. We have high standards around here - gotta protect that Ekhardt name!
If I remember correctly, Indy's probation was 10-11 months before finally making it onto the banner. Asher was on within days, but we were first time parents, what do you expect? We've learned.
-Tracy
Back in Bakersfield we would occasionally get a storm that would drop snow almost down to the valley. I used to drive out to a parking lot on our side of town that had a panoramic view of the mountains to the East, South and West of us. It was the most beautiful thing I remember seeing in Bakersfield.
This morning I am looking out my kitchen window at birds knocking snow powder off our rail, snow covered trees with tops shining orange in the morning sunlight against the clear blue sky. This is substantially more impressive than the snowy mountain panorama of my youth.
This is a beautiful morning.
