On the Road Again...

I've always had this dream of selling off everything we own...the house, our possessions and belongings...and packing up only what we needed and piling into an RV. In it, we would tour the country and make our living together as a family entertaining people and sharing the gospel wherever we went. Jerry with his guitar, me at the piano, Cody with his violin and Caden with his little egg shakers (he appears to have some talent at percussion). Of course, we'd ALL sing!

Nobody except my husband knows that I've always wanted to do this, but now you all do...

I think the thing that appeals to me most about this little pipe dream of mine is just the sheer simplicity that might come from being rid of all the things that fight for our time. Not the least of which are the jobs which are a total necessity when you have a mortgage, utility bills, and endless OTHER bills that need tending to each month. Not that having a job is all bad, mind you. My goodness. So many people are out of work...so many close to us...so I don't take it lightly that we are both gainfully employed and able to make ends meet. (Thank you, God. It is by Your grace alone!)

But the mortgage. The bills. The demands. They are never ending and often feel like a millstone around the neck. Sometimes I wonder if God can use us the way He wants to when we are so busy and so bound by these types of things.

Yes, on the road we'd be busy and we'd have a schedule to keep. I have no idea how we'd make ends meet. Perhaps we would be considered singing missionaries.

But in the RV? I imagine us singing and laughing. Loving and learning. Taking it all in and seeing the glory of God everywhere. Just...well, being together. As a family.

These three people who live with me are most precious to me. I love spending time with them. We enjoy one another so much. Our favorite place is to be wherever the others are. (And yes, in case you were wondering, I am realistic. I'm sure we'd climb the walls eventually and have times we'd pull our hair out and need our personal space.) But to travel the country! I imagine us making pit stops at the Grand Canyon, making our way up Route 66. Taking in the breathtaking views of Niagra Falls and maybe visiting Cape Cod. Seeing Colorado and Tennessee in the autumn when the leaves are showing off their brilliant colors. It just sounds so wonderful.

Oh I know. I know! It's only a dream.

But I wonder sometimes...would it be...possible?

Frogs and snails and puppy dog tails;

That's what little boys are made of.

Dear Cody and Caden,

Have I told you recently what a joy you are?

When you run through the house with your sandy shoes after I've just cleaned the floors, I often bellow, "ACK! Why do I bother???"

Someday, these floors will be spotless because no little feet are padding around on them. I will look back and miss the sand.

When you pull out the play-doh and build your creations after I've just washed the (vinyl) tablecloth, I often say with a groan, "Ooooooh, you guys! We're going to eat dinner and I JUST cleaned that!"

But someday, those colorful creations will be distant memories and I'll be wishing little hands were sculpting works of art at my dinner table.

When you bring home a greatbigfatsquishyslug that you found under a rock outside and run in excitedly to show me what you found, I'll often make a sound resembling "eeeeewwwwww" and ask you to promptly return it to where it came from.

But someday, the memory of those excited little smiles and treasures brought home will be my most cherished treasures.

And when you come running to bring me yet another frog or toad that you found in the yard (or the neighbor's), I often scold, "That poor thing. Please go put it back! How would you like it if someone was carrying YOU around all day?"

I am certain that someday I'll miss those dirty fingers and grubby toenails and those little hands which held God's creatures in them.

Thank you for teaching me what it means to live in the moment, to enjoy these days before they pass all too quickly. Thank you for forgiving me for my critical spirit and for being who you are. I love you both more than I can say.

And no. This does not mean that you may keep the toad. :)

All my love,

Mom

Suzuki Camp!

We recently attended our first family music camp and I finally uploaded my pictures to be able to tell you about it! Let me just say that the entire experience was wonderful, and I'm so glad we went. Here are a few photos so you can catch a glimpse of what we did while we were there.

Each day, after breakfast, Cody attended a semi-private class with three other violinists. Below is his wonderful teacher. She was so encouraging and always had both positive and constructive things to say to help him grow while he was studying with her. Next, he would attend a large group class with other children who are working through the same book as him. This was great fun, but took a lot of concentration. The children must always keep their eyes on the teacher!

Here's Cody "serenading" us one evening when we made a bonfire. He voluntarily grabbed his violin and decided to experiment with some of the fiddling techniques he'd learned while observing a class earlier in the day.

The children are doing "bow games" in the picture below, which is why the violins are on the floor in front of their feet. One of the chidren dropped her violin and the teachers thought it might be best to leave them on the floor, just in case!

Here's our (very rustic) cabin. When we first walked in to our new "home" I was a bit concerned about how it would work out, but we really were quite comfortable. It was so quiet and tranquil. I really didn't find that I was missing home in the suburbs all that much! Sometimes it's just good to keep things simple...and that's exactly what it was up there!
One of the evenings, after classes ended, we decided to slip away to a nearby beach and we had a wonderful time playing. The boys were loving all the sand and surf!
Here's Cody running on the beach. It was so clean and the water was crystal clear!
Here's little stuff...he was afraid to get in the water, but he did let daddy carry him around a bit. It was quite shallow!
There are three things my kiddos love right now: Swimming, Frogs/Toads, and Sand! There was a lot of it around our campsite and they were little dirty boys at the end of each day.
I loved this view. So did the boys!
My favorite part of the day was walking to the fiddling class. This was the view as you looked skyward.
Look at these tall trees! So pretty...
And finally, the destination. In the middle of the forest, you reach the "Jazz Bowl." The teacher of this class was absolutely phenomenal. I learned so much from watching him. It didn't hurt that he could play that violin like nobody's business!
We are loving summer. How about you?

Our Life in Pictures

We pray you are enjoying this beautiful weather as summer approaches. We got together with our neighbors over the holiday weekend and all of us were remembering how cold it was and how desperately we all wanted this warm weather to come. It's finally here!

Here, in no particular order, is our life in pictures over the past couple of weeks. We spent a day down in Chicago so the boys could celebrate the end of the school year (though we really "school" year-round). They loved splashing around in the fountains.

My students (and Cody) had their end of year recital. All of them did a great job!
Cody was in a "Geography Around the World" class this year, and he is in the front row representing Burkina Faso in Africa. He learned much about that country from good friends who were missionaries there.
We hosted some abandoned baby ducklings for a couple days until we could get them to the wildlife refuge center near us. They were so cute, but VERY loud.
The boys are always on the hunt for wildlife, and one day they found this moth on the neighbor's tree. They have also found many toads, bugs, slugs, and birds (don't ask). Ah, life with boys...
We have already taken quite a few nature walks this spring.
Here's Caden at his pre-school circus show. He was very ADAMANT about the fact that he wasn't going to participate.....
....except in the acrobatics part, because what boy DOESN'T want to swing from the monkey bars?
He also enjoyed the parts involving balloons.
Both the boys worked really hard in Awana this year. Here's Cody with his leader, Miss Jody, after earning his Sparky award (he completed three years in the Sparks program, which means he completed three entire books of bible memorization). We were so proud of him for this accomplishment.
Here he is up on the screen before receiving his award. I love that they did this for each child.
Caden completed his first year in Awana Cubbies. Here he is with his leader, "Mr. Seth."
More fun in the fountains at Millennium Park.

Having a picnic together...

...and excited to see what the summer holds. It promises to be full and busy, but hopefully PACKED with lots of fun and learning. Hope you all are doing well and that you had a great Memorial Day!

Luck Had Nothing to Do With It

Yesterday morning, while Caden was at preschool, Cody and I decided to head out to do some grocery shopping. I had "power shopping" to do, where I stock up for a couple weeks on groceries so that I don't have to go out again for a while.

It had been raining here ALOT (with flooding in some areas) and the roads were very wet and slick, but that didn't deter me from getting out and doing my errands.

On the way home, I thought to myself, "This is not the type of day that you would want to be distracted while driving." The roads were really wet and there was standing water everywhere. I was glad my phone didn't ring and that nothing was distracting me as I drove.

A minute or two later down the road, I hit a slick patch and felt gravel kick up under the tires. I swerved (and apparently overcompensated) and our minivan began to fish tail. There was no getting the van under control and I knew that the inevitable was coming. Cody and I were going to crash.

I am not over exaggerating when I say that the worst moment of my life happened in those seconds that I knew we were going to hit....but I didn't know how and I didn't know where. I didn't know if we'd survive, or be terribly injured. It was honestly the scariest moment of my life, and all I could do was cry out to God.

Upon impact, I heard glass shatter and we finally stopped. We had hit a speed limit sign and ended up in a ditch....on the OPPOSITE side of the road. One of the three responding officers on the scene said that if we'd missed that sign and gone a few feet further, we would have hit a big pole, which in his words, "would have been terrible." (A quick side note for all you minivan drivers out there: The same responding officer shared the following information with me: This type of accident often happens to people driving minivans...they overcompensate when they swerve to avoid an accident, but what ends up happening is that they actually DO lose control BECAUSE they overcompensate, and then this very thing happens. Just felt the need to share this information in case it helps someone reading.)

After we crashed, a woman stopped her vehicle (she was about 100 yards behind me) and came to check on us. She called 911 while Cody and I got out of the van. As I held and comforted my trembling son, standing on the shattered glass from the driver side window, I kept reminding him that we'd been the recipients of the most incredible kind of divine protection and mercy of God. He kept saying how frightened he was, and as I spoke calmly to him (a small miracle in of itself), I kept reassuring him by reminding him to look at me....and to look at him... and all I could do was continue to point out that neither of us had a single scratch, bruise, or any kind of injury on our bodies. It was like we'd been sealed up in a protective bubble and sheltered so that we could not even feel the impact of the crash. Glass had shattered everywhere. And yet we were completely unscathed.

I cannot even begin to fathom or understand God's mercy in the miracles that transpired in the moments of our crash. But for the sake of my memory, lest I EVER be tempted to forget how BIG my God is, I shall do so now.

1. There were no oncoming cars. NONE. Those following behind us were far enough behind that they were in no immediate danger.

2. As I stated before, we were completely protected. Initially I had some soreness, but I believe it was from the tension I had in my body at the time of impact. I am doing amazingly well for having been the one who took the brunt of the impact.

3. Cody was strapped in on the passenger side in the middle seats of the van. He was held in there tightly and did not sustain any kind of injury.

4. There was glass EVERYWHERE. And I mean everywhere. The entire driver side window was obliterated. There was not a single shard of it left in its frame. We had glass on (and in) our clothes and jackets, in our hair, and all around us, yet we did not have a cut. Not a single one.

5. Caden, who normally sits on the driver side right behind me was at preschool. (I praise the Lord that he was protected from the trauma of this event. Cody and I are still reeling and I can't imagine this through the eyes of a four year-old.)

6. The responding officer said it was a good thing that there wasn't more weight on that side of the van...otherwise we could have flipped the van.

7. Our airbags did NOT deploy. (The driver side of the van took the hit, not the front, praise God.) A friend told me about a family who had an accident similar to ours but their story did not end like ours has. The airbags, in the end, were to blame for the fatality in their situation.

8. I was the picture of calm in the immediate moments following the crash. This can ONLY be explained one way...I truly believe that God gave me every word to speak to my son and those around me and allowed me to make the phone calls necessary to help us with our situation. I had so much peace in the moment and finally came to understand what it means when the Word says, "a peace that surpasses ALL understanding." (It wasn't until I heard my husband's voice in the minutes that followed that I broke down.)

9. We did NOT hit the pole head on a few feet ahead of the speed limit sign. Had we kept going, we would have. Praise God!

A cute story: Cody was cold and one of the officers let him sit in her car while she was writing out my citation. (Yes, you read that right. I received a ticket for "improper lane usage." Don't sweat the small stuff, right?) She apparently said, "Little boy, you are very lucky!" He later told me about this conversation and said, "Mom...I really wanted to tell her that LUCK had nothing to do with this! It was ALL God!" :-)

Yes it was, my son. Yes it was.

I write all of this to say to you (and to remind myself) that we are NOT in control. We get in our cars and do the mundane things of life with barely a thought or concern that we might not make it home. We take the big (and little) amazing things that we experience day after day for granted. Fresh and foremost in my mind are my salvation and the goodness of God, my sweet husband and my family (immediate and extended), the adorable laughter of my children playing together, watching Cody grasp his little brother's hand in his as they walk across a parking lot, seeing Caden listen intently to his daddy as he shares a cute story with us at dinner time, a warm breeze after a long, bitterly cold winter, a fresh rain, the tender hugs and gentle moments with those we love, my precious friends, our church family....well, the list goes on and on...and on. These moments are too precious to forget, and yet, so often in the mundane responsibilities of life, we do. We don't mean to, but we do.

Instead of being grateful, I often spend (and waste) precious time and energy on things that simply do NOT matter.

God help me. More importantly, God forgive me. I don't want to do that anymore.

If you're reading this blog and I start complaining about something...anything...will you please hold me accountable and remind me to be grateful? You have my permission. Would you please remind me to practice what I'm constantly preaching to my children: "Have an attitude of gratitude!"

It's late and I'm tired, but I had to write this before too much time passed.

No, Officer Friendly, luck had nothing to do with this one.

"He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted." ~Job 5:9