Life in the Burbs

Gina, the boys and I have been in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida for the past few days with her parents, her brother and his family. So far, everyone is having a great time and we have really been soaking up the sunshine and cool (and sometimes hot) ocean breezes. The condo we rented for the week is pretty much right on the beach, so we can go swimming or for a stroll anytime we want. There is also a pool next to the condo, and we have really enjoyed going over there. The twins were quite slow to warm up to the beach; in fact, Sam still pretty much screams to go home every time we’re out there. Nate finally let us take him in the ocean this morning, and he loved it. He actually screamed when we told him it was time to go home and eat lunch. They both love the pool (they call it “blue water”) and have been quite the independent pair with their floatie Speedo swimming suits. Wearing a Speedo definitely has a different connotation now than when I was a kid. The best part of the vacation is that everyone is relaxed, which Gina and I will need when we get back to Illinois and pack up to move to Texas. We’re looking forward to the rest of the week and the fun adventures we will have at the beach. We just hope those adventures don’t include dodging oil slicks. So far, it’s been all clear.

Gina, Sam and Nate and I have been in Texas for the last week. As many of you know, we are will be moving to Fort Worth this summer to start new jobs in the Fall. Gina will be a nursing professor at Texas Christian University, and I will be splitting my time between the University of North Texas and Good Shepherd Episcopal School. I know if this is the first time you are reading this news, it may seem like it’s coming out of nowhere. Actually, this decision has been a long time in the making with a lot of hard decisions and steps of faith along the way.

In early January, I received word that my university was in pretty bad financial shape, and in order to make payroll they would need to mandate furlough days and possibly lay people off. Our first response was to look to see what the state of the job market was in case my position got cut. We found nothing for me, but there was a position for Gina at TCU that looked like it had been written for her. She applied, they liked what they saw and she was ultimately offered the job. My journey was not as clear cut, and I won’t go into detail about how I landed my job, but God was definitely in the middle of it and I am looking forward to what I will be doing.

So, we came to Texas to find a house and get some things set up before we move down in mid-June. My cousin Amy was able to help us find a house on our first day of looking, and we are really happy with what we found. Here are some pictures of the new pad.

The boys will also be starting preschool in the Fall, and though we are a bit nervous thinking about how they will do, I know this will be good for them. Overall, this is a good move for us and we think it will be good to live close to family. We are certain that this is what God wanted for us, and we are eager to see how he will use us while we are here. In addition to reconnecting with our friends from when we lived here before, we have learned that some of our friends from Virginia are moving here as well. So, God is already opening up some doors for us.

So, that is the latest with us. After a vacation in Florida with Gina’s family, we get to head back and pack up our stuff for the move. I have already packed a lot of our stuff, but we still have a long way to go. As usual, it will be a challenge, offer plenty of opportunities to learn and grow and be an exciting adventure.

My mom recently sent me this photo …

I asked Sam and Nate who this was a picture of, and they both said, “Sam!” Actually, it is a picture of me when I was 2. Below is a picture of Sam. Can you see the resemblance?

Today we decided to make a trip to the Old Capitol Art Fair to see one of our friends, Ken Pease. He is a local folk artist, and my office is right next to his wife’s. We wanted to see some of his pieces and maybe buy something for the boys’ rooms. Well, we found two paintings we really liked, and I wanted to put them in the car (it had been drizzling all morning). This is where the story takes a few twists and turns. To put this in context, let me say that I am pretty predictable, to put it lightly. For example, if I buy tickets to a baseball game in the nose-bleed section, I will stay in those seats for the whole game. Even if I can see better seats that are closer to the action and obviously are not being used, I am not a rule breaker. I will stay in my crappy seats and watch the game from a million feet away. I am only saying this to point out the fact that what I did next was highly uncharacteristic of me. As I was walking to the car, I passed a car leaving a VERY (very, as in, too good to let someone else have) good parking spot. It was about a block closer to the art fair, and I was pretty sure I could run to my car and jump into that spot before anyone else noticed it was empty. All was going as planned until the Mercedes Benz in front of me took that spot. OK. No problem. I can run back to my old spot before anyone takes it. Not so fast, my friend. By the time I got back to my old spot, it was taken too, and apparently the art fair had suddenly become the most popular event in the history of Springfield because there was nowhere to park within four blocks of the art fair. So, I gave up a free parking spot two blocks from the art fair in order to steal a free spot one block away, and now I was going to be about 4 blocks away. Yeah, Gina was going to love that. Remember, it’s raining and the boys are nearing that witching hour when chaos can erupt at any moment.  Well, after driving around the block a couple of times and brushing up on my 4-letter words, a car pulled out just as I got there and I secured a parking space about half-way between the original and the hoped-for parking spots. I jumped out of the car and ran back to the art fair. Had this been a sit-com or a movie, I would have locked my keys in the car, but I didn’t. When I got back to Ken’s tent, I noticed Gina talking to someone. Who was it? No less than Ken Hughes, a good family friend from when I lived in Arkansas (back in 1978!).

Ken and his wife Helen, and another couple, the Corleys, were traveling around looking at some of the different presidential museums, and they made a stop in Springfield for the Abraham Lincoln museum (which is fantastic, by the way).  Helen and the Corleys were at the museum, but Ken had seen it before and decided to walk around the art fair instead. As it would turn out, Ken saw Gina while I was driving around looking for a new parking spot. Had I been predictable (which I am 99.99% of the time), this chance encounter would never have happened. We were able to visit for a few minutes, and Ken got to see one of Nate’s epic temper tantrums. We exchanged numbers and were able to meet tonight for dinner. We took them to the Dublin Pub for one of Springfield’s infamous Horseshoe Sandwiches. It was a lot of fun catching up with the Hughes and Corley families, and there is a chance we will see them again next week when we travel to Fort Worth. It’s funny what God will do in the midst of our harebrained ideas … or maybe they aren’t so harebrained after all, and perhaps He even orchestrates them. That’s what I believe. Here are few more pictures from our dinner and time at the art fair. The last one is my favorite, which I annotated for your entertainment.

One of my favorite times each day is when we are settling down to put the boys to bed. This tradition started when the boys were about 6 months old or so, and it has morphed into what it is today. We start by reading two or three books (and even more some days), singing a couple of songs, saying prayers and giving night-night hugs and kisses. The funny thing about the stories is that we have literally read (note the redundancy) the same books dozens of times. For almost an entire year, we would read Time for Bed, by Mem Fox and Jane Dyer. The boys had the entire thing memorized, and each page had a little ritual (such as pointing to the moon or making a fish face). This book eventually was replaced by Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd, and Jamberry, by Bruce Degen. These two books didn’t stay on the playlist nearly as long as Time for Bed, but they will definitely go into the Hall of Fame. From there we progressed to the Seals on the Bus, by Lenny Hort and G. Brian Karas, which still gets limited play time when the boys are sitting on the potty. We have now moved on to a collection of books that we rotate through: If You Give a Pig a Pancake and If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Joffe Numeroff and Felicia Bond, Pigsty by Mark Teague and The Leprechaun’s Gold by Pamela Duncan Edwards and Henry Cole (which I read in a very bad Irish accent). The boys also like to sing along to My Country, ‘Tis of Thee and America the Beautiful (sorry, no link for this one). A lot of these books I acquired when I was a teacher, either as gifts from students or I used bonus points to buy them. We have read each of these books so much that Sam and Nate have them memorized, which you can see below. This video is a little on the long side (approximately 5 min.) but well worth it.

On Sunday, Sam, Nate and I got to honor Gina for her third Mother’s Day. Of course, we don’t wait until the second weekend each May to honor Gina, but this is a day we get to lay it on pretty thick. We started the day off with fresh blueberry muffins and eggs, which Sam and Nate kind of helped me make. By help I mean they stood in the kitchen and screamed “Wuff-wim!” until they were ready. While we were eating our breakfast, we also gave Gina her Mother’s Day cards and presents. I gave her a copy of our book, which I recently created from our Virginia Blog. I know, you book purists out there consider it a stretch to call this a “book,” but by definition it is bound and follows a consistent theme. It’s not bad for a rookie effort. Anyway, the boys got Gina a new bike helmet, which she is wearing in the picture above. She had been asking for one, and since we have been riding bikes quite a bit lately Sam and Nate thought this would be perfect.

After breakfast we went to church, then we had lunch at Chipotle. We went home to take naps (and I got to vacuum the car), then we went on a long bike ride that ended at the park. There were a lot of other families there enjoying the nice weather, which was a lot of fun. The boys especially loved riding on the see-saw with Gina and I. We made it go really high, which caused a lot of squeals and giggles. The day ended with us playing in the backyard, having sandwiches for dinner and taking a bath.

There isn’t enough room on this blog for Sam, Nate and I to express our love and appreciation for Gina. She is an unbelievably wonderful mommy, and we are so blessed that God put her in our lives. In Proverbs 31, the author goes into great detail about the characteristics of a noble and godly wife. Verse 28-29 states, “Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: ‘Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.’” Gina truly is amazing in the way she loves and cares for the boys (and her overgrown boy), and she does it with grace and patience. She has definitely made me a better man, and the boys will look back on their lives and see how richly God blessed them through their beautiful mother. Sam sums it up pretty well with this smile:

Gina and I recently remembered that the boys had some Christmas money from Big Mama that they hadn’t used, so we began thinking hard about something that would have thrilled her to get the boys. After much thinking, and a little clue from Fun Shop, we decided to get the boys roller skates. No, correct that … Spiderman Roller Skates! They are still getting used to them, and they are nowhere near ready to fly solo, but I think Big Mama would have definitely approved of this gift. As many of you know, I broke my arm roller skating at my 8th birthday party. I am hoping Sam and Nate are a little more cautious than I was (if not a little more skilled at roller skating).

Today we spent the morning at the Springfield Zoo. Even though this zoo is on the small side, it turned out perfect for us. We were able to run around and see all the animals in about 2 hours,which proved to be plenty of time for the boys. Sam and Nate really liked all the animals, especially the monkeys and lemurs. They also liked hearing the lar gibbons and peacocks screech and squeal. In addition to seeing the animals, the boys got to feed the animals! (Note: This was done WITH the zookeeper’s permission AND food supply—raisins— we wouldn’t have done it otherwise.  Another plus is that they actually had sinks and soap for hand washing!) Actually, we should clarify that Nate got to feed the animals. Sam would have nothing to do with it. He stayed on the perimeter and watched while Nate fed goats, sheep and even a lemur (see the video below). The whole experience was everything Gina and I wanted it to be, and it proved to be even better when the boys got to feed animals.We just hope that the next time we visit a zoo Sam will warm up to the animals a little bit. Sam and Nate were exhausted by the time we got in the car to go home, so much so that they didn’t even want to eat lunch. They just went straight to bed for their naps. That’s the sign of a good day.

The boys and I got a surprise visit from a cute visitor yesterday morning. We sat and watched him (or her) for a long time before I had the sense to go get the camera. I was hoping to capture Sam saying (repeatedly), “The bunny’s eating yummies!” Maybe next time. For now, you will just have to settle for a shot of the bunny.

I know this has nothing to do with the theme of our blog, but I couldn’t help but share.

Borrowed from http://graphjam.com/2010/04/28/funny-graphs-simple-math/