Dumpster diving at its best

Driving home from work one day last month, on the eve of garbage collection day, Adam spotted something in someone's trash heap that caught his eye. And not being one to pass up a good deal, he salvaged the object and brought it home! (This is a valuable skill that was honed during our time in North Dakota by a dear friend who can't pass up 5-gallon buckets on the side of the road...)

Anyway, the object was a tailgate extender. We weren't sure exactly how it worked or how to connect it to the truck, but after some guidance from our friend YouTube, Adam felt confident that he could connect it, and became even more convinced of its usefulness! A couple of small connecting pieces had to be ordered, but once they arrived, Adam had no trouble installing the new contraption:


With the tailgate closed, it holds all his fishing supplies in one place so they don't slide around back there. And with the tailgate open, it can be easily flipped over (without disconnecting), to keep larger loads in place. (No photo of that - sorry.) How cool is that?

And I think I recently stumbled upon the most useful aspect of all: carrying groceries! No longer do I worry about groceries sliding around in the back of the truck, so now Adam can occasionally do the grocery shopping for me on his way home from work, without concern of smashed eggs or cracked milk jugs. I knew there was a reason I loved that thing!

Levi Hunter

I had planned to write today about my pregnancy with Levi, his birth, and his life. For a few months I've been waiting patiently for the opportunity his birthday would provide to tell his story, and to expound upon the depth of our love for him. I also envisioned sharing about the meaning behind his name, and trying to list all the words he now can say, and possibly how he pronounces them. And I wanted to spend a bit of time talking about our conversion to the idea of completely natural childbirth, specifically the Bradley Method, and the impact our childbirth education had on Levi's birth.

Quite lofty goals for one post, I know. Especially since I don't usually write in a particularly, shall we say, "concise" way!

And life happens. It's 1:45pm right now, and I've finally got Levi down for his nap about an hour late. A messy house is screaming my name. Bills needing to be paid are calling a bit more quietly, and there are several half-finished books waiting to be read. And Drake will be home in an hour and a half. Not to mention (or perhaps because of all this), I'm suffering from a bit of writer's block today and don't think I can do justice to the well-planned, thought-provoking post that has been swimming in my imagination for months. But such is life.

I spent most of this morning trying to slow down and live at Levi's pace - to look into his little face and try to understand how he sees the world. To play the way he plays and delight in the things that make him laugh...the stray doggie outside, the magnetic train cars that stick together and twirl around when you dangle the engine in the air, the thrill of freedom when realizing the back gate has been left open, the hilarity of repetitious games like going down the slide again and again or playing peekaboo.

I'm trying to love the growing up that I'm seeing. I'm sentimental by nature, and if left on its own, that trait could easily overshadow my joy in progress made and things accomplished, and could even chip away at responsible parenting. While mommies never really enjoy realizing that their baby isn't a baby anymore, it's definitely more sweet than bitter for me, this time around. God placed this precious child in my life to raise up in the way he should go, not to hold onto forever. I've heard it said by two different people in the past week: We're not raising children; we're raising adults. And that's a wise fact to keep in mind. I do well to cherish the sweet times with my children while they're young. But I do even more good when I pour into them everything I can that will equip them to be godly men who love and serve the Lord with all their being.

So. Since this is my blog, I guess I can do whatever I want! Plan to see some version of my originally-hoped-for birthday post in the future. Perhaps it will be chopped into smaller segments, however, rather than one gigantically long post!

And enjoy the photos...

37 weeks pregnant - this was about two weeks before Levi was born.

No words can express the heart-rush when one realizes that she can (and does) indeed love the second baby as much as the first, no questions asked.

Precious round little face

Ready to go home for the first time

Levi Hunter, I love you with all my heart. May you grow to be a faithful servant of the Lord!

Celebrating our Levi!

Today was a full day! We planted grass seed in our front lawn and weeded the garden this morning, then went to the park on HF to play for a couple of hours. Adam threw the parachute guys for Drake and a bunch of other kids, Adam and Drake (and then Adam and I) played catch, and Levi ran and climbed to his little heart's content. After that, we headed home for Levi's nap, during which Adam and I finished up Levi's cake and wrapped gifts (seems like we're always procrastinators!)...and generally prepared for his little party.

After the birthday boy woke up, the festivities began - only Levi wasn't in the best of moods. The first thing he wanted when he came downstairs was to play with one of the balloons we'd hung up, which promptly popped and scared him! It took him a little while to recover from that. Opening gifts seemed to stress him out, too. He finally relaxed a little more when it was time for cake and ice cream, even blowing out his own candle (to his - and our - surprise)!

Then with a full belly, he set out to play with some of his new gifts, specifically his wooden stacking vehicles from our favorite Alaskans, and his new "road rug" from Gr & Gr S. "Buddy" and Daddy played dart guns with some of Drake's awesome new Nerf darts he received for his 6-1/2 year birthday (Drake and Levi are exactly 4-1/2 years apart, to the day...so Drake got a little gift too). Anyway, the dart game escalated (which you can probably imagine if you've spent any time around Adam and Drake) and pretty soon they had set up a small target shooting range on the coffee table with little road signs from a wooden vehicle set that Levi was playing with on his new road mat. At least a solid hour was spent after that with all three of them very involved in the target shooting game! Levi doled out ammunition while the big guys shot the two Nerf guns...then when all 25 darts had been expended, Drake and Levi would run and collect them all and set the signs back up to be shot again. What fun!

Anyway, I have SO many pictures I want to post from today, but only a limited amount of time...so you're getting the condensed version on the photo end, for sure. It was a full and eventful day, and we spent it cherishing our youngest son and brother - how blessed we are to have our Levi in this family!

Always my helper, this one will do any chore I ask - even picking up his toys - with enthusiasm! He really wanted to rake the topsoil this morning, but I thought a pushbroom might be a better choice for him, and he was willing to compromise!

Big Bro got the honor of raking, which he seemed to enjoy...at least for a little while!

Bucky seeding the lawn

Keepin' everything Even Steven...

My darling baby, you are adorable!

At the park - Drake and Daddy played catch for a little while.

Climbing with some help from Mommy!

Ready to blow out the candle on his car cake! (Check out the flames...it was a fun cake to make!)

Setting up the "targets"!

The shooting game!! I have so many pictures from this (and video too) that I might blog about it again another day if I get a chance. It was hilarious!

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We are so thankful for Levi and his role in our family - what a joy he is! Tomorrow morning at 6:11 he will officially be two years old. But if you ask him, "How old are you?" he will already answer, "Two!"...we've been practicing for a week now!

O Beloved Weekends!

This past Saturday was a lot of fun. After bringing Early Bird Levi into the "big bed" to have some morning playtime with Mommy and Daddy, we all got up and had banana pancakes for breakfast. Then we went geocaching! It was a beautiful day outside. I am convinced that people who choose to live in Florida must do so for the spring weather!

Here are the boys and I with a cache. This is the 2nd (and final) stage of a multi-cache. (The first stage was a fake rock with coordinates for the next stage inside.) It took us down a pretty little wooded path to this pond. Sunny day, light breeze - it was gorgeous!

Levi's favorite mode of transportation!

My handsome, helpful big boy

The loves of my life!

That cache happened to be near the air museum, so we stopped to look at the planes outside. The boys had a blast running between and under all the different aircraft. Drake also got to practice his reading skills on the placard signs describing the different planes, and he was pleasantly surprised that he could sound out most of the airplane names.

Mommy and the boys at the air park

Drake and Levi checking out the F-15. I think. (I'll have to check with Adam when he gets home from work tonight to make sure I'm right about the plane. The obvious difference between F-15s and F-16s is that one of them has two of those tail fin things that stick up in the back and the other has just one. Now I can't remember which is which...)

Daddy and his boys

Tough guys

What a memorable occasion - Levi's first tattoo ever! This one must go onto the blog to be remembered for posterity...

Drake, the experienced tattoo-ee (pretty sure that's not a word!), was trying to get Levi to flex into a muscleman-type pose for this picture. Levi was a little dazed and wondering why the "sticker" on his arm wouldn't come off.

Way cool dino tattoo!

Levi finally caught on to the joy of the moment, flashing one of his winning smiles and saying "Too!" (Translation: "Tattoo!")

Groundhog adventures

In honor of Groundhog's Day, Drake made a groundhog "hole" out of two umbrellas with blankets over the top. Levi must do everything that "Buddy" is doing, of course. So the two of them played groundhogs for quite awhile the other day. Here they are, inside their "hole"!

I think this one is poking his head out! I wonder if he sees his shadow...

Well, he scurried back into his hole, so it looks like six more weeks of winter!

Choices

I'm taking a risk as I write this. In fact, after having written most of it, I'm wondering whether I should actually post it. The thing is, there are readers of this blog on each end of the spectrum I'm about to discuss (some of you WAY out there on both sides). I'm doing this mainly to share my heart with you, and to let you know where we are in one of the big decisions we're making. There has been no decision made yet, but we are plowing through mountains of pros and cons, and praying fervently that the Lord would make His will clear to us - that we would not make any decisions based on convenience, pressure from others, or long-standing beliefs we've held forever without knowing why. We're trying to slice through the fluff and get to the heart of the matter - and boy, is there ever a lot of fluff involved. But there's a lot of heart, too.

I'm talking about our children's education. As everyone is well aware, Drake has been in kindergarten at a local public school this year. Overall, I am satisfied with it, at least for the most part. Academically, he is not struggling; behaviorally, he is doing fine. But weaving in and out and around this school year has been a gnawing feeling inside me that something isn't right about it. Maybe it's because he spends over 7 hours a day outside of our influence - more hours than he's (awake) at home on weekdays. Maybe it's because his joys and anxieties reflect priorities in his little heart that shouldn't even be registering on the "important" scale. Maybe it's because I have this recurring thought that I could teach him more, in half the time. And he'd have more fun. And do less coloring worksheets...coloring upon coloring. Maybe it's because we have had two "clashes" (polite ones!) with school activities/policies already this year, including one last week that involved something (briefly) shown on a video in the cafeteria (which I just happened to see), that I won't even describe on this blog. Because we're a G-rated blog around here!

And to show for the 700 hours he's now spent there since the beginning of the school year, what does he know that he didn't know before? The big one: he knows how to read simple words and simple storybooks, which has been really exciting! Ummm...he also knows how to write his name faster than he used to (from writing it on all the coloring pages). He knows that he is not very good at coloring, because several of the kids tell him so every day. He knows all about Martin Luther King, Jr. He knows how to deal with disappointments a little better, like when he doesn't get invited to a classmate's birthday party and his best friend does. He knows how to interact comfortably with kids of different genders and races and social statuses (but I think he did that fine before this year, anyway). He knows about all the latest toys, even without seeing commercials on cable TV, because his classmates talk about them and bring them for show-and-tell. He knows how to check books out from the library all by himself. He knows a lot of new games from his favorite activity - P.E.!

Nothing else major is coming to mind. And 700 hours is a lot of time! So I'm left wondering: is "good enough" really good enough? Is this just first-year-of-school-mommy-worries? Should my belief that godly parents be the main shaping influence in a child's life carry over beyond age 5? And if so, how can that truly be accomplished in a "school" setting? When he gets off the bus at around 3:30pm, he's hungry and squirrelly from sitting still and walking in straight lines all day. So he eats a snack and goes outside to play, usually until almost supper time. Then we eat supper, put Levi to bed, hang out with Drake for an hour or so, and put him to bed. And start all over the next day. Parental influence consists of asking questions about the day at school and filtering through the answers with him...of discipline and chores...and of constantly asking him to keep his voice down at the dinner table and Eat Your Food! It's a barely-make-it-through-the-day way to live, and it doesn't feel right. Add homework in a few years, and there will be even less interaction.

The primary reason I'm a stay-at-home mom is not so I can have a spotless house. (Good thing, huh?) It's so I can be the one raising my own children, teaching them about Jesus, instilling values in them, providing discipline in their lives, answering the tough questions. I thought I'd be ready to relinquish some of that responsibility when it was time to start school, but the truth is, I am jealous for my children's hearts! I want my boys to grow up learning to pray without ceasing. I want them to grow up seeing everything through the lens of truth, in everything they do - knowing that we're nothing apart from God's grace. I don't want to waste a moment for reminding them to think of others before themselves, or that loving the Lord and loving their neighbors are the most important things in life. I want them to grow into godly men who know how to interact with their culture efficiently and without fear, because they've seen it for what it is, and not through the lens of artificial "socialization" that comes with the traditional classroom setting. (In what other situation in life do we interact with groups of people who are all exactly our age and know the same things? That's what I mean by artificial socialization.) (Thanks, CB!)

In essence, we're considering homeschooling, and I didn't expect to be saying that even a few months ago. As much as I dislike certain things regarding the homeschooling community, we are indeed considering it. And considering one year of it only, at this point. If we end up going that road, there will be much more "considering" going on before it's a permanent fixture in our lives. And you might very well see Drake heading back to M.E. Elementary next year for first grade. There is no doubt in my mind that many families are called by God to be lights in the public school system, just as many families are called by Him to homeschool. Like I said, nothing has been decided, only questions being raised at this point. We could use prayer more than advice, unless you have a really unique perspective that you'd like to share. (And keep in mind, if the education choice you prefer has always seemed fairly obvious to you, you haven't been where we are now.)

Thanks for listening. It's been a lot to think about lately!

Almost 2!

Wow, Levi's birthday is really sneaking up on me! He'll be two on February 17, and I can't believe how fast the time has gone. He is less and less "baby" these days, which is a little sad, but a lot of fun, just the same!

So. I'm trying to decide how much of a big deal to make out of this birthday. For Drake's 2nd birthday, we had a big (for us) party with four other families over to our house, had a barbecue, outside games, cake and ice cream, decorations, etc. And the cake was awesome (and a lot of work, by the way!) - a big tractor made out of two 9x13 flat cakes. (Yeah, I really should post pictures, but that would require going through some old photo CDs and putting the pics on our computer first, which I don't have time for this morning - errands beckon.)

Anyway, I've got that mental image of Drake's 2nd birthday party in my head, and I can't help but feel a little guilty that I have no desire to duplicate that (or even come close) right now. One point to consider, though, is that Drake's "comparison" party also had a going-away-party feel to it, because it was right after we'd received short-notice orders to move down here, and it was an opportunity to get together with all our most special Minot friends one last time.

(Actually, I think this whole dilemma might fall under the Things That Parents Shouldn't Do List, in the category of Comparing Children.)

So I've got a hankering for a small, family party for this birthday...Levi isn't old enough to know the difference (although Drake is). I don't really want to decorate, and plan a menu, and be a hostess. (And I don't want to spend the money to have it anywhere but here - we're saving for plane tickets.) I think it's laziness, to tell you the truth! I'll have to think about it some more over the next couple of days, I guess. Mommy-guilt vs. laziness...mommy-guilt vs. laziness...

Of pencils and hammers

Well, there hasn't really been a lot of action around here lately - it has felt like we're perpetually busy, but not with anything really blog-worthy. We've also got several big decisions on the horizon that are clamoring for attention; my mind is spinning with all the pros, cons, and what-ifs involved in making them. So even though I'm feeling a bit "foggy," I want to take a few minutes to post some more pictures. Hope you enjoy!

You may not be able to read this. Drake did it with a red colored pencil, which makes it a little faint. Anyway, one day when I was feeling really sick and miserable (and frustrated because the illness was dragging on and on, and I wasn't getting anything done), Drake scooted off into the playroom and came back with this precious card. The front reads "I LUV MOME". Inside it says "I HOP MOME FELS BETRS SOON". (Translation: "I love Mommy. I hope Mommy feels better soon.") Awww, what a sweet and thoughtful boy he is! That was certainly enough to make me stop feeling sorry for myself and appreciate the blessings in my life!

Drake and Adam put together a wooden model, and then Drake colored it with markers and crayons. He is very proud of his eagle!

Adam put up a long shelf in the playroom (the playroom is half of our garage - I'll have to post pictures sometime) in order to have more space to put things up out of the reach of a certain (fairly destructive) little someone in our home! The little someone was very interested in helping Daddy with the shelf.

It's handyman Levi himself!