for the love of Tiberius

an observation

I recently observed that adults can be so quick and harsh to impose their opinion on a child that they easily skip past the opportunity to understand a childs perspective ...

I recently observed that parents can be so judgemental, so degrading, so insensitive to the very child they are responsible to nurture...

I recently observed that a child's spirit is a fragile thing, so easily damaged by those they long to be loved and accepted by...

I recently observed Tiberius. And I longed for him to hear praise for the person God created him to be no matter if he was bigger than all the other kids his age or not. I longed for him to have a voice and an audience who would listen long enough to give him a platform for his thoughts, opinions, cares, ideas and all the other greatness God packed into him.

For the love of Tiberius I purpose to take more time to see from a child's perspective...to be "Quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry." I purpose to show value to the young, vulnerable people God puts in my life and let my actions towards them stem from love for them and their Creator.

Cute as can be

I'm jumping ahead of myself for a quick post with a little peek from a photo shoot I had the priviledge of doing tonight. I must say that attempting to photograph a family with 6 children ages 1,7,8,9,10, and 12 may not be the easiest thing I've ever done as a beginning photographer (even though they were extremely cooperative). It sure was fun though and I was so happy to do this for this special family. Here is a capture that I love...

Hot Air Balloons, Thunderbirds, and Cirlceslide---our 4th of July entertainment

This year was no exception to the fact that I have enjoyed Cereal City's air show more every year. There are so many great things we did not fully realize when we purchased our house and, among them, is the fact that our home is a great distance from the airport-specifically during the air show. Close enough to see the balloons as they take off or land at the airport. Often close enough to even hear the loud hiss of fire as it blows into their envelope. And close enough to literally feel the roar of the Thunderbirds entertaining overhead. Though a few balloon launches were cancelled due to inclement weather or high winds, Friday morning's calm was just what they needed to launch and I happened to take my morning run just after they had lifted off. They entertained me overhead throughout my entire run. At one point I could see 16 balloons. However, the best part was when "Sugar Bear" (one of the boys' favorites) was drifting just ahead of me and twisted around as if he was turning his head to smile right at me. Friday night the boys and I were all ready for a balloon chase but the winds held them off. So, early Saturday morning when I heard their hissing overhead as I woke up, I got the boys out of bed, we got ready quickly, went outside, and found balloons speckled across the scenery surrounding our house. We took off to track down a landing and, much to our great surprise, we found "The Great Tony." He had already landed and they were beginning to pack him up but, because he is another one of our favorite balloons, we had to stop anyway. As we were watching them load him up, a balloon came over the trees just across the road and landed right before our eyes. We were on a roll so we followed another balloon that was sailing on a bit farther to another part of town to see if we could watch them land. Chasing balloons holds a lot of excitement in the last moments before a balloon decides just exactly where to make their landing. Often you have to drive in and out of several locations before you peg the actual spot they will come down. On this morning, after 3 attempts, we pulled into an apartment complex just as the balloon landed. The pilot was excellent with the crowd of children that had quickly gathered and led them through the entire process of packing up the balloon. We watched the balloons overhead on Saturday night but we were headed out of town to a Circlslide concert* and fireworks so we were unable to chase them. On Sunday morning I again timed my run perfectly so I was able to enjoy a sky full of balloons. I deviated from my typical route and ran right along side the airport. At one point I was able to count 26 balloons. Then, on the final night of the air show, the parents of 2 sweet girls I had cared for during my last months of home daycare, gave us VIP passes into the air show. This meant free food and seats that were actually on the air field (which were so good you felt like you could have reached out to touch the Thunderbirds as they roared overhead. A few pictures follow-and to think I left my telescopic lens at home. You would have seen the pilots faces had I brought that along:) And then, finally, after some delay due to the winds, the balloons were cleared for a final lift off. The goal on this particular night was to fly into the airport, drop your bean bag as close to the target as possible, and then land elsewhere. Due to the winds, several had rather rough landings right on the airfield after they attempted to descend low enough to drop their bean bags into the target. This had Jayce rather worried. We had a great time at the show and hanging out with the Clark family---thank you so much for sharing with us!

*The Fourth of July Circleslide concert was great as always. We enjoyed time with the Moodys, watching the fireworks, and catching up with friends including the Leonardsons. Jayce especially enjoyed the "sliver" of a broken drumstick he was able to retrieve after the show which he got autographed by the entire band. After watching Lee that night, I'm convinced Jayce has made it his goal to start breaking a drumstick here and there---his drumming (which is getting unbelievably good) has been more skilled and emphatic ever since.

You know you've been to Chicago when...

...your child requests a cowboy hat and heads outside to play his instrument of choice for all the world to hear. Confused?...so was I. So I inquired what exactly he was going to need the hat for, and more specific, "Why a cowboy hat?"

"So people can put money in when I play my drums."

Great thinking, sweet boy. Unfortunately, many things did not go in Jayce's favor on this particular day...

First, we do not have a cowboy hat in our vast collection of dress up hats (so he improvised). Second, we do not live in a high traffic area (so he didn't get any money). And third, some random object got into Jayce's eye during his "performance" (so I spent the next hour and a half trying to make him comfortable and decide if something had scratched his eye or if there was still something in there which needed to be retreived) Finally, after on and off discomfort, accompanied with tears, 2 short Curious George episodes, several popsicle offers which were all refused, and attempts at every trick I know for getting something out of an eye, he let me take a real good look around in his eye. I thought I saw something under the lid and, sure enough, during the second check I recovered a small speck of what appeared to be part of a stem or leaf. He had instant relief and , other than his red, swollen eye, his face was so happy. As we both studied the small speck on my finger that had caused him so much trouble, I just could not keep myself from using the opportunity for a greater good. And since we've been talking about how the way we use our words can either help people to grow or make them wilt, I said, "You know Jayce, this speck is so little but it made a big difference in your eye. Even though it is so little, when it was in your eye it hurt really really bad. And, even though it is super,super tiny it made your eye feel better right away when it came out. It made a big difference. In the Bible it says that our tongue is a very small part of our body but it can make a really big difference. If you use your words in the right ways it helps people, but if you use your words in the wrong way it can hurt people really badly." He was so attentive and I think he got it:) Later however, as he was recalling the incident and how the speck got into his eye, he did come up with a really great, 4-year-old solution so this wouldn't happen again..."Everything in the world should have eyes," he said. "Why?" "Cause they need to see where they are going."

Questions from a child

Tonight in the sweet moments of conversation leading up to bed time a new question was raised by the ever curious minds of 2 little boys trying to understand Jesus a little bit more. We've often talked about how when we get to heaven Jesus is going to give us a new body. This has raised a lot of questions in our family for sure. We once had the sincere question from Jayce "Is it going to hurt?" On this particular day the question seemed to come out of nowhere so I responded, "Is what going to hurt?" And, seriously concerned, he clarified the question, "When Jesus takes our skin off." Classic. But tonight it took a different twist. I'm unsure of exactly where these conversations come from except I know that tonight it came after I prayed for Jayce as he apparently zoned me out and entered his own little worship world with his eyes closed while he beat the air drums along with the music that played in the background. All the while, Ty sang some spontaneous and beautiful song that I need to learn pen immediately or I forget the words-every time. Afterwards we started talking about such things as people who follow Jesus, if we will sleep in heaven and then the question...Jayce asked, "what color skin do you think I will get when I get my new body?" I love this question. I love that Jayce thinks he will have white skin and Ty thinks his will be brown. And I love these moments which are nestled in the midst of day to day life*. Oh God, help me take the time for every single one of them.

*today day to day life included such unsweet moments as Ty turning the lights partially off in the library, at least 4 conversations about the perils of hitting, and a Rubik's Cube, newly acquired from a garage sale, flying through the air towards our neighbors house.

Red, Khaki, and the faithfulness of God

Tomorrow I will officially be the second member of our household to be employed by Target. I really thought I was wasting my time when I filled out the application last month--all positions were listed as unavailable. And, I really don't like to waste time--unless you consider Facebook a waste of time. Then I would have to say that I do enjoy wasting time... moving on. Even still, I went ahead and completed the application because I know Target to be a good company to work for, because I still have a desire to be a cashier that has yet to be satisfied, and because I am in need of a part time job now that I have concluded my home daycare days. Less than a week later, much to the surprise of both Ryan and I, I received a call to schedule an interview and was offered the job 2 days later following the interview. We very much recognize this as the faithfulness of God and we are very thankful that I have been given this job. It will be the first time since I gave birth to Tyrus that I have worked outside of the home. Sometimes I am so torn about this but, at this time in life, I feel peaceful about it. It will the give the guys more guy time so they can play more fun daddy/son games like they played today while I was gone for a while--I think they called this one "Bear attack." This apparently entailed Ryan walking through the "woods" and the "bears" jumping out to-you guessed it-attack him. Anyway, I'm thankful for this new venture and I better go iron the khakis:)

Graftefulness and Gorgeousness

I recognize more and more the impact of people in my life who heap love on me without fail and see who God made me to be and encourage me to live that to the fullest. You know, the people who catch you off guard because they love you in spite of...and believe there is greatness in you even after you...and so on. I am becoming more and more aware and grateful that these people have been plentiful throughout my life. The ones who know me best and (even still) love me best are my mom, my dad and Ryan. Of course I reap the reward of their deep impact in my life daily but sometimes I reflect on it more than others. Like when I was attending the 8th grade graduation of my sister-in-law, AJ. As I watched all those 8th grade graduates at their somewhat (or very) awkward and high pressure stage in life I was thinking--"Who is in THEIR life who is loving them, cheering for them, believing in them, showing them the way, etc?" It caused me to want to very much more accurately reflect to each individual person I encounter the value that God places on them. And understand them in a way so that I can detect something about the specific greatness He put in them. I am so grateful for the strength, confidence, mindset and understanding this has built into my life and I so much want to pass this on.

That may seem like a heavy introduction to the next part of this post, but that is usually how my mind works--constantly (over)thinking or (over)analyzing things:) Anyway, I am about to unveil a sneak peak at some gorgeousness from my sister, Destiny and her photo shoot from 2 weeks ago. Thanks to my husband's very generous Mothers Day gift, I am now equipped to further explore an interest/talent/hobby of mine-photography. He loves that I am creative and he encourages me and reminds me that I am. He challenges my focus when I don't feel confident because I am fixed on how much I still don't know and how much I need to learn, and, if you ask him, in regards to photography, I should be charging like the pros:) (so don't ask him) Anyway, on to the pictures. If anyone is in my position---wanting to become exceptional at capturing artistic, real life photos--- I recommend you borrow my sister and head to the beach at sunset. The beauty of both will shine bright in even a beginners photography:)

And, of course, there are many, many more to come:)