The powers that be (Randy’s big brother), say that this is good for us.

Today was Micah’s first day of 2nd grade. 

He was pretty excited. 

He got Elias to put his little backpack on and rather unbeknownst to me, told him that he could get on the big bus with him and go to school with him.  Not realizing the the 2yr old takes the 7yr old very seriously, Micah went on his merry way as we walked to the bus stop, until I realized the full extent of what was about to happen when said big bus pulled up, if Micah himself did not re-explain to Elias which children were ACTUALLY going to get on the bus.  Micah did explain, and Elias was a little bit disappointed, but he got over it pretty quickly.

Here are some pictures of Micah and Serena at swimming lessons a few weeks ago. 

We're Ready!

We go to our local orchard every fall to get apples and pumpkins.  Usually we need to wear fleece and hats and all that warm stuff.  So, being one for traditions, I faithfully forced my family to gear up in their finest softness, only to humbly carry the fuzzies back to the van after like 5 minutes.  Oh well.  It was fun, and we got some great shots of bumpy squash too.

(Ok, this is a message to our Tech Support, since we know that you have Google reader, WHY WON’T IT TAKE ANY MORE PHOTOS!?! We go through the same procedure as we did for the beautiful picture just 1 inch above this here complaint, and it tells us in nasty red ink “The uploaded file could not be moved to the upload folder.” This is not promoting our self-esteem. (Perhaps if it said it in a nice way, like with soothing green text saying, “I am so sorry, but I cannot accept any more photos from you for completely unknown reasons. I hope to be able to better serve you in some nebulous other circumstances.” Nah. We’d still have to rant.)

So if you want more photos, click on the picture and it will take you to our Picasa Web Album. (If the blog is feeling obliging.)

Quick updates of random things, before I bring up something that I learned about from a handout I received at Micah's Kindergarten (sniff, sniff) orientation this morning:

*Elias is 9 weeks old now and he's really cute and smiley.  He also likes to eat rather often, even and sometimes especially during the time that grown people call "night" and like to sleep.  So, we're pretty exhausted these days (and nights).  But the Little Dude is getting chubbier by the minute, and who doesn't love to squeeze and kiss chubby baby thighs??

*We just got back from a week-long roadtrip in Newton.  Newton is our Dodge "Graham CrackerVan" according to Serena.  He also contains cheerios and all sorts of other crumbs from our trip that we have not yet taken out of him.  Anyway, so we packed up a 5 yr old, a 2 1/2 yr old, and a 2 month old and went on a trip that Google Maps said would take "1 day, 9 hours."  Even we began to doubt our sanity in selecting such an adventure for this summer.   But we wanted to visit Randy's 3 brothers and their families and they don't happen to live next door.  So we packed lots of diapers and lots of snacks, and made sure we used plenty of both to ensure a nice drive.  We also made sure we didn't get them mixed up, because no one wants a onesie full of soggy pretzels, now do they?  But it really was a nice trip and our kids did rather well for all the driving we did.  Of course we did try to make it extra exciting by leaving at 4:40 AM for the first leg of the trip and 2:40 AM on the fifth and final leg.  I mean, 3 out of 5 of us were up anyway, so why not just go?

*Micah starts Kindergarten next Wednesday.  He is very excited, and he does realize (I think) that it involves more than just riding a school bus. 

We got this 3 page handout at orientation this morning, all about the bus.  And no, it was not the lyrics to "The Wheels on the Bus" though that would have been more interesting than most of the 21 "Frequently Asked Questions."  But question 18 more than makes up for the other boring ones.  So much so that I got my lazy bones up off of the couch to get a highlighter from the desk to mark the finer points of interest.

The question reads: "Why are 39" seats in school buses rated for three children when they only will accommodate two?"

Part of the answer states that "In determining seating capacity of a bus, an allowable average rump width standard was established."  Yes, an AARWS!  And it goes on to say that "13" of rump width was suggested when a 3-3 seating plan was used".  Who figures this stuff out?  I'm half tempted to measure the rump widths in our family and see what combination of us could fit on the bus.  Or maybe I could ask Randy to make a pie chart of them somehow (not an actual pie, of course, because then the measurements would need to be altered a bit). 

Anyway, I just had to share that inspiring phrase.  I felt as though the handout morphed from a letter from the school district into a Dave Barry article on the joys of airline travel or something. 

And, since I blog oh-so-frequently, they have both given birth as well!

Isn't that sweet?

Since I haven't blogged since September, I thought I should maybe mention a few other highlights in our family:

I, too, am expecting.  Baby Pierogie is due to arrive somewhere around June 21st.  Serena currently says "girl" and Micah is still trying to hold onto his wish that I will have "one boy and one girl" despite our attempts to explain that there truly is only 1 baby in there and that as far as we can tell, this baby has only one gender.

Serena talks lots and lots now and it's very cute.  She loves going to Aldi with me and has become buds with Miss Keisha, the cashier who gives her TONS of attention.  (Although I think they've changed her schedule, as she hasn't been there the past few Wednesdays and so I don't know what to do because I ALWAYS do my food shopping on Wednesday mornings and I can't even fathom how I'd go on if I had to CHANGE something – heaven forbid!)

We have joined the club of at-first-reluctant-but-then-accepting minivan owners.  We purchased Newton (yes, as in fig newton, only he's big newton) on a Wednesday in February, crashed him 3 days later, got him back in early March, and have been pretty much terrified to drive him since.  So he sits safely in the garage for the most part, awaiting Pierogie's arrival, so that we will actually DRIVE him (without feeling guilty b/c he uses more gas than Bobo – yes, you'd be hard-pressed to find cheaper people than us…).  But he's CUTE and we got an amazing deal on him and he has some great storage features (so, really, since we're not driving him, we basically added a closet to our garage, thus maximizing storage space!!)

 Micah sleeps in a big boy's bed – finally!  (LONG STORY - rather linked with the crashing of Newton.  Let's just say that in an effort to be cheap, we ended up spending over $650 for a $40 craigslist find…)

What else?  Let's see, Micah is loving preschool and enjoyed registering for kindergarten.

Randy spoke about his occupation at Micah's preschool.  Those kids now know, if nothing else, what a plume is.

As for me, I can occasionally make it through an entire afternoon without falling asleep on the couch!

The cats are acting as they always do: Sam needs to be "put away" when guests come, and Toby pees on things.

Randy just informed me that had I not blogged today, he was scheming to post an entry tonight that teased of containing actual content, but then only said, "April Fools!"  So, for those of you who like to know a few tidbits about our life, I'm glad I beat him to it. 

Thanks for reading!

In one word, it is Immanuel. God with us. Every time I hear that word it puts shivers down my spine. I can't help but be overwhelmed by the magnitude of God walking among us. Let me explain.

Imagine yourself in Mary's or Joseph's place. What must they have thought? Months ago, they were told that they were to care for Jesus, the Son of God. Certainly they had time to prepare and make their home ready for the arrival of the new child. Yet, just about the time he is due, they are forced to pick up and move. For what purpose? For a census. Surely there must be some mistake. The journey must have been long and difficult for Mary. Did Joseph worry about how slow their progress was? Did he worry about how to provide proper accommodations for his young, pregnant wife? When they reached Bethlehem, there was no place to stay. All they were given were the quarters of animals. Surely there must be some mistake. This was the town of Joseph's family, yet there was no room for him and his pregnant wife. When Mary began to labor and give birth, did they have any doubts? At a minimum they must have wondered, "Did we do something wrong, that this is the best we can offer the Son of God?" The timing was awful, the journey trying, and the accommodations deplorable for a new mother. Without a midwife or friend at her side, Mary's labor must have been frightening at best. Surely Joseph did the best he could, but what did a carpenter know about giving birth at that time? Did they even have clean water to wash the new baby with?

Consider the glory of heaven. Perfect, holy, without sin, without disease, without pain… the Holy Presence of God the Father in all of his glory. Angels hover and continuously sing "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty." No eyes can bear to see the Father's face, but all cover their own to shield the brightness of his glory. And the Son of God sits at his right hand.

Consider the stable where Jesus was born. The dark cave, with mud, hay, excrement, bacteria, disease, blood, hunger, pain… this is our world, and he made it his home. Imagine the most helpless newborn infant: picture yourself holding that newborn in your arms and consider that God chose to become so weak, helpless and dependent- dependent on us. When Mary and Joseph sat in the straw among cattle, holding this new baby boy, I am sure they rejoiced. But I'm sure they also wondered. And perhaps even doubted. What did we do wrong? Is this what the angel meant? Surely this is not how it was supposed to be. Perhaps we misunderstood. This cannot possibly be how God intended to send his son into the world. Surely we have failed him.Then a stranger appeared, a shepherd. "Excuse me," he may have said, looking into the stable as others crowded in behind him. "Do you know-" His eyes stop on the child, wrapped in clothes and lying in a manger. The shepherds' wonder and awe must have been contagious! They saw not just an angel, but a host of angels, singing praises to the baby that lay before them. For Mary and Joseph, all their doubts were swept away as strangers poured in from the night praising God.

Imagine your poorest point in life when you felt completely destitute – you could barely afford food for your table. Or imagine your poorest point when you were so helplessly lost in your sin that you gave yourself up for lost. Or imagine your poorest point when you were all alone, when no one seemed to care if you lived or died – no one had a kind word or a ray of hope.

The King steps in. He eats a crust of bread with you at your barren table. He embraces you in your filthy, depraved sin. He takes your hand when no else will, and asks you to be his bride. Immanuel. God with us. God enters at our poorest, darkest, loneliest point and says "I am with you."

And the wonder of it all is that he came to suffer. You can't have Christmas without Easter. It was for the Cross that Christ came.

One of my favorite Christmas songs is "Did You Know" by Todd Agnew. He sings "Did the cross cast a shadow over your cradle? Did you shudder each time your hammer struck a nail?"

For some, everything they see in Christmas speaks of the world hijacking our religious celebration. For me, everything I see during Christmas reminds me that Christ came to earth; that he came to die for my sins. Every song I sing, whether "O Holy Night" or "Jingle Bell Rock", and every decoration I see, whether a nativity, a tree, or a Santa, reminds me that Christ came to save us all. Everything else fades away.

The world will see what it wants to see. But I see Immanuel. God with us. This is why I love to celebrate Christmas.

If you click on the pics, you will be magically [thank you, Tina (and James for the "magic")] taken to our WebAlbum, where unknown quantities of happiness and bliss are just waiting for your arrival.