July | 2008 | Good to be Home

Hi, I’m Caleb. I want to tell you about my pond.

My pond is so great. Last year, when I was a baby, I was scared to go into my pond. But now that I’m a big boy, I go swimming almost every day.

My big brothers and my big sister go swimming, too. But they do tricks and they swim in the middle of my pond and I can’t do that yet.

Sometimes they try to hold on to me and take me away from the edge but I yell real loud and so they let me go. I tell them, “I NOT LIKE THAT.” That makes them go away.

They swim and do tricks and I stay on the edge by myself. My mommy calls it “my own little world.”

My mommy puts my jacket on me. A long time ago (my mommy says it was just last week) I used to swim with my jacket on and not any clothes. But yesterday my mommy said that was enough of that so now I have to keep my pants on.

It was okay though. I go in the water and I swim all by myself. I can touch the bottom of my pond with my hands and that is how I go forward. It is swimming! I go all the way to the jumping rock. Then I get out and run back to where I started from.

I have to be careful. Sometimes I get a lot of my pond in my mouth and that is when I start to choke a lot. My mom does not care. She just sits where she is and makes sure I am okay. I know what to do. I go and sit on the grass and choke and choke until the water is out.

Yesterday when we were waiting for our Daddy to get home, we were swimming. My mommy put a jacket on me that I was not used to. It made me roll over on my back while I was swimming. I not like that. I yelled. My mommy came running and asked me if I flipped over. I said I was a boat. It happened two more times. It was scary.

When I was swimming it started to rain. I did not know what to think at first. My mommy took some pictures of me and then she said real loud, “I’m getting wet, Caleb, let’s run to the house!” She took my jacket off. I got mad because my mean mommy made me run to the house on my own two feet. She did not carry me. She said it was because her hands were full but I saw her carry a lot more stuff than that before.

When we got to the house she took my wet clothes off real fast and got me warm in a towel. I was still mad, but I felt much better after a good dinner.

My pond is so much fun. I hope someday you can swim in my pond with me. We would have so much fun.

Next week I will be three years old. I will want a lot of choo-choos for my birthday.

The end.

It’s nice and cool this morning. I just waved Rich down the road. . .we got to sit together on the porch this morning before he had to leave for work. I read my Bible and we watched the birds and squirrels having their morning exercise. We saw a bright red cardinal, which sang to us it’s morning praise, and a cat bird which perched near us, a small frisky red squirrel performing daring feats in the trees. Rich walked the dog, like he does every morning. The construction workers are already here, and are hammering away on the garage.

I am happy and feeling refreshed because of a good night’s sleep. I am a morning person, for sure.

Last night Rich had to go to Costco and he took all the kids with him!!! I got to stay here and read a book. I did NOTHING but read and it was very relaxing. I had ordered an LM Montgomery journal (Vol. 1) off of ebay and it came yesterday so I dove right into that. Rich came home with a lot of snacks for me. I get queasy if I don’t keep food in my stomach so I’m very thankful for the things he brought home~dried fruit, little packs of crackers, granola bars, etc.

When he got home he put the kids to bed and we watched a Columbo mystery on netflix while munching on dried fruit.

I got up this morning and realized that I never put the leftover spaghetti and meatballs away after dinner. It’s all wasted. I hate wasting food. . . . .Rich forgave me though.

I just read all the comments from yesterday’s post. They were all wonderful but I feel like I need to say once again that THE QUESTIONS ARE NOT FROM ME. They are questions that are messaged to me from women through xanga and I post them ~ I leave off names so we can have privacy. Sorry for the confusion. I’ll have to make that more clear next Monday, which reminds me, if anyone can think of an edifying question please send it my way.

So, here are some random pictures from the last few weeks~

I don’t know what I was thinking. . . .I left Caleb alone to paint and this is what I came back to. He said he was covered “in chocolate”. I still think he’s handsome, even with brown paint on his face. And arms. Hands. Shirt.

My one and only girl usually does whatever her brothers do. One thing she has no desire to do is FISH. She just quietly stands and watches. I haven’t seen her even touch a pole. ~

The 3 older children and I went for a walk a week ago. The woods are a place of refuge for me. My eyes actually relax from what I see. I love how HUGE the woods are ~ with the tall tall trees, but also how small it is ~ with an entire world of small creatures and plants under our feet. The air is different in the forest, the smells are different. It’s a peaceful place.

I love to see the dappled sunlight. The darkness of the trees and the brightness of the sun shining through.~

The convenient trail has been made by mountain bikers

~we usually all find a good walking stick~

We enjoy coming across mushrooms. . . .I’ve taught the kids, without even trying, to get excited about them. Rich and I walked with the children on Sunday and Ethan found all different kinds. Small, dark brown ones, and one that had a white stem and a red top. I found some the other day that were tiny and completely red~ as red as a wild strawberry. I wished I had a mushroom book! I would never ever eat any of them, but it would be neat to identify them all.

The underneath is so lovely and cream-colored, and delicate. . . .

The boys walk and talk together “along the way”. . .as I hope they do, all through life. Sometimes they even walk so close that E will put his hand on Jacob’s back for a moment as they talk. Just a moment, they don’t even notice, but I do. “I ponder those moments in my heart.” The brotherly love between these two boys is such a blessing to me. They were born just a year and 2 months apart and have been together ever since.

Jacob was impressed with how tall the grass was. He took a piece home with him to show his Dad. It shrunk as it dried.

Grace in motion. . . . . .

I say ~ she’s as cute as a button! Do you know, she’s the only one in our family with those brown eyes? She gets them from her Grandma (Rich’s mom).

She is a HAPPY GIRL.

Last but not least, for my bird loving friends~

A nest of fat baby birds I was thrilled to discover this. I believe they are Baltimore Orioles~

The next time I visited the nest, they were all gone.

I hope you enjoyed the random photos and the walk in the woods. Remember to take time today to meditate on the BIGNESS of our God. Look at the things He has created! If you picked one creature to study it would give you enough to praise God all day long!

Love and Hugs to you my dear friends~ Shanda