Blessed Beyond Measure

I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.  My soul shall make its boast in the LORD;  The humble shall hear of it and be glad.  Oh, magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together.  I sought the LORD, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears.  They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces were not ashamed.  This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him, And saved him out of all his troubles.  The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them.  Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!  Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints!  There is no want to those who fear Him.  The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.  Psalm 34:1-10

It is beyond my comprehension that the Lord not only blesses me immensely, but He chooses to bless me beyond measure!  Lately, as the Lord has been showing me sin in my life, I am compelled to come to the cross daily, am washed, and then filled to overflowing with thankfulness toward Him and an immense love for the Lord.  (In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. I John 4:10) Which has been overflowing into every aspect of my life, making me extremely grateful for all the little things.  For "every good and perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." (James 1:17)  I'm realizing that more and more, lately.  With which creates an amazing outlook for my life. 

So thankful for:

scribbles on my arm from my little girl,
my boy who loves his mommy,
my boy who loves his sissy,
my husband and partner whom God has provided to love me, encourage me, and help me,
silly faces,
laughter with my offspring,
otter pops on the back porch,
a loving family,
a day at the fair with my 2 little munchkins,
finger mustaches,
smiles,
camaraderie,
bagel bracelets,
much much more...

Taste and see that the Lord is good!  To whom little is forgiven, the same loves little (Luke 7:47). Be forgiven much!  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9).
 

Midnight Rendezvous

Oooo, how I love a good intrigue.  I love it when the monotony of day to day life gets broken up by an unexpected happening.

We've been so busy, my husband and I, that sometimes we are like ships passing in the night.  So many nights are filled with different functions that one or the other of us is attending.  One goes out, the other stays by the supply tent with the kids and keeps watch.  (Only we have a duplex instead of a tent... and a refrigerator instead of a creek...)

A week or two ago, it was this same story and I was at home at night yet again, with the exasperating job of getting the little ones fed and refereeing their interactions with each other (which is exhausting, by the way) and so I stuck 'em in the bath to pass some time.  Never mind the dirt--its the time I'm worried about, the sooner I can get them in bed, the better.  It was a long night, much like all the others lately, when my phone rang.

I heard my mom on the other end of the phone saying, "Too bad you don't live closer to San Francisco..."

"San Francisco?" I inquired, "Do you mean San Luis Obispo?"

"No, San Francisco.  I have a layover there at 8:30pm for three hours."

"I can do that!" I cried.  "It's not that far.  Only about 45 minutes!"

"Okay." she said.

"Okay!" I said. 

Here's something you need to know...  My mom lives in CONNECTICUT.  She's was going to be in San Francisco for three hours.  It was about seven-ish when she called... or maybe toward the latter part of six.

I hauled the kids out of the bath, dried 'em, bundled 'em, and packed 'em into the car and away we went.  Oh, the traffic on a Sunday night!  Oh, the clock in the car that kept turning, mercilessly, ever onward toward 8:30 faster than I could get to the city!  Oh, my dumb car, that just happened to be on 'E' instead of 'F'!  Oh, that darn toll bridge that I don't have a FastTrak pass for!  Oh, my darn wallet that had no cash in it!  Oh, that ATM that belongs to my bank that is slightly out of the way from the freeway entrance!  Oh, that clock!  Oh, that I had left sooner!

But we finally got there and were able to spend a precious hour and a half with my mom.  In my car.  In the airport employee parking lot.  It was eerie and dark, but it was heavenly.  And oh, so precious.  Then away she was whisked, off to Connecticut and a million-ish miles away.  But oh, what an adventure we had!  Thanks, Mom.  Come see us again soon...  Maybe for longer than an hour and a half next time.  That would be nice.

P.S.  I happen to like rendezvous', and I also like to use the word in sentences.  Like in this old post, for instance.  Click for another rendezvous story...

Lash-Attack: A Safety Proverb

Photo by David.  Taken on a family photo excursion around town.

So, the other day at church, some friends were complimenting me on having long eyelashes.  I have never really noticed that particular trait before and so I thought about their comments throughout the next couple of days... "Long lashes? Hmmm... I don't know. I always thought my brothers had long lashes... They're not really that long, are they?"

You know that sort of unimportant, vain babble that goes on in one's head (or maybe just in mine as that would not be entirely improbable) after receiving a compliment?  You may also recall that saying...  You know the one that goes, "pride goes before the fall?"  Ha!

Well, that same week, I was lighting the barbecue--safely, I might add--when lo, and behold, the fire jumped right out of the grill and landed on my head singe-ing my eyelashes on one eye and my hair on one side of my head!  Fun.  So now I have long lashes on the left and gimpy, short lashes on the right--aaaand, some nice textural interest on the right side of my head. Lovely. So, if you happen to see me around town, I'm not winking at you.  That's just me trying to hold up the weight of lashes on one side.

Have a great weekend! (Oh, and look out for those grills if you decide to barbecue.  They're feisty little suckers...)

Tadpole Becomes Waterfrog.

Guess what?  Elliott had his first swim lessons! He is now an official graduate from the tadpole class!  Onward toward waterfrogs...

Elliott Graduating!

We've been meaning to get Elliott into swim lessons for the last couple of years, but haven't followed through until now.  I'm so proud of myself for finally getting over there and getting it done.  I've found the transition from "mom-of-infants-and-toddlers" to "mom-of-big-kids" a little discombobulating.  I feel lost.  What are they supposed to be involved in?  Where do you go to find out?  How much are these things anyway?  When are they?  Which one is the best one?  I'm one of those people who is a sucker for a good recommendation.  If you tell me its the best one, I'll believe you, and dadgum it, I'll buy it.  But I don't have anyone around to tell me these things.  And I really like to follow instructions.  Its difficult when I have to make it up myself. When are they gonna make a manual for child rearing anyway?

However, I got Elliott all signed up and everything and he took a two week course for swimming.  I would say it was more of an introduction to water than learning how to swim, which was absolutely perfect for him.  But that's when I realized that I had only taken the first little tiny baby step into this humongous river of finding out, figuring out, deciding, signing up, paying, driving, bringing, and watching that you do for these not-so-little-anymore kids.  Whew! We're just getting started...

Elliott had an absolute blast and can't wait to sign up for more swim lessons.  Mostly they learned simple things like floating on their backs while someone supports them, jumping into the pool with someone reaching out to them, kicking while being pulled, putting their mouths near the water to blow bubbles, and just generally being okay with being wet and in the water.

They pulled out the big guns on the last lesson.  They turned on all the cool water features, like the mushroom and the buckets.  Elliott has not stopped talking about it since.  It was totally worth it.  I don't know what I was so afraid of or how hard I thought it would be.  Once I put my mind to it, it was really rather simple...and enjoyable.

Don't be afraid!  What's that little thing in the back of your mind you've been meaning to do, but the unknown has left you motionless on?  You can do it...  If I can do it, anyone can! Procrastinators unite!

Photographs in this post taken by David... thanks, hun.

Kids and Such

Elliott Escalante, Hazel Montgomery, Caiden Escalante, Jade Montgomery

Aren't kids funny?  That's pretty much all I have to say about that picture right there.  Yah.  See?  I tried.  Nothing came.  Oh, that's a little plastic wobbly head turtle that Hazel Rei is holding.  Caiden and Jade have food, of course.  And Elliott?  Well, he's probably wondering whether his clothes are dirty.  I'm serious.  He's really paranoid about it.  You know how people talk about the care-free days of their youth?  Those memories won't exist for Elliott.  He never has such a thing as a care-free day.  I love him to death, but that boy gets stressed, I'm telling ya.

Here is a fun little factoid for you.  All four of these kids have some Hispanic blood in their veins.  No kidding.  My kids are the extremely white boy and the little bit more tan girl in the pink flower dress.  The other two girls are my brothers.  My brother and I both married people who are about half some kind of Hispanic.  But look how non-Hispanic looking all of our kids turned out.  There's only one brown haired one out of the bunch!  Interesting.  My mom had very strong genes.  You should see the six of us kids line up together.  We're all pretty much identical... To each other and my mom.  Sorry, Dad, you only get one look-a-like.

I find this so very interesting.  I always thought it would be so amazing to be able to check some other box other than "Caucasian" on those survey thingies.  I would love to have a fascinating heritage to talk about.  My great-grandfather's last name was "Bruce"  and for so many years I clung to the fact (well, I'm not really sure its a fact) that I AM RELATED TO ROBERT THE BRUCE.  And I would actually tell people I had some royal Scottish blood (I no longer do that, nor do I condone those who do).  So when I found out that my husband was an interesting mix I hounded him about the race box.  "So what box do you check?" I wanted to know.  He always checks "Caucasian."  Oooo, I used to yell at him for that.  I so wish I could check another box and he actually can, but doesn't.  I've since learned to let it go.  You know, breathing is supposed to really help? 

Now my kids actually have some interesting heritage to trace back--to Spain and such--but nobody will ever ask them about it, because you can't even tell!  But maybe, just maybe, they'll want to check that other little box.