A Tenuous Relationship

Overheard this afternoon:

Mary (aka Ingrid): Lewis, you can be Joseph. And now we can go to the ball.
Joseph: NO. I don't want to go the ball. We're going to have DESSERT.
Mary: Well. Joseph, does my dress look good?
Joseph: NO.
Mary: It looks good to me. I think I'll wear this to the ball.
Daddy: Ingrid, maybe Lewis doesn't want to be Joseph. Have you asked him?
Ingrid: Lewis, do you want to be Joseph?
Lewis: NO.

At this point, a happy alternative came to Inge.

Ingrid: Lewis, do you want to play Snow White and the Prince? You can be the prince!
Lewis: NO.

But according to Daddy, Lewis couldn't be the prince because of being Inge's brother. In the end, we hit on the very thing: Inge would be Snow White and Lewis would be one of the dwarves--to wit, Grumpy. It just seemed right.

Soul-Train

They actually pulled and pushed Claire and Nelly for about a block and a half.

In the Same Vein...

Best Foot Forward

Happy Birthday, Lewis

Namma moved heaven and earth (as far as I can tell) to get Lewis his "car carrier" on his birthday. As you can see, he likes it!

Lewis also enjoyed his lawn-mower. Inge helps him know where he ought to mow, just like a good bossy older sister should.

Nose-honk Nelly

Inge's Hair Cut

Inge has a summer hair-cut. As you can see, she looks very cute.

Not so short we can't have pig tails.

Inge toasted and buttered this toast all by herself. She's getting to be a real helper.

Father-Makers

Here are some pictures of those who make me a father. I've dozens of other pictures. I'll see if I can post some of them later.

Father's Day

Tomorrow is Father's Day. Claire and I both come from families where we have a heritage of faithful fathers. That doesn't mean flawless fathers, but it means that our fathers and grandfathers and great-grandfathers stuck with the jobs they began, loved their wives, and raised and provided for their children. This is a heritage that gives us great joy and also humbles us--great gifts do that. However, not only are we grateful for our heritage in general, I am thankful for my dad. I remember when I was young, my mother pointed out how lucky my brother and I were to have a dad like our dad. Dad did stuff with us. We had neighborhood whiffle-ball tournaments in our back yard. We took the neighbor kids out and picked up aluminium cans beside the highway. My brother Andrew used to ride 50+ miles on the back of Dad's bike. And when Dad wanted to put up an antenna for his ham radio, we got to climb up in the tree and help set it up. I also remember the sense of awe that Andrew and I had at the speed with which Dad could dig a snow cave, or build a tree fort. As we got older Dad continued to include us in what he was doing, spent time and money on our interests, and corrected us and gave us hard lessons where needed. Mom was right, we were extremely blessed to be given a father like our father. Thanks, Dad, and thank you, Our Father in Heaven.

Lovely Wife

Here's a picture of my lovely and patient wife. She lets me take way too many photos. :)

Nelly Noodle

This is sure one sweet little girl, and we want you all to know that we are very thankful despite any bad news. Our little trials are very minor compared to so many.

Bad News

I'm sorry to let you all know that we saw the plastic surgeon today, and it appears that Michelle's palate has separated, and we are more or less right back where we started. We'll probably have to have a surgery again in a year.

Please pray for us, especially Claire. Also, there is some slight chance that it will heal, so please pray for that as well.

See Food

The Instructors:

The Student:

Three Kids

Horned Nelly

Pat-a-Cake will get you through

Michelle does like "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" and it was used more than once to keep her happy, this past week. But I'm afraid we used Pat-a-Cake much more often. I wonder how many times you would have to do Pat-a-Cake to actually make a one year old dislike it.

Nelly

Hello all. Peter's done a good job keeping you all informed about the big picture, but I'm going to throw in a quick closeup, consisting of Mommy's perspective. Our little Nelly was a real trooper through her ordeal. She didn't like the IV and wasn't crazy about the tongue stitch, but those two annoyances aside, she was a lovely baby. The nurse said she could have the award for "most compliant baby," and I have to agree. Just imagine being put through all that, and then the phlebotomist arrives--at 5:00 a.m. the next morning, thanks a lot--and has to wake you up after you've only been solidly asleep for about three hours, and turn on lights and flip you over and poke you and squeeze out blood and make slides all over again. And still, she hardly fussed at all.

My favorite moment was this: Later on the day of the surgery when Michelle was still pretty uncomfortable and preferred to be lying on someone's chest, we discovered that singing was a good thing to do. I could tell by the way she rocked her bum back and forth that it was helping. So we sang her song, and then we sang our family favorite, "Christ the Lord is Risen Today." We sing this every morning in family worship, and every week as part of our church liturgy, so the kids know it well. Much to everyone's delight (she's only done this rarely, and this was the first word I remember her speaking after surgery) the first round elicited from her a sturdy little "'Men!" And then she went one better and started singing it with me. Little sweetie's lying on my chest; she's just had surgery; she's hooked up to about five monitors and an IV; she's got a stitch in her tongue; she doesn't know how to talk; and she's singing along and saying Amen. She sings it, by the way, quite well for a one-year-old: not hitting the notes exactly, but approximating the intervals with decent accuracy. (It's all sung on "ah," in case the musical aunt wants to know. It's like this: "Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah," and then a muddy bit involving some grimacing and shorter Ah's, and then a truly high "Ahhhhhhhh!" and then "'Men!")

So, all to say, she's been great. Now, if she can put up with wearing arm splints while she sleeps for two more weeks, she'll be home free.

I'll add my thanks to all who have been praying. We appreciate it so much.

Claire

We're Home

The water problem seems to be solved. Thanks for praying, and for the practical ideas, Darcy. Michelle has also gulped some water a couple of times now, indicating that she will drink when she is thirsty, which is reassuring. We are also home now and doing well. Now we just have to keep things out of Nelly's mouth... it'll be easy "like peeling a turtle."

A Prayer Request

Everything is still going well, but there is one little hitch in the works at this point. She's decided that she doesn't want to drink. She eats yogurt and baby food very well, but will not drink water or juice, or any clear liquids. Please pray that she'll get over whatever her little hang-up is on drinking.

Discharged

Thank you again for all your prayers. Michelle has done very, very well, and we are being discharged this morning. We are going to stay in Spokane, just in case, but Nelly is eating well and is just on Tylenol and it glad to be disconnected from all the wires and tubes. Praise the Lord with us!

As you can see in the picture, Nelly is up and looking at the book of family pictures Namma made for her. She really likes the book! Thanks, Namma!

This picture is from yesterday. Nelly liked to sleep on Mom or Dad's chest. She was a real sweetie.