A Tender Mercy

~Luke 1.76-79

One Fin-al Farewell

Sadly, Goldy was not long for this world... He was discovered belly up in his tank yesterday morning, thus driving a final nail into the coffin of our vacation-that-wasn't. We received the news with equanimity; gave it a few moments to sink in, and then promptly headed to Petsmart where, in the spirit of Goldy, we welcomed a new finned member to our family. His name is Lucy; and as Audrey said so eloquently during the car ride home, "We can't feed him too much, Mudder, be-cuz then he'll get dead and there will be no more Lucy!"

le poisson

Something Borrowed

Pennsylvania Prose

If, to borrow a quip from Harriet Beacher Stowe, the pictures from our Pennsylvania vacation are a slice of poetry, the reality was decidedly prose. For months we had been looking forward to seven days of delectable dinners, game-playing, and inspired conversation... what we got was less inspiration and more persperation.

What we got, in short, was a heat wave - the hottest in the Northeast since 1901. The children, half of them, did their part in turning up the heat by contracting a blistering (literally, blistering) virus so that temperatures both outside and in hovered just below 103 degrees.

We adults got about as much rest as one might expect while crouching in the prow of a small boat on the open sea in the middle of a wind-storm for days on end. By the end of the week I considered having t-shirts made up for the four of us that read: My Idea of Fun is Sleeping.

Still, we managed to capture some photogenic moments… and to enjoy one another in the process which, for those who have ever been severely sleep-deprived, is a feat in itself.

Now you are six!

Now you are six! And I have but one wish -
that twenty years from now -
(when you’re no longer a girl,
when you’re out in the world) -
you might wistfully recall ,
what funny and silly and lavish and pretty spectacular things we did
to celebrate your birthday,
the day that you turned six.

Your mother made the cake; your father hung the streamers.
You ate your birthday breakfast on the plate with curly letters.
For lunch we went to Isaac’s, to eat a colored sandwich,
And wondered at the butterflies, speaking their butterfly language.
We watched the fish swim to and fro, to get one was your dream;
You ‘specially liked your twisty straw and straw-burry iced cream.

At home we blew and tied and clasped balloons ‘til we turned red;
‘til floor and ceiling, couch and chair, were carpeted with them.

For dinner we ate pizza, elbows tight around the table;
We talked and sighed and smiled and laughed as much as we were able.

And when we sang your blue eyes shown; your smile lit up the room.
Compared to you the candles seemed a secondary boon.

But more than cake and candles, more than strawberries and cream,
We hope that you remember just how much, to us, you mean:

For Adelin-ey, soft and sweet,
You're more than just our niece:
you're a golden-haired girl with the heart of a Pearl
And the soul of a heavenly queen.
 

Hello, Goodbye

We are off to spend the fourth of July in Pennsylvania with cousins Adeline, Everett and baby Asher. Audrey not only remembered to pack her toothbrush and a batch of flags - but all three of her tutus. I hope three is enough to last all week... one never can tell.