Yay for fun in the sun!

We finally made it to Tugalo State Park.  I've been wanting to take the kids since it's been warm out and haven't been able to for one reason or another.  Today was the day though and they loved it.  Well worth a $5 parking pass for the day (although Wednesday's are free so I might try that next time).  They have a great beach area and several picnic areas AND a great playground.  I only wish we had made it there a little earlier, by the time we got cleaned up and home it was 3pm and well past bed time.  No trouble going down for naps though...and I'm on my way there now too.

**by the way, that is Hannah with Simeon in the picture.  She is one of our favorite friends to play with.  Eliya and Simeon adore her and it is so great to have her help, she doesn't mind changing poopy diapers at all! :)

Eliya

Eliya really is a BIG 3 & 1/2 year old.  She is so smart, witty and helpful.  She has a little sass in her too and a strong will that needs more direction.  When she wants to be, she is very motherly to Simeon.  If he cries (if she is not the cause) she runs to his side to hug him or ask him what happened and if he is ok. 

She reminds me that I said I needed gas or to go to the bank.  If I tell her we are going somewhere and we go a different direction, she always notices and asks why I took the wrong turn.  She is slightly obsessed with Spanish and often asks how to say different words.  She doesn't reproduce much but she thinks it's a fun game to ask about words.  She loves to draw and wants to read really bad, but says "I don't know how to yet". 

She has enough understanding of death and God to make profound statements at times.  My Aunt, her Tia, passed away a few weeks ago unexpectedly, Eliya's first response was "cool, she's in heaven" and I told her we were sad because we couldn't see her anymore.  She said, "that's ok, we'll see her again when we die".  Yes, when we die or when Jesus returns, whichever happens first.  She also told me that maybe Tia was singing and playing the guitar in heaven, and Daddy is playing the drums...and Jesus is playing the horn.  Who knows, she might be speaking with accuracy?!

I love how with her tender heart she believes we will see Daddy soon.  I know that a lifetime isn't soon, but child-like perspective is so much closer to reality.  The Bible says life is a vapor and Jesus said I'm returning soon.  I learn a lot from Eliya and I pray that when she's learning from me (all the time) that I accurately demonstrate the ways of the Kingdom and of faith. 

I am so challenged by her directly and indirectly.  I pray for Eliya to have a fiery hunger to run hard after the Lord and to know the love of the Father in an unusually deep and intimate way.  That she would have passion and compassion for people.  I ask the Lord to use her to bring many to Jesus. 

Such an incredible responsibility to be a parent.  I am increasingly realizing that my time with my children is so limited.  I have dreams and desires for who they will become and I know that these are the years that their hearts are impressionable.  They are learning about who God is, not by what I tell them as much as how I demonstrate Him.  I am desperate for His help and I want to honor Him in how I raise these that He has given me.  

after eating blueberries

worship song was on that sings of raising your hands and lifting your voice to Jesus

Simeon

I want to use this page of the "journal" to blog about the kids.  This is for family who might not live near, it's also for me since I seem to forget details.  I can't lose the internet :) and I want to remember these little things about their lives. 

Simeon is SUCH a boy.  In the span of just one week recently, he got his finger stuck under a garage door, ran face first into a stone fireplace, and closed his hand in the hinge side of a door.  Yes, the same boy who put my shirt over his head and ran through the house for the "blind" thrill, until his second stop met his head with the coffee table.  Sticks, dirt and rocks are all irresistable.  He is so sweet much of the time.  He also already likes to irritate his sister intentionally.  If he gets upset from getting hurt or getting in trouble, he wants his sister to comfort him; and she does. 

Life is FAST PACED with these two.  Simeon is getting so big and my heart aches with wanting him to stay little and a baby, but simultaneously being ready to be able to have conversations with him.  My prayer over he and Eliya aren't terribly different, but for Simeon, I ask God to capture his heart at a very young age.  I pray that his spirit and faith would be like his sense of adventure in "running blindly".  I pray that as he gets "big", that he would belive more fully in the things he cannot see and would trust the wisdom of God more than the world and the whisper of the Spirit more than any other influence.  Daily, this is what I ask for Simeon's life. 

Here are a few pictures of his adventures.

Simeon's goose after running into fireplace