a zillion thanks
to the following
actual necks that we got
to hug yesterday

in this 24 hr window between
getting home from
glorious garrison +
leaving for happy kansas):

meghan
chris w
jessica
paula + lucy
tracy
justin*
carrie

virtual hugs to the rest of you.

*and a cheery round of
’settlers’ ensued,
in which lisa smeared us all.

we’re leaving
on a jet plane
don’t know
when we’ll be
back again…

well, we do know.

adios, big apple.
hola, land of oz.

to

yay:
the kids had a fun afternoon
@ the central park zoo
on their last afternoon in
new york for a good while.

not-so-yay:
nathan helped caroline buy her
Very Own
(stuffed) baby snake @ the gift shoppe.

so now she’s walking around
petting and cuddling
her ‘baby snake’
(it’s pink + lavendar and
shiny and bean-baggy-feeling)

yuck.

as we’re lounging in the pool,
caroline asks if lisa gets to
live with us ‘forever,’
so i tell her that lisa + julia
are going to be roommates
starting in september,
to which she promptly
lights up +
responds,
‘oh, wow -
then can i live with peter?’

pick a friend, any friend…

the most gorgeous deluge possible

committed to his task,
chris pulled the grill under the
portico + continued on with
said meatfest

waiting for daddy’s train
to surprise him

vegetarians, avert your eyes.
filet mignon, amigo.
wish you were here.

huge, disgusting catfish
that the boys are infatuated with;
chris estimated it at 2.5 ft in length
and he’s rather ‘trapped’ in a small pool
that he’s much too large for.

horrifying to me = fabulous to them*

nathan took the camera on the boys
frog hunt + can you guess how many
photos he came back that look
exactly like these three?

i guess Every Frog Is Special.

chris, lead frog expert

when the boys went froghunting,
the girls and i sauntered up the road
to the local public library
which looked as if it had been
hand-plucked from an
‘anne of green gables’ book.

luckily, she was ‘Not Tired’
and was just going to ‘wait’
for rest time to end.

1.5 hrs later,
she awoke from ‘waiting.’

now, i’m quite proud of this bug.
i found him myself
and he’s roughly the size
of a small mouse.

seriously,
i think he’s some sort of
prehistoric beetle
that has been hiding in a cave
and just emerged this afternoon.

don’t worry,
we’ve saved him.

ps - maybe don’t menton to cory + chris
the game of spades they played against
lisa + i tonight;
they’re still a bit touchy about it.

*i might’ve agreed,
in a moment of water-logged-i’ve-been-in-the-pool-for-10-hrs-today weakness,
to go to said catfish’s pool
first thing tomorrow morning.

gross.
double gross.

but i’ll be there to
greet the morning cheerfully
with mr. nasty bottomfeeder himself.

if it’ll make my nathan happy.

taking the early train back to the
Real World.

see you tonight, lovey.

boscobel

the girls + i went to church at
st. philip’s of the highlands

the boys, cory + chris
hiked to arden point
and had spectacular views
of west point,
saw deer +
a red fox

after a leisurely dinner*,
cory, chris, nathan + caroline
went out on a twilight hike
and nathan came home
grinning ear to ear,
proudly displaying
a fantastic frog.

this is the life.

*the kids, of course,
started chowing as soon
as the prayer was over +
the first food hit the table.

(you know that
i’ve-been-swimming-for-
the-past-3-hrs hunger?)

when they came up for air
and assessed the situation,
henry proclaimed,
‘hey! i wanna trade in my
hotdog for some of that
Yummy Meat!’

their plates were soon littered
with abandoned, half-eaten
hotdog/bun carcasses
and it was
steak all around.

vs.

we made it.

superficial disclaimer:
betsy + cory collaborated to
come up with her, ahem, outfit.

i wipe my hands of the whole affair.

swimming with james, peter + john;
thank you, thank you, friends.

chris is on the other end of the court,
smashing them back.

the first of the wild raspberries

i sure hope not.

as nathan put it,
‘dad and i have a bad
feeling about trains
right now.’

the last 3 times
cory + nathan
have taken amtrak
in the past 2 months,
they’ve ended up waiting
over an hour
(one time it was 2+ hrs)
on this end or the other end.

point of clarification:
the delay wasn’t amtrak’s fault.

so,
the six of us are about
to jump on the metro north
this morning for an hour’s ride
out of the city…
(plus a 30 min subway ride
before we hit the actual train)

what are the chances
that we actually make it?

i’m thinking positive thoughts.

1. we made it thru
vbs with style + cheer

2. it just dawned on me tonight
that next year, caroline will
be able to join in the fun.
love it.

3. hope your weekend is
green and dreamy and refreshing.
or at least refreshing.

‘…we’re makin’ crafts,
not in the sun,
we’re having fun,
we’re coooool,
we’re stringin’ beads,
leather’s on the scene,
we’re creative,
at KAA* we’ve got it made,
agh-agh-agh-agh-agh’
(weird sound made by hitting throat with
extended index finger)

yep, that was our cheer @
the crafts station at kanakuk
one hot + veryhappy summer.

(you’ll never believe
we made that up ourselves, eh?
trying to convince ourselves that
we could tolerate one period of crafts
when we’d rather be on the lake
or in the pool…
i’m not sure it worked,
but it was fun to make the goofysound @ the end)

i digress.

needing some fresh ideas
for summer crafting?

i’m digging this girl’s site,
no time for flash cards.

*kids across america,
a.k.a. K-5

cory + i also worked @ K-7 for three summers.
wish we were there.

these 5th grade stingrays
Rule.

will

sarah grace

kayla

spike

mary

toby

elena

samir

brianna

abby

nathan

kino

kaitlin

david

‘jesus said to him,
i am the way,
the truth,
and the life.’
john 14:6

ready for action

betsy joined us for prayer time

caroline + betsy get in on a bit
of the vbs action;
a million thanks to lisa for
taking such precious care
of the girls this week so
i could be with the boys.

luke + marco

after every period,
we all pass eachother
as we trudge up and down
the six flights of stairs
from basement/snacks to roof/gym.

ms. anne marie + j.d.

(this one has almost nothing to do
with vbs + almost everything to do with
the story of nathan’s life
up to this moment;
namely, that he’s usually at least
a full head taller than his classmates.
for better, for worse.)

sea turtle snacks
made out of oatmeal pies (body),
nilla wafers (head),
pretzel (arms + legs),
and oyster crackers (tail).

after another 2+ hrs playing @ river run,
we’re ready to head home

and we walk into the middle of a
photo shoot @ 72/riverside;
they spray painted one side
of all of the trees white
to make a ’snow scene’
when it was 92 degrees in the shade.

and on the homefront:
somehow the ‘hairdresser’ or ‘accountant’
usually win when we play life.
nathan vs. henry vs. lisa.

we had our last fellowship group
of the summer tonight;
bbq in the backyard, baby.

chris, amy, jen,
kim, joe, sarah, nick,
bethany, hisaya, lisa,
david, felicia, greg,
julia, ann-marie, and cory.

we’re
So
Thankful
for this crazy crew.

thanks for a precious year, friends.
and we’ll see you in a
few (eight?) weeks,
post-colorado.

(can you see my huge
pre-colorado smile from
where you’re sitting?
we love our colorado trip.)

what are the chances
that when we were
ice skating on the deck
of the eiffel tower
(maybe 100 people total),

we ran into someone
we knew very well
(but hadn’t seen in 10 yrs
because they live 1200 miles
away from us)

=

but when we were at
the philharmonic in
central park
last night,
we didn’t see
one
single
person we knew.
(they estimated 63K people were there)

=

what gives?!
(and where were you?)

ps - thanks, love,
for the perfect date.
i’m glad you were there.

pps - dln: i bet you can
actually give me the
statistical chances on
this one, no?

to all of the grown-ups
putting on this
amazing* show that is
vacation
bible
school

like i said yesterday,
tracy, amy, carolyn + kathryn
have knocked themselves
out in making this week
so terrific.

t.h.a.n.k. y.o.u. friends.

ms. anne marie (lead vocals, humor patrol and emcee extraordinaire),
mr. scott (guitar) and
their nashville-friend, kevin, on the drum
(i know it has a fancy name,
but i can’t recall…)

ms. kirsten who tells us about
how we can help our
neigbors in uganda

mr. ricci’s ‘bible hut’

joe + nathan

ms. amy in the snack shack
where we also memorize our
weekly/daily bible verses

ms. bethany in the gym
(extra props because it’s, oh,
about 200 degrees up there
on the top floor)

my partner in crime, kathy;
she has the cool 4th grade class
that we do all of our activities with

mr. kevin (cool drum guy)
does double duty up in the gym

jerry dienes’ handiwork on all of
the direction signs throughout
the building

ms. michelle rocks the music class

mrs. wolf, our resident craft guru

and a special thanks to
all angels episcopal church
for letting us use their
beautiful building this week
for all of the happy chaos.

‘train up a child
in the way he should go
and when he is old
he will not depart from it.’
proverbs 22:6

‘love the LORD your God and keep his requirements,
his decrees, his laws and his commands always.

fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds;
tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

teach them to your children,
talking about them when you sit at home and
when you walk along the road,
when you lie down and when you get up.’
deuteronomy 11:1, 18-19

*i know, i know.
i said ‘amazing.’

wave 1 (yesterday): God is real
wave 2 (today): Jesus is God’s son

we’re getting the hang of this
vbs-machine;
today rocked.

i’m just crazy about my 5th graders.
yes, my 5th graders,
they’re all mine.

seriously, they are so eager,
so happy,
so funny,
i could just eat them up.

humor me.
i had to take pictures of
their cutest faces;
they worked so hard today,
sweating their heads off
playing + singing + creating + learning.

i can’t wait for tomorrow.

ps - nathan’s in the 4th grade class,
but we have all of our activities
together. i love that i’m not his
actual counselor, but that i still get
to be with him all during the day.
and we see henry in the halls
in passing + grab him for a quick hug.

bible class w/ mr. ricci

mr. r had to remind
‘joseph’ to be gentle with ‘mary’
(he was kinda horsing around.
and it just caught me funny.
now, settle down, joseph;
mary’s about to give birth to
the SaviorOfTheWorld.
let’s treat her nicely.)

will, david, toby, joseph, samir, mary, kaitlin, kino + sarah grace,
for starters.
(we have 13 in our class)

snack time: edible outriggers
(the blue water is frosting,
banana + pretzel sticks + orange half
and cranberries on top as ‘people’)

abby

samir

annarose (a 4th grader,
in our sister class)

kayla

the whole crew:
lining up for a crab-walk relay race

giving it our all
in the river-jump
(see kaitlin sprawled on the mat?
waytogo,girl)

music with miss michelle

deborah paints her surfboard frame

the only time today i saw
toby w/o a huge grin on his face;
he’s serious about his craft.

will’s surfboard rocked

joseph goes for all-yellow

brianna was so careful + attentive

sarah grace is always sharing +
looking out for others. wow.

kino hits the red paint hard

i just want to kiss that cheek.
okay, so i might’ve done it once
or twice during the day;
hey, i’m the mom.
i can get away with it.

sweetsie elena

anne marie + ‘muscles kramer’
teach us the good stuff

know the truth,
speak the truth,
live the truth.

sarah grace, mary, abby + elena;
the whole class paid such great attention.
wow.
i’m so superimpressed with these kiddos.

beautiful brianna

a post-vbs trip to the movies.
waaalllllleeee!
eeeevvvveeee!

henry, harry, eli, adam + nathan;
a good, long vbs summer day.

massive cheers for
tracy,
amy,
carolyn,
kathryn +
their entire crew.
wow!

so reads the post-it note stuck
to the cabinet
with $2 stuck behind it
and little boy handwriting
reminding him to
take his money for
tomorrow’s vbs offering.

1. have i mentioned how
much i love vbs?
i do.
so this is going to be a
terrific week.

2. can i tell you about
the way miss kirsten told
a familiar story in such a way
that the kids were
s.i.l.e.n.t.
and our hearts were moved?
(she’s nathan’s regular sunday school
teacher + she works for world vision)

(and by ‘our hearts were moved’
i mean i cried)

she told us that in the bible,
God says we are to love our
neighbor.

now, who is our neighbor?
and what is love?
is it enough to just smile + wave?
or are there other things we can do.

she also said that God never
tells us anything in scripture
that He doesn’t also provide
a way for us to obey Him.

‘mary’, an 8 yr old girl
who lives in uganda,
wants to be a nurse when
she grows up.

but often mary can’t
go to school because
she has to stay and
find food to eat and
to share with her family.

so even if mary does get
to go to school,
she’s hungry.

and often when she gets there,
they don’t have any pencils
to use.

(she interjected a question,
‘how many pencils do
you have in your house?’
and we all looked around
in amazement,
general agreement among
the K-5th graders =
we have a wealth of pencils.)

and sometimes they
don’t have teachers.

so we want to share our
money with our neighbor,
mary, in uganda,
so she can have food
and pencils
and maybe even hire a
second teacher for all
the children.

(k’s story was much more
elegant + gripping,
but you get the idea.)

so today,
we go with our ‘offiring’
in our pockets.
for the Lord,
for mary.
and for our other neighbors
in uganda.

henry was trying to get
nathan busted for
having a scandalous password.

‘mom, it’s jerk!
j-u-r-k,
jerk!’

shouted in a ‘now, go-and-get-him’ voice.

sorry, hon,
i was too busy laughing
at you.

completely green.

well, the rest of that load
of laundry, that is.

the load that held
the boys & my
brand new
vbs
shirts, that is.

limeelectricbrightbright green.

nice.

why does this cartoon remind me
of the last 15 min of
vacation bible school?

of course i’m joking.
right?

is to love the whitfords.

as bruce so aptly put it:
some people are on the periphery of redeemer,
some are in the inner core,
and then there are the whitfords,
in the bullseye.

in.the.bullseye.

serving, celebrating,
living, growing,
pouring themselves out,
enduring, learning,
walking alongside…

the city will be ‘less’
without them.

most definitely so.

so today,
we celebrate you,
friends.

. tom . chris . zach . toby . zoe .

the Lord is with you.
and in you.
and leading you.

a lone balloon party-here indicator;
a poor reflection of the
joyful-melee going on inside

carole, chris + diane

alice, charlotte + carole

mr. + mrs. amazing

chillin’ like a villian;
enjoying that end-of-a-great-party hang out
with goodgood friends.

katherine, anne marie, chris, cindy, kj + karen

now, in the
‘why haven’t we done this before?!
department,
we submit this entry:
the
Two-Parties-In-One
thing.

meaning:
we had the precious/civilized/adult-y party
at our apartment
and
had the kiddo/run-around/sprinkler-fun party
across the street at the playground.

3 babysitters stationed there,
checking in kiddos + tying orange ID bracelets on their wrists,
watermelon, rice krispie treats, grapes + lemonade,
sunscreen, purell, water + optional craft projects,
and
voila!

everyone is happy.
way happy.
two simultaneous parties.
we’ll definitely be doing that one again.

mama w

zach + toby (in white) and friends

abby + elena

rachel, danny + mary ellen

‘we love the whitford fam’
‘hooray for zach + toby + zoe’

big thanks to miss jessica, miss sara + mr. will
for keeping it real + keeping it safe.

zach + betsy
slurping the watermelon
(margaret + adam in the background)

eli, taj, kino + danny
talking bionicles shop

ellie + zoe

gimme a ‘w’…gimme a ‘h’…

carin, henry, jandro, toby, betsy, elena, caroline, nathan, meg + zoe.
now, say that all in one breath.

end-of-party brother-sister snuggles

ps - photo policy reminder:
1. if you have a photo you think
i need to share, email it to me.
2. if i post a photo of you and
you would rather i un-post it,
just email me and it’s outta there;
it’s your call.
(but obviously if i posted it,
i think you look a.dor.ab.le)

it’s a win-win.

albeit at the corner of
79th + broadway,
in the heart of arguably
the world’s greatest city,
that is.

but the significant details are similar
to my memories of summer camp
prayer meeting in the tabernacle
in miltonvale, kansas.

hot as all get out,
with all of the doors open
(letting in street chatter, taxi-brakes + sirens alike,
but i don’t think we even noticed)
to draw a breeze,
and the pastor
preaching from revelation 2
(rock on, abe).

seriously,
tonight’s service had
several of the factors
that i often think are
going to send us
straight up to heaven.
(poor theology,
but you get my drift)

flanked by friends, (ashley + ellie) check.
tom on the piano, check.
michelle at the mic, check.
and us singing,
‘in the cross, in the cross,
be my glory ever,
till my raptured soul shall find
rest beyond the river.’

during communion when mark said,
‘this is the body of Christ,
broken for you;
take and
eat and
be satisfied,’

i almost wept.

oh, the Lord is good.
He is gracious
and faithful.

and tonight’s service
was a radiant reflection
of Him.

ps - we also sang,
. come, christians, join to sing
. lord with glowing heart i’d praise thee
. psalm 146
. just as i am (tom + mindy’s version;
same cleansing words i’ve sung heartily
since as early as i could read,
but updated with that sweetswing melody)
. o the deep, deep love of jesus
and
. how deep the father’s love for us.

can you believe it?!
it doesn’t get better than that.
wish you were there.

pps - i also love watching
the congregation* pour out of
the service and then,
within 1/2 block of the church,
completely blend back into
the city.

well, they may appear to blend,
but they’re different.
salty.
prayerful.
serving others.
restraining self.

press on, christians,
press on.

*redeemer’s congregations meet in
5 services (3 different venues)
around the city every sunday
averaging 5K attenders weekly.