let me tell you straight:
vbs chokes me up.

i’m embarassed at the number of times
that i got tears in my eyes today,
completely melted by these eager kids,
by the straightforwardness of the
gospel of Jesus Christ
being taught and retaught in
compelling + memorable ways.

gulp.

what an unbelievable privilege
to participate.

[and a shout out to the thousands of
other vbs programs going on around
the world this summer.
press on.]

i could sing about Jesus with ms. courtney
all day long,
i could listen to mr. joe teach us about Jesus
all day long,
i could even make those ’sunset on the sahara’ sand things
all,
well,
let’s be honest here.

vbs is magic.

(i don’t care if you challenge
my theology there,
it’s gospelmagic.)

second day’s a charm for caroline;
she came into my room at 6:01 am
wearing her tutuskirt,
‘i knew this was the perfect skirt
to go with my vbs shirt, mommy.
i knew it.’

betsy’s desperate for a matching yellow shirt.

adam, ezra, eli, betsy, caroline, lydia + daniel

superdeluxe thanks to
tracy, amy,
carolyn, bethany,
katherine, and team
for such a special week
for our community.

we can’t wait until tomorrow.

ps -
what’s the perfect end to the
perfect day of vbs?

grabbing dinner +
eating and playing in the park with
abe, jordyn, ez, lyd,
michael + sara,
david + mary claire.

genius.

pps -
it’s flashback time, baby:

2008 . henry, harry, eli, adam + nathan

2009 . nathan, eli, adam, ethan + henry
(and a tiny cameo by 2 yr old caroline)

breakfast out back
with my prayer partner;
perfect start to the day.

the painful events of yesterday afternoon:

1. it’s vbs week*.

i live for vacation bible school.

the songs, the children, the scripture,
the crafts (mmmm, gluey hands. love it.),
the adults, the catchy dance moves,
the smiles + the good stuff that actually
sinks in to young and old hearts alike.

2. so even though she’s been complaining of
ear pain since yesterday morning
(we rang the dr and she recommended
treating the fever/pain and hoping
that would work)
things are looking good for an afternoon
of bible school fun.

3. so we giddily arrive at vbs,
get into the swing of things,
and realize
she really isn’t well.
(sobbing girl broke my heart)

4. so we quickly we left the Happy Place
in our matching bright yellow safari tshirts
and scooted to the dr’s office.

by then, her fever was 103.3 and we had just
taken the tylenol, oh, an hour and a bit
before that.

5. she was holding my hand as we
walked out of their office
and she looked up at me
with her pale face and faint smile
and said,
‘now can we go back?’

sorry, lovie.

6. so i was surprised when we stopped
to grab more motrin @ joseph pharmacy
that she wanted to ride on
bob the builder.

in sickness and in health,
we’re committed to that sweet guy.

she rode on bob.
and took her medicine.
and hopefully today will be better.

(do i get a booby prize for using
the word ’so’ so much? sorry.)

ushering in the evening
with godly ladies
around my table.

my heart is full after an evening’s
conversation + laughter.

* yes, that’s nathan + daniel in the photo.
i love that they still have that up there.
awwww.

ps – ye olde texting debate,
per randy cohen.

today is the day.

the day i embraced
my husband’s blackberry.

because it brought
me these hilights
from the front lines of
boy scout camp:

‘…nathan passed the swim test
(75 yds on chest 25 on back)
i had to pass it too and was tired on the
third lap of crawl for sure.
so when he goes to the pool each day
he gets a 30 min lesson on lifeguarding skills – super cool.

‘henry loved the climbing wall.
they have 6 courses and he made it
to top on first three.
he has asked me 4 or 5 times if he can stay the whole week.
[n is full week, we planned for h to do half week,
being his first time at camp and all]
i keep saying we’ll do 2 full days and
then see what the options are.
he is at crafts now likely decorating a space ship to the hilt.

‘our first thing this morning was tying ropes
and then the got to ride a bucking bronco made of ropes tied to trees -
he was giggling like crazy – i wish I could give you a recording.

‘i got to play softball today – staff vs leaders.
i hit a grand slam and we won – lots of fun.

‘tonight we all go swimming then a
night nature hike
then sleep on the pirate ship and
do a polar bear swim at 6:30 tomorrow am

‘tomorrow henry gets to do bb range and nature
but he is really excited about the mine.
not sure what he has in mind because i think
they just look for rocks and wash them off in a cool gold rush style trough -
i am hoping he doesn’t figure out the secret.

‘tons of wild black and raspberries -
tough to get three 6 year olds going when they keep stopping to find berries’

miles
from my doorstep
to their tent flaps.

this morning, cory + the boys
traded the comforts of apt 1
for archery and mosquitos
at boy scout camp.

just over the gwb
but a world away
from the bustling uws.

it was entirely too quiet
and tidy
and orderly
around here today.

i miss their energy
and
i’m going to breathe deeply
while i have the chance;
i’m no dummy.

a thumb +
a coffee
comfort two of my favorite people.

cory’s own ‘duckling’ lineup.

sofia + betsy

‘i was here’

scoping for a water-balloon target.

his method of pushing the swing
involved spanking n’s rumpus,
to their squealyscandalized delight.

every time betsy swung back,
he’d kiss her.

c was teaching us
the surprising thing about pendulums;
it doesn’t matter
how heavy the object is
or how high its starting point,
they oscillate at the same frequency.

as he and nathan demonstrated using
caroline + henry.

i’m still pondering the theoretical bit
about if you built a pendulum-based train,
you could connect any two points on earth
and the transit time from any two locations
would be the same.
(if you could eliminate the resistance)

ex: a train from
california to new york
would take the same amt of time
as one from
new york to boston.

hmmmm.

olivia’s back today;
she sets up her little shoppe at the playground
giving mani/pedi’s to benefit
operation smile.

did i mention she’s
twelve years old?

i’m so impressed.

j thought her newly-purchased tripod
was, well, a tripod.

you know,
the stand-on-the-ground kind.

but she might’ve misread the box
as it’s 12″ tall.

i laughed.
i cried.
it was better than cats.

shakespeare class @ the delacorte theatre

see the grass on the left?
the ‘twelfth night’ set w/ anne hathaway.
(tomorrow’s the last night)

‘these people are crazy about shakespeare‘
-nathan, post-class

his favorite part was where they dared
the class to throw out all sorts
of real-life scenarios
(toilets clogged,
you’re in trouble with the principal,
life isn’t fair,
your brothers and sisters are getting on your nerves, etc)
and their troop would
recite appropriate shakespeare
for the situation.

his favorite was someone’s (theoretical) cat dying
and them responding with a myriad
of poetic suffering+death couplets,

‘cowards die many times before their deaths;
the valiant never taste of death but once.‘

he defined ’sonnets’,
and they rewarded him with
a copy of ‘twelfth night‘

meg, betsy, jandro, zoe, henry + ethan
play games for 3 cheery hrs
while we wait for
carin, nathan, elena, toby + abby s
to enjoy their class.

the diana ross playground,
in all of it’s july morning glory.

81st/central park west

on a superbly temperate july morning.

’satisfy us in the morning
with your unfailing love
that we may sing for joy
and be glad
all our days.’
-psalm 90:14

‘grant my prayer, O Lord,
and do not allow my soul
to wilt under the discipline you prescribe.

let me not tire of thanking you
for your mercy in
rescuing me from all my wicked ways,

so that you may be
sweeter to me than
all the joys
which used to tempt me;

so that i may love you most intensely
and clasp your hand
with all the power of my devotion;

so that you may save me
from all temptation
until the end of my days.’

-st. augustine, confessions

magnetic girls with amy
(yay, amy’s here)

the pool is at the top of the building;
staggering views.

post-swim rooftop play;
thanks, ava + co.

in the shadow of the san remo.

i thought we might need
jackets for dinner;
it’s in the 60’s, baby.

fellowship group dinner last night
in the backyard was
simply perfect.

amy a, whitney, conrad,
meghan, neil, lisa, cory,
joe, kim, amy b, emily,
sarah, bethany + kirk.

i turned into a pumpkin at 11pm
and they must’ve wrapped up
within the next hour,

so when the phone rang at 1:20am
and cory was up putting out
work fires until 4:45ish,
and then popped back out of bed
at 6:30 to head in for
a 7:30am mtg,
well,

we feel for you, hon.

caroline expressed it this way:
‘i’m so sorry you have
to make breakfast, mom.’

we’re so grateful for a cory
who spoils us with
hot breakfasts +
thoughtful scripture reading.

i’m definitely second-string
on the breakfast front.

(i read from proverbs,
twenty-one, i think,
and nathan laughed out loud at the
‘it’s better to live on the
corner of the roof
than in a house with a
quarrelsome wife’ bit.)

my breakfast skills include
‘do it yourself
snapcracklesurprise’:

strawberries,
blueberies,
cheerios,
rice krispies +
yogurt =

breakfastsnaptacular.

passthecoffee.

the world of a beginning reader
means that context clues are everything.

she decided this ad was that
‘grandpas like to eat peanuts
when they’re surfing’.

i feel such camaraderie with
the mama duck in that cheery story;

our lives are really quite
similar.

schlepping little ones
hither and yon,
while keeping them safe from
in the city traffic.

boston

new york

yes, honey, it’s an inflatable rat;
don’t be scared.

sometimes employees get angry
at their employers and they
rent one of these inflatable rodents to
announce their displeasure
to the entire community.

a quiet morning in central park.

the closest restroom is in
tavern on the green.

caroline loves that pink-and-shiny bathroom
and when the pleasant attendant hands her
the paper towel at the end,
oooohhh, fancy.

busted.

i wondered what was taking so long
at the top of the slide.

someday we’d love to get a
bench plaque for cory;
i wonder what his should read.

8:41am

8:43am
a quiet place to
re-enjoy yesterday’s lollipop
(discovered in a hidden location.)

right now, two children are chanting,
‘cen-tral-park cen-tral-park’
and the other two,
‘across-the-street  across-the-street’

ahhh, the nuance of
maternal tie-breaking.

(do i lean toward what my oldest is wanting +
win his favor for the day,
do we serve our younger siblings
by going with what they want,
do we (insert third wise option here)…)

sweatyhappypeople returning:
cory and the boys rode to
riverbank state park last night;
maybe 6.5 mi round trip.

yay for summer evenings.

where the bikes live
in real life.

o God,
from whom all holy desires,
all good counsels,
and all just actions do proceed–
give us that peace
that the world cannot give,
that our hearts may be set
to obey your commandment,
and by your protection
we may live in peace,
through the merits of
Jesus Christ our Savior.
amen.

at breakfast, caroline asked cory
what ‘peace’ meant.

now that she knows the definition,
today will surely be full of it.

happy summer monday.

ps -
cory simply couldn’t take it.
he really needed us to go back
to the zoo again yesterday and
look for the elusive new
snow leopards.

three sightings.

whew.

pps -
we love any new zealand friends that
morv + jono send our way;
lovely to enjoy the Lord’s day with you,
vanessa + graham.

from this yellow line
to that yellow line (see it?)
is how far a snow leopard jumps.

and try as we might,
we didn’t see any actual snow leopards, either,
in the fancy new exhibit.

betterlucknexttime.

visiting henry’s relatives.

hooray +
three cheers,

the kellers are all moved in upstairs.

(did you see the couch
being hoisted up the
front of the bldg +
into their open window?
score.)

our newest housemate
(and long-time friend), michael,
popped in this morning to make
a most-welcome, most-shocking
announcement:

did we hear that loud noise?
we did, but hadn’t thought twice about it.

had we looked outside yet?
um, no.

un.
be.
lie.
v.
able.

check it out.

i know, rub your eyes, right?
we can’t be seeing this.

they’re
removing
the parking lines.

and just like that,
we have our old street back.

we twisted lisa’s arm
to come straight from the hospital
and join us for eggs+toast+strawberries+coffee
before going to bed.

sleep well, little friend.

now, i need to say some
prayers of thanks + gratitude
and make some valentines
for the DOT staffers responsible.

wow.

i just can’t believe it.

i’ll never take the parallel parking
on our street for granted again.

or at least for the next week.

my three post-bath helpers
did a brilliant job setting the
table for a late-evening dinner.

it took them no fewer
than ten trips in and out of the house
to set it all up.

i esp loved how one of them
painstakingly put the silverware
around each plate,
carefully tucking each cloth napkin
under each fork
(which was to the right
of the plate).

waytogo.

we so enjoyed you, j + b
+
a million thanks, em.

betsy made our bed
this morning.

so proud,
she was so proud.

thanks, babe.

such flair.

i love the unkempt-yet-finished
artistic-y look of it all.

henry was sitting by my side
reading joke after joke
aloud to betsy + i

and i actually let loose
when he read this one:

knock knock
who’s there
fanny
fanny who?

these jokes aren’t very fanny.

caroline and i might’ve
yelped with delight
when we saw these funnylittledaisies
(non-daisies? daisy-ish?)
at the bodega this morning.

it was love.

kisses to my favorite cjl.

and thanks, ladies,
for the perfect evening of
under-the-star out-of-doors
(stars? – was there more than one star visible?
let’s be honest here.)
good cheer,
of sangria + faux-ijtos
(it’s like a mojito only not),
of angel food + devilish laughter.

ps -
this is how much i love
my mom friends:
enough to not feel the pressure
to clean off my desk before
they come.

it takes me 15 min to put things
out of sight + another 10 min to
sort them back out and
i know these ladies didn’t
even notice.

they’re so cool like that.

everything on there is in process.
in those stolen 5 minutes of time
where i piecemeal the work
i need to get done.

nice.

pps -
see the white ladder leaning
against the brick wall?

i’m cracking up that jordyn showed up
at my house this afternoon
lugging that thing
saying,
‘you totally need this for your backyard.
i rescued it from the trash.’

i love that people see trash
and think of me.

awwww, shucks, j.

(it still has the pottery barn
price tag on it. interesting.)

and also?

charis rescued a little tricycle
out of the trash in
denver today.

and emailed me because
she knew i’d be proud of her.
(i am.)

geeeeee, guys.

seriously,
cracking me up here.

i do love a good dumpster dive;
bebe taught me everything i know.

‘one of the most basic things that the gospel does
is change prayer from mere petition to
fellowship
and the praise of his glory.

galatians 4:6-7 teaches us that when we
believe the gospel, we not only become
God’s children legally,
but we receive the Spirit in order to
experience
our sonship.
the Spirit leads us to call out passionately
to God as our tender + loving Father.

the Spirit calls out ‘abba’ (4:7)
in the very next verse
paul refers to this experience as
‘knowing God’.

-tim

from petition to fellowship.
whew.

…upstate new york.

nathan’s home away from home.

(his bunk is the bottom-right front one)

with jae, his counselor.

he’s a youth ministry major @ nyack
and is from brooklyn.

i like.

i can’t wait to hear the stories.

ps -
i loved the drive
there and back.

and hearing the four of them chat
and crack up and…

what great kids.

-ish.

the wild-ish.
well,
wild compared to the city.

or maybe it’s the
city
that’s wild…

i digress.

friday night
6:58pm
after a long happy last day of school

can you see that speck of blue
in caroline’s hand?
when we were packing our
travel bags (books + dolls)
she somehow (unnoticed) chose a
big blue maraca
as her travel toy.

it’s a miracle we’re all still friends.

almost there

hooray

gentle visitor

it seems like every store we’ve
gone in and out of in the
past day+ is playing
mj on a continuous loop;

he will be sorely missed.

(i’d be happy if mj + vintage madonna
were on continuous loop
all of the time.
in real life.

add in a little bon jovi +
wang chung,
a sprinkle of chicago
and a dash of debbie gibson,

ahhhhh.
let the good times roll)

and as we were heading up
to the train station,
we passed the apollo
where the line was
around the block +
the news trucks were taking up
the entire road
in prep for some sort of
impromptu tribute
that night.

now, to dig out the best mj that
youtube has to offer
and answer henry’s question
about what moonwalking is.

last day of school
watergunapalooza
w/ nathan’s school buddies
in central park

jordyn and i can just
duck off for coffee now, right?

caroline + lydia,
nathan’s pushing the double;
they’ve got it covered.

whew.

remember the  kanakuk cheer,
‘ready?!
i was born ready!’

if you squint,
you can see the russian tea room +
carnegie hall
past that lamppost.

(not with this lens,
but you get the idea)

i’m just crazy about h’s buddy, edward.

right before i took his picture,
he declared
(in his cutest, most watergun-serious voice),
‘henry is my enemy.’

i promised i wouldn’t reveal
his location to said enemy.

‘i need to feel the rocks, mom.’
(read: please don’t make me
wear my shoes.)

and not-surprisingly-for-henry’s-track-record,
no scrapes or cuts
in 2.5 hrs of boulder-jumping
watergunning.

these bushes (what are they?)
surrounding the perimeter
were intoxicating.

deep breaths.
oy, the beauty.

nathan heads back to base
for a refill.

(i’m pinching myself that
both boys’ swimtrunks
fit for a second season;
lucky break.)

an hour’s train ride spent watching the hudson river +
a family night swim +
a family morning swim +
psalm 116 +
alice waters’ ‘the art of simple food’ =

can you hear my
exhale
from there?

every day after school
the ice cream truck beckons.

and many of our sweet friends
respond to it’s sirens call.

but not the cates’ fam.

our mantra,
‘last day of school.
last day of school.’

so i can’t understate how
special these last day of
school ice cream cones are.

finally.

our fourth ever trip to the truck.

sugaryicyspectacular.

henry’s double red merlin

5th grade, here we come.
2nd grade, bring it on.
kindergarten, hooray! (and finally)

and betsy has an(other) exciting (?)
year to look forward to
with mommy.

ps -
this is what happens when i’m
not completely paying attention
when the girls dress themselves;
b’s wearing c’s dress,
and
vice versa.

nice.

karen correctly interpreted
the strange markings
on the pavement
that had me puzzled.

i sincerely thought they
were blocking off my whole
street as a no-parking zone
out of concern for the school children.

‘head in’ parking  = we now live in a parking lot.

as the boys and i walked out for
a nighttime starbucks school run,
i confessed my prayer request
for the day to n:
to learn to like
the new parking situation.

ugh.
oy.
yuck.

the very first cars
pull into the new arrangement.

while renee + i were chatting
and taking it all in
we saw a man walk out and
claim a space this way.

hmmmm.

and we saw our hard-working neighbor,
mrs. j, get into a small altercation
with a man over something parking-related.
ouch.

this is going to be weird.

meanwhile, inside the house
was peaceful, snaky-fun.
(i still haven’t touched it)

while this video-shoot
was going on in the
living room.

yay, guys.

and meanwhile,
huge thanks to diane + karen
for taking this handsome crew
to the carousel.

caroline had the nicest time;
thanks, friends.

.  .  .

now, back to the issue at hand.

i am going to nudge against
this new parking thing.

thanks to the kind 311 lady
who transcribed my concerns.

(i esp loved when she said,
‘fumes, did you mention fumes?’
and, well, i hadn’t,
but now that you mention it,
yes, fumes could be a problem.
thanks.)

reason no. 1084 that i
adore my cory:

he understands my
stress tears
and
listens calmly
without freaking out.

usually that’s all it takes;
he listens,
i talk through the day-with-children
(he said,
she fell,
10-too-many things going on simultaneously,
we ran here,
we schlepped there,
it’s usually always just the ordinary
tiredandteary stuff of the day +
the public nature of city life
boosts the pressure i feel,
i think?)
and
then
i’m fine.

thanks for the ear, buddy.
seriously,
thanks.

i feel muuuuuch better,
thankyouverymuch,
and i can get on
with the evening.

ps -
the similarities between
a tired mommy
and a
tired child
at the end of the day
aren’t so different,
eh?

a little sympathy,
a warm bath,
and a popsicle
make a world of difference.

the scandal du jour
on w 70th street:

two men,
two big trucks,
one hot paint machine,
and street markings.

*insert deep, dramatic gasp*

the neighbors were clumping in
little groups expressing their
outrage at the no-parking-markings
as the girls and i
were walking the boys to school.

my favorite response was
a businessman, who looked to be
in his early 40’s, insisting
to my friend, becky, and i,
‘well,
i’ve lived here for
twenty.nine.years.’

and we nodded gravely.

i’m not sure what his point was,
now that i think of it.

?

but he won the
seniority status competition.

for reference,
they extend from
in front of the caine’s bldg
all of the way to west end.

my new view

ps – the slate is in.
and grouted.
yay.

the drain will eventually
be brass, but anyway.

yay, again.