A Little of November

Friday, November 8th babiest girl (“babiest” because there are lots of babies around here, but she’s the babiest of them all) officially began crawling. The “crawl date” was never quite so exact with her siblings — whose crawls developed gradually from dragging, pushing and pulling; but Starling (whose prior movements resulted primarily from rolling) had spent weeks putting herself into the crawl position ... and then just sort of staying there — unsure how to proceed. Occasionally she’d give a mighty shove with her hands — only to find herself back on her tummy and a foot further away from whatever was in front of her. But then, all at once, right arm and left leg forward followed left arm and right leg forward, and she was crawling! Just like that! With unquestioning confidence, no hesitation and no looking back. In a day’s time she went from always being right where I last left her to being practically anywhere in the house! And within another two weeks she’d even figured how to take herself up a full flight of stairs. (Though I will say, somewhat smugly, that most of her crawling is used to ... follow after me as she calls, “Maa! Maa!” like a little lost goat. [It’s the dearest thing imaginable.])

Speaking of aging: Five-year-old Summer seems quite mature lately. “Mom,” she recently told me, “I learned a new word today. It’s ‘proactive’. It doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want. It just means you just like handle it yourself.”

And then, as we watched The Grinch, this: 

“The Grinch is so dumb!” Then, before I could comment she rushed out a loudly defensive stream of, “And I know I shouldn’t say that, but he’s really mean!”

And Mette. Does she seem any older? No, not necessarily. But she did utter a rather perfect truth about life in her little world full of siblings the other day:

Mette: Daisy, are we in a movie?

Daisy: No. But if we were in a movie what would it be called?

Mette: Friends. ... And sometimes not friends.

A recent example? Mette was sitting in a time out after hurting Summer. As she sat there she sobbed, “I wish I didn’t do that!” And then, before I could mistake her wail for penitence, added, “I wish Summer did! So SHE’D be in a time out!”

Also, I recently found this while cleaning out a kitchen drawer. The beginning of what looked to be a marvelous tale Anders was conceiving. (If only he’d made it beyond the first page):

What else? Perhaps just pictures.

Here are a few kids:

And a typical Sunday evening sight:

This particular Sunday my mom joined us for dinner. I love when we have my mom or Mike’s parents over and our kids get to hear more of their stories than they typically do at big family gatherings.

Did I mention Goldie’s play finished up? (And it’s a good thing because I was near to forgetting I even had a third child with how much she was gone!)

Christmas Village. We went every Christmas growing up. At least it seems we did. And I intend to take my kids every year. But the cold and crowds and busyness of December usually mean my intentions fall flat. But these three were JUST as excited to run around to the small houses before their inner displays were even set up when we were running errands and saw them all being pulled out a few weeks ago.

Dear little Summer. She wanted desperately to create her own magic Christmas Village house when we returned home. She wanted it life sized just like the ones she’d seen that day, but eventually resigned herself to a shoe-box-sized house. Here she is: pondering how to make her vision a reality.

Jesse got his Arrow of Light (his final, big Cub Scout award) during the last ever pack meeting our church would be having:

Speaking of Jesse. Here he is. Not going to bed long after being sent there. :)

Ah. This. Hansie’s big black eye. (The old running fall into the corner of the coffee table.)

And for those of you not keeping up with Abe’s letters on his blog, here is a picture I love of him with a violin and guitar maker he has gotten to know in El Salvador. And this little paragraph from a recent letter:

“My name is Abraham Harris.

I live in El Salvador, where I walk through the jungle and on dirt roads and drink my water out of bags. I wake up every morning and go talk to strangers all day in a language I didn't speak until four months ago. I talk about the Gospel of Jesus Christ all day. I think about it all day. I live and breathe it. From 6:30 AM until 10:30 PM it is all I do. And I love it.”

And here the kids are making “Thankful Turkey Bags” to fill with little notes to be opened on Thanksgiving:

Oh, and snow! We had our first big snow today. And it is supposed to keep going for the next three days! I imagine I won’t be getting in my usual Thanksgiving run tomorrow morning (and many Turkey Bowls have, I am sure, been ruined), but I love snow when the kids are home and it’s a holiday (even if I was a little terrified to let Daisy drive to her new little seasonal job at Seagull Book this afternoon).

And that’s it for now!

Letter to Abe

As you know, it was Halloween this week. All the usual things. We watched Blackbeard's Ghost for Family Night. (There's a spiritual evening for you.) The ward trunk-or-treat was Tuesday which was about the same as it always is except the Deacons didn't do the whack-a-deacon for their game (too bad). Noah was there. It always seems so odd seeing any of your friends around now. Lonely somehow. I suppose I feel their lives must feel empty now that you are gone. Haha. I don't know what it is really. I guess it just feels strange seeing that any of your close friends are still here in these ordinary normal bits of life when you feel so far away from them! Anyway, the trunk-or-treat. No dancing skeletons this year (which was a relief to all our small kids). Also it was freezing. This week looks to be pretty nice again, but I think we broke all sorts of records for October cold last week. And Tuesday night -- with its fierce wind -- was probably the worst. I didn't even dare go outside with Starling while the kids did the trunk-or-treat.

What else? We carved pumpkins. Mette really wanted a rabbit. How does one carve a jack-o-lantern rabbit? I tried. And it ended up very clearly ... a cat. But, after some initial protesting, she accepted a cat pumpkin as a good alternative. I was remembering, as I carved, a year or two ago, when Mette put you in charge of carving her pumpkin and seemed to have no interest in even watching the process, but would occasionally holler instructions at you.

This year Daisy was a pirate (and a witch later). Goldie was, at one point, a softball player, and Little Miss Muffet on Halloween night. (I don't know if she meant to dress as Miss Muffet, but that's exactly what she looked like -- and what we all called her.) Penny wore a billion things -- though she kept despairing she had nothing. She was a fortune teller for the Harris party and a friend's party. An angel for school. And someone from Hogwarts on Halloween and at the trunk-or-treat. Jesse was a rock climber. (We borrowed a helmet from the Stuarts.) Anders wore your old hobo costume. (I still remember you making that -- tearing and cutting holes in things, asking me to wash it so the holes would look frayed, rubbing brown face paint on everything to make it look dirty.) Summer was Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Mette wore the old wolf costume. Hans was the frog. And Starling was an owl at the ward party ... and nothing on Halloween. (Though the jacket she was wearing earlier that day does have bunny ears. So that's something.)

I looked up El Salvador's Day of the Dead and saw it was this weekend. Anything interesting happen there? Maybe it was hard to separate that from all the crazy Jucuapa celebrations that were happening down there recently? It sounded like maybe it is something similar to how we honor our ancestors on Memorial Day. I imagine I'll ask you about it on the phone today if we get to talk.

Also last week Amazon sent a toy catalog in the mail. I am not even slightly exaggerating when I tell you that the little girls spent probably three hours total going through it over the first two days of its arrival. They used sharpies to mark letters on every item according to who in the family they thought it would be best for. They even wrote ABE on a number of things. (Because just "A" was already for Anders. I was impressed. I didn't know they knew how to write your name.)

Oh, and we changed the clocks back this weekend. I'm guessing you guys didn't? So we are no longer on the same time, rather, its an hour earlier here (which, sadly, means even less chance your siblings will get to be home when you get to call).

We watched Babe last night. I thought we'd watched it so often that all the kids were already familiar with it. But it must have been awhile because even Penny didn't really remember it. I love that show. It's just great. I think it might be one of my favorite movies. Which seems kind of funny. But that farmer is just so likable. And the wife is so great. I think I will make everyone watch it again as soon as you get home.

A few other random things:

--I'm being released as YW secretary and just got called to teach Sunday School. I'll team teach with Jana Hurst. We are going to finish up teaching the class that Goldie is in. But they are rearranging things at the new year and will probably have us teaching the oldest class. I actually am looking forward to this calling more than I have to almost any! It may be that I won't end up liking it that much. But I've mostly only taught very little kids (other than a spell of teaching RS years ago and the few times I actually taught in my YW callings). I really like teaching. And I am super excited to teach teenagers.

--Also, I don't know if you recall the little suit Anders had back when he was a toddler, but it fits Hans now. He looks pretty great in it. It's funny how kids mix words in their head because when we put it on him he says he's wearing a suit...case. Haha. It's cute.

--One of Jesse's best pals this year is a kid named Alec. Remember how, whenever you would tell us anything that sounded a bit far-fetched growing up, we would always tease, "Was it Keaneau who told you that?" That's basically what we say to Jesse now. Nearly every day he tells me something new that "Alec says". I need to start recording more of them because they are usually pretty great. Yesterday he told me, "Alec says if you get frost bite, your fingers turn black (that's probably true) and then if you stick them in water ... they immediately fall off."

--Dad signed Anders up for basketball. He decided he needed a hobby of some sort. I wish you were here to go out and practice with him. He "shoots" holding the ball behind his head with both hands and has very little dribbling practice so I'm a bit nervous about having him ready to play come January!

--The boys still like watching Dwight in Shining Armor. It hasn't improved any. But at least Clodwig is present in most episodes. Also, we keep giving Studio C with the new cast "one more chance" ... but we keep being fully disappointed. Too bad. I like a good laugh. But we will just need to compile a list of all the funniest old ones and have a viewing party when you return.

Anyway, every time anyone asks us how you are doing, they follow it with a comment about enjoying your letters. They have been very fun for us (and for everyone else who sees them) to read. All I ask, AS YOUR MOTHER, is more pictures of you with people you know down there! I don't know. People in your ward. Investigators. That guy who likes to play the guitar in melodies unrelated to the hymns you are singing. And maybe to have you occasionally give me a brief character sketch of a few of the people. I really just want to feel more aware of all the things that make up your life right now! I love every single thing you send that tells me about life in El Salvador, funny things, living conditions, weather, scenery, people! I can't get enough! As I am always trying to imagine you in this new reality ... without it seeming wholly unreal to me!

Also, I had a good laugh over "who is the elect spouse for you" business. You know what dad would say to that I suppose? "So, Abe, which of the girls in the ward did you say?" Ha! I also loved that your drunkard friend was convinced you were Mexican. Hahah. I'm sure that was a first -- and probably a last -- for you. Lastly, it makes me so happy hearing you talk about the Book of Mormon. Even before your letter you said something about it on the phone and it just seemed so ... calm and happy and matter-of-fact. Just it being something that makes you so happy and that you enjoy studying so much. It just makes me happy to have you loving the word of God so much that your spirit feels content and happier just filling your days with it. And I'm so glad for God to have sent you away from home with this gift accompanying you to help you feel uplifted.

I'll attach some pictures now. Mostly Halloween ones. And a picture Mette drew for you. It's you by a table with a big plate of grapes, and also a butterfly. I'll probably attach them in more than one email.

I love you! (And so help me ... if someone doesn't get the packages we've sent from the mission office TO you soon then I might have to march down there and do it myself! [I technically could, you know, dad and I finally got our passports finished up. I haven't had one since I went to Israel twenty plus years ago! And we probably won't be able to actually go anywhere any time soon. But I could come to El Salvador if I had to hand deliver those blasted packages. Ha!])

Love you!

Mom