"You think you can do these things, Nemo, but you CAN'T!"

   Where is that limit when you stop hovering protectively over your child and let her feel the natural consequences of life? I know it is very good to let children learn from their actions, so I have a tendency to want to let Evelyn discover things for herself.
   Having said that, I must admit I'm horrible at putting those beliefs into practice. For instance, we have been trying to teach Evelyn how to swim for years, but last summer especially, we really focused on it. It wasn't super successful, because when we want her to learn something is when she decides to cling terrified to our necks. This year, we have been continuing to work on it, but without the same emphasis. She had sort of got to the place she had left off last year, which meant she could swim about 5 strokes before having to stop and breathe. If she couldn't reach the bottom or cling to someone, she would just take her breath underwater.

   So you can see why on the Fourth of July I almost ripped the clubhouse door off it's hinges trying to reach my little girl who was drowning! At least, I thought she was...We were having a family party at the clubhouse, and all the cousins were swimming together. Evelyn had her swim noodle, and we also had an adult or three supervising. But, just the same, I kept peeking out the window to see how she was doing. You can imagine how I felt when I saw her climb out of the pool with her noodle, walk to the deep part and chuck her swim noodle in. Then she plugged her nose and jumped in after it. The only problem was her splash pushed her noodle farther away. She swam after it, but her strokes continued to push her noodle across the pool. Her swimming was a little frantic and spasmodic, and I thought any second she would go under, but she just kept swimming, ...and swimming...and swimming. She ended up swimming across the whole pool! She was so proud of herself she did it about 100 more times.
   I was proud too, but it didn't stop me from going outside and preparing to jump in should anything go wrong. She did fine.
   Of course whenever we go swimming now she does the same thing, only she wants nothing to do with her swim noodle, and I keep finding myself ordering her to take it with her, just in case! Am I being too over-protective?

Hair Cuts Everywhere!

We cut off all of our hair!!! Actually, we only cut off the majority of all our hair. Michael's isn't that interesting (sorry, Michael) so I didn't include a picture. But Evelyn's: we cut off at least 5 inches! I think it makes her look 4 years younger. I'm finally getting used to her in it and most the time I recognize her now when she comes in a room.

Before we cut it.

And here she is with her hair cut. Her hair grows so fast that I am pretty sure it's already grown an inch since we cut it a month ago. When it was first cut, it was barely brushing her shoulders.

 I cut off about 5 inches of mine too. I hate it. But I'm trying not to get impulsive about it and cut the rest off, because then I'll probably never grow it out again. So I'm trying...to ...be...patient! AAAARRGGH! I still hate it!!!

Anyway, Evelyn's haircut does make it harder to put up. Her hair just likes to slide out of anything I put in it. But I did manage to get it to stay up for an hour while she went to a friend's birthday party. Here she is, dressed up as Cinderella.

 

 

New Bike and Graduation

 We finally succumbed to our guilt of having deprived Evelyn the last 4 years and we bought her a new bike!  She is learning quickly how to not depend so heavily on the training wheels.  We'll pretend it was a kindergarten graduation present, but really there was just a bike sale at Walmart.

Evelyn's Kindergarten graduation was on Tuesday the 27th. I was so proud of her. She has come so far in the last year. I was pleased with the way she carried herself. I loved the way she sang right to the audience.  I loved  her confidence. I love her little choreography. I loved her disgusted little face when one of the kids of the front row puked. She's so fun to have!
   Here is the video of their first song. Don't worry, there's no kids puking in it.

Sitting so straight and tall!

Evelyn and her teacher, Mrs. Rigby

"God Is"

Written by Jane Evelyn Adams age 6

 

God is Sweet.

 

God is in Heaven.

 

God is Good.

 

God is Strong.

 

God is Smart.

 

God is Happiness....

 

 



Easter Pictures

Finding the Easter Eggs

Evelyn's Easter basket was well hidden in a bunch of plastic bags

Easter was so fun this year. Evelyn filled the eggs with surprises almost a month ago and has been waiting for Easter to give them to members of the family. But the Easter bunny added his own surprises and hid the eggs for her. She was thrilled with the hunt. Then it took her forever to find her basket. She got the new Pirate Fairy movie, and little hopping blue bunny (and she DIDN'T name it 'Blue!' She named it 'Hoppy' instead!) and a picture book with hilarious illustrations of a pug. ("It's Duffy Time" by Audrey and Don Wood)
   We saved a little bird, went to church, sang with the choir and spent the evening getting ill off our Easter candy (which we probably won't get through until July--What was the Easter Bunny THINKING?!?) and watching the Ten Commandments.

Little Bird Miracle



   Last Friday we got a bird in our dryer vent. Michael pulled out the nest, hoping to discourage the bird from coming back. Unfortunately, all day we heard the skitter-skitter of little bird feet above our heads. We think that moving the nest encouraged the bird deeper into the ventilation system, looking for it's nest. Then it couldn't find it's way out. 5 am the next morning, it woke us up trying to scratch and peck it's way out of the vent in our bedroom. We left the house, hoping it would find it's way out.

   But the next morning, Easter Sunday, it was the same story. The bird was in our bathroom, right above our fan. I showed Michael where the sounds were coming from and he pulled off the vent cover to see if we could find the bird and entice it out. Sure enough, we could see the little beak peeking out from between the ceiling and the fan. It had been trying to dig through to the light.

   Michael pushed the fun up high enough that the bird could escape. The poor thing was so desperate for freedom that it didn't even back away from him, as I'm sure its instincts were screaming to. It just perched on the side of the opening and looked at Michael as if it were saying, "What next?"

   At this point we realized that the bird had been stuck in there for three days without a source of food or water. I ran to get a piece of bread and Michael offered it to the bird, who flew out willingly and perched on the edge of the garbage can that Michael offered it. Then it pecked at the bread. I also brought back a little measuring cup of water and the bird abandoned the bread in order to satiate it's thirst which I am sure was tremendous. 

   Michael placed the bread and water in the bottom of the garbage can and the bird hopped right in. Then he covered it and took the bird outside to offer it freedom. The bird either didn't want to leave the water source, or it was merely too exhausted to fly away. Michael put his gloved finger in the waste basket and the little bird hopped trustingly on. Then Michael gently lifted the bird into the tree branches where it hopped off. It rested there for a few minutes and then flew off to find more nourishment. 

Here is our little bird friend.

 

 

  I am so grateful that the little guy survived! It was thrilling to Michael as well to play hero to a little bird. But all the rest of that day we kept seeing parallels with the bird's story and our own lives, especially because it was Easter.

   The bird got stuck by its own methods: whether it was curiosity or searching for a safe place, the bird trapped itself so that it was not only lost, but unable to escape by its own powers. The bird did the only thing that made sense, and went toward the only light it could see. But it was not very light and completely inaccessible. Despite using all it's strength and ingenuity, it could do little more than peck a centimeter sized gap that only allowed its beak to break through its prison. Although it let in more light, the bird was quickly starving and weakening.

   That's when help came: outside help that was desperately needed. Still it would not have saved the bird if the bird had reacted with fear and run away from the movement. But instead, the bird recognized that this was the only option that would save it. So the bird trusted the help and came out. Then the helper offered the bird bread of life and water to quench the bird's thirst. Those life-saving acts quickly helped give the bird strength to continue. But the helper (or should we call him a savior?) didn't cage the bird and take away it's freedom, but placed it back into the world where the bird could have its freedom to choose, and take care of itself the way a bird is supposed to. Even if it meant the bird would go right back into the dryer vent and lose its freedom again.

   Luckily, the bird had learned its lesson and is building a nest somewhere else much safer.   Anyway, I hope the analogy is as clear to you as it was to Michael and I. Really, the whole experience made Easter for us. It gave us a clear understanding of how necessary a Savior is to us. What a wonderful reminder!

 

 Matthew 10:29-31

A little out of season, but I'm still catching up!

 

Evelyn and Michael love to dance together. Sometimes of course, Michael has to spruce things up a little, as you see, and Evelyn follows his example by putting her knee in his throat. But mostly, it's very "romantic."
   We enrolled Evelyn in a kids ballroom dance club this winter. It only lasted a week, but it was so fun to watch her practice. She was so scared people would laugh at her during the performance, that she practiced and practiced. Here are some movies of Evelyn dancing. The one below is part of her performance from the kids club at Westlake High. I wish you could see her face, I'm sure she had quite a studious expression.