This 'n That

It has been like forever since I posted...a new record for me, I'm sure.

No, I haven't been busy because we got a call about Gabriel. I wish.

More hard stuff. More "hard" life. A continuation of the situation I alluded to at the end of this post. I have had several very hard, very important conversations with several of my family members over the past few days. Some went well. Some - not so much. At. all. My heart is so. very. heavy right now. I'm crying to the Lord for wisdom, for His will to be done in this situation. What should my part in this be? What should not be my part in this? Oh, how we all need Him!

What I want to do is lay down and cry...but I can't do that with four littles running around. (Not that I haven't cried over this...I've cried plenty!)

But even with that ugliness, the rest of our lives goes on. And while I can't (and don't want to) blog about the ugliness (it's not mine to share)...I do want to record the rest of our lives:

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I mentioned here that my dad had recently outfitted Daniel in camo garb - head to toe.


Well, Daniel got to use it for its intended purpose: he went dove hunting with Papa.


Jas loves to hunt also, but seeing as how he's not retired like my dad, he doesn't get the chance to go hunting as often.

I don't when/if Papa will invite D to go with him again, though. When Dad shot (and killed!) the first dove he shot at, D piped up, "What a lucky shot, Papa!"

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I do NOT have any pictures to post with this next memory.

I am very upset with myself for not having any pictures of any of this.

With some Christmas present money we bought season tickets for 2012 to our favorite little theme park. We went over the weekend. We've been going off and on ever since Elisabeth first came home (we buy season passes about every other year.)

BUT, the children are continually getting taller, as children are want to do...which means new and exciting opportunities (read: rides) are opening up to them all the time!

It has been over a year since we've been to the park and when we measured Daniel and Elisabeth against the stick to see if they were tall enough for the Boomerang and Swamp Thing...lo and behold: they were tall enough!

Swamp Thing and Boomerang are both roller coasters. Really-and-Truly-By-Golly Adult Rollercoasters. Swamp Thing is a rollercoaster where you sit in the seat and are strapped in...but your legs hang free. Oh, yay - I just found a picture of the ride on the internet!

Elisabeth and Daniel and I did Swamp Thing together. They wanted to do it again, but we needed to catch up with Daddy, Noah and Lily Kay (LK isn't tall enough yet, and Noah is not fond of rollercoasters...that is putting it mildly!).

Boomerang goes upside down. Twice. And twists every which way. And then you do it all again. Backwards.

Jas and I each did it once. E did it twice. D did it three times.

I've got some very brave children.

And our brave children have some very old-feeling parents. I was all out of whack after the rides...until I saw our chiropractor yesterday (our dear Dr. Kathy). I feel much better now!