Creating Memories

    I love those moments that are so simple that they are impactful.  Times that you know memories are being created and you didn't even plan on it.  They are gifts. 

   This is a picture of our table on Sunday evening.  It doesn't look like the perfect box with beautiful wrapping paper and a symmetrical bow but it is a picture of a gift.  We were all gathered around the table.  Matt was making leather holsters for the throwing knives they all love so much. 

    We had apple salad made with apples we picked from the trees here on Shaw.  I found my favorite book of poetry, Best Loved Poems of the American People and was reading out loud to the kids.  We also started a new book, James Herriot, All Creatures Great and Small.  Reading to the kids is one of my favorite things to share with them.  Everyone relaxes and gets quiet which is rare.  The younger ones laugh when the older ones do and then want to know what is funny.  We learn new words and we imagine different times and different places.  It is the best. 

   The boys are in the thick of whatever Matt is doing.  Being here has been so good for them.  They can just be kids with very few restrictions.  I admit that they don't take as many baths and I let them pee off the deck.  I know this time is not going to be forever so I want them to have it to the fullest.        Corin carries these throwing knives on his belt all day long even though they are so heavy they pull his pants down.  He is actually really good at hitting the target.  Far better then I am.  He is counting on a BB gun for his birthday.  

  Myles has endless room for creativity and imagination here.  He sees value and beauty in every stick, leaf, shell, bone and piece of moss.  He brings it all home.  He also goes through the recycling and rescues anything he thinks might come in useful.  I have to clean up when he isn't looking or he would fill the house with his treasures. He is so happy here. 

  Ethan is the future Bear Grylls,  He and his cousin spend as much time surviving and adventuring as possible.  They eat grubs, termites and frog legs. I turn a blind eye and a deaf ear and indulge their fearless spirits. 

   It is harder for the girls.  They feel lonely and miss their friends but I also see them become better friends to each other.  Sure they fight with each other like the worst enemies but they manage to come around and laugh themselves silly over nothing as well. I pray that they grow stronger through this experience.   I pray that they grow more self confident and independent.  I pray that their convictions are formed and cemented.  

   For each of us I pray that we learn to capture the moments.  To live fully and to be grateful for the blessings.  They are all around us if we learn to focus on the simplest moments.