Back Where It Belongs

So...there's been something of a blog hiatus since about Christmas over here. Part of which is that there hasn't been much going on over these parts. I could have posted about all of our families exploits sledding, skating, making snow forts, braving the Winter Weather except that....there hasn't been any. This is, by far, the mildest Winter that I can recall. Our pond is completely clear of ice...in fact, we even fed bread to fish off our dock yesterday. It's almost time to string up the fishing poles and till the garden...VERY uncharacteristic for this time of year in New England.
That sounds good and all but, the main reason that I haven't been posting anything is....well....The Patriots. Yeah...I'll blame the Patriots. Specifically, what the Patriots Playoff run brought me to do. **cue Sinister Music**...Dun Dun DUUUNNNN!!!!

We plugged in the TV.

Yup. The ole' "Time Sucker" herself.

It started with a few weeks to go in the Pats season (and right around New Years...what to watch a half-dead Dick Clark desperatly cue the ball to drop and all)
At any rate...The original plan was to only bring up the TV for game days but, after a long Monday at work...what would I rather do? Haul the ole' girl down to the basement again, or check to see if there's a new episode of "American Pickers" on?

Hours led to days, days led to weeks, weeks to a month or so. There it sat in our Sunroom. The 32' behemouth. The Monolith. Staring at me like the Eye of Sauron....beckoning...."turn me on....turn me on....turn me ON". You may think that i'm being overly dramatic but, for a family that routinely watched VERY little tv....with this thing plugged and waiting to be watched...it was like staring down Clint freaking Eastwood....the thing just kept daring me...."Do you feel lucky, punk?"...and often I did.

For the past 5 weeks or so....the tube was the central figure in our sunroom. We kept it off, for the most part, while the kids were awake but, after snack, stories, prayers, and bed....you better believe that baby came on in record time. American Pickers, Pawn Stars, Planet Earth, That show with the British lady who tells parents about the trolls their kids have become, that show with the dude with the spikey blonde hair who goes to diners and stains his shirt telling us how unreal their corned beef is...I watched it all.

Well...This past Sunday, The Patriots laid an egg (again) and....enough was enough. It was time to relegate the 32' weapon of mass distraction back to it's rightful place:



Crammed between some totes and the wall in our basement. I gotta tell ya....I love T.V. LOVE T.V. i grew up in a home where the TV was on pretty much all waking hours (with loving parents, mind you....just lots of M*A*S*H* and The People's Court as well). it certainly is a sacrifice to go without it but....after a month or so...the time that is redeemed is wonderful, especially in a home with young children.
I know that I've posted this verse here before but...one of my favorite verses in the entire Bible is Ephesians 5: 15-16:

" See that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil."

It was a fun distraction, having the TV upstairs this past season...It was also stifling. In the few short days that "The Beast" has been put away, I've spent so much time growing...spending more time talking with Chrissy, reading just about everything there is to know about hunting/harvesting/field dressing deer, planning out this years garden, learning some cool Bluegrass scales and runs...it's amazing, the time that you find, when you are not tied to That Box.

i walked around my home tonight, thankful for the conviction of The Lord in putting that thing away...I was blessed with scenes like these:


My boy, sitting quietly in his room, poring over books (what you can't see is that He was also listening to The Bible on CD).


My girls making Pizza crusts.

That's the soundtrack to our home.....not some Platinum-Haired Doofus telling me how great the Shepherd's Pie is.

I gotta keep this in prayer, though...cuz...the Olympics are coming up in the Summer...and I love me some High Dive.

"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under he heaven."
- Ecclesiastes 3:1

The Day My Son Moved Out

"Well I'm takin' my time, I'm just movin' along
You'll forget about me after I've been gone."
- Boston; Foreplay/Longtime


My son moved out this week.

My 4 year old son.....left the nest. He's out on his own. All alone on the vast sea of "independence".


O.K.....i'm over-exaggerating. The reality is though, that Gavin no longer sleeps with the rest of us in the "family bedroom", but has moved into his own room.

I hate it. I hate everything about it. But I need to accept it. Here's the story:

We co-sleep and bed share. Gavin slept in our king bed with us until a few months before Ivy was born then he moved to a twin bed right next to ours. That's how it has been since the Spring of '09. We all sleep in the same room. Some folks think that we are mental, despite the fact that there are millions of families in other countries who bed share...mainly because they don't have the room to separate everyone...and also because it's awesome. It's so much fun to wake up all together in the same room and jump and hug and wrestle and snuggle first thing in the morning. It's so reassuring as parents to be able to look over and see your boy sleeping so soundly, just a few feet away. That's how The Leo Family rolled.

Until last Saturday.

Chrissy's family was up to visit from New Jersey. We set them up with a futon mattress in Gavin's "room" (even though both kids sleep with us, they both have their own rooms which are decorated for them and house their clothes, closets, toys, books, etc.)
Well...Chrissy's family left, but the futon mattress stayed in there for a few days. This past Saturday night, Gavin asked his mama if he could sleep in there. She said "yes", figuring that if he got scared or whatever, he could jump into his old bed in our room. Chrissy gave the O.K.

The kid slept like a log. All night.

Next day, same thing. And the day after that. And the day after that....and so on and so on....which brings us to tonight.

Tonight we took the futon mattress back downstairs...took his twin bed from our room, and put it into his room. It's official. Our boy sleeps in his own room. I know that it's one of the many things that I'll have to "let go of" as a parent. I know this...but I still hate it.

here's what our room looked like after moving his mattress (and yes, I'm posting this picture for subtle, self-serving, saddened effect):


It's like looking at a ghost. Alright, I'm exaggerating...but just let me be, will ya?

I guess it's like anything else...I love the independence and confidence that he is developing. I love seeing the brave, confidant leader emerge in him. I truly believe that God has something great in store for him....He's been blessed with so much already. But Lord...not TOO fast, please.

He's still my little boy. He still cries when his balloon pops. He still thinks that lollipops grow in his ears. He still thinks that a nickel is worth more than a dime because it's bigger. He still needs a goodnight story and prayer before he can settle into bed, He still believes that a hug makes a boo-boo feel better (which may actually be right)...he's still so small....

It's the dichotomy of life, I guess....you spend so much time preparing them for the next level...and then, when that day comes, you want to do everything in your power to prevent that page from turning. It can't be stopped. It can only be bathed in prayer and set forth with training.
"He'll do fine", The Lord keeps telling me....and I believe it. He's getting so big.

But wait for the next thundery night. He'll be booking across the hall into out bedroom to be comforted from the storm. There's a part of me that wants him to be able to ride something like that out on his own.....but there's a bigger part of me that would spend a weeks pay if I could guarantee the sky would open up tonight and he'd run to me.

"Time doesn't wait for me, it keeps on rolling".



So big.

Someone back East is sayin' "Why don't he write?"...

...a great throwaway line from Dances with Wolves...right up there with a fake accented "J-J-John John Dun------Dun--bar".

I have no idea why I'm thinking about Dances with Wolves right now...oh that's right....

It's cuz I haven't written in a while. I don't even have a ton of time right now, but I wanted to just get a few things down (Probably not interesting for most but, again, this blog is for me....and you, if you care to follow along).

There's been lots of changes going on in our home...some big, some small, all good. Anyhow...I'm the kind of guy that needs a bit of down time at the end of the night...and lately, by the time the kids got to bed...I didn't have it in me to sit down and ponder my blog...more like I've been about ready to spoon my brain out of my ear. Anyhow, here's a list of some of the changes that have gone down around here lately.

1. I got a new job. It literally came out of nowhere. I have moved to a new program within the agency that I work for. I work for a Faith-based non-profit comprised of many community outreach programs. For the past 4+ years, I have served in various capacities in the Adult Day Health program (most recently as the social worker). This was a medical-modeled program for adults with developmental disabilities and mental illness. I loved what I did....I never imagined that I would leave...BUT...The Lord led, and I had to follow....Thankfully, he only led me down a flight of stairs.
Downstairs in the same building as the ADH program is a Supportive Day Program for the Elderly. Many of the participants have some degree of dementia...They are a wonderful group of people. Some of the kindest, gentlest folks I've ever met. 3 weeks ago I became the Program Director for that downstairs program. It's certainly a change...it's bittersweet to leave the day to day operations of the ADH program, but I've been loving being at the helm of such a wonderful program. I've been blessed with great staff and great clients....AND I get to see my upstairs clients everyday still....but still...there's lots to learn and it has been a huge change for me.
2. New car...we got a great deal on a new (well new to us) minivan...I LOVE looking like a soccer mom...say what you will...but those suckers are convenient!!
3. New dentist....I know, it sounds trite...but add it on the pile and it's just another thing to get adjusted to.
4. New nutrition....Chrissy has had some problems with her back...muscular stuff...which has prompted her to seek out wellness solutions...it has also brought to light that we could both stand to lose a few pounds..we've cut off nighttime snacking (which I freaking LOVE)....We've been eating healthy lately and enjoying fantastic green breakfast smoothies that Chrissy's been coming up with...again...good stuff....but a change none-the-less.
5. TV...a few months ago....we plugged in the tv. The snow was SO deep that the kids couldn't play in it....we've all been stuck inside for most of the Winter...then Chrissy's back went out...all this is a recipe for "let's throw a Winnie-The-Pooh video in and give us a half hour of chill time. (Yes, I said "Video"...I'm one of the last 3 people on earth to still use a VCR)...which quickly parlayed into me watching 2 hours of mindless tv after the kids went to bed. Anyway...last week, the TV got unplugged (again) and packed away in the garage. AGAIN....good chance...but...still "change".
6. Winter's over, and we're on the cusp of the largest planting season that our household has ever undertaken. There's 3 new HUGE gardens that we are planting this year...awesome...but daunting.

It's funny how all of this comes at once....but I think it's cuz that's how God knows that I work. I know that all of us are "creatures of habit"...but I LOVE routine. I LOVE predictability. I think that the Lord knows this and so HE put all this change on me at once....push me through the fire so that soon I can relax in the familiar again.

"The steps of a righteous man are ordered by The Lord" Psalm 37:23. Now...I'll be the first to tell you that I'm not righteous...I'd like to think that I pursue righteousness...but in the spirit of full disclosure...I'd have to say that at times...it's more a hobby than a passion. BUT....He is Faithful...He is Merciful...He loves us in a way that we can never understand....He loves us enough to shake things up for us every once in a while....because He knows that He'll be right beside us to help us handle it.

oh yeah....

7. The old man found a dead beaver:


Frozen Roadkill Science Extravaganza just got real, y'all.

"Life is hard, you have to change"
- Shannon Hoon


Ain't that the truth, Ruth.