What are you, Chicken?

So...beyond Gavin learning to ride a two-wheeler and Ivy learning to cruise on the Strider bike, Some other cool progressions have been shaping up around here. I've started playing music in a "band" again, actually it's more like a quartet (and and occasionally a sextet)....My friend Andy, his wife, Maureen, Chrissy, and I have established this little bluegrass collective that we call The Grape Pickers. Gavin will sometimes break out his collection of harmonicas and rip a few notes while Ivy goes crazy with a shaker or tambourine (that's the sextet). We have 1 legit gig so far, in late August. More to come on that as it gets closer. In other news...this year, we will be drip irrigating our gardens from collected rainwater, something we've been talking about for a few seasons. Additionally, garden-wise, we are expanding our gardens a bit and starting an informal gardening co-op with two families and a young man from church. We've always harvested more than we use, and have given away bushels of produce to friends, family, and causes. We'll still be able to do that, while adding to it the pleasure of getting to garden along-side some our dearest friends as we work together to bring forth a harvest. This also is something that has been in my head and heart for some time, it was just never the Lord's timing for it...until now.

Now, all of that is big news (at least for us)...but the biggest (and cutest) news of all is that we are now raising chickens!! We got ourselves a nice little collection of Rhode Island Red hens who will be giving us delicious, home-grown, eggs by late Summer. We are so excited about this. Right now they are 1 week old chicks living in a brooder in our home school room.

A quick story about that:

I knew the chicks would be arriving soon, so last week, I picked up all the equipment that I would need: pine shavings, feed and feeder, water fount, heat lamp, thermometer...all I had left to buy was the actual container for the brooder. Now...people use all kinds of home made contraptions as a brooder: kiddie pools, cardboard boxes, Rubbermaid totes...I guess that would be pretty cost effective but...I wanted something that looked kind of slick and "farmy"...I decided to use a galvanized stock tank...the setup looked like this:



Notice at the feeder is Gavin's wind up toy chick....hey, we wanted a visual here...just until the real peepers arrived. 2 days later, our girls were home and now our brooder looked like this:





Pretty much the cutest things in the universe, right?



We got to naming a few of them: Chatty Baby, Little Jerry, Pickle, Marilyn 1, Marilyn 2...i think that's as far as we got. We spent the first few days down there just about all the time. Gavin got really good at handling them. I've read that if your chicks are consistently and lovingly handled early on that they will be more docile as they grow up. Not sure if that's true but...we'll find out, I guess. So after 2 days, we noticed some things. First, baby chicks grow FAST. I mean, these things nearly doubled in size in 48 hours. Second, their wing feathers were starting to come in:



It's unreal watching them grow. It's like watching your kids grow up, only 10 times as fast. Our friends, the Corbett's, came over that night and my buddy Andy says "So, how long before they can hop out of the tank, a week?"

nope.

6 days.

Well..in all honesty, one didn't jump out of the tank but, as I was sitting there watching them scamper around, a few of them COULD have jumped out if they timed their jumps right. That's just about the last thing on earth that I need....I pictured Chrissy calling me at work, kids SCREAMING crying in sorrow in the background, as she tells me that 3 chicks were missing. No way, man.

Well, that night, the brooder looked like this:



After harvesting the screens from the basement windows and laying them across the top of the brooder, I knew that I had made a rookie mistake...I bought a tank that was too shallow. Now, I figured that I could bungee cord some flexible fencing or chicken wire around the thing to build up the sides...but then it would look all ghetto...I knew what I had to do. I took back the 44 gallon stock tank and exchanged it for the 169 gallon stock tank! Tonight...the brooder looks like this:



Now we're talkin'. a full foot deeper, 4 more square feet of running room...I'm able to suspend the feeder (although I did settle on a home-made, ghetto-looking bar made of scrap wood, drywall screws, and some random brackets). I must say...I'm much happier (and so are the girls).

The coop will be ready in a few weeks and by late April, the hens will be ready to move outside. If they keep growing at the rate they are, they ought to be about 75 lbs. each by then. here's some random chick pics:


Ivy learning some "mothering" skills


Gavin learning some "Don't always be a complete spaz" skills (kidding...LOVE this kid).

Nose to beak

oh yeah...

...they also have tail-feathers, now.
*sniff*...they grow up so fast....*sniff*

No Snow...so....THIS Happened:

yeah...my kid's rolling on a 2 wheeler. And I gotta say...he isn't just teetering around on the thing....he's ripping it LIKE A BOSS. Since we've had no snow and clear roads all Winter...the biking season has pretty much carried right through from Autumn. That was all the extra time that the kid needed to turn into Speed Racer on his rusty 2-wheeler. I'm dumbfounded.

One of the pinnacle moments of fatherhood...one that after-school specials and made-for-TV movies have shown to be an absolute certainty, is the dad.....running behind the 2 wheeler with his hand on the back of the seat...teaching their child about balance. over and over and over....until...finally....the child FINALLY gets it and wobbles him/herself a couple of yards while the dad gives chase in super-slo motion with arms raised towards the sky in triumph...right before the kid runs into a mailbox.

Nope.

Didn't get any of that.

4 steps.

That's what I got.
4 steps.

That's all it took.

Then he was OFF.

No looking back.

I blame this:



The Strider Bike (Since the boy is now rolling big time, Ivy inherited this hog). The idea is that it makes a kid learn all about balance but has no pedals....it's like a mutant scooter, the crazy thing is that it teaches kids balance at like an insanely early age...which, once they get that down, is apparently super-easy to add pedaling into the mix and, BAM...they are rocking a legit 2 wheeler. See for yourself:



For most kids under 4, they aren't given an opportunity to learn about vehicular balance before actually trying to ride a 2-wheeler...that's why it's usually such a chore when they finally get the training wheels off. This little gem allows a super young kid to get the idea of balance first...then eventually add in the element of pedaling....often without even the transition of training wheels. I gotta tell you....this balance bike turns kids into bicycle ninjas. It's unreal how quickly Gavin took to a 2-wheeler pedal bike after riding this baby for 6 months or so.

Ivy's got it now...and I wouldn't be surprised if she was on a pedal bike by her 3rd birthday. No pressure but, at any rate...we've been having a blast tooling up and down the neighborhood on our hogs. Here's proof:





It's crazy-amazing to watch your children's world get bigger. They learn to roll over, suddenly their world gets bigger by a blanket. They learn to crawl, suddenly their world gets bigger by a room. They learn to walk, suddenly their world gets bigger by a house. They learn to speak, suddenly their world gets bigger by words. They learn to ride a two-wheeler, suddenly their world gets bigger by:


Part of me wants to say: "Get back here!! You're still so little".

But there's that other part of me...that part that I know that I have to embrace that's screaming "GO MAN, GO!!".

Ride, Captain, Ride.

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

Irate, Informed, and Graced

I need to be more like Jesus.

Don't we all.

Jesus taught radical truths and, as such, spend lots of time surrounded by those who didn't share his conviction...some who you may even call "ignorant". But He didn't focus so much on the ignorant attitudes of those with whom He came into contact with as much as He did His response to them.....mercy....understanding....grace.
MAN....couldn't we all use more of that.
I mean, even Peter....a guy that had been with Him since the beginning....was so content to continually screw up, doubt, and not get it....it makes you wonder "what chance do WE have?....if a disciple who SAW Jesus do this stuff and heard His words first-hand and still screwed up so royally...what chance do I stand?"

The answer is "none". It's all about Grace.

I had an opportunity this weekend to make a choice. A Proverbs-teaching, cut and dry, wisdom-or-foolishness choice. I both succeeded and failed.

Ivy got Chicken Pox. We have dozens of friends who do not subscribe to the typical unquestioned, lobbyist-influenced, health care system that totes shots and vaccinations as the be all and end all of disease prevention. Does modern medicine have some things right? sure. Do they have TONS of things that they grandstand about for their own selfish gain while putting millions of children at risk for future permanent negative consequences to their self-proclaimed "universal solutions"? ...absolutely.
So within that parameter lies the role of the informed parent, needing to make a decision.
Our decision is a simple one....Chicken Pox has been around forever....If one of our kids catches it...we'll let the others catch it, get "infected" and get it over with. We even went so far as to invite other families with young children over to contract the virus from our daughter in hopes that they could also get it "over with". We had many takers. Over this past weekend...close to dozen children circulated through our home....playing closely with Ivy...with parents in hopes of their kids catching the virus themselves....and they also "getting it over with".

I guess that I should have expected for this idea to be met with some resistance. Especially in this uninformed, Ignorant-reactionary, believe-what-you-are-told-on-the-internet culture. But I didn't.
We didn't receive TONS of resistance...but the resistance we DID get was from radically ignorant, uninformed, uneducated, sad sources. From parents who think that what WE are doing is absolutely crazy and irresponsible but yet don't spend 2 seconds researching and educating themselves on the scores of vaccines that are being injected into the bodies of THEIR children. No thought is given as to the need for these injections...their overall effectiveness, or the contents in them (if you've read this far and have a 2 year old child who has all of their vaccine shots....they've already been injected with aluminum, formaldehyde, MSG (the same stuff that's in Chinese food), human DNA (including that of aborted fetuses), Guinea Pig or Cow embryos.....shall I go on? Yet somehow....it's my wife and I who are the "irresponsible" ones for allowing our children to be exposed to a non-lethal (at least at their age) virus with which they'll be immune to for their whole lives instead of allowing modern medicine to inject their crud-laden ( and hugely controversial) "vaccine" into our child's bodies....which may or may not even work.

Here's the part where I get pissed. Here's where I fail.

Or at least it's the part where I used to get pissed. Now...I just get sad. here's the part where I grow.
I get sad at the ignorance of our culture....and not even just the secular culture. The Christian culture that we live in has become so uninformed and secularized....so many uninformed decisions are being made for Christian children. I want to scream. It's not just the vaccinations. It's the hours that parents allow their children to be influenced by Xbox or PSP....the days and days that they allow their children to be molded by a secular coach or dance instructor in the name of "building character" while, in reality, are being corrupted by worldliness. The shopping out of their parental responsibilities to train up their children. I want to claw my eyes out. But Christ showed grace....so must I. Grace that is Greater than all Our Sins. I don't nearly have the tolerance or capacity that Christ Had. But I don't need to.
I need to daily praise Him for the education and conviction that he has given me and my family....and pray for those who need it. His grace is the only reason for any vision or guidance that we receive. I'm certainly not perfect. I'm a selfish sinner in need of huge amounts of growth. In 10 years...I hope to look back on where I am now and see HUGE amounts of growth in the life of me and my family from where we are right now. It begins by understanding, and receiving His grace.

Would you this moment His Grace receive?

A "Grand Caravan" Indeed.

So...my van is in the shop. It's taken a couple of days to take care of something that we anticipated being a 1 day fix. To make a long story short...I had to rent a car to get to work tomorrow. Alls I needed was something to get me to Worcester and back. I contacted a local car rental place in town and asked them to give me "the absolute cheapest" car they could rent me to get back and forth to work tomorrow. I was prepared to take a '73 Pinto...I just needed wheels. The guy at the rental place says "well, I don't have any economy cars left but I've got these 3 minivans sitting here...I can rent you one of those at 'economy' pricing, come on over".
I head over there thinking that I'm going to be rolling to work tomorrow in some sun-faded navy blue 1988 Plymouth Voyager with fake wood panelling.

Nope.

Ladies and Gentlemen...I give you the 2011 Dodge Grand Caravan Crew Flexfuel:



This baby was LOADED!!! They may have thought that they rented me a Minivan but, as far as I was concerned, they rented me a playground...and you better believe that, for 58 bucks, I was taking full advantage of this rig. This beast came complete with:


Retractable side windows.


"Stow-and-Go" seating...aka...DANCEFLOOR!!!


Ample drink holders.


Satellite Radio featuring a KILLER Grateful Dead Station. We caught a great Scarlet>Fire from 31 years earlier at The Spectrum in Philly....score! Also featuring....


"Reverse Gear Back-up Camera"...just to help ensure that you don't run over your family.
We pretty much spent the lion's share of the night hanging out in this rented hoop-dee...we had some snacks:


Watched a movie:


And dug the crazy-cool Star Treky running lights:


It's funny. My nature would usually be to get all cranked up that there's a snafu with vehicles and that I got to pay out of pocket and track down a rental car for the day. Instead, The Lord helped me to have a great attitude and turn something that could have easily been a drag into a Minivan Driveway Vacation Night for the fam. I couldn't think of a better way to blow 60 bucks.
The icing on the cake? The license plate:


Don't Mess With Texas...you got me?!

All this fun....and I haven't even driven it to work, yet.

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.

The Next Level

There are constant milestones and paradigm shifts that occur in the life of a young child....kicking, rolling over, crawling, laughing, standing, walking, running ....that sort of thing. It keeps happening throughout their precious little lives. Most of us parents have got something on our doorposts that look something like the photo above (that's Gavin's...Ivy's is on the opposite wall)....milestones of height....growth. There's this weird dichotomy with all of this...on one hand you LOVE the fact that your child is growing, but on the other hand...you hate the fact that they are getting bigger....and more mature...you long for the things that they used to care about....or say. I remember Gavin, as a baby, when thirsty, used to say "wahwee?!" when asking for water. That doesn't happen anymore. When he used to ask for his grandmother he used to say "maber?"...but no longer. These little endearing things have passed by in the name of growth and maturity and, on one hand, it's wonderful that he's progressing and growing but....it seems like it's happening so fast....too fast. I'm not sure I like it. I mean....I dig the growth but....slow it down a bit Lord.



Ivy has this great word.....when she's in the zone and loving life......when you are giving her tickles and hugs, and she's laughing like crazy and wants "more"....she says...."maaawwww?!"...I swear, it's the cutest thing that you'll ever hear. But the reality is that, in a few months or so, she'll mature to a point where she won't ask for "Maaawww" anymore. She'll mature out of that. I'm excited that she's growing....but I kind of mourn those little parts of her life that, as she matures, can never be revisited.
It becomes this constant balance of growth....the willingness to sacrifice aspects of your children's young lives that are replaced with new skills and experiences as they grow older. It just seems like it happens too quickly.
Teenagers wish they could grow up twice as fast....parents wish their children could grow up half as quickly.

Today, I reached a milestone with my son, Gavin. He's 4 1/2 and will turn 5 in December. He got stooged with a lame birthday 2 days after Christmas....he's still a champ, though. He's grown so much this past year....so much so that it's a 50/50 shot as to who gets that biggest fish in our daily fishing derbies (he won today....but not by much :^)
Today, my 4 1/2 year old son took his first trip paddling a canoe all by himself. His grampa and I were in our boat close by him should anything happen but....he handled himself like a champ and learned some amazing skills. He was so excited to do this today. I was so proud of him.
But I'd be lying if I said that I didn't wish that I could stunt his growth....if only to keep him little for just a bit longer.
Here's my boy....out on his own:







There is so much that goes into this activity....balance, direction, risk assessment, overcoming fear....and my boy handled it like a champ. He's learning so much this Summer.....gardening, harvesting, fishing, boating, dominion.....and he's only 4. May the LORD give me wisdom to teach my children ever more. Thank you, LORD, for your provision and blessing.



"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
- Mark Twain

Tragedy, Triumph, Chainsaws, and Chicken

Matthew 6Do Good to Please God
1 “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 3 But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.
Before I even begin this post, please allow me this caveat: I am in no way posting this to bring any glory to myself or any personal efforts. It is mainly to serve as a remembrance for myself and my family...mainly...this post is for me....that being said...

I needed to write about my last 36 hours. As you may or may nor know, a devastating tornado ripped through our area (about 4-6 miles from our home) a week ago. Yesterday, my family and I went into the heart of the devastation to drop off some supplies to the Relief Center. I then drove us through an area that was mangled by this force of nature.....devastating. Homes which stood for decades reduced to splinters. Unimaginable devastation. I have never even come close to seeing, with my own eyes, tragedy anywhere near this level.
Yesterday, I spoke with someone in the area who said that their biggest need was "men with chainsaws". Folks are still in a place out there where they are digging themselves out of an avalanche of trees which may or may not have crushed their homes to nothing. I knew that the extent of my aid didn't end with dry goods. I went home and prayed.
About 1:30pm this afternoon I called Chrissy and told her that "I need to go back there, I need to help....I need to go and cut wood". She agreed.
I was unsure as to how I was going to approach helping the folks out there. My initial thought was to just bring out my chainsaw and find a house that needed aid and start cutting. But The Lord kept putting in my head these words...."make contact"...."make contact". I wasn't even sure what that meant.
There's a church in Brimfield which is serving as the hub for relief efforts. I placed a call to them this afternoon. The woman who answered the phone was very exasperated and it was apparent that she was carrying on several "live" conversations beyond the phone which she just picked up. I told her that I was a guy with a saw and willing to help out. After she gave instructions to someone next to her, she quickly gave me an address...."Just go there" she said..."just go there and help".
I had no idea what scenario I was walking into. I got home from work, scarfed down an egg salad sandwich that Chrissy made me and headed off to Brimfield with my saw...to this address.
When you are on Rt 20, leaving Sturbridge towards Brimfield...if you have your windows rolled down, the first thing that you notice is the smell. It smells fantastic. Like wood, sawdust, pine sap. If you're a "wood guy" and routinely burn and build with wood....these smells are wonderfully seasonal and nostalgic. But when you get a glimpse as to why the town smells like that....it represents the aroma of widespread destruction. I'm not sure that smell will ever be the same for me.
Anyway, I got to the address I was given (and I'm going to make a long story short here)..It turns out it's a residence. A family who didn't lose their home but did lose half their roof and about 80 of the 100 or so trees that were on their land. It was unreal to see. This was a community that was basically built in to the woods. Every lot had at least 30-50 trees on it...and now they are ALL gone.
I met the homeowner and within 5 minutes I knew that he was a Christian. (I had been praying that The Lord would sent me to the home of a Christian to help out, score one for The Divine). We talked about The Lord and trials and tragedy and growth through struggles, then we got to work. I ended up cutting and hauling wood for about 3 hours with him and other volunteers who were at his property.
I have read of this level of devastation, but have never witnessed it with my own eyes. It is literally indescribable. One of the most amazing things is how this community has rallied to help one another. The church "relief center" has been stellar. While we were cutting, a car pulled into the house lot...they were from the church delivering meals. "How many?" they shouted....and they delivered an amazing hot meal for each of the workers....they were 2 guys in their 60's driving around in this busted station wagon with about 100 meals packed in the back. They were just delivering to anyone in need. We took one for each worker....the food was incredible. Roasted Chicken, meatballs, pasta, salad, bread and butter....Wright's Chicken Farm would have been jealous of this meal....perhaps it was the exhaustion and dehydration but...it was an amazing meal that I will never forget. In addition, they had an array of materials donated by stores and individuals from all over....work gloves, tarps, fasteners, bungee chords....this crappy station wagon was like it's own little charitable Wal-Mart....I mean...tarps, 60'x40' that cost like 80 bucks a piece, were donated free to anyone in need. It was amazingly surreal.

When I left at about 8 pm, there were many other volunteers who were leaving for the day as well, many putting in many more hours than I had. When I pulled up to the traffic light at the Brimfield Town Common, I was greeted by two amazing things....The "relief center" church with church bells being played and a sign over their front door that read "Food and Rest" and a boy scout troop, about 40 strong....all standing there with handmade signs on posterboard which said "Thank You" and "You Rock" and "Great Work"...and at every change of the light they were going nuts....jumping up and down like it was a freaking Beatles concert...cheering for the folks who had sacrificed their time to help dig out this community from wonton destruction.

At the beginning of this blog, I had it in my head that I wasn't going to post it to Facebook, which I normally do, as not to draw excess attention to these acts. My intention is to only glorify The Lord through any of this but, I feel now as though I want to post it if only to inspire others to head out to Central Mass, get in the mix, and share God's Love, Mercy, and Service with those who need it now more than ever. Just get out there, you WILL be used.


The devastation, as viewed from outer space:

They Grow Up So Fast **sniff**

This blog turns one year old today. I figured...what better thing to give it for it's first birthday than a birthday post.
I had started this blog a year ago after meeting several Christian homeschooling families who also kept family blogs. After reading several of them....blogging seemed like a neat way to keep a family diary, so-to-speak, and I figured that I'd follow suit. Leading up to that, The Lord was revealing so many truths to Chrissy and I through Scripture...about Biblicaly modeled and mandated familial roles, about the need for growth and maturity in certain areas of our lives, about creating a more Christ-centered culture within our home, about training up our children and keeping their hearts pointed towards Him.....
A year later, it's cool to be able to look back and see the growth that has happened in our family, and also areas where we still (and will always) need His Direction and Wisdom. I love John chapter 15...Jesus is talking about vines and branches...and about pruning....how even branches that bear fruit are pruned...cut back...in order that they may produce more fruit. We will never "arrive" as Christians....we ought to always be growing, and our lives will always need pruning, So that as our families grow....more and more of our time, focus, words, and activity is spent glorifying Him.
I've been reading back through some of the older posts from last year. I have enjoyed rereading where we were at as a family a year ago and thinking about what this next year has in store.
Reading posts about the kids...even from 5 or 6 months ago...and seeing how much they've grown physically and in maturity has been shocking...comforting but shocking. Specifically, Ivy turning from a crawling baby to a full-on little girl.
Looking back on last years gardening posts...seeing the bounty that we were able to reap...and looking forward to this year with 3x as much room to plant and well over a dozen new crops to tend.
Watching the School Room go from gutted corpse of a basement to a beautiful classroom and praying for God's Will in potentially getting an informal co-op going.
Ivy's broken arm
Our cat, Jack, passing away
our 12 foot tall Christmas tree that had to fit in an 8 foot tall room
My new job

I'm getting cheesy, aren't I.
**insert "No Woman, No Cry" softly in the background**
or worse....
that Green Day song that was used for every video montage, graduation song, and prom song from 1997-2003. gag.

In all seriousness, though, looking back, this was a nice little year for the Leo family. We continue to delight in the little things....the "small things" that we are told, in Scripture, not to despise. The learning, the pruning, the growing, His Mercy, His Wisdom....

I can't wait until I read this post a year from now and see where He brings us from here.

Of course...I can't end without posting about something that we discovered in the yard so....without further adieu:


The Cutest Little Turtle That You Ever Did See!!

We spotted this little guy swimming around near our dock during a fishing session last week and netted him up (we let him go a few hours later). I handed Gavin the quarter to use as a size reference....which I think he pocketed afterwards.

God Bless.

Frozen Pipes and Divine Intervention

So, On Monday nights, our family worship time is usually centered around talking more about what our pastor preached on Sunday. He's been going through the book of Hosea and was talking about "Spiritual Stubbornness". I like to use some sort of object lesson when teaching The Word to my family but this time...I had nothing good. The bit in Deuteronomy about stoning the stubborn son seemed a bit intense for a four year old and an 18 month old. I had thought of 50 ways to illustrate "Stubbornness"...and all of them sucked.
I got home from work and Chrissy told me that the cold water pipe running to the washing machine had froze. It's been colder than cold lately (-7 last night...-1 right now). I had just walked through the door after a super busy day at work....not exactly the project I wanted to tackle at that moment....but, duty calls, ya know?
Gavin was interested in what was going on with the washer. Now, he's a great little helper but, he's still at such a young age that doing a project with him alongside me usually takes about 50% longer than if I were to just do it myself....I was sorta hoping to just fix this thing quickly and then eat some dinner BUT, it's a great opportunity for him to learn and it's good quality time spent with dad so I had him help me out. We pulled the washing machine hose off of the cold water line and ran the water...it flowed out of the pipe no problem. O.k. so, it's not the pipe, it's the hose. We then pulled the other end of the hose off of the washing machine...I tried to blow through it.....nothing. Plugged.
We took the hose upstairs and ran hot water through it....and about 5 minutes later, I blew again, this time blowing a 3 inch cylinder of ice out of the hose and shattering onto the laundry room floor. We wrapped the threads with plumbers tape, reinstalled the hose, and were back in business. As we were putting away our tools....it hit me. Straight from The Lord. Like a ball peen hammer between the eyes:

"There's your "Stubbornness" illustration."

Just like that.

At family worship...we talked about how the hose was plugged...it couldn't do it's job and prevented the washing machine from doing work as well. Only when the hose was cleared could it do the job that it was intended to do..and only then could it provide the means for the washing machine to do the job that IT was designed to do. When it was sitting there all clogged up...it was useless.

We then parallelled that to our own hearts...how we hang onto things that we want...and make decisions based on what WE want to do...not what HE has for us...and we clog ourselves up with selfishness, disobedience....sin...our own agenda. We sit there with our hearts plugged with filth...useless...unable to do the work that we were designed to do. Unable to reach those that we are supposed to be reaching...all because we are clogged with our own selfish desires.
It's when we submit to Him and humbly allow Him to move obstacles out of our way that we begin to be able to be used by Him for His Glory.

Thank you, Lord. What a gift to be able to use this fix-it project as an opportunity to teach my family God's Will for us. I am continually blown away by the places that we see God when we are interested in finding Him. He will literally use ANYTHING to teach us about Him...if we are open to learning.

He's so cool like that.

Year End Wrap Up.

Just a quick post today, but first....I know that I didn't post a "Part 2" to my blizzard post, but that's only because the storm didn't amount to much. The wind gusts were for real, and it did get a bit sketchy for a minute or two, but when all was said and done, we didn't get much more than 8 inches of snow. I know some areas got pummelled, but I think that our local weathermen got a little over-zealous.
We still had a blast, though. Ivy made her first snowman and we got to try out the new sled the kids got for Christmas.

All in all 2010 was a good year for our little family. Looking back, we've seen how far we've come in many areas and how far we've still got to grow in others. But thankfully, The Lord loves teaching His children.

A few priorities for us as the new year dawns:

- drop some pounds. Chrissy and I gotta get down to our fightin' weights...or at least baby making weight. We're hoping to be preggers in 2011.
- Family ministry. We're praying for The Lord to show us ways for us to minister as a family. Perhaps some cleaning at our church, or some type of family ministry to a local rest home/nursing home.
- Upping our gardens. My dad and I put in a bunch of additional gardens at the end of last season. I think we about tripled our gardening space. We're hoping to try a bunch of new crops and herbs as well as start canning. Our plan is to be able to eat off our garden's yield all year long, as well as to be able to give away much more stuff.

Anyhow. I hope you all had a wonderful 2010 and that your 2011 is one that brings you closer together to your families and ultimately to Our Lord.

God Bless.

Thin

I've noticed a few things about this blog...

first, there's folks that I've never met who "follow" this blog and are leaving comments. This is totally cool and I'm blown away by the fact that there's people out there who have never met me or my family who care about what's going on in my life. It's weird....cool, but a bit weird. i ran into an old friend a month or so back who said that they love my writing and can't wait to read each new blog post. I'm not very good at taking compliments....but I'm thankful that this blog is serving some purpose beyond myself.

and second....I feel that, to some degree, my blog reads like some kind of families fantasy world. I've posted at great length about the successes of my families endeavors and the victories that The Lord has won in my life.....I guess I feel like I've painted a less-than-accurate picture of life...one full of successes.....tonight I feel like I need to set the record straight....I feel like shit.

I'm thin. I'm worn. I'm sick of being the wonderful, engaged parent. Chrissy has been out of commission with a hurt back for three days and I'm done being uber-dad. On top of everything that is going on with Chrissy's bad back....Ivy is teething...and on top of Chrissy's bad back and Ivy's teething...It's freaking Thanksgiving in 36 hours. Last night, Ivy went to bed at 10:45 pm....tonight she went to bed at 10:15. I'm spent.

I should be thankful...there's thousands of moms and dads, in the military, for instance, who are worlds away from their families and would literally kill to spend 3 days, morning, noon, and night with their kids....I'm sure that my "thinness" is rooted in selfishness. Maybe 'cuz I was an only child....I don't know.

I don't drink much these days...but I've had three beers and I've got a little glow on...and I feel guilty for that. Maybe it's selfish...maybe it's me wanting to feel "free" and spend a few hours for myself after my family finally went to bed tonight. maybe it's me knowing that I'll be up sometime around 6:30am tomorrow with kids who are ready to conquer the world while I can hardly muster enough mental energy to brew coffee. I should probably go to bed.

I do give thanks, though. Wife. Kids. God. Family...I am thankful. I may sound thin...and short...and crappy...but I am thankful....and HE gives way more strength than I'm capable of mustering on my own.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Truckin' Like the Doodah Man

Ivy is officially truckin'.

there is nothing more exciting and terrifying than watching your child learn to walk. You are suddenly made aware of all the sharp corners and edges around your house. It's amazing how something, in this case- watching your child toddle around for the first few times, can make you see your home in a different light. In an instant your perception of your home shifts from "home sweet home" to "deathtrap". Tables, corners, walls, window sills, cupboards,stuff she can reach, stuff she can climb up on, stuff she can pull over on herself, stuff she can fall off of, places she can get stuck, things she can slam her fingers in....every time I see her walk around some area of the house or try to manipulate some obstacle, in the back of my mind I'm constantly doing damage assessment....like:
"O.K. she's sitting in her little rocking chair in the middle of the carpeted floor with no hard toys or furniture around her...if she somehow nosedives off the chair, she'll only fall forward, I'll sit here in front of her on the floor so I can catch her so she doesn't smack her face on the floor. Good thinking, Mike. You're such a forward thinking, wonderful dad".

But it never works out like that.

She'll find some way of back flipping over the back of the chair and somehow do some weird mid-air half-twist and land with her fingers under the rocking chair at the exact moment that her other hand grabs the arm of the chair to break her fall which pulls the chair back and pinches every finger on her hand while her leg gets pinned behind her in some weird greco-roman wrestling submission hold.

**sigh**


Once your kids start walking...they'll never stop. Once they start talking, they'll never stop. These are blessings sometimes dressed in the clothing of curses.

Still, I love it. I never ever though I'd enjoy parenting as much as I do. I never imagined that it would be so easy to sacrifice my own agenda for the sake of my family. The things that your kids do that you take joy in as a parent...can sometimes make you feel like a mental patient for enjoying so much....the slightest expression on your child's face...they smallest inflection in a word they speak....the catch-phrase or slang that they say that completely catches you off guard. Seeing them perform tiny acts of thoughtfulness or unprompted acts of kindness....brings so much joy.

I guess even watching your kid take a creative nose dive off the back of her tiny rocking chair could bring joy....if she sticks the landing :^)






Also...not quite worthy of it's own "Gavinism" post, but....
Today Gavin earned a dollar from his grandpa for helping with a job. I came home from work, and the family was riding bikes in the driveway. Gavin runs up to me and goes: "I got this dollar for helping Pa. I'm gonna use it to buy some poor kid something."

I was so full of joy. I was rubbing my eyes, and shaking my head from side to side, but still full of joy.

Called It

My family is in New Jersey. all of them. I'm still in MA. And I'm o.k. with that.

Actually I'm not. It sucks. But I'll deal.

The reality is that my wife lives about 300 miles from her entire family. She's got her mom, step dad and 5 siblings who all grew up and bought homes within 20 minutes of each other in New Jersey. She and I moved back to my home town of Dudley, MA back in 2001. We try to get her down to The Garden State as often as possible. Most of my vacation time from work is spent on long weekend or holiday trips down to Jersey. Not the typical vacation destination, but Chrissy has a wonderful family and it's great to connect with everybody.

This time, we were able to score a good deal on Southwest Airlines and Chrissy and the kids were able to fly down there for the week. I've got to tell you, though...there's nothing more nerve wracking than having your entire family on one airplane....loading and reloading the Southwest.com "Flight Status" page until you see "Arrived" appear. Anyhow....
I'll be joining them in a couple days to spend Labor Day weekend down there (also my Mom-in law's birthday).

Right before the family left, Ivy was like **this close** to walking. I had seen her take a step or two at home, but nothing major. I told Chrissy "When you guys get to Jersey, she's gonna just take off" and guess what....

She did.

I totally called it. Apparently, she's all over the place. I was able to see a few minutes of video footage that Chrissy shot that my Father -in law, Charles, edited and posted on his facebook page (thanks for that, pop-pop, by the way). It's so bittersweet.

It's so strange, sometimes, being an attached parent. We sacrifice so much and spend so much time and invest so much mental, physical and spiritual energy on our kids. Then it's in the one 72 hour period that I'm apart from her that she decides to start walking. I was sad...but only for a few seconds. I've seen some of these Youtube video montages, of troops arriving home from war to be greeted by their family,. Kids that they left as babies who are toddlers now. Some left behind pregnant bellies to now be greeted by 3 year olds. I can't really complain.

I'm heading down there after work on Thursday. If traffic is favorable, I might make it down before Ivy's bed time (Gavin will be long in dream-land, though), and honestly, I don't even care if she walks to me or not. To just be able to hold her, nuzzle into her chubby cheeks and neck...to smell her little baby girl milky baby neck....to hold her so tight while she tries to squirm away...to kiss my sleeping son on the head and make sure he's tucked in just right...no one but a parent would get it...but that's gold, right there. The walking....that's just cream cheese.

I'll see you soon, guys.

Growth

It is absolutely amazing to watch things grow. Like most everybody else, we have a door jamb with increasingly higher lines and accompanying dates scrawled on it, marking Gavin's height. I measured him recently for the first time since late April and he's a full inch taller. Unreal. I both love and dread seeing my children grow. Tonight I was reading books to Gavin before bed, it's one of my favorite parts of my daily routine with him, and my mind briefly flashed to the future and a time when I no longer read to him before bed...I never want that time to come.

However, a time that I LOVE seeing come is the time of year when the garden starts to really pay out for all the work that has been put into it. We're just about in full swing here. Everything is paying out except the 'maters; which just started ripening a day or so ago, and the blackberries and blueberries, which have about a week to 10 days to go before first harvest....and apples and peaches in late Summer/early Fall. Everything else is spitting out the goods like crazy. Last year's gardens, for most folks in this area, were downright awful due to a crazy rainy and cold June. Everything was rotting on the vine. This year seems to be making up for it big time.

Gavin and I took a spin through the yard early this morning before the girls got up. here's what we saw...


A view from the back deck


Peppers-a-Plenty


Future salsa and red sauce


Last week we saw stems of 12 or so cherry tomatoes on-the-vine going for $3.99 at the local market. Craziness.


"Daddy, there's a squash in there *THIS BIG*!!


Come on down to Cucumber City!!


We've been hearing reports of neighborhood cats disappearing around here. We're pretty sure that the pumpkin plants have been eating them.


Future Jack-O-Lantern






Blackberries
Blueberries
Granny Smith Apples
Peaches....won't be long now.



Here's what today's yield ended up being. With all the cukes we made......



Our first ever batch of homemade pickles! We used a recipe that we got from a friend who got it from a friend. Going to give them until tomorrow to let all the spices and juices mingle, then tear into them. MMMmmm.

When you spend time working your land, you really see why God used so many planting/gardening/growing analogies in His Word. You spend so much time cultivating the soil, planting the seeds, watering the seeds, weeding around the seedlings, pruning the plants, protecting against varmints. And only after all that is done does good fruit come forth. Our lives are so much like that. God cultivates the soil of our hearts, in doing that we recognize the need for Him. Then seeds of Salvation, Grace, Love, Mercy are planted. The seeds are watered through discipleship by studying His Word, hearing the Holy Spirit, and sitting under wise teaching. Weeds of sin are removed while areas of our lives that will inhibit us from producing good fruit are pruned. We stay close to Him, the Master Vinedresser who keeps us protected from evil and on His path of righteousness....THEN, good, Godly fruit is produced in our lives. He is so wonderful.

Psalm 8 (New King James Version)

1 O LORD, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth,
Who have set Your glory above the heavens!

2 Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have ordained strength,
Because of Your enemies,
That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
4 What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?
5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels,
And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
7 All sheep and oxen—
Even the beasts of the field,
8 The birds of the air,
And the fish of the sea
That pass through the paths of the seas.

9 O LORD, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth!