Conversation with Mara

Mara: Can we get a bomb?
Us: A bomb? No, I don't think so.
Mara: Oh, I really wanted a bomb!
Us: What are you going to do with a bomb? What do you need to blow up?
Mara: The bad guys.
Us: Oh, no, Mara. You can't take care of the bad guys all by yourself. That's why we have police. We have to let them do their job.
Mara (Crying)
Us: Why are you crying? We're not mad at you.
Mara: I just wanted to help!
Us: It's good you want to help. Maybe one day, you can be a police officer and help. Until then, we just need to let the police know if we see any bad guys.
Mara: But what if there's some bad guy or monster that so big, even the police can't stop him.
Us: Mara, if a bad guy is too big for the police, can you stop him by yourself? The best thing is to help the police by telling them if we see any bad guys.
Mara: Okay.

****

All this, after an afternoon of watching Batfink reruns on Boomerang.

Family Portraits

Family Portraits

The new New House

This is the second new house we've almost bought in a month! The house I posted pictures of earlier (see below) wound up needing too much work. This house is more move-in ready, a tad bigger, and less money. It also has a nice flat, wooded yard, with a climber and slide already there.

Move in day is two weeks away. I'm so excited!

Mara playing in her new yard

Craig Ferguson on Alcoholism: Must Watch!

Thanks to Emily for the link.

Treehouse

This is the tree house my cousins built for their kids/nieces/nephews. It boasts three levels, the top of which is a loft, which you can see best in the second and third pictures below. There's also a rock wall on the back. The windows bring in plenty of light, and there's enough room up there to imagine the space into anything a kid could think of. I know I like it, so now I just have to figure out how to get one built in our new yard. We're not very handy--Cade and I!

From left to right--Kelly, Mara, Katie, Emma, Nate. This is from our trip to VT last summer, stopping on the way home to visit my cousins in CT. My cousin has really great kids, and all of the girls had a wonderful time playing together. Kelly read to the girls, and the littles blew bubbles together. Nate helped them climb and pushed the swings. Mara just enjoyed the chance to run wild in the big yard without being told to be careful and watch out for something breakable!

This is the house we like!

A view from the living room, through the dining room, into the kitchen, and out the door to the deck.







A view from the balcony, looking down over the living room. From here, you can really see the architechtural detail of the roofline, the arched window detail, and a glimpse of the fireplace below.









This is the window in the half bath/powder room.



I just love all the interesting details in this house!

This is the front yard, to the side of the front bridge. You can see the driveway, and the walk up to the bridge. The house is on the corner of two cul-de-sacs, so the front of the house faces a different street than the entrance to the driveway.





A view of the same yard from the front porch/bridge. You can see the streets better from this view.




This is the back yard, fenced area. The fenced portion is just a tiny bit of the half acre lot. It's mostly wooded, so the current owner says she's had a hard time growing grass. We'll have to see if we can do any better.

The bridge from the front door to the front street.





The bridge in the back yard, over the creek. This view is from the back deck, and really looks over the neighbor's back yard, as well. Apparantly, the bridge is on the border between the two properties.




This is the side yard, in front of the garage. If you walked to the back of the picture, you'd head down the bank towards the creek and bridge. The fence is visible in the back, as well.

Front view of the house. Note the pretty arched window, the little front porch, and the bridge walkway to the front door.



The side view of the house from the drive way.


The back view of the house, from the other side of the creek. You can see the fenced in yard and the deck. The window above the deck steps is the master bedroom. The roofline is the line of the vaulted ceilings in the master.

Mara's growing up!

Can you tell what's new? (Hint: The blue lips are from candy, but that's not it!)

Sunday of Forgiveness

Please forgive me for any offense I have caused you. Pray for me, a sinner!

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From goarch.org:

The Sunday of Forgiveness, the last of the preparatory Sundays before Great Lent, has two themes: it commemorates Adam’s expulsion from Paradise, and it accentuates our need for forgiveness. There are obvious reasons why these two things should be brought to our attention as we stand on the threshold of Great Lent. One of the primary images in the Triodion is that of the return to Paradise. Lent is a time when we weep with Adam and Eve before the closed gate of Eden, repenting with them for the sins that have deprived us of our free communion with God. But Lent is also a time when we are preparing to celebrate the saving event of Christ’s death and rising, which has reopened Paradise to us once more (Luke 23:43). So sorrow for our exile in sin is tempered by hope of our re-entry into Paradise.

The second theme, that of forgiveness, is emphasized in the Gospel reading for this Sunday (Matthew 6:14-21) and in the special ceremony of mutual forgiveness at the end of the Vespers on Sunday evening. Before we enter the Lenten fast, we are reminded that there can be no true fast, no genuine repentance, no reconciliation with God, unless we are at the same time reconciled with one another. A fast without mutual love is the fast of demons. We do not travel the road of Lent as isolated individuals but as members of a family. Our asceticism and fasting should not separate us from others, but should link us to them with ever-stronger bonds.

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Today, the Sunday School sermon was about St. Moses the Black, and included this story about his reputation for and example of forgiveness towards others:

In another incident related in the sources, one of the brothers committed a fault. A council met and Moses was invited, but refused to attend. Someone came to him to let him know the others were waiting, at which Moses went to the meeting. He took a leaking jug filled with water and carried it on his shoulder (another version has him carrying a basket of sand with a hole in it). When he arrived, the others came out to meet him asking, "What is this?" Moses replied, "My sins run out behind me and I do not see them, but today I am coming to judge the errors of another." Hearing that, they said no more to the erring brother, but forgave him.

Tamara Says:

From the Winston Salem Journal:

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Free literacy program gets few takers in first few weeks

It's not just for people who can't read at all, resource teacher says

By Danielle Deaver

JOURNAL REPORTER

Improving literacy among adults in the community could also help students, Kessler said.

"If parents, aunts and uncles are literate and reading to children, they will be better when they get to us," she said. "It will make a difference."

(Read full article by clicking link.)