sunshine on the inside

The great wash out. Non-stop rain since Friday with no end in sight.

It's a good thing we like rainy days.

Last week, after I had looked at the forecast and realized that we only had one more dry sunshiney day before the rains came, I forced talked Jeremiah into cleaning out the shed.

Which turned into cleaning out the laundry room.
Which morphed into re-organizing all my kitchen cabinets, linen and bathroom closets.
Then my closet and the kids closets were screaming not to be forgotten.
Of course, one cannot leave out the toy bins...

And all this, just in time for the rains to come and me to sit back and enjoy my nice organized house.

Of course, I now have to have a yard sale...
If it ever decides to stop raining.

And now, because I'm feeling like a good bullet point list, here is the Hambrick How-To-Survive Wash-Out Days:

•  Relax - A little extra screen time is not going to permanently harm anyone.
•  Make some sort of warm hearty soup or chili.
•  Bake some kind of baked goodie thingie.
•  Get a few extra movies from the library.
•  Allow the pillow pile/forts/obstacle courses to happen 
•  Throw some rain boots on and go on out and get wet. (Contrary to what my father-in-law believes, I don't believe that rain is infused with germs that make you sick. I love you Jim.)
• When all the above fails, go to the Mall/Library/Museum/Chuck E Cheeses/Meme's house.

What's your secret to surviving rainy days? 

photojournal: Family Vacation 2015

Our Via-cation week is one of the highlights of our year, every year, going on over a decade now.

We've swam, fished, gotten too competitive at games, eaten too much junk food, relaxed, and watched our numbers swell to over 20 kiddo's combined. We survived the baby years, twitched our way through the toddler years, and this year got our first glimpse of the slightly unbelievably "easier" school age years...did I even write that? It's true...this year was truly relaxing.

Ella enjoying some sunset fishing.

Eli knows how to get some air off the water slide!

Zoe loved "making waves!"

Some of the older girl cousins.

Da' boys.

Tradition: We take a picture in this hammock every year =)

Zoe was so proud to catch her first fish!

Until next year...

my here and now

So many comings and goings,
but right now,
right here,
while the rain is coming down,
the skies are grey,
the house is surprisingly quiet,
my heart is full thinking of my "here."

Transitioning from Haiti to VA life was tricky for me this time...I felt a pull to maintain the same level of involvement in the UTWWK ministry work while attempting to throw myself into my American life and ministry of homeschooling and church and friends and appointments and commitments and so on and so forth...

And, of course, (duh) I crash and burn when I try to do it all.

But it was a quick crash and thankfully, I have given myself permission not to do it all. I took some time to re-prioritize and re-organize and take some deep breaths.

I was reminded that here and now is where God has placed me, doing exactly what I need to be doing...pouring into my family, being available for my husband and friends, and being obedient to the opportunities the Lord has already placed in my life.

My sense of purpose has returned with joy to do the job I am called to do...right here and right now.

My joy bombs!

Swiftly Fly the Years: Ezra turns Eight

First, I had Ella.
She was basically the perfect child.
She followed all the rules.
Slept good.
Ate anything.
Loved to please me.
So on and so forth.

And then came along Ezra.

Ezra, circa 2012

Oh, Ezra.
Oh, oh, Ezra.

Within the first 6 weeks of his life I decided to burn all the parenting books that had worked like a charm with Ella. And I've been burning them ever since because NONE of them apply to my Ezra. He doesn't fit a mold and he won't be talked into anything. But he has a nice dimple that has saved his life a time or two or twenty.

Raising Ezra has shown me that parenting is way more about my sanctification than his...

Learning to trust the Lord,
to listen humbly,
and cry out in weakness...God is a strategic dimple creator and he knew just what he was doing when he gave Ezra to me.

I wrote this in my journal this morning:

Lord, he is yours. You, Lord, are the best thing I can do for him. He doesn't need rules, pressure, entertainment, or shame - he needs you. If I can show him your Kingdom, allow him to experience your Story, I know that's where he will find a Savior to fall in love with. Thank you that I can rest in the knowledge that you love him and pursue him and have big plans for him. Thank you that you make up for my many failures. 

"I can put up good markers, but I cannot chart his course." - Jen Hatmaker (For the Love)

I may not be charting his course, but I am resting and trusting in the best Marker that exists. And I'm so crazy grateful for this chance to be his Mom.

Dear Ezra,

You turned eight today and you had a great day...playing with your cousins, eating banana splits, opening up your presents of "real" artists pencils and paper, skyping with your buddies in Haiti, and just absorbing all the love that your big and crazy family has for you. I may get so stinking frustrated and exasperated with you, but the truth is...I'm crazy for you. You are so fun and creative and persistent and energetic. 

I don't just love you, I really like you too. 

Happy birthday you big eight year old you!

Love today and always,

Mom

French Ninja Warriors (and how to get free ice cream from Chick-Fil-A)

On Tuesday morning, 

after clearing the cobwebs of sleep from their brains, 

an idea popped into my kiddo's heads that was beyond the ordinary "mmm, lets have pancakes for breakfast"  lightbulb moment.

 

"Lets make a Ninja Warrior course in the backyard!" 

Because, of course that is what every kid wakes up thinking about on a Tuesday morning.

And off they went. 

(Disclaimer: Off they went after I was the fun sucker and make them complete their workbooks.)

For hours and hours and hours...

Creating, building, wrangling dangerous old boards with rusty nails sticking out of them from the discarded wood pile, hanging ropes, constructing balance beams, and warped walls.

And then, because "American" Ninja Warriors are so 2014 and France has been our country of study in Geography this week, they decided they needed French flags painted on their faces to really get into the spirit of the competition...

It's possible I was the fun-sucker yet again and nixed the painted face for Ezra due to his crazy sensitive skin that overreacts to anything other than my kisses =)

This ever evolving course has brought hours of enjoyment all week with nary a splinter or broken bone despite the decidedly not-up-to-code conditions of their inventions. Health hazard, people. 

Then.

(Yes, there is a then...)

They spent approx 1.2 minutes at the brand new pretty much completely child proofed and padded Chick-Fil-A playground and we end up at the doctors office with stitches. 

And free ice-cream.

Bam.

That's how you do it folks.

#parentingwinsoftheweek 

a labor day weekend in i-phone photos

I'm just going to pretend that I haven't been a blog slacker (what kind of person lets school creep up on the priority list over blogging?!) and post a few photo's from our Labor Day weekend...

Jeremiah took the kids on a road trip for the weekend. He had taken them on the north end of the Blue Ridge Parkway last Fall while I was in Uganda and he had promised them that they'd do the south end this year. And being a man of his word...well, what can I say except that my kids don't even know what a good thing they have in their Dad.

He packed them all, planned (or not planned) it all out, and off they went. I didn't want to know too many details (there is nothing good that will come out of wondering if they remembered to brush teeth...) but I do know they all had a blast! The kids could not stop talking about all their adventures.

What was I doing in their absence? 

Good question.

Oh, you know...just getting to relax and eat amazing food and read and  pray and go for long walks and refuel at the lake with my Briana and some lovely girlfriends.

For 3 entire days, people. 

I feel like a new woman this week.

Labor Day lovely ladies that I so enjoyed getting to spend time with.

And yes, reality has slapped me back into reality.

But I'm ever so grateful for a restored love of my reality.

I wouldn't trade it for the world.
(But I would repeat my Labor Day Weekend once a month...just sayin.)