that darn cat

"Look what the cat dragged in," is a regular saying in our home, unfortunately. Our big fluffy female, Rocket, is a big time tree climber with a tendency to pluck baby birds from their nest. I know that it's her nature to be a hunter, much as the lioness is the one that hunts for the pride, but she's well-fed so we all know it's purely for sport. Anyway, Tuesday morning I went to stick my head out the front door and tell Jon goodbye as he left for work but he yelled at me to quickly close the door, said that Rocket was trying to bring a rabbit in the house. Then he called me from the car and said to go get a shovel and finish the job, it was still alive. Dreading the deed I slowly walked up to the front porch, shovel in hand, cursing the cat under my breath, but I couldn't find it. I thought, "Could it possibly be that it got away?" Then I noticed it huddled behind the planter, so I slowly got closer for a better look, hoping I wouldn't see anything too gory like a chewed off limb or gouged out eyeball. It looked alright so I picked it up slowly and turned the petrified little thing over in my hand, inspecting for damage, but he seemed perfectly intact. So I held him up against my stomach, and took deep breaths saying, "Thank you, thank you, thank," so relieved I'd gotten to the poor thing before the cat had a chance to torture him. I put him in a box and waited for the kids to get up. Of course, Jordan thought I'd granted her the wish she'd made the night before for a bunny (ironic), but I assured her we were NOT keeping this one. Once he got over his shock he became very lively, and I almost didn't catch him one time when he made a jump for it. He squeaked something awful! Jordan, Zach, and I ended up releasing him down the road to where all the rabbits hang out, beyond where the cats venture because of a couple of dogs that live down that way. And that is the end of the bunny story.

end of soccer season

Nathan's soccer season has come to an end, and what a fun season it has been. I think his team ended up winning 4 games, whereas in the fall they didn't win any (it was a new team then, with players new to the game). The highlight of the season for me (and especially for Nathan) was his goal, first ever, and the story begs to be told: a few games ago I was observing Nathan's tendency to never try and dribble the ball for any length of time, rather he would usually pass it almost immediately. I knew it was a confidence issue, so I told him that when he had an opportunity to get close to the goal with the ball, or if he even had a chance to take a shot that he should just go for it. He said, "Mom, but I hate it when the ball comes to me!" I just laughed and said, "Nathan, you just have to go for it!" Not even two minutes later I watched as one of Nathan's teammates took a shot but the goalie sort of fumbled it and was laying on the ground trying to get a grip on the ball. Nathan, playing his position correctly, was right there at the ball, ran up to the goalie and kicked it in for a goal! I heard his assistant coach (who is usually yelling, "FORBIS!!!" during the game, reminding Nathan that he is not where he is supposed to be) say, "Did that just happen?" I was like, "Did my son just score a goal?!!!" We were all cheering and laughing simultaneously, while Nathan walked away, clearly stunned himself. I realized what had happened: I got into his head. I spoke something to him that he hadn't believed for himself and I gave him the belief that it could actually be possible for him to score a goal. The strange thing was that as I had gone up to him and encouraged him to go for it, I had the feeling that he would actually score a goal, and right before it happened I had the fleeting thought, "Here it comes." Was it a nudge from someone above? With earthquakes in Japan and wars in the Middle East could it be that God had time to do something really cool for my son? If I think otherwise then I make God one-dimensional. He is a part of each of our lives in more intimate ways than we could ever know. All I know is that my child was changed by his little victory... he walked with his chin a little higher, his chest out a little more, and was filled with the realization that anything is possible if you believe it for yourself. That night he could hardly go to sleep, telling and retelling what happened, reliving the moment again and again, still trying to grasp that it actually happened. I have been thanking God since the moment it happened, that He would give such a gift, which is what I see it as. As a parent one of the most difficult things can be to watch our kids give their best and fail, or feel that they fall short. But one of the most awesome things is to watch our kids score that goal, achieve success in something, our hearts barely able to contain the flood of emotion. One final note: after the game during the post-game discussion the coach asked the team why it was that Nathan scored the goal (the point being that he was playing his position correctly). Nathan's immediate reply was, "Because the goalie was lying down." Such a funny boy, he could have boasted about his skill or something but he chose a humbler attitude, which made it all the better.

ballerina girl

It's hard to believe the recital is less than two weeks away (Mother's Day weekend). This little girl lights up my life...

more pics from Grandma's visit

On their last day with us, we took my mom and the kids to Cedarrock Park to see the waterfall. Being Florida kids, the park gave them a real good taste of the beauty of North Carolina, and since we'd had so much rain recently the waterfall was flowing nicely. It was SO hard to say goodbye to the cousins, what a sweet bond my kids have with them. We're heading down there in June, though, and I don't know how many times I had to repeat for Austin that we would see them again in two months!

Visit from Grandma and Florida cousins

I have a few more to post, but here are some of the pictures from our visit with Grandma, Ava, and Austin. We had a great time going to parks, doing paintball (well, the boys), and the kids just loved being together playing. It was hard to say good-bye, but that tells me how close the kids are to one another, and that they have a very special bond. We can't wait to see them in June when school gets out and we head down to Florida!

eleven

Our Nafey is eleven, oh my goodness. We started out the day with his breakfast of choice, which was cinnamon rolls (plus fried egg for Zach for protein). The birthday tradition around here, as of this year, is they get to pick a special breakfast, then they get to go to lunch with me wherever they want. Nathan chose a Japanese restaurant because he wanted some steak fried rice, and I certainly didn't mind having to have some sushi! I think he overdid it, though, because after lunch we had to head over to Target for some Pepto tablets, but then we went to Gamestop to use his gift certificate from Kit and Justin. What more can I say about Nathan other than that he is FULL of personality? I will miss that boy next year when he goes to school, had a good little cry about it last night, in fact. But, I do think we have to at least give it a try, and Jon ASSURED me that if it went horribly wrong in any way (if he's struggling academically or emotionally) then we will bring him back home to continue homeschooling. Mychael is confident that he's going to love Hawbridge, however, and is probably looking forward to having him there at school. Nathan has always been my child of extremes, whether happy or mad or sad, he just feels emotions so intensely. I guess that's why I feel so protective of him, but I also don't want to deprive him of getting out into the world and experiencing fun and friends. Sure does seem like time goes by fast, though, and that it was just yesterday Nathan was doing experiments in the bathroom with toothpaste or soap, or smearing diaper cream in his hair. Gosh, I love that boy.