Peace of Christ to You

We said very sad farewells using these very words to many of our dear friends at church today, and they seemed a fitting way to sign off of this blog. Peace to you.

Well, that and a couple of Calvinisms...

The other day he got a huge splinter in his foot, and as we were pulling it out, he lamented, "I can see the death that will befall me!"

Then, as we were pouring some hydrogen peroxide on the wound, "No! No! Don't put carbon monoxide on it! That is dangerous"

Today, on the way home from church, he was discussing the fact that Auntie E had actually bought our Wii for Daddy a couple of years ago. "She didn't know the lion's den she was walking into with that one, did she? She thought she got that for our daddy, but all we do is play it all the time. We use it more than Daddy. It's just Wii, Wii, Wii."

Time to Close Up Shop

I started this blog over three years ago as an outlet from life with little people. I had no idea what a gift it would be to me or how many interesting and thoughtful people I would meet through this world. So many of you have been gifts to me through your insightful writing on your own blogs and your kind comments on mine. Thank you for the good conversation over the years.

I am going to have to stop posting here while we are in China, though I may resurrect this little spot one day. In the meantime, we will have a family blog in China. If you are interested, e-mail me for the link.

I feel like there should be a bigger ceremony, a long post about TwoSquareMeals, or some other thoughtful something to end this, but we are getting on a plane in less than nine days. I barely have the energy to write this post. It is going to be a long week!

In lieu of something to say, I am going to show my real face, and that of my kids. Here's the face behind the curtain. Check out the bloody knee from a recent hike to my favorite waterfall in TN. We've enjoyed our last autumn in the States with lots of mountain time!

To Have and To Hold

We are so, so, so busy and overwhelmed (mostly in a good way) right now, that I didn't realize until 9:30 tonight that today is our eight year wedding anniversary. I wouldn't have remembered at all if the guy on the classical radio station hadn't mentioned it's being his and his wife's 52nd anniversary. My husband would have forgotten it, too, if my mom hadn't called to apologize about forgetting it. Oh well, at least we both forgot it!

Happy anniversary to my wonderful husband! Here's hoping we get to celebrate 52 years together like the couple on the radio!

Caught in a Whirlwind

For those of you who keep up with this blog and were praying for us, we decided to accept the call from our sending agency to move fill the need in Western China. They want us there by September. That means we have to have financial and medical clearance by July. That means we have three months to get it all done and get there.

Yes, I am a bit unglued, stressed, overwhelmed, busy....you get the picture.

But I am excited, too. I know that if God wants us there He will make it happen. It is an undertaking of huge proportions, nonetheless. If we do our part to make this plan happen, we are going to be some crazy-busy people. So you may not hear much from me. It is also likely that this blog will be shut down when we move. But I am looking into ways to have another one that is a bit more secure. I'll let you know.

In the meantime, we can definitely use your prayers. I'll try to update you on occasion and maybe even have some non-moving related posts to share.

An Excuse

Not that I need to give one, but here is my excuse for not writing much lately. Really, it's a call to prayer, if you are the praying type.

In the midst of three trips to Tennessee in three weeks to see my Grandma before she died and to attend her burial and the worship service celebrating her life, we got an e-mail and phone call from our sending organization for Asia. They are asking us to consider a huge shift in our plans that involves moving to another, more remote city where Daddy TwoSquare will work at a software startup whose founder is going on home assignment for a year. It is a strategic work with an important minority group focus, and if the company folds, the folks working there could lose their visas. Even if they don't, the work they are doing to build trust and to live with integrity there could be jeopardized.

Seems like a no-brainer, but it comes with a lot of cons for our family, including a limit on our language acquisition for that first year. Our original plan involved doing two years of full-time language study with very little work or ministry, living in a much more accessible city with more foreigners, and having an overall easier adjustment. This new option is in a city that I love dearly, but it is a hard place to learn language because of the work schedule my husband would have and because of the strong local dialect.

This only needs to be a temporary situation, and we can return to our original plan after the year is up. The reality, however, is that we are unlikely to want to uproot our family and move to a new city to start the cultural adjustment process all over. We can turn back to full time language study in this city after that year, but the language program is far inferior to the one we were originally planning to attend.

As you can see, I have a lot on my mind. We are praying a talking and discerning with wise counselors. If we decide to go ahead with this, they want us to try to get our support raised and be there as early in the Fall as possible, hopefully September. It is overwhelming, to say the least. But it could be exciting.

I may not be around these parts much, or I may turn here a lot to process and cope with the insanity. I would appreciate your prayers. And if you have a heart for Asia and want to learn more about what we are doing so that you can pray more specifically, I'd be glad to contact you. Just e-mail me at twosquaremeals[at]gmail[dot]com. I just can't post more specifically here for security reasons.

I am overwhelmed and exhausted and emotionally frayed, but now I am off to get a lunch packed and watch Calvin's soccer game.

Grandma

My dear, wonderful Grandma passed away this morning. We were praying for God to take her, as she was in much pain and ready to go. Now she is well and whole and with Jesus and all of our family that has gone before, including my daddy. She will be missed.

ALLELUIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Christ is risen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stuck

This is technically my 300th post, but let's just pretend it isn't. I should have something clever or moving or fun or interesting for my 300th post, but I am stuck. Any ideas? If I don't hear any, you may just get 300 random thoughts from my head, which is never a good idea.

I Was Up Way Too Late...

...but this place has been needing a new look for a long time. If you miss the plate of fried chicken and glass of sweet tea, you can always come and visit me for some that you can actually taste. That picture is totally not what it is like here right now. It's been warm and sunny for a few days. Anyway, I'll see ya around.

Just Stopping In

Happy 2010, everyone! This is going to be a crazy year for us. There is so much to do...raising support, getting a house ready to sell and getting it sold, purging and sorting and packing up seven years worth of married life possessions for a move around the world, and somewhere in there we have to create some structure and sanity in our family, which is sorely lacking those things right now.

I don't know how much I will be writing, but I will be around some. And you can bet I'll start a blog for our time in Asia! In the meantime, we would love your prayers for figuring out how to do all of this and for it to happen in God's time and in the midst of our being faithful to our daily duties. And if you are interested in learning more about what we'll be doing, feel free to e-mail me (twosquaremeals[at]gmail[dot]com).

Now I am off to recover from the most insanely exhausting, busy, disordered Christmas I've had in a long time. (Oh, and to enjoy the last four days of Christmas!)

Thirty-Two

And in the midst of celebrating while getting ready to celebrate the birth of sweet Linus and, of course, the birth of the One whose life has given meaning to those thirty-two years. Planning to have a lot of good family time between now and Epiphany. I may be around, but most likely, I will be back here sometime in 2010. Happy celebrating to all of you who are!

Charting a New Course

So, things have been a little bit crazy around the Two Square household this past week. Daddy Two Square (the poor man needs a blog alias of some sort) was laid off last Thursday, along with half of his company. We have no reason to complain and are so blessed compared to many people these days. We have money in the bank, my husband already has several potential contracting positions, and my in-laws keep us supplied in eggs and milk and would even take us in if we had to sell our house.

In a crazy way, this is probably an answer to pray and the solution to many problems for us. Until last Thursday, I was drowning in the Things To Do Ocean, wondering how we would ever get support raised, prep our house to put it on the market, homeschool Calvin, get ready to move overseas, and manage the daily tasks of life. I did the math. It was impossible. The weight of stress was so heavy that I felt I couldn't breathe.

Now we are looking at having my husband working from home, likely taking the jobs he wants for the number of hours he wants a week. This support raising and move may become a reality. I feel like I am finally coming up for air.

Unfortunately, I came up to a storm of boys anxious and unsure about what it means that Daddy lost his job and is home all of the time. We are all trying to figure it out, find a new rhythm, settle into yet another new daily and weekly schedule. But God's hand is all over this situation, and we are thankful. He is moving us on to the next phase of our journey. It just might be a rough few weeks getting the boat to sail smoothly.

In the meantime, I am learning all kinds of things about His presence in the details of our lives. But I'll save that for another post. Hopefully I'll be back at it once things settle around here. I miss writing.

"Screws fall out all the time."

"The world's an imperfect place." John Hughes is dead.

I have seen The Breakfast Club more than any other movie. Much more. Ask my college roommates. I am pretty sure I watched it once a week in college. I quote it all the time. My two best guy friends in high school often bugged me by calling me Claire. It is brilliant on so many levels, but most of all, it is brilliant because it captures so truly and perfectly the high school experience. Johns Hughes understood teenagers and took them seriously, not too seriously, but just seriously enough. Others have said it better than I.

I am sad. May God's peace be with him and his family. I will leave it at that.

Knock, Knock

Is anyone home?

She peers sheepishly around the corner.

We just returned from a week at the beach. Calvin and Hobbes went back to Tennessee with my mom for a few days. We have more travel coming up. I hope you'll excuse me if I take the next week or so off to get some work done in real life. I may stop by to say, "hi," but it isn't likely. It's not often I have only the baby and can actually tackle big projects around the house. Maybe I will show up with some movie or book suggestions now and then. See you closer to the school year.

TwoSquare

This Blog On Hiatus Due To Pool Season

That's right, folks. I will probably be around here a little bit this summer, but it is officially hotter than...well, hot, anyway. Our house has bad A/C and very little shade. The only solution? The pool. Every day.

And I am trying to get myself, my family, and my stuff into some sort of emotional and physical order before we start this last year of preparing to move overseas.

I may be around, but not much. I'm still reading your blogs, though! Keep me in your readers if you like me enough to keep me around. I'll be back.

Pentecost Blog Carnival-Deadline Tomorrow!

If you are of the liturgical, Christian type, Jessica over at Homemaking Through the Church Year is hosting a Pentecost Blog Carnival. I have participated in Lenten and Advent Carnivals before and loved the chance to see how other like-minded women celebrate the seasons of the church year. Go on over to her site to submit a post, old ones are fine. The deadline is Friday.

I am overwhelmed around here with company coming (a VERY good thing), dealing with my grandma's illness, post-partum depression, and generally just not coping with life well. So, I may not get a post in...but I wanted to let you know in case you want to participate!

Just Getting By

I'm still here, still reading your blogs, still breathing. But the sleeping, cooking, caring for kids, and such are just barely happening these days. I am emotionally and physically weary, dealing with the occasional depression that comes my way and the busy-ness of Spring. There seems to be light at the end of the tunnel. My husband is graduating on Sunday. Calvin is doing better, growing up into his mind and emotions. Hobbes is becoming less clingy, and Baby Linus might be turning a corner on sleeping. But not yet. Not yet.

So, until I get out from under this pile of dirty laundry, the weight of a weary body, and these heavy emotions, I am taking a break. I'll see you on the other side, hopefully in just a couple of weeks.

Unto Us a Son is Given

Hobbes kept saying that Christmas Day was the day the baby would come out. We thought he was just confusing the baby Jesus and our baby. Turns out he was right.

After slow contractions from 1 am on and a quick and crazy 1-hour trip from 4 cm to birth, baby boy 3 arrived at 7:22 pm on Christmas Day. He weighed in at 8lb. 4oz, and has a full head of dark hair (completely unlike his blonde brothers). He is sweet and beautiful and seems to be a self-soother (also unlike his brothers).

What a Christmas Day!

Though I will not post pics or a name on this blog in order to keep it anonymous, I am happy to e-mail them to my regular readers. Just let me know.

Now off to rest. And Happy Second Day of Christmas to those of you celebrating!

A Year in Review

My one year blogging anniversary has come and gone. Tonight, since the boys went to bed early, I sat down and perused my archives, remembering what I had written and what had happened over the past year. It was a good exercise, one that helps me to be thankful for all of the good things God has done in my life and the ways I have grown over the past year.

For those of you who haven't been around the whole year, here are some highlights of the past year:

-the origin of a blog name

-my current cause

-my favorite meditations on parenting

-our worst (or best) parenting moment

-my favorite pastime

-the time I chose to take up a controversial topic

-my sweet, strong-willed Hobbes

-Calvin and his -isms...there are just so many

-a favorite Grandma recipe

-on being an Anglican family, Advent, Lent, and other holy days

And if you want some deep reading to get more acquainted with my history, you can read any of these posts.

The best part of this blogging thing has definitely been the folks I have met over the past year. Even if you don't want to go back and read any of my posts, please do check out the posts of these lovely ladies, who are just three among many:

Kate at A Telling Place, who is a fellow Appalachian living in Scotland

Kerry, a fellow Anglican and local foodie, who blogs many places, including at A Ten O'Clock Scholar

And Tipper, whose posts about Appalachian life and music at Blind Pig and the Acorn never fail to make me homesick

The Goodness of Old Friends

Today I am thankful for...

...a friend who let us live with him in our poor grad school years and whose home and generosity we still return to on visits...

...three wonderfully fun and godly couples with whom we have shared so many meals and laughs...

....God's faithfulness as those couples have prayed and cried and rejoiced our way through incredible loss and beautiful blessing...

...the community of Christ, which survives moves across the Atlantic, and even across the Mason Dixon, and hopefully one day across the Pacific...

...committed, kind, missional professors who are still happy to see me after all these years and who don't think I am wasting my potential by teaching my own children instead of college students...

...holding yet another little boy born to one of the best mamas I know, a boy who is even more of a gift than most babies because of the path his mother has walked...

...his mother and two other beautiful, strong, intelligent women whom I am blessed to call friends...

...women who can reunite after years apart and feel like no time has passed, who love me despite my propensity to talk too much and listen too little, who graciously open up their lives and homes to us whenever we return to see them...

...and most of all, for these same women, who don't judge me or try to make everything okay, who know just the right way to respond, when I surprise myself by being a little bit disappointed that it's another boy.