Growing Up Fast

The proud owner of a tooth hole. 

It startles me to see Noelle growing up SO quickly! In the last month, she's lost two teeth (and will be quick to tell you that four more are loose), she's gotten noticeably stronger and more capable on the playground; she's taller; and she today she was continually hungry...for cheese. If you know her, you know that's unusual. 

/Mark thinks he is hiding because he is pressed against the wall. 

Mark continues to transform into proto-preschooler before my very eyes. 

Here we are at Dad's work. 

Joel developed a strong desire to "do math" with Noelle each day, so I'm happy I brought a bunch of crayons and a variety of things for him to practice coloring, comparing, or writing on.

The clown-car stroller. 

As much as these guys know how to work my buttons, I love them and am thankful to have them as daily companions on this adventure.

Week 1, Part 2: Art Institute of Chicago

On Saturday afternoon, Mark freed me up to walk down to the Art Institute. I walked around there open-mouthed and astonished at the artwork--all these things I have seen in books, here before me! Roman statues! Medieval Bible! Renaissance armor! Impressionist paintings and lots of them! A room for corralling your children with computers, blocks, puzzles, and books! An exhibit about fashion and the Impressionists awaited also, right past American Gothic. Honestly, what astonished me most was the breadth and depth of creativity of all these artists. It reminded me that this is one of the things it means to be created in God's image--we want to make stuff that is meaningful, or beautiful, or otherwise interesting. We can't help it. 

Sunday afternoon, I brought Noelle down to share it with her. I decided that there were two ways to do this--according to her interests and attention span, or according to mine. One of these ways leads to death.  :) 

We decided that she could look at whatever caught her fancy and I could take her picture with anything she liked in particular. Katie--just let her enjoy it and don't worry about adding in any other content. (This is a difficult temptation for nerds like me.)

We stopped out front for the cool lions.

  

She really liked the Degas dancers. 

To this one, she said, "Ooo! Of course!" and posed without further comment.

Her favorite part, however, was the kids' education room, with artsy computer games and a wall full of artsy books. 

She enjoyed the paperweight collection.

She was also a fan of the miniature rooms collection--like perfectly scaled doll houses of a variety of times and places. We were both impressed how even the view out of the windows of the rooms was attended to.

This cool medieval Gospel caught my eye again. We talked briefly about how they decorated the outside of it with jewels and carved ivory because they thought the book was a treasure--so they wanted it to look like a treasure. So here it is sitting in a glass case.
Noelle's response: "Well, if it's a treasure then why don't they READ IT?!" She is her father's daughter--the day before I had this same conversation with him "Ah, yes, the age-old debate between art historians and literature scholars..." he said.

Besides the kids' room, Noelle's favorite part was the Fashion and Impressionists special exhibit because there were period dresses displayed alongside the artwork featuring them. I found the paintings WAY more interesting than she did, but we still had a great time.
"Noelle, isn't this painting beautiful?"
 "Oh yes, and where's another dress?"

We had a great mommy-daughter date out of this excursion. Holding hands waiting for the Red Line subway train to arrive; walking together, seeing what art caught her fancy and why; watching her bounce from piece to piece; trying to share a little bit about why I liked certain pieces--for me, at least, it makes a fond memory. I'm thankful for it.

Week 1, part 1: Downtown Chicago

We went all over the place this week; we have a truly amazing central location at a local university's conference center. From here, we are in striking distance by foot of most major downtown sites--even with three kids six and under. 

On Our Stroller System

A big THANK YOU to whomever it was who suggested we bring the stroller over the hiking backpack. It has made this week possible. Not only does it carry and restrain my two-year-old, it also doubles as a kid-carrier if one adjusts his seatbelt appropriately and lays the seat all the way back so that the big kid can scrunch up piggy-back style behind. As if that weren't enough to make the thing snap--a real testimony to its engineering and construction if you ask me--I have found that the handlebars make a decent seat (*ahem) for a third medium-size child who also cannot walk...seven...more...blocks. I wish I had a picture of this to share, but whenever we were loaded in this fashion, someone had to do the heavy pushing. 

Nothing surprises these city people more than a clown-car-stroller, in my experience.  Not a three-block series of three women in headscarves and robes all holding strikingly similar signs that say they have children and need money for rent. Not any outrageous hairstyle or fashion. Not any price on any super-shiny car parked in a showroom. Not any simultaneous honking of horns the second a light turns green, blaring of siren, taxi-whistling of doorman, clip-clop of horses pulling a carriage, not rumble of garbage truck engine; not random people singing loudly as you come upon them. Not seven dozen nine-year-old girls will American Girl Dolls tucked underarm.   They seems completely unphased--and in fact, impervious and oblivious. 

I did see a couple of slightly confused faces at the sound of a super-chatty-four-year-old offering to pick up all of their playground toys for them; by a kid having a full-out weeping screaming "I want to watch WILD KRATTS" tantrum in the middle of the sidewalk nowhere near a tv; by a kid yelling, "It's somebody's birthday in this playground!" in honor of her little brother; and by a kid getting mostly stuck in the revolving door and her mom not noticing that she had even gone into it...but stick three kids in a single stroller, and you will really get comments. "Whoa! How many do you have in there? Are you sure?"

Perhaps next week I will be brave enough to tackle the public transit system, but for now until it breaks in half, the triple stroller serves well.

On Enjoying the Arts with Small Children

Team Rankin values the arts in general and the humanities in particular, so I sat in on workshops with and subsequently chatted with music historian and promoter-of-teaching-the-arts Professor Carol Reynolds of professorcarol.com the last two years at the HEAV homeschool convention in Richmond.  I wanted her to help me figure out what to do to help my kids enjoy the arts opportunities in all these cities this year. Her thought, which made perfect sense to me, was to just get out there with wee kids and let them experience stuff: what do we see? what do we hear? what do we smell? what is the feel of it?  If that leads into some kind of little discussion about anything, we will have learned something that matters to them.  

Two pennies from Noelle's change purse made their way into this fountain in front of the Water Tower. They also enjoyed yelling at the flock of pigeons. Did you know pigeons come in the traditional gray, but also black and brown? At least they appeared to be pigeons....ask me about chickens and cows and you'll be more in my specialty. 

See us appreciate architecture and history at this castle! that is, the 1869 Water Tower that survived the GREAT FIRE of 1871. There are a number of plaques around commemorating surviving pieces of the city. Yes, it may appear that we are just playing in the fountain and yelling at pigeons, but do not be deceived.

Now here is some more art we stumbled upon in front of St. James Episcopal Cathedral on Wabash St. Why is there a foot? Why is it read? What happened to the rest of it? Why is there a boot print being made by it? We don't know, but Joel thinks that the man's foot was too big for his flip flop and that's why his toes are sticking out. I should also point out that Joel spent most of this week insisting that his name is Stanley. 

The Oak Street Beach at Lake Michigan got the kids really sandy and windblown. The crashing surf was very much like an ocean--definitely not for swimming today.  

We enjoyed watching these people try to fly their kite, mostly unsucessfully, in the vigorous wind.

Uncle Sam has long had a place in our vernacular, so I wasn't about to miss this mural on the way home from the Oak St. Beach. Noelle forced a smile in spite of being crushed about losing her little box of found treasures (a piece of jewelry and pop bottle lids, mostly) in the sand. 

A successful first day, if you ask me. The rest of the week was more of the same; perhaps I can get some more pictures up soon if I can get any thoughts to go with them. Missing friends, home, and family, but hanging in there and trying to enjoy ourselves.

Art Appreciation: Museum of Contemporary Art

We didn't actually go inside. We just saw this sculpture from the playground. Joel wanted his picture with it, and his sister wanted to crash it. 

Mercy #2: Thankful

So, today....Joel jumped off the diving board at the pool deep end with no floaties, no significant swimming skills, no one in the water to catch him, and no permission to do so.

I had been sitting on the deck observing and thought when he headed that direction that he was going to the shed to get some toys. Then I hear a big splash...

He came up attempting to dog paddle, but it quickly became clear to me that he wasn't going to make it to the side on his own.

I got to jump in with my clothes on and save him. 

I'm thankful to God that I was there and able to do it; thankful for my little guy even if he currently has an under-developed sense of danger; and thankful to my father-in-law for subsequently swimming down to the bottom to retrieve my glasses.  

Ready to Go? Mercy #1

We're leaving for our EXCELLENT ADVENTURE tomorrow morning. God's mercies have already been rich on us: provision for all the legs of this trip, the travel, the housing, the timing; kind friends who have been serving us, babysitting the kids, feeding us, encouraging and praying for us; and the perspective to see that this is a big OPPORTUNITY rather than simply something to survive. So it's not right to name this one as Mercy #1, because it's not even Mercy #1 for today! But even so, let's call it.

Mercy #1: First a weird feeling, then a terrible burning smell, and finally smoke rising up from the passenger side tire. That's when I pulled over. The car broke down today, here in Harrisonburg, and not tomorrow.  Today, when we could do something about it. In the early afternoon, when the fine fellows at AAMCO still had time to look at it and fix it. Today.

Even as we grimace that the problem was one that Mark could have fixed himself given enough time and the right tools, we can be thankful. As Mark just said to me, "Some problems go away when you throw money at them. They are not the worst kind of problems to have." So it's a mercy, and I'm thankful.

Next stop: Ohio.

The Adventure Awaits...

I've been pondering what actions would be appropriate to document the upcoming Year of Adventure. To blog? (Oh, so trendy!) To scrapbook? (hahaha...I'm stuck back in 2008 already with pictures) To let it slip by without any reflection or communication with my friends and family? I've pondered that, too; and it seems like it would be a waste of opportunity.

I don't know what God has in store for us in the coming 365 days. There will be a lot of travel, many new faces, good ole' homeschooling, uprootings and replantings, new experiences. Chicago. London. Washington, DC. Los Angeles. I don't know what God is up to besides giving us many miles to go. How would He have us serve? To what will He have us be exposed? Why me? Why this year?

I had been very anxious about the whole adventure. There are so many logistics to work out; so many unknowns; and besides--what about not being at home? friends? routines? traditions? I'd cry thinking about my kids' possible reaction to not being able to go to their favorite places or groups or be around their favorite people. I cried at the thought of not getting the sixth consecutive annual picture at the pumpkin patch this fall. Who am I going to talk to? How am I going to catch a break ever from childcare? Even though I tried to tell myself that God is sovereign and has this all well in hand; it still was a struggle. The loss of 'home' is really what upset me the most.

I'm thankful that a few weeks ago I was listening to a favorite Rich Mullins cd of mine. His music always makes me feel better anyway, but this day I heard as if straight from the Lord this line in the song, "Here in America":

 

"But I am home anywhere if You are where I am"

 

Thank you, Jesus, for that insight. It spoke to my heart and relieved my anxiety. So even though I am quite like a hobbit and would much rather stay home than go on adventure; I have been chosen for one. Let me go with willingness and in expectant faith that whatever God does, it will be suitable.

I recall Psalm 90:12: "So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom." Let me appreciate each day as it comes for what it brings. It is a gift that I can give back to Him.

So perhaps I will blog. :)