I really should have a label about broken arms.  We've been through it three times with Isaac and now twice with Job. I'm getting good at reading x-rays.  Maybe I should go back to school to become a radiologist.  Job received a hairline fracture across his elbow on April 30th.  He had a gift card that he had been saving until he had enough money to purchase a skate ramp.  The skate ramp arrived in the mail on the 30th and he eagerly set it up, strapped on his rollerblades, placed his helmet on his head and proceeded to try out the ramp.  After a few crashes on the cement, he moved it to the grass.  He nailed his landings on the grass, took off his pads (I have no idea why) and moved the ramp back to the cement.  Where upon he made one more jump, landed on his elbow (actually flat on his face but his elbow was the first thing to hit) and just laid there crying.  I walked out of the house, helped him to his feet, took off his rollerblades, got him so ibuprofen and an ice pack.  I wanted to wait a little before taking him to the doctor just to make sure he hadn't banged and that was it.  However after 30 minutes of it still intensely hurting we tried our after hours clinic but his was full and the walk -in clinic doesn't accept patience an hour before closing.  Really?  Why don't they close at 7 and take patience until 7 knowing they'll stay until 8?  Why post an 8:00pm closing time?  Don't get it.  We ended at the emergency room, walking in around 7:30pm.  We left after 11:35 pm.  The nurse bless her heart just had to have us walk out with a new sling even though it was too small and the other one she had was too large.  The sling we had with us already was just right. Feeling like goldilocks here.  He missed the next day of school, he was tired and in pain.  It wasn't until a week later that he got a cast which he has to wear only two weeks and then they'll cut it off and use part of it to make a splint for the next two to three weeks.  The kicker is that they are all booked up and really can't see him until the middle to end of June.  So for now he's wearing an orange cast and has had many kids sign his cast.  Apparently we stands under the monkey bars and asks who wants to sign his cast.  In between being diagnosed and getting casted, I caught him on his unicycle.  I had gone to the grocery store and as I pulled into the driveway I see him wildly swinging his good arm as he's making a sharp turn in the neighbor's driveway. I quickly had him off that unicycle, "But I'm bored" he whined.  Thank goodness that it's only two weeks.

They had a parent child look alike theme night at Awana and Lona chose to dress like me.  She let me know what I was to wear so that we'd look alike that night.

The winter sometimes feel so dark and dreary, like the sky is lower to the ground, crushing me.  I push through the days of the no sun chill until spring comes.  It feels as though the sky lifts and stretches out a bit, the light starting before five in the morning and ending after nine in the evening.  I need to be outside playing, working, relaxing, laughing, stretching my arms out and feeling the sun hit my face.  The kids get outside more too.  They start asking to play different games or doing different activities.  Even Isaac, though as he gets older it is not happening as often. His activities have graduated to Frisbee or soccer with friends.  We have enjoyed the trampoline for years and are continuing to do so.  Backyard baseball is another activity that makes it's appearance in the spring, each of us taking our turn at bat.  Every night when John comes in from work, he says hello, gives me a hug and a kiss, chats with the kids, and then walks out to wander our little bit of earth looking at his plants, his shrubs, his fruit trees - a ritual, a routine.  The door is left open more, and the garage can't hold back the bikes, unicycles, roller blades and wazzis anymore. Often times the toys become strewn across our front lawn and the neighbors too. The kids spilling the contents of the garage throughout the neighborhood until I reign them back in.  The lawnmower emerges and the youngest child goes to work. John and I plan the yard out, making new beds, buying plants, hauling the yard waste that has collected to the dump.  It feels good, involved and tiring.  As it warms up, lunches are eaten on the front steps so the breezes are blocked but eventually they migrate to the backyard.  Each time reminding me of having lunch at my grandmother's who cooks a large meal for lunch and then hauls everything outside.  My backyard becomes a haven once again and beckons throughout the summer to be there instead of inside.  My favorite time is when the lawn is mowed and the toys are picked up.  I guess it mirrors the need for order in my house since my favorite time inside is having the house clean and the toys picked up.  The end of school also becomes visible taunting me with less structure and routine, eagerly anticipating John working his 40 hours a week within 4 days and spending Friday, Saturday, Sunday with us.  I love springtime at our house so full of newness and promises to come in the summer.

I was a little leery of Isaac making it on the High School soccer team.  There were so many kids trying out and he isn't the fastest, but he's smart on the field. I think he will make a great coach someday. The coaches told the kids that there would be cuts after the second week.  He ran 3 miles every night for two weeks before tryouts even started.  I asked if he wanted to go out for golf but he tried out for soccer anyway.  Apparently they didn't make any cuts other than cutting kids who weren't eligible due to grades.  He didn't make varsity but that takes an extremely talented freshman to do that.  He didn't make JV but again he's only a freshman and there is time for that.





He made the C team. It has been a good fit for him.  Unfortunately his team has tied only one game and lost the rest but he's getting some good experience.  Last week, I was able to make the game and I took out my camera.  I've got to record at least one game on film.  It was a tough team, and I mean football tough because for a second or two I thought that was the game they were playing.  At one point Isaac had the ball when the opponent came up and did a full on football tackle.  Isaac went up and over and landed on his back.  The ref didn't call anything.  The parents were yelling about the kid being out of control and the coach pointed at Isaac on the ground and said, "Come on ref."  The ref responded, "Calm down Coach, play on."  I didn't know whether to walk over and hug Isaac or leave him a lone.  I was concerned as a parent.  This same player had done the same thing earlier to a couple of other kids but not as hard.  I'm all for a physical game but when it gets out of hand, I'm not so good.  They have one more game before the end of the season hopefully it will be nicer than that game.

This is a much look forward to event at our Awana.  It is a huge deal.  For me, it's all about logistics and getting bikes or whatever to the church for a 1/2 hour event.  One year Isaac brought a Pogo stick. Last year Job brought a chair that he jerry-rigged roller blades to it, and this year Lona brought Job's unicycle.  I think that the leaders are always a little fearful of what will come out of our van or truck. It turns out that Lona wasn't the only one to bring a unicycle.  The children's pastor, Steve, brought his unicycle too.  I'm going to have to learn how to ride one.  Even though I only have one child in Awana, I bring other kids and so the van was packed with bikes and kids. I am so glad that this program exist. There are some wonderful kids and leaders in this program.

There are these two boys that come over sometimes.  They absolutely love to tease Isaac.  They say all kinds of things to him. They try to tease him about their oldest sister but he doesn't bite.  However they really like to hang out with Job.  They Rollerblade with him and ride bikes with him, they like to throw the football or play baseball and can kind of be talked into playing Frisbee.  They are hilariously funny and I love to tease them back.  They aren't keen on getting their picture taken but sometimes I can coerce them into posing for me.  The other day though we were at their house and I looked out to see one boy following Isaac all over their field just chatting with him.  Oh how I wished for my camera at that point.  I almost grabbed my friend's camera just so I would have a memory of this 8 year old and 15 year old hanging out. 

With all I said about spring break, I tried to do something with just the kids to make break fun.  The original plan was to ski.  I picked Lona up early from a sleep over on the way to the ski hill.  It wasn't looking good as we driving up.  I thought that if it was icy in the morning it would be OK.  But it was slushy on the hill.  I wasn't going to spend $150 to ski in slush.  Maybe if they had 1/2 price tickets it would have been OK but not full price.  We turned around and headed home.  I hit a robin with the car.  Bummer.  We threw out all different possibilities of what to do with our day.  Job had practice at 5:30 so what ever it was he has to be back by then.  Tulip fields, hiking, swimming, aquarium.  The aquarium won out.  Not with everyone but enough.  We dropped off the skis at home, grabbed some lunch, called John to get a permission slip, found our passports and all the cameras and headed out.  We needed to stop at BP first and on our way, hit a deer.  Hmm, the animals are getting larger, is a sign.  Nope.  Breezed through customs, no need for a permission slip. Took forever to get to the aquarium, we went a round about way but less stop lights then we've done in the past.  Once at the aquarium, we spent at least an hour before we even walked outside looking at the inside animals.  Isaac was the odd man out - no camera.  We saw all kinds of tropical fish.  They had all kinds of creatures from our area as well.  It was pretty neat.  Job is my animal kid.  He reads all the plaques and stores that information in his head.  Wandering outside, we saw the beluga whales, white crest dolphines, sea otters and sea lions.  The kids talked me into staying for the last beluga whale show and found a place front and center in the splash zone.  They were ready to get wet.  I played it say in the no splash zone with all of the cameras.  And they didn't get wet.  They were so disappointed.  However it was better that way.  We left the park at a different point then when we went in and I had to guess how to get back.  I asked one person and his information was "You need to go to Surrey."  Yes, thank you I know that, which street do I take to get to 99.  He wasn't very forth coming with that information.  I did know that I needed to go south and not north.  The map we bought for Vancouver was still in John's truck so that was no help, but we found our streets and headed back.  The border crossing wasn't bad but we were 1/2 hour late to practice.  Good thing I had Job's soccer stuff in the car.  Four hours at the aquarium was a good amount of time.