in a new place

Here’s a little update on the lay of the land from Mooney-ville these days.  I don’t pretend that my little life-updates are of much consequence to you.  But one of the objectives for this little narcissistic enterprise known as a blog includes putting down on paper the moments as they pass.  A way to capture what would otherwise escape notice.  And these days so much threatens to escape.  Of course by “put down on paper”, I mean metaphorically as there is actually no paper involved.  But let’s move on.

Ginny’s back is doing much better.  She is not near what was her normal before the disc decided to up and move on her, but she is also not near the pain that she was attempting to befriend.  This is such good news.  Our hope is that it continues to get better with time and stretching and prayer and acupuncture….well, not acupuncture, unless someone suggested it.

Our house these days is so much fun.  I’ve not always pretended that was the case.

Anders 3^rd birthday is coming up this weekend and we are having a truck & motorcycle party because well, that’s nirvana to our boy.  All that is Anders can be ascertained if you understand one thing… he is a cartoon character.  So funny and awesome.  He goes to the bathroom in the potty.  And I would have never known how proud I would be that one my offspring managed to get their waste in a precise location.  GLORY!

Hazel is scary smart.  We’ve developed a description for what she does when we go to public places like a restaurant; we say she has entered “dvr mode”- as in, “Oh, honey look she’s dvr’ing again.”  This is the mode where Hazel does not say a word, looks around at every single thing that is going on around her and takes mental notes like a savant.  Only when we get away from the public setting will she begin to go through a litany of questions that she has accumulated while in her drv setting.  “Why was that boy with the blue pants and green shirt wearing his hat backwards?”  And on and on with details that no one else noticed.  We can’t really get her to talk or acknowledge the world while in this mode, but we’re working on it.

Lena is changing and blossoming so fast that it is hard to record an update before something has changed.  In an apparent theme around our house, she also is working on going on the potty.  We sort of thought the potty thing would not really happen for Lena, and that was fine.  But she seems to be getting it (much quicker than her brother, I might add).  She started therapy in the pool and though she doesn’t speak, her smile can sing a song.  She liked it.

99 Balloons is blowing and going and it has been fun to watch the local and global expressions take shape in a work that Ginny and I are so excited to be a part of.  We are launching an initiative called “Passport” that allows folks to join with us as we seek to change the global story of disability.  It would mean the world to me if you would check it out, jump in, request one and help us spread the word.

Ginny and I have smiled a bit more lately, acknowledging that we are at a different place.  This last year seems like one where we are back-flip celebrating the fact that we made it- that we held our breath and went under, hoping we would come back up.  Now, with heads submerging, we are looking at how we lead our family and love others in an intentional way.  Survival is enough sometimes.  But coming out of such a season requires a recognition that merely making it cannot remain the goal for infinity.

Our marriage, our family and our faith do not default to the places we want them to go.  It takes effort and work as well as an acknowledgement that my efforts alone always fall short.  But thanks be to the one that takes my meager and paltry attempts at faithfulness and crafts great things for his holy pleasure.