He's my friend

From September 2009

The dashboard of our Toyota has had three different lights that come on and go off for no reason that I could see and we were overdue for an oil change. When we first moved here I took my car in to have the tires rotated and balanced and the kids and I waited for three hours. (I had no idea I would miss Les Schwab so much!) I was outraged and everyone seemed mystified by my frustration. Now I understand why. I am finally resigned to spending three hours waiting when I take my car in for an oil change. Today it took a little over four hours to have the car taken care of. We finished schoolwork way too fast. It often doesn't work out this way but all four of the children were so good for all of the hours that we were there stuck in such a cramped boring place. We tried to walk somewhere but were surrounded by freeways. It was a beautiful day so we sat on a bench outside and tried to be relatively quiet together. I had been dreading this day but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. We had a good time together, wishing that we could go home.
On the way home we were listening to Patch the Pirate (again). I was thinking my own thoughts. Ohio has been a great place for us to be in many ways. It has also been a pretty lonely place. I expected fitting in and developing relationships to take time when I moved here. We are three and a half years into it now. I thought that this year would be easier in that respect. It has been the opposite. With less than two years to go here I am losing the heart to try anymore. In the background I heard Lightning the Mule singing:
"Jesus loves me, He's my friend,
Of His goodness, there's no end.
On His mercy I depend.
Jesus loves me, He's my friend."

I don't mean to trivialize Who He is, or be too familiar. I see Him as holy and unfathomable. But I was ministered to by that song as I meditated on God's love for me, how He has been and is the friend that I need.

From September 2009

Jan participated in the Akron Kids Triathlon last weekend. She did great. There are so many unknowns involved in being apart of something like that. As a seven year old I don't think there is any way that I would have been willing to get out of my comfort zone the way she did. I was proud of her. They swam 100 yards, biked 3.5 miles and ran 1/2 mile. She took it all in stride and figured it out and is looking forward to next year.

From September 2009

From September 2009

From September 2009

It nearly killed Alec to just watch it all. There were more female participants than male ones. The girls seemed much more intent on HOW to do it all than they were on doing anything very FAST. Alec is pretty competitive and likes physical exercise just for the joy of wearing himself out. He is counting the days until next year when he will be old enough to try the triathlon.

From September 2009

Alec has had two football games and made a touchdown in both of them. Until the middle of October he has one game and one practice a week. I think it is his favorite time of year. Whenever he has free time you can see him out in the yard sprinting around with a football like there is a crowd of flag pulling bullies hot on his heels.