The (guing)Rich Life: April/May

Well it's mid June. April and May just slipped right by me. I started and stopped this post at least three times. Every window of free time I had was never quite enough there were a half dozen last minute appointments to go to before we left for the summer, children in need of lots of attention :), new messes constantly in the making to clean up, a few piles of laundry waiting to be folded, end of the year schooling to complete, a house in need of deep cleaning for summer visitors, and last dinners and play dates with friends who would be graduating seminary and moving on to new places and ministries. Traever's time was completely drained too but by an endless load of reading, writing, and studying.

In contrast time for the littles seemed to be an unlimited resource, time crept so slowly for them that seconds were the only segments of time that they could comprehend. Adalai's most common question was "How many seconds". "How many seconds 'til I'm done with my Math, how many seconds 'til our friends come over, how many until we leave for IL" and on and on :). So I got pretty good at multiples of 60 and thanks to Adalai all of the talk of time just made me more acutely aware of how quickly the clock ticked. It reiterated the fact that life is like a vapor it's here and gone (James 4:14) and that it's the mundane and sometimes stressful moments that expose our priorities and thus how our hearts are most inclined. I found myself asking the question "When time is limited what are my priorities and why?" Too often those evaluations led me to embarrassing conclusions but it definitely was/is something good for me to stop, think about, and pray that God would grow me in such a way that my love for Him would more often be at the center, the driver behind my priorities, and the aroma of this vapor of a life!

A glimpse of time in the Guingrich household...

Remy caught sneaking cuties

The girls love their weekly slumber parties.

Walking through our neighborhood, I can barely keep up with them anymore!

Even with a little more on our plates we still managed to have some fun in the sun.

Just when Thatch thought the beach couldn't get any better...

A little family field trip to a local aquarium.

An afternoon at the Children's Discovery Museum

Picnicking at a Peacock Farm

My girls may or may not have gotten in trouble for pestering the peacocks. They were pretty aggressive in their efforts to pet one.

Play dates with my kids' dear little friends. We became fast friends with their family this year, which also happened to be their last year at the seminary. I'm so excited to see God use their family in new ways but it's always hard to say good bye.

They decided to play church. I guess the implications of being a PK start early!

Saying farewell to friends that were graduating.

Thatcher

Thatch grew up a lot in the past few months. He was forced to give up his paci, he started helping me with grocery shopping, and has started talking a ton.

Thatch tackling one of his favorite little friends.

Remy

Remy Roo turned 4!

In the past few months we've discovered that she loves animals...

She gets a little spunkier and sweeter every year.

We got to celebrate Remy and all of her little friends with summer birthdays before we all parted ways. The party was for her and a few friends that also had birthdays within the week, but I'm pretty sure she thought the party was just for her...

Adalai

Adalai completed and graduated from Kindergarten! When we started school last September I didn't know how it all would go, but she did so well adjusting to both the classroom setting and being home schooled. We loved having the charter school/homeschool blend this year too. It was such a huge blessing and made my load as her primary teacher so much easier :). Below is a picture of her kindergarten class performing songs for their Moms.

This year she's gotten to be a good little reader. I'm so thankful she's willing to use her new skills to read to her siblings and friends.

Traever

Traever completed his second year of seminary! He has done amazingly well keeping up with crazy amounts of reading and assignments. He is now 2/3 of the way done!!! Just one more year to go.