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fathers

To my Father,

I love you. I am so thankful for you and for the role you've played in my life. You've been a quiet constant that remained steady even during the rocky storms.
Now you are the grandfather to my children. It does something inexplicable to my heart whenever I hear one of my boys call out, "Grandpa?" (you know I'm thinking of Jude's little singsong voice when I write that, right?).
Thank you.
We (me, Jamie and the boys) all love you very dearly and are so thankful we get to spend these months with you before we leave.

last summer in Quebec with Jude.

To the father of my children,

I love you.
Jamie, I always knew you'd be a fantastic dad. I often thought you'd be a better dad than I would be a mom. You love your boys. And they love you.
You can tell the influence you have in their lives and especially Noah's as he says things like,
When I grow up, I'm going to be a Daddy and have a beard and go to work on a campus. Just like MY Daddy. Oh and I'm going to drive a car, too. 
He emulates you. He wants to be you. And I know you don't take your role lightly (as you might have some believe) as you strive to be a man who loves Jesus and loves others.
Thank you for being present.
For valuing our family above other things.
Thank you for valuing Jesus most.
We love you so much!

pretending to sleep.

wrestling time on the bed.

moving day {or the one where i vow never to rent a truck from Uhaul again!}

first, i'm glad my moving day didn't look like this:



and it definitely could have been worse {it could have rained or been super cold} but it wasn't. in fact it was the perfect day. sunny but not too hot with a cool breeze every now and then.

moving day breakfast and Noah looking as unimpressed as i felt with Uhaul

but when we still hadn't heard from Uhaul {um, how are they still operating?} and it was 8am on the day OF THE MOVE {after numerous phone calls the night before and the morning of and jamie getting disconnected once after a 20 minute hold time on the phone} i was kinda pissed annoyed.
but we made the most of it and people came over when they could and we moved everything out to the garage and drive way and then this happened:

pick up soccer

and this:

watching movies on Daddy's computer {Noah is holding an unopened roll of wrapping paper, in case you were wondering}

and some of this:

naps out in the sun

and then finally! around 4pm {FOUR PEE EM!} we got the truck and started loading it up. jude was a little freaked out about all the moving and boxes {today was we moved some boxes into my parents' attic he was totally freaking out again. poor fella. he hates boxes now.} and was quite clingy and wanting to be with jamie. this time though, i was prepared for it. noah was almost this age when we moved out of our apartment {when i was 7 months pregnant with jude!} and it was quite a traumatic experience for him so i was prepared for this kind of behaviour with jude.

the truck was bigger than we originally booked, but God is sovereign because He knew we'd need the space {sigh. we have so much more stuff than i originally thought. kinda depressing.}. and of course the kids got a huge kick out of going inside the cab and truck. 

when all was said and done, we were out and unpacked in Toronto {our temporary home until we leave for Uganda at the end of August} by around 8:30pm. 

what a day!

not how i anticipated our move to go, but thank God it's over! 

a HUGE thank you to all our family and friends who came to help pack, move, clean and support us through this move! 

{and now i'm off to read articles on the riots in Kampala and Osama Bin Laden's death - my life is good. i have much to be thankful for.}

these are the moments

Was it only last year that Noah was calling the tulip buds "those guys"?

How time flies.

tonight in bed Noah said to me after we prayed,

soon I'm going to grow up and be a Daddy.

And I'm going to have a beard.

And I'm going to go to work.

*pause*

And I'm going to drive a car!!!

I love how he longs to be "just like Daddy" already. These are the moments - the moments between the moments when we get to teach him what it means to be a man. And how to someday be a husband. And a father.

These are the moments.