Jubilee 11 years old
Avi 8 years old
Tucker 8 years old
Just a few shots of my lovely children. When I go more than a few days without taking photos I start to get antsy. Photography is one thing that really energizes me.
I’m on call for a birth right now. I love the excitement of knowing my phone could ring any minute…
We had a great weekend despite our rough beginning. I mean, as long as you don’t mind vomit in your hair and on your face. As we all know, Murphy’s Law is as unchangeable as the laws of gravity or thermodynamics. Since I mentioned how we like to avoid “explosive vomit” on the blog Saturday, we had a full demonstration Sunday night. And those new library books I mentioned? One of those was doused as well. Thank you, Murphy. And Apollo.
Judah (16) participated in our local Ski-to-Sea race. This is a HUGE event in our community. Last year Judah did the running (8 miles in 53 minutes 59 seconds). This year he was one part of a two-man canoeing leg. 18 miles down the Nooksack River. They finished this leg in 2 hours and 27 minutes…despite tipping their canoe into the brutally cold river and being “rescued” by the local Search and Rescue. Judah returned home all smiles with a slight sunburn to boot.
Enoch (14) has been working every day at a local show garden down the road from us. Nothing keeps a teen boy more settled than heavy work and school. He’s loving his first official job and is already saving money for his 2015 Teen Missions trip.
And speaking of Teen Missions, Judah and Tilly leave in just ten days! Yesterday we headed to Goodwill to pick up skirts for Tilly (women in Malawi wear only skirts and Teen MIssions is very sensitive to keeping with local culture). We also grabbed some clothes for Judah’s trip as well. Hard work and hand washing are rough on clothing. We have a busy week or so to get them all packed and ready. Judah still needs $529 and Tilly $856, but both have a few jobs coming up still before they leave.
That pretty much sums up our weekend. What did you do?
Nothing keeps a teen boy more settled than a heavy work load. I hate to bring up a horrific current event that is making the headlines right now, but if a certain young man had been given work to do during his teen years, instead of having everything handed to him, we might not be reading about the tragic events that happened this past week-end. Idle hands and all that, it is so true.
While I agree that having responsibilities and learning the value of work is very important for children, that young man clearly had a serious mental illness. Mental illness is just as real as physical illness — it is a brain disease, and unfortunately we don’t have a very good understanding of the brain and how to help people who suffer from brain problems. I do know that serious cases can’t be dealt with in the superficial way you suggest.
I agree Christine, belittling mental illness is disrespectful and implies that it is someones fault. It’s an illness. No one blames the parents when a child gets cancer, or is born with a physical defect, but any mental illness must be because the child was raised wrong. 🙁
Katie- Yes, mental illness is a very real issue. We need to work on treating these people early on.
I completely agree, Christine. No amount of hard work, discipline or love can magically cure mental illness.
^^^ very true.
Well said, Christine. Unfortunately, hard work is no cure for mental illness.
Peg- I agree with half of your comment. Hard work is a wonderful, satisfying cure for idle hands, mischief and general trouble making. But as the other commenters have said, hard work doesn’t cure mental illness.
Love the first photo. Tucker’s got quite the poses in the last couple!
Renee…how can I donate for the kids mission trip? I couldn’t find anything when I searched.
Kendra
https://secure-q.net/donations/teenmissionsorg/606
Choose category: Team Member and leave their name in the comments. Please send an email and let me know what you donated, I can’t view it online.
Thank you!