oh the thrill! oh the joy! oh the delight!

we are so glad for the blessing of this sweet life!
Selma Rachel Smith
weight: 3.13 kilos*
length: 49 centimeters **

* 2.2 pounds per kilo
** 2.54 centimeters per inch

the one that didn't get posted

. . . because I wanted to make sure that they really were contractions; and then we had to run out too fast . . .



oh dang! is that a contraction?

I've established one thing this past week - - forced nesting doesn't
encourage the onset of labor. nope - - it doesn't work. true nesting is the overflow of a woman who is genuinely prepared to give birth; nesting, in and of itself does not actually make a woman ready to give birth. I think it's a bit like the good fruit/good tree images in Scripture.

on the positive end, I ("I " in the sense of "me and mom", mind you!) do have a defrosted freezer, my tomato plants are pulled and replaced with Jonny jump-ups, I am caught up on laundry, have made a cozy little moses basket out of a wooden chestnuts box that I salvaged from the farmers market, and I have two coffee cakes and a chocolate cake in my freezer (I'm scheming up a plan to have"come and meet and hold baby Selma" coffees with our friends and neighbors as a way to invite people into our home). I feel pretty good for being so miserable!

on raising boys in Spain

When we came back from spending a leisurely morning in downtown Pamplona to pick Malachai up from school we were rerouted by school personnel to the local emergency room. We did find him there; he had just finished up his pineapple juice - - bought for him by his teacher after he had tried convincing her that he needed a cafe con leche.
It turns out he had been playing toritos - - one of his favorite recess games in which one child, with fingers up as horns chases after a group of running, taunting boys; and he fell. five stitches baby.

. . . and we made sure that the school got our cell phone number.

Victoria Beckham on Spain

"Spain smells like Garlic"
. . . or at least that is what my neighbor told me that everyone's favorite Spice Girl said when she (my neighbor!) was giving me her recipe for pochas (fresh white bean soup) and was explaining to me why she doesn't add garlic.

it's unfortunate, really . . .

our sweet Josu is talking more and more lately. to his great delight he has discovered that he can say his brother's name -- he lives his life gleefully calling out for Malachai - - "caca!"
"ma-ca" we prompt him . . . "caca!"
"chai" . . . . "caca!"
"hmmm . . . chai-chai" . . . . "caca!"

thanks for all the encouraging and challenging thoughts on my last post. Here's my follow-up - - it consists of three notes to self; read along if you are interested:
Note to self #1. know your boy
he loves ice-cream; he's a sucker for story telling; I cashed in on this and found the right moment to dish up a bowl of ice-cream and incorporate my teaching into the best dramatic rendition of the Exodus account I could muster up; he was hanging on to every word.
Note to self #2. know your boy's limits
Malachai's question was a tough one - - one that I think can certainly be answered from the text, buuuuut I didn't think that the text was as "four-year-old-clear" on his specific question as it was on say, for example - - what God's purpose was in hardening Pharaoh's heart. Soooo I did what any good bible teacher would do - - I tweaked his question and focused on that re-crafted question .
and . . . as to not to give an overbearingly lengthy blog entry here, I really, really want to encourage YOU to read the Exodus account and underline every time that God hardens Pharaoh's heart and the corresponding WHY - - it's fascinating! do it, do it, do it!)
Note to self #3. know and love your bible
I read the account a few times over before I sat down with Malachai; this not only helped me to understand the text better and help me to know where to focus my answer to Malachai, it made me excited about the text (I'm sure I wore poor Joshua down over the next few days - - telling him "did you know that . . . . ?") and when it comes down to it, I guess that that is what I want to transmit to my boys - - not primarily a right-on answer every time (although I will try my darnedest!) but even beyond that a love for the Bible and, of course, the God of our Bible.