last night, we put a perfect end to a perfect day. we had a "block party" in the shops behind us. the yoga place was having a balloon artist making balloons for the kids. the new gallery hired a rock band to play. it was definitely a party. we were not too thrilled about the prospect of having a rock band playing until 10PM right behind our house, but to make the most of it, we partied at susan's. we all donned our swimming best and played and played and played. the evening was full of finding toys with flashing lights in susan's pool, innertube races, and varying jumping styles (jackknife, corkscrew, cannonball.)
today was full of moments of grace. jonathan recently taught me about grace, what it is and how to have it. through his book, the faith explained, he has learned so much and consequently, taught me so much about our faith. grace, as i see it, is a lot like the lives you start out with in a video game, with each bad decision made, grace takes a hit. the awesome thing about it is, with every good decision, your grace is replenished. as long as you can keep learning from your mistakes and protecting your grace, you go on living your life that you have built and making it to the next level. (unlocking levels, as lionel says.)
we made it to mass, a bit late, but better late than never. after mass, jonathan and cecelia went on a father-daughter excursion to the nelson-atkins museum of art to discover the joy and beauty of photography through their latest exhibit. they did a little exploring through the older parts of the art gallery as well. meanwhile, the boys had a bit of quiet time while i worked (not so diligently) on my lecture. i'll admit i had to take a few breaks. during one of them, i taught lionel how to play solitaire. seeing his little mind at work as he learned how to play, and eventually succeed was pretty amazing. i finally finished and had such a sense of accomplishment, i think, because it is the last lecture i actually have to write starting from scratch. the first cycle is complete and from now on i can recycle my old lectures, with just a nip here, a tuck there. after jonathan and cecelia returned, lionel's quiet time was over, and he demonstrated his newfound knowledge to cecelia (who couldn't care less.) jonathan put together a delicious and nutritious dinner. we sat as a family and ate, something we haven't done for at least a week. :(
the weather was absolutely perfect! which made for a mind open to thanksgiving all weekend long. after dinner, we went up to the school a few blocks away and rode bikes. cecelia on hers, lionel on his new (ORANGE!) two-wheeler, and ralph on his 'new' hot wheels bike with training wheels. i asked ralph how he got to be so big, he answered, quite earnestly, "i grew up!" i cried. ralph's running commentary all the way to and from the school was pretty entertaining and enlightening (did you have any idea that there are good lightening bugs and bad ones? the bad ones are all black and have stingers. jondavid told him so. and sometimes they light up at night, but never during the day, although they still are out during the day and night.... and so on.) lionel was apprehensive at first, but dad was there behind him all the way. eventually jonathan let go and whoosh! lionel was off! cecelia was racing circles around all of us. that's speed! and extreme! according to ralph. jonathan told me that on the way home, he asked if anyone needed help. at first, cecelia said no thanks. eventually after much repetition, cecelia said, "if you really want to help, you can push my bike home. i didn't want you to push it when you asked me before because i saw a bead of sweat on your forehead. i thought you were too hot and tired. but now you seem like you really want to push someone's bike, so you can push my bike home, dad." her perfect little soul is really shining as she grows.
well a shower ought to do me for now. until tomorrow, sweet dreams!
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