A City Life For Me

We have a friend at church who absolutely loves our kids.  Well, lots of friends who love our kids, but several in particular have become special to our children.  Christine Trevellian & her mom Carol are a couple of those friends.  Elaine has trouble saying “Christine” so she has been nicknamed “Miss Chrine.”  A couple of weeks ago, Christine & Carol gave the kids matching rocking chairs.  Elaine was…elated.  And Nolan quickly got on board with the excitement.  Now that I have my camera back, I was able to capture a few pictures of them putting their little rockers to use.  Thanks, Miss Chrine & Miss Carol! {click pictures to enlarge}

My friend Maggy was a lifesaver and babysat our kids on Friday while we took the survey trip to the Bronx .  She had our kiddos, plus her two kiddos…all day.  That’s four kids under four, people.  And in the midst of all of it, she managed to capture these awesome pictures of our kids having fun together. Elaine loves having Havilah for a friend, and I’m sure Ian & Nolan will be best buds…one day.  We enjoy getting together on a regular basis.  I’m so thankful for good friends who live relatively close! Not sure what’s going on here… …but Nolan looks quite pleased with himself! They have matching headbands! Havilah introduced Elaine to the joys of playing dress-up.   Princess dress-up.  And she sent Elaine home with a “Belle” outfit and princess shoes.  It has been difficult to get Elaine to take them off for bath time, church, and bedtime.  Each evening she asks if she can please sleep in her yellow princess...

On Friday we took the first step toward knowing specifically where God is calling us to start a church in NYC.  There is an area in the Bronx where Pastor Bickel { our pastor } and Mr. Craig Hartman { Shalom Ministries , Ben was an intern with this ministry during college} have been praying about a church plant.  We don’t have specific leading toward any particular neighborhood, so we wanted to survey the area in the Bronx and be able to pray more specifically.  Mr. Hartman grew up in the Bronx and knows the area, so he and Pastor were our guides. For those who don’t know… New York City is divided into five boroughs .  Each borough has a president who works under the mayor.  The boroughs are Manhattan, The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island.  The Bronx is the northernmost borough.  Manhattan is technically an island and what most people think of as New York City.  Brooklyn and Queens make up the western part of Long Island.  And Sta...

My camera is in for repairs, so I don’t have any new pictures to post.  These are from a couple of weeks ago, but they never made it to the blog.

Over Labor Day week we got to spend a lot of time with Ben’s family.  We made the trip to Mass. on Sunday to spend the holiday with Mom & Dad Hamilton.  The kids & stayed until Friday while Ben returned to work on Tuesday.  We did lots of fun things – playing outside, bouncing at the bounce house play area in the mall, going to the lake, riding in the wagon, and watching Cinderella every. single. day.  I also squeezed in a Wal-Mart trip and a stop at the thrift stores.  I don’t get to do that in the City! The kids enjoyed the calm lake water…as compared to the ocean waves in Brooklyn. It was a beautiful day! This is Fezzik.  He is Grandma’s dog.  And the reason that my kids call her “Grandma Fezzi”. Grandma brought the balls home from work to fill the swimming pool and create a ball pit.  Elaine especially enjoyed this! The daily dose of Cinderella. When we returned to Brooklyn we were blessed with a vis...

For a few weeks Elaine and I have been praying for two specific things that the kids needed for this winter.  God has been very faithful to provide for all of our needs.  Though we could have scraped together the money to go and buy these items new, we decided to pray about it, with Elaine , and see what God would do.  And, there’s no rush because winter is not upon us yet. Sometimes I forget to pray for these items, but Elaine reminds me.  Yesterday we had the first part of our answer to prayer. Nolan needed a winter coat.  I had gone through all of the hand-me-downs, but the coats we had were either pink or too big.  I even checked the thrift stores when I was visiting my in-laws.  Yesterday as I put some of the fall clothes into the kids’ dressers, and hung up some clean clothes in the closet, I spied a blue winter coat.  It was shoved way in the back.  I was sure it was the 3T coat, too big for Nolan…but I decided to check again. To ...

    {it’s a little blurry, but they are kissing!}

11 years ago I was a student at BJU. {Wow, that makes me feel old!} I was on a break between classes.  Suddenly students started rushing into the student center and crowded around the TV. I couldn't see or hear what was going on, so I shrugged it off as nothing. When I returned to my dorm, I learned that it was a big something - a massive terrorist attack in New York City. I never would have imagined that I would now be living in New York City.  We were finally able to visit the 9/11 Memorial last Saturday.  It’s very moving to be there, to look down into the masive hole, to think about what used to reach to the sky from that spot.  Then you start to read the names of those 2,977 victims.  I thought this one was particularly sad – Renee A. May and her unborn child.  It’s also interesting to me that when someone else takes the life of a pregnant woman it is a double murder, but when the woman takes the life of her own unborn child, it is a...

Today I did something that I haven't done in forever.  In fact, as I was thinking about it...I'm pretty sure I haven't done this since before Elaine was born.  That's almost three years ago, people.   My kids joined me in this activity.  And while it didn't involve Starbucks or chocolate {two of my favorite things}, retail therapy or eating {two of my favorite activities}, we still had a blast.   This particular activity is something that I grew up doing with my own daddy.  At least once a week...summer or winter... rain or shine .  He taught me how to do it, and to do it well.  What is it?  Maybe this picture will help you:     Yes...we washed the car!  By hand! For free!   When I started driving, I "traded" washing and cleaning the inside and outside of the car every week for my insurance payment.  Dad is pretty picky when it comes to his cars, so he taught us to be pi...

Playing with Faith in her "dolly house" Trip to Mass. to visit Grandma & Grampa Hamilton.  Yes, he is holding a baby doll.  Yes, he spends too much time with Mommy & Sister.  Yes, one day he will trade the baby for a baseball bat!  Playing in Grandma's "ball pit"