Snippets from life this week

Asked when the boy shows back up after a while upstairs:

"Harry, what have you been up to?"

"I've been playing with my un-take-away-able toy - my imagination!"

overheard many times this week - a rendition of the 12 days of Christmas by Robert (2 years):

"3 french hens, 2 turtle tops and a partridge in a pantry."

Christmas 2010

Robert was  a bit overwhelmed by all the gifts and here he is taking his milk break.  He didn't actually open all his presents until 6 p.m.  He needed time to digest everything.

Maybe the walk to the bus stop will go a little faster now!

The boys inspecting and playing with their new toys.

Just what every boy needs a giant finger!  Both boys have been enjoying this, but the little one walks around saying, "Go Grace".  We don't know where that comes from , but it is amusing. 

I actually preached on December 26th and here it is :-)

Merry Christmas!

The packages are open, the meal is eaten and the silent night has given way to another ordinary day, full of ordinary concerns. 

Yet, Christmas has just begun.  It is the second day of Christmas, called Boxing Day in England.  We have 10 more days to go after today.  It will end on Epiphany, January 6^th, the day we celebrate the arrival of the wise men in Bethlehem and their recognition of Jesus as a king among men.

I love Advent and the feeling of waiting and anticipation.  I adore stealing a few moments to sit quietly and wonder about how Mary must have felt as she awaited her first child; a miraculous child whom she probably couldn’t fully contemplate or understand.  I hope that she didn’t think about what was to come and simply lived in hopeful expectation of a son who would be something extraordinary.

Now, Advent is over, Christmas day in its frenzy of new birth, visitors, gifts and love is finished.  Mary and Joseph are perhaps wondering what happens now.  They may be looking forward to getting back on that road and traveling back home to Nazareth, to their simple life and the people who know and love them best.

Anybody who’s had or lived with an infant will know that those first few weeks are full of confusion, exhaustion and moments of joy.  That more than anything new parents wonder, “What happened?  Where did my predictable life go?”  Mary and Joseph probably had those thoughts and even more.

Who is this child who has come to join this family?  He is supposed to be the answer to so many prayers, but he is a helpless infant.  Not only that, his birth has will force their family to flee to a foreign country and when they receive reports of what is happening at home, they cannot help but grieve the massacre of so many children.  Mary may remember sharing her pregnancy with a friend whose child is now buried and gone before it even got a chance to live.  Jesus’ birth was followed by grief for many, it is a study in contrasts.

Much like Christmas can be a study in contrasts.  It is a joyful awakening for all people.  Christ has come to walk among us.  He will quiet our weeping and bring us salvation.  He was and is the most powerful person who ever walked the earth.  And yet, Jesus was a person.  He began as a baby, a fragile, small infant who needed his parents and others to protect him and keep him alive to live out God’s promise.  He challenged the people of his day to look at God’s scriptures again and figure out what it really means to be in right relationship with God.  He made many people angry and he caused conflict in the life of most if not all of his followers.  Despite that he transmitted a new understanding of God and love to a world hungry for connection with God.

Even today, as Christians, Christmas is full of contrasting emotions!  We are joyful to remember that God is with us and walked among us.  Yet, we are still waiting for God to come and take away the rest of our grief.  Some of us here today are mourning the loss of loved ones even as we celebrate the baptism of three children who will be joining our family today.  Life today is as uncertain as it was 2000 years ago when Jesus came.  We still experience wars and famines.  There are still dictators who rule nations and kill innocents.  Humanity isn’t perfect just because God came and lived among us. 

Humanity is however, saved!  Christ did come and live a life with us that also experienced all those feelings we experience.  Jesus wept when his friend Lazarus died, Jesus got angry when his disciples did not fully listen to the things he was trying to teach them and Jesus laughed, with children, with friends, and with a joy that understood and loved all the foibles and nobilities of simple humans trying to live in right relationship with God.

There is good news!  The prophet Isaiah was right, God is all about redemption and showing us a new life beyond what we see today.  Mary and Joseph are in the wilderness, but they will come out of Egypt and the baby who today cannot even hold up his head, will someday bear all the cares of a troubled world upon his shoulders.

Christmas is a time to remember when you have felt a profound sense of hope and wellness.  It is that amazing moment when you look into the eyes of an infant or a child and you see forever.  You realize that this life is not just about you and that you would do anything to make sure this child and all other children live lives of peace and prosperity.  It is an invitation into the life of Christ. 

The Christmas message of incarnation (God with us) is also one of suffering and uncertainty.  But more importantly it is one of hope.  It reminds us that the almighty being to whom we pray, understands us thoroughly.  We live in uncertain times, but we have always lived in uncertain times.  The amazing thing that Christmas reminds us of is that God has already taken care of the evil of this world.  It may still be around, but ultimately it has been defeated in the life and death of Jesus Christ. 

So on this day after Christmas when some are anxious to get everything cleaned up and throw out the tree.  Some are already thinking about diets and bills and what comes now.  Please stop for a moment instead.  Don’t let this special time be lost because it feels like Christmas is over.

Advent gave us a chance to contemplate the hope that was coming.  Christmas is a brief season of 12 days.  Take those days to rejoice in what has come and what is coming.  Celebrate even though there are things to be done and chores to accomplish.  Be glad you aren’t on the road to Egypt to save your infant child, and be glad that Joseph and Mary did go back on the road to save Jesus and thereby to save us as well. 

This year, maybe you can do as we have done in the last few years.  Leave one of your nativities out and leave it out for the next 12 months.  Let it remind you once in a while that God did come and lives among us.  Let it lead you in July as it has lead you in December to contemplate just what it means to say that Christ lived and walked among us. 

The first Christmas wasn’t just life altering for a family from Nazareth.  It changed a world.  It still changes lives today and we are still welcoming new lives into a family that grows and changes daily.  May the Christmas season bring you a love and joy you cannot even now imagine and may you learn to pray like Mary that God’s will be done in your life today and always.

Merry Christmas from the Lloyds - pictures from past Christmases

This was the Christmas before Kevin and I got married - don't we look young?

Our first Christmas tree - the December before Harry was born

Harry's first Christmas - Harry is 8 months old

Harry's second Christmas - Harry is 1

Our last Christmas in Hickory - 2005 - Harry is 2

On Santa's lap in Newport, RI 2006 - Harry is 3

A white Christmas in Jamestown 2007 - Harry is 4

Robert's first Christmas 2008

Christmas 2008 - Harry is 5 and Robert is 9 months old

Christmas 2009 - Harry is 6

Christmas 2009 - Robert is 1

Quiet Weekend at home

It wasn't the plan, but Harry got the stomach bug on Friday and so we had a quiet weekend at home.  Fortunately Harry felt okay most of the time and by Sunday we were up for cookie baking, if not church.

Hanging out and reading together.

This child is precise and he placed every little pastille one by one.  See the little tongue sticking out - that is heavy concentration!

I couldn't get a joint picture where Harry's eyes were open, oh well.  

Decorating cookies is hard work and they were done to perfection.

You may notice in the pictures that both boys were still in pajamas.  We all hung out and watched television until around the time church usually begins.  Then I went up for a shower and they actually both played downstairs and let me shower long enough to even shave my legs!  After that was cookie decorating and I think clothes were finally put on, but that was more like 11:30 or 12:00.  A big contrast to our usual Sunday mornings.

Funny goings on

Information that was imparted to us by our 2 year old.

Upon being awakened:

"Daddy, you are Harry's Daddy and Mommy is my Mommy." the little guy loudly proclaims

"I'm your Daddy too." says Kevin slightly disturbed

"No, not my Daddy, Harry's Daddy and Mommy is my Mommy." the boy responds

Later in the day when observing Mommy & Daddy standing with arms around each other (looking at the boys reading on the couch).

"Daddy, you love Mommy?" he queries


"Yes, I do" responds Daddy


"Daddy loves you and Mommy loves me!"  says the boy in a firm and self satisfied manner to his Mommy.

Bad, bad baby, why can't you be good?

Here is Robert at Kevin's desk, when asked what he was doing he said, "I writing my i - ography".  I am not entirely sure what that means.  Robert has pretty much given up his nap over the past few weeks.  He still gets some "quiet" time in his room, but that can be interesting to listen to.  He still needs a nap somewhat so he can be a real bear in the evenings and is usually pretty tired by bedtime.  At the same time, when he does nap, it takes him a while to go to sleep.  We can hear him singing up in his room and playing with his crib buddies.

He is a little firecracker.  I thought that maybe God would gift me with one quiet, docile child, but that has not proven to be the case.  Robert is a different kind of a firecracker than Harry.  The difference in their ages can be a blessing and a difficulty.  Homework is a challenge sometimes because Robert wants my undivided attention and Harry's and he likes to torture Harry while he is trying to do homework.  I don't have to be sitting right next to Harry, but I need to be around to get him back on track occasionally and to answer questions.  Then I need to sit with him for 20 minutes or so while he is reading since that is an aloud project.

Yesterday, I finally gave in and put Robert in front of the television, but for whatever reason, Harry still had 10 minutes of reading time when the program was over and I didn't want to start another.  So Harry and I adjourned to the couch.  Here's what Robert did in the 10 minutes that Harry read to me:

1) got up on the couch next to me and leaned precariously off it saying "whoa, whoa," and then purposely fell off - he repeated the process since he thought it was funny and I sort of caught him the first time.  The second time I let him fall and he was not hurt, but decided that wasn't getting the desired result.

2) He walked around the living room in circles singing at the top of his lungs for a few minutes -again no response from Mom so

3) He collected all the little Christmas decorations that he could and walked them around then climbed up on a chair to a mirror and was pushing them up onto the mirror (a bit above his head) and banging them against it.

4) Finally he got a hard Santa toy and went back up the chair to the mirror and started banging on it - at this point Harry was about finished and I divested him of Santa and put him on the ground and asked him to find something better to play.

This afternoon while Harry was sitting having his snack and Dad and I were talking to Harry, Robert felt he was out of the picture and so he went and got the fly swatter from the pantry and proceeded to (gently) swat all of us on the head.  Then when we commented that he was a "bad baby" and I sang some of the "bad baby" song to him, he decided to bow to opinion and lay on the floor at my feet for about 5 minutes singing "bad bad baby" over and over again gleefully waving the fly swatter.

Now he is a tired baby and here he is a few minutes ago.

Family Weekend

Playing with the creche continues - he's setting things up again - note the holy family has been kicked out of the stable again.

Now why does that girl always go on top?  This camel is much more interesting.

Dad in search of the best tree - Robert in search of the zipper to chew upon.

 Helping to load the tree

Still trying to get that zipper

Read to me Mommy!

Fine, I'll read it myself

Creches & Instruments

Last year I bought the boys a Fisher Price nativity set that they could really play with.  It does get played with and the Holy Family, animals and assorted other characters (the angel, wise men, etc) have been on school bus rides and brought around the house.  They are moved into different positions relatively often.  This year right after I put them out (on a low shelf so Robert could easily get at it), Robert promptly rearranged them so that all the animals were in the barn and the people were all facing the animals adoringly while baby Jesus was kind of shoved to the back.

These two pictures, however, tell a different story.  I have a bunch of different creches around the house, most of them not child friendly.  Robert has discovered that if he gets the stool he can stand and get a close up look at some of the other ones.  He's also been very good about looking and not touching (if I remind him).  It is very cute and he now knows the main characters "Jesus, Jofus, & Mary".  I am keeping a close eye though, since I know how pretty and tempting it must be to actually pick them up and play with them.  You can't really blame him and I hope you can't blame me for wanting to try to keep the sets intact.

The other fun thing he's been doing is playing pretend flutes and trumpets and the like with a little stacking toy he has.  He is fond of a book called, "Zin Zin Zin a Violin" right now, so he happily walks around playing the flute and the trumpet and hands out instruments so whoever else is around can join in the fun.  Here are some pictures of Robert rocking out on the horn and flute.

Waiting in Advent

I love Advent, I love all the traditions - Advent wreaths and Advent calendars.  We slowly take out decorations for Christmas and our house becomes red and green.  Usually the creches go up first.  I have a bunch of different nativity scenes.  I also keep one out year round.  I like to have it to remind me of the nativity and the coming of hope into the world.  It is something I need to remember in July just as much as I do in December.

I love the cooking and baking I do in preparation and for others for gifts.  I like to think of new things to create for my friends and family each year.  I try my best to have an extra prayer devotion during Advent, this year I bought a book of daily devotions and then Kevin gave me a copy of what he is using at the Advent study at church.  I would love to be able to go to the Advent study, but the reality of being a non working clergy spouse is that it is not possible for me to do that.  I really don't mind, but find it kind of funny.  We have money for babysitters once in a while, but I don't like to "waste" it on something that we could use to have time together.  

I think that part of the joy of anything in life is the anticipation of its coming.  It seems very fitting then, that we spend a month anxiously and joyfully waiting for Christmas.  As a Christian I am waiting for 2 things - the celebration of Jesus' birthday and his coming into the world and the second coming of Christ that will forever change the world.  The first is very familiar and an easy thing to contemplate.  Now that I am a mother, I can really imagine how it must have been for Mary, alone and frightened and yet hopeful.  I remember that the first time I held both my boys.  For me it wasn't really a holy moment, that "falling in love" feeling came later, but there is a certain awe that comes in meeting a baby for the first time.  It is harder to imagine how it would be for the coming of a powerful, perhaps vengeful God.  It is a frightening concept to think of meeting somebody who knows me inside and out - I am sure it would be an uncomfortable moment.  So honestly, I don't think of it much, I just try to live my life as well as I can and be a good person and Christian.  

I hope that I am instilling a love of Advent and waiting within my children.  I think Harry has at least a kernel of it in him.  He like me often saves the best for last.  He'll do that with favorite foods or activities.  I think he likes knowing what is coming and waiting for it.  I am the same way.  I guess in a life that involves many times of waiting it is a good discipline to learn.  

So I wish you an Advent full of time to wait and wonder and look around yourself.  I hope that as you prepare for Christmas, you are able to remember what it is you are preparing for and how wonderful it is that you have the chance to prepare special things for your loved ones.  We live blessed lives and even amidst worries and troubles there is often joy, just waiting to be discovered.  May you see it this December, in the soft eyes of a grandparent remembering Christmases past, the sparkling eyes of a child meeting Santa Claus, or simple in a quiet moment when you see the lights and the colors for what they are; signs of hope for a baby who has come and the miracle of life that God gives us that continues to unfold and enfold us every day.

And here are the pictures from the first weekend in December

Robert in his Santa hat on the couch!  We decorated (all except the tree) on Friday

Julia & Harry on the Polar Express

Kevin and Harry on the Polar Express

Harry asked Santa for Batman Stuff - uh, oh better get on that :-)

Robert is quite the ladies man, here he is with one of the ladies he admires at church :-)

Alone on a Saturday

At this moment, the washer and dryer are busily chugging along, my kitchen and living room are relatively tidy and clean, the littlest Lloyd is quiet in his crib (not asleep, I think) and the other two boys are at the barber shop. We have already had a busy weekend and it is only midday on Saturday.  I am going to take advantage and put up a few blog posts, one of them on my beautiful older son and another with some photos - here's the first.

Oh I shouldn't forget that the week started out with Harry losing his first tooth!  Here he is wearing it proudly around his neck.

Friday morning we went to a parent teacher conference at school.  It went well enough and Harry is doing fine.  Not surprisingly he is doing very well in English/reading, his strength being the inferences and nuances he picks up in books and his weakness that he sometimes has so many ideas that he has trouble keeping to the assignment at hand.  I remember my 3rd grade teacher had a special book/writing center and how much I loved the chance to sit there and read and write stories.  Apparently my son is following in my footsteps.  He also loves science and keeps up fine with math.  He has been a bit antsy in school recently, but that is probably a combination of things - he's grown so we need to adjust his ADHD medication and Christmas is approaching.  He is a very lovable child and has a wonderful group of teachers, especially his main teacher.  She seems to have a rapport with him that really works in the classroom and that is making this a much easier year for him.  

When we first decided to try the medicines we were very nervous and I have to admit I was a bit resistant, but for Harry it has been the thing that has helped him blossom.  The medicine he is on doesn't change his personality or dull him in any way.  What it has done is allowed him to be the best Harry he can be and help him to sit still and gather his thoughts in a way that he could not do before.  I read a great book called "Putting on the Brakes" and that has been the best explanation for Harry and for me too.  He has a race car brain, that is powerful and fast, but he also has bicycle breaks, which lead to difficulties sometimes.  The medicine (and simply maturing) is helping him to strengthen and put on the brakes.  One of the hardest things when we got to the point of medicines was to explain to Harry, why we were at that point, he didn't want to take something that would change his brain, because he liked his brain!  That is very logical and good reasoning, but as parents, we knew that he could possibly be happier, more productive, etc. with medication. So we tried them (on the lowest dose possible for our very skinny boy) and they work for him.  He also continues with what we call his "entourage" at school to help with his sensory issues and his social thinking.  

I never thought that I would have a child with special needs, but what I've learned and keep learning is that all children have special needs.  My son has problems with sitting still and sometimes with paying attention in the way that children need to pay attention to be in school.  The box that is "normal" is very small in most schools these days and he just lives his life, care-freely and happily outside that box.  I also have learned that as his Mom I am his advocate in school and other areas in life.  This is a role where I need to be pro-active and where I need to be more assertive that I perhaps thought I would have to be.  However, we are blessed with a great school in our town and with educators who want to help all the children excel at school.  We are also blessed with a little boy who loves learning and so far loves school and I hope that I will be able to keep this going.  Finally, I would never want to change or "dull" Harry.  He is an awesome person, he makes me laugh and most days he (along with his brother) exhausts my mind and my body.  I feel so blessed at the same time I feel challenged, but I think that is a good thing.

Some Thanksgiving Weekend Pictures

The boys with Grampy dressed in their finest

All done -can we go now?

Family picture

Blast Off!

At the Museum of Science, Boston

Electricity is cool

He just liked pressing the buttons to make the machine say "Oops"

Since we went out for dinner on Turkey Day our turkey survived!