Ready for New Adventures

This is my son Nathan at age three. (All together now: "Awww!")

A friend was directing a production of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and asked if Nate could be an extra and sing in the angel choir. I could have turned her down. He was so young! In fact, he was the littlest member of the cast. What if he got stage fright at the last minute? What if he missed his cue to go out on stage? What if he halo fell off? But I didn't want him to miss out on this chance at stardom, and he answered with an enthusiastic, "Yeah!" when I asked if he wanted to be in Miss Kim's play, so I let him do it. I'm so glad I did. He had a wonderful time and did a great job. And at the risk of sounding like a gushing mom, he looked SO CUTE!!!

This is Nathan at age eleven. He has grown quite a bit as you can see, and he is about to step out into some new adventures.

Tomorrow, he is going to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, not with me, not with his grandparents or cousins, but with the junior high group from church. I was tempted to say no when he told me about the activity. He just joined the junior high group, and we barely know the leaders and kids. Once again, the mommy in me was saying, "He is so young!" As a soon-to-be sixth-grader, he could possibly be the youngest kid in the group. What if he gets talked into going on a ride that terrifies him? What if he gets separated from his group? What if he is the only one without a friend? But just like with the play, I don't want him to miss out and he REALLY wants to go, so I'm setting my anxieties aside and encouraging him to have a great time.

I consider it a practice run for mid-August when he goes to camp with a friend from Reno for a week. As excited as I am for him, my mommy fears have been revving up lately. What if he gets homesick? What if he gets sick or hurt? What if something upsetting happens? Once again, I know I need to focus on all that is exciting and wonderful, keep my worries to myself, and send him off knowing he needs to do things like go away to camp for a week without mom hovering. (For those of you who are saying to yourself, "Wait, he is eleven and just now going to the boardwalk with a group that doesn't include you? And is this really his first trip to sleep-over camp? What kind of helicoptor parent are you? Let's just say that after several crazy years, we are catching up on some experiences.)

All of this is reminding me that being a good mom includes letting my sons do things even when I'm not sure if I am . . . I mean they are ready, even if letting them do it means battling a lot of what-ifs. Each adventure provides more practice in trusting God to take care of them when I'm not looking. Each, "Sure, that sounds like fun" gives them a little more confidence. And even if one of my fears does come true, those will hopefully become opportunities to learn and grow.

So, have fun, Nate the Great! I am so thankful that you are the kind of boy who wants to put yourself out there and try things--the kind of boy who isn't afraid of a little adventure. 


 

"The Best Week Ever"

Here is a picture of our famous cabin:

Isn't it cute?

Mom, Dad, Kristy and her kids, and Nate and I are still coming down from what we all agreed was one of the best weeks we have ever spent at the cabin. We went from one weather extreme to another (rain on Days 1 and 2 then ending our week in the 100's), but decided in advance not to let rain or heat spoil our fun. It was one of those weeks when we just enjoyed being there away from work, the constant pressure to be on the computer, and reality in general. On those two rainy days, we enjoyed the relaxation of hunkering down (I don't think I have ever used the term hunker before) with beads, Shrinky Dinks and Play Dough. When we went fishing, each kid caught at least one fish. We met a cousin for dinner, took our traditional trips to Columbia, Cover's Apple Ranch and The Sugar Shack, played Ping Pong, rode the train in Jamestown for Mom's birthday, played mini golf, watched the original version of The Parent Trap for the hundredth time, and discovered a great ice cream and lunch shop with the coolest name in the world--Here's the Scoop--that has probably been in Jamestown forever but was new to us. We loved it so much that we ate there twice. It was one of those weeks that we didn't want to end and still feel refreshed for taking.

It continues to amaze me how God can use the same old cabin to enrich our lives year after year. It doesn't matter if we do the same stuff, discover new treasures, or get a lovely combination of both; it's our special spot, filled with memories where we are also creating fresh ones. We are all determined to go back at least one more time this summer, but if last week is all we get, I will be satisfied, because it was perfect.

Now, I will take this opportunity to share a few highlights as promised. (Don't you just love looking at other people's vacation photos, featuring people we don't know and places you didn't experience? Oh, I know, there's nothin' better.)

 Rainy Day Crafts

Fresh from Cover's - The Best Pie in the Universe 

Nate the Great, my handsome boy

Success! 

(Nathan (aka Nate), Haley, Kai, Devon)

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Proof that I was on the trip too

Who will be next to write in the cabin journal? 

A Week Off

These are pictures from last summer's trip to the family cabin in Sugar Pine. See how relaxed everyone looks? Well, except for the picture of Dad cleaning fish; Nathan looks pretty grossed out there.

Notice that I'm not in any of the shots above. That's because Mom is always the one taking the pictures.

Tomorrow, we are headed back to the cabin for an entire week, which is why I won't be blogging this coming Wednesday like I usually do. The only person missing is Christian, who has to work (insert sad face here).

My family has been going to the cabin since my parents, Dad's siblings, and their parents built it in the mid-70's, and the rosewood paneling on the walls reflects that. The decor includes mismatched furniture, an oil-on-velvet painting of a mountain lion that freaked us kids out when we were little, and a chandelier that Grandma bought at a garage sale that apparently inspired the building of the cabin. (Instead of buying a light fixture to go with the cabin, we built a cabin to go with the light fixture; that's the way it's done in my family.) My childhood is filled with memories of playing Little House on the Prairie around the tree in the side lot, going to Columbia State Park where we had picnics at the schoolhouse and could not leave without a trip to The Candy Kitchen, and fishing at Pine Crest Lake. If we got bored, we looked through a set of children's encyclopedias from the 1950's, Time Life books about the Old West, and Dad's yearbooks. (Those kept us in stitches for hours on end.)

Now my sisters and I are creating those memories for our kids. We have boys, except for poor Haley, the lone girl, so they do more sword fighting in the back yard than playing Little House, but we still can't leave Columbia without a trip to that candy store, and those yearbooks are providing laughs for the next generation. (The truth? Kristy and I do most of the laughing. I'm sorry, but what were they thinking with those '60's hairdos?)

We thank God constantly for providing this wonderful get-away spot. We could care less if the kitchen counter looks like it belongs in an episode of The Brady Bunch, showers must be announced to avoid being scalded if someone happens to run water or flush the toilet, and we have no idea what is living in the dungeon downstairs. (Dungeon sounds so much cooler than crawl space where we store sleds in winter and inner tubes in summer.) It's the cabin, where tacky, dirty, Christmas mugs in August, and wondering if we will find out that the bathroom floor needs replacing when someone falls through it is half the fun.  

So that's where I'll be on Wednesday when I'm not blogging. I promise to include pictures in my post-vacation post.

Happy Summer!