John & Mindy McCracken's blog

Memory is not what the heart desires

noreply@blogger.com (Mindy McCracken) — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 03:33:00 +0000

If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. (Romans 14:8-9)
I read this passage out loud after telling my kids that their only living great grandparent (my Mam Mam) went home to be with Jesus today. My 4 year old, Mary Grace, said of the verse, "Momma, dat means dat if we die, we will be wiff God, and if we don't die, den we will still be wiff God." True comfort, indeed.

Thinking about the loss of my last living grandparent has naturally caused a flood of memories in my head. Most of those memories having me sitting at her kitchen table as she busied herself with fixing coffee, frying potatoes (in leftover bacon grease), watering the violets on the window sill, welcoming and caring for the loads of company that came through that kitchen, loving my Pap, always working, never complaining, and yet always giving of her time and attention. When I want to go to 'a safe place' in my mind, I picture myself right there in that kitchen.

Thinking about memories calls to mind one of my favorite passages from The Fellowship of the Ring. The Fellowship has just left Lothlorien and Gimli the dwarf is openly grieving, having to leave behind the peace and beauty of such a place. Legolas tries in vain to comfort Gimli with the words, "...the least reward that you shall have is that the memory of Lothlorien shall remain ever clear and unstained in your heart, and shall neither fade nor grow stale." Gimli replies, "Maybe...and I thank you for your words. True words doubtless; yet all such comfort is cold. Memory is not what the heart desires."

As much as I treasure the memories I have in my grandmother's kitchen, I find even now that those memories come with an ache rather than a comfort. Memory is not what the heart desires. Our hearts desire reality. And so I find true comfort in the verse above and in my 4 year old's interpretation of it. I also find great comfort in the words of Jesus in Revelation 21, "Behold, I am making all things new," ...even memories that ache.

When the kid to adult ratio favors the kid...

noreply@blogger.com (Mindy McCracken) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 04:54:00 +0000

The other day I decided to have Christopher and Sarah do a little P.E. in our family room before bedtime. After doing leg lifts, crunches, stretches and whatnot, Sarah got up and started doing jumping jacks. Christopher joined her and I remarked on how well they did their jumping jacks. Sarah replied, "Yeah, but it kind of hurts when you need to poo poo." Christopher fell to the floor laughing....

One night at the dinner table, the girls were all proclaiming how much they loved chicken legs. "Oh mommy, these are the most delicious chicken legs...I just love chicken legs...Could we eat this every night?...These are the legs of a chicken...that's why it's called a chicken. leg." I broke in and said, "Aren't you glad these aren't human legs? I mean, we would need to get bigger plates." They were all silent for a moment until Hannah (4) broke in and said, "But we wouldn't like human legs because they would taste...disgusting." Sarah (7) then said, "Here Mommy, cut off my leg!" Then Hannah said, "Yeah, cut off all of our legs!" Then Mary Grace (3), in a very matter-of-fact voice, said, "If you cut off our wegs, we would not be able to walk." Christopher chimed in with, "But we could jump!" I tried to explain that you can't jump without legs, but realized that I had lost control of the conversation a long time ago.

Last night, John's parents watched the kids for us while we went to a Christmas party. Hannah got out of her bed and waltzed into the family room where Nana and Pop were watching Andrea Bocelli. Hannah asked, "WHAT is he singing?" Nana answered, "He's singing a song in another language." Hannah then declared that she could sing songs in other languages as well. Nana said, "Well, go ahead. I want to hear you." So Hannah got up into a chair and started singing, "Cock-a-doodle-doo..."

Sabbatical reflections...through a rhyme

noreply@blogger.com (Mindy McCracken) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 02:09:00 +0000

For ten years, John has ministered and preached to all of you...

So the elders all agreed a sabbatical was long overdue.

A time to rest, read and renew without the pressures of ministry,

As well as some much needed down-time to spend with his family.

So instead of boring you with details of how we spent our time,

We thought we’d entertain you with some highlights through a rhyme.

We decided to stay home and lay low throughout the month of July

Deep cleaning and organizing our house, otherwise known as, “pig sty.”

At the end of the month, we packed our things and kids of young ages

Driving north in our van until we reached our good friends, the Gages.

After spending several fun days with our dear friends who moved away,

We packed up again and made our drive eastward to PA.

For the next two months, we settled down in Mindy’s mother’s house.

Though I wouldn’t describe our stay there as being quiet as a mouse.

While you were all in Texas, suffering in the drought and unbearable heat,

We enjoyed lush green landscapes, cool weather, and soft grass under our feet.

There are many beautiful places in Pennsylvania, we’ll have you know.

For instance, Longwood Gardens is a place to which we like to go.

For all the beauty that is found, there’s one place that Mindy holds dear,

The mountains of Central Pennsylvania, where she spent her early years.

September came, we camped near Rickett's Glen State Park,

a favorite spot of John’s.

We stayed in a cottage with a lake...
...and some really aggressive swans.

Ricketts Glen has 26 beautiful waterfalls, however, we saw only two.

You try hiking down steep, slippery rocks with this inexperienced crew!

The next weekend we drove to New Jersey to visit our friends, the Yohannans.

Doubling the household from six to twelve requires some serious plannin’!

The next day we drove south to see friends from Mindy’s college days

We then went home to celebrate the 3^rd birthday of Mary Grace.

The next weekend we toured the city of Washington, D.C.

The White House and the monuments, and those museums that all are free.

The next two weeks we decided to relax for all that it was worth

Since we would drive south to spend a week at the ‘happiest place on earth.’

At Epcot we went “Soarin’” among other rides, and visited countries with our brood,

One favorite was “The Seas” with Nemo...
...where fish are friends, not food.

At Hollywood Studios we loved the Toy story and virtual Star Wars ride,

Eating at a restaurant and meeting more Disney characters inside.

Magic Kingdom was the kids’ favorite, they’ll proclaim with lots of vigor

Mary Grace loved the Winnie the Pooh ride, “’Cause you get to bounce wiff Tigger!”

Don’t forget the Peter pan ride or Pirates of the Caribbean,

Or flying Dumbo, riding roller coasters, or all the characters we’d be seein’.

At Animal Kingdom we saw animals from Komodo Dragons to tall giraffes,

We even met King Louie and Pocohontas, and got their autographs.

To stick to a schedule at Disney with 4 kids, you have to run faster than a jog.

When really the kids were content to hang out at the cabin to catch the frogs.

By the time we got home from all our adventures, our own beds felt like heaven.

We also thought we’d better tell you that our family of six will be seven.

We discovered this news way back in June, and our heads began to whirl.

It wasn’t until we came back to Texas that we found out it’s another girl.

This Thanksgiving we are very thankful for the for the 4 months we had together

For returning to our beloved Trinity family and to Texas in cooler weather.

John is thankful for time to read and pray and get closer to the Lord,

So that he can return energized to preach and minister the Word.

Sarah's two big milestones while on vacation...

noreply@blogger.com (Mindy McCracken) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 03:03:00 +0000

We are coming to the end of John's 4 month sabbatical, which has been fun-filled and refreshing for our whole family. The first month (July), we stayed home, worked on long-overdue house projects (deep cleaning and organizing) while visiting different churches in the area each Sunday. August 1st, we began the long drive north to Cincinnati to visit our good friends, the Gages, who recently moved there from Texas. After a few wonderful days of visiting with them, we drove east across Ohio and PA before arriving at my mom's house, the place we would call "home" for the next 2 months.

While we were in PA, we travelled to visit family, camp in Rickett's Glen, tour D.C. and visit friends. It was on September 11th (the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and Mary Grace's 3rd birthday), that we lost Sarah's blankie in transit from spending the night at one of our friends' homes in NJ. Sarah has had this pink blankie since birth and it became her security (Linus) blanket about the same time she found her thumb, which was probably around 7 weeks of age.

I remember packing the blankie that morning to make sure we wouldn't leave without it, but Sarah informed me that she snuck it out and forgot to put it back. After many tears, prayers, phone calls back and forth with my NJ friend, who never did find it, we sent Sarah to bed.

Sometime in October while we were on the road either to or from Disney World, Sarah declared, "Mommy, I haven't sucked my thumb since I lost my blankie." I told her I knew and that I was very proud of her. I also said that if Aunt Hien ever found her blankie, she would have to make sure she didn't start sucking her thumb again. It was then that Sarah said something that surprised me. "Mommy, you can tell Aunt Hien to stop looking for it. I don't need my blankie anymore." WOW! What a milestone for my big girl!

Oh, it was also during our weekend in NJ that Sarah's first loose tooth appeared to be loose enough to pull. We were at Jake and Jaya's house for the night, so I implored nurse Jaya to give the tooth a yank. Sarah was very brave at first, but then chickened out. After a couple more weeks of that tooth hanging by a thread, it finally fell out on its own while we were at my mom's salon getting haircuts on September 26th.

So yes, we went to Disney World and had a wonderful week full of memories there, but the big milestones that I'll remember were that Sarah lost her blankie (and quit sucking her thumb as a result) and her first tooth while we were in PA.

more family funnies...

noreply@blogger.com (Mindy McCracken) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 18:14:00 +0000

During our church's VBS a few weeks ago, I dressed up as Peter the disciple after a couple days of dressing up as the lifeguard, Manatee Mindy. When the 3rd graders walked in, they started saying, "Hi, Manatee Mindy." I corrected them and said, "Oh, Manatee Mindy isn't here today. My name is Peter the disciple." Several of the kids responded with, "Hi, Peter", but Christopher raised his hand and said, "Hi, person with a confused gender."

Last Thursday I was sitting with Christopher while he practiced piano, making sure that he was practicing correctly and not skipping any assignments. After he finished his last song, I told him it was time to practice his drills. He said, "I was hoping that you'd let me skip the drills since I played that last song perfectly." Feeling sort of tiger-motherish, I said, "Christopher, your Chinese mother is not going to let you take short cuts. You need to learn the Chinese work ethic." He paused for a moment and then said, "The way I see it, all that work creates a lot of pollution in China." I nearly fell out of my chair I was laughing so hard. But I still made him do his drills...

Yesterday after we returned from the pool, Hannah (4) took off her wet swim suit and the proceeded to play in the toy room. Christopher (8) walked into the kitchen and very seriously asked me, "Mommy, why is Hannah playing naked in front of the doll house?" I sighed and said, "Oh, because Hannah is very absentminded." Christopher responded, "It concerns me that she might want to start a nudist colony when she grows up."

This morning I scheduled a doctor's appointment for Mary Grace (2) because she came down with a fever yesterday afternoon and complained of a sore throat. She made it very clear that she didn't want to go to the doctor, so Sarah (6) jumped in to explain, "Mary Grace, they're not going to give you a shot. They're just going to open your mouth and look inside with a flashlight, like this, AAAAAAAAHHHHH...they're not going to take you apart."

Family funnies

noreply@blogger.com (Mindy McCracken) — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 01:49:00 +0000

On the way to church this morning, Christopher (almost 8) asked, "What does GOR-met mean?"

"Huh? How do you spell it?"

"G-O-U-R-M-E-T."

"OH, you mean 'gourmet'. That means fancy and delicious food."

-pause-

"Then they shouldn't have that word describing the food at Panda Express."

Appalled but laughing, I asked, "You mean you saw that word on a sign for Panda Express?!? That's what I call false advertising!"

Christopher then said, "In his spare time, the owner of Panda Express needs to try the food at 3-6-9 Chinese BBQ."

That's my boy. Start 'em young, I say.

During church today, I had my arm around Sarah (6) as she was leaning into me. As I noticed her reaching for her nose, I quickly grabbed her hands and held them down in her lap to keep her from picking her nose. Since she was unable to grab those boogers herself, she simply turned her head to the side and wiped her nose on my bare arm. Immediately grossed out, I pulled my arm away and began madly wiping it off with a napkin. She thought this was hilarious and couldn't stop giggling. My apologies to those who may have witnessed this exchange of mucus.

Tonight as I was about to read from the Jesus Storybook Bible , I announced the title of our next-up story about Zacchaeus called, "The Man Who Didn't Have Any Friends (none)". Christopher looked up and said, "Well, he wouldn't be able to have facebook if he didn't have any friends."

Frosty 5K...

noreply@blogger.com (Mindy McCracken) — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 22:33:00 +0000

In my last post, I mentioned that I had picked up running again after completely giving it up about 2 years ago when my 4th child was born AND I started homeschooling. I just figured, this is just a season of life that cannot include exercise. To be fair, it's pretty difficult to find time or energy to exercise when you're sleep deprived, have 4 young children to take care of all day long, and then figure out homeschooling along with that. Our associate pastor's wife and I have been talking about getting back into exercise for the past year or so since we live near each other and we're both in the same boat - except she has 6 kids and is homeschooling 4 of them. Then one day, she sent me an email saying let's move beyond talk. We were both motivated by a guy in our church who had picked up running and was trying to get a group together to sign up for the Frisco Frosty 5K on December 11th. So in mid-September, we started the 'couch to 5K' workout program and today, we ran the Frosty 5K!

I ran a Susan Komen 5K in Phoenixville back in 1997 in about 25 minutes. I certainly wasn't looking to beat my last time today, but I ran today's 5K in 28:20, ranked 18th in my age group (about 78 women) and 240th overall (about 800 runners), which gave me about a 9 minute/mile pace. I wasn't training to 'race' today, but rather to have fun. And it was fun! It's definitely motivating to be with a group and have people you know cheering you on. It feels great to be back into running and I'm looking forward to another 5K in the future...when my legs don't feel so sore!

More effects of the Fall...

noreply@blogger.com (Mindy McCracken) — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 03:15:00 +0000

It's been a long while since I've posted anything on this blog...

Yesterday morning, I came back from my early morning run (oh yes, I've started running again since my last post - I think I'm about 6 or 7 weeks into it) and found out that Christopher was complaining of a stomach ache. That's about all he said about it and he then proceeded to eat a full breakfast of french toast. I figured he must be fine since he ate breakfast and then asked him to get dressed and ready to start school. Next thing I know, he's lying in my bed under the covers. I said, "Hey, didn't I tell you to get dressed?" He groaned and said that his tummy still hurt. I asked him what he meant by that and he couldn't quite find the words. I left him there so I could at least get school ready for Sarah. After about 10 minutes I finally had the presence of mind to bring him a bowl or something, just in case. He was in my bed, after all. I walked in the room, laid the bowl on the bed next to him and said, "Hey Christopher, here's a bowl just in case you feel like you're going to get sick." I kid you not, the second after I said that, he leaned over the bowl and hurled his french toast breakfast into it! Good timing - sheesh.

After I figured he was finished, I made him follow me to the bathroom. As he stumbled alongside, he declared, "If only Adam and Eve didn't choose to obey Satan." Indeed. We'd all be spared from the dreaded stomach bugs.

Conversations I overheard while painting...

noreply@blogger.com (Mindy McCracken) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 03:32:00 +0000

Yesterday I took on the task of painting Christopher and Sarah's room for the first time since we moved into this house. It was high time we added some color to that room bathed in bone white builder paint, so why not do it the week before we leave for vacation? Oh, the other big motivator was that we had just been given a bunk bed from some friends of ours, but we didn't want to put the bunk bed together until we painted the room.

So as soon as we were finished with breakfast, I started hauling everything out of the room, bit by bit. What I found behind the dressers and under the beds was rather appalling, so then began the cleaning process. I clogged the vacuum cleaner with all of the clumps of dust and had to take the whole thing apart to unclog it. I then had the kids wipe down the base boards before I put down the blue tape. This whole process took the entire morning up until lunch. The tape was on all base boards, doors, window seats, electrical sockets, etc., the drop cloth was down and we were ready to paint...but not until the younger two (Hannah and Mary Grace) were down for their naps. I realized that the last time we painted a room in the house, it was before we had any kids...

Mary Grace looks on as Sarah and Christopher wipe down baseboards.

This photo captures the bone white builder paint, but does not show all of the scuff marks that accumulated over the years.

It was quite a task keeping all the kids out of the room while I was setting it up. Christopher grew tired of being kicked out and was impatient to start painting, so he posted a sign on the door that read, "Work place is opened"...as if that would speed things up.

Painting took ALL afternoon. Christopher and Sarah eagerly helped with the painting when we first got started and kept at it for quite a while. They kept saying things like, "I love painting", "this is so fun", "this is REAL work", "Yeah, this is what adults do - I like to do adult work", and "look at this, Sarah - look how much I painted here" and "Oh Christopher, you need to get some paint over there" or "I need you to come over here and paint this part that I can't reach." Surprisingly enough, they were very thorough, took their jobs very seriously and did a great job.

Eventually, my neighbor sent her daughter over to see if they wanted to come out and play. By that time, they were ready and I could go over all the spots they missed and finish it off. When it was all said and done, the painting, detail work or touch ups were completed around 5pm.

While I was working on the edging up by the ceiling, John was out in the garage figuring out how to put the bunk bed together and listening to his sermon from this past Sunday. The kids came back over and I heard the neighbor girl ask, "Is that your dad talking?" Christopher replied, "Yeah, that's his sermon." After that I didn't hear anything until Sarah walked up and said, "Hey Rylie, what are you doing?" She said, "I'm listening to your dad talk." Sarah said, "Oh, but it's really boring...come with me." Too funny. At that part of the afternoon, I think we had accumulated up to 8 kids, including our own, running through the house.

Here's the finished product along with the bunk bed, which took John and his dad the remainder of the evening to put together.

Sarah conceded to painting the room blue ("Ocean View", to be precise) because she knows she'll eventually move into the pink room with Hannah and Mary Grace. We have yet to paint the girls' room, but we've already bought the paint ("Hawaiian breeze"). I just need some time to recover before I start that project.

Sarah is enjoying the extra space in the room. She also assured me that while she doesn't like the color blue (it's a 'boy' color to her), she does like blue paint.

This is what I captured right after Christopher said, "Hey Hannah, look at me up in my new bunk bed!"

Another view. Even though blue is a 'cool' color, I think it adds a lot of warmth to the room.

Christopher, enjoying his new room.

Sweet and funny sister moments

noreply@blogger.com (Mindy McCracken) — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 03:37:00 +0000

The following photos demonstrate the nurturer nature of my oldest daughter, Sarah, and the copy cat nature of my youngest, Mary Grace. Mary Grace is heavily into Eric Carle board books (well, any board book, for that matter) and is constantly grabbing a book from her book basket and begging us to read to her...even if I'm in the middle of cooking the meal or if I'm just sitting down to eat. It is at these inconvenient moments that I tell her to take the book to Sarah or Hannah, both of whom take up the responsibility most eagerly. Being the oldest daughter, Sarah has always been a little mommy. Now it is so sweet to see Hannah picking up that role with Mary Grace as well.

Here you will see Sarah reading Eric Carle's Head to Toe, a huge favorite with all of my kids during the toddler years.

When Sarah first laid down on the floor with the book, Mary Grace laid down on her tummy right next to her! Of course, I didn't get to the camera in time for that pose before they started moving.

"I am a cat. I can arch my back. Can you do it?" "I can do it!"

"I am a camel. I can bend my knees. Can you do it?" "I can do it!"

The power of the cross...

noreply@blogger.com (Mindy McCracken) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 19:19:00 +0000

The Power of the Cross

Words & Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend

Oh, to see the dawn
Of the darkest day:
Christ on the road to Calvary.
Tried by sinful men,
Torn and beaten, then
Nailed to a cross of wood.

Chorus:
This, the pow’r of the cross:
Christ became sin for us;
Took the blame, bore the wrath—
We stand forgiven at the cross.

Oh, to see the pain
Written on Your face,
Bearing the awesome weight of sin.
Ev’ry bitter thought,
Ev’ry evil deed
Crowning Your bloodstained brow.

Now the daylight flees;
Now the ground beneath
Quakes as its Maker bows His head.
Curtain torn in two,
Dead are raised to life;
“Finished!” the vict’ry cry.

Oh, to see my name
Written in the wounds,
For through Your suffering I am free.
Death is crushed to death;
Life is mine to live,
Won through Your selfless love.

Final Chorus:
This, the pow’r of the cross:
Son of God—slain for us.
What a love! What a cost!
We stand forgiven at the cross.

See a video and listen to the music for this here:

There is therefore now no condemnation...

noreply@blogger.com (Mindy McCracken) — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 14:28:00 +0000

"Our shame is ended, for He has borne it! Our punishment is removed: He has endured it all. Double for all our sins has our Redeemer paid. Return unto thy rest, O my soul, and let peace take full possession of thy weeping heart.” Charles Spurgeon

This and that...

noreply@blogger.com (Mindy McCracken) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:49:00 +0000

Cutest thing - I hadn't heard from Mary Grace in a while (usually not a good sign), so I looked in the backyard and found her like this.

Then of course, Hannah and Sarah wanted me to take their picture.

Mary Grace settled herself in...

Sweetness...

Christopher squinting in the sun.

Hannah and Sarah in a sea of bubbles.

MG covered in suds. (yes, that's tear-free shampoo)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Mindy McCracken) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 02:29:00 +0000

As far as I know, I don't have a single drop of Irish blood running through my veins. However, in honor of the holiday, I thought I'd bake my first loaf of Irish soda bread. It's sweeter than a yeast bread, but not as sweet as your normal, sticky sweet bread. We ate nearly 1/2 the entire loaf and I may be back for more before the night is through...

And now, in honor of St. Patrick himself, I want to post his "breastplate prayer", which is one of my favorites:

I arise today

Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,

Through the belief in the threeness,

Through confession of the oneness

Of the Creator of Creation.

I arise today

Through the strength of Christ's birth with his baptism,

Through the strength of his crucifixion with his burial,

Through the strength of his resurrection with his ascension,

Through the strength of his descent for the judgment of Doom.

I arise today

Through the strength of the love of Cherubim,

In obedience of angels,

In the service of archangels,

In hope of resurrection to meet with reward,

In prayers of patriarchs,

In predictions of prophets,

In preaching of apostles,

In faith of confessors,

In innocence of holy virgins,

In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today

Through the strength of heaven:

Light of sun,

Radiance of moon,

Splendor of fire,

Speed of lightning,

Swiftness of wind,

Depth of sea,

Stability of earth,

Firmness of rock.

I arise today

Through God's strength to pilot me:

God's might to uphold me,

God's wisdom to guide me,

God's eye to look before me,

God's ear to hear me,

God's word to speak for me,

God's hand to guard me,

God's way to lie before me,

God's shield to protect me,

God's host to save me

From snares of devils,

From temptations of vices,

From everyone who shall wish me ill,

Afar and anear,

Alone and in multitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and those evils,

Against every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul,

Against incantations of false prophets,

Against black laws of pagandom

Against false laws of heretics,

Against craft of idolatry,

Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,

Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.

Christ to shield me today

Against poison, against burning,

Against drowning, against wounding,

So that there may come to me abundance of reward.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,

Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ on my right, Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise today

Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,

Through belief in the threeness,

Through confession of the oneness,

Of the Creator of Creation.

A 6 1/2 year old's thoughts on the aseity of God

noreply@blogger.com (Mindy McCracken) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:11:00 +0000

Yesterday evening after all the girls had gone to bed, Christopher and I were sitting in the family room having conversations about random things. After a few moments of silence, he blurted out, "Well, we could walk to Nana's house since we know the way. Right?" I said, "Well, you could, but it's 3 miles to Nana's house." Undaunted, Christopher replied, "So? We walked more than 3 miles on that hike in Colorado, right?" I conceded, "Yes, we hiked 3 1/2 miles...but you'll remember that everyone was falling apart on the last mile back to the van. You had blisters on your feet, Sarah kept tripping and scraping her knees, Mary Grace was crying..." Christopher said, "Yeah. It was like a 6-person Cherokee Trail of Tears." Oh, that gave me a good chuckle. Gotta love those homeschooled kids.

I shared this story with Nana this morning which reminded her of a conversation that she had with Christopher in the car the other day. Christopher said out of the blue, "Nana, you know what I have a hard time believing?" Nana: "What's that?" Christopher said, "I just don't understand how God can have no beginning." Nana said, "Yes, that is a very hard thing for us to understand. But He doesn't have an ending either." Christopher quickly said, "Oh, I can believe that He doesn't have an ending. I just don't understand how He doesn't have a beginning. I mean, when did God come to be?" Nana said, "He didn't, He just always was." Christopher said, "When I get to heaven, that's definitely one thing I'm going to ask God about... Do you think that we'll be able to see God?" Nana, "Well, God is a Spirit and doesn't have a body...but Jesus does, and you'll be able to see Jesus." Then Sarah, my 5 year old, interjected, "Christopher, just talk to Jesus. Jesus has a body and He's the same as God."

Love it!

Finally caught on tape...

noreply@blogger.com (Mindy McCracken) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:13:00 +0000

As you may have seen from the previous post, Mary Grace started taking steps while holding on to something, but crawling is still her preferred and most efficient form of mobilization. A few days ago, she stood up and took a step toward me before falling to the floor. After we all cheered, she got up and did it again. For several days after that, she had no other such attempts, but then started pulling herself up to stand, letting go and taking a step or two over the last few days. All of these were spontaneous and unpredictable and never on command, so we haven't managed to capture any of these unassisted steps on video...until today!

The next video cracks me up because it also shows MG nodding her head "yes" when I ask her a question, blowing raspberries, and then taking a few more steps after climbing off the horse.

Learning to walk, etc...

noreply@blogger.com (Mindy McCracken) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:03:00 +0000

Mary Grace has been pulling up to stand, cruising, and climbing for a while now, but she hasn't started taking any steps yet. She still hasn't taken steps without assistance, but for the first time today I noticed her push the ottoman (it has wheels) and walk behind it. So tonight I stood her up behind the activity walker and she just took off...

Looks like she's on the same trajectory as Sarah was at this age. Sarah started walking on her own at 14 months. MG is 13 1/2 months.

The following video of MG learning to eat with a fork was taken about 2 weeks prior to the above video. I thought it was funny that both videos show Sarah being MG's little helper.

The effects of the Fall...

noreply@blogger.com (Mindy McCracken) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 01:55:00 +0000

Tonight I was reading the first 3 stories from The Big Picture Story Bible, by David Helm to Sarah and Hannah. We have recommended this story bible before as a great resource for family worship because it so beautifully connects all the stories of the Bible together as God's one big story of redemption. There are probably too many pictures and not enough words for Christopher at this point (though he still enjoys it), but it is at just the right level for the girls to understand. We have read it to them over and over again and they are getting the themes of redemptive history written on their hearts, which is such a joy to see as a parent.

The first story is titled "The Very Good Beginning", which talks about how God created all thing, created people in His own image and established His good rule over His people. The second story is called, "The Very Sad Day", which talks about when sin entered the world and changed everything. As I was reading about Adam and Eve's choice to believe the lies of Satan and mistrust the goodness of God and how sad they were after sin had entered into their hearts, I noticed that Sarah was wiping tears away from her eyes. I stopped reading and asked her why she was sad and she said, "Because it was such a sad day for Adam and Eve...and could you please turn the page?" It really tugged at my heartstrings to see how deeply affected she was and I was eager to get to the good news on the next page as well, where God promises that He will one day send Someone to crush Satan's head and rescue His people from sin. Sarah closed her eyes and said, "Please God, could you send Jesus to crush Satan's head again?" I assured her that Jesus already crushed the power of Satan when He died on the cross and rose from the dead, and that one day, Jesus will wipe away every tear from our eyes (there's a great picture of this in the last story titled, "The Very Good Ending", which I showed Sarah) and we will never again experience sin, sadness, pain, suffering or death in the new heavens and new earth.

Thank you Lord for breaking through my 4 year old's little heart tonight with the hard truths of the Fall and the deep assurances of the Gospel. And thank you for reminding me of those truths through her eyes. May we both continue to recognize our desperate need of salvation and cling to Jesus our Rescuer.

The saga of Christopher's first loose tooth...

noreply@blogger.com (Mindy McCracken) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:13:00 +0000

BEFORE: Christopher's tooth has been loose and hanging by a mere thread for a couple of weeks now. No manner of trickery, bribery or persuasion has worked. I think the loose tooth was bothering us way more than it was bothering him!

AFTER: Today was the day. I could stand it no longer. He let me wiggle it for 10 seconds and then I convinced him to let Nana do the same. She pulled it without him even knowing or feeling it, it was so loose! You should see how relieved and happy he has been since it has been pulled!

The memory of a golfish...

noreply@blogger.com (Mindy McCracken) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 02:19:00 +0000

Yesterday while I was madly trying to get dinner ready, Christopher was asking me to think up something fun to do and Hannah wanted me to read her a book. I came up with the brilliant idea for Christopher to sit down and write a story, which just prodded him to write an 'encyclopedia' of monsters, and got Hannah to sit at the table with him and color. His imagination was going wild as he began to write down these outlandish statistics about these monsters that were bigger than galaxies and Hannah kept asking him what the names of the creatures were in his big dinosaur book that was sprawled out on the table. After repeatedly asking him the same questions (which 2 year olds are want to do) to which he'd already given answers, Christopher cried out in frustration, "You're a FISH! Because fish have a memory of 3 seconds!"

Ever hear the one about the goldfish who declared, "Hey, who put this castle here?? These people think just because I have a memory span of 3 seconds that I'll be satisfied with the same 'ol fish flakes...Ooooo, look! Fish flakes!...That's a nice castle..."

Sarah asks for the blessing tonight...

noreply@blogger.com (Mindy McCracken) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 02:13:00 +0000

Tonight as we all sat down at the dinner table, Sarah declared, "Oh, I wanna pray, I wanna pray!" So we all bowed our heads and she prayed, "Dear Heavenly Fah-der, fank you for da food and fank you that we got to go to Colorado...and if anyone else from Texas wants to go to Colorado, You better drive their car FAST! In Jesus name, Amen." Needless to say, there was much laughter that followed...

How to Misuse Strong's Concordance

noreply@blogger.com (John McCracken) — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:17:00 +0000

Here is a great example of how to take Strong's Concordance and severely abuse it...

Lots of progress this week...

noreply@blogger.com (Mindy McCracken) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:15:00 +0000

Since we came home from vacation, our weeks have been pretty full (2 weddings, 2 funerals, VBS, swim lessons, a few fun days at the lake with some friends, etc.). I foresaw that this week would be our first 'down' week, so I geared up to potty train Hannah, who had been showing signs of readiness ever since the week prior to our vacation in PA. I thought of potty training her while we were in PA, but there's something to be said for diapers when you're traveling and constantly visiting other people's homes.

Nana volunteered to keep Christopher, Sarah and Mary Grace on Tuesday, the first day of intensive potty training. There were several accidents, lots of carpet/floor cleaner and loads of laundry, but Hannah also had many successes and was even self-iniating by the evening. On day 2, she only had 2 accidents - one in the morning when she started to wet herself, stopped short, ran to the potty and successfully finished the job; and one mishap with #2...always gross. On day 3, her only real accident was not making it to the potty in time to do #2. A funny moment in the evening was hearing her yell, "Oh no!" and then seeing her dart down the hallway toward the bathroom yelling, "I peed on Cinda-rey-yah!" (the corresponding print on her undies). This morning (day 4), she had her first successful poop on the potty! There was much rejoicing in the McCracken household, as you can see in the video below:

I also noticed this week that Mary Grace was able to get herself from her tummy to a sitting position pretty consistently. By Thursday, I thought she was getting so close to crawling and then watched her take a couple 'steps' toward a toy!

Christopher and Sarah began the summer completely forgetting how to swim. I even had to put Sarah back into a life vest and then slowly eased her back into putting her head under water. Christopher picked it back up pretty quickly, and then both were swimming really well by the time we had swim lessons. Yesterday at the pool, I saw Sarah do things I'd never seen her do, like swim out to the middle of the pool by herself and then dive down to the floor to get a ring (or some other sunken object) and swim back to the wall or the steps!

It is so fun to see each of the kids making progress in different areas of his/her development, so we always have to have our cameras and video recorders handy.

Happy 4th of July!

noreply@blogger.com (Mindy McCracken) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:56:00 +0000

Vacation 2009 - part VII - various excursions

noreply@blogger.com (Mindy McCracken) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:03:00 +0000

Paw Paw with her grandkids at the Great Valley Nature Center.

Paw Paw and Hannah in front of the bald eagles.

Paw Paw and Hannah.

Hard to believe, but we only made 1 trip out to Valley Forge National Park for a walk, picnic and relaxing afternoon.

Sarah and Christopher.

Daddy and Christopher.

Paw Paw and Mary Grace.

Daddy and the kids lounging around on the picnic blanket. You know it's chilly in the shade when JOHN needs a blanket!

enjoying the sunshine...

Our last Sunday in town, we worshiped at a friend's church in Reading. Since we were in the neighborhood, we drove by my alma mater - Albright College.

For those of you who wonder why I don't eat cheese...here is the infamous "Pizza Italia" (affectionately known as "Piggers" to Albrightians) where I ate my very last mushroom cheese pizza that forever spoiled cheese for me.

A view from Mt. Penn

The Pagoda on Mt. Penn