Saturday, April 24, 2010
Pictures from Lacrosse
A commercial photography studio affiliated with SYC has taken pictures of David's lacrosse team; see the link at the right or click here to find the album they posted. See picture #2 of 85 for a great shot of David in action...and I understand you can order copies if you like.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Waiting for Blooming
The tree we planted out front last autumn with the last of Dad's ashes and dedicated to his memory has yet to burst forth in bloom this spring. How long should I be waiting before getting worried about the "Dad tree" making it through its first winter?
I didn't think I had to worry about it getting enough water through the winter; with all the snows we had, the south lawn was very well moistened thank you very much. And it's set back far enough from the road that road salt should not have gotten to it. As far as I can tell, we've taken good care of it through the winter.
Yet whenever I drive through the neighborhood I see everything else in full bloom. Leaves are out on the oaks, the forsythia are done their blooming, and even some young trees are blossomed and leaves are coming out. And still, our tree stands there just as bare as it was all winter.
There are signs for hope: the twigs do have buds on them, and the tips of the branches have a reddish bark that suggests, to me with my untrained eye at least, a healthy tree, ready to grow. According to Cornell University, the leaves won't be out for about three weeks after the buds begin to swell in the spring. I confess I can't say whether the buds have begun to swell, because I only just noticed them recently, yet it's not clear to me that they've swelled any.
It occurs to me this could be another teaching moment on Dad's part: patience, certainly. ("Come ON, GROW already!") And it also occurs to me that God could be using this first spring, and the anxiety of waiting for the tree to burst forth, to teach about waiting for the new life that comes in resurrection. We may anxiously desire it, we may be looking for signs of its coming. But just as with the blooming of a young sugar maple tree, it will happen on His own time, and we just need to put our concerns about it in His hands, waiting for the promise of new life that Easter represents.
The selfish part of me wants to see blooming: to see progress, new life, to know it's made it through the death of winter. And maybe there's a lesson in there, too, about surrender, and trusting in the four hardest words in the English language: "Thy will be done."
I didn't think I had to worry about it getting enough water through the winter; with all the snows we had, the south lawn was very well moistened thank you very much. And it's set back far enough from the road that road salt should not have gotten to it. As far as I can tell, we've taken good care of it through the winter.
Yet whenever I drive through the neighborhood I see everything else in full bloom. Leaves are out on the oaks, the forsythia are done their blooming, and even some young trees are blossomed and leaves are coming out. And still, our tree stands there just as bare as it was all winter.
There are signs for hope: the twigs do have buds on them, and the tips of the branches have a reddish bark that suggests, to me with my untrained eye at least, a healthy tree, ready to grow. According to Cornell University, the leaves won't be out for about three weeks after the buds begin to swell in the spring. I confess I can't say whether the buds have begun to swell, because I only just noticed them recently, yet it's not clear to me that they've swelled any.
It occurs to me this could be another teaching moment on Dad's part: patience, certainly. ("Come ON, GROW already!") And it also occurs to me that God could be using this first spring, and the anxiety of waiting for the tree to burst forth, to teach about waiting for the new life that comes in resurrection. We may anxiously desire it, we may be looking for signs of its coming. But just as with the blooming of a young sugar maple tree, it will happen on His own time, and we just need to put our concerns about it in His hands, waiting for the promise of new life that Easter represents.
The selfish part of me wants to see blooming: to see progress, new life, to know it's made it through the death of winter. And maybe there's a lesson in there, too, about surrender, and trusting in the four hardest words in the English language: "Thy will be done."
Monday, April 12, 2010
A NoVA Weekend
Our weekend began typically: me picking up the kids at SACC and, as is the tradition, asking them what they wanted for dinner that night. After some discussion, they chose McDonald's...both kids wanting the 10-piece nugget meal but Sarah also asking for a cheeseburger (no pickles no onions)...and darned if she didn't eat it all!
Saturday I had the chance to hit the gym for an hour, where I ran into Jill Cook. I mentioned that David would still love to see Ben before Ben had to return to NYC, so we talked about them getting together that afternoon. First David had his second lacrosse game, and would that the outcome was any different from the first: they lost, 5-2. David was the first half goalie and let three balls get by him; despite the great stops he had other times, it's those three that left him deflated going into the second half. In the second, though, he came out as a midfielder, and started being able to hit back at the Braddock Road boys...which he seemed to enjoy. As he was playing, Mary headed north to a bridal shower for her cousin Curtis' wedding this spring, where unfortunately she didn't know anyone in the room.
Then after a brief round of errands at the increasingly forlorn-looking Springfield Mall, we drove over to pick up Ben around 5:00 for what became a 26-hour playdate. We made pasta for dinner, David and Ben played with Zach and Jacob outside (mostly Nerf and water gun fights) before the four boys (!) came inside for their sleepover. After rousing Wii games and Nerf wars downstairs, they settled in and were asleep before midnight. In the meantime, Mary and I had a chance to watch Firewall, the Harrison Ford thriller that had been on our Netflix list for apparently quite some time.
Sunday morning the kids were up in time for pancakes before Zach and Jacob had to go, and for us to go to church. Ben came along and went with David to Sunday School while Sarah stayed upstairs and helped me with the band during the services. Then after church we came home and the boys took right back to playing outside on a gorgeous spring day. At 2:00 we went back to church; the All-Starz youth group that David's in was going to play mini-golf, and so Ben came along. They headed off while I stayed for Redeemer's Song's rehearsal, and when they returned, it turned out that David and Ben had tied for first place in the mini-golf and had earned free ice cream as a result!
By the time the All-Starz worship was over we came home to dinner of burgers and hot dogs on the grill, and to find Sarah had invited Giselle over as well. We six had dinner, then Jill came to take Ben home after a long and much-appreciated visit, and I drove Giselle back to her house as night began to fall.
The sheer list of activities of course is only one aspect of the weekend; the brilliant pinks of the pear blossoms in the back yard, the soft breezes as we sat out on the back deck, the splash of the kids as they played in the hot tub...all this and so many other sensations as spring erupts and we enjoy what for us was a rather tame weekend, before heading back to work and school once more.
Saturday I had the chance to hit the gym for an hour, where I ran into Jill Cook. I mentioned that David would still love to see Ben before Ben had to return to NYC, so we talked about them getting together that afternoon. First David had his second lacrosse game, and would that the outcome was any different from the first: they lost, 5-2. David was the first half goalie and let three balls get by him; despite the great stops he had other times, it's those three that left him deflated going into the second half. In the second, though, he came out as a midfielder, and started being able to hit back at the Braddock Road boys...which he seemed to enjoy. As he was playing, Mary headed north to a bridal shower for her cousin Curtis' wedding this spring, where unfortunately she didn't know anyone in the room.
Then after a brief round of errands at the increasingly forlorn-looking Springfield Mall, we drove over to pick up Ben around 5:00 for what became a 26-hour playdate. We made pasta for dinner, David and Ben played with Zach and Jacob outside (mostly Nerf and water gun fights) before the four boys (!) came inside for their sleepover. After rousing Wii games and Nerf wars downstairs, they settled in and were asleep before midnight. In the meantime, Mary and I had a chance to watch Firewall, the Harrison Ford thriller that had been on our Netflix list for apparently quite some time.
Sunday morning the kids were up in time for pancakes before Zach and Jacob had to go, and for us to go to church. Ben came along and went with David to Sunday School while Sarah stayed upstairs and helped me with the band during the services. Then after church we came home and the boys took right back to playing outside on a gorgeous spring day. At 2:00 we went back to church; the All-Starz youth group that David's in was going to play mini-golf, and so Ben came along. They headed off while I stayed for Redeemer's Song's rehearsal, and when they returned, it turned out that David and Ben had tied for first place in the mini-golf and had earned free ice cream as a result!
By the time the All-Starz worship was over we came home to dinner of burgers and hot dogs on the grill, and to find Sarah had invited Giselle over as well. We six had dinner, then Jill came to take Ben home after a long and much-appreciated visit, and I drove Giselle back to her house as night began to fall.
The sheer list of activities of course is only one aspect of the weekend; the brilliant pinks of the pear blossoms in the back yard, the soft breezes as we sat out on the back deck, the splash of the kids as they played in the hot tub...all this and so many other sensations as spring erupts and we enjoy what for us was a rather tame weekend, before heading back to work and school once more.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Spring Has...Well, More Than Sprung
Spring has not only sprung, it's made a cartoony "sproing!" sound as gears and hairsprings spray out its case.
David's lacrosse season has begun. He's been placed on one of the "B"-level teams, being not quite good enough for the A-level at his new age group, under the leadership of a coach who doubles as the Hayfield lacrosse coach, so we really ought to learn some things. And in part because Coach is so busy, you'll never guess who got drafted to be an "assistant coach" for the team. It's not like I know any more than David about lacrosse, but I guess I can carry a clipboard as well as the next dad.
The season is not off to a great start. They lost their first game, 5-2, after David spent the first half in goal and ended the half tied 1-1. It's clear there are some boys who know what they are doing, and it's also clear there are some boys who really should be at the "C" level. Practices are uneven and the team still hasn't really gelled yet. Our second game is this weekend. Follow us on Twitter as @703astrosfan for details of the games.
On top of this, Sarah is doing Girls On The Run after school, which is a great way for her to get some exercise, but has turned into another commitment for Daddy too: Sarah gets to participate in a 5K race next month, but the catch is, she needs a Running Buddy...like, say, a parent...and Guess Who needs to start getting some road miles in before too long.
Sarah's birthday this past weekend was another major milestone for the spring, with her, her brother, and two friends doing a sleepover and party at Central Park Fun Land down in Fredericksburg. For some reason, her ninth birthday really just snuck up on us. It's not as if the date changed or moved earlier; we just found ourselves in mid/late March with fewer plans made than we usually do, and having to scramble to get her party and presents in place.
But physically, spring is out all around us. Twice now in the last couple of weeks, I've gone to the office with a tree in our yard looking bare, and come home to find it had erupted in blossoms during the day. It's amazing to see and still a source of some disquietude, as it's also a reminder of how much yard work I have to get to sometime soon.
David's lacrosse season has begun. He's been placed on one of the "B"-level teams, being not quite good enough for the A-level at his new age group, under the leadership of a coach who doubles as the Hayfield lacrosse coach, so we really ought to learn some things. And in part because Coach is so busy, you'll never guess who got drafted to be an "assistant coach" for the team. It's not like I know any more than David about lacrosse, but I guess I can carry a clipboard as well as the next dad.
The season is not off to a great start. They lost their first game, 5-2, after David spent the first half in goal and ended the half tied 1-1. It's clear there are some boys who know what they are doing, and it's also clear there are some boys who really should be at the "C" level. Practices are uneven and the team still hasn't really gelled yet. Our second game is this weekend. Follow us on Twitter as @703astrosfan for details of the games.
On top of this, Sarah is doing Girls On The Run after school, which is a great way for her to get some exercise, but has turned into another commitment for Daddy too: Sarah gets to participate in a 5K race next month, but the catch is, she needs a Running Buddy...like, say, a parent...and Guess Who needs to start getting some road miles in before too long.
Sarah's birthday this past weekend was another major milestone for the spring, with her, her brother, and two friends doing a sleepover and party at Central Park Fun Land down in Fredericksburg. For some reason, her ninth birthday really just snuck up on us. It's not as if the date changed or moved earlier; we just found ourselves in mid/late March with fewer plans made than we usually do, and having to scramble to get her party and presents in place.
But physically, spring is out all around us. Twice now in the last couple of weeks, I've gone to the office with a tree in our yard looking bare, and come home to find it had erupted in blossoms during the day. It's amazing to see and still a source of some disquietude, as it's also a reminder of how much yard work I have to get to sometime soon.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Remiss But Making Up For It
It's been too long since I've posted anything here, and there certainly has been a lot that's gone on--Eric's visit to Florida, the start of lacrosse season, and Spring Break, to name a few. But to begin the catching-up, we've refreshed our photo albums online and posted links to three new ones:
Over the next few days I hope to post some of the other stories of the last three weeks, and as always, we welcome the dialogue of your comments and posts as well!
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