Memorial Day Weekend

On Saturday we went to Witt Brown's 3rd birthday party. Any day that includes a birthday party is a great day in Thomas' book. On the way to the party, Thomas asked me what the name of the party was. I said to him that it was Witt's party to which Thomas replied, "No, what's the name of the party?" After a mental workout, I figured out what he was trying to ask me. He wanted to know what the theme of the party was. When I told him it was a race car party, he replied, in typical Thomas fashion, "WOW, I like race cars. I li-i-i-i-i-ike to race." "Wow" is one of his favorite words these days.

We traveled to Tuscaloosa on Sunday for church at Canterbury Chapel and for a reception honoring Ken Fields, our friend and former chaplain there. Ken will be moving to Houston to serve at the largest Episcopal church in the nation, St. Martin's. Ken officiated our wedding almost nine years ago so we didn't want to miss this opportunity to introduce him to Thomas and Hudson and to join in sending him off to a new calling.

On Monday, we spent some time outside enjoying the beautiful weather. Thomas had fun running through the sprinkler while Hudson kept Mommy on her toes. We couldn't turn our backs on him for a minute and he would have a fist-full of grass. Thankfully none of it reached his mouth. He is quite determined!

Crayons

Even after I've heard "Mommy" for the thirty-millionth time during a day, I almost can't believe that's me. Thomas is calling me. I really am thirty-two years old with two kids and a mortgage. As they say, time flies. However, today, rather unexpectantly, I've reached a rite of passage of motherhood. Up to now, this event seemed to be something only real mothers have gone through and lived to tell about it. What is it, you may ask? A complete load of the children's clothing dried with blue, red, yellow and green crayons! Streaks of all the primary colors covering the inside of the dryer and the clothing! We've had rocks and coins in pockets, but never crayons. All of the crayons had completely melted with the exception of the yellow. (I did find the blue paper crayon wrapper.) I have found several suggestions online to remedy this situation so hopefully I'll have a positive update in a few days.

Shortly after discovering the mess, I went to speak to Thomas about it. I asked him if he remembered putting some crayons in his pockets. I asked if he could recall what color he was wearing so I could be sure to get all the remnants out of the pockets. I explained to him that the crayons had melted and that he wasn't in trouble. He had just made a mistake and we can learn from mistakes. A little later I heard him crying so I asked him what was wrong. He said he was sad because his crayons had turned into ice. He had connected melted crayons with ice that melts. Don't you just love it! I have a pretty big clean-up ahead of me. Never-the-less, I thank God that I get to be here for moments like that...

UPDATE:
After 4 washes in hot water, a lot of detergent and oxywash powder, the clothing is about 98% crayon free. There are a few pieces that just won't release the crayon and I'm going to try to bleach them. The dryer drum is a totally different story. I tried all the regular household cleaners -- Windex, Soft Scrub, Simply Green. Then I moved on to Oops which I guess is like Goo Gone. While it helped a little, you'll never guess what really did the trick....toothpaste! Now all of our clothes will smell minty-fresh :) Again, I haven't been able to get it all, and I'm just hoping that what remains will not melt onto future loads of clothing...

Hudson is 5-months-old!

I've FINALLY gotten together a photo update. See the pictures and commentary by clicking on this link:

http://public.fotki.com/FranklinHQ/hudson-is-5-months-old/

China's Earthquake

Some people have asked how close this earthquake was to where we lived in Tianjin, China. Sichuan province is in the south and a great distance from Tianjin. Think Birmingham, Alabama to Portland, Maine and then go another 120 miles North. Our students, however, were from many other places in China and we pray for their safety.

Over 12 million have been displaced by the quake -- that's more than the population of the states of Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee combined!

I found this article informative:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ahTkUHn23zZ8&refer=home

Here is what some Christian relief agencies are doing:
World Vision
MAP International

Update: I just had to add this link to a story about a Chinese police woman who is nursing quake orphans in addition to her own child...amazing!
http://www.breastfeeding123.com/woman-breastfeeding-nine-babies-in-quake-crisis/

Trinity Sunday

I've heard many, many Trinity Sunday sermons. Often the preacher will make some joke about how he got suckered into giving the sermon on that day or how the preaching duties are usually passed on to the newest member of the staff. But not Dean Limehouse. While acknowledging the great mystery of the Trinity, he didn't shy away from giving us a glimpse into the mystery and how it can change our lives. If you have a moment, read his sermon....

http://www.adventbirmingham.com/articles.asp?ID=3450

Weeds

We had a fun weekend full of weeding the one and only landscape bed that we have under-control...or at least it is under control now. (Now we need to get more pine straw, right Gran?) It was so fun for Thomas and a great science lesson. After several reminders to pull the weeds carefully to be sure we got the root too, we were able to find among the hundreds of weeds a great number of acorns that had sprouted into little oak trees. Of course, playing in the dirt is not complete without a dose of earthworms and rolly-pollies. FUN-FUN! We even got some of Thomas' neighbor friends to join in the fun.

Here is a picture of Thomas showing off a great root. Hudson with his never-ending desire to grab anything within arms reach wanted to join in the fun, too!

The Grace of Wrath

Matthew gets me a subscription to Christianity Today each year on my birthday and I cannot tell you how much I enjoy each issue. You can expect me to post quotes and articles from it often and I'll start with this one from the May 2008 issue....

What if God's wrath is not a caveat, qualification, or even a counterpoint to his love, but an expression of it? What if God grieves sin less because it offends his sensibilities, and more because he hates the way it distorts our perceptions and separates us from him?

Read the article at ChristianityToday.com:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/may/23.64.html

Teeth Already

Hudson now officially has 2 teeth and is quite fond of using them to gnaw on my fingers. His first tooth was the bottom-middle- left one which broke through on or around May 1. The bottom-middle-right one broke through on Mother's Day, May 1o. He is still chewing on his fingers, thumb, anything he can get his hands around constantly. A few days ago, he even managed to bend down over his pudgy belly to stick his big toe in his mouth. I don't know if he's working on another tooth or just getting used to these. Only time will tell!

A New Thing!

Inspired by my friends, Martha and Bill Wingate, and their blog about sweet baby Mary Hudson, I've decided to try blogging. It is my hope that I will be better at noting the important happenings and memory-makers that occur daily in the Franklin household. In the end, this blog may end up being somewhat like an online baby/family book with a mix of soap-box postings from yours truly. We'll see if I can get MTF involved too! In advance, please excuse my grammar and don't take me too seriously. If I have to think too much about each post, I'll never post. Thanks for reading!