Lewisburg, WVA - Childhood Home & Church

Lewisburg is a charming town, no doubt. Its two stop lights and population of 3,500 are timeless. The mountain views are breathtaking, making easy to see the appeal.

The boys played football in Joan's incredible backyard while Margaret and I explored leaves, fences, and gravity (rolling down hills!). During Margaret's nap, Susan, Jim, Michael, Andrew and I headed the 3 minutes "across town" to their old house. What an amazing place! Though it is on the busy road into town, the lot is large so the house is set back. The 3 story stone home is beautiful, with nothing but cow pastures and rolling mountains for one neighbor. The current resident was home, and kind enough to let us in. So we quickly toured the old house to see where they had played fire escape from the 3rd floor window, etc. It was neat to be able to picture it all. Can't believe Michael survived as a baby in the house with two flights of spiral stairs and a rickety banister!

Next stop was Old Stone Presbyterian Church. The church was locked, but I could peer through the windows of the Sanctuary to see the balcony where Michael once launched a paper airplane:)

Joan's house is less than 2 blocks from downtown and is beautiful. She has grown gorgeous gardens in the back, complete with a little boy fishing in the pond.

A highlight is her precious ceramic studio, where she makes many of her garden's characters.

We played football...

Ship in a bottle in a store front in Lewisburg....similar to the pieces that Michael's grandfather used to make.

The Greenbrier - Quick Stop 10.22.11

October brought with it the anticipation of crisp mornings, fall foliage, and our first family trip to Lewisburg, WV, where Michael lived until he was 8 (although Susan had scheduled a C-section at Marth Jefferson here in Charlottesville to ensure that he would NOT be born in Lewisburg!).

Susan was to have rotator cuff sugery and go to her friend Joan's to recover for a few weeks. So we thought we'd go over to visit, lift her spirits, and see Michael's hometown. It's only a 2 hour drive, so we stopped in White Sulphar Springs (about 10 minutes away) to see the Greenbrier.

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Choir Practice

There have been several brief posts this week. I must be feeling sentimental for some reason. Maybe it's "that time"? Maybe it's reality that I have a big kid and a toddler now...not truly a baby around the house.

This morning, I ended up with Margaret in the Sanctuary during the Sunday School hour. Church is going to be rough for her until she fully drops her morning nap and I can’t leave her in
the nursery screaming for an hour. That’s not fair to Ann. So I took her and we just hung out. I was pleased to do so, as times like that are rare with your non-first born children. Margaret was MESMERIZED by the choir rehearsing and stopped dead in her little crawling tracks whenever she heard the organ commence. She’d crawl from one end of a pew to another, flash me a smile, open & shut a friendship pad, there stare back at the choir again. She only peeped up once, as if to sing along, and the organist said to the choir (not to me), “It’s sad that you don’t hear that sound in churches very often anymore. It’s such a wonderful sound to hear in a
church.” The entire choir nodded in agreement. The whole, spontaneous scene just melted my heart.

Margaret's first step!

Meg’s first step! Ottoman-to-ottoman, she stepped without her hand touching anything at all for half of a second! After learning how children's mobility COMPLETELY changes your life, I never thought I would be anxious for progress in this realm. But for whatever reason, I can't wait for her to walk. Maybe it's because she has a closet full of hand-me-down dresses that are ADORABLE! Trouble is, she gets caught up in them when crawling and gets so frustrated that I quickly started dressing her in just pants so that Andrew would stop complaining about Margaret's whining!

Or perhaps my desire for her to walk is a bit more sentimental. One of our first nights out after Margaret was born, I had a glass of wine or two. Having had only a drink here or there for a year, I was a bit sappy about how precious our children are and how incredibly we blessed we are. After sending the babysitter off, we checked on the kids as we do every night before turning in. Margaret was curled up in the fetal position as tightly as if still in the womb. I patted her little bottom gently and picked up her slowly to love on her. Kissing her checks and listening to her priceless signs, I gently mumbled that she was my best friend waiting to hatch. Thankfully, Michael remembers that story sweetly rather than taking offense and accusing me of longing to replace him as my best friend. So perhaps my desire for Margaret to walk is mere eagerness for her to grow up some more and be closer to communicating more clearly with me. Knowing what I know through Andrew about how priceless conversations with the little ones can be, I simply can't wait to have them with Little Miss Margaret, too.

God is good! All the time!

If you can't make out what this is, it’s a video of the video monitor during so-called “naptime” yesterday. Our Pastor, Tom, does this call and response occassionally.

Tom: God is good...

Congregation: All the time!

Tom: All the time...

Congregation: God is good!

Andrew doesn’t quite grasp the alternating piece of it when he’s doing a monologue, but we can work on that!  Dody response: "Put a Bible in his hands, start recording, and make millions!"

The Corps of Cadets & Dainty High Fives

“Playing football” before school, Andrew bends over to get ready. Then he announces a touchdown = 6 points! The he deliberately points out where the Corps of Cadets is
supposed to be. "Mommy, you be the Corps of Cadets. You guys stand RIGHT there."

Margaret watching VT pull off the win over Miami (surely because Daddy and Mark were there!), she sat in Grandma's arms INTENT on the TV, clapping whenever I said, “Go Hokies!”, and dishing out the most danty High Fives you've ever seen:)