Catching Up

We have settled into a rhythm in our new home. We have classes. We know our neighbors. We have the laughter of friends. It feels good. All winter and spring our root hairs sprouted and we drank. Now we are growing. This last year has been crazy and huge. We traveled to a new place a minimum of once a month from November 2012-November 2013. Travel defined as slept overnight in a new town other than home. We flew to Hawaii three times, Michigan three times, Florida once, and traveled inside California to Tahoe, Half Moon Bay, Trinidad, Santa Cruz, etc. I began to worry Kealana thought home was my arms. We moved. We had Christmas. We didn't travel anywhere for five entire consecutive months. We rooted. Our babies sprouted. We no longer have a one year old and a four year old. We have independence. We have a two year old and a-last year I can count my age on one hand-five year old. Kealana went from learning how to walk to flipping upside down on every bar she can gymnast. She keeps asking when she can take a gymnastics class. She said goodbye to diapers and hello to underoos. She learned all her letter sounds and likes to practice writing her letters and drawing lollipops and says her favorite planet is Jupiter. Shadden learned how to swim, tie his shoes and tell time. He was awarded with a watch that he wears everyday. He went from phonics to reading the entire McGuffeys Second Primer. He can skip count to 100 by 2, 5, and 10's. He can write the entire alphabet in upper and lowercase and every number. He and Kealana turned a backyard into a childhood. The new playground and playhouse Daddy built became a spacecraft, pirate ship, surfing station, baby haven, animal rescue, and airplane cockpit. We learned our new address. We planted a garden. We built mudpies. We had birthday parties. We found a church. We learned how to drive in our new town without using the GPS. We wondered what date we should stop saying, "I just moved to California." We began Classical Conversations, joined a new Awanas, took tennis, baseball, soccer, and Music Together classes. Lessons are finished and sandy Summer beach days are beckoning. After five months, our (my) nomad is circling. We are wild inside for summer adventures. The drought has been difficult and pleasant. We had Kealana's birthday outdoors-in January! Spring has to be the most lovely season in California. Finally, green started to appear and a banner of blossoms eased the barren brown dryness into life. It was invigorating! Then a day later, it was summer and the heat parched and butterflies floated. Last year I blinked and winter went from spring to summer. This year, it bamboozled me again. I ached for the lovely edifying East Coast spring to bombard me with the scent of cherry blossoms. The grand Easter choir. The ground erupting as a quiet rumor is passed around into a parade chorus, "He's not here. He has risen! He can breathe! We can breathe! We are whole again! We are His! We are fortified. We are new. We are bound together by Spirit. All is glorious!!! I'm learning to grow extra gadget ears and to throw the calendar out the window at the first California spring beat. The flash is fast in these parts.