Camp Fun Nemitz

The idea for camp fun Nemitz came last January when we signed Alexa up for her first year at New Life Camp. Emily and Owen have done overnight camp for the past several years and Alexa couldn't wait for her turn. Luckily, Alexa has two friends who also wanted to go to camp who happen to have brothers Ian's age.
The girls at camp:

On the first day we went to the Life and Science Museum in Durham. The new dinosaur trail had opened and we hadn't seen it yet. So, after dropping off Alexa, me, my dad, Ian and Isaac head to the museum. We got there at 10:00am and left at 4:00pm we really made a day of it! I couldn't post all of the pictures but it was a great time! Ian also learned he REALLY does not like grilled cheese.
Day 1



Day 2
The second day, we added another friend and decided to go bowling. Ian loves to bowl and it is something we don't do very often. The first picture is the ride into Raleigh in the car. We don't usually watch movies unless it is a long trip. This was a great treat. They were watching Droopy.


After bowling, we went to Burger King for lunch. They had a great time playing on the playground.

Day 3
We stayed at our house for day 3. We played Bingo (the old-timey one with the big ball), we made homemade pizza, and homemade playdough. They finished out the day with a swim. We named Isaac's pizza "Egg-head Fred."


Day 4
Day Four Camp fun Nemitz got moved to its satellite camp: The Campbells. They had a great time playing together and eating at "Christy's cafe."


Day 5
Our last and final day, we decided to go to the movies. We went to see Ice Age: The Dawn of the Dinosaurs. We thought it very fitting that we started our week with dinosaurs at the museum and finished our week with a dinosaur movie. It was actually better than I had expected.


Overall, it was a wonderful week. I cannot believe that my baby is going to be 7. It was the first time I have ever spent time with just him and his friends. I am sure next year he will opt for the cabin at New Life Camp but this is one camp year we will never forget!

Crazy Days

We have had a crazy couple of days. I woke up this morning to an alarm buzzing and me acting like a crazy person trying to remember where I was, what day it was, and what/where I was late for. Needless to say, it was not a pleasant way to start the day. Emily, Owen and Ryan are leaving Saturday morning to go to Texas with Open Door's TaeKwonDo ministry. They will be gone until next Sunday. Alexa has her first time a day camp this week and Ian is hosting "Camp fun Nemitz" at our house. In all of this, I decided we were going to get our pictures made. I am a true school teacher and have my kids "school" picture taken every year. (One year I missed getting them made and Upward pictures had to do. I was not pleased with myself.) Since it had been a couple of years since we had a full (not just the kids) family photo, I decided we were due. Everyone whined and complained but they managed to smile pretty anyway!

A letter

As I have been cleaning out, I have found where Emily has gotten her 10,000s of journals all over the place. It have been very cool and almost refreshing at going back and reading somethings I had written as I poured my heart out to My God. Some of it has been cool; however, some of it has been "man, I STILL have not learned this!" I found this letter this morning. I was doing a book study - the book is called Character Makeover. I only finished about half of the excellent book - who knows why I didn't complete it. Luckily, I went to my shelf, picked it up and remembered why I thought it such an excellent book. Maybe next year I will be blogging about the second half. :) Anyway, this is a prayer in the beginning of the book. It moved me so much that I changed some of the words and wrote the whole thing out as a letter in the beginning of my "Character makeover" journal. It is dated 2/7/2008.
The reason I am sharing it is because I went to bed with a troubled heart, burdened over many things. I fell asleep praying for the Lord to let my today finally become my tomorrow. Meaning there were many things I would like to do / to change and I have been finding myself saying "tomorrow" then days, weeks, months would pass and "tomorrow" still hadn't happened. This letter, is still my prayer, I just forgot that it was.

Dear Lord,
I am embarking upon holy work to be the best I can be for You. I have picked up this book about making over my character because at my deepest core, I want to please You. You, Lord, are the architect of my life, and You have been building something beautiful in my since before I was born. I want to join You in Your work for my life. I want you to prepare my heart, pray for a change, and practice the discipline of a woman of character.
I have a dream of doing something for You, but I am being held back by strongholds that the enemy is using to discourage and defeat me. Lord, show me who You really are and who I am through the truth of Your word and the power of Your Holy Spirit, so that I may overcome those persistent strongholds.
I pray for your protection to surround me as I start on this challenging renovation. Bring me encouragement along the way at just the moment when obstacles or self-condemnation threaten to derail my efforts. Show me which character quality You want me to start with, transform my prayer life, and help me persist to the end. I claim your blessings upon my collaboration with You to become that humble, confident, courageous, self-controlled, patient, content, generous, perservering woman You created me to be. May the time and energy I devote to developing my charactet cause You to use me all the more powerfully for Your kingdom-building purposes which will reap eternal rewards for me and those You want me to serve.
In the Mighty name of Jesus, I pray, amen.

Perfectionism VS Perseverance

James 1:4 "But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." This verse suggests that perseverance is the catalyst for perfection. The word for mature is also translated "perfect", but it means the completion of a task or the end of a goal rather than moral or physical perfection. It is no secret that I would like to be perfect. However, as I have gotten older, that goal of perfect has seemed more and more unobtainable. It seems the harder I struggle for control, the more complicated things have become. I have recently noticed an alarming trend in my behavior. If I do an activity or organize an event well, I do it for a few years and quit. If I do an activity or organize an event and it isn't lining up well or the outcome doesn't look favorable, I quit. I used to rise to a challenge ready to just do my best. Now, I quit. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I cannot quit being a wife, mother, teacher, daughter, friend. Trust me, there have been times I have wanted to try. Yet, according to James 1:4 I can achieve perfection through perseverance. I guess it is like I tell Emily all the time about challenges she faces "If it were easy - anyone could do it!" I guess I need to start following my own advice!

What I am learning from Peter

The past couple of weeks - I have been surrounded by Peter's lesson of walking on water. Matthew 14: 24-33 " But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. Now in the 4th watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them saying, "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid," And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." So He said, "Come." And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!" And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, "Truly You are the Son of God." I was teaching this lesson this past week at VBS to five year olds. I had a raft for the boat, paper plates for the wind, blue streamers for waves and of course a Peter, Jesus, and disciples. After concluding the lesson, one of the boys stated "If he (Peter) was going to be scared, he shouldn't have ASKED to get out of the boat!" I have been thinking about this all week. I am constantly on Emily for letting her fears stop her from doing the things she really wants to do. I am asking her to get out of the boat, even though she is afraid. The thing about getting out of the boat is that you have to stay focused on Christ or you sink. It is a gamble, it is a risk. Yet, if I am called out of the boat - I won't fail. I learned a hard lesson several years ago that Christ equips you for the tasks He calls you to. However, sometimes we take that 'equipment' and use it other places or in other ministries than it was intended; leaving us to believe we were left stranded in the middle of the lake - sinking. Tonight, I went to a man's funeral that has attended Faith for a very long time. It was a beautiful service and people were giving testimony to how his life had impacted or affected theirs in some way. Listening and watching the service I was again reminded of Peter and the boat. People like Ty do not have that sort of testimony by staying in the boat; by not taking a risk and investing in the people around him. Not only was Peter changed, but the other disciples as well said "Truly you are the Son of God." There are so many ways/times that I have asked to walk on the water and I feel at other times I have been commanded to walk on the water. It is no secret that I fear failure. However, I am slowly trying to come to the realization that sometimes the failure I feel is nothing more than stubbornness in my refusal to get out of the boat and take a risk. The way I see it, there are two options 1 - be Peter and get out of the boat - keeping my eyes focused on Christ or
2- sit and wish I had been the one brave enough to take a chance.

Memorial Day Fun

I had an awesome Memorial Day. On Thursday, I went to the NCHE Homeschool convention. I have gone every year, except one, during the past 11 years of homeschooling. Usually, Ryan and I go together. This year we decided we were not going to go at all. However, a few weeks before, I started getting cold-feet about missing the conference, especially the bookfair. And my mother got upset when she found out we weren't going - it is her grandmother tradition to keep the kids. So, we decided I would go to the bookfair on Thursday, Ryan would pick me up on Friday and we would go somewhere restful for the rest of the weekend. (The homeschool conference is NOT restful. I leave either on cloud nine that this is a wonderful life I have or looking for the nearest bridge to end my misery.) Anyway, I rode down with my friend, Kristi. We gabbered so much she missed the exit. We went to the bookfair upon arrival and I was done by nightfall. We stayed with two other friends, one friend's mother and one friend's daughter. Needless to say, we had a packed house. It was like one big sleepover. Surprisingly, it was a lot of fun. I am just not a slumber party kind of girl. I hadn't really spent much time with these friends lately and it was great spending time with them and reminising about times past. Then, on Friday, Ryan came to pick me up. Due to the awful B word (budget) we decided we really needed to just come back home. I was a little disappointed because I really wanted Ryan all to myself and I knew I would never get that at home. We wandered around, taking our time getting home. He started talking about his plans for Saturday: cut grass, clean pool, etc. I couldn't believe it - that is usually me! So, I say: "let's go camping." I wish I had a picture of Ryan's face - mouth nearly hitting the floor. Not only am I not a slumber party kind of girl, I am not a camping kind of girl either. Let me rephrase that - I am not a camping kind of mother. In our early days, we used to go camping. However, somewhere along the way (whiny kids, a tent full of dirt, bugs, etc) it sort of lost its appeal. So, we came home blew the dust off our gear and went to Falls Lake about 15 miles from home. On Saturday, we went to Beaver Dam, laid out in the sun and ignored all the whining, screams, etc and didn't look up once when we heard "mommy, daddy". Then, we went out to dinner and back to the campsite. We built a fire, played cards, and talked. It was quite blissful. We were a "normal" couple out camping. I felt like we were twenty again, well, almost. Sunday we got up, broke camp and headed down to pick up the kids. On Monday, we had a cookout with my dad's family. It was a great weekend. The grass, the pool, the television, the phone all waited until Tuesday. It was a great weekend, did I say that already? :)

Bittersweet

Yesterday, I was out with my boys. It was a very hectic, busy day. I had tests to administer, the boys had a dentist appointment and Emily had a speech appointment. Just as we were about to leave, the speech therapist called to say that she was sick and was not taking any appointments. Bad for Emily, good for me. So, the girls got to stay home and I took the boys. After the dentist, Owen already had a play date arranged so we went to lunch and then took him to his friend's house. Lunch was great, we discussed everthing from Miss California to concentration camps. Ian was just sitting there taking it all in. After we dropped Owen off, we replayed the same conversation - just on a 6 year old level. I just cannot get over the fact of how much he continues to surprise me. I remember clearly the day I realized Owen would rather grow up to be Ryan than me. Don't get me wrong, that is what I want, it is just different to have that change of power. However, the thing I noticed is Owen had no other competition. He wanted to be Ryan. Ian on the other hand, has Owen and Ryan. Don't get me wrong, my boys have a traditional love/hate relationship I assmume most brothers have. Yet, there is a very clear sense of mutual affection. Ian in some ways, already sees himself as Owen's peer and is often very good at it. Then, he can make a comment, ask a question, want to play with something and it makes you go "that's right, he is only six." I loved yesterday; I loved seeing my baby as he is, seeing the hints of the young man he is deciding to be. It was bittersweet.

Just to give a sample of the transformation I am seeing, these pictures were from a few weeks ago. Several years ago, we started sometimes giving the gift of time as a birthday present rather than a gift. Ian remembers Owen doing this for a special friend and he wanted to give the same to his friend. Ian loves Adventure Landing. He had his 3rd birthday party there because that was the age you had to be in order to ride the go-carts. He made everyone of his guests sit on the bleachers as he took his first victory lap around the track. He smiled and waved "look at me - I am big enough!" So, Emily and I took Ian and his fellow-old soul Issac to adventure landing for a day of minature golf, laser tag, video games and of course, go-carts.




An intense game of minature golf.


Ian saying go "faster, faster"


Isaac, hilariously screaming.

Independence

Independence, generally speaking, is an ugly word at my house. I am a strong-headed, willful, stubborn, independent person. I have been that way as long as I can remember. Therefore, I can only assume I was born that way. However, naturally over time, my independence has weakened. I do believe that I was not created to be independent but to live peacefully under the leadership and direction of my husband. The one flaw in this system is that from January - April my husband is not present. For the most part, even when his body is at home - he is not really home. So, my natural instincts kick in and I take over. For us, it works. Yet, when tax season is over, it takes a little while for us to transition back. I have to help him "get in the know" of the details. The kids have to get used to him being home more. He doesn't appreciate their "creations" quite like I do. Usually at the end of tax season, we go away on a mini-vacation. We went skiing at the first of January this year so we didn't go anywhere. It was nice to stay home and just do things around here. The kids didn't enjoy it quite as much but if felt really good to get some major things checked off the list. Overall, this has been one of the toughest seasons we have had in a long time. Our first tax season (1995) was especially torturous. As we hit our groove, they got better. Then the seasons when Alexa and Ian were very small were tough - they had way too much mom time. The season Henry lived with us was tough - that one was really tougher on Ryan because Owen and Henry would fight for his attention the moment he walked into the door. I wasn't expecting this one to be difficult. Maybe that is why it was - maybe I was overconfident in MY abilities. This year, the kids had A LOT going on. When they were little, I would try to taper the activities we did during tax season. That is impossible to do now. We (I) had a lot of firsts this year. 1- Ian played Upward basketball for the first time. Ryan & Emily were his coaches. 2- Alexa did cheerleading. This was not her first year but the first year she and Ian were not in the same league. 3- Owen had gymnastic meets all over the place in Jan, Feb, & March. The exact same time as the upward games were going on; when Ryan was trying to work, coach basketball and transport Alexa to games. My parents helped a lot. My mom came to a lot of their games and my dad helped to transport when he was off. 4 - I drove Owen to Hickory by myself and stayed in a hotel overnight. I had never stayed in a hotel with me as the only adult. It was interesting. 5- I flew with Owen to Miami. It was the first time I had ever flown as the parent in charge and it was Owen's first time flying. 6- Drove all over Miami in a little red Cavalier. My first time to drive in a city as large as Miami, having NO idea where I was going. Truth be told, that was kind of fun. I don't think I would have been a very good passenger-side driver. 7 - I took Emily to the doctor's at UNC Chapel Hill. I do not do well in this type of situation but I did okay. Emily was brave. :) 8 - I took Ian and a friend to Adventure Landing to play laser tag and ride the go-carts. 9 - I put together a bicycle. Okay, Emily and my Dad helped A LOT and the seat did fall off the next day. But Ian had one glorious day of riding his new bike. Luckily, it was at the end of tax season and he didn't have to wait long for the repair. The point is we are in a stage of our life where time stops for no one. Basketball, cheerleading, gymnastics, doctor's appointments, etc, etc, are going to continue to dominate our lives for sometime now. The truth of the matter is Ryan would much rather do all of those things with me. He knows I have fears of motel rooms, of doctor's offices, driving in large cities. Yet, I know he would be there if he could. Someone made the comment that it is only 25% of the year. I can look at that like - man, 25% is A LOT or I can look at it like - thank goodness it is only 25%. I am thankful that he is here and very involved in the other 75%. I am grateful that he has a job, he is a hard worker, he likes what he does. The first night Ryan was home, Ian curled up in his lap and said "Daddy, when will tax season be over?" Ryan said, "It is over, buddy, that is why I am home." Ian nodded his head and said "how much longer until it is tax season again?" A long time, buddy, a long time; we've got the glorious other 75% to go!

My boys

I have noticed something this week about my boys and I decided to share my revelation. My two boys are very different and very similar. Their temperaments, their likes/dislikes, their physiques are very different. However, their love for rough housing, their sports-mindedness, their love for their mother are very much the same. One very significant similiarity is that they are both homebodies. When Owen was little, he was extreme. His extreme was why I quit working. Ian has always been a bit more subtle. I am not sure if this is due to his personality or if he had less of a choice. Owen only had one older sibling to go places where Ian had three. (I think)I have finally figured out why they get so out of whack if we are not home enough. My boys are totally different at home than they are anywhere else. I discovered just this weekend that very few people actually KNOW my boys. There are some family members and a few close friends. That is so the opposite of my girls - they are "what you see is what you get" all the time. Owen and I went to Hickory this weekend for a gymnastics meet. So many people told me how well-mannered he was, how attentive, how he was really focused. Now, I was there and I totaly agree that he was all of those things. However, I saw all over his face that it took everything he had. We were in a new gym with different coaches, different kids, judges, etc. He knew to be on his "best behavior." It was not something I coached, it just happened. Out in public, neither of my boys hardly speak; but at home they rattle off like crazy; talking, screaming, wrestling, aggrivating, etc, etc. I think it is great that they know how to behave outside of our house and that home is their "safe haven." I am also grateful for those few places and people who have invested in my boys' lives and get a real glimpe of how great they really are - inside and out!

Happy Birthday, Owen!

My blog is doing something crazy with the pictures. So, I will give my thoughts then share the pictures. Owen is by far my most strong-willed child. He was born with his own ideas of how things should go. He is the salmon of our family. However, under that pricklyness, there is a wonderful, beautiful, intelligent, talented young man. Owen has my weakness for passion. He is very passionate about what he believes in (whether right or wrong :) ). He is stuck in traditions and thrives with a predictable schedule. He is slow - unless chasing a football. He hates math - unless you are talking sports stats. He loves Jesus, his family, football, the Washington Redskins, and NC State. He is an accomplished gymnast and a 2nd degree Black belt. He is our resident geography whiz, president whiz, and animal specialist. Ryan teases that my "momma bear claws" will come out the fastest to defend Owen. He is my true diamond in the ruff. I cannot believe he is 12 today. Happy Birthday, Owen!
This is Owen the day we came home from the hospital.
He has always been a climber. Emily didn't like him to play with this house because he moved the furniture. This is what he did while she was at preschool.