permission to rest

so not only am i a certified barista at starbucks….

but i am a teacher.

yep.

as of january 2011 i became a readers theater teacher.

do you even know what that is?

i didn’t.

and now let me tell you, i do.

and i really enjoy it. truly.

with the exception of a little something called

performance day.

its a guaranteed sweaty upper lip day.

its when all of my classes, kindergarten through middle school, perform in front of  all their parents and grandparents.

while i run around like a sweaty nervous woman trying to organize props, scripts, and costumes.

and if you know me at all…you can grin at the thought of me doing all that.

so needless to continue explaining…it’s a ridiculous day.

well that day is in three days.

oh dear. here we go again.

this wednesday, if you think of me, rest assured that i’m going to be in a complete frenzy until 3:00 pm.

then the school year will round to a close and my burden will  be lifted a great deal.

and summer is HERE!!!

the last three months for ben and i have been extremely busy. and we are anticipating the rest that is coming.

we have learned a lot about rest the last couple years and so we have entered this season circumspectly and have tried to create as many pockets of rest as possible.

we have said no a lot.

we bought a swing for our backyard.

i can’t tell you how restful it is in this beautiful weather to take my family outside and gently swing while drinking a glass of wine.

everyone should have a swing.

we have spent time together.

we have ran together.

i haven’t cooked as much. we have had a few chik fila dinners and cold cereal nights.

we have gone to bed early together.

we have woken up early together too

we have paced ourselves.

 i think its because we are more familiar with what our capacity is.

and we know what replenishes us  more than before.

we know how to rest a little bit better. and together.

in a season where things have been difficult for us, ben and i have been able to look at each other and say,

“at the very least, we have taken care of our family.”

we know that our decision to fight for our family, to follow Jesus, and to grow these crazy things called missional communities, is not a sprint.

its a marathon.

its a long obedience in the right direction.

so we don’t want to burn out. we pace ourselves.

we feel like God has been telling us to grow roots.

the week that we are in currently has been super busy.

so we asked ourselves,

“what would be particularly life-giving and fun to do, to get us through these next two weeks?”

ben was under the impression that an expensive bottle of whiskey would be his indulgence. a cocktail in the evening.

i was under the impression that a pedicure with emri would be fun.

so we did.

whisky and pedicures for the myers.

i think it helped

here is em right before we went to get our pedicures.

you know, i don’t tell her to pose. that’s all emri.

here is our finished product.

our girlie toes.

ahhh. permission to rest.

***

take your beard off please.

so ben and i argue you a lot about his beard. we kind of laugh and whatever,

but seriously ben, sometimes shave your beard. once every year on valentines day isn’t good enough.

its just so…bushy.

and then there was the time that he dribbled ramen noodle juice in it and the smell just stayed. and he kissed me and the smell scarred me.

i think i’m over it.

its almost like i hear God saying,

let the man grow his beard.

whatever.

so it grows. and grows. and grows. and grows. and his mustache is actually curling into his mouth.

and he twists his mustache on each side until he has two torpedos sticking out in either direction.

but whatever.

i love him anyhow.

our family of three went out on a date tonight per emri’s request.

its so easy peasy having one child. don’t get me wrong. i long for more kids. i want a quiver full. but let me tell you, one little three year old is cake….most of the time.

as we are driving home from our family date, emri is quietly fake whimpering in the back. she does this on a daily basis. quiet, fake whimpers. mostly when she’s tired.

so she’s sniffling in the back and here goes our coversation.

ben:

emri, what’s wrong?

emri:

i…uhm…sniffle, sniffle..i just want you to take your beard off. i just want you to take if off like your wedding. and you won’t. you never will.”

ben:

kerri, did you tell her to say that?

me:

no. BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

perhaps one of the best conversations with emri that we ever did have.

so we pull into blockbuster for a movie. em  and i stayed in the car. i tried my best to recap the conversation with my camera. those don’t always go so well.

but here you have it.

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***

magical wind

a million little moments seem to keep slipping by.

so many sweet moments where i say, “i’ve got to remember to record that.” and i don’t.

i feel like our little emri is growing up so fast and the deep fear that she may be the only one we have keeps me hanging on every moment of her littleness.

i sometimes sit and stare at her little fingers. even though they are very busy fingers that can hardly sit still.

i’m here to jot down a sweet conversation ben had with emri in the car and i’m realizing all that has happened since last time i logged on to wordpress.

i will update a few things quickly.

we picked up my husband’s dream car this weekend. more on that to come. don’t get too excited

we celebrated father’s day.

and emri got to see her grammy and papa. and her beautiful aunt kelli.

she stayed up every night this weekend until 11:00 pm. and i’m not kidding you.

and she slept with kelli. and they snuggled sweetly.

she was so excited to see them i cannot even tell you. it sort of makes me want to cry just thinking about it. how she is so far away from ben’s family.

so here are a few pictures i took when we first saw them.

grammy always showers her with little surprises

grammy, papa, and kell belle…we enjoyed our time with you!

***

and the sweet conversation that ben had with emri goes as follows.

they were in the “new” car. and emri had her window rolled down. i guess it would be helpful to know that in our acura (the car she rides in) her little window is broken and cannot roll down.

so for the first time, emri’s window is rolled down.

and ben said she was leaning her head out toward the open window as much as she could.

with her eyes closed.

and ben said,

“emri…”

i guess he was trying to get her to stick her hand out the window.

she kept her eyes closed and said back,

“one second daddy.”

eyes still closed. wind blowing on her face.

she waited a few moments and then said,

“daddy, the wind felt like magic, you know?”

when ben told me their conversation you could tell that he was completely enamored by her.

***

quiet space

there are a lot of things that are important to ben and i. a lot of things that we want to instill into emri. things we want to be a part of our family culture. things that become just a part of who we are.

but one of the biggest things we want for emri is for her to know jesus. a part from what she does. we want her to know God. to know his presence, his comfort, his peace, his joy. we want her to experience what its like to start to see God in her life. and to hear him. and the biggest part of experiencing all those things is creating quiet space in our lives to make that happen. and so ben and i do that. its a very strong part of our lives. and we believe that it is immensely important. so little em sees us do it. and i think its precious that i see her doing the same thing…on her own. i know she really doesn’t fully get what she’s doing, but she does know that her little pink bible is a letter written to her by God through the hand of man. and that its important to read it and to talk about it with each other.

its moments like this that warm my heart but also freak me out. okay, so what other things is she observing and emulating that i don’t want her to?

hearing and being with jesus is huge to our family.

this part of our lives speaks of our covenant relationship with Jesus and it speaks a strong sense of identity into us.

the other part of our lives that is immensely important is how we respond to God in what we are experiencing with him.

you know, like the actually carrying out of what we are learning. we find that in all that we experience and receive from God, it is necessary that we respond in obedience.

we call that, “living in God’s kingdom”. meaning, God has a new world order that he wants to bring here on earth. a world order that makes wrong things right.  and for those who are responding to what God is doing and saying in their lives, they are responding to Jesus’ rule and kingdom that he is bringing here and now in the world. a kingdom where wrong things are being made right. some people are responding to God’s kingdom here and they don’t even know it.

but before we respond to God, we have to know him and be with him. and enjoy him, so we can see what he’s doing and respond to it.

call us crazy. but we actually believe all that. : ) but i can’t apologize too much because it has changed our lives dramatically, how could we not respond to it?

***

vacation

the myers family went on vacation this week. we rested from everything.

we left emri wtih my parents and headed to branson for 3 days by ourselves. and then went back and picked up emri to finish vacation all together.

and we had andy’s ice cream.

every single day. 

so? …people do that.

and went to the pool

every single day

and got sonic real fruit slushies which emri called sushlie’s

which made ben and i look at each other and smile. so thankful we have this little 3 year old who we get to share little things like slushies with.

but back to the ice cream, because i cannot, for the love, stop thinking about it.

i cannot tell you how delicious and creamy andy’s frozen custard is.

sorry ben for posting this picture. i realize that it isn’t very fair to you. if you saw what picture i was close to posting, you would be thankful i opted for this one. i love you.

we got to spend time reading and praying and being alone with God.  we did this every morning. i on the balcony and ben inside. i can’t tell you how refreshing this was. perfect. spending time in reflection and solitude is everything.

i think it may have been our favorite part of vacation. waking up to jesus and then getting to spend the rest of the day together.

and we also did this.

and then after those first three days, we went back and got our little stinker. we missed her and were excited to have her with us.

and here is sweet little ben and i. seriously. how much does she look like ben?

 and if you have ever been to branson, you won’t be surprised at all by this picture i took.

we took emri to the butterfly palace. a little indoor rainforest with butterflies flying around everywhere. little girls love that kind of stuff. and maybe 30 year old girls do too. crap. am i really turning 30 this summer? shoot. anyway, took emri to the butterfly palace because there wasn’t much to do outside of truly ridiculous shows.

look how much fun emri is having!

it was pretty cute. we had a good time minus emri sort of getting a fever toward the end. poor little thing. but look how excited ben is about this blue morpho? where did the rest of his little wing go?

there you have it, a little snipit from our vacation.

***

best job ever

i have the best job ever.

i get paid to watch my niece. our sweet, spunky josie.

and emri and her adore one another. how did i ever get so lucky?

i walked into another hilarity today. emri was doing josie’s hair. decorating her head with an array of gigantic hair barrets.

i had to take a few pictures to savor the moment. and remind myself how blessed i am to get to watch josie and emri love on one another all day.

aren’t they just the sweetest little stinkers?

  ***

ben brings home snakes!

before you freak out, please understand that my husband absolutely loves reptiles and amphibians. its what he does. and every year at this time he takes his students on a reptile and amphibian camping trip. he always invites me. i always say no. and he always finds several reptiles on his trip and brings them home to emri and i.

these are the little guys he brought home to us this time.

enjoy the craziness of my family.

this is a ringneck snake. these little guys are adults. they don’t get any bigger than this. these might be my favorite. how cool is that orange ring around his neck and orange belly?

i love that my daughter isn’t going to have irrational fears of snakes like i have of spiders….and june bugs. or any flying insect that makes a clicking noise every time it hits a window. i’m not afraid of snakes but wasps and bees… my reaction to them is entirely inappropriate. and totally out of control. a lot of flailing and flapping is involved. i also feel like i have no control of facial expressions.

the fella is a coach whip

and this lizard here is a brown skink. and wendolyn, if you are reading, this guy is very similar to your little feelskie… rest his little lizard soul.

this guy bit ben. as you can see, emri freaked out a bit. i can hear her little voice asking ben, “daddy, is it better? are you okay?”

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army partay

i love my family. i especially love my niece and nephews.

my oldest nephew, miles, turned 7 a few weeks ago. we had an army party. no big deal. we sort of get into it. we love being together. we particularly love to celebrate birthdays. miles is fun to celebrate because he’s such a sweet kid. when i watch this video, i’m amazed at how much he looks like a teenager. he still lets me grab him and kiss him on the cheek. and then i remember these proverbial images of an aunt smothering her nephew with kisses, leaving red lip prints all over his face and pinching his cheeks. i wonder if i have become that kind of aunt. and is miles rolling his eyes and wiping his face off after i turn around? anyways. miles loves justin beiber. he says he’s got the “beiber fever”. so of course i had to put some justin beiber in this video.

i’m laying here on the couch with a fever. my eyes burn and  my voice sounds like a gremlin. i’m feeling terrible but this video makes me happy.

please enjoy.

happy birthday miles, we love you!

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