December 22, 2008
“Noah, stop hitting your sisters!”
“Sarah, quit throwing toys down the stairs!”
“Rachel, don’t yell at me!”
“Noah, put those hot dogs back in the refrigerator!”
“Sarah, give your sister her pacifier back!”
Ahh, the sounds of the Lindberg household. As you can probably imagine, there’s not much “peace on earth and mercy mild” around our place, at least from 7:00AM to 7:30PM. But when the kids are finally asleep and the house is quiet, Lori and I finally have time to think about doing all those things we have always wanted to do as a couple -- you know, watch movies, play board games, talk about the future, and lovingly gaze into each other’s eyes. But thinking about that stuff is as far as we get. At night we find ourselves doing what we do best – and that’s collapsing in a heap of exhaustion.
One of the things we have noticed with three self propelled children around the house is that things are now starting to magically disappear. It’s almost like there is a black hole that travels around our house, sucking random items into it and transporting them to some far flung place in the universe.
In the good old days, if we placed something down in a specific spot we lived with the expectation that, at least 99.9% of the time, it would remain in that place until we returned to fetch it. Now, things are starting to disappear – and we’re thinking that big sis Sarah is the culprit. Every once in awhile we’ll catch her throwing toys, mail, or other important items into the trash can. In the past 2 months a shepherd from the nativity set, three cards from Noah’s Candyland game, 4 puzzle pieces, and a $100 bill have all gone AWOL. We think these things have probably found a new home, somewhere in the Douglas County landfill.
Noah is growing and changing. He has started part time preschool this year and looks like such a big boy with his backpack on. He loves seeing all his friends at school and playing in the “house area.” We’ve already been to two holiday programs this year. Did you know there are Kwanza songs? We never did, until last week.
Rachel is our outgoing little fireball. She loves to throw little temper tantrums when she doesn’t get her way and tell you off when she’s hungry or done with her dinner and wants to get down from her chair. But when she reaches up, looks at you with her beautiful green eyes and wants you to hold her, you can’t resist.
Despite the extra work and anxiety they bring into our lives, we still are in awe of our three wonderful children. When we snuggle with Sarah, hear Rachel say “ticka, ticka, ticka” (translation: “tickle, tickle, tickle”), or hear Noah sing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” and watch him hit the baseball, we know God has truly blessed us.
We’re sorry that we don’t have any exotic tales of far flung adventures this year (come to think of it, we didn’t have any of those last year either). We didn’t get to Belize, or take a cruise or travel to the Hawaiian Islands. So don’t be expecting any “the sunsets on Fiji are so beautiful in February ” kinds of stories in this letter. We tend to travel to those exotic places in our dreams – until we are awakened by a child having some sort of midnight meltdown.
We did do some family travelling this year, and were able to spend a week in Sacramento, California with Grandpa and Grandma Lindberg over the summer. We also make regular trips to Underwood, Iowa to see Grandma and Grandpa Pingel. I know they love to see us come, but after a few days of scattered toys, knick-knack catastrophes and general household mayhem, they don’t look very torn up inside and eagerly help us pack up to go home. Thank God we’re family, or we’d never be invited over.
In 2009 we are looking forward to settling into our new 4 bedroom (Yeah!) house in Elkhorn, Nebraska and the continual growth and development of Living Grace Lutheran Church, where James is the Pastor Developer.
Our hope is that 2009 will be a little less busy and chaotic as 2008. But if we’ve made it this far without killing each other, the odds are in our favor that we’ll do just fine.
It’s now 9:34 PM, the kids are in bed, and the eyes are getting heavy. There’s not much more energy left to type, so it’s time to say “bye for now.” We hope you have a very Merry Christmas and may you have a happy and blessed New Year as well. If you are ever in Nebraska and would like to see us, please stop by. But if you are going to stay overnight we suggest you rent a motel room . . . unless you can function fine on just a few hours of jfk’ fjkaf;kkfds kk n b . . v m Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Noah, Sarah (on left) and Rachel
Sarah
Rachel
Noah at school with his "Cars" backpack on the left.
Our New Home, moving in on December 31.
Julia, Tracy and Paige
Sarah with her new baby stroller and baby.
Rachel and her balancing ability.
