Weeds + Kids = a Nice Yard

This week is Spring Break in Carlsbad and in order to celebrate, we have planned... nothing. Absolutely nothing. Nada. Squat. Zippo. Nothing!

I know that may not sound like much fun to you, but since Kerri started school, I started teaching, and the kids started... well, being kids and playing soccer, singing, piano, student council, science fair, basketball, jumprope club, band and so much more, a little nothing is just what the doctor ordered.

Yesterday, after Church, we besieged the backyard with gloves and rakes and shovels. No leaf was left unbagged, no pecan left unpicked, no weed was left unplucked. and in the end, though there is little grass and the paths that the dogs have worn are still unlevel, the back yard is a pleasant place to be.

Sometimes, in our busy lives, working inside under the life sapping glow of florescent lighting, listening to the eternal hum of electrical appliances, printers and computers, we forget the great peace that can be found in the the silence of the outdoors.

Come Monday, they will come for me, looking to drag me back indoors. This week however, I am king, or maybe prince, of my own backyard. The King is the one who sends the sun that makes the backyard beautiful, and I am so greatful to Him for that.

Mighty Large Hail

Here Ruthie Roo waits patiently to see if I will put the hail down her brother's shirt.

Growing up in central New Mexico, the only hail I ever saw as a child was the small stuff, the size of peas or maybe marbles once or twice. Mind you, it hurt, but after getting hit a few times, the wisest among us learned that the best way to avoid the pain was to stay inside. Eventually, even I learned that inside was the best place to be in a hail storm.

We lived in a large house with a tin roof, so even the small stuff was sounded awfully impressive, but I don't remember ever losing a window or a cat to hail.

I have seen larger hail on television and recently my uncle's house, in the center of the state, was pummeled to the point that cars were totaled and siding was destroyed. The pictures looked impressive, but I don't guess it really sank home.

Long time Carlsbad residents tell stories of softball or golfball sized hail, which I had always guessed was smaller hail that had been run through a fish story or two, but last night for first time, I experienced hail that I worried might have the power to break glass. Not the size of basketballs, mind you, but larger than I had ever seen.

The picture above was taken moments after the hail stopped. I gathered a sampling of the hail and took a picture with my phone. It measures about 3/4s of an inch and the cracking noise it made as it glanced off the windows sounded like a baseball connecting with a bat.

I'd have to say that regardless of the size, the sound is much more impressive on corrugated tin than anything else, but the whack whacking on the glass was pretty cool. The cool part being the fact that no windows were lost.

Moments after it began, it was over and deathly silent. Within five minutes, the skies were clearing and we saw nothing more through the night.

I checked early this morning and the hail was gone. There were no signs of pitting on the vehicles, though the hail removed the majority of the remaining pecans from the trees and the streets were brown from dislodged hulls and branches. Driving to work at 7AM, there were drifts of hail along the shoulders, but by 9AM when I emerged from the classroom they were gone.

I often dream of replacing my indoor teaching job, computers, pressed shirts and paved roads for land, a ranch house and cattle or maybe a farm. Some days a post hole digger and miles of fence to string sound more appealing than program reviews, Chairing department meetings and such. Last night left me wondering, how many cow hands have had the sense knocked out of (or into) them while riding herd on a stormy night.

And the winner is...

This last Saturday at around three in the morning, Kerri and I jumped into the van and proceeded to follow a CMS school bus containing our son, to Portales, New Mexico for Southeastern New Mexico Science Fair. Nathan's project on robotic edge detection technology had advanced from the city level and though Kerri and I were excited about his accomplishment, I think Nathan was more focused on a bus trip out of town with twenty to thirty other tweenagers.

As a side note, I do not envy the bus driver or sponsors who had to ride on the bus with the kids.

Aside from the main focus of the event... FREETIME! Nathan had to stand by his project for two hours and answer questions from a host of scientists, engineers and college professors serving as the fair's judges. In the end, Nathan came away with one of five awards presented by the United States Navy, a medal and certificate from the U.S. Army and Second place overall in the Engineering category at the fair.

We are very proud of him and look forward to traveling to Socorro for the State Science Fair this spring. Once again, we will be traveling in our own, quiet vehicle.

Has anyone seen the ancestors lately?

Sarah came home from school with a geneology project to work on. As she and Kerri mulled over the particulars, they came across a requirement that Sarah interview her family and write about some of the stories and traditions therein.

Kerri suggested that Sarah talk with her Grandmothers Christensen and Fincher. Sarah scrumpled up her little face, tilted her head and after a short, thoughtful pause, she informed her mother that... no, in fact, Mrs. Houston had specifically told them to talk to the actual ancestors.

hmmmm no.

Kerri and I both agreed that in all likelihood, it was Sarah who had misheard her teacher, and after a bit of gentle persuasion on our behalf, we think Sarah agrees.

But I don't think she is really convinced yet. Not really convinced.

A tribute to Art Linkletter

The english language is a difficult language to master. Even the best of us gets a little tongue tied now and again. Recently our kids have made a few slips that we thought warranted a blog entry.

Apparently, Nathan has been studying the rise the size of the average american. He came in an announce to Kerri and I that over 75% of Americans are "obtuse!" While he may have gotten the word wrong, the statement is probably true.

Later after reading about Johann Sebastian Bach and his rather impressive family which consisted of twenty children, he informed us that of his twenty kids, only thirteen survived to "adultery."

Lastly, I came home while Ruthie was in the shower singing something at the top of her lungs. It sounded something like this... "augh! aughaughaugh augh aughaughaugh augh!" I couldn't quite make out the tune, so I waited for the sopping little girl to emerge before I asked her to sing the tune to me. Turns out the song was "Glory in a Chelea's stable." She had no idea what the words were, she just love the song. Now at long last, we know who let Joseph and Mary stay in their stables... it was Chelsea.

This Christmas take sum thyme to find the joy in the smell thinks. A little lofter make the day a little happierer.

Reasons to be thankful

Tonight is the last night of Thanksgiving break. This year, for the first time in recorded history, the schools decided to let the kids off for the entire week leading up to Thanksgiving. After our hectic semester, all five of the Christensen clan were looking forward to a break from the hectic schedule. This week, however, would not turn out to be the week that we had planned. To begin, Kerri's Grandmother had been hospitalized some weeks before and is not doing well. During this break, Memaw's condition would continue to deteriorate to the point that homecare was no longer an option and Ann (Kerri's mom) would be force to make the painful decision to put Memaw into a nursing home. Both Kerri and Ann, along with a wonderful handful of ladies from the Church exhausted themselves helping Memaw around the clock while she was in the hospital. Being blind and very frail, the stay was particularly frightening for Memaw.

In addition, over the weekend, Nathan's normal winter cough took a turn for the worse and on Monday afternoon, the doctor decided to admit Nathan to the hospital for low oxygen levels caused by an aggravated Asthma attack. And so, instead of a few relaxing days at home before heading up to my Mom's for a Thanksgiving with family, we all settled in for what we hoped would not be a "long winters rest".

If you have never spent time in a hospital, count your blessings. Aside from the illness and worry that accompany your stay, most hospitals are equipped with time altering fields at the doors. When you enter, minutes turn into days and hours turn into weeks. Add to that a friendly little oxygen tent and the seconds turn into months. Nathan spent two full days under a clear plastic tent not much larger than the top half of a twin bed. All in all it was a pretty traumatic experience for Nathan and the rest of us as well.

We were fully expecting and even began making plans for a hospital picnic of Turkey sandwiches and  tupperware servings of stuffing and mashed potatoes. but Wednesday morning Nathan's oxygen levels were up and within two hours of waking, we were walking out of the hospital!

Playing it safe, we spent Thanksgiving in Carlsbad with Kerri's parents. It turned out to be a blessing because they were both also very worn out from weeks in the hospital with Memaw. Friday morning we shot up to Los Lunas and enjoyed Thanksgiving leftovers, time with Grandma and while the girls went to town to see the ballet, Nathan and I spent a good evening with Uncle Bob: eating pizza, cleaning guns and watching TV. Without the aide of the hospital's time altering device, the later part of the week flew by and here we are at 9PM on the Sunday before school resumes.

Sometimes, it takes an emotional roller coaster to remind you of just how blessed you are. We like so many others this fall are feeling the pinch of time and money that don't seem to last as long as they used to. That can be stressful, but this week we were reminded that even if the job dries up and moves away and the house and all our possessions are gone in a puff, as long as we have our loved ones, we are more blessed than we will ever know.

Come to think of it, even if our Lord were to take our loved ones from us, we will someday be reunited with them and the pain of loss that we feel now will be gone in a flash. That is of course contingent on our knowing our Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, but then, having Baptized all three of the kids myself, I  have that confidence.

As bitter sweet as life can be, it is nice to know that in the end, the bitter will vanish and all that will be left is the sweet... for ever and ever.

Actually... this was our first Rodeo.

This has by far been the busiest semester of our lives. What with soccer practice and games, Ruthie's piano lessons, Kerri's student teaching, Sarah's Song and Drama club at school and her new jump rope club, we have been a little busy running from activity to activity.

This weekend we decided to take a break. Get away from the house and make a fun family date out of our Friday night.

It is amazing how having a fun event to look forward to can bring you through a long week. Or even a short week that seems unusually long as the case may be. The kids were all brimming with anticipation as the weekend drew near. This was the first rodeo for both Kerri and the kids. Growing up, my next door neighbor was Mr. Silva, and his back yard was an arena where they held rodeos on Saturdays in the summer, that and a few times in Wyoming in the summer of '92 allow me to honestly say that this "was not my first rodeo". But then, the rodeo never does seem to get old. The only thing missing was a can of Shasta Cola, the smell of hamburgers grilling at the concession stand and an old wooden fence to sit on and watch the rodeo. Those and the aromatic smell of "processed alfalfa", are my recollections of the rodeo as a child.

After work we had a quick bite at Chili's, and then the five of us loaded up and headed out to the Eddy County Sheriff's Posse Colosseum to see the PRCA rodeo. From the opening ceremonies to the trick riders and even the calf roping and steer tying, the evening was a ball. Ruthie did not like how roughly they treated the "baby bulls" as she called then, when they roped and flipped them, and Kerri was not really impressed with the bull riding.

But I think that had more to do with the intelligence of any man who would willingly straddle an angry 2,000 pound animal with points growing out of it's head. Unlike going to see that latest blockbuster at the local movie theater, the evening was filled with pleasant banter about riders and horses, calves and bulls and how they score such and such for an event. We came away a closer family with more in common than we would have after two hours of staring at a screen.

The evening was not without disappointments however, and the mean guy at the pony rides told me I was too big to ride. Phooey! But he let the girls pick their favorite pony and ride for a good long time, (maybe I could Photoshop™ myself riding one.) During the rodeo, Ruthie even got to run in the "calf scramble". The calf scramble is an event where 50-100 kids under age eight line up in the arena and chase four or five very frightened calves. The calves have ribbons tied to their tails and the kids who catch the ribbon get free pony rides and other sundry prizes. Ruthie did not win, but I don't think that mattered much to her. Her face was still glowing on Sunday as she recalled the event in a letter to her Grandma. I have posted a few videos and pictures below, Ruthie is usually in the center of the screen wearing a purple shirt and blue jeans.

The highlight of the evening came during the bareback bronc riding. The second horse left the gate bucking like all get out and headed straight towards Nathan's seat. The looks on the kids faces was hilarious as the rider and horse steamed straight for our box. The girls zipped their chairs to the back of the rails while Nathan's eye's grew to the size of saucers. At the last minute, the horse turned and threw the rider, who grazed the railing in front of our booth. Unfortunately I didn't get that on film, but a few of the other events are linked below, including an unlucky rodeo clown who lost a race with a bull.

I know that our family is no different than any other who might happen across this page (a little better looking perhaps), but the moral of this story is that families need to remember to take time out of our day to slow down. To enjoy a meal together, to laugh at the rodeo clowns jokes, to stop and smell the manure. Remember that it won't be too long before the kids will ride off into the horizon and we will long to be back in these busy days.