the hardgrave family

Since the girls were sick last weekend, tonight was first time we have taken Lily to Church. The picture above shows the “Welcome” banner that our friends put up in the nursery. We know Lily can’t read it, but it was still really cool and very thoughtful. We love you guys (girls) , y’all are great!

Lily in the nursery tonight

Kathryn having a great time in the nursery too!

So far as we can tell, Lily did great in the new atmosphere and seems to be really taking well to her new church family. She, of course, has no idea how much she is loved by our dear friends at Morningview, but I am confident that she’ll know soon enough, it’s just too hard to miss.

All three girls having chocolate chip waffles. (No mom, they don’t get this every morning, We promise )

Well, after several days of acclimatizing and concerted effort on helping Lily learn to sleep again at night, things seems to be settling down nicely. Sarah continues to relish the big sister role and may as well be Lily’s “little mommy.” Kathryn seems to really like Lily, but the standard toddler “rules of engagement” or “property laws” do still apply. If you haven’t heard these, they go something like this:

1. If I like it, it’s mine.
2. If it’s in my hands, it’s mine.
3. If I can take it from you, it’s mine.
4. If I had it a week ago, it’s mine.
5. If it’s mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.
6. If I’m doing or building something, all the pieces are mine.
7. If it looks just like mine, it’s mine.
8. If I think it’s mine, it’s mine.
9. If it it’s near me, it’s mine.

Many of you reading this may be thinking just like me, “humm . . . that sounds a lot like the way our friends in the middle east view property.” Well, as you might expect, it’s producing the same basic thing in our home that it produces in the middle east . . . conflict (of course on a much smaller scale and without the imported black-market arms). But I digress . . .

All that said, it really isn’t that big a deal, for as far as we can tell, they’re behaving just like normal toddlers and right now, we think that’s mostly a good thing. Teaching our preschoolers to share their toys in complete altruism is, we know, a “Holy Grail” of parenting that we will most likely never fully attain with any of the three.

(Sometimes we still need some work on “the sharing thing” as grown-ups!)

All-in-all, the girls are really getting along famously. Sarah’s doing such superb job at being a “little mother” to Lily, that Lily has actually starting going to Sarah to try get her to take a toy away from Kathryn after having unsuccessfully petitioned Angela. The toy-taking, of course, goes both ways, so Lily’s fitting right in.

Three Peas in a Pod!

On another positive note, Sarah and Kathryn have discovered that some things that were “very fun” with two sisters are “super fun” with three sisters. At the top of this list are 1) “Playing Horsey” (all three on my, David’s, back moving about 10 very exciting steps) and 2) “Riding the Pony” (Sarah on one knee, Kathryn and Lily on the other.) Both of these events are almost guaranteed to land all of us on the floor in a big pile with lots of giggles. It’s fun stuff.

Thanks for your prayers. The Lord is good and indeed, His mercies are new every morning!
(Mow!)