the hardgrave family

Thanks so much to all our family far and wide who sent Valentines treats for the girls. The Girls have loved everything and have been thrilled at home as things seemed to arrive all week. Just as an FYI, we have been sick in form or fashion for about three straight weeks and hence haven’t been as fast on the draw to get the phone or return calls (talking sort of hurts). Anyways, please forgive us if we haven’t called, but we are so thankful for all of you and really appreciate so many people thinking of the girls.

I do have the say that special Kudos go out to my step brother Justin who managed to send the girls gifts from Iraq in between 12+hour days digging up IEDs and my sister Amanda who remembered Chinese New Year and sent the girls “Valentine’s/Chinese New Year” fusion treats. Sarah recently studied ancient Chinese culture in school and got to show off her knowledge by explaining the gifts to her sisters. Strange, sort of, but Lily having been less than 2 years old when we brought her home, doesn’t remember that much from China.

Ear Surgery again!

Kathryn had to go in for another surgery on her ear last Monday to patch up the hole left in her eardrum from a tube that came out. Thanks so much all who have prayed for her. All went well and today’s follow-up visit confirmed that things are healing up well.

Angela and I really tend to feel sorry for Kathryn as she has already been through three surgeries at 4 years old, but more than anything we are so thankful. When you pause and think of all the things that can be corrected and cured through relatively minor surgery that would have either been deadly or permanently debilitating just 50 years ago, it really is quite humbling. God has indeed been so good to us and we are thankful for Kathryn.

Princess Coffee.

This is one of our occasionally weekend treats with the girls. Basically a few ounces of coffee and a lot of frothed milk. They love it and are probably on their way to the same kind of coffee habit that their parents have.

Snow.

As hard as it was to believe, we actually got about half a day of strong snow back in January. This is Lily about to clock Kathryn with a snowball. This was Kathryn’s first time to actually see snow. It was a blast.

I (David writing) really like to update the blog (even just adding pictures) when I feel that I’ve got something to say that is somehow profound, sublime, challenging, or at least minimally witty. These days, however, moments (and/or thoughts) of any of the above are almost unheard of (yes, I did end the sentence with a preposition, but my 8th grade English teacher assured me that that makes it an adverb). It could be that I’m actually becoming a better judge of what I might say and hence am realizing that I may never have actually had anything to say that truly fell into one of the above categories, or it could be that parenthood is just melting my brain. At this point, I’m really at peace with either option.

At any rate, having no material of late that falls into the afore mentioned categories, today I am motivated by something much more powerful.

Guilt.

So for all of you, our dear friends, who have said so many times, “you’ve got to update your blog,”
I yield.

This one’s for you.

Every year, I try to do some sort of garden with the girls (that is, the little ones who have to do what I tell them). It’s often hard to justify the time, but I have such great memories of the gardens that my mom planted every year and the acres of land that my uncles kept cultivated around my Grandmother’s house, that I just can’t imagine my children growing up not knowing the joy of it all. I know that they’ll never sit with any of their grandmothers shelling bushels of “butter beans” and “shucking” wheel-barrel loads of freshly picked corn as I did, but I’m hoping that, in some way, somehow, our small garden plot will help to yield the kind of virtue that Mr. Jefferson seemed to think was so closely connected to agriculture. No, I’m not trying to raise “tomato-huggers,” but I’ve got to say that there’s just something about the sights, smells, and textures of a garden that seem to refresh the soul and be almost “innately” good. It’s really hard to identify exactly, but well articulated or not, I know that I don’t want my girls to miss it.

So every year we do a garden,

and much to their father’s delight, the girls (the children, not my wife) really do seem to love it.

Sure, a garden is not the gospel, but nonetheless, God has revealed His attributes in creation (Psalm 19, Romans 1) and so just as the earth is “filled with the lovingkindess of the LORD” (psalm 33:5), in someway, I really believe that our little garden helps us each year to taste and perceive the goodness of God and the Glory of His handiwork in a very unique and tangible way.

(and I, for one, know, that they ONLY appropriate response to biting into a good, freshly-picked garden tomato is “Thanks be to God!”)

IN OTHER NEWS . . . .

This is me and my dear, sweet, ever-loving wife in Atlanta for the Georgia Marathon on March 25th. I’ve really got to hand it to her because she was the absolute best cheerleader I could have asked for. Over the 26.2 mile course, She and our friend, Beth Tinkham, managed to negotiate the roads and transit system of an unfamiliar town and to see us off at the start, meet us twice during the race, and again at the end to cheer us on as we crossed the finish line. Thanks so much Angela, you’re the best!

Here is a great shot of our friends, Matt and Beth, before the race that morning. Beth was just one week away from delivering their first baby, David Joshua, and yet was was more supportive and energetic that I could have imagined possible. Amazing.

Matt, you definitely married up (as did your running partner!)

AND FINALLY . . .

Here’s a few pictures from Kathryn’s 4th Birthday Party. Given that Angela couldn’t be at Kathryn’s party last year due to the circumstances surrounding her brother Michael’s funeral, it felt like a big deal for our little family to all be together this year for Kathryn’s birthday party. Thanks so much to all of you who came and/or sent Kathryn cards and presents. She had a great birthday and couldn’t have been any happier.

“For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this”

~ Isaiah 9:6-7 (ESV)

Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Merry Christmas from the Hardgraves