Anybody Still Reading?

Well, I wouldn't be surprised if you have given up on checking this blog for updates, but we are still here and gradually adapting to life in St. Louis. Classes and studying haven't killed Charlie yet, and he is encouraged and energized by much of the material. I have almost given up on the last of the unpacking and deep organizing, and am just focusing on establishing and maintaining the daily and weekly routine, skirting around the remaining boxes and piles.

This past weekend we had some banner events for the children. First was the opening of the children's art show at the Francis Shaeffer Institute on campus. The call for art from the children of students, faculty, and staff of Covenant Seminary went out about a month ago, and our kids had been planning and creating here and there ever since. Thomas submitted a paper and duct tape rhinoceros sculpture. Paul had to give up on his castle made of a cardboard box--it was too big to hang on the wall. He eventually made a big map of an imaginary kingdom. Elise did one of her horse pencil drawings, and Madeleine adapted a print she had made in art class last year. The seminary is really thoughtful about including children in the life of the community.

Also on Saturday was the girls' first 5K race (that is a little more than three miles). They originally signed up to run with encouragement and coaching from Charlie who found that he couldn't get in shape in time. By the second week of classes I was in charge of their training and Charlie had moved to an advisory capacity. Well, the girls had previously only run the one mile in the Larchmont RAT Race, and Elise never seemed to have the stamina to finish our three mile practice without stopping to walk for the last mile. Imagine the thrill of the whole family when Elise with a time of 25:39 finished 3rd in her category (women 19 & under) and Madeleine came in 7th with a time of 30:01! We were just hoping to finish without walking! The next day Madeleine was barely sore, and Elise was hobbling in pain every time she had to do stairs, so that tells you who is really driven by athletic competition.

Perhaps a compounding reason why Elise was so extensively sore was that she also wanted to run the half-mile race with her brothers. This was 45 minutes after she finished the 5K. As they warmed up for the race, Elise kept saying that she was just going to take it easy and do it for fun. Wellll, halfway through the race Madeleine spotted Elise in 3rd place...but by three quarters of the way she had stopped to walk out of sheer exhaustion. When she passed me close to the final stretch, she stopped to walk again, gasping, "Mom, I can't go anymore!" I told her to just finish at a jog and then realized how competitive I am, when I added, "and maybe pass one more person!" as she ran off. Elise might have thought she couldn't run anymore, but I think she found that she couldn't jog or walk either. She threw herself into a sprint, finishing in under three minutes with the top ten or maybe even five.

What about the boys? Paul finished the half-mile race so close to Elise that Charlie, who was hugging her, actually missed his finish altogether. Paul had passed me with an awful grimace of exertion and determination on his face (you can still see it in the photo even though he is done running) and a little smile in his eyes. He ran faster than he ever had in practice and knew that he had done well. Does anybody remember Baby Paul who was not yet crawling at one year old and not yet walking at 17 months old? Paul was crushed to find that the kids' "fun run" was not timed or awarded, and that therefore, he didn't have a category, place, or prize.

After spotting Elise halfway through the half-mile race, we were surprised to pick out Thomas, in his red shorts, continuing his strong start and ahead of the main body of runners! By the time he passed me, he was pouring on the steam as he eyed the bigger girl to his side. This was astounding to me, as he had mostly jogged and walked during practice! Thomas finished at around 3:15--I couldn't believe my eyes. I still wonder if I saw the clock correctly or if the race was accurately measured.

What about me? Having never been an athletic child, I was so surprised and pleased to see my kids enjoy and excel at a sport. I found that I yell a lot more than these suburban mid-western moms--or am I just louder or do I just have more children to cheer on?? Apparently I also have a competitive streak that surfaced as barely checked indignation that the kids' times hadn't been recorded. The whole experience was totally invigorating. And what's funny is that we had thought we needed to pump them up by watching "Chariots of Fire" and "Miracle" ahead of time...

Thanks for reading!