MINATURE EARTH VIDEO

SAM MCGEE

A picture of the Chilkoot Pass during the Klondike Gold Rush -- a backdrop for the poem, The Cremation of Sam McGee

Back in the day I was a fairly tough outdoors guy and, as part of that, I went on a thirty-day backpacking trip through the White Mountains of Maine and New Hampshire. On that trip I had the chance to meet Paul Petzold. He is, undoubtedly, the most influential man in all of American Mountaineering. He was 88 years old when I met him and he had recently climbed the Grand Teton in Wyoming!

At some point on that trip, I was talking to a friend and starting reciting to him the poem, The Cremation of Sam McGee -- one of the most famous wilderness poems. Low-and-behold, as I recited the poem, Paul Petzold comes around the corner and jumps in on the retelling... So there I was, deep in the mountains of New England, trading stanzas of Sam McGee with the great Paul Petzold. You know those few moments in your life when you could easily be playing a part in a movie? ...One of those classic moments that may never happen again? Well, this was one of those moments for me.

That poem has always been part of my world. I told it to kids at camp as we sat around the fire on kayaking trips in the Ozarks, and to other kids as we sat around the fire in Colorado. Once I even told it at a Campus Crusade bonfire -- mostly to impress a hot coed named Lee Ann. But nothing would ever come close to swapping stanzas with Paul Petzold... at least till now.

Tonight, Sam McGee came full circle; I sat in a chair and explained the story to Jennalee. I used to tell it to her every night to get her to sleep (before she could understand the words). But tonight she wanted to really hear it. I hadn't told it to her in years. But there I sat: in the air-conditioning, in the ugliest town in the world, with the mini-van in the garage, a six-man "bubba-tent" in the closet, telling her about the "strange things done under the midnight sun." It is a world away from Joplin, that's for sure. But the slight thought that my little girl hears the beat of that drum is so wonderful, I could never explain it. Because of that, this may have been the most meaningful recitation of them all. Even bigger than Paul Petzold. It was one of my favorite moments.

I will close this mushy blog post with words from a differen poem by Robert Service, but they are the words I had to tell Jennalee after we finished Sam McGee...

They have cradled you in custom,
they have primed you with their preaching
They have soaked you in convention through and through;
They have put you in a showcase
you're a credit to their teaching
But can't you hear the wild? -- it's calling you.

Let us probe the silent places,
let us see what luck betides us;
Let us journey to a lonely land I know.
There's a whisper on the night-wind,
there's a star agleam to guide us,
And the wild is calling, calling... let us go.

ITCHY MATH

Here is the math Jennalee is learning... Preschool doesn't teach this stuff!

2 days at the lake + 0 bug repellent = 45 chigger bites!

At the height of her itching, Lee Ann convinced her she was just being a really good Momma Chigger and those were all her little babies. Surprisingly, that helped a whole lot.

LITTLE SISTER!!!!!!

Well, today we got THE call -- the call that has taken 7 months to get... WE GOT OUR REFFERAL!

We know almost nothing else. All we know is that she is 6 months old and now waiting for us in the orphanage. If all goes smoothly, we could be traveling to get her by the end of November. We will post more details as we are able. We really don't know much more than we did yesterday, but the one thing we do know is overwhelming -- that there is a certain little six month girl that now has a family that didn't the day before. And we are that family.

Praise God for answering our sometimes impatient prayers. And thank you for all your prayers. We covet them even more now that there is a little girl we are actually praying for.

MUSICAL HEART

We were returning from swimming at the Y last night and listening to a beautiful CD -- Mark O'Connor and YoYo Ma's Appalachian Journey. Allison Krauss (one of Jennalee's favorites) sings the sweetest lullaby at the end of the CD. During that song, I turned to see HUGE tears streaming down Jennalee's face. She cried through the song the first time around and then asked to hear it again... I had to turn it off half-way through the second playing simply because she was wailing.

If you are curious, here is the culprit of all those tears. Try to maintain your composure...

GO HOGS!

SHE DID IT!

Jennalee had her first day of school. She was so excited this morning. She and Adeline woke up at the same time and both came and got in our bed. I'm laying there, sandwiched, and I hear Reed say, "Jennalee, do you remember what today is?" Then Jennalee sits straight up and yells, "the first day of school!" The whole morning was happy. Even Adeline was glad Jennalee was going to school (she knew she was going on a "Momma date" to 'Shucky Sheese').

Here's the official "First Day of School Photo":
(Jennalee picked out her shirt, by the way)

Okay, so my Mom taught preschool for years and years, and I remember her always talking about the funny smiles she would get on picture day. Well, here we have one:

Adeline gave her big sister a sweet little hug before she went into her classroom:

This is how we left Jennalee, working at her table:

Jennalee had a GREAT first day, but she was also REALLY happy to see us waiting on her in the hallway:

GETTING READY FOR PRESCHOOL

Our little baby girl is starting school. It's hard to believe she's not so little anymore, although she's still only 29 lbs. I have bittersweet feelings toward this new phase of life--She will LOVE preschool, but I'm not totally ready to let her go! It's comforting that she will only be there two days a week. :)

Last week she got to go to an Open House to get settled in. Here she is turning in her school supplies to Miss Melinda:



She got to go on a scavenger hunt to find things around the classroom, so here she goes on her big adventure:

She found the books!

She found the blocks!

She kept migrating towards this chair in between her scavenger finds. I bet she'll spend a lot of her free time reading and relaxing in one of these chairs!

These are Jennalee's favorite shoes:

Her school had an "astronaut" theme going on--Jennalee was the only one who really got into it. She found this costume in the room and decided she would play the part for a while.

Despite what it looks like, she IS normal. :)