Busy time in the vineyard

I know I'm in desperate need of a blog update around here. No, I haven't been neglecting my blog because I'm spending all my time on Facebook and Twitter like some people I know. We are blessed beyond belief, enjoying God's goodness, yet waiting for the appearing of our Blessed Hope (see Titus 2:14).

So, to fill you in on what we've been up to:

1. Baseball season started! Here's Phillip with his team (Major Yankees):






and here's Sarah with her T-ball Angels:






I have to give you a note here about Sarah. We were so proud. We were told that baseball pants were optional for T-ball. It's T-ball, for goodness' sake -- they're lucky to know the way to first base, who's going to care if they wear baseball pants, right? So, the morning of the first game Sarah proudly gets dressed in her Angels shirt, hat, and throws on her blue sweats. Great. Off we go.

We get to the field and I notice that EVERYONE else in T-ball has white baseball pants. Everyone. Then people start offering to let us borrow their extra pairs of baseball pants. "No thanks," we say. Then we start wondering, "are we breaking some t-ball law? it is optional, right?" Well, the whole day Sarah never once complained about her pants or asked for baseball pants. She still hasn't. And we're so proud. It's not that we want her to be unique or to stand out, but we want her to be comfortable in who she is, not what she's wearing. Anyway, we hope this lack of looks-consciousness continues through the teen years.

Here's her first at bat. Definitely room for improvement:







2. So, then last week we were with my family in L.A. I don't have time to give a detailed report, but one highlight was a visit to a great British pub in Fullerton that some friends tipped us off to a few years ago, The Olde Ship





I had a great chicken curry and one of my FAVORITE pints I'd forgotten about, Fuller's ESB. Good stuff!


3. Then there's just general ins and outs of life which is just a ton of work. I'm so glad that Russell is comfortable with dust and clutter. Only occasionally does he open his drawer and ask, "Do I have any clean underwear?" Socks, now, those tend to disappear more frequently around here for some reason. A sure sign of my business:






Poor Paul fell asleep during his lunch two days in a row now.


4. Phillip is on Easter break this week, so yesterday I decided we'd all work on the vegetable garden together. Phillip worked hard, eventually. Sarah complained a lot. My muscles are sore, and the garden looks so small in this picture!






I know we'll have weeds to pull again any day now. Sure looking forward to the final reversal of that curse.