Virginia Lee Bidinger: 1927-2010

Pilgrim Pathways

by Virginia Lee Bidinger

I walked with God on the mountain,

and breathed celestial air.

His glory and His majesty,

Were about me everywhere.

I walked with God thru the pages,

Of His Holy Living Word.

My soul drank in each truth divine,

And I delighted in my Lord.

I walked with God to Calvary,

But there He hid His face.

And I watched alone as His sinless Son,

Was dying in my place.

And then one day God came

And took me by the hand.

He said, "there is yet something

You do not understand."

He took me down a path of fire,

Where I had never been.

I felt the breath of satan's hosts,

The hate and wrath of sin.

I could no longer see Him,

So fierce the fire was now.

But He held me closely to His heart,

And soothed my trembling brow.

And then I knew what happened there,

That day at Calvary.

The Savior took my death and hell,

That God might walk with me.

So it matters not what path I tread,

He leads me gently o'er,

And at the end my Savior waits,

To welcome me on Heaven's shore.

----

Welcome Home, Grandmom.

Gentleman in the making

Yesterday, Mark, Gus and Max were playing the card game War and, upon flipping up a king and a queen, Max and Gus got into a discussion about who should win the round.
Gus: Daddy, does king beat queen or queen beat king?
Mark: King beats queen.
Max: But that can't be right. Boys aren't supposed to beat girls.

How right you are, my sweet, sweet boy. Don't you ever forget that.

Thrifted Joy

On a recent trip to Goodwill I found these treasures for a total of $5. Man, I love thrift stores.

Painted wooden candlesticks:



The most adorable lidded pot ever. It goes so perfectly in my kitchen. I'm in love with it!

Monkey Head

I just love this hat. Every time Jack wears it I can hardly stand to look at him he's so darn cute!

Seriously, look at that kid.
Delicious!

Welcome Eden!

Our good friends Jeff and Teresa welcomed their 3rd daughter into their family this week and we are so happy for them! She is absolutely beautiful and we are so excited to watch her grow.

Here's Mark holding her:



She looks absolutely identical to her oldest sister, Octavia. It was pretty incredible to look at pictures of Octavia and compare them to Eden. They are twins, 8 years apart!

I wanted to make her something special and here's what I came up with:



Welcome to the world, sweet Eden!

Gus in his own words

Here's what Gus had to say about his first day of school:

Gus Goes to School

Last week Gus started preschool which was super-stressful for me because he's been so clingy to me lately. I was having visions of him screaming when I tried to leave him, holding onto my leg with a death grip. When he woke up that first morning he was really quiet and nervous, but he was so excited to wear his new orange shirt and shoes and his owl backpack, so when I brought those things out he started warming up to the idea of going. He eagerly put everything on and posed for a couple photos outside:

Big Brother Max lead the way as we walked to school. Max kept reassuring Gus that he didn't need to be nervous because he'd show him what to do, since he was an expert on preschool. Gus was walking happily, talking about how excited he was. Mark and I kept exchanging nervous, hopeful glances that perhaps he would go in without any trouble.

As we approached the school his whole demeanor changed and he got really clingy and sad again. Mark and I tried being really enthusiastic but he wasn't buying it. He reluctantly walked in the door:

And this is where our photos end because sure enough, the crying and leg clinging began. It was so hard to leave him, but his teachers said once we were gone he was just fine. Day 2 involved more crying, but by Day 3 he was happily running in the door, giving me a goodbye kiss and wandering off to play. Thank goodness!

Kindergarten!

Well, the day has arrived! Max started kindergarten this morning. When he woke up he told me he was really excited and a little bit nervous. I told him I felt the same way and he smiled, comforted by the fact that he wasn't alone in his emotions. I didn't mention that I'd had a terrible time sleeping last night, had anxiety dreams when I did sleep and sort of felt like I was going to throw up when I woke up this morning and realized I actually had to let him go. No need for dramatics, right?

Here he is just before heading out to the bus stop. He looks so big and so little at the same time!

And here he is at the bus stop, looking at me like 'Why exactly are we standing out in the rain?'

The big first climb up into the bus! He did great. He didn't even hesistate to get on. I think it's from all the times we walked his cousin, Blake, to his bus stop last year. He knew just what to do.

That's right, we followed the bus, all 4 of us, in our minivan, stop after stop.

A big jump off the bus when he arrived:

I can always tell he's getting nervous when he starts to play with his hair:

Walking to class, telling Daddy about the "huge" library with "a million" books:

Here we are at Mrs. Gourdulan's class!

Max at his desk:

The whole family. Mark and I disguise our nervousness quite well, don't you think?

Looking forward to a great year at Jane Addams!!

For Brain & Amber

Dear Brian & Amber,
Yesterday Gus asked if you could come over to see his new shoes. He's so proud of them. It is difficult for a 3-year old to understand the concept of distance, but we reminded him, as we have done so many times in the past couple weeks, that you are simply too far away for a quick visit. He thought it would be a good idea to send you a picture of his shoes. He's certain you will love them. So here they are, in all their orange splendor:



We miss you so much,
Marin

Class of 2019

Max starts Kindergarten in just a few days and last week some of the kindergarten parents organized a potluck to meet some of the other Jane Addams families. About 20 families showed up (which is roughly 1/3 of the incoming class). Everyone seemed really nice and I'm looking forward to getting to know them better. Even still, I can't believe this is happening! How did my little guy grow up so fast?

Cupcake Goodness

A couple days ago we took the boys to Cupcake Royale in Ballard for a sweet evening treat. To say they loved them would be a gross understatement. They devoured them and are already plotting a return visit.

ID: Part 3 - The Park

We went to a (slightly sketchy) park that had a really cool structure and strung lanterns which naturally led to more awesome poses:

ID: Part 2 - The Big Gate

The boys loved checking out this big gate at the entrance of the International District. Pretty much everywhere they went they took time to strike some pretty awesome ninja moves:

ID: Part 1 - Palace Lions

Yesterday we took the boys to the International District (or "Chinaland" as Max called it). We parked next to a restaurant with these ornate lion statues out front, which the boys believed were guarding a palace. They decided they should stand guard, thus the serious looks on their faces.